CONNECTION, PERFECTION, REFLECTION...
One of the illustrations from “The Tale of Trout & Bear”.
June always seems to bring momentous things - or perhaps that is just my perception. The last year has been a roller coaster of lows, love, losses and learning. Suffice to say that when our lives lack balance, for what ever reason, our equilibrium and motivation suffers, our sense of self is challenged. Sometimes we just plain fall off the horse.
I have begun climbing back on recently, testing the saddle and taking the reins again. Part of that slightly terrifying, but exciting, experience has been the creation of a new children’s book, “The Tale of Trout & Bear”. It has been a very long time since I wrote a blog post and an even longer time since I wrote and illustrated a book. The journey has been like going home after years away: the joy of discovering that you have not forgotten the familiar spaces and your way of being in them.
How many of you have missed connection during this pandemic? Most of you, I’ll bet. We are made to connect, to be part of a community. To chat and comfort, commiserate, chide and compete. We humans are social animals. We have all found ways to cope and compensate with this unprecedented and disturbing time in history.
During the height of the pandemic I made an online friend who first inspired me to write this story and who then suggested I transform it into a book. Someone who has encouraged me - every day, in every way - to find a path back, both to myself and to a practice I have missed very much.
In essence, the story of Trout and Bear is about two very different souls who find common ground, tell each other wonderful stories and visit each other’s very different worlds. Without giving too much away... they each celebrate the uniqueness of the other and, through curiosity, creativity and compromise, achieve connection. It is a story about learning, love and living, all set in the wild blue yonder.
I am always so grateful that so many of you have taken my books to your hearts, read them to your children or your grandchildren - or to yourself: An African ABC, A Baobab is Big and the others, have been given as gifts and have travelled all over the world. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with this one, too. “The Tale of Trout & Bear” is available on 16 June 2022 and you can order a copy on Amazon worldwide. I will be putting up a link on launch day.
I hope you’ll splash out and take a trip into the worlds of Trout and Bear. See you there!
