The interest is growing.
Thousand Islands Writers Festival have updated their website to include a page specifically for our contest. You can read about the rules and the mechanics of it here.
The official entry form can be downloaded here.
One of the local weekly newspapers, The Observer, has published an article in this week’s edition on the contest. You can read it here.
For those of you who aren’t on Facebook or Twitter or a member of the Love a Happy Ending group, I thought I would share the comments my review of 1923: A Memoir generated…
Harry Leslie Smith: What an insightful ‘Review Chair’ of my memoir 1923 by Melanie Robertson-King. She did a marvellous job! I could not ask for a better associate reader.
Melanie Robertson-King: Thank you for your kind words, Harry. It’s been a pleasure.
Janice Horton: Your Memoirs sound like a must read, Harry, and Melanie’s enthusiasm for your writing shines through in this review.
Melanie Robertson-King: Happy to help.
Linn Halton: A big round of applause to Melanie, Harry and Janice – what a brilliant example of team working to produce something to capture the readers’ interest! Well done.
Chris Longmuir: Yes it was a good one. Hope it leads to lots of sales.
Kathryn Brown: This book fascinates me. My late father-in-law lived here for all his 83 years and passed away 4 years ago. He would have had a lot to talk about with Harry, I’m sure.
Harry Leslie Smith: Cheers to all of you. If you were near, I would offer you all a gin and tonic or what ever your poison might be…
Melanie Robertson-King: If my dad was still alive, he’d have lots to talk to you about, Harry.
Melanie Robertson-King: Thanks Linn for your round of applause for us… you’re making me blush.
This photo was taken on the steps of Fairknowe Home, the receiving home used by The Orphan Homes of Scotland, when my father first came to Canada.
Fairknowe Home still exists but has been converted to flats. This impressive verandah no longer exists but other than that a change in the upstairs dormer and the paint colour, the building still retains much of its original character.
My dad served with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders during the war. Born in Scotland, he came to Canada in 1930 through The Orphan Homes of Scotland and worked on farms in eastern Ontario. He enlisted at the local armouries and soon went overseas.
These two pictures were in a box labelled “pictures for Melanie” that my mother had carefully preserved.
There are a couple more photos, one of the two gentlemen who are with my father in these pictures and another one of the “bat man”, Gordon Armstrong, my father drove for. The backs of all of these photos have been stamped Passed by First Cdn Army Film Service.
These pictures are quite small – maybe 2.25 x 1.5 so until I scanned them at a high resolution, it was really difficult to identify the people.
In 1943, my father was granted leave so he could attend his youngest brother’s wedding in Scotland. He wore his kilt for occasion. It wasn’t until long after my dad died that I got a copy of this photo from a family member overseas. I’d never seen my dad in a kilt, even though his Scottish roots were so important to him.
This picture came to me from a cousin in England. Another picture of my dad in uniform. After reading Harry Leslie Smith’s book, 1923: A Memoir, I always assumed the one photo I had of my father had been taken by the army. After finding this other one, I think my dad did like Harry and had photos done to send to his family.
I’m proud to say I have my dad’s Glengarry, leather dog tags, and his medals.
This was our final stop on our quest yesterday. After all, if we were going to travel over half the distance to Toronto for some photos, I had to make it a worthwhile trip. Dear Mr M R-K and I had been here and along the river in Napanee when our children were small. It was SO nice to be able to repeat the trip – just us.
While we wandered around the mill, I found a large goose feather. I know it was from a goose because of the great gobs of goose *poop* that were in various stages of decomp around the place. Well, when we got home, I told my oldest grandson that I plucked the feather right out of the goose’s butt! And he believed me!
In order to enjoy a more leisurely pace on our homeward trip, we came home via County Rd 2 through all the towns and villages along the way… far more relaxing than motorway driving. I was a bit disappointed that the road didn’t run closer to the water like it does in places down here.
We stopped in Napanee (home of Avril Lavigne) at Springside Park. Just inside the roadside car park, the CN mainline crosses the Napanee River on this viaduct and trestle. While in the park, we strolled along the path next to the water.
Just past this fountain, we reached the bridge on Centre St. We left our oasis by the water and worked our way up to the corner of Centre St and Dundas (Cty Rd 2) where I took a photo of the mural on the side of the Flowers by Barbara shop.
I had to be quick here when I took the picture as I only had a very short break in the traffic. As it turned out, I did much better than I suspected.
After getting the photo of the mural, we made our way back to the walkway along the river. To my delight when we got back near the foot of the falls, the blue heron was still there. He seemed quite comfortable around people and was likely only about ten feet away from us and didn’t seem to be the least bit frightened. I think he was getting himself ready for the camera here.
After this we headed off to Odessa and the historica Babcock Mill there. But that adventure I’ll put in a separate post. This one has gotten quite long, not to mention, I keep losing my Safe Draft button.
Yesterday my husband and I took advantage of the sunny, warm day and went on a quest so I could photograph this. We’ve seen this many times on our way to or from Toronto as we’ve passed by on the motorway (aka 401) but even with the wide shoulders, stopping out there to take photos isn’t the most advisable.
When we reached the road that led to the field where this particular VW resides, there was a chain across it. It hadn’t been posted No Trespassing, so we grabbed one of the bottles of water we’d taken with us and hiked in down the gravel road.
Even with the length of the hike, the soft gravel in places, it was worth it to capture these pictures.
There is another creative use of a Volkswagen Bug further afield, but a wee bit too far to make into a day trip. It will have to wait for another time… maybe August.
This morning my husband discovered that the passenger side wing mirror on our son’s car had been broken sometime overnight. The car was parked in the same place it always is, mine was in the driveway and my husband’s on the street on the other side. The “Silver Streak” isn’t looking too pretty. The mirror has been taken off – couldn’t leave it dangling because it would cause further damage to the door. We all figure, but can’t prove it, it was the drunken yobs coming home from a night at the bars downtown. And having a police presence in the downtown core? That’s a joke.
Hopefully, the son be able to get a new mirror tomorrow that won’t cost him a small fortune. With the amount of his insurance deductible, it isn’t worth putting a claim through.
Happy Canada Day one and all! So my fellow Canucks, what do you have planned for our National Holiday? Perhaps a trip to the capital to catch glimpse of the Royal couple? A lazy day lounging in the pool? Fireworks? Just a run of the mill day off work so you’ll be mowing the grass or doing laundry or taking the vacuum cleaner for a walk?
This person is going to make a pot of coffee here (currently sans caffeine so the brain isn’t functioning well yet) then as early as possible heading up to the supermarket (yes, it’s open) to do my weekly grocery shop.
After that, who knows but I figure it will be a run of the mill day off.
Heartbreaking & Uplifting 
***** (5-stars)
Having never read a memoir, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But from the moment I got involved with loveahappyending.com and selected my authors, I knew I would be a fan of the genre – at least this particular author’s account of his early years.
Just from the brief blurbs on the loveahappyending.com/harry-leslie-smith/ author page, there was a parallel resonance between Harry’s life and my father’s, although comparing the two, my father’s life wasn’t nearly so tragic and poverty-stricken. In their later years, they both fought in Europe during WWII.
It must have been extremely painful for Harry to be able to put his childhood on paper for all to see yet cathartic at the same time.
It’s hard to imagine the type of childhood Harry experienced in 1920s and 1930s England. In that period, people did what that had to in order to survive, including digging through trash and stealing from others to obtain something to eat. His account of his father’s years of working in the mines until he could no longer work below ground to being pensioned off and shamed out of the family home because of the actions of his mother, who only did what she had to in order to ensure their survival (such as it was).
Even Harry’s mates and later his RAF comrades had no idea what he had been through as a child, ***spoiler here*** although I suspected it would tumble out when he pulled his rifle on a fellow serviceman. ***end spoiler***. Harry had invented a happy reasonaby normal family life for himself.
Harry is quick to credit his older sister, Mary, for his survival. When she finally leaves home, he’s devastated. They remain close but it’s not the same. When he talks about corresponding with Mary after he’s enlisted with the RAF, you can feel the hurt in his words as he knows they’ve drifted apart.
Harry’s keen wit and way with words make for an spell-binding rollercoaster ride of emotions from the lowest of low to the highest of high. He doesn’t pull any punches and is brutally honest when reliving his experiences.
1923: A Memoir is available in Hardcover for $19.22 CDN and Paperback for $15.30 CDN from amazon.ca – in Hardcover for $24.28 US, Paperback for $16.46 US and for the Kindle for $1.19 US from amazon.com and through amazon.co.uk in Hardcover for £20.94, Paperback for £13.66 and for the Kindle for £0.83.
There are two more chapters forthcoming in this series. 1947: A Place For The Heart To Kip and the final book, tentatively entitled 1953: Empress of Australia.
After reading his first, I’ll definitely be purchasing the next two.