Day Five: Canadian Children's Book Week 2013

This is the fifth installment about my week long tour for TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2013. I toured in northern Saskatchewan. More on the whole idea/background of TD Book Week here. Catch up on: installment one, or maybe installment two, number three, or even number four. 

Good morning North Battleford, SK

Thursday May 9, 2013
Today it was two library presentations. First up was the public library in town so I didn’t have far to go.

The North Battleford Library lecture hall was such a great space. Okay, at first I was a little intimidated by the thought of the kids looming above me but it worked very well. Two seat sections were filled with kids. (I mentioned in an earlier post that I refrained from photographing kids although I kind of regret that now. But I’m not comfortable putting photos of other peoples’ kids on the internet.)

My view

The kids' view

This was a great group of kids. Thanks to the kids, their teachers, and librarian Linda Peterson for a great visit. From here it was north two hours to Meadow Lake. The scenery changed to be more hilly and more treed.

The ice wasn't out yet here

Lighthouse overlooking the lake

The road in front of me

Glaslyn grain elevators

A tree outstanding in its field

Cows in their field

Evergreens and trees!

The Meadow Lake Library had a great crowd. The kids came from the public school. They sat on cozy rugs in front of me. Some even got the library pillows for extra comfiness. We were in a room surrounded by books as I talked about my books and all the work a writer puts into writing a book. :> Everyone was very enthusiastic. Thanks for a great visit!

After that I had to make for Saskatoon. So it was south from Meadow Lake, a gas and coffee fill up in North Battleford, and back to the area of the Radisson flooding. All traffic was being monitored so I was flagged to stop. They handed me a map. Detour for me. No traffic as small as my car was allowed through going in a SW direction.

I will admit to having a few moments wondering about the detour because there was a lot of water around at the start of the route. Later, at one point I rounded a corner and there was a herd of bison right by the road! They were behind a fence so probably a domesticated herd but still, how cool to see actual bison in the prairies?! There were no shoulders so I couldn’t pull off the road to get a photo. Rats.

I'm going around the flooding?

Flooded fields

Some areas of caution on the detour

Debris from flooding on the detour

Lots of water lying around

A crooked house

Love the architecture of the church

Sun getting lower, almost done driving

All told the detour added about an hour to the trip. So, just over four hours of driving later I checked back into the Saskatoon Travelodge- - but this time not the room across from the parking lot door. Yay! I was so glad to be out of the car.

Random Memorable Moments

• Seeing a couple huge farm vehicles in the A&W parking lot at breakfast
• The sign that read “Stock at large 5 km” but sadly I never did see wandering cows
• Second fart of the tour successfully ignored :>
• Today’s roadside wildlife sightings went: deer roadkill, dead moose, dead deer, live deer munching grass on the side of the road!, dead deer, two live deer!, moose carcass, dead deer, Molson Canadian beer case, a live deer!**
• Count for Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” on the Satellite Radio: 3
• Count for Fall Out Boy’s “My Songs Know” on the Satellite Radio: 3
• Count for Macklemore’s “Ceiling Can’t Hold Us” on the Satellite Radio: 7

**I see this here at home too so it wasn’t shocking to me or anything, I just don’t usually see so many large animals at one time. Eg. Today’s roadside wildlife count went: two live wild turkeys!, dead red squirrel, dead gray squirrel, dead chipmunk, about three impossible to identifys, one lucky cat.

Want to read about other days on my tour? Find:
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five--you're here
Day Six--coming shortly