Follow
Follow
Follow
EmailA time of losses and gains
Posted Aug 23 2019 in About Jen, Family, Friendship, Home, Reading
One of my favourite series of books, loved in childhood and which I still return to as ‘comfort reads’ as an adult, is the Little House stories by American author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Those books taught me about resilience, cheerfulness in the face of difficulties, and finding a silver lining, no matter how grey the […]
Read More...Saying goodbye to my childhood home
Posted Aug 9 2019 in About Jen, Family, Home, The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls
I’m writing this post from my hometown in the Canadian province of Manitoba, a place I left when I was in my early twenties and, apart from brief visits, I built my adult life elsewhere. Now, though, I’m doing the final clear-out of my late parents’ home in preparation for selling it—those four walls and […]
Read More...Lost and found…
Posted Apr 5 2019 in About Jen, Family, Home
One of my dominant memories of English Rose’s primary (elementary) school years is of a constant search for lost items. At that time, she wore a dark-green school uniform, and I spent many minutes before and after my then day job sorting through an almost entirely green pile in her school’s lost property (lost and […]
Read More...My life in laundry
Posted Feb 22 2019 in About Jen, Canada, England, Family, Home
As you may have seen on Twitter, Tech Guy and I got a new washing machine last week. Not only did it mark a milestone in my complicated relationship with laundry but, and in a clear indication of advancing middle age, few things in recent years have brought me so much excitement. The wringer washer […]
Read More...Hunkering down for winter
Posted Jan 25 2019 in About Jen, Home, Reading, Winter
I grew up in a Canadian city (profiled in a documentary “Colder Than Mars”) that is either celebrated, or depending on your perspective, reviled for the harshness of its winter weather. Now I live near a place that this week garnered the dubious distinction as the world’s coldest capital city. Yet, despite proximity to this […]
Read More...Going (to my second) home
Posted Jul 6 2018 in About Jen, Conferences, England, Home
If, like me, you’ve spent half your adult life living outside the country of your birth, “home” is flexible. Although “home” for me is wherever Tech Guy and English Rose are, beyond that, I often picture myself straddling a little island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, one leg stretched towards the UK, the […]
Read More...Prayers for Humboldt
Posted Apr 13 2018 in About Jen, Back Home at Firefly Lake, Books, Canada, Community, Family, Firefly Lake, Home, Prayers for Humboldt, Small town life
A week ago, on a remote Saskatchewan highway, sixteen people were killed and thirteen others injured in a crash between a semi-trailer truck and a bus carrying players, coaches, a trainer, a local radio announcer and others associated with a Canadian junior (ice) hockey team, the Humboldt Broncos. Before then, Humboldt was a small […]
Read More...Love is…a few of my favourite things
Posted Feb 16 2018 in About Jen, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Home, Reading, Small town life, Writing
Since February is the month of love, it’s a chance to celebrate a few of my favourite things and remind myself to be grateful for blessings big and small. 1. My family Tech Guy buys me chocolate “just because.” And when I’m on deadline, English Rose makes sure I remember to eat. In these and so […]
Read More...Family ties
Posted Oct 20 2017 in About Jen, Canada, Family, History, Home, Small town life
My mom grew up in a picturesque Canadian village in rural eastern Ontario—twelve miles from where I now live. Dotted with stone buildings and tucked into a rolling landscape of century farms and historic waterways, it’s a place that shaped me as a person, as well as the writer I’ve become. Several weeks ago, […]
Read More...In search of comfort food
Posted Oct 6 2017 in About Jen, Canada, England, Food, Home
“When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.” Or in my case, shopping for comfort food. As the weather cools, and darkness comes earlier, it’s the time of year for comfort food. However, in addition to childhood favorites like chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese and hearty vegetable chili, when life feels uncertain, I […]
Read More...The Latest News
- Sep 22, 2019: The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls is on tour with Suzy Approved Book Tours (October 14 to November 29, 2019)
- Jun 04, 2019: ‘What libraries mean to me,’ North Grenville Public Library, ‘An Evening at the Library,’ June 22, 2019
- Mar 29, 2019: Ein herzliches Willkommen an die deutschen Leser!
- Mar 29, 2019: Welcome to German readers!
- Feb 15, 2019: Penguin Verlag acquires German rights to Firefly Lake series
- Dec 11, 2018: Take Two Characters: Jen Gilroy chooses two of her favourite fictional people — Guest post, author Susanna Bavin’s blog
- Oct 12, 2018: Writing workshop for North Grenville Writers Circle
- May 29, 2018: All About Books — Guest post on Odd Socks and Lollipops
- Dec 18, 2017: My favourite holiday books as a child — Guest post, That Artsy Reader Girl, A Bookish Little Christmas
- Dec 17, 2017: How I find writing inspiration – Guest post, ChickLit Club