Fort Walsh and Cypress Hills

JJ and I drove to Fort Walsh National Historic Site in the Cypress Hills on the Saskachewan side of the border shared with Alberta. Our visit was two fold: research for my Mountie story, and to see if I could find a Mountie to use for promotional purposes with my story. The Cypress Hills are the highest land elevation east of the Rocky Mountains. (I can't remember at the moment if the Laurentians in Quebec are higher.)

Fort Walsh was part of the Old Forts Trail which ran from Fort Benton, Montana up to Edmonton, Alberta and other places.

To get to Fort Walsh, we had to go down this hill, across the valley, and up a steep, winding road. This road with hairpin turns is so steep, you're advised to unhook your trailer/camper and leave it in a designated parking area for that purpose. Once you get to the top of the hills, you cross the wide plateau you see at the top of this photo. After several kilometres, you find the visitor's centre with the actual fort down in the valley below.

We took a bus from the visitor's centre down to the fort where two young Mounties greeted us. They really look young and yet this is the age of most of the recruits back in the 1870's which this fort represents.

This is the fort guardhouse, of particular interest to me because of my story. If you look closely into the cells, you'll see they are only the length of a bed - or a mattress - and back then, people were smaller and those beds were short!

JJ tried out the cell for size.

See what I mean about the height?

Not sure if I like him in there, though.














This is an authentic cooking tent for when they were on the road. Inside is a box stove where the staff created cinnamon buns as a treat for us visitors. (Small piece, but great taste.)

An exciting part of the day was this mock trial using visitors as law-breakers. Very entertaining. The Mountie presiding over the court was an excellent actor and kept the crowd in stitches. This staff operates on a minimum staff and I was amazed at the multi-tasking and role-playing of these members. Not to mention once court is over, he does a quick change out of his uniform and into civilian clothes and then drives the bus.

JJ took advantage of the offer to test out the Mountie beds for softness. NOT!

The barrack building consists of sleeping quarters as well as a mess hall for dining and recreation.



Lookee here... I finally found someone who looks like the fictional hero of my Mountie story. His name is Michal (Me-hal) and he'll be used in all my promotional material for the character, Remy Bisset.

Thank you Michal for taking the time to pose for pics. Someone has already asked me if you were a model in your former life. *grin

This is a scale model of Fort Walsh. They have a legend with little buttons that you push and a red light will glow to show the corresponding building. Excellent workmanship but I didn't get the modeller's name.

We missed the bus after we finished taking photos and instead of waiting an hour for the next one, JJ and I walked back up the hill. As you can see, it's about a mile up. That was my exercise for the day on top of all the other walking around.

We left Fort Walsh behind and headed over to Conglomerate Cliffs to take a few photos from the top of Cypress Hills looking east...



... and looking northeast. What an exceptional view!

The trip to Fort Walsh and the Cypress Hills was so worth our time. The staff - especially Tracy and Michal went beyond any employees I've met anywhere. They spent invaluable time with me ensuring the research for my Mountie story was accurate. But the rest of the staff both down at the fort and up in the visitor's centre were welcoming and attentive to our needs. Kudos going out to the Fort Walsh National Historic Site.

Brine Shrimp and Giant Birds

JJ and I are on a western road trip en route Calgary to pick up Jess, but we have things to see before we get there. One of those places was Chaplin Lake on the Transcanada highway between Moose Jaw and Swift Current.

Chaplin Lake is a huge salt lake and the Brine Shrimp are so good, shorebirds come from all over to dine on the tasty morsels.

Here's some shrimp on display at the Chaplin Lake Interpretive Centre.

We climbed the observation platform and JJ availed himself of the giant binoculars to check out the big salt mine.

I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that...

Those Brine Shrimp are an important food source enabling the Plovers to grow to spectacular sizes.

In fact, this American Avocet seems to think JJ is a shrimp!

The next time we go through Chaplain Lake, I think we'll take a tour of the actual lake for a close up of the shorebirds and other going's on.

Have you ever been to a salt lake such as this? Any other salt mine?

Anita in New York

I'm back from the Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference in New York City and am blogging today with a post, Anita Mae At RWA in New York  over at the Inkwell Inspirations blog.

This was my first view of New York after breaking through the clouds. You can see the lighted Empire State Building on the right and the Chrysler Building on the left at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island which I blogged about in my Inkwell post  19th Century Mission Coffee House and my post here called,  It Can't Be June.

While flying, I'm not usually scared of the landings, but I did fret a bit when we seemed to be heading right for the Hudson River as we headed down to LaGuardia Airport. I mean, I've heard several news stories of planes crashing into the Hudson River and it seemed we were taking the plunge as well except no one else on board seemed concerned. Why didn't anyone tell me the runways were on the water?

Another misconception of mine was Times Square. I've seen the huge New Year's Eve ball drop on many holiday occasions and knew Times Square to be a location in New York. What I didn't know was that Times Square isn't one intersection in the city, but an area several blocks long.

This photo is of the northern end of Times Square. On the other side of the white tents is a stage where they were readying the display for the Transformers Premiere which took place later that evening.

And this is a photo of Times Square looking south. It's the one with the huge New Year's Eve ball drop as shown below:

I've added 2 photos to show the Ball Drop because althought it's big, it doesn't look big among all the electronic billboards that light the night below it.

This is one of the sights that caught my eye. I call it a vertical parking lot although I'm sure it has a more official name. And then at the top is two towers which I'm guessing are for water. I asked the hotel housekeeping staff, but even she didn't know what it was for. There's one on almost every roof top, though. Anyone know what it is?

I really missed being able to see the sunrise and sunset while in New York and then one evening as I walked west along a street, the setting sun kissed my face.

I loved the view from my room on the 38th floor. So many things to see.

After the Rita and Golden Heart Gala Award Show, we went to the top floor of the Marriott Marquis for a revolution while enjoying the view. It wasn't the outside view that caught my attention but the inside one. Take a look at this delectable chocolate fountain:



More photos on the way.

Bird Nests Flooded Out

For the second time this year our road to town is under water. The surrounding fields are flooded, most of them unseeded as well. Too much rain. Not even drying time. But we're not the only ones affected.

A week ago as I walked along the driveway, small birds flew up out of the grass. It got to be where I knew where their nests were. But this morning as I surveyed the water surrounding our farm, I realized the nests were about a foot down and the momma birds were nowhere insight.

Which got me thinking about an American coot couple (yes, that's a coot couple and not a cute couple, although they are cute). A pair of coots took up residence close to the corner where the driveway passes the shelterbelt. How had they fared with the flood situation?




Apr 25 - Height of the Spring Flood

May 6

May 7 - First sight of migration and nest building as waters decrease 



May 13 - Black dot is Coot looking for nest material



June 1 - Coot nest above water, below top of old Bullrushes



June 4 - Coot nest hidden amongst last year's bullrushes 

June 6 - Last years bullrushes have broken off and their litter shows the high water line 

June 22 - Recent downpours have filled the field and water covers the road.

June 22 - The nest has risen to the height of the bullrushes although I don't know how the coots do it. Only 3 nests are visible in the whole slough and all of them are American coots. 

I don't know how other nests have fared, but Nelson saw one duck with a tiny duckling trailing behind earlier today so I'm hoping the nests were hidden and spared.

Meanwhile, our basement is still flooding. Our dehumidifier broke down  - it was over 20 yrs old - and there's a shortage of them in the city due to all the flooded basements.

And yet, we're much better off than so many others. I heard on the TV tonight that the good folks down in Minot, ND will have to raise their dikes 8 feet to contain the Souris River. Eight feet!!! That's the height of a normal room. And then there's all the flooding in Manitoba. Och!

Book Review: To Win Her Heart

To Win Her Heart by Karen Witemeyer, Bethany House, May 2011

Karen Witemeyer’s suburb story skills shine in this second-chances tale that caught my attention at the first paragraph and kept me enthralled until the very end. Little details on every page gripped my heart and drew me into the lives of a man seeking a new life and a woman trying to shed her old one. I agonized between writing my own story and reading To Win Her Heart which I kept close so I could snatch a peek at every chance.

I believe Karen Witemeyer reached new heights with her choice of strong, yet vulnerable characters - social opposites who believe past errors have ruined their chance for a family of their own.

Eden Spencer is only in her late twenties, but in 1887 she’s considered a spinster. She lives with a small staff - people who’ve known her forever, and opens her personal library to the town. Church, good works for orphans and reading at her weekly children’s story hour fills her with joy, but it’s not enough to satisfy the emptiness for babies of her own. She needs a husband for that, except her mistrust in men is almost as strong as her need to keep her reputation spotless.

Levi Grant is a huge blacksmith who’s been in prison for accidently killing a man in a boxing match. Newly released, he heads to Spencer, Texas where the local preacher is the only one who knows his past, but is keeping it a secret because the town is desperate for a smithy. All Levi wants is to wrap himself in his new-found faith and do his ironwork without bringing attention to himself.

Two people from different social circles, neither needing a hint of scandal, yet they share a love of books. Never mind that Levi looks out-of-place in Eden’s library. It’s what’s inside him that counts. And here's where it gets interesting because Karen Witemeyer has given Levi a character trait he’s ashamed to show in public. As a child faced with ridicule, Levi fought back the only way he knew how - with his fists. And now that he’s out of prison, he’s sworn off fighting and has found a way to overcome his ‘defect’. Or has he? Perhaps it’s just hidden and waiting for an inopportune moment to make itself known. How I empathized with Levi because every day was a struggle of suppression, especially when he met Eden and his guarded emotions slipped away and revealed the real Levi Grant.

By that time I’d accepted him as a strong, yet vulnerable hero. I knew him. I knew his regrets. I knew he was an honorable man intent only on following God’s path. I knew his heart. And I was ready to do battle for him if he wasn’t going to defend himself.

Eden thinks she’s falling in love with a peaceful, reputable man. A pacifist who won’t allow herself to be linked with anyone with a hint of dishonesty or violence to their name, she’d rather live alone than let another man make a fool of her. If she isn’t careful, she’ll be the fool for not seeing Levi as God’s gift to her.

I hope you can tell home much I loved this book. The morning after I finished reading it, I awoke with Levi and Eden on my mind – and they stayed with me throughout the day and week. Truly a wonderful, heart-touching story with tears and laughter and finally, relief that yes, there is a happy ending after all. But oh, what a beautiful romantic tale of God’s hand on their lives.

If you'd like to know more about Karen Witemeyer and her books, go to her website at http://www.karenwitemeyer.com/ and take a look around. You might even want to try your hand at her Fan Fiction contest where you get to let her know how you think a book should end.