Saturday Photo: More Than 100 Years Old, the Library in Ritzville

 

On my to Walla Walla a couple of weeks ago, I stopped to eat lunch in Ritzville, WA, a small town which was once a bustling shipping point on the Northern Pacific railroad. It was such a thriving place that in 1907 the town was able to get a Carnegie Library which is still in operation, one of the few in the world that maintain its original vocation.

 

Trains hauling wheat and coal still roar through the town, but don't stop anymore. Yet when I was there people were reading during their lunchtime break at the old oak tables. Another example of the importance of libraries and archives. Needless to say I told the librarian about my book Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us Through the Next 75 Years!

Saturday Photo: Evi Has a Birthday!

 Our extremely lovely cat Evi, a Siberian, turned one this week. Such a pleasure to have her around!

Saturday Photo: The Easter Bunny Gets Around.

Been travelling these last two weeks.  The trip was part book promotion for Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us Through the Next 75 Years, and part visit with family and friends.

Two weeks ago I met up  in Colville WA with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in 60 years.  By then the Easter Bunny had already arrived.  

Here spring is still in waiting in the wings, but perhaps there will be some chocolates hidden some place.
 

Saturday Photo: Are We in Danger?

 This is where Quebec Highway 132 runs along the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the Gaspé peninsula.  Something is going to give as sea levels rise, and driving it got me thinking about the challenges we face in these difficult times.  

The result was first my book Against the Seas: Savings Civilizations from Rising waters (2023, Dundurn) and now Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us through the Next 75 Years (just published by Dundurn.)  We should try to overcome climate change and the other threats  before us, but when we can't, our memories--individual and collective--are going to be what we need to pick up the pieces.

Saturday Photo: Canadian War Museum in This Week of War

Spent an interesting and rather weird afternoon Monday at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. The visit was planned several weeks ago, but I never imagined that the world would be plunged in a new war as we walked through the exhibits. "War is not good for children and other living things." Never truer than now.
 

Saturday Photo: Coming out of Hibernation ?

The days are getting longer, and the snow is melting....some days.  What is uncovered can be surprising.

You never know what kind of critters are under the snow!
 

Saturday Photo: Nature Loves Hearts Too

 Happy Valentine's Day!