This Saturday I'll be at the Coles bookstore with four other amazing authors of young adult fiction. We'll be there to chat about books, sell our latest novels, and generally just have a good time. If you're in the area, consider stopping in and saying hello!
The look on Grinfinn's face when I grab his collar and my Jeep keys is priceless. He always does this little dance when he knows we're going for a Jeep ride, and it's the only time he bolts out the door as fast as his one inch legs can carry him.
When I took Grinfinn to the Fairhaven Steampunk Festival, I didn't realize there was more to the story than just a fun event across the border. The annual event is in memoriam to a young man who had attended the first event, but in 2012 died in an accident.
Travelling to Leavenworth in the Cascade Mountains is a little like going to visit Santa's village. The town is made up to resemble an old Bavarian village, and oftentimes storefronts will play Christmas music even though it was sunny, nearly 35 C, and the beginning of summer.
The first night I had forgotten to pick up a propane canister for my camp stove and the general store was out of them. Instead, I bought some wood and built a fire, figuring I could boil my water for coffee and oats over that until I was back in the town the next day. This was Grinfinn's first experience with fire, I assume, as it completely freaked him out.
I was awake by four a.m. and up by five. Call it excitement, maybe a little nerves, but this was my first camping trip in seven years and my first with Grinfinn. When I attempted to wake up the boy, he just looked at me, grunted, and resumed his slumber. But if I was up, so was he.
I was headed to Friday Harbor by way of the Anacortes ferry. Since I had the day, and this one had turned out to be an unusually hot and sunny one in a sprint that has been mostly clouds and rain, I stopped in at Edison, WA where I had lunch at the Slough Food and a coffee at the Tweets Cafe. There was quite the crowd at the Tweet with the jug band that was playing. If you're counting, this was my second coffee while on the road.
This was the first extended road trip I had ever taken with my family. For three weeks, my sister, mother, uncle, and I all journeyed from Winnipeg to Disney World in Florida. We travelled in that yellow (or green, depending on whom you asked) VW camper van and stayed in campgrounds. Even then I knew we were on that road trip because there was more than a fifty percent chance it was going to be my last. We were making memories that my sister, mom, and uncle could have of me for the rest of their lives.
Did I ever tell you about the time I stayed in a haunted hotel and time travelled to Victorian era America? True story.
After the initial application, there was a phone interview. After the interview, there was a home inspection where I got to meet Grinfinn (yes, I kept the misspelled name). He seemed like the perfect match, so I told them I wanted him. And they wanted me to have him. Most importantly, it really seemed like Grinfinn wanted to have me. It was ideal.
