Cheryl Long

sunny, clear blue day - gorgeous autumn day in Montreal - temps 10

Frost warning last night...bet they got some in the townships. We're in Montreal, as you can perhaps tell....came in for an interview (taped) for CBC Radio's All in a Weekend. Then have an event at Paragraphe Books on McGill College street in downtown montreal tonight. 6pm. In english.

Then off tomorrow morning - 5am - to drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake. About a 7 hour drive from Montreal. But very pretty - and we can take our time. This is for our annual Thanksgiving weekend family reunion. Since our mother died - eleven years ago - my brothers and I realized if we didn't make the commitment to have have an annual family reunion, we run the risk of drifting apart. Not on purpose, but because we all have hectic lives, and it can just happen. So every year we take turns hosting the event.

Last year it was at Rob and Audi's new home in Regina. And this year we've decided to do something different...we've all hosted the event several years - so we wanted to change it up a bit. So Doug - whose turn it was to host - found a wonderful big old home in the gorgeous region of Niagara...and rented it for the long weekend. Rob and Audi coming from Regina. Kim, Adam and Sarah coming from Edmonton. Doug, Roslyn and Charlie from Toronto and Brian from Virginia. And us from Quebec.

It's been a few years since I visited Niagara region - but I know it is just beautiful. It's where a lot of fruit is grown - very temperate. And terrific wineries, apparently. Really looking forward to seeing everyone. Rob will cook the turkey, we've volunteered to do the vegetables (what are those, again?) And I suspect someone will manage an apple and a pumpkin pie. I love pumpkim pies. Yum.

Saw the sad news about Steve Jobs. What a visionary. I'm writing this on my MacBook. So sad to lose him. But what a legacy he left. And while it was a short life, he seemed to live it to the fullest, and on his terms.

I've slugged this post Cheryl Long because I wanted to tell you about my wonderful friend Cheryl. If you follow the blog you'll know her - we often meet for breakfast. She's Gary's wife, and Joan's aughter-in-law. but way more important, she's her own woman and a brilliant artist and writer. She's combined those two with an illustrate book for children. It's called Dragon Dreams and is just amazing. We love it so much, we bought one of the original works from the book.

Anyway - I thought you might like to see her other illustrations....so here's the link to her website:

http://cheryllongillustration.com/

And to her page on Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Dreams-Cheryl-Long/dp/9889881950/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317730764&sr=1-1

Hope that works...looks strange to me, but it worked when I tried it. As you might know, I've never done this before with other authors or friends...but i feel so strongly about Cheryl's books and her abilities, I just felt more people should see her work.

Hope you enjoy it too.

and maybe Michael and I will see you tonight at Paragraphe books. Hope you're thriving!