I had my picture taken in two different places with two different people on Friday.
The first time was early in the afternoon at with the lovely and talented writer Jodi DeLong. She is best known for writing about gardening from a Nova Scotian perspective, but writes about a wide variety. I particularly enjoy her monthly Canning Newsletter, 8 pages of goodness about that fine village where I attended high school decades ago. In recent years, the villages has taken a decidedly artistic bent, with a yoga studio, a pottery place, and a place that sells lots of items that artists would use. There has been continued talk of a wine bar opening up there. I try to drive through Canning every visit to the Valley but didn't this time as my visit was cut short.
Jodi told me a really funny story that has a Canning slant. There is a store there called "Lee's Shop", run by a young man who has mental challenges. Jodi wrote a story about him and the shop and CAPRE, The Community Association of People for Real Enterprise, an organization to help people with mental challenges. Here is their website. The story was submitted to Reader's Digest, but the editor refused to accept the story because the business was not profit-driven. She then submitted the story to Saltscapes, which she also freelances for. The story was so popular that Reader's Digest bought the reprint rights! Jodi ended up being paid twice for the story, once by the people who had rejected it in the first place. I hope she got paid a bit extra for the irony.
Jodi is laid up recovering from a recent operation, so that is why she is reclining so comfortably whilst I stand over her as if I were Bela Lugosi about to slake his thirst.
A couple of hours later, I met my good friend and one of the 4.7 Ken Pineo, at the Just Us! in Wolfville. We ended up talking for more than two hours about various things; I do not see him enough. More on that a bit later.
As we wound down our discussion, I approached a young lady and asked her to take a couple pictures of us, and these are the results. You'll note that I changed ties before I met with Ken.
Jodi, Ken, thank you for your precious time on Friday. I am honoured to be able to be in your presence.
Keep reading. There is another blog post coming up shortly!
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