Loss of a rail line connecting communities for hundreds of years

I caught this in one of the news feeds today.  It seems like a sad era where we seem to value speed and the almighty automobile over the clean reliability and communal qualities of rail travel. 

Snippet from CBC News:

"Communities in the Ottawa Valley are facing the loss of a rail line that has connected them for more than 100 years.

The Ottawa Valley Railway, which runs around 400 kilometres from Sudbury to Smiths Falls, is currently out of use and is set to be dismantled by its owner, Canadian Pacific Rail."


Full story:  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/11/27/ottawa-valley-rail-117.html

As I have mentioned in other posts, I have fond memories of trains.  They feature often in my hopeful novel during happy and sad occasions. 

How to Plant a Tree

I allowed myself an artsy outing this afternoon and had another "first".  A Facebook friend had invited me to a poetry reading held by his publisher for him and another poet at Mother Tongue Books.  I hadn't been to that book shop yet so thought it would indeed be a nice Sunday afternoon outing.  It was.

After chatting with interesting people and listening to the readings, I took a few minutes to explore the many colourful book cases.  One small book called to me.  It was a plain, creamy white hardcover with an illustration of a tree and little person titled "How to Plant A Tree - A Simple Celebration of Trees & Tree-planting Ceremonies." It has lovely illustrations and short sections of informative text.  The only complaint is that the text is kind of small!  This is going to be a challenge for bus reading.

If you are a regular visitor to this blog and have read excerpts, you will remember that Trees play an important part in my forthcoming novel.  On an impulse, I purchased this lovely discovery in addition to two poetry books. I even insisted that one of the poets autograph hers.

Some day.. some day... I may allow my novel to be seen on the printed page.  If I do, my publisher of first choice knows that it must be on recycled paper.  I want to share a story but I want to be responsible with the resources I choose.

Thanks for visiting and reading my posts.

T

Working on a cover design

I had dinner with some artist friends this past week.  While sipping coffee after a healthy meal, my friend J and I went over some of my ideas and rough sketches for the novel's cover art. 

Suppose I should get to those edits from the publisher soon...

Distraction:  Crazy for Papercrafts

I found this blog today.  Sooo cute, with their Year of the Rabbit calendars and drawings!