Blondi Blathers was my Twitter handle back in the day.It was also the name of a fictional character in a blog from my imaginary Stubblejumpers Cafe.
That blog morphed into my personal webpage and kept the same name: Stubblejumpers Cafe.
***
When I wanted to have an online presence and asked myself what to use for content, it seemed obvious I might as well use what I already was doing: corresponding with friends and keeping journals and notebooks.
 |
I live near Wadena, Saskatchewan, Canada. The property was named by children's author Thornton W Burgess (1874–1965). Apparently there once was a three-storey farmhouse (long gone) with wraparound verandas that was his summer retreat. Now Farmbeau and I live in a small 1970s bungalow in the same front yard, bordered by caraganas, lilacs, oaks, spruces, poplars, elms ... I could go on, but you get the picture. The sign above hung at the end of the driveway when we bought the place and it's still there (minus the shasta daisies I planted, which didn't thrive), along with this old More info about Thornton Burgess: click here. |
• live about six miles from TOWN.More about me?
• If I can do exactly what I want to do every day, I'm reading, writing, listening to music, playing music, singing (not in public), listening to my favourite podcasts and radio programs, communing with flowers and birds and fairies, walking under the big sky, and sitting on the back step with a glass of wine on a summer evening.
• What I actually do is try to keep on top of the dishes, read everything in sight and write at every opportunity, play (poorly, so I say "play with") my piano and guitar for a few minutes every day, watch the boob-tube in the living room with Farmbeau most evenings, spend as much time outside as possible when the weather's fair, and sit on the back step with a glass of wine on summer evenings, listening to the birds, admiring the flowers, and hoping fairies really do exist.
At the end of December 2024, I finished five part-time years in two municipal offices and although it was good work with pleasant coworkers and I enjoyed meeting the public, I was ready to stay home on deep-freeze or blustery mornings and glorious summer days when I'd rather be outside. Having in the year 2000 or so stumbled into more than 20 years of experience in encyclopedia, newspaper and magazine publishing, I now freelance as a copyeditor, writer, and proofreader, and have been improving my website construction and maintenance skills.
• My home town is Margo; it's just down the highway.
The link will take you to three women singing a Christmas carol at the village hall.
My sister Karen is in the centre, singing the alto part.
Or here: take a little tour of Margo.
• Some of the family: click here.
And that's all she wrote.
X's and O's, etc.,
Kate
STUBBLEJUMPERS CAFÉ -- the current blog.
STUBBLEJUMPERS CAFÉ RECIPE COLLECTION -- the tried 'n' trues.
— Blog 2002-2008
— At The Canadian Encyclopedia, where for 11 years I was subject editor for the architecture, dance, film and theatre sections, I also wrote a few profiles. Those and other stuff I've written can be found by clicking on the images under 'Pie in the Sky' at my current blog, Stubblejumpers Cafe.
I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff.
~ Michel de Montaigne
Indeed, that is just what a common and private life is: a life of the richest stuff imaginable.
~ Montaigne biographer Sarah Bakewell
Yep. That's what I'm doing: setting forth a humble and inglorious life in a letter to you, and maybe to myself.
If there's one drawback to blogging, it's that friends who used to reply to my mailed letters no longer do. Well, what can I expect? I no longer send handwritten letters either. They were always something that gave me pleasure, both sending and receiving, and although I miss that exchange, I haven't managed to renew my old habit. Nevertheless, should you ever care to drop me a line in the mail, I would be thrilled. Thrilled, I say!
Kate Johnson
Box 122
Wadena, SK
S0A 4J0
Canada
