Purple water glints. Plants grow
in cracks on an ancient
rock that shrinks, crushed under
waves, and disappears from sight, or
on an ancient rock that builds
itself up, sun high above, to tower
over pebbles and sea life. The choice
to stay what it is or create
the island is unknown to us, but held
in conference
among plants, ancient rock, and purple
water.
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Hidden in a home far from my own, a treasure lay buried, waiting to be uncovered, waiting to be rescued. The day it was discovered, the treasure pleaded not to be discarded.
My friend heard that plea and lifted the treasure in both arms. She knew how I had hid my own treasures, how I polished them in secret over the years. She had heard stories where I reminisced over lost treasures. In her heart, she sensed the treasure in her arms would fill the void of my lost treasures.
She loaded up the treasure and brought it to me, keeping it warm with an beautiful, old wool blanket.
The treasure lay on my desk, out of breath. It needed time to adjust to its new home.
One warm, sunny day, I took it outside for its first bath. Compressed air pushed cobwebs out. Tweezers pulled out twigs and craft supplies. I brought it back in just as raindrops started to fall and laid it down to rest on my desk. Time for it to rest up and catch its breath.
Last Sunday, I packed up some copies of Bubble Fusion, some bookmarks, snacks, and whole bunch of homemade mints. I got in the car with my oldest daughter and drove off to Ottawa in the darkness before the sun rose. OK. Let’s clarify that last part. Yes, it was dark when we left, but it’s always dark at 6:00 am in October around here.
Anyway, off we went with a GPS that didn’t know how to find Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. We had to enter an address that was further up the street on Queen Elizabeth Driveway. I worried that relying on an ancient GPS that gets lost just going to the Laurentians was not the best idea.
Thanks goodness we have something nowadays called Google Maps! I printed out those directions and brought them with us. Any discrepancies? Oh yeah. My daughter and I looked at each other and decided to listen to the print out. Excellent decision. With only one left-hand turn and two right-hand turns, we found Lansdowne Park.
I met many wonderful and interesting people! The organizers, the fellow authors at the different booths, and the people representing different companies were all so friendly.
As for the people who came to the Expo, well, they were incredible, too. Most were from the Ottawa area, I’m sure, but there were a few exceptions. There were people from as far away as Holland who showed up! Yes! Holland! People from Montreal also drove down to Ottawa for the event!
I would love to thank all the people who stopped by my table, shared their stories with me, and enjoyed my daughter’s homemade mints. I enjoyed every single last story you shared with me.
October. Sweet, blistering, cold, scary October.
Where does that bring me?
Ottawa!
I will be at the Ottawa Book Expo!
Time: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Date: October 20, 2019
Address: Horticulture Building in Lansdowne Park
Copies of Bubble Fusion, along with a few bookmarks, will be there.
I have been thinking about what scares us lately. How does it feel? What makes us scared?
As a mom, there are a million fears all related to children and their future.
There’s also fears that are coupled with anxiety. Will the catwalk give way and send me plummeting to the cement floor below? Will I fall out the window when I clean out the sill from the inside?
To shirk ominous clouds off me, I remind myself: I am afraid of flying, yet I took the plane; I am afraid of new places, yet I went to a place I had never seen before. Because of this, I saw things I never would have seen. Like the gnarly old tree with the bush growing on it, the faces I see in the branches both dead and alive.
Fear. Something to think about. Something to overcome.
Bubble Fusion has two main pieces of art attached to it: the photo of me on the back and the cover. (Actually, the photo is also here on this website.)
Let’s start with the photo. I knew I would be needing a photo for the book and various sites. I found, through word of mouth, Ben Di Nunzio. I asked him if he would mind taking my picture. He was more than happy to oblige. We met one late afternoon and he took a lot of pictures of me outside among the trees, which is where I feel the most comfortable. The more time we spent together, the more comfortable I felt with him, the more I realized we had a few things in common.
I was nearly done working on Bubble Fusion. I needed to have a cover to go with the book. I tried one cover with a different artist, but it didn’t do the book justice.
By the time the book was done, I had a better idea of what I wanted on the cover. However, I wasn’t 100% positive it was a great idea.
I decided to call Ben up again to ask him for his advice and then decided to ask him to create the cover for me.
He came up with several different pieces of work. Some were beautifully elaborate. In the end, we both decided the one with multiple bubbles intersecting, or fusing, with each other was the most representative of the book.
The bubbles represent the feeling that each one of us is trapped in some type of bubble. Some people are unaware of it and have no problems communicating and connecting with other people. Others are acutely aware of living inside a bubble and make conscious decisions to let people in or to ask them to leave.
Bubbles approaching other bubbles are people meeting each other. Overlapping bubbles indicate a closer relationship.
The bubbles on the cover also imply molecules coming together to create something or, in this case, someone.
As for the font used on the cover, well, Ben Di Nunzio went the extra mile. He drew the unnamed font on the book cover. Here, again, he pulled the concept of bubbles into the text.
There you have it. The answer to who took my photo and the answer to who did the cover art.