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 […]
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! Our Beloved Palm Tree Cottage […]
Our 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 ten years, […]
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!
Dear Friends: My mother’s estate has wrapped up and her house has been sold, so I’m disposing of her furniture and possessions, which carry many family memories. 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 […]
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 kitchen — many of which came from my […]
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 […]
Welcome to your very first Letters From Windermere, an old-fashioned letter from my house to yours, a collection of news, notes, and nostalgia where I chat about History, Writing, and Books. From 2013 to 2018, I wrote more than 100 wartime stories, and you can find them all under the category called Lest We Forget. […]
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 […]
Named for the future British prime minister, Winston Churchill Parker of Okotoks, Alberta, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, served as a Wireless Air Gunner in a Wellington bomber, was shot down on his unlucky thirteenth mission, and spent the rest of the war as a WW2 POW in a German prison camp. Note to […]
