THE LETTER WRITER: A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION

Blondi Blathers was my Twitter handle, which I also used for a character in some fiction at a blog about an imaginary cafe. I've reverted all those stories back to drafts and been using the site as my personal blog, Stubblejumpers Cafe.
Blondi Blathers, selfie
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 here on this blog: setting forth a humble and inglorious life. Actually, just writing a letter to friends.  Also, keeping my favourite links in a convenient place for me. What can I say; it really is all about me.

Here, let me try for a decent headshot:

Better?





I live at Golden Grain Farm near Wadena, Saskatchewan, Canada. The property was named by children's author Thornton W Burgess (1874–1965). Apparently there once was a big three-storey farmhouse (long gone) with wraparound verandas that was his summer retreat back in the day. Now we (Farmbeau and I) live in a smallish 1970s bungalow. This sign hung at the end of the driveway when we bought the place, and it is still there along with this old eyesore hunk of junk farm implement.

More info about Thornton Burgess: click here.

 You were wondering about me — where I live, how old I am, and so on?

• born in 1959.
• live about six miles from TOWN.

• I wrote a lot of letters when I was a kid and a young woman, and at 12 I got my first diary. I remember it had a blue cover and was a day-dated one-year diary. At 15 my English teacher assigned a journal for the duration of the semester and I've been keeping one ever since, and still have them all. When I discovered email and online journals, my letter-writing habit changed. I use my webpage now. The only drawback is not receiving a response in the mail anymore.

• If I could do exactly what I wanted to do every day of my life, I'd be reading, writing, listening to music, playing music (though I can't play my guitar, piano, harmonica or accordion worth shit, it's still fun to try), singing (but not in public), listening to my favourite CBC Radio programs, watching comedies, dramas and documentaries (not horror movies or violent films, ever), communing with the flowers and birds and fairies, and sitting on the deck with a friend and a glass of wine on a summer evening.

• What I actually do is bake whole wheat bread on days off, try to keep on top of the dishes, read and write at every opportunity, forget to play my piano and guitar most of the time, watch TV in the evenings with Farmbeau when it's on a channel without commercials, spend as much time outside as I can when the weather is fair, and sit alone on the deck with my glass of wine on summer evenings, listening to the birds and hoping fairies really do exist. 

In September 2016 I came off a three-year stint in the editor's chair at the local newspaper and after taking full advantage of seven days of fabulous freedom every week for a couple years, I started working part-time in the village office in my home town. That has morphed into one day there and a day or two in the rural municipality office in the next community. I also freelance as a copyeditor, writer, and proofreader, and have a small business building and maintaining websites.   

• It's possible that you have landed on this page without knowing that Saskatchewan is in Canada, so here you go: Canada.
• My home town is Margo; it's just 20 minutes 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..
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 is my current blog.

STUBBLEJUMPERS CAFÉ RECIPE COLLECTION is where I share my 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 wrote a few profiles. Those and some other stuff can be read, if you're interested, by clicking on some of the Blondi images at my current blog, Stubblejumpers Cafe.