I live in a small town in central BC with my husband and my dogs. I love to get outside whether that is hiking, kayaking, taking the dogs for a walk, or spey fishing for steelhead. I have had the privilege to complete several backpacking trips from the historic gold rush Chilkoot trail in the north, the Brazeau Loop, to the West Coast Trail and many in between. I have also made the trip around the Bowron Lakes circuit a couple times and fully intend to go back.
When I am not escaping to the bush I am working as a Literary Intern, bookkeeper, social media advertising, and working on my own creative writing projects. I love learning about the publishing industry and the intricacies that work within it. I love working with agencies and being able to see the publishing world from their perspective. As might be assumed by now I am an avid bookworm and I am always working on building up my own collection. Some of my favourites include Suzanne by Anais Barbeau-Lavelette translated by Rhonda Mullins, Ru by Kim Thuy, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and I could go on.
As difficult as blue sky and sunshine makes it to focus, cool rainy days have the opposite effect. For this reason I love rainy days as much as sunny days?they’re both beautiful in their own way. The grey rainy days mean I get lots of work done. I can lock myself away in the office… Read more »
I read a book recently about Grandma Gatewood: Grandma Gatewood’s Walk, the inspiring story of the woman who saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery. Grandma Gatewood, or Emma Gatewood, decided one day to go for a walk and chose the Appalachian Trail, a 2050-mile-long trail. The first time she hiked that trail, and the… Read more »
In the early courses, I found I didn’t want to ask “silly” questions of my tutors. I felt that most of the questions I had were things I should be able to answer myself, and I didn’t want to bother anyone. But part way through, I believe it was my first philosophy course (difficult to… Read more »
This spring we have had some wild weather, from flooding rains to temperatures soaring above 25 degrees Celsius within a week’s span. When the rain is pouring and storms are blowing in and out, it is easy to stay motivated on courses and work. But when the weather flips and it is sunshine and blue… Read more »
It is so easy to look at someone successful and forget about the struggles they went through to get there. With convocation upon us, my Social Media feeds are beginning to fill with speeches from various graduations, some recent, some not so recent. Some I haven’t seen before, and some I have seen many times…. Read more »
When heading down a new path there comes both solicited and unsolicited advice. It can be difficult, with so much information being thrown at you, to know which to heed and which to ignore. It’s not that the “ignored” advice is bad, it is just that it isn’t best for you. When I graduated from… Read more »
One thing we learn to do, and do well, at Athabasca University is research. We research everything?largely on our own?whether programs, courses, professors, or researching for our papers within the courses. This ability to dig and dig and dig and find reliable (sourced) information and opinion pieces is vital. However, is it possible to over… Read more »
We decided to unhook the spare bathroom, as there were some issues with it, and turn it into a much-needed storage room. This plan was to take place sometime in the future?however, the plumber called and had a spare few minutes right now. So he came and disconnected everything. The next day I emptied it… Read more »
Tax season us upon us again. I dread this time of year; it feels like a final exam for me. But, I also tend to lean the way of getting them in, and done, as soon as possible. It allows me to file 2016 away and the stress is over, and whether the answers are… Read more »
With convocation coming up I wanted to talk about some of the things that graduates going to Athabasca should do, some things to avoid, and some of the things I wish I had done. I went to Athabasca a day early; I wanted to have some time to explore the town and the campus before… Read more »