Almost ten years ago, on July 16, 2012, I published a blahg called SOME THINGS TO CELEBRATE…FOR ME, ANYWAY. I was going to sit down today and publish a new blahg about celebrating things when I thought of the old blahg. Has it really been ten years since that blahg? I’ll touch on a few things and compare it to the previous blahg but there’s some new things to celebrate this time around.
Ten years ago I touched on the fact that my wife and I had celebrated 25 years of marriage on May 30th, 2012. 
This year, we made it even further to the 35 year mark. It was a very quiet anniversary. I brought home Swiss Chalet and we bought a new Epson printer. I know, I’m still the romantic. I don’t have a recent photo of the two of us together but the photo at left was taken two days after our 32nd anniversary on the occasion of our oldest daughter Emily’s wedding. I think we look pretty good together and we’re still happy with each other…most of the time.
Another thing I celebrated in that blahg from ten years ago was the graduation of my daughter Abbie from Grade 8. This past week, June 14th, 2022, Abbie graduated from York University in Toronto. That’s a feat in itself because there hadn’t been in person graduation ceremonies the past two years due to Covid. Below is a photo of her against the K & U in the York University sign.
The video below is of Abbie receiving her diploma, Bachelor of Fine Arts Magna Cum Laude, from the Chancellor or York University. I had to record the video from my seat and aiming at a big screen. They didn’t want us getting out of our seats to go up front and take photos or videos.
I look forward to seeing Abbie’s next adventure and I’m sure her screenwriting ability will serve her well.
Now for some more personal celebrations for myself. In 2020 I wrote four blahgs about the singer Linda Keene and traced her career through the media and included music files and a link to a rare acetate I had that she recorded for Gold Star in the early 1950s. The blahg caught the attention of a jazz researcher by the name of James Harrod who put me in touch with Jordi Pujol with Fresh Sound Records. 
They wanted to issue a two CD set of Linda Keene’s recordings and include my acetate. I was also contracted by Jordi to write the liner notes. Here are some pictures below of the set and some pages from the liner notes:
You can click on any of the links above for larger images and here’s the link to purchase the set from Fresh Sound Records: https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/linda-keene-albums/55313-one-more-for-the-road-the-dixie-songbirds-complete-recordings-2-cd-box-set.html. I believe you can also order it from Amazon.
The final thing I would like to celebrate is that after nearly ten years, I have finally written and completed my novel, “Pippa’s Passing.” In my last bahg, from April, PIPPA’S PASSING, I had completed 13 chapters or 57,000 words. The final count was just over 116,000 and twenty chapters. I spent a few weeks editing and doing some rewriting. I redrafted the final chapter after I had an idea to make it stronger. I’m very happy with it. I have been meaning to write this novel for ten years and finally started it in February of this year. It’s a hard process to describe. Once I had started, the characters began to speak to me and told me what to write. I had no conceived notions where the book was going at times but when I sat down each day, the words were there and formed the story. I’ve always had the beginning and ending over the last decade but I had not idea what direction it would take. I’m happy with it. Now I have to send it out to see if I can get it published. I’m thinking of Coach House Press which is a Canadian outfit that I’ve been aware of for many years. I think their ideals and mine are well suited. Wish me luck! Coach House, if you’re reading this then know that I will be in touch.
That’s it for now. Celebrate something of your own…even if it’s the new day.
Tags: Jeanette Ploegman, Linda Keene, Pippa's Passing, Scott Henderson. False Ducks