August update

I have posted on this blog every day since June 8. It’s been years since I’ve been writing with any sort of regularity, so it feels pretty good.

As you may have noticed, I’ve mostly been writing vignettes. Some of these depict recent scenes, but many of them are old snapshots of my life from way back. I thought it might be a good idea to post a monthly update to share what’s happening with my blog and what’s happening in my life.

The blog

In July, I spent some time trying to get more readers. “More readers” is a fairly normal thing for writers to want, I think.

I’ve been attempting to be more active on some social media platforms that I was already using, but not very frequently (like Instagram) and going back to some that I’d abandoned long ago (like Pinterest, where I have created a new board just for this blog.) I even started a new YouTube channel where I can read my stories to you. These videos have also been going up on Instagram and on TikTok.

Twitter is something that I am trying to use more, but I am finding it difficult because I don’t have a lot of hot takes. Well, unless it’s about the Aristocats.

My Facebook page also exists still.

Having said all of that, maybe now is a good time to mention that I would like you to share my blog if you enjoy reading it, especially if you like a particular post. Maybe someone else will like that post, too.

Alright, now that I’ve talked about social media, I can talk about other things.

Last week I posted some fiction for the first time in a long time. When I started this blog, I intended to have both fiction and nonfiction, but it has been mostly nonfiction. Last week, during a road trip/camping trip, I decided to write a four-part spooky story to read to my family around the campfire every night. I also decided to put my story up on my blog. It was really fun to write some fiction again, and this month I will try to post some fiction once a week (maybe on Wednesdays).

My campfire story will also be featured in upcoming videos on my YouTube channel. I plan to have an actual campfire in the video, so it will kind of be like the fireplace channel, except with someone reading you a horror story.

I will, of course, continue writing vignettes. People seem to like them and they’re short, so even on a hectic day, I can still find time to write one.

You can also keep your eyes open tomorrow for a post I’ve been working on about all the fromageries that we visited on our road trip. If you’re a fan of cheese, this is one you’ll want to read. We even found a fromagerie for my lactose intolerant readers!

Life

I am currently starting week two of a two week vacation. As I already mentioned, last week I went on a road trip with my husband and son. We visited the Charlevoix region in Quebec. I visited this region by accident when I took my son on a road trip four years ago (my GPS app thought that it might be nice to take a ferry to the Gaspé peninsula instead of just driving along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River). It is a gorgeous area, though, so this time we went there on purpose.

The region sits in a crater from a meteorite that hit the Earth 350 million years ago. It’s been eroded over the years, but the landscape is still dramatic and beautiful. You won’t find pieces of the meteorite today, but evidence of its existence have been found in the form of shatter cones.

We learned all about this at the Observatoires astronomique et de l’Astroblème de Charlevoix. We spent an afternoon learning about meteorites and the impact site in Charlevoix, and returned later for an evening of astronomy. While we were outside looking at the stars, the International Space Station happened to be going by! These activities were one of the highlights of our trip.

Once we were finished with our nerd stuff, we continued to Baie-Sainte-Catherine, where we went whale-watching. We saw a minke whale right away. The captain was like, “Welcome aboard, there’s a whale at 1 o’clock.” We also saw some porpoises, hundreds of seals, and a humpback whale. I included some footage of the humpback whale in my most recent YouTube video.

After the whale watching, we had to return home because the pope was coming and they were going to close the highway.

My husband had also won tickets to Osheaga, and we definitely wanted to be back for that. Osheaga is a music festival in Montreal. The highlights for us were the Yeah yeah yeahs, Arcade Fire, the Bleachers, the Arkells, Sam Fender, and Royal Blood.

The rest of our vacation will be spent at home. My son is at his dad’s this week, and next week he’ll get to see my family. I am looking forward to some quiet time.

I am including a small gallery of photos from our road trip and from Osheaga, but if you want to see more, check out my Instagram.