Eugenie (Jane) Fernandes, 1943 – 2026

On By janlcoates3 Comments

I went to the celebration of life for author/illustrator Eugenie (Jane to her friends) Fernandes last week. It was a beautiful occasion, although I kept thinking how much Jane would have liked to be there chatting with her friends and family. Her son and daughter (both artists) had arranged a lot of her books (covering close to 7 decades) around the room, We were invited to take one of her recent picture books home, which was such a nice idea. Jane’s son Matthew had created life-size banners for the celebration, and I was overcome for a minute when I saw the first one greeting us outside the door.

The only other kids’ book person I had a chance to chat with (other than Kim Fernandes, Jane’s daughter) was Eric Walters and his wife, Anita. I think he had created 5 or 6 books with Jane over the years. He’s published something like 140 himself!

          Three years ago, I asked Fitzhenry & Whiteside owner/publisher Holly Doll if we might ask Jane to do the illustrations for my book on iconic landscape artist, Doris McCarthy. I’ve always loved Jane’s art; in my humble opinion, her illustrations of kids are the best. To my great surprise and delight, Jane agreed, partly because she had read Doris’s autobiographies – she was a fan as am I. Last summer, Jane welcomed me to her home with open arms, and I got to have lunch, full of book chat and laughter, a couple of times. Her colour-full home is near Haliburton where I live in the summers these days. Jane’s husband, Henry, is also an artist, and their home is FULL of beautiful art.

          On one of those lunch dates, Jane asked me to help her work through a picture book manuscript she’d been working on. I was thrilled to be asked and proceeded to read the story aloud several times over an hour or two, with both of us cackling, exclaiming eureka and tweaking here and there. I will always remember that afternoon as one of the best of my writing life.

          Sadly, Jane died mid-way through creating her illustrations for the Doris book. She completed all the pencil sketches, a huge part of an illustrator’s job, and she also finished a handful of the watercolour illustrations. I’m hopeful we can find another illustrator to complete the art in Jane’s style. Sutherland House Books bought Fitzhenry & Whiteside last year, and “Doris McCarthy: Sharing the Joy” is scheduled for publication in 2028.

          It still makes me sad that I didn’t get to know Jane better, but I am so happy that I did get to spend a little time with her, both in person, and via email and phone calls. She was a lovely, vibrant human who made the world a better place to be. We are all lucky she spent her life creating kids’ books; all 130 of them will live on.

The Good Old Days

On By janlcoates8 Comments

The Good Old Days

Paddling into dense early morning fog – me, my kid and his.

Two loon warblers, fishing as the sun rises. There one minute, gone the next.

Chippy competing with the bluejays for piles of birdseed.

Splish-splashing in the mud kitchen – experimenting for hours. Scientists in the making. Or maybe chefs?

Soccer, pickleball, bocce, and biking.

Music, singing and dancing.

Stories, in French and English; scarecrows, Monarchs and little girl mechanics.

The littlest one pushing the ice cream bus; second littlest sharing her baby doll and bottles.

Purple cake frosted by small hands – a work of art!

My ten people around the same table, beer-marinated chicken and fresh corn.

Old dog sleeping.

S’mores by a blazing campfire.

Tent magically lit by fairy lights.

Nana’s heart overflowing.

Wishing these moments in time could last forever.

Fredrik Backman

On By janlcoates9 Comments

This Swedish author is close to replacing John Irving as my favorite author (of books for adults) – Kate DiCamillo remains my favorite for kids’ novels. As far as I can tell, he’s only been published since 2014 (A MAN CALLED OVE which was adapted into two different movies, one starring Tom Hanks), but he has an incredible understanding of people. And he can create characters that make you wish you knew them in real life. The people always come first for me when reading, before the story, but I rarely read a novel that draws me into the story and the people in that story like Backman does. He’s the type of writer who creates lines so perfect that you have to stop and re-read them several times – usually insights about being human – things we all know, but expressed so well that we have to pause.

I just finished reading MY FRIENDS, but I’ve also read BEAR TOWN, ANXIOUS PEOPLE, MY GRANDMOTHER SENDS HER REGARDS AND APOLOGIES and BRITT MARIE WAS HERE.

The best part is he has several books (some novellas, one non-fiction) I haven’t yet read:

THE DEAL OF A LIFETIME

US AGAINST YOU

THE WINNERS

AND EVERY MORNING THE WAY HOME GETS LONGER AND LONGER

THINGS MY SON NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD.

Happy reading!

Puerto Vallarta – through my eyes

On By janlcoates10 Comments

I’m getting too lazy with my blog, but here are some pictures of Puerto Vallarta, mostly taken in the Romantic Zone where we were staying. The only evidence we saw of the February cartel violence – 4 burned convenience stores. The friendly people who live in PV work so hard! If you’re interested, you can click each picture in the gallery, and it will show up full-size:) Happy spring!

“Retired and Inspired” – a podcast

On By janlcoates3 Comments

I recently had lots of fun chatting with a friend from my Acadia days, back in the late 70s and early 80s, on her new podcast.  We’ve reconnected now that we’re both spending time in the Haliburton Highlands. She’s starting a podcast, “Retired and Inspired” – don’t suppose I’ll ever actually be retired, but I’m definitely slowing down. I think I giggled too much, and said “yeah” about 200 times, but it’s a nice chat, nonetheless. Heather (Hez) has a great voice for radio, and she does the Tuesday morning show on Canoe FM, the community radio station in Haliburton.

Retired and Inspired with Heather Sargent.

Back in Nova Scotia for a couple of weeks, enjoying some pickleball, and a visit from Granddaughters #2 and #3 (and their parents, Liam & Rachel).

And I had so much fun doing illustrations for a family book my friend Carole is putting together for her many great nieces and nephews.

It’s interesting to feel like a visitor to Wolfville (since I’ve been here for most of the time since 1978…)

Hope your summer isn’t whizzing by too quickly, and that you’re having fun and staying cool!

Algarve, Portugal – Thanks for the smiles!

On By janlcoates8 Comments

I took SO many pictures during our recent trip, and I put together a little video – it was a busy but wonderful two weeks, and the pictures don’t do the Algarve justice. Thanks for coming along with me!

Seems you may have to have a VIMEO account to watch the video, so I’ll post a few individual pics here:

A bar in Carvoiero that hosts Canada afternoon – got to sing “Oh Canada” with this big group of Canadians – very cool experience!

Back at School

On By janlcoates9 Comments

Back at School

Now that I’m back in Nova Scotia for the winter (and missing my little girls in Ontario, I’m keen to do some school author visits. Thanks to the Writers in the Schools program (WITS) offered by the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, I got to spend time at McCulloch Education Centre in Pictou last week, and it reminded me how much I like being with kids! I took a few pictures of wall art, and I wanted to share some of the interesting things kids said/drew:

After I read SKY PIG, I get kids to draw a picture of their dream. If they could have anything in the whole entire world, what would it be? There are always lots of kids who want to be princesses, have a puppy or travel to Disneyland, and the responses range from the hilarious to the sad:

  1. My dream is that my mother could be Queen of the World (and the picture showed her entire family as princes, princesses, kings, etc.)
  • My dream is to have my own zoo, and it would be full of birds.
  • My dream is to visit my dad’s house again.

After I read THE POCKET PIG, it always amazes how many kids have imaginary friends, and they have detailed descriptions of their friendship with those friends, including one boy who said he only plays with his imaginary friend while in the bathroom so he can have privacy. They have fun drawing their imaginary friends, or imagining what that character would look like if they don’t have one (yet). They draw lots of other kids, dogs, and one boy drew a very detailed mouse – another a giant ant. Kids have so much imagination!

I’m trying out hearing aids as I’m tired of constantly asking people to repeat themselves. I had a head injury when I was in my 20s, including damage to my left ear, so it’s time to do something about it. For sure, my hearing is improved with things like radio and TV volume being reduced, but I still struggled to understand some of the younger kids last week. This is something I noticed last year, too, and I wondered if it had to do with Covid/masks, or are kids just having more trouble articulating now? Too much screen time? Not enough human conversation? A combination of everything, most likely. I’m sure it’s super frustrating for them since they know exactly what they’re trying to communicate. And speech pathologists have far too many kids on their caseloads.

I think (hope) there’s a trend towards old-school methods in teaching reading and writing, hopefully involving more phonetics after the Whole Language debacle. I’ve always been a fan of spelling lists, but it seems they disappeared years ago. Life is just so complicated for kids today, and I’m not sure the adults making the key decisions in education are always well-informed on the needs of kids. (ie. Not teachers, but the people in curriculum development offices).

Anyway, that’s my two cents. I got to spend the night with my childhood best friend while I was in Pictou – lots to catch up on! The weather here in Nova Scotia has turned, as it does before Remembrance Day. Hope you’re staying cozy in your little corner!

THRIFTING, HEAT and FLEDGLINGS (birds and kids) . Summer 2024

On By janlcoates6 Comments

Phew!

We had a real heatwave here in the Haliburton Highlands last week – 35 with a humidex closer to 41. Phew! Luckily, we have window air conditioners and ceiling fans, but it was still too warm.

Pickleball😊

I’ve been playing lots of pickleball for the past several weeks. It’s such a great way to meet people when you’re new to a place. And I play inside most often, so it’s AIR CONDITIONED! I’ve played badminton for about 50 years, so I’m really enjoying learning a new game. There’s lots of cross-over, but also lots of unlearning since a paddle and a plastic ball are very different from a racquet and a bird.

Baby Birds

Can’t say as I’ve ever been too interested in real birds, but there are two nests just outside my back door, so I’ve been spending time watching. I think one nest is home to flycatchers, and their first fledglings left the nest a couple of weeks ago. I was happy when I saw one fly away over the roof, because two others didn’t make it. The adults have recently returned, and I assume there are new eggs in the nest, so hopefully I’ll get to enjoy seeing more fledglings take flight. The robins’ nest behind the garage had five babies stuffed into it. As they began dropping to the ground, I was amazed at how BIG they were – not sure how they all fit into the nest.

Brown-crested flycatcher

baby robins stuffed into their nest

Bunkie and Babies (now toddlers)

We’ve been staining our new bunkie, which is now wired. We’re doing the interior with pine tongue and groove (bought from a family-owned mill nearby) – so far so good. It’s an interesting experience owning the cottage property with Liam, Rachel and family. I love that Don and I are getting to know our kids as independent adults/parents, and of course, time with our granddaughters is precious. Now that they’re talking and growing their imaginations, so much fun to hang out with them! Still no pictures allowed online – sigh…

Nana and GP’s escape room

THRIFTING

I first started shopping at Frenchy’s, (now mainly Guy’s) Maritime thrift store haven, as a teenager, and I’ve never looked back. These days, Facebook Marketplace always seems to have whatever it is I’m looking for, and I’m spending too much time browsing its virtual aisles! (got a perfect non-tippy three-seater canoe on the weekend) I’m also getting an inside look since I’m spending Thursdays in the sorting room at the Lily Ann Thrift Shop in Haliburton. All proceeds are used for the 4Cs Haliburton Foodbank, which is independent rather than being supported by a bigger organization such as Feed Nova Scotia. People are generous in cleaning out their closets and donating, but I do wish they would sort out the items that are past use – garbage is garbage, and shouldn’t be donated… Most people are sensible and arrive with donations carefully laundered and folded, but not everybody.

I finally got to visit the new exhibit of Doris’s work/photos at the Doris McCarthy Gallery (U of T Scarborough) last week – more on that in a later post, but it was so good.

Hope your summer is off to a great start, and that you get to spend time with your people having fun, and staying cool. Hope you’re feeling lucky to live in Canada.

Three bookish things that made me smile:)

On By janlcoates9 Comments

I’ve been doing some school author visits this month, which I love doing since it reminds me how much I love kids! And how much I admire all the adults in the schools – heroes all of them. I took a few pictures of some of the wall/door art I found:

I’ve had three bookish things happen this month that really made me smile:

a) a high school student in Saskatchewan reached out to me because she had read A HARE IN THE ELEPHANT’S TRUNK for a school project, and she had to do a six-minute speech impersonating me! She wanted more background info than is available on my blog. I was happy to help and to hear that she got 100%!

b) I also got a note from a man who had read HARE, thanking me, and telling me he is not young – he’s in his eighties:) It’s such a treat for an author to hear from people in various corners who’ve connected with one of your books.

c) During one school visit, I had shared SKY PIG, and then I asked the kids to draw their dreams. If they could have anything in the world, what would it be? Kids love this activity, and they come up with some great ideas. As I walked around one classroom (P/1), I noticed one little boy sitting quietly, but not drawing anything. When I crouched down and asked if I could help, he remained silent. I asked an EA in the room if he didn’t speak, and she told me he had just arrived from Ukraine before the holidays. I then went back and really worked to help him understand what he was to draw. A few minutes later, I noticed him staring at the wall behind me, while drawing on his paper. He was using a red crayon, and when I went back, he was carefully copying the Canadian flag behind me! “Your dream is to live in Canada?!” I exclaimed, and he gave me a big grin and nodded his head. This was definitely one of the best moments of my writing life. I had a painting of a dog carrying a Canadian flag at home, so I put it in an envelope and mailed it to the Principal to give to the boy. I hope it makes him smile:)

Wherever you are, I hope January is being kind to you and yours.