Thursday, June 20, 2013

Day Four: Canadian Children's Book Tour 2013


This is the fourth installment about my week long tour for TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2013. I toured in northern Saskatchewan. More on the whole idea/background of Book Week here. Catch up on: installment one, or maybe installment two, or even number three.

Wednesday May 8, 2013
I was packing the car in the morning when in the grass beyond the parking lot I caught sight of this little guy (or gal). When I posted it on my Facebook page I was told it was indeed a gopher, otherwise known as a Richardson’s ground squirrel. A first for me!

I didn't have to go far this morning. My first school was Queen Mary Community School. The library had a great old fashioned tub full of pillows in it. I thought that was cool. It was a very large audience but they were wonderful. Lots of kids volunteered to be Mr Fox. An hour went by very quickly. And at the end of my presentation many of the younger children came up and hugged me and thanked me for coming. The teachers gave me a nice gift. I’m proud to now own a bright blue book bag with the school’s logo on it.
Queen Mary foyer. I love the dream catcher.
Today's lunch was a treat. Jane Parrott took me to Amy’s on Second restaurant where I had a lovely big bowl of Italian chicken soup. Excellent! So go there if you’re ever in Prince Albert. After that it was pretty much just down the street to the second school.
Westview Community School
Westview Community School had a couple pigeons perched on the roof watching me approach. (:>) As I waited for the teacher to meet me, because it was lunch recess I listened and watched kids practicing hoop dancing in the gym. That was amazing! The drums were so powerful and the girls graceful. In Ms Radke's classroom I sat in a wooden rocking chair and shared my books with the classes. Here's the beautiful envelope for the card they gave me.


Then it was off to find North Battleford via Saskatoon. It was a three hour drive with rather a lot of excitement at one point:
Sorted green farm vehicles

More sorted vehicles

Share the road
A lookout stop
Go under the tankers
And then when I was near Radisson...
This doesn't look good

This really doesn't look good

Um, what happened to the road?

OMG time to start paying attention to driving!
This flooding was very scary. That transport in front of me was kicking up some serious waves. I took it slow. At one point the car hesitated for a moment and I think my heart stopped thinking it was going to stall, but I made it through. That was a lot of water.

You can read/watch a video about the flooding here on the Saskatoon CTV news: http://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/highway-16-under-water-1.1272194
Cool clouds
I was so done by the time I found the motel. Good night Battlefords.

Random Memorable Moments

  • The billowing dust kicked up by vehicles racing down dirt side roads
  • Successfully ignoring a big fart in the middle of one presentation
  • Count for Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” on the Satellite Radio: 3
  • Count for Fall Out Boy’s “My Songs Know” on the Satellite Radio: 5


2 comments:

LMacL said...

Did you know Lucy Maud Montgomery lived in Prince Albert for about a year? I hope to get there some time!
Yikes that flooding looks scary.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Unknown said...

I didn't know that about her. That's cool. You know I'm an Anne fan. :> A belated happy first day of summer to you too.