Something Like Love: A Literary Podcast

Hello and welcome to Something Like Love … in 2006 I spent six weeks in a cabin in the northern Georgia woods at the Hambidge Retreat Centre, and that part of the US was another world to me. I saw a black rat snake stretch right across the width of a road. I drank sweet tea and ate chitlin and grits. I saw nazi memorabilia at flea markets. And I met Billy Redden, the man who played the part of the banjo playing boy in the movie "Deliverance". Sidenote: I’ve since learned that he wasn’t playing the banjo at all … there was an adult playing it for him in that scene. In this episode I’ll share the fictional story I wrote while I was in Rabun Gap, Georgia. I called it "Rabun County," and it was published in my short story collection Listen, Honey, published in 2012 by DC Books. Easy to find online, if you fancy getting yourself a copy. To set the mood, I kick things off with a little blue grass. Thanks for tuning in! I wish you a Georgia peach kind of Day.

Hello and welcome to Something Like Love. I was born and raised in Saskatchewan, and much of my family still lives in that oft over-looked province – if I had a dollar for all the times people have told me they’ve just “driven through” on the TransCanada, I’d be a wealthy gal. I spent most of my adolescence in Meadow Lake. I grew up in the forest and in the crystal clear lakes inside the Meadow Lake Provincial Park. As a child, I remember a bear running through the school yard at recess, and the students were stampeded back into the safety of the school. Or is that a false memory? A dream? I’d be interested in hearing from you if you too attended Jubilee School – the round elementary school -  and remember the bear at recess too. In this week’s episode I’m going to bring you along on a road trip through my home province via an essay that’s had a long and varied life. Firstly, it appeared in a long gone but lovely magazine called NeWest Review as “Road Trip: Why I Write About Saskatchewan.” That was way back in 1996. In 2009 it appeared in a book titled Country Roads: Memoirs from Rural Canada, released by Nimbus Publishing. I included it in my 2014 essay collection, I Wasn’t Always Like This, published by Signature Editions, and here it is again, with music, for you. Shout out to the marvellous Peter Mutafov for channelling Neil Young in this episode ... and to Neil Young himself, for "Harvest Moon".

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Something Like Love. Here we are in Season 3, with travel and exploration as the theme. This week we'll spend some time in Maui. I share my essay "Haleakala Sunrise," from my essay collection "I Wasn't Always Like This," which is available almost everywhere, but you might want to check it out here: https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=leedahl     (bookshop.org is a great place to order books) This week's episode includes a fractured family, a pre-dawn trip up to the Haleakala volcano to see the sunrise, and a bike back down on mountain bikes. There's also barbed wire, and a brief Shellified take on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Thanks for listening, and have a beautiful week.

This week Something Like Love visits, Bali, where I travelled with my son in 2009, and we met an Indonesian tailor named Mowgly, travelled into the countryside on motorbike, and participated in a celebration of the Hindu goddess Sariswati. The short essay I share this week is titled "Once Upon a Time in Bali: Adventures on a Mother/Son Vacation," and it appeared in my essay collection I Wasn't Always Like This (Signature Editions). I met Santa Monica writer and Pushcart Prize nominee Donna Conrad in an internet cafe in Sanur, and we became quick friends. Years later I travelled to California to help Donna edit her novel. I also edited her delightful children's picture book, How I  Sent My Hug Around the World. You can find this gorgeous hardcover - illustrated by Balinese artist  Monez Gusmang - here:  https://www.amazon.com/How-Sent-Hug-Around-World/dp/0985245719 I hope you'll check this week's episode out, and go easy, Friends.

Hello Friends. I’m Shelley Leedahl, a multi-genre writer in lovely Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, and this is Season 3 of my literary podcast, Something Like Love. I’ve always loved to explore, so I’m feeling the pain during these restrictive, pandemic times and thus have decided to dedicate Season 3 to travel and exploration through poetry, fiction, and essays. You’re warmly invited to join me each week on international adventures from my past, and I’ll share some Canadian locales too. I also promote other writer’s work and – because I just can’t help myself – I add a dash of music to the mix, too No passports required, no quarantine necessary. Let’s … just … do … this. __________ Today we’re Portugal bound. I was in Europe in 2013, and the extended trip was feasible because I’d arranged a home exchange with a French couple. My then-partner and I flew to Basel, Switzerland, where Chulita and Alain met us and drove us back to their home near Belfort, France. We had two nights with them, then they flew off to Edmonton while we settled into the Alsace region of France. By god it was glorious in the French countryside. We had a view of the Vosges Mountains, and both Germany and Switzerland were nearby. We zoomed to Paris on the TGV. We connected with writer friends of mine in Germany’s Black Forest, and we luxuriated in a Baden Baden spa. We visited my sister-in-law and niece in Switzerland, and we popped over to the Czech Republic for some exploring there, too. Highlights included quaint Colmar, France – la petite Venice – and visiting wineries, and running in the French countryside to the next village for morning croissants. I’m terribly fond of Europe, truth be told. In this episode you’ll hear me tell a story involving a near arrest at Estoril, Portugal, and a wild trip back to a Lisbon Air BnB in the back of a siren-blaring police paddywagon. I also read the essay “What I Learned About Life at the End of the World,” from my essay collection I Wasn’t Always Like This (Signature Editions). I wrote it when based in Salema, on the southern coast, after I was invited on an 8-hour hike – to the end of the world – with a 70-year-old stranger named Sigrun. I’m also pleased to share the work of Regina, Saskatchewan writer-friend Gerry Hill, who also spent time writing in Portugal. Gerry recently launched his seventh collection of poetry, Crooked at the Far End (Radiant Press), and he graciously sent me a recording of his poem “Love Poem Contest, Second Prize.” Man, he had me at the title alone. I usually create all the music for this podcast series, but this week I couldn’t resist adding some Fado – hey, the theme’s Portugal, after all. Thanks to Alexandre Bateiras for “Variações Sobre um tema Melancólico,” and Creative Commons for this license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/] Next week we’re going to Bali! __________ If you enjoyed this travel essay and wish to read more, please order a copy of I Wasn’t Always Like This online here http://www.signature-editions.com/index.php/books/single_title/i_wasnt_always_like_this [http://www.signature-editions.com/index.php/books/single_title/i_wasnt_always_like_this] , on Amazon, or from your favourite bookstore.