A Comedy of Errors in Peace River’s history Researching a black-and-white photo can lead to the discovery of colourful stories! November 2018 was the 100th Anniversary of the completion of the railway bridge across the Mighty Peace River. I collaborated with Carson Murphy and Beth Wilkins at the Peace River Museum to create a commemorative “Peace Train” card with pictures …
Peace Train – Peace River’s Contribution to Peace
While I was putting the finishing touches on the story for the back of the “Peace Train” card I designed with the Peace River Museum, I was contacted by David Lawrence at Peace River High School and asked if I would sing the 1971 song, “Peace Train” (by Cat Stevens) at the end of their Remembrance Day service. I had …
The CANSO Flies Again! – a story of restoration
In 2015, my husband, Terry, and I flew to the annual Father’s Day Fly-in Breakfast. We took off from a farmer’s grass strip near Lac Cardinal in my husband’s homebuilt plane and landed on a lovely asphalt strip just outside of Fairview. There was a great variety of private aircraft to see and pilots eager to share their passion for …
Amos Wiebe – Famous Amos Photography, Grande Prairie, AB
I call Amos Wiebe “the wildlife whisperer.” He captures remarkable pictures of creatures in the woods – everything from big bull moose to tiny owls most of us would never see. He has also created highly entertaining videos of grizzly cubs play wrestling and an owl shaking the snow off its feathers in a storm. Famous Amos shares his images …
Robbie Craig, Yellowknife, NT
We are delighted to be creating and offering cards featuring Robbie Craig’s unique and beautiful paintings! Check these out: November Frost, The Cardinals, Polar Bear Portrait, and Little Vixen and the Big Moon. Art has always been a passion of mine. I come from a long line of artists. My mother is a highly creative soul and watercolour artist, as …
Jeff Wallace, St. Albert, Alberta
Jeff Wallace moved to Alberta in 2009 and found himself “completely smitten by the mountains.” He has a passion for capturing and sharing the unique nature of the ground we walk on and the skies we see overhead, especially the night skies. He says a friend mentioned one of his first experiences seeing the northern lights, and that had him …
Honour your Mother – with a favourite story!
To write down a story is to create permanent, colourful evidence that a person lived and breathed, laughed and loved. We need to write more. Stories are important. Everyone has stories. I invite you to submit a favourite story about your mother, whether she is young or old, alive or passed on to another realm. It can be a touching …
Oh Crappy Day! – Finding Inspiration in the Messiness of Life
I have a love/hate relationship with the end-of-winter season. It’s dreadfully brown, muddy, miserable and volatile – warm and sunny one moment, and snowing and blowing freezing rain in your face the next. Spring is messy…like life is messy. I find my soul taking on the struggle for Spring to break through, searching the hills for barely-visible, courageous fuzzy sprouts …
Taking Down the Christmas Tree
There is a certain sadness associated with taking down the Christmas tree. And yet, if you wait until the first week in January, when the children have gone, there is also a sense of “It’s time.” Time to put on a favourite Christmas CD and turn the volume up and listen to Jacob Moon’s jazzy but haunting arrangement of “O …
Dave Matilpi, Grimshaw, AB
Dave Matilpi’s art is featured in the card, Wolf – Guardian Spirit. Here is his full bio, followed by his interpretation of his painting, transcribed from an interview at Java Domain in Peace River, AB in August 2016. Dave Matilpi was born January 21, 1953 in Alert Bay, B.C. into the Nimpkish Band and the Kwakiuth First Nation. Early in …