There is a French saying that aptly applies to the intent of this story: l'esprit de l'escalier--"the spirit of the staircase." The significance of the saying is that usually after an evening of entertainment on the second floor of a royal house, as the guests are leaving down the staircase of the establishment, they will inevitably remark to one another, "Oh, gosh darn it, I wish I'd thought about saying this or that" in response to some contested topic.So it is in our lives. Ther...

When one thinks of Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition, memories of bright lights, cotton candy, the rush of people, and the excitement of rides spring to mind. But when the lights go down and the people head home, the fairground takes on a life of its own. The spirits that dwell there from the exhibition's long history come out to play and work, even to scare the occasional employee.The grounds and buildings of the CNE are so richly steeped in history that they are a magnificen...

“These are remarkable and poignant stories that need to be told.” —Ken BurnsMore than six million people watch Bob Dotson’s Emmy award-winning segment, American Story, on NBC’s Today Show. For the last four decades, Dotson has traveled the country searching out inspiring individuals who quietly perform everyday miracles. In the process, he has become the treasured cartographer of America’s heart and soul.Today’s news is overwhelmingly grim; it’s al...

Broadcaster and bestselling author Mike McCardell haunts British Columbia’s past in order to summon spellbinding tales of Western Canada.Reprising his 2013 bestseller Haunting Vancouver, Mike McCardell summons the ghost of real-life pioneer Jock Linn to provide hair-raising and humorous versions of what really happened during some of the formative events that shaped British Columbia. McCardell’s ghostly narrator explains how Victoria became BC’s capital (s...

WISE WORDS FOR FATHERSBeing a dad is great, but nobody ever said it was easy. This book is packed with inspiring and witty quotations to help you keep going through the hard times and enjoy fatherhood in all its glory.

When are you truly grown up? How do you finally become the person God made you to be? In a gentle, reflective account that does not spare himself, Timothy P. Schilling explores these questions while recounting his coming of age as the son of a traumatized war veteran. His memoir Lonesome Road takes us first west, from Indiana to Washington State, and then east, to Princeton University and a Catholic seminary in Europe. It underscores the complexity of conversion, a process that uses everyt...

It is primarily a brief story about my dad and conversations we had together telling me of his life. it is meant to be a legacy for my family.

In April 1834, the Green-Bay Intelligencer newspaper reported that a sawmill was being erected in a new settlement on the Milwaukee River. Less than one year later, the paper reported that �Milwaukey [sic], which 10 months ago, had only a single trading house, has now some 20 or 30 houses, and two or three saw mills.� Yankee settlers and land speculators had moved in and were here to stay. The steady growth of Milwaukee was never wholly due to the influx of ambitious Easterners though. In ...

In a series of letters written to those who influenced his life and who have since long passed, a man pays tribute to those he loved. Moments in time, some tender, some troubling and sad, reveal the character of family, friends, teachers and acquaintances. Intertwined in these events of the past are snippets of the present which sometimes contrast sharply with the economic, political and societal changing mores of Americans. This snapshot of the past opens to view what was, what could have...

The Rock is the story of a young girl swept into the Hollywood mindset by an older man, Palmer Rockey, a Producer, Director and actor. Palmer Rockey made a name for himself, but what about those he stepped on to get there. Cookie Ann Rockey writes her memoir of her life with Palmer Rockey. Read about him! The man the music industry is raving about with his new CD by Trunk Records of the soundtrack from our movie.

Sons of Assumption explores the rich history of Assumption High School, then later Assumption Prep, which prepared boys for the priesthood for almost sixty-five years before closing in 1970. With classes taught in French, it was not uncommon for Canadian and French families to entrust the school to turn their sons into godly men. In their own words, the graduates describe their feelings of homesickness, struggles with discipline, and how their experiences allowed them to succeed in their c...

How have 20th century women really lived? My Mother's Story asks people to write the story of their mothers' lives from beginning to end, without embellishment, telling "just the facts ma'am" in 2000 words. The 41 stories collected here were submitted for consideration to be in a professional theatre production in North Vancouver, Canada which used these stories to tell the history of a community. Eight stories were chosen to be told on stage but all stories are in this book. Against the b...