Dear Friends: Here we are soaking up the ocean breezes at our bungalow in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island, which I named Palm Tree Cottage. We bought this place mainly because I fell in love with the palm tree in the back yard. Yes, we do have palm trees growing in Canada! Cottage Has Mid-Century […]
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Dear Friends: My husband whisked me away to the Historic Davenport in Spokane, Washington for three days in May to celebrate my birthday, because he knows how much I love historic hotels. Here are photos from one of our favourite getaway spots. Every room features one of these lovely, comfortable beds. You can actually buy […]
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Dear Friends: My youngest daughter Melinda left home ten years ago, and we finally got around to redecorating her hot pink teenage lair and turning it into a welcoming guest bedroom. Here’s the finished result of our blood (I cut my finger), sweat (moving furniture is hard work), and tears (of nostalgia). Over the past […]
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Dear Friends: In my long career as a journalist, I collected memorabilia ranging from hundreds of newspapers clippings and photographs to pieces of historic wooden type like this big E — for Elinor, of course! Since 1972, I have worked for the Battlefords Advertiser-Post, the Western Producer in Saskatoon, the Red Deer Advocate, the Winnipeg Sun, the […]
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Dear Friends: My mother’s estate has wrapped up and her house has been sold, so I’m disposing of her furniture and possessions. And that means dragging home no fewer than 25 cardboard cartons filled with photographs, letters, china, books, and keepsakes. In a box of old knitting patterns, I found this original! She knit this sweater for […]
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Dear Friends: Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In my novel Wildwood, my Irish heroine Mary Margaret receives this Belleek shamrock tea set from her grandmother as a wedding gift when she emigrates to northern Alberta in 1923. Later, my contemporary heroine Molly finds the tea set and other vintage items in the old farmhouse — many of which came from my own […]
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Dear Friends: I’m enjoying life in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and feeling nothing but sympathy for my fellow Canadians, who are suffering under an icy white blanket. The sunsets here aren’t as lovely as those on the prairies, but since we never see the sun set at our home in the mountains, the evening sky looks darned good to us! This is our granddaughter […]
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Dear Friends: Welcome to your very first Letter From Windermere, an old-fashioned letter from my house to yours, a collection of news, notes, and nostalgia where I chat about my interests, my travels, and my writing life. After five years, during which I wrote more than 100 wartime stories, I bid farewell to my previous blog called Wartime Wednesdays. […]
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Dear Friends: After five years and more than 100 wartime stories, this will be my FINAL Wartime Wednesdays blog post. But since I’m so eager to stay in touch with all you lovely people, I have an entirely new blog titled Letters From Windermere. My monthly letter will be just that — a chatty update across the digital […]
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Willa Walker rose rapidly through the ranks in 1941 to become head of the newly-formed Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division. Only 28 years old, grieving the recent death of her baby son, her husband locked away in a German prison camp, Willa rose to the challenge with courage and dignity, breaking down barriers for future generations of women […]
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