I’m a big CBC Eyeopener fan/listener, so the opportunity to meet Angela Knight, and her co-host Lauren McGinnis, was a thrill! I’m afraid I was acting like a Fan Girl, but I’m told the live interview went off just fine. This little book is giving me so many opportunities in the media spotlight that I’m kind of star-struck, but if it means getting Flip, Flop, Flapjack in the hands of more readers, I’m all in! Here’s the link to the live interview: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-5-calgary-eyeopener/clip/15984722-flip-flop-flapjack.
A box of books – my new picture book – arrived on my doorstep Tuesday, so that’s the day I designate as the book’s birthday.
The intense rush of emotion when I opened the box of books is hard to describe. Pride? Relief? Joy? Yes, all of those. Especially Joy. First, I simply admired the neat stacks of books, waiting for my signature. Then I picked up the top copy of FLIP, FLOP, FLAPJACK! and clutched it to my chest. I was alone, so I did a little happy dance, I admit it! And then…I opened the book and inhaled. Ahh, the faint smell of ink and shiny new paper, mixed with (I let my imagination run here) the sweat and tears shed over this story.
This book is special to me, as my first picture book. But also, it tells the story of an important part of our family history. My grandfather, Jack Morton, lived a life that earned him many nicknames, but the one that has endured is Wildhorse Jack. And one of his claims to fame is being the instigator of the first pancake breakfast at the Calgary Stampede. 100 YEARS AGO! So, when I inhaled the scent of my new books, I fancied that I also inhaled the scent of approval from my ancestors – my mother Frankie and her siblings, my grandmother Carmen and especially my grandfather, Wildhorse Jack.
So go ahead and smell your books. That scent is called “bibliosmia”. Some detect a hint of vanilla or glue. What scents can you detect?
I’m so thrilled to share the cover of my new picture book, Flip, Flop, Flapjack!, to be released this spring by Red Barn Books. I’m almost speechless, I’m so happy with it – so I’ll just let the cover speak for itself. More on the book, later.
Eleven years ago, I walked for twenty-one days across northern Spain, on an ancient pathway beginning in the Pyrenees near the French border – the famed Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Two close friends (“sole sisters”) accompanied me, Rona and Lanice. We carried everything we’d need for the entire journey in our heavy (20 pound) backpacks. More importantly, we carried friendship, the loving support of our families we’d left behind, and a sense of embarking on a great adventure. If you’ve walked the pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago, you know what I experienced. If you haven’t, I urge you to consider taking this life-altering journey. The Camino de Santiago route is over 1000 years old, and it currently sees over 300,000 pilgrims each year. For bibliophiles, an interesting note: the oldest book written about this pilgrimage is the Codex Calixtinus, which was written sometime in the 12th Century about the Camino Frances and is kept in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
Fast-forward eleven years, past a second shared pilgrimage with the same friends and much joy and heartache in the intervening years, and I headed back to the Spanish camino route. This time, I would volunteer at one of the hostels (albergues) along the pilgrimage route, with one of my two sole sisters, Lanice. After 24 hours of training from the previous hospitalero, Jorge, we were on our own. This is what we’d planned for, why we’d taken a weekend training course back home, and why we’d saved to cover the costs of our own travel to Spain for. To give back to the Camino, in gratitude for those who had cared for us when we were on our journey. Lanice speaks decent Spanish. I have a pathetic smattering of French plus Google Translate on my phone, to create my “Camino blessings” to give out to pilgrims at breakfast. Our local hosts spoke only Spanish and Basque. What could possibly go wrong?
WHAT THIS ALBERGUE NEEDS
What this albergue needs
Is a stool.
Or perhaps simply a tall friend with a long reach who is
Happy to stop her own chores and fetch what is desired.
What this albergue needs
Is a working toaster.
Our locals tell us there isn’t a toaster to be found in all of the village.
But the pilgrims need something hot for breakfast!
“Pain perdu” served hot from the skillet, every morning
Solves the problem of stale bread and only requires us to rise another half hour earlier.
What this albergue needs
Is a candle
so we can sit outside at night and eat, and drink wine
And listen to someone play the guitar.
A headlamp and paper towel cone make a magical lantern
And cast a soft glow, inviting camaraderie.
What this albergue needs
Is a yoga studio.
Hours of sweeping and mopping
And scrubbing showers and toilets leave us with sore backs and shoulders.
Not to mention the pilgrims’ need for stretching out sore calf muscles.
But a plastic tarp from the donation bin and three thick blankets
Are adequate.
What this albergue needs
Is a bigger kitchen.
There’s barely room for one cook, and only one dish washer at a time. No wonder some pilgrims don’t wash and put away their dishes!
Yet, isn’t it fun to squeeze three cooks into the tiny space, with helpers chopping the vegetables on the communal dining table?
What this albergue needs
Is a clothes dryer.
And yet – a double spin cycle on the sheets and dishtowels and a few hours drying on the line in the warm Spanish sun does the job with the bonus of fresh scent and requires stretching and bending and, well, see Yoga Studio.
What this albergue needs
Is nothing more than what it has.
Two servants’ hearts, four listening ears, and two hospitaleras with enough love and laughter to fill this tiny space.
My very own pet badger! I named her Maggie, to honour my grandfather’s actual pet badger. She plays a key role in my upcoming picture book, Flip, Flop, Flapjack! Mine is definitely more cuddly and safer than Grandpa Jack’s badger, but she’s missing the allure of wondering if she’ll suddenly snap at you or flex her long claws…Maggie invites you to join her for hilarious antics, once the book is available (spring 2023).
“the action of working with someone to produce or create something”
Creating a picture book with Red Barn Books means a true collaboration between author (yours truly), illustrator (Melissa Bruglemans-LaBelle (pictured) and editor Ayesha Clough. Check out Melissa’s art at http://www.touchofpaint.ca, and Red Barn Books at https://redbarnbooks.ca.
Oh how I wish I could share the illustrator mock-ups for my Flip, Flop, Flapjack! picture book that Red Barn Books is publishing next spring. The illustrator, Melissa Bruglemans-Labelle, is brilliant and I really love what she’s creating for my characters. However, I’m sworn to secrecy (truly!) but what I can tell you is how to find Melissa’s other art work – at http://www.touchofpaint.ca, or check her out on Instagram, at mbruglemans.
REVEALED, a poetry anthology, contains poems written by patients in Alberta hospitals. One of my poems was chosen for this collection. But far more importantly, the anthology is a fundraiser for Artists on the Wards. That’s a fine arts program that runs in Edmonton hospitals and includes art programming by musicians, visual artists and literary artists. There is a great deal of scientific research that supports the healing qualities of the arts, something that those of us in the arts know intuitively. More information about Revealed, and the Artists on the Wards, and to purchase a copy of the book, can be found at http://www.friendsofuah.org/aow. And wouldn’t you love the cover to grace your bookshelves and bedside table?
Brenda Joyce Leahy 