THE COURAGE TOUR

I had been presenting around Southern Ontario for almost thirty years. I decided that I wanted to present at Balhousie Primary School in Perth, Scotland. This was my mom’s school. I flew over to Scotland and presented at Balhousie, St. Ninian, a Young Carers group and for the Perth Kinross ADHD support group. I believed that  every connection I made would lead to another opportunity.

When I returned to Canada I decided to pursue schools across the country. I received a request from a northern British Columbia school in Fort St. John. It would take a stop in Calgary and a late flight to get to Fort St. John. I was ready for the adventure. When I arrived it was midnight. I shared a cab to the hotel with a guy who was training to be a helicopter pilot. When I got to the hotel it was locked. I had to wake up the manager to let me in. The fact there was snow in September led me to believe I was going to have a great adventure.

The week was filled with presentations during the day and one evening show. I met a man at the evening presentation who reconnected with me while I was shopping in Walmart for an evening snack, to tell me how much he enjoyed the show and how he related to my struggles with reading.

While I was in Fort St. John I drove down to Dawson Creek, which is the start of the Alaska Highway. I also went on a hike. It occurred to me that there were bears in northern BC. On my hike I did see bear poop and got lost, but managed to survive the experience.

My travels took me to Calgary, Alberta where I presented in an English-Spanish bilingual school, toured Banff and Canmore and survived driving in downtown Calgary. I had lunch in the Calgary Tower on a very cold, winter’s day. It was a fun trip.

I read an article about a school in Milltown, Newfoundland that was burned down by an arsonist. I thought that I could raise the spirits of these students, so I was off to Newfoundland. The kids were moved from their school in Milltown, to St. Alban’s. They were being housed in a community centre. The school was Bay d’Espoire Academy. I began with a parent presentation followed by two presentations for the students.

At one of the presentations I brought a little boy up to take part in my presentation. During his performance I noticed some of the teachers tearing up. I later asks why and was told that this boy was a selective mute and never had spoke, until his moment on stage. While in Newfoundland we toured Twillingate, where we saw an iceberg. I absolutely loved Newfoundland.

BACK TO SCOTLAND

I travelled back to Scotland where I connected with another school named St. John. I also took fifteen Young Carers to a camp called Dalguiese. Young Carers are children who are at home performing an adult job: taking care of a younger sibling, a parent etc. The camp was amazing. We were canoeing, go-karting, took part in high ropes courses and played night games like Ambush.

On the second evening, one of the younger campers, Ryan came knocking on my door at 2:00 am. He wasn’t feeling well. I took him back to his room where he barfed. I got him back in his bed and left only to return at 3:00 am to check on him. He was still alive. Camp was an amazing opportunity for these kids.

Before this camping trip, I had already taking thirty kids camping at a location in Kinloch-Rannoch and brought fifteen kids from Scotland to my camp in Canada.

One of the highlights of my Scotland tour was presenting at George Heriot School. I talk about this experience in one of my other blog entries. George Heriot is in Edinburgh and was the school that inspired JK Rowling’s Hogwarts.

I am writing at a time when we are not allowed to travel because of the COVID pandemic. When COVID is behind us, I plan to create adventures that will take me across Canada, Scotland and to who knows where?

SASKATCHEWAN AND BEYOND

I have been travelling across Canada and loving it. I have been to Montreal, Ottawa, Temiscaming, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Alberta and have presented virtually to schools and organizations in British Columbia. My goal is to present in every province and territory in Canada.

I am not a big fan of virtual presentations, but I am working on creating a virtual presentation that will be as dynamic as my in-person presentations. I also did a virtual presentation for a Bermuda school. I would have LOVED to present in-person. I like beaches!

February 2022

I have just returned from Regina, Saskatchewan and what an adventure it was! As I was flying over Regina, the thought that entered my mind was – “They weren’t kidding; Saskatchewan is very FLAT!” When I popped out of the airport to get my rental Toyota Corolla, it was COLD! (-34 C) I stayed at the Meridian Inn and Suites, which turned out to be the starting point for Syrian refugees. I love meeting people from around the world.

All the schools I presented at were country schools. I drove for forty minutes in every direction across a flat, countryside to get to my destinations. There was a snowstorm on the day of my first presentation at Mclean Elementary School. On the way to the school I nearly hit a pole, took the wrong highway and got pulled over by a policeman for my back lights not being on. It was a white knuckle drive all the way to the school.

On the second day I was at Sedley Elementary School. As a result of Saskatchewan being flat, the snow blows across the highway. It was difficult seeing the road at times. I made it to the school, presented two in-person presentations followed by two virtual presentations, in one of the school’s classrooms, for Willowgrove Elementary School in Saskatoon. After I finished my virtual presentations I went into two classrooms and told the kids a few stories. It was a great day! There was an old school for delinquent girls beside Sedley School. It os now condos, but it had interesting history. It was run by nuns. It even had a jail in the basement. here was an old school attached to Sedley Elementary. The janitor told me a few ghost tales to spice up my day.

On the third day I drove to Stuart Nicks Elementary School in Grand Coulee. It was a beautiful drive into a gorgeous sunrise. When I turned off the highway I had to drive along an icy country road. There were farm fields on each side with blowing snow streaming across the road. Out of nowhere appeared a small community. My GPS didn’t lead me to the school, but I did manage to find it. The kids were great! I met a boy named Madden who showed a great deal of interest in me. He sought me out to make sure he could say good-bye before I left. One of the younger students cried at the end of the presentation because he didn’t want it to end.

During my time in Regina I visited the Saskatchewan Museum to see the dinosaurs, walked through a wintery park to see the parliament buildings and drove to Barry’s Coin Store to buy a 1935 Canadian silver dollar. My Saskatchewan trip was a success.

The only negative part of the trip was my flight home. I arrived at the airport at 10:00 a.m. The flight kept on getting postponed and was eventually cancelled. I had to take a taxi to the Marriott Hotel and get a 7:00 a.m. flight the next day. All in all, I was pleased with this leg of the tour.