In 2010, my husband and I left the city to escape to rural life in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and we're savoring every moment.
I update my blog with everything I love through prose and photography, as well as posts about writing. My first novel was released in March 2016 and its sequel was released in March 2017. My third novel, The Women of Wild Cove, was published in September 2025, this time of the speculative genre.
Barbara Vitelli is a book reviewer and bloggerat Book Club Momhere on WordPress. She also shares author interviews, indie author profiles and blogging advice.
In addition to all of that, Barbara is a book-clubber, an avid reviewer on GoodReads, and she has over five thousand followers on Twitter.
I chose the following post from her lovely blog, not because it is her most recent, but because I appreciate that she reviews the well-loved classics by famous authors as well as newer selections by current and lesser-known authors.
This gorgeous convertible is the vintage car 18-year-old Ben Swift drives in my YA novel, Calmer Girls. It belongs to his dad but he gets to borrow it often.
Interesting trivia: Out of 69,176 T-Birds built in 1966, 5049 were convertibles. This generation of the Thunderbird played a starring role in the TV series Highlander and was also in the 1991 movie Thelma and Louise.
By the way…good news! Calmer Girls is now available in paperback, as well as e-book, on Amazon.
What does a true-blue introvert do when her debut novel is coming out the next day?
Why, she flees the country, of course!
Yep. On Wednesday, hubs and I will fly away to a warmer, sunnier clime for a little rest and recreation. Truth is, this long-overdue vacation with family has been planned since early last fall, when I didn’t know the Calmer Girls release date yet.
Murphy’s Law took over then, making sure that out of the fifty-two weeks in a year, the release had to take place during the same week I’m missing in action, on the day after I get there!
Oh well, there isn’t a thing to do about it, only keep abreast of the event via the “interwebs” and if necessary, emails and phone calls. Smart phones are wonderful things, aren’t they? I won’t be able to take a complete holiday from technology like I usually do when I go down south, but I suppose that’s the trade-off (and a cool and understandable one at that) when one has a novel published.
There will be plenty of time to work on marketing when we return. At that time I’ll look into hosting a giveaway, and as the weather improves, there will be a book-signing to plan. It’s all good.
On another note, I’m sharing a childhood picture today.
Already a hardcore bookworm at 11 yrs. old
Yes, I know it’s only a Charlie Brown Peanuts book but (besides the fact that I consider Charles M. Schulz brilliant) it was still a book to bury my nose in so I wouldn’t have to socialize at an extended family gathering. So shy and introverted, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at my aunt, the photographer. Not much has changed; I still prefer to be on the other side of the camera. 🙂
If you knew my granddaughter, you would not believe the resemblance.
~ Hey! I just realized what my long-lost natural hair colour was! ~
See you all again when I get back. In the meantime, please check out my new Author home page, and if you are so inclined, like me on my new Author Facebook page.
Spring is a long, drawn-out affair here on the island of Newfoundland.
No matter what the calendar says, we still have to endure the odd snowstorm and it seems to take forever to warm up.
Sleet storms are common. But the next day I take in the results with my camera…
…because when the sun comes out, everything shimmers and glows with a crust of rime.
Tufts of grass lay frozen and still.
harp seal on ice
Silence reigns today because the spring ice is in and the air is calm.
Our “flippery” friend lolls about, basking in the peace and quiet.
(And I do believe I made up a word. 😉 )
Turn that frown upside down!
You are free, little seal. Nothing to hurt you here.
Pamela Wight is one of the many authors I follow here on WordPress. She writes the blog, Rough Wighting: “Life in a flash – a weekly blog on daily living.”
I enjoy her stories and her engaging writing style.
In Pam’s own words:
“I write because I love the written word…This blog shares that love. Parts of it contain fast flashes of life that I write for the total joy of it.
My last name is Wight, and I teach creative writing for fun – calling it Rough Writing. My students have renamed my class ROUGH WIGHTING, and I think that’s just perfect.”
I chose the following post from her blog because of how it highlights her grandchild’s wisdom and keen observation of people and the world around her. Plus, it’s funny!
Designing abstract images from nature photography can be creative fun. When you play around with your photos to highlight shape, colour, texture, etc., you can come up with some interesting captures.
In this post, I share images from the four seasons.
All but one were taken here in Newfoundland.
Winter in Newtown
Cold Atlantic Ocean off Perry’s PointSleet on Grass with Ice Fog Funnel Cloud
Spring
Iceberg in Greenspond, NLTuscan Vineyard and Olive Grove, ItalySpring Thaw in Newtown
Summer
Groundcover in Woods, Kilmory, NLLead Cove Bank, NLThunderclouds over NewtownEvergreen Branches in Garden Cove, NL
Autumn in Newtown
Granite and Lichen on Perry’s PointPartridgeberries Wet SandMackerel Sky in Newtown
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Daily Post Prompt: Never Again – Have you ever gone to a new place or tried a new experience and thought to yourself, “I’m never doing that again!” Tell us about it.”
“Copying pans*” in Tilting, NL – Newfoundland Webbers Facebook Page -photo credit: Paddy Barry
On Saturday, I saw this photo on Facebook that brought back a memory for me. Also on that day, I read the above prompt from the Daily Post. So I couldn’t resist sharing said event from my childhood.
My friend Nancy, my younger sister Lynn and I were walking home from school one late afternoon in St. John’s, when we noticed from the Boulevard the many ice pans on the surface of Quidi Vidi Lake. I think it might have been spring thaw.
Quidi Vidi in summer…and winter
Quicker than you can say “last one in is a rotten egg,” the three of us ran down to the lake’s edge, dropped our book-bags on the shore, and proceeded to jump from ice pan to ice pan across the surface of the deep water. Not once did either of us think anything could go wrong. I guess we were so young and naive, we had no fear of the risk we were taking.
Luckily, Nancy’s father happened to drive along the Boulevard while we were playing there. Before we knew it, we were swiftly ordered into his car and driven home. At the time, we didn’t feel so lucky, but I shudder at the thought of what could have gone down if he hadn’t. Perhaps all of us!
Of course, our parents were outraged and we all received our punishment. The next time I saw my friend Nancy, she told me that her father gave her a good spanking.
“And that was it?” I asked, incredulous. My parents didn’t give spankings as discipline. They knew what really hurt: grounding my sister and me for a full week. No outdoors for seven days except to go to school.
I remember thinking at the time that Nancy had gotten off easy compared to us. Yes, she’d endured a spanking, but at least her suffering was “behind” her. 😉
Now I realize Mom and Dad had wanted us to appreciate how dangerous our activity was, by giving us a whole week to think about it. Never again did we dare to risk drowning by “copying pans.”
*copy: To jump from one floating pan of ice to another in a children’s game of following or copying a leader when the ice is breaking up in spring in a cove or harbour. A game of follow-my-leader over the broken ice, every cake of which, it may be, sinks under the weight of a lad. It is a training for the perilous work of seal hunting, which came later in the life of Newfoundlanders. You will see the merry young lads ‘copying’ as they call it—jumping from pan to pan till far out in the Cove in fearless rivalry. ~ Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Did you ever jump on ice pans when you were a kid?
Have you ever done something new and regretted it?
My granddaughter is ten years old now, though in some ways she will always be my baby girl.
When she was three and her brother was one, I took care of them for about a year and a half when my daughter returned to her nursing position at the Janeway Children’s Hospital. This was just before Paul and I moved to Newtown.
During the routine of caring for them, I would jot down anything our little girl said that made me smile.
At three years old:
“Nanny, I’m ‘boring’!”
“Oh, you are, are you? How about we go for a walk then?”
“Can’t we do something ‘funner’?”
Padmé was the name of her first cat. While she stroked her head gently: “I love Padmé even when she scratches me.”
While we were making cookies: “You’re going to Lead Cove this weekend, are you?”
“Yes, Nanny, so you’re going to miss us for a while.”
Her baby brother fell, bumped his head and cried. When he finally calmed down, she looked at me sadly and said, “I don’t like when that happens to my brother. It makes me scared.” (How well she articulates her feelings at such a tender age.)
“Nanny, it’s raining. Can I go outdoors with my ‘amp-brella’?”
“Your mac and cheese is ready, sweetie.”
“How come you didn’t say ‘roni’, Nanny?”
“I don’t want to grow up, Nanny.”
“Everybody grows up, honey. Why don’t you want to grow up?”
“Because I want you to always babysit me.”
She and her brother were fighting over something. “I’m so disappointed in him!”
(And continuing to build her vocabulary:) “This is so frustrating!”
(In reply to something I said to her:) “Apparently!”
This one floored me: “Oh, Nanny, I don’t know what to do with my life!”
Feeding her baby like Mommy does 🙂
She was telling me that she saw a cowboy when she was out with her mommy.
“He had a real cowboy hat and cowboy boots!”
“Where did you see him?”
“At the booze store.”
“When I grow up, I’m going to get married.”
“And who are you going to marry?”
Matter-of-factly, she said, “My brother.”
Playing dress-up in Mommy’s wedding dress
Four years old:
Holding her brother’s face in her hands: “His eyes are so beautiful, I could cry!”
Talking about her bad dream from the night before: “My dreams are broken.”
“What did you dream about last night, Nanny?” (I think she’s the only person who ever asked me that!)
“Nanny, you’re so sweet.”
“Why am I sweet?”
“Because you do so many things for us.”
She was telling me about the dead, mangled shrew that her cat Ginger had brought home recently. “Nanny, you could see inside it. It looked like old wires, like inside my very old couch.”
I commented on the cut on her leg.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said fearfully. The next day she announced out of the blue: “I’m ready to talk about my ‘owie’ now.”
We were out for a walk around the block when she pointed at a little girl across the street. “That’s my friend!”
“What is her name?”
“I don’t know…”
She told me about one day when another relative came to babysit. “When I saw it wasn’t you, I screeched!”
“Why, sweetheart?”
“I wanted you, Nanny, because I love you so much. I’ll love you till the stars fall from the sky…but that will never happen, so I’ll always love you.”
*Only last three photos were taken by yours truly. All others taken by the children’s Mommy and Daddy.
What cute things did your children or grandchildren say?
Please share below!
Jennifer's Journal 