This past weekend, my husband and I played tourist in our own province. Not only was it fun to pretend our real life was not just a short drive back to the city, but taking this time to explore opened our eyes to so much history we might never have otherwise known.

Our trip included a day of exploring Neepawa, the Manitoba town where renowned Canadian author Margaret Laurence was born and raised. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, Manitoba has produced a lot of great authors, and Laurence is
certainly one of them! Although she spent most of her life living and writing in other places, several of her books take the reader to the fictional prairie town of Manawaka, believed to be based heavily on Neepawa. We visited the Margaret Laurence House (pictured below), her childhood home turned museum, as well the Riverside Cemetery. It's here that the real stone angel statue, largely believed to be the inspiration for Laurence's most famous novel The Stone Angel, is found, as well as Laurence's grave. When Laurence died in 1987, she was laid to rest here according to her wishes.

Margaret Laurence House

The Stone Angel, Riverside Cemetery (on the grave of John Andrew Davidson, plaque not pictured)

Jean Margaret Wemyss Laurence. Born July 18, 1926. Died January 5, 1987

In addition to the Margaret Laurence House,we also discovered Neepawa's other treasured sites and attractions. The Beautiful Plains Museum, full of artifacts of early prairie life for European settlers, is located in the former CNR station, a designated historic site. Other buildings, like the Knox Presbyterian
Church (built in 1892) and the court house (built in 1884) are beautiful brick
structures still standing today. The name Neepawa is Cree for "land of plenty", a place where the Cree and Assiniboine peoples regularly hunted and sought shelter prior to the arrival of European settlers. It is with gratitude to the Indigenous people that we were able to visit the beautiful prairie land of Treaty 2 territory, home to the Anishinaabe, Assiniboine, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene Peoples, and homeland of the Metis Nation.

You might wonder why, after living most of my life in Manitoba and having read The Stone Angel over thirty years ago in high school, that I would choose now to visit Neepawa and these local sites. In my adult life I've been to over a dozen countries around the world, several in both Europe and Asia. For two years, I made my home in Taiwan as an English teacher, immersing myself in a culture so removed from my southern Manitoba upbringing that I frequently doubted my ability to survive the shock. In fact, I've even been to Neepawa before, visiting extended family on my husband's side (who grew up in a neighboring town), or driving through on
cross-Canada trips with my family where we picnicked at the local
campground tables - on our way to someplace else.

Well, my initial reason to plan this excursion was quite practical. It was only later that my emotions got involved. Let me explain.

Essentially, this was a research trip. I am currently mapping out my next novel and as these new characters whisper their lives in my ear, Neepawa keeps coming to the forefront. It's hard to say for certain whether my characters know what they're talking about, or if they'll whisper new details to contradict this one (they have a tendency to do that!), but I knew I needed to at least plant my feet on that soil again, this time to feel its history and the history of my characters' lives. Bonus - I'd
get to see the Margaret Laurence House. And what an extraordinary experience that was.

But as I was reading about Neepawa and the surrounding area, where we rented a beautiful remote farm house for the night, I became acutely aware of how easy it is to travel great distances, and how hard it is to notice and cherish the things in our own proverbial backyard. Yes, this trip to a local site was practical, my notebook in hand and computer at the ready, but then somewhere along the way my heart started to compete with my head. As I made notes and took pictures, I also felt the land breathing and moving around me. I felt both its worry for the fires burning to the north, and its stability under my feet. I felt its quiet wrap me like a quilt, bringing
me to a place of openness and, for just a moment, a feeling that things would
be okay.

I hope we all experience both the joy and adventure of new places, and also find the time to appreciate and love the things that connect us to our home. Whether it's an open sky or an old-growth forest or an ocean or a city skyline, I hope you take the time to connect to those things that ground you. I know I will.

Publication Update

I'm excited to announce that I will have a new short story released in the June issue of Creation Magazine: ABlueprint Issue. Although they haven't yet confirmed a release date, it will be out within the next couple of weeks. The details will be released on my social media as I get more information, along with the link. Stay tuned!

In addition to sending out short stories for possible publication, I've also recently completed the last set of queries for my novel Fault Lines. I'm patiently waiting for information and I look forward to sharing publication plans and updates with you soon!

50 Books for 50 Years

I'm currently reading Book #31 in my 50 Books for 50 Years Challenge! As a tribute to Margaret Laurence, I am reading The Diviners (1974). On my list this month is also Survivor by Maria M Williams, Little Miseries: This is Not a Story About My Childhood by Kimberly Olson Fakih, and Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout.

Every month I choose one book for review on my website. It appears in both the Book Corner and the 50 Books for 50 Years sections. I hope you'll check out my most recent review for May: The Unravelling: Incest and theDestruction of a Family by Donna Besel, another local Manitoban author.

All the books I read are also reviewed on Goodreads.

Remember - I'm always looking for more recommendations for this challenge! Send me an email or dm me on social media. I'd love to hear from you!

I hope you all have a lovely summer and find the joy of adventure, and the beauty of home in all that you do.

Neepawa, Manitoba