About the Author

I was born in southern Ontario, Canada and spent the first few years of my life living in a small town. My grandparents on both sides of the family had dairy farms. Going to the farm was my favourite activity and I always cherished the visits.

I spent most weekends and summers staying at the farm. I would help out in the house with chores but my favourite place to be was the barn with the calves, pigs and cats. My first job was when I was around six years old. Grandpa taught me how to feed the calves. From then on, every time I visited it would be my job to feed them.

In the late sixties and again in the mid seventies our family travelled to London, England, where I lived for a year in Surrey, Walton-on-Thames. I attended school, wearing a school uniform that included ties for girls and I was called the Canadian Twit" by my teacher.

At school I made friends with the local kids and gypsy children. The children thought I was a gypsy because when we first arrived we were living in a caravan and my Dad would drive us to school in it. Later we rented a house that had a wonderful green space. We ran around outside a lot playing soccer and climbing trees to play Robin Hood.

During the summer we travelled through Europe with all five of us living in a small caravan (that's when you either learn to get along or you kill each other. I'm happy to report that all five of us did return to Canada alive). Travelling Europe was an adventure and I remember very interesting things like the urine soaked streets of Paris, the wonderful pickled gerkins in Germany and the salt mines in Sweden(Nine year olds do remember things differently than adults).

In grade nine my family headed off to Melbourne Australia for a year on a teacher exchange program. Our family swapped our house, Dad's job, and car, with an Australian family for a year. Dad taught in his position at his school and vice-versa. Again, the school uniform, but no tie this time. Instead, it was gym class at the beach for a swim and fantastic friends who I will never forget. We travelled extensively and a real high point was snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef and touring in New Zealand for three weeks. They forced me on the plane home. My brother loved it too and returned to stay. Years later he married a lovely Aussie woman and they had two boys. This made me an Auntie but they lived so far away I didn't get to see them as much as I would have liked.

I returned to Australia for a visit in 1986, when I took a leave of absence from my full-time job. This time I stayed a year and worked as a temporary secretary, working a few months and then taking time off to relax and have fun. After my year's leave was up I came home through Malaysia and China. I've long held a fascination with China, probably because of their wonderful art work, and enjoyed seeing Hong Kong, the volcanic mountains in Guilin (think Chinese painting) and of course the Great Wall. It was a different China then than now.

Back at home again, and a job I didn't particularly enjoy but felt I couldn't quit. I continued working there for many years (am still there now). In between, I got married and divorced--no kids--but I certainly enjoyed other people's kids. Parents were really quick to hand them over to me for a day at the beach or picnic or late night campfires in the back yard. Then I'd hand them back high on caffeine and sugar (I didn't know Coke had caffeine in it) but at least the parents were rested!

I took on other jobs in post-divorce survival mode and went back to school at nights to pursue aesthetics, web development, graphic arts, ESL Teaching, etc., all of which I've used off and on through the years.

Next my sister and her husband adopted two great kids, making 'Anut Bard' as they call me an official status. Sleepovers galore and New Years' Eve traditions. I wouldn't turn back time for anything and these children have been a wonderful inspiration for my book.

My earliest writings were poems that I wrote when in grade one:
Fluffy is so big and high
When he jumps he reaches the sky

I was very proud of that poem and it did get published in our school's newsletter (done with 'ditto' paper--and you have to be OLD to know what ditto paper is). All my writings of children's stories were illustrated and the loose pages stapled together with construction paper covers. As a teenager I wrote a deserted island story, a fictional romantic western story and then when in my early twenties I wrote a time travel historical romantic novel. I never tried to get published and as time went by and work-related demands and financial pressures increased, my love of writing was set aside. Until now.

Much of my story is about slowly, finally returning to my first love, my roots and to write about what is most nearest and dearest to my heart--animals and insects. I've spent many years enjoying the wildlife that visit my backyard both during the day and after the lights go out :) and my next favourite thing is to tell people about them.

I haven't had much formal training in the arts. My family were very experimental by nature so we were very much encouraged to just give it a go. And I did. Most of what I've learned I've learned from books (read my review about how a particular book influenced my life at Amazon.com). I would always buy books when starting any new interest or hobby and teach myself from the books how to do it.Then I would experiment. For many years I created and sold decorated eggs--real egg shells that I would carve with a high speed drill and decorate.

I have web developer and software training experience and have spent most of the last ten years teaching people how to use computers.

I'm an avid gardener and I have many hobbies and interests.  My latest hobbies have been learning Chinese, spinning wool and scuba diving.

Of course beekeeping is at the top of my list.  I took an introductory Beekeepers' course and started with two hives in the spring of 2009. And I've written a book about honey bees called The Bee-ginning which I am hoping will be published in the near future.

Feel free to learn more about my adventures in beekeeping in The Bee Journal blog or for children, read fun stuff about honey bees on the Bee-Magic Chronicles blog for Kids.