Kelowna

My library is always illuminating…

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I have a happy reciprocal relationship with my local library. And I’ve loved many libraries since I was a little girl. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of Saturday afternoons driving to the North York Public Library with my Dad, “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera” on the car radio. Talk about an mind expanding journey each week. I would max out my allowed books, and then voraciously read them before next visit. Book worm indeed. Thanks, Dad. YES, I adore libraries and books. They are illuminating, informational, inspirational and have shelves full of free destination vacations!

In November I was invited to read at the Okanagan Regional Library, Mission Branch.  Welcoming library staff brought in coffee and snacks and promoted the event with posters and lots of positive talk. It was a fun evening of reading, interacting, and creating with a kind and courageous audience. I’ve been invited back in the New Year.

So I was excited today to gift my library with an “Illumination Installation”. A simple installation of luminaires, poetry and tea light takeaways for staff and passersby. (If you haven’t been to your library lately, pop on over and take out a book to read over the holidays. I’m certain there are lots of very nice staff who will help you find a perfect read.)

And if you are in the Mission area of Kelowna, drop by the Mission Branch and pick up a poem and a tea light. There are lots to go around.

Here are some photos;

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Your words

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DSC_0328Thank you for your words. You are a mirror, a reflection, a ripple of what I do. To write is one thing, to touch a life is much more. Thank you for gracing me with love through your encouraging words.

Here are just some you shared recently. Beautiful.

It was getting dark and colder when I hurried my way into the Orchard Mall last week. Mentally, I was already inside thinking about my to do list, when these beautiful dancing flames in lanterns made me stop in my tracks. I stood there, reading the Properties of Light, moved beyond words and thankful for the gentle nudge to return to the present. Later, that night when my hand found the tea light in my coat pocket, I remembered the words on the side without even seeing them. Shine On …and it made me giddy.
I am sending your poem, along with a winter candle, to my sister in Ottawa. I miss her the most at this time of year, and I know your poem will light up her day like it did mine.
Thank you for sharing your joy, Leslie. I loved it more than you know, and I am grateful for you! Carolyn

“Thank you so much for clipping your poems at the Unitarian Fellowship of Kelowna, on Sunday !! Several of us read your poems, including a passer-by, and we love them & you ! This is a fabulous practice!!!” Bonnie

A morning walk, a dog on leash,
quick unthinking steps, mind far away.
Stop. What is this?
A note clipped to a bramble of blackberries.
Enticing, inviting, encouraging
Be here now.
Observe, enjoy, smile.
And 2 million neurons surge endorphins
A walk home with open eyes and lightened heart.
Thank you. Nancy

I’ve been writing for about eight years (not that long really). I still find myself holding tender in trembling hands this gift of words I received, and unwrapped, and now extend to you. To write is a gift. And each time you write back to me is a gift and an affirmation that what I’m doing matters. So I thank YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Here in the Winter’s early dark I am humbled with the knowledge that, “every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” EVERY thing. EVERY gift. In EVERY season. And how much more in this season when we consider God’s love gift to us in the form of a baby ~ born in a stable, raised in a village, rebel preacher to a nation, sacrificial Savior to the world. Jesus is still light and love.

I trust you hear in my writing an echo of a loving Father, always light giver and illuminator of lives like yours and mine. I trust you know you are loved.

Comfort and joy,

Lesley-Anne

Black Friday? I don’t think so.

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As I drive about town in the day, I scope out places to light up at night. It’s not easy to find spots where lots of people are outside evenings of our cold Canadian November, but I found potential at Kelowna’s Adventure Fitness Centre H2O. There, people come and go to the pool and gym for several hours each day after dark.

So yesterday I headed to the H2O and found a little tree just outside the glow of streetlights and ambient light from windows, and there I hung some paper luminaires. I also placed a sign to help folk make sense of the spontaneously lit tree. In a basket beneath the tree were poems and tea lights for people to take home. I left everything there for a couple of hours. It’s hard to say what the impact was… part of the mystery, I guess. But I did see a mom with kids stop at the tree, read the sign, walk on.

Tonight I’ll install light at another location. Maybe outside a Mall, if I don’t get security after me!!!

Black Friday… I think not! (this is Canada, right?) Bringing light,

Lesley-Anne, SDG

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Fall fav’s…

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With cold breezes blowing and snow making its way down the mountains around our valley, I thought I’d take a look back to some of the Pop-Up-Poetry installs this fall.

And I have to say my experience of hanging poems like little pieces of laundry on lines between golden grapevines and flaming Burningbush was a highlight, the words paper white against sky blue, and the man with the dog pausing, stopping to read, the dog waiting.

Sharing my fav’s in photos…DSC_0019_2 DSC_0012 DSC_0006 DSC_0005 DSC_0004

Upcoming event…

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DSC_0040As noted under “News” on my author website;

Thanks to the marketing team of the Okanagan Regional Library, posters, radio spots, and newspaper ads are spreading word of an upcoming Poetry Reading at the Mission Branch, Kelowna.

Lesley-Anne Evans will read poems and share her experiences of getting poetry out into the community through Pop-Up-Poetry initiatives. Local creative, Dörte Meyer, will provide atmospheric instrumental backdrop to a fun evening of poetry readings, and interactive poetry with the audience.

Thursday, October 17th @ 6:45 pm

The ORL Mission Branch is located on Gordon Drive, in the Capital News Centre.