LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW WRITING PROJECTS THIS WINTER

I'm looking forward to seeing the hot-off-the-presses November issue of "Curious; The Tourist Guide," to read the final chapter of the feature series on pioneer artist, Salvation Army Missionary, Ada Florence Kinton, which I dedicated over the past year, 12 columns, to the local Food bank here in Gravenhurst……and all the fine folks who work and volunteer to help the less fortunate citizens of our community. I have already posted this month's column on my Gravenhurst blog site, as of a few weeks ago, simply because it is a Muskoka based story, as relevant today as it was in the late 1800's. Poverty and disadvantage have lasted a long time, and show little sign of lessening in these tough economic years. And I felt compelled to highlight the food bank, as a very important resource in our community, operated by the Salvation Army. As a long-serving missionary, who worked the mean streets of Victorian Toronto, helping the homeless and hungry, Ada Kinton, with her Muskoka connections, inspired me to write and dedicate the year-long series, in her name, in support of the fundraising efforts by the local food bank……as well as all community food banks in Ontario generally, which I believe, in her memory, she would have heartily endorsed. I've received a lot of comments about the year long series, some from family members of Miss Kinton, which was most welcome. The series, in manuscript form, will soon be sent off to the archives department of both the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Art Gallery, as promised, as record of Miss Kinton's contribution to art instruction in pioneer Canada. This will hopefully aid future art researchers, who might find some interest in the story of Ada Florence Kinton.

I'm also very excited by the progress of the Great North Arrow, a first year publication out of a great little burg known as Dunchurch, and so far it has been a wonderful adventure for this writer in South Muskoka. I'm currently writing a year-long feature series on the paranormal, and for the next month or so, I'll be buried in this Birch Hollow office, penning columns in advance…..inspired all the while by these beautiful surroundings of winter-clad forest and lowland. It is a writer's paradise, let me tell you.You can subscribe to both Curious; The Tourist Guide, of which I am a regular columnist, and the Great North Arrow, by contacting them. You can do an online search for contact information. Curious can be viewed online.

On my Nature of Muskoka blogsite, (I have five different sites), I am trying to convince a writer friend, Van Newell, to join me for a double-whammy, point, counter-point collaboration, called "Muskoka Gothic," or "Muskoka Liars Club," to be published online later this winter. He's a modern day homesteader and I'm a modern day "want-to-be" homesteader, who prefers creature comforts like running water and electricity……and the baseboard heat my feet are presently benefitting. He's a good writer with a lot of interesting stories about his pioneer experience, and I'm well, just a gnarled, crotchety old writer, with just enough fight left to gnaw on his ego. I'll post news about whether or not I've been able to goad the old goat into an associated on-line debate, and when it might appear as a "blog of its own!"

Thanks for joining me.