I built my first cabin near Lonesome Lake in the early 1980s. I wrote about this period in Cabin at Singing River. I spent two summers living in a tent camp before moving into the house during the fall of 1984.

I had met Katie Hayhurst and Dennis Kuch, and their son Birch, a couple of years before. When Birch was four years old, the family hiked and boated into my camp. The story is written in rhyme and of course I did the illustrations. It starts:

“Once upon a time, when Birch was four, He went to visit Chris who lived next door. But next door here means a long way away. You have to walk, and it takes all day.”

Katie wanted to publish it. She has a lifelong friend from Mexico (now living in Chile) who has written and illustrated her own children’s books. She kindly did all the computer work – an excellent job. So now we can present this book to anyone interested. It is 30 pages long, full colour, sturdy paper. It is available in local stores for $18 or $20 from me to offset some of the postage.

The Williams Lake Tribune has just published an article about it that will give you a bit more background.

I did not write it with the idea of publishing it and I wince at some of the drawing, but it is what it is! Here are some sample pages.: