Berton House Writers' Retreat

Last night hubby and I received our first Christmas present of the season--a wonderful evening 'on the town' in Toronto at the 4th annual Berton House Writers' Retreat gala in the company of our son and a very good family friend.

We left here at 3 p.m., picked up our friend in Woodstock and then set out for Toronto, normally a one-and-a-half-hour trip. Luckily the four of us had lots to talk about and the extra hour plus on the high-traffic road went by easily--well, for those of us riding blissfully in the back seat!

The gala was held at a Chinese Restaurant on Spadina called the Bright Pearl and the food was excellent. Milling about before the dinner were all the Who's Who from the Canadian literary scene; my only regret is that I haven't been keeping up with all the new writers. Anyhow my friend travels in elevated circles and he introduced us to Vicky Gabereau, Janet Berton and Catherine McKinnon. Gabereau was disappointing as she barely said hello to me before she was on to her next thing. On the other hand, Janet Berton, from her wheelchair exuded charm and goodwill. She seemed truly genuine, glad to meet all those who had come to this event named for Pierre. When my friend asked if I would like to meet Catherine McKinnon, I immediately said yes as I remember her from years back--probably 25--when she and her sister (Patrician Ann McKinnon) and her then husband (Don Harron) were performing at a Cancer Society event I attended in Toronto. Imagine my surprise when we twisted through the crowd trying to find her and she turned to be the lady I had chatted with in the washroom. We were both surprised to see each other as my friend introduced us. She said, "I already met you in the washroom!" and we had a great laugh.

The silent auction and the live auction raised lots of money for Berton House and watching the antics of the auctioneer and Linda Lundstrom of designer coats fame run up the bids to the max was intriguing. Lundstrom was especially good at it, topping off her contribution when two bidders wanted the designer day with Linda Lundstrom and had the bid up to $3000. She took the mike and got the two bidders to each pay the money and, then and there, donated an extra day, thus increasing the income to $6000 for the charity. I guess she is as good a business woman as a designer.

I assume the clock ticked on, although I wasn't aware of it, so enthralled was I with the event. All too soon we were watching the final presentation, a videotape of Pierre Berton reciting "The Shooting of Dan McGrew." My mind flew back to my childhood in the one-room schoolhouse where I first discovered Robert Service's works. What a perfect cap to a lovely evening--Pierre Berton, that prolific Canadian giant, reciting Service's signature poem on the north. The ironies were abundant and I thought how wonderful to be able to see Berton performing so well, even though he has been gone for three years. Made me think of my Dad and his love of reciting the same type of poetry.

So Christmas has started well for us. This was a gift that will keep on giving as I ruminate on it for the next while. And who knows? Maybe one day someone I know will spend time at the Berton House writing up a storm.