Forever Julia wins McNally Robinson Book Awards for Young People (older categor)

In fact the road was a lot like this,
minus the mountains & the arid landscape.
Otherwise identical, but metaphorical.

It's been a long and winding road, back to this blog!

Apparently moving to another county across an ocean is sort of a big deal. Sometimes it even interrupts your life, even if you are not an organized type A personality. It seems a transatlantic relocation will put a bit of a kink in your everyday goings on.

Go figure.

Sunrise over our Pier in Ponemah.
(The Drew snapped this photo!)

Now we are back to the cottage in Ponemah, Manitoba for the summer, where I get to complete my middle grade novel; Ford and Ellie: Family of Spies along the shores of Lake Winnipeg.

While in England I had the extreme honour of receiving two nominations for Manitoba Book Awards; The John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer and the McNally Robinson Book Awards for Young People (older category). The first award went to the talented Chantal Fiola, but I won a Manitoba Book Award for Forever Julia! 

                              Crazy, right? 

Super bad image, but that signature doesn't lie!
Much Happy Dancing was done.

Come August 30th we head back to our final year in England with full and heavy hearts. Our Winnipeg and lake-time fun with our friends and family will fuel us for further adventures in Europe and carry us back to our new friends and dear family in England.

How can it be, that in 12 short months we now find ourselves stretched between two countries, thousands of miles apart? If only the Concord would come out of retirement and fly to Winnipeg every four months, life would be sublime.

Hmmm. There may be a story in there...