Workshop Tour Day 4: Last Day on the Island

I had such a great time on Saturday! More importantly, so did 13 participants in the community workshop in Grand’Terre.  The workshop was held in the same school cafeteria I was at on Thursday. It is also part of the community center in this town that you’ll find called Mainland in English on some maps.  This central location was chosen so that participants from Cap St. George, Grand’Terre, Lourdres, L’anse-aux-canards and other neighbouring towns could gather easily.  The youngest was 2 weeks old (accompanied by Dad, a teacher at the school I taught Friday, mom, and visiting grandmother from New Brunswick)! After 3 hours of fun, we again took the time to share what we had learned. I was thrilled to hear as the first comment:  “To not be scared”. (Thanks again to Leslie Quennehen of the FFTNL for the workshop photos.)

As you’ll see in the photos, there’s also a filmmaker in the crowd, who came to film me for a short clip that will air on TV5-Unis in December. I’ll get to share my story on TV. Fun! I’ll also admit that as a professional artist who relies on painting sales for her living, this kind of exposure is priceless!  We met Laurence Mathieu-Leger and her business partner of Bicyclette Multimedia (based in Ottawa) at the Cape Inn the night before.  They’ve been traveling the country with Laurence’s newborn to film footage for a series of clips that air on this French television station. Her featurettes are on teachers, French immigrants, grandparents/granchildren, and radio personalities. She was interested in the fact that I was a nomadic teacher, not just in the arts, but in English Second Language, and personal/spiritual growth workshops (intuition, simplifying your life, etc.).  Our conversations really helped me reflect on how I love to share what brings me joy and what inspires me.  It also helped me realize that I’ve spent most of my life either as a student or as a teacher all over this planet. It’s all about being inspired and opening others to potential inspiration.  Very satisfying!  I look forward to seeing the clip – she does an amazing job!  I’ll let you know when it airs, of course.  Even if you don’t speak French, her visuals are incredible!

After the workshop, Louis Christophe, Leslie, and I had a quick take-out meal in the cool breeze and then headed off the peninsula, with a few stops along the way to see Hidden Falls, the alpaca farm, and the dolomites along the side of the road.  The colours once we were off the peninsula were simply breathtaking – it was getting dark and we were on the highway, so no pictures of that unfortunately… By dinner, we were in Deer Lake, where I slept very well indeed! I leave in 30 minutes for the airport to fly to Labrador City where I’ll be teaching 2 workshops on Monday and Tuesday.

Happy Thanksgiving!  As must be obvious, I have so much to be grateful for.  As my reader, with whom I can share all this joy and adventure, I am also truly thankful for you!