Hello and welcome to an action-packed Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is October 5th.
This morning, I was reflecting on Chairman Joe's post, Brother, Are You Saved? and thought, "Wow. That guy always has a good story to tell. How does he do it?" How does he dip back into history, unravel all the details from that old sweater of yesteryear, and knit the yarn back up into a hat and scarf for today's fall fashions? I can hardly remember what I had for lunch two days ago, let alone what I was doing five years ago, or ten years ago, and forget about anything from my childhood. It's like having a cache of knitting needles, but no yarn to make anything. Thank goodness for Facebook memories. They do the remembering for me. Like when the 7th grader was a toddler and the Oldest was a 7th grader teaching her little sister how to sing, "Do you want to build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman. (Go away, Anna!) Okay, bye."
Last weekend I hosted another Red Shoes Writing Retreat in Warroad at Doc's Harbor Inn. A cadre* of writers came together to craft memoirs, short stories, a children's book, and a business plan. What do these all have in common? Creativity, imagination, dreaming, and purpose. Writing is the art of saying something meaningful first to yourself, and then to others. It's also a tool for remembering. Like Facebook but without the algorithm and the internet.
Today, there's a boatload of events happening across Wannaskaland. Roseau's Fall Harvest Festival, Mini Pow Wow, Fly In, Pucks & Pints. Warroad's RiverPlace Grand Welcoming with artists, crafts, and community. The annual Potato Day in Williams and Facebook knows what else in between. So grab a notebook, a notebook app, a digital camera, or your smartphone, and get out and about. It's a good Saturday for making memories.
And you don't want to forget.
So that's what my eight over-stuffed 3-ring notebook volumes, in this location alone, are called; a cache. Hmmm, I never really thought of them that way, typically reserving a cache for emergency food-stores, an example being what the Cheyenne scouts created in various places, in 1878, for their people fleeing for their lives, coming up far behind them during Cheyenne Autumn.
ReplyDeleteIf dipping into history is like knitting then perhaps writing fiction is like spinning - and helping others to spin tales - spinning straw into gold.
ReplyDeleteKim also attended the Hard Books Book Club meeting this morning to pick up writing tips from Jane Austen. She brought cookies baked by daughter 2.0.
ReplyDeleteKim schlepped me around to several events yesterday. It was a remarkable day with my friends. (Kathy Magnusson joined us.) One of the highlights was watching Kim engage someone at about every ten steps. She seems to know everyone and each person greeted her warmly. Should we elect her the official Roseau-Warroad cheerleader?
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