Time to Fly

I signed a book out from the library yesterday entitled "100Canadian Heroines-famous and forgotten faces"It is written by Merna Forster and it chronicles the lives and achievements of early Canadian women who were the pioneers of their day. Many became outstanding in their fields but, in spite of being women, they struggled against tremendous odds to eventually gain the respect of their peers. Some never overcame the odds but instead put a crack in the glass ceiling that would eventually lead other women to success. Not all of them are happy stories, but what comes through is the strength they had to go against the expectations of society and live their lives as they deemed fit. We, as women, have so much to be grateful to these early pioneers.
One of my favorite heroines is Nellie McClung. I have one of her books from 1918 that chronicle the adventures of Pte. Simmons who attempted to escape three times from a German POW camp during WW1. The third time was a charm and it is actually provides a fascinating read into the feelings of the public from that time era. It is her other activities that make her so inspiring. Feminist, politician, prohibitionist, lecturer, writer and one of the "Famous Five"- she LIVED her life.
As I read these stories over and over, I feel that I have the opportunity to change my life around and live it the way I WANT to instead of just going with the rivers' flow. I have options.
There are so many threads whirling in my head right now. I catch a thread and try to pull my thoughts together. There are just so many of them that it is exciting to try to envision the end result.
One of the threads I have managed to pull on involves a long held dream of mine to boost the tourist attraction of my little town, Thessalon. Nestled on the Huron Shore, we have nothing to inspire highway travellers to take the turnoff into our little town. There is no historical point of interest to entice people, we have little to offer in the way of dining, only ONE store of any merit (the rest are just overpriced average), a beautiful underused marina and a lovely beach that gets little use. The motel on the outskirts of town is overpriced and run by people that are just plain 'eccentric'. Their reputation is an embarrassment to the townspeople who wish they would just sell it already. Looking at old pictures from the towns' beginnings, Thessalon was busier and had more stores at the start of the 1900's than from the year 2000. Fires destroyed much of Main Street and the proprietors just gave up rather than rebuild. It's such a shame, because we have such a beautiful little town. It is just so much easier to drive to the Soo for supplies and a lot cheaper too. What could we possibly offer?
It has long been a dream of mine to start up either a museum or a festival of sorts, perhaps even both. The only problem was trying to figure out what. We have some amazing artists here in Algoma. The Group of Seven spent a lot of time painting in this area. Instead of focusing on pioneers, perhaps we could focus on the here and now. The first Canadian woman in space, Roberta Bondar, is from Algoma. Sheila Currie is a watercolor artist who has made several expeditions to the Arctic and taught in Africa. I was privileged to be a part of her campaign to start a school in Ghana. Perhaps we could start a living history. There is a lot to think about. I could even apply for a Trillium Grant or some other government grant to start this up. This is just one of the long threads I have been able to start unravelling.