Erin's Journals

Boy, you sure do keep me on my toes! Thank you for the incredibly positive response to Friday’s journal and the details of our new coordinates for the next few months. 
 
(Strangely, we were on our Molly walk yesterday and we saw a sign on someone’s lawn that read: “Neighborhoods are for Neighbors. Stop Short Term Rentals.” Wow, nothing like that to make you feel welcome. Rob was unpacking the car the other night and a couple walked by. He said, “Hi – we’re your new neighbours for the next three months.” They just kept walking. Like I said, nothing like feeling welcome.) 
 
So, besides kind encouragement following Friday’s journal, the biggest question was “Where’s Molly?” and I should have expected that! Of course, she is with us, but I realize I didn’t mention that.
 
Rob and Molly had a little road trip and she slept snuggled up to him in every Motel 6 along the way. (In one room, it might have been for protection; there was a murder there a few months ago according to Rob’s Google results. Not that Molly would be much help, I suppose….) Anyway, they had a great trip together, she sleeps buckled into the seat that would normally be mine, and she has already made herself very much at home.
 
I was going to shoot a picture of her with a recent newspaper, like a hostage, so you’d know she’s alive and well! But, a) we don’t get the local paper, and b) I know you’ll take my word for it if you see a bit of sunshine in the background. So here she is. 
 

 
Did you notice the little black bird on the hearth? That’s our travel-sized urn with a few of Lauren’s ashes. Is that weird? Having a large one at home and a little one that sometimes comes with us? Well, we brought it with us, and we also have a lovely framed picture of Colin that Phil and Brooke gifted us with during our early Christmas this month. So no matter where we are, our family is intact. And that’s a good thing.
 
Not such a good thing: we got Molly trimmed at the local PetSmart on Friday. We chose a shorter cut than usual, forgetting that it’s still quite chilly here in the mornings and evenings before heading up to the low 20s. Plus, we sleep in cool temps and she’s been shivering. So I think we’re off to buy her a nice sweater today. That jacket was Pepper’s and really doesn’t show off her figure! (If you go to my Facebook page, you’ll see a little rainbow on the hearth, too. What a nice little bit of light and love to wake up to!)
 
Back with you here tomorrow and have a gentle Monday.
 

Well, here it is Friday. It’s also the end of a long couple of weeks that included our dear friend’s funeral, a Celebration of Hope (did you see the pics of Mike and me on Facebook?) and two truly enjoyable emcee opportunities with Canada Awards for Excellence and the Canadian Real Estate Association’s Real Time: Let’s Talk event.
 
Between flying into Toronto from Victoria, then driving to Ottawa, driving back to Toronto, flying back to Ottawa (stay with me here…) flying back to Toronto again, on to Markham and then heading to Halifax, you can just about imagine how anxious I was to unpack my big blue suitcase and stay put for a while.
 
That’s exactly what is going to happen, but we’re going to do this together, you and I. You see, I didn’t fly from Halifax home to Victoria, BC on Wednesday. Instead, I took a nearly six-hour flight to Calgary…and it was gorgeous as we took off after a three-hour wait. 
 

A comfortable three-hour flight took me to beautiful Palm Springs, California where Rob and I are going to be for a while.
 
Why Palm Springs? Because of the climate (warm and dry), the politics (not a red state) and the fact that it’s familiar: my mom and dad, as well as my sister Cindy and her husband, spent a few winters in nearby Palm Desert, so Rob and I came to know and love the area.
 
In case you’re worried about the rampant fires that have made California history this month, Rob drove down from BC in safety and met me at the Palm Springs airport and we are situated hundreds of kilometres from where the flames are at this time. Of course, we’ll be careful and, although Rob experienced smoke during part of his three-day trip, his travels were not affected. We know full well how lucky we are and will be contributing to those who are not.
 
You can see some of the smoke in the distance in this shot I took as we began to descend for our landing.
 

 
We’ve got a calendar filled with guests over the next little while (almost all from Ontario, looking for a chance to visit while escaping the cold) as friends come down to share in our rental home’s three bedrooms and some sunny hospitality. We’ll spend time here unwinding, recharging and escaping the Victoria winter rains until we have to pack up and get set for the hectic but exciting book tour in February. 
 
Although this journal has always been about transparency, I have had reservations about sharing these travels with you and it’s about you, not me. Because my outright disdain for the political situation in the US is no secret, you may wonder why I’d choose to put myself or our money here.
 
The reasons: we had reserved this place months before Canada became Trump’s imagined “enemy” and, besides, we weren’t going to let Orange Julius Caesar spoil our visions of becoming snowbirds for the first time. All of those years of dark, cold, early mornings, I think we dreamed of doing something like this. And this year we’ve carved out the time to try it on for size. And if there’s an engagement that I have to come back for, the airport’s just minutes from us.
 
Maybe we’ll love spending the winter in California. Maybe we’ll hate being away from Canada for so long. We have no idea what to expect as we shift gears and try something new. 
 
Here’s where you come in: if you’ll keep coming back and stay with this daily journal, I’ll continue to write here. Some of the stories will be observations of life in and around this area, some will be perspectives on Canadian stories, just as I’ve always written. Many will come from within me (as usual) and I’ll also be sure to keep you updated on what’s going on with life in general.
 
For the most part, you won’t notice a difference from my Victoria-based journals. I won’t intentionally make you growl at me for posting pictures of warmer climes than you may be enduring at any given time between now and February, but I may post a stunning sunset or a view or adventure that anyone on a vacation might share. Sound fair?
 
Stay with me here – this could be a lot of fun. In the meantime, enjoy the parade(s) this weekend and know how much I’ve loved sharing these many, many adventures with you. I’ll do my best to make sure you’re glad you do, too. Talk to you here Monday with the perspective of a dear friend on her way here as I type, who’s also just hung up the headphones (sort of)!
 
Take care.
 

Now that we’ve put our feet on terra firma for a while, I had to share with you something that I did this last trip that made my traveling life just a little easier. I’ll get to it in a moment.
 
The holiday season – and I mean holidays in the sun – is just about upon us; for some, the escape to warmer temperatures has already begun. Over the years (especially thanks to listener trips) Rob and I have passed through a lot of airports. So it occurred to me to share with you a few things that we’ve learned over the years.
 
First of all, if you’re at all considering getting a Nexus card, do it. The line is almost always shorter and it helps cut the wait time (as well as the stress) in half when you’re at an airport. Anything that can do that is well worth the money, which is NOT the $139.99 US you may find if you go to a third-party site. It’s $50 for a five-year membership and children under 18 are free. Here’s a good link. 
 
Occasionally, it makes for some awkwardness when you’re traveling with others and they’re not Nexus card holders; you’re tempted to whiz through customs while they’re at the end of a Disney-length lineup. Just keep that in mind!
 
Another tip: when you’re traveling with someone, don’t do His ‘n’ Hers suitcases, no matter how tempting. Put half of your stuff in your partner’s luggage and vice versa. That way, if one of your bags gets lost, you still have some of your belongings until the errant suitcase finds its way back to you. Also, the odds of both of you suffering the trauma of lost luggage are pretty low. Trust me – this is a good one to try to adhere to.
 
Finally – and you probably know the first part of this – wrap and re-wrap and then bag any leak-prone or toxic substances. I finally got smart and after always opening my suitcase to the smell of nail polish remover, I just started buying the pre-soaked remover pads from the drug store.
 
This time, though, when we arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday night, I realized I’d made a real rookie mistake: I packed my suitcase for a car trip instead of a plane trip. As a result, a bottle of clear fast-drying top coat snapped at the neck. Of course, it was full and newly-purchased. Murphy’s Law, right? Fortunately, it was in a zipped sandwich bag and that bag was in another bigger zipped bag. So, except for a white crust of quick drying polish on everything (remedied by an acetone bath when we got settled, thanks to Brooke), no real harm done.
 
But here’s what I came up with for this last trip that I thought you’d love: 
 

 
You know those zippered plastic pouches that sheets or pillow cases sometimes come in? Usually, I hold onto them to save greeting cards or other special mementos that I don’t want to get dog-earred or lost. But this trip, I realized if I gathered all of my toiletries in one place (except for makeup – it gets its own bag, if not suitcase LOL) then with all of our moves from hotel to house to hotel to hotel (yes, there have been a lot of moves) I could just tote that to the bathroom each time. And it’s worked beautifully! I don’t expect it to keep things dry or safe in case of leaks, but it just holds everything a gal needs in one place.
 
So there! Don’t let those precious zippered bags out of your sight. I’m sure you have a million and six uses for them, too – as well as travel tips – and if you want to send them on through my email, I’ll see about putting a future journal together about them. 
 
For now, have a great day and thanks for coming by. I’ll be back with you here tomorrow.
 

I hope your week is going well; here we find ourselves halfway through both the week and the month. Time is flying and the Toronto Santa Claus parade is gearing up for this Sunday. Hard to believe – and what great memories I have of being able to take part and represent the only radio station in the parade year after year! Of course, the shouts of “Hi Marilyn!” from some in the crowd were always really great at keeping my ego in check. You have to laugh. I did and still do!
 
Having left Ottawa already, the majority of our Christmas shopping is done! Presents for family on the BC mainland were delivered last month when I “rendezvous-ed” with my sister (Is that a word? I’ll make “rendezvoused” a word then) so that’s pretty much it. Hard to believe. But most normal people – and I’m going to assume you’re among them – may have yet to start.
 
So let me offer a little help, as well as some inspiration, if you’re one of those people who think they’ve got a book in them and are wondering just what it takes to get it out there!
 
Nancy, one of my long-time CHFI listeners and a new friend on the Island, felt like so many of us when she left her career and moved to Vancouver Island: what next? Her work in communications and public relations involved lots of writing, but in a business style, often on dry topics (just the facts, ma’am).
 
She loves to write, but wanted to “rewire her brain” to write more creatively and more imaginatively. I hate to take credit for it, but she will tell you that I was her inspiration to being published in what used to be the Facts and Arguments page in the Globe and Mail. (I will take both credit and blame for that, thanks!) 
 
With five books written for children (but sitting on the shelf waiting for her to pitch them to publishing houses), an interesting opportunity came her way recently. Through the woman who started a community outreach in South Africa, Nancy was introduced to Asanda, a 16-year-old boy who loved to draw. He took one of Nancy’s stories and created the basic characters. His work was refined and finished in Victoria by a young welder with a passion for graphic arts and, voilà, The Magical Power of Color was recently published.
 

 
Through Nancy’s words and the animated illustrations, young children get an early sense of how different colours can affect how they feel. We all have our favourite colours and think of how often we use colour in describing feelings: “I feel blue,” “I’m green with envy,” and so it goes. 
 
I can vouch for being able to ham it up when I read it to Coco, because it is a rhyming book. Nancy said that even though rhyming books are not as popular now, they are still much easier for adults to read to kids. My niece Regan loved the one we gave her for her birthday earlier this month, too, and it’s always special if you can get it inscribed by the author. Auntie has connections LOL!
 
You can also order a signed copy from Nancy using the link on the website or you can order via Amazon. Part of the proceeds from book sales will go back to the children who are part of Ukulapha. And as you can see, the feedback on the book has been really terrific.
 
A good book – a good cause – how do you do better than that? 
 
Have a gentle Wednesday and I’ll be back with you here tomorrow.
 

And here we at Tuesday – so I must be in another city. And I am.
 
Today I’ve arrived in rainy Halifax, glad to have brought an umbrella, but even happier to be staying at the hotel where tonight’s Canadian Real Estate Association event is taking place. I brought a good book and plan to spend the day with it, until it’s time to put on the lashes again tonight. What a whirlwind these past two-plus weeks have been! Good thing I like hotels, huh?
 
Although heading to Markham for the huge Celebration of Hope on Sunday was one of the highlights of my year, leaving Ottawa squeezed my heart like a sponge; this visit has been just that sweet. Laughter and stories and calls of “Silly Grandad!” a book about veggies with wedgies and so much more.
 
I worry about having overloading my phone with too many photos and videos while I was there. Here he is after a nap wearing some jammies I’d found (on sale!) at Indigo. He’s looking out at the snow. 
 

 
I’ll have more in coming days. I can tell you that he’s handsome and sensitive, tall and smart and has a terrific sense of humour. I gave his mom a dish scrubber that resembles a girl, so we started calling her Colin’s girlfriend. He named her Monique and I started to do voices for her. I won’t lie, her catchphrase is “Be Best!” and he’s caught on to that. Hmmm…wonder who I made her sound like….
 

 
He sings almost all of the words to “What a Wonderful World” and bursts into song – that song – at random times all day. It’s like he’s reminding us to stay happy all of the time. And we’re grateful.
 
We read for hours (the only TV he likes is Wheel of Fortune) and I can’t decide if the best time is greeting him in the morning and hearing, “It’s nice to see you!” or going to bed and climbing in beside him to talk about his day and take him up to a cloud to tell me what he sees. But the funniest thing happened last Thursday night. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
 
We cuddled up together as I tried to hold on to the smell of his sleepy sweetness. As his sound machine played, the room lit dimly by a Paw Patrol light, he told me how many suns he could see (32) and we shared other little sweet nothings. And then, in the quietest voice, he said to me something I almost heard. What was that? Because I thought he said, “Gramabana please don’t leave….”
 
“What, honey? You don’t want me to leave?”
 
“No,” he whispered, “Please leave.”
 
I had to hold in my laughter. “You want me to leave?” I asked.
 
“Yes,” he whispered. “I want my polar bear.” (It was on the other side of me.)
 
I told him, “Sure,” climbed out of his little wooden bed and tucked him in. We whispered our good-nights and I closed his door. 
 
Creeping into the room next door, where was Rob reclined on the bed, I said, “I don’t know how to process everything that just happened.” My heart was full to bursting with love for this little boy who was just so honest and so sweet and who has our hearts so firmly in his beautiful hands. 
 
We’ll chat with him again this weekend via computer and hold tight to our milky memories of this wonderful visit. We’ll be forever grateful to Lauren for leaving us with this little person, and to Phil and Brooke for gently guiding him through this life with so much love and careful direction. And we’ll be counting the weeks until the end of February: book publication date and a visit to Ottawa on the publicity tour. (Note to Mother Nature: BE NICE!) 
 
Tomorrow: a beautiful children’s book that is sure to add colour to your November day, and maybe a special little person’s Christmas. Be well.