Happy to be Canadian
Each week I share a short original story about life in rural Canada. There are moments of nostalgia and other times when you will be wondering what will happen next. Some episodes are poignant, some are funny, others are insightful. All are short. With episodes under 10 minutes, you have just enough time to finish your coffee or tea while you enjoy a memorable story.
It's almost a Stairway to Heaven - Episode 77
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This week Susanne saw a great photograph of the circular staircase at the Crazy 8 Barn. She's seen and taken many pictures of those steps, but this one stunned her/
The photographer must have splayed out on the concrete floor with their head tucked beside the bottom newel post. The inner stringer swirls, up, up up and looks like it soars up through three storeys to the top of the cupola.
In reality, the stairs turn up only one flight.
Getting them that far was a mountain she a...
The Fall of Garden Beauty
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There is no better time to enjoy being in the garden than the fall.
It is Susanne's favourite time to garden.
Join her as she notices the evolution and experimentation of the garden at the Crazy 8 Barn including bad decisions and defeats, survivals and successes.
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An October Rain can Change Everything
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This week, Susanne woke up in the middle of the night. It was raining.
She could tell from my nest under the blankets that it was an autumn rain. A warm autumn rain.
The rain was like the showers of October 2011 when Manfred and Susanne began reconstructing their historic eight-sided barn in Palmyra.
Join her on that soggy month of concrete construction.
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The Dangers of Buying an Air Fryer - Episode 74
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Susanne was overwhelmed with choices when she buying an Air Fryer at Canadian Tire this week.
You'll laugh at what brought her here and will be surprised by how it all ends.
Join her on this exploration of trendy and useful kitchen gadgets.
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...Dad Dreams - Episode 73
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Susanne had a dream about her dad the other night.
It was a night or so after he would have celebrated his 93rd birthday had he lived through a devastating bout of pneumonia almost two years ago.
They were driving home from some unknown location when they stopped to buy pizza to take home for supper.
Find out what happened, because her dad was not a pizza guy.
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Line Up for School - Episode 72
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There are some students that can’t wait for school to begin and others dread it.
Those feelings are shaped over years of experience, good and bad and indifferent.
Susanne has a memory of her earliest days in grade one, whether it was the first day of school she cannot say, but join her and the three other little grade one students as the navigate the terror and the relief of that day.
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Cats Make History
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Susanne and Manfred go on a road trip to research the life of a manager of the rail in Brockville in 1870. Seeing as much of the city, was important. Today, things have changed. Tourists and locals now walk the rail tunnel as coloured lights illuminate the brick-stone and blasted-stone walls. A cute, miniature electric train engine pulls little, multi-coloured railroad cars where belching steam engines used to haul loads of logs and lumber.
Depending on where he lived, this historic man may have walked by their house-turned-hotel on his way to...
The Relentless Pursuit of Buttertarts - Episode 70
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It was in summer of 2019 that Susanne started to wonder, just how many tarts her staff at the Crazy 8 Barn had sold since starting to make them in the fall of 2013. She scoured through seven years of month end reports and realized they had made 32,000 tarts. Production had started at a few dozen in the first year, more than a thousand in the second year and then their reputation for the "best buttertarts in the world" exploded.
At that point in 2019 she estimated that it would be close, but wondered could t...
Repeating the News Beat of Municipal Politics - Episode 69
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Susanne started covering municipal politics when she turned 19 years old.
Her college professor asked if she would accept a full-time position at a small weekly newspaper a few weeks before her fellow students started their co-op placements. He promised her straight A’s in all classes if she would agree to go early.
What followed was quite an education in old-time newspaper reporting and municipal politics.
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Searching for a Treasure creates memories - Episode 68
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Last week Susanne went on a treasure hunt with her 12 year old grandson.
It started, as all skulduggery does, with the simple idea of spending some fun time together.
She wanted him to accompany her on a short trip to an old barn where there was vintage and other old stuff for sale. They were both surprised what they found there.
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A Tragedy gets Better with Every Telling
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Susanne loves to listen to audio books. It was a habit she picked up a few years ago when trying to be a faithful treadmill walker.
Her deal with herself was that she could only listen to the audio book when walking on that perpetual motion rotating mat.
She could pass an hour of uphill climbs and downhill jogs while listening to fictional plot twists and true-life stories.
It was enjoyable listening to Matthew McConaughey read his autobiography, Greenlights, in his practiced, soft, Texas drawl while sweating...
The Roadside Attraction of Forest Fires - Episode 66
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Susanne's daughter started her journey to becoming a fire fighter by travelling to northern Ontario to fight forest fires almost two decades ago.
It was a series of trips and travels that Susanne was happy to make with her, and was thinking about that in mid-July when the thick smoke from this year’s fires, hundreds of kilometres away, was choking us in southern Ontario.
Join them as they travel North America following fires and education in a truck called the Blue B*st*rd.
If you woul...
Keep Your Mind on the Harvest at Hand - Episode 65
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A couple of days ago, I had my most terrifying moment in a combine. Over the years, there have been times when I was nervous driving in a cornfield at night thinking that a scary body could pop out of the rows in front of me; or when it feels like the edges of the wide tires are hanging off the sides of a culvert as I pass over a creek; or when I’m combining on a gentle side slope and it feels like I might tumble down its bank.
My...
A Fair Request - Episode 64
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The Canadian National Exhibition has a long history in the city of Toronto and Susanne is flattered when she receives an invitation to demonstrate her barn quilt painting skills.
Find out what happens when she mulls over the request and finds a connection that she had been researching for a couple of years.
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Working with a Make-believe Muse
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Writers and other creatives often have real or imaginary muses that help them make beautiful art. Susanne had a make-believe muse - Lazy Larry - and he isn't always a writer's dream assistant.
Listen to this hilarious account of her time spent with inspirational "Larry".
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Looking for a Canadian Symbol - Episode 62
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On Canada Day, Susanne thinks she should make a bucket list to see all of the stereotypical symbols that are used to represent Canada in all kinds of artwork. She realizes many that she had not seen are from the far north of Canada.
Luckily, she remembers that there is an out-of-place northern land marker not too far from her home in southwestern Ontario. She and Manfred start out on a quest to find the roadside attraction.
As you can imagine, the journey is a winding one. Listen in, to...
It's a Mystery to go on Tour - Episode 61
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We had a bus tour visit Crazy 8 Barn this week. It was a mystery tour from Chicago.
That is a curated few days where the exact location and each event is a surprise to the participants.
As we waited for their arrival, we joked about them arriving at the Canada US. Border saying they didn’t know where they were going.
Could this be a hostage taking of 50 American Senior Citizens? Who would pay to get them back?
Find out how this event went and Su...
Maybe it was a good day - Episode 60
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I’ve written often of my dad but I thought today, that I would write about his dad, my grandpa Spence.
My grandfather had a life of major heartbreaks and tragedies but he didn’t seem broken, to me as a child.
And, I've found something that immortalized what a good day might have looked like in those trying times.
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First Time in a Barn - Episode 59
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Susanne is looking for a dreamer with a destiny. Join her on her first trip inside a rare octagonal barn to find out who will be loving this magnificent structure next. She's also going to be asking you for a big favour ...
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Tap Dancing and Other Failures
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When Susanne attends her granddaughter's annual dance recital she recalls an earlier recital when she had wished she had practised more diligently and was as cute as the littlest performers.
Join her as she talks about oil boom days and Edwardian construction in this dance down memory lane.
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Chipmunk Bites are Hard to Shake Off - Episode 57
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No, this isn't another crazy wildlife episode, well, wait a second ... it may be consider a wild life aviation episode. Find out what happens when Susanne's Dad buys a Canadian military primary training aircraft and sparks a love affair that will affect generations of her family.
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Saving a Turtle Takes Team Work - Episode 56
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There's a networks of people in Ontario working to save injured turtles and return them to their native habitats. Susanne and Manfred found out how it works when they came into close proximity of a snapping turtle.
Join them on the journey to the Turtle Hospital.
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1887 Celebration Fit for a Queen
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When Susanne is researching details for a story she is writing about a man in 1800's Ontario, she goes down a rabbit hole of history to find some gritty details about Queen Victoria's birthday celebrations in the backwoods in 1887.
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Remembering Those We Want to Remember - Episode 54
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Wishing for Blue Skies and Tailwinds
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You might wish for blue skies and tailwinds but Susanne is trying to capture the beauty of the headwind this bicycling season. Join her on this breezing tale to find out just how much we are blown about by something we cannot see.
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From Monterey to Salvage - Episode 1 & 52
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To celebrate one year of podcasting, Susanne is rebroadcasting her first podcast episode that was lost in a shuffle from podcasting hosts.
While out campaigning in the federal election, Susanne comes across a vivid reminder of the days when muscle cars were family cars and kids roamed the back seats like stalking tigers.
Join her to discover what is important to salvage.
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Emigrating with Dreams and Bulbs
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When Susanne meets a barn quilt painting workshop participant whose father hybridized Amaryllis in Holland over 75 years ago, she embarks on a discovery of the flower that leads her to her own back yard.
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Not My Cat in a Springtime Garden - Episode 50
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A kitten was left in our garden many years ago. Since then, he has a comfortable forever home but he spends many days wandering through the flowers and along the paths just like Susanne on a Spring day. Find out how that turns out on this week's episode.
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Mercurial Spring in Southwestern Ontario - Episode 49
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Snow storms that blow enormous flakes onto the grassy ground where they soon melt and welcome sunshine that brings cyclists onto the roads in March are all part of early Spring in southwestern Ontario.
This week Susanne notices nature's determination and foibles as a long winter ebbs into the warm days we have waited for, for months.
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Memento Mori and other Gravestone Warnings - Episode 48
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Susanne loves walking (and cycling) through local cemeteries, finding forgotten stories and wondering what certain inscriptions might mean. Join Manfred and her as they discover a swashbuckling tale told be the early settlers.
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Cycling the Ports of Elgin County - Episode 47
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Susanne faces the challenge of bicycling over 100 km from her home along the north shore of Lake Erie to visit all four ports in Elgin County. It's a test of will and a little tailwind wouldn't hurt. Find out where Manfred will be waiting for her.
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The Porch Chair Quandary
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When some porch chairs with creative innovations are separated in the spring weather, Susanne and Manfred have to figure out where like sitting best, or do they.
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How an Ugly Barn Changed Everything - Episode 45
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When Donna Sue Grove's mother bought a farm with a run down barn in Ohio at the turn of the 21st century neither she or her daughter had any idea how they were about to changed to rural landscape across North America. In this week's episode Susanne recounts the unlikely barn quilt movement and reveals her favourite pattern. (Don't tell anybody, the other patterns will be jealous.)
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Revelling in Irish Movies
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The week before St. Patrick's Day has Susanne yearning to know about Ireland. Join her as she captures the mythology and heart-breaking realities and stereotypes of Ireland through sunshine and in shadow.
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Learning Gaelic - Episode 43
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Susanne's Scottish ancestors may or may not have spoken Gaelic when they landed in the colony of Canada in 1854. Somehow she's drawn to the language either by blood memory or wishful thinking. Join her as she attends an introductory Gaelic lessons and finds out how much she is missing.
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A Surprise Trip to the Bottom - Episode 42
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From snow storms to once in a lifetime opportunities, travel with Susanne and her daughter Kate as they take on one of the seven wonders of the world.
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A Maple Syrup Day in the 1970's - Episode 41
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Maple Syrup making has changed significantly over the centuries, but a day in the forest in the 1970's is vivid for Susanne.
Join her this week as she recounts this truly Canadian experience.
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Going to the Moon, Again
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More than 50 years after the first efforts to orbit and land on the moon, there is another NASA-led enterprise to circle the moon. And this time, a Canadian is scheduled to be on board.
Susanne remembers the success of the Apollo missions and recounts what heroes look like in this episode.
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Bad News comes in an Old Letter
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When Susanne finds a letter from 1965 address to her Grandfather she is taken back to a terrifying afternoon when the grandkids were terrified of an attack but one of them was brave enought to make a run for it.
Join her as she remembers a simpler time when bad news took 10 days to be received.
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Family Traditions Start Simple
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A photographic family tradition has stretched over 130 years and across the North American continent. Susanne shares a family tradition that still gives their family joy.
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