My Thousand Dollar Wedding
Dear Friends: When our youngest daughter Melinda became engaged on Christmas Day, my thoughts turned to my simple yet elegant Thousand Dollar Wedding, held on New Year’s Day 1993.
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Ten Favorite Christmas Traditions
Dear Friends: My love of the past really blossoms at Christmas! Here are my ten favorite Christmas traditions, for your viewing pleasure.
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Ten Ways to Make a New House Look Old
Dear Friends: My dream is to renovate an old house, but that passion is sadly not shared by my husband! So when we built our new house in 2002, we incorporated some features to make it look like our “historic” home had been standing on this spot since 1924. My Dream Home When I envision […]
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Destination Danesfield!
Dear Friends: I am so excited about my invitation to Danesfield House Hotel next May, the setting for my wartime novel Bird’s Eye View, for a book signing! This gorgeous white chalkstone mansion, pictured on the back cover of my book, located one hour west of London near Henley-on-Thames, was the headquarters of aerial photo […]
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My Thrifting Life
My thrifting life took an uptick recently, when I found this lovely Early’s Witney Point trading blanket at my favourite thrift shop in Parksville, on Vancouver Island. My Trading Blanket It happened like this: I spotted the bright red blanket across the floor at SOS (short for Society of Organized Services) in Parksville, and […]
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Greetings from Palm Tree Cottage
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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Historic Hotel Heaven
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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Room With a View
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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Newspaper Nostalgia
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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Sorting is Such Sweet Sorrow
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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