Never Leave Your Wingman book visits Amsterdam - Blog Part 10

Hello there. It's been almost four months since I came home from my wonderful European vacation and I still can't believe I WAS IN EUROPE THIS SUMMER! Oh my gosh, it was incredible! But then again, you may be having a little trouble believing that I am writing a blog about my adventures there, too. I am a book, after all - the Never Leave Your Wingman book - about a seven-time cancer survivor who dresses in costume and dances into her chemo treatments, to be exact. What can I say about my going to Europe and writing about it - my author and her husband (Publisher Al) have fun imaginations and thought it would be fun to take me along on their first-ever European vacation. (Read my first blog.)

So here we are in Holland, near the end of our vacation in which we have already seen parts of seven countries. We are leaving the beautiful town of Groesbeek, Netherlands, heading for the big city - Amsterdam, to be exact. But first, we visited a friend in another Dutch town and enjoyed a popular Dutch meal which they call pancakes. In Canada, we would call them crepes. No matter what they're called, these were pretty darn tasty.

You can get Dutch pancakes with bacon and egg toppings, pizza-like toppings, omelette-style... pretty much any kind you can imagine... but my publishers had fruit with their pancakes. Whipped cream, too - 'cause there wasn't enough sugar on the pancakes. Good thing they spent most of our vacation walking to work off all those calories. Sheesh! 

And as we were walking back to our car, we saw this wonderful sight... 

...a bicycle built for two, riding along this bike path through a splendid forest.

I could live in Holland. For sure. So beautiful. And the green of the trees would nicely complement the beauty of my pink cover, don't you think?

Ahem.... Sorry about that. I don't usually get so full of myself. Must be the sugar buzz from the pancakes.

So let's get back to our trip. It's on to Amsterdam. 

Here's Publisher Al - turning this sign into 'Al'msterdam.

Silly Al.

Amsterdam is a beautiful, unique, fascinating city. We saw many interesting sights, so hold on to your hat or whatever else is close by as we take you on a photo journey with us. 

This is the strangest, most unique hotel we've ever seen. Yes, that's it - the thing on the right that looks like a giant pop can. It's called the Fletcher Hotel, and it is designed in a circular pattern.

The building and windows are circular,

...the hallways are circular - which is a little disorienting for we who are used to Canada's flat prairies - but the most unusual feature of this hotel is the circular shower... 

...in the MIDDLE of the hotel room! 

Yes, there I am, balancing on the shower door handle while Publisher Al sits at a chair by the window, just watching and wondering what on earth we will see next in Amsterdam.

Well, he didn't have to wait long before we saw...  

...our first outdoor urinal. On the street. In front of God and everyone! 

The man inside this urinal is actually a maintenance employee who was cleaning the urinal. Good thing, too. Some of the outdoor urinals we passed were downright nasty. Later on, we did see another man entering another street urinal in the Red Light District. We just kept walking. Enough said about that.

So on to Amsterdam's beauty. 

The main train station downtown (on the right) is a gorgeous old building. As we wandered toward it, we heard a commotion behind us.

We turned around and saw...   

- a bridal party making its way to the train station! 

Just another neat experience for us in Europe.

We enjoyed a canal tour and learned that Amsterdam was built like an onion - one layer at a time - and has become a model for all other cities, including New York - which used to be called New Amsterdam.  I did not know that, so there you go - you can learn something new every day. But then again, I am a book and someone has to read me and read to me.

Anyway, we saw some beautiful canals, amazing old buildings, interesting architecture and fascinating sights as we floated down the river and walked through the streets of this wonderful city.

Bicycles are everywhere, including on the sidewalks...

..and parked under the canal bridges. "It's important to remember where you parked yours," said our tour guide. There are 600,000 bikes in Amsterdam at any one time - in a city with about 725,000 people and another two million in the area. 

We watched the water traffic as we sipped our tea and juice at a small café. We found that drinks are often served only partially filled in the Netherlands. Our Dutch friend told us that when that happens, the locals often ask for a ladder - so they can use it to get the drink to the top of the cup! We didn't want to be rude, so we didn't ask for a ladder, but we sure thought about it when this cup of tea was delivered!

We loved seeing the variety of shapes and sizes of buildings here.

This is how you get around in Amsterdam - 

- by bike, on foot, by boat, motorcycle and car - all within a few metres of each other.

'Gable stones' like this one tell people something about those who lived in these buildings at one time.

Rembrandt Corner includes a café and the museum in the house where the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt lived. 

 

On the Canadian Prairies, we don't have subways and train stations, and we certainly don't have rails like this to help us get our bicycles down the stairs and onto the street to ride the rest of the way home. Cool.

We have beer, but not a Heineken brewery in our hometown.

Nor do we have the incredible Van Gogh Museum, where we saw so many of his amazing paintings ... 

...including the yellow house where he lived and worked on his art in 1888.

So with these final images of Amsterdam...

- the cheese vendors,

- the stores

and the flower markets,

my author found that Amsterdam left some very large shoes for other European cities to fill.

Silly author.

As for me, I'm tired from all that walking, so I'm going to sleep.

I'll see you again soon.

Books, Gifts, Awards & Kids' Questions

Happy December, everyone! We at DriverWorks Ink (that would be Al and I) want to make your holiday gift-giving as easy as possible, so we recommend a number of our books that might be of interest to specific people on your gift list … Oh, wait, we did that last year (see my blog).

Okay, let’s try that again.

We want to give you a special gift when you buy our books as gifts for the people you love (or the people you like and want to buy gifts for etc. etc.). 

If you purchase $20 worth of DriverWorks Ink books from us (either from our website, by mail order or in person), you’ll receive a free key chain flashlight – which is excellent for finding your way down a hallway in the dark (just ask our grandchildren – who turned out the hall lights and proved this to be true). There are a multitude of other uses for these handy little items, such as holding your keys – but that’s for you to discover on your own.

And… If you buy $40 worth of DriverWorks Ink books from us (same ways as above), we’ll give you one of our new fancy dancy DriverWorks Ink tote bags. They’re just downright useful. And pretty. (See photo below). So place your orders today. We’re pretty efficient at filling orders, so any order placed between now and December 18 should ensure receipt of the books within Canada before Christmas (if Santa’s helpers are working up to speed, that is).

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In other news, we are happily back in our office and not on the road, for the first time in the last four months. First, there was that wonderful once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe (which our Never Leave Your Wingman book has blogged about as a fun way to share our travels (See the first blog or skip straight to this one, where we met the amazing Sue Elliott, the ‘little Dutch girl’ who is the subject of Alan Buick’s book The Little Coat).

Then we spent most of the last three months travelling in the three Prairie Provinces of Western Canada. From September 5 to November 30, we participated in nine craft/trade shows and made a total of 62 author/publisher presentations in 27 communities. We spoke to 3,200 students and 159 adults at schools, libraries, seniors' residences, bookstores and museums. And we had a blast! Thank you, Saskatchewan Arts Board, for the Creative Industries Transition Fund which allowed us to do this important work! Thank you to everyone who welcomed us into their communities. We'd do it all again in a flash... but maybe not until we've rested up a bit.

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While we were on the road, we learned that two of our books won awards at book award contests in the United States. Pretty cool news to receive while on a Saskatchewan highway – or anywhere, for that matter. The inspiring Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner’s Story of Hope book by Regina author Deana J. Driver (that’s me) was awarded Honourable Mention in the Biography/Autobiography category of the 2013 Great Midwest Book Festival. The touching, yet humourous Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver book by Winnipeg author Sharon Gray won an Honourable Mention as well, in the Cats category of the 2013 Animals, Animals, Animals Book Festival! (See all of our books on our website – www.driverworks.ca.)

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Here are some other bits of news we’d like to share with you, our readers:

-        Since October, we have been very pleased with the response to Regina author Shae Therrien’s memoir Interrupted With Bipolar. A man told us that he was sitting at a local swimming pool, reading Shae's book while waiting for his daughter to finish her swim. A woman beside him began chatting with him and then shared her history of mental illness with him, because she saw the courage that Shae must have to share his personal story through his book. Another woman at a trade show commented to us about Shae: “He is no doubt one of the ‘unsung Canadian heroes’ you talk about in your pamphlet.” Yes, he is.

-        We are pleased that we now have copies of Called By The Spirit: Calling Lakes Centre Celebrates 60 Years by Holly L. Schick for sale. We helped this United Church of Canada educational facility, once known as Prairie Christian Training Centre, self-publish their history and are pleased to provide another way for folks to purchase this great book. More than 50 contributors complement the writing of author Holly Schick by sharing their stories and memories of spending time enjoying the Centre's programs – and there are great photos, too!

-        We realized this fall that two of our books revolve around events that happened on the same day – December 25, 1944, during the Second World War. The Little Coat by Alan J. Buick and The Sailor and the Christmas Trees by Deana Driver are touching war stories with a timeless message of the importance of giving. We invite you to check them out this Christmas season.

-        And we can’t let you go without telling you about the great responses we've been having to Dave Driver’s funny children’s book SuperMom and the Big Baby. We've read parts of the book and shown it to hundreds of school children these past months and have enjoyed hearing their giggles. Parents of children from ages 2 to 9 have told us how much their children love the book. Recently, some Grade 2 students sent their grandma to Regina to buy the book after we read it to them in Vibank, Saskatchewan. Oops, I hope we didn't spoil someone's Christmas gift!

-        And finally, here are some of the unique questions asked and some conversations we've had with Kindergarten to Grade 4 students on our tour:

o   “How many books have you written?” Five.

o   “Which of the books you wrote do you like the best?” I don’t have a favourite book. They’re all like my babies, and you shouldn't choose a favourite baby. Any other questions?

o    “How many books did you write?” Uh… I've written five books.

o   “When did you start to write?” When I was in Grade 2, and I've been writing ever since.

o   Does anyone have a question? “My name is John .” (relating to John Hanlon of The Sailor and the Christmas Trees book.) Oh, that’s great… but that’s not a question. Remember, questions start with ‘who, what, when, where and how’.

o   Yes, what is your question? “My dad’s name is Al.” (relating to publisher Al Driver.)

o   (In a Saskatchewan school) “Where were you born in Alberta?” Athabasca. Were you born in Alberta? “Yes.” Nice.

o   “How do you write your books?” I ask a lot of questions, because I’m curious. I gather all the information and I put it all together.

o   “Have you ever been to Port Coquitlam, B.C.?” Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Did you come here from Port Coquitlam? Nod. Welcome to Saskatchewan! Smile.

o   “Are you Ukrainian?” (Inside my head – wha??? But we were in the Canora, SK area.) As a matter of fact, I am. My dad was Ukrainian. Do I look like your Baba? Nod.

o   And our favourite of them all…. “When did you start growing?” (Deflect the question and ask Al to show them how tall he is.) “Whoa!”

Happy Holidays, everyone!

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Belgium, Netherlands & a Special Lady - Europe Adventure Blog Part 9

Have you ever been to Belgium? It's beautiful.

I'm the Never Leave Your Wingman book. (Yes, you read that correctly - I'm a book.) My author/publisher Deana Driver and I, plus Deana's husband/publisher partner Publisher Al, were in Bruges in August as part of our wonderful European adventure (see my first blog). We only spent a day in Belgium because we had so many other wonderful places to visit on our agenda ... but what we saw was beautiful and enough to make us want to go back again.. Allow me to share some of the great sights and sites from this beautiful city.

Oh, hello, Publisher Al! Are you going to lead us on our tour of Bruges?

No? Good thing. I don't think you'd fit in this little tourist vehicle.

Bruges - or Brugge, as the locals refer to it - is one of several European communities that calls itself 'Venice of the North'. We were impressed by its canals, which are tranquil and lovely. These swans and other various birds thought so, too.

Picture-perfect.

Here are some common sights in downtown Bruges:

Horse and buggy rides past quaint little shops...

...which sell Belgian chocolates...

...and Belgian waffles, of course. (Psst... the bananas topping that my author ordered contained grand marnier. Yummmm!)

Bruges is famous for its lace. Many shops sell it and many homes and businesses have lace curtains and/or needlework pieces that show the richness of the local culture...

...these items are all handmade. Gorgeous.

Oh, Publisher Al. Now those are super-sized fries!

After Bruges, we were anxious to get to Holland. 

We had some special plans for the Netherlands. Several special plans, in fact.

First, we wanted to get to the town of Groesbeek in eastern Netherlands before 5 o'clock that day.

This involved driving across a tiny one-way bridge (the crossings were controlled by traffic signs showing who must yield the right-of-way)...

...through a forest which had a sign warning of wild boars crossing the road. 

Now that's not a sign I've seen in western Canada. I've been told we do have wild boars in some areas of southeast Saskatchewan, but I've never seen a sign for them.

Then again, I am a book... so enough said about that.

We saw this windmill as we arrived in Groesbeek, Netherlands. We were disappointed that it was the only windmill we saw in all our time in the Netherlands, but we did see a lot of wind turbines in the Netherlands and several other European countries. Between those and many fields full of solar panels, we determined that Europe is far ahead of Canada in alternative energy sources.

So we made it to this - the National Liberation Museum in Groesbeek - before it closed for the day. The man at the desk was reluctant to take the entry fee from my publishers because the museum was closing in an hour, but they convinced him to 'just take the money' and then point them in the direction of this important exhibit....

...a series of paintings by Calgary, Alberta artist Bev Tosh, called Canadian War Brides: A one-way passage to love. My publishers - who also published my friend The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story by Alan J. Buick - were so happy to see the exhibit that my author was like a little kid, smiling and jumping up and down with excitement. 

 And this was the panel that my publishers came to see.

Everdina (Sussie) Cretier was 10 years old when she received a little coat, made from a Canadian army blanket, as a gift from Canadian tank commander Bob Elliott and his crew on Christmas Day 1944. Decades later, Sussie/Sue and Bob reconnected and fell in love.Sue still had her little coat. She brought it with her to Canada and married Bob, her hero.

Although Sue is not technically a 'war bride', her story (as told by Alan Buick in my book friend The Little Coat) inspired Bev Tosh to create a portrait of Sue for her wonderful exhibit of Canadian war brides. (My author blogged about Bev's exhibit a few months ago, explaining that Bev used Bob and Sue's wedding photograph as the model for her painting.)

Each painting also has an accompanying  description of the war bride, and Sue's painting was at the end of the row, and the first one my publishers saw when they entered the exhibit room.

My publishers quickly pulled out the three The Little Coat books they brought with them (hiding them from me until just a couple days earlier, I might add), and they asked another museum visitor to take this photo of them with the exhibit.  

These are some of the other paintings and displays in Bev Tosh's exhibit, but Sue Elliott was the most important to my publishers, of course.

So we all went to bed very excited that night, and the next day, we were in for a very special visit. 

We drove to the nearby town of Rossum, going through the lock that Sussie Cretier-Elliott's family had crossed in 1944 to escape from the German soldiers to the safety of the Allied forces.

We drove into town and went to a seniors' complex - where we met this wonderful woman... 

...Sue Elliott, the woman who received that wartime gift of a coat from Alberta soldier Bob Elliott and his crew in 1944!

It was no surprise to us that Sue is just as feisty as ever. When we arrived, she apologized for her apartment being a bit untidy. (It wasn't, actually, but she thought it was.) She had just finished washing the bathroom floor, you see, because she can do it better than the people who are employed by the residence to do the cleaning, she said! What a character.

My publishers loved every minute they spent with Sue....  

...from the visiting and sharing of stories to the long walk we took around the neighbourhood.

Sue showed us where her late husband, Bob Elliott (the soldier in the story, who passed away in February 2013) used to go every day to sit and watch the ships and boats sailing down the canal. 

It is beautifully peaceful.

She took my publishers through town and showed them the shop where her father had his garage. The family's house used to be where the large window is on the first building on the right. Sue's brother Gerard runs the business now. 

Here, my friend The Little Coat looks back on the scene that author Alan Buick captures so well with his writing.

On our walk, Sue showed us some local vegetation. This was the first time my publishers had seen a walnut tree...

...and the first time they'd eaten blackberries off a bush. What's the matter, Publisher Al? Was that berry a little sour? If you look closely, it almost seems like Sue knew that when she handed it to him. Hee hee.

We had a lovely visit with the amazing Sue Elliott...

...but we had to say goodbye to her, leaving her with one of the three copies of The Little Coat book that my publishers had brought to Europe and set on the sand at Juno Beach. When we arrived home, my publishers put one of the two remaining copies (signed by Sue Elliott) on their bookshelf and gave one to author Alan Buick, along with some photos of their visit with Sue. Just as they surprised me with this vacation, they did not tell Alan ahead of time that they might be meeting Sue. Only her daughter Trudy knew of the possibility. (Thank you, Trudy, says my author.) Alan was pleased as punch with his gifts.

Anyway, back in Holland....

...we also drove to the nearby town of Alphen, to see the landscape of the area where Sue's family had sought safety from the Canadian soldiers. 

It was hard to imagine this beautiful land as it would have been during wartime.

Then we went to the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, which honours so many who fought and died in that area during the Second World War.

Row after row of headstones.

So we leave you with this thought... as Sue told us about her and her beloved Bob's story written by Alan J. Buick in The Little Coat book - "This book is a warning to never let it happen again."

We will not forget.

Take care.

(Next blog in this series.)