The Ben Maynard Program
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 72 Artistic Journeys: Poetry, Friendship, and The Canvas of Life
Canadian authors Gwendolyn Jazmin and Alisha Rose invite us into their world of "The Canvas of Life," a mesmerizing blend of poetry and art. Their floral-inspired pen names may first catch your ear, but it's their vivid storytelling and visual artistry that will capture your heart. Against the snowy backdrop of Alberta, these creatives open up about their journey, the serendipitous connection that brought them to our show, and their shared mission to resonate with readers through the harmony of words and imagery.
Discover the transformative power of creative collaboration as Gwendolyn and Alisha reveal how their partnership blossomed. Gwendolyn's poetry, a lifelong passion, found a new dimension in Alisha's evocative artwork, especially during the isolating times of the pandemic. Together, they navigated themes of solitude, reflection, and growth, creating a tapestry that encourages readers to find their own reflections in the art and poetry. Their work invites listeners to interpret and connect on a personal level, celebrating the subjective beauty of their creations.
In a heartwarming exploration of friendship and gratitude, Gwendolyn and Alisha share the inspiration behind their book's cover art and the poignant stories interwoven within their poems. From a touching tale of organ donation to a reflection on lifelong friendships, these narratives emphasize the bonds that inspire creativity. The episode also touches on Thanksgiving traditions and personal passions, offering a glimpse into the personal lives of our guests as they express their appreciation for life's myriad experiences. Join us for an episode that celebrates the indomitable spirit of artistic expression and the friendships that fuel it.#tellyourstory #familymatters #thebenmaynardprogram #podcast #thecanvasoflife #poetrymeetsart #gwenjazmin #alisharose #gocanada
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Hey there people. Welcome into the Ben Maynard Program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. As you know or may not know, this podcast is available everywhere. Podcasts are streaming. Okay, just search the Ben Maynard program and choose your option. Really, you don't even need to do that. But if you can't resist all this right here and you're watching on YouTube, then please subscribe to the channel. Give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. I read all your comments, I love your comments and I appreciate them. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. All one word Ben Maynard Program. That goes for you too.
Speaker 1:girls too, will do so there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure, and with that, you can see on the screen. I've got two guests in today and it's gonna be a lot of fun. It is my pleasure to welcome Gwendolyn Jasmine and Alicia Rose, and I already have questions on that. Okay, they are from Canada. They've written a book and we're gonna talk about that. Okay, they are. They are, uh, from Canada. They've written a book and we're going to talk about that book. I'm looking forward to it. So, ladies, uh, without further ado, welcome into the show. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:It's my pleasure Um now. Uh, can I just call you Gwen, since we have Gwen on the screen.
Speaker 2:Yes, everybody calls me Gwen. Yeah, All right good.
Speaker 1:Now the first thing is, though, let's clear it up. Are these stage names? Because one is Jasmine, one is Rose, both flowers? I mean? Come on, it can't get any better than that. Did you plan that?
Speaker 2:Well, there are middle names Gwendolyn is my full name, jasmine is my middle name and Rose is Alicia's middle name. So we thought, oh, that would be nice. Oh, okay, we're trying to be clever. We both love flowers. So we went with that and just kind of having a pen name. When we first started this we wanted to do it a little bit more discreet, but I guess we've come to a point where it's not so discreet anymore. So, but yes, it's kind of a pen name and I chose to use my full name because it's always been on everything all of my certificates, my awards, my achievements. So I thought, okay, I'll go with. Wendelin sounded like a professional pen name, I guess but it can be a mouthful though, oh I can.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's why everybody calls me gwen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, except my parents okay, yeah, well yeah, especially when they're angry, right yeah, exactly yeah, yeah. Well, I think it's great. And why just Alicia Rose?
Speaker 3:Just because of the flower aspect, or Well, rose is my middle name, yeah, and it's actually like a family name as well. So I thought it'd be a nice tribute to that having that part of the book, and at first, you know, to keep a little bit more privacy, not having my last name in there, but now you can see who it is.
Speaker 1:Right right right.
Speaker 1:You know, I had an author on oh, I guess it was probably in July, and, yeah, she uses a pseudonym as well. She doesn't use her real name, but I think for different reasons. In her case, she wrote a true crime book, so she kind of wants to keep her real name on the down low. Um, but look, you're on the Ben Maynard program. You're going to be huge celebrities. After this. You're not going to be able to walk the streets in in in Alberta, just like me, yeah, right, so, but you know, thanks a lot for doing this. I, I really appreciate it and, and the way we were brought together is a friend of yours, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, they watch a lot of podcasts and they've also been helping us through the book. They kind of know more about the business than we do and then kind of giving us guidance through this whole thing because we have no idea what we're doing. So it was nice that she introduced us and we saw what you were talking about on your podcast and it just seemed like you're really happy-go-lucky as well and we thought that'd be perfect way to talk about the book and it'd be nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:Oh well, wow, Thanks, now I'm blushing now, no, thanks, I really appreciate it, and so with that, let's just kind of dive right into it while you're snowed in, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're snowed in.
Speaker 1:Winter hit early in Alberta right.
Speaker 3:Well, I live in the mountains, so it's about the right time of year for this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But not where you are right, gwen.
Speaker 2:Well, we got lucky last year. We didn't have snow until January, so we thought we'd have another warm winter or a late winter, but no, it's typical, typical Alberta. Yeah, we just weren't ready for it because we got lucky last year right, right, are you?
Speaker 1:uh, are you having to? Uh, like you know, uh take the snowblower to the driveway and all that kind of stuff oh yeah, both.
Speaker 2:I don't have that kind of money.
Speaker 1:You know we're like shovel money but yeah, shovel your way out the front door and that kind of stuff. Okay, Wow, Wow, that's. It's kind of cool, but yeah, I guess you know it can be a drag at the same time too.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's beautiful, for sure.
Speaker 1:But and, like you had said earlier, a great day to do a podcast. You're not going anywhere, right?
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, we're talking about this book right here. It is called, it's called the canvas of life, and it is a book of poetry and artwork. It's uh, let me see it's available on Friesencom, right.
Speaker 3:Friesen Press yeah.
Speaker 1:Friesen Press. That's it, FriesenPresscom. Is that the publisher?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's available on Amazon as well. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:All right. So Amazon and Fries and presscom, it's a great cover. Great cover and, as I said, it's a. It's a book of poetry and artwork. Um, certainly by these two women Gwen who is the poet, and Alicia is the artiste, and uh, I think it's, I think it's great. A little bit about you girls, gwen you're an educator and your passion is for poetry, right?
Speaker 2:It is. It is. I'm an educator. I teach adult learners. I've been teaching them for over 10 years now, and a lot of my students are immigrants or newcomers to Canada. I teach in a community college where we teach English or upskilling, upgrading, and I really appreciate the stories my students share with me. They're quite inspiring. My parents are also immigrants to Canada.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, mom's from Mexico, dad's from Nicaragua. So it was really really, really great to have the opportunity to talk to my students, hear their stories and, you know, write about them. Writing has always been an outlet for me and to do the poetry has been something I've always played around with. When I was very little, I used to write poetry and journal, and sometimes the journaling would become a poem, sometimes it wouldn't, and just kind of playing around a creative outlet. I find that it's very therapeutic for me to write poetry, sure.
Speaker 2:And I really got into it. During the pandemic, I was stuck behind the screen trying to figure out how to teach poetry. Sure, and I really got into it. During the pandemic, right, I was stuck behind the screen trying to figure out how to teach online. I'm not very good with technology, so that was a huge learning curve for me, especially my students, and so it was really nice to step away from the screen and do something that I really enjoy doing, and so I started doing more of it and started to really realize that the past times where I really enjoyed writing poetry, I started getting into it a little bit more and invited Alicia to start painting. I thought it would be really neat to have a painting go along with a poem, and it just kind of organically went from there. It was a great experience. Right started them during that hard time, during that pandemic and alicia to describe you.
Speaker 3:You are a self-taught artist with a love for creative expression is that pretty good, yeah, yeah, I like to do a lot of different. I have a lot of different outlets. I've done a lot of home renovations.
Speaker 1:Oh, right on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've done just woodworking, building things, drawing, painting kind of whatever. I can get my hands on. Really, I just love any kind of creative outlet that I could just kind of physically touch and create and yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm doing a lot of uh work around the house here. I've had a lot of work done over this past summer. I'm have more projects coming up, uh as uh bathroom remodels two of them and actually I'll be moving this studio from where it is currently into my garage. I'm going to be building a much bigger studio in there. So anytime you have a little open weekend or something like that in your calendar, please feel free to come on down and I would that?
Speaker 3:I love doing things like that, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 1:So, um, okay, so you kind of, you kind of got into it a little bit. Uh, gwen, why did you write the book?
Speaker 2:no, I wrote the book well, let me.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, I I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. I don't mean to interrupt, let me. Let me phrase that a little bit better. Why? What was the inspiration to turn your poetry and Alicia's artwork into a book?
Speaker 2:We. We started doing this truly at the beginning for fun. Okay, it was a creative, fun process for both of us, and as we were doing it it started to just evolve. We were starting to see how this was actually coming together, because at first we couldn't really envision it. It was, you know, here's a poem, here's a painting. And then it started to build and we were creating more. Here's a poem, here's a painting. And then it started to build and we were creating more, and then we saw the potential of sharing something a little bit different.
Speaker 2:We did a little bit of research. We've noticed that there wasn't a lot of poetry that has art, that is harmonious, that tells a story together. There wasn't a lot out there and we just thought it would be really cool and also an opportunity for us to share something meaningful with other people, and so it started to have more of a purpose for us. This was something we could share. We could have people read it. Hopefully it resonates with them, inspires them reflection, and so that really was the reason behind it. We started to see a purpose and we felt like this could be something that people would be able to reflect and hopefully connect to and to tell stories Because I'm an educator, I love to tell stories.
Speaker 2:I'm a narrative teacher, a lot of my teaching is storytelling, and so it's just who I am I love to tell stories. Alicia is very creative. She's a great listener, she loves to hear people's stories. She's quite empathetic and I just thought, wow, it just kind of organically had a purpose and we really felt like we needed to put it out there. Alicia was the one who gave me the big nudge. She was the one that's like let's do it.
Speaker 3:She's telling me all these amazing stories from people and that shared these stories with her and to hear them, I was like these are stories that other people should hear. You know, there's really powerful stories in there and I think those are stories that should have been told to other people as well.
Speaker 1:So the poems in the book come from not necessarily your personal experience, but other people's experiences.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Some of them are personal, many of them are tidbits of people's stories. I feel sometimes, when you can't relate to an experience, most of us know somebody who's gone through that experience.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Right, like currently. Right now, I'm writing a poem on depression. I can't personally relate to that experience, but I know people in my life who have gone through that journey and so I think that when we put this together, it's a an accumulation of many, many people's ideas, their thoughts, their feelings, and truly the hard part about the poetry is trying to be true to those feelings and the message right. I think that's always very, very difficult, especially when it's not coming from me personally, so I try to be a very good listener and um and be respectful and really try to. You know, every poem I hope has a story that you know. There's some justice behind it. It's telling the story truthfully.
Speaker 1:Right, Excellent. Well then, you know, let's just. I had told you before, let's just get into it. I marked a couple of well, a little more than a couple of poems in the book, so can we discuss them a little bit? Sure, yeah, Do both of you. Either of you or both of you have the book in front of you.
Speaker 3:I do yes.
Speaker 1:All right, you are all holding the book up at the same time. Book up at the same time. We can all plug it at the same time too. Okay, let's, let me take this out of here. Let's start on page six, poem called the Gift. And I don't know if, I don't know if, if either of you well, you, you wrote it, gwen. So I don't know if you're comfortable reading that or if you'd like me to read it real quick. What's that?
Speaker 2:I can read it.
Speaker 1:I would love for you to read it and discuss it, and then I want to, and then I want to bring in Alicia because I want her to discuss the artwork behind that. So yeah, go ahead, if you could please.
Speaker 2:Okay, this poem is called Gift. Old are the memories I've made. Every line is a record of my story. Every ridge is etched to perfection, every fold expressing my inner glory. Old are the roads I've traveled, the roots exquisitely marked on my face, the wrinkles mapping the passage of time. The creases are a gift of life purposely lived, of life purposely lived.
Speaker 1:Exactly. I think it's tremendous, I think they're great words and I want to put the artwork on the camera here. I just want to show that picture, and you know what? Because I'm a little further off the camera, maybe one of you, or both of you, can also open your book and show that. See, that's a much better picture than what I got going on, because I got the lights in the studio and everything else. That's just for those who can't make it out. You should be able to. That's an elephant, and my question, alicia, is why? Why an elephant? How did? How did those words bring an elephant to mind?
Speaker 3:Because when you talk about the beauty of getting old and how the wrinkles of time on your face, you know the laugh lines, the crow's feet shows, the smiles right that you've had in your life and all of your experience. When you see an elephant, you think of them as beautiful, majestic creatures and you see them as these gorgeous beings and they really show the wrinkles of time on their face and you still see them as so beautiful. So I thought this would be a perfect way to look at yourself is you see yourself as this beautiful elephant, this majestic creature? You know and you see the gift that it is to get these wrinkles and grow old?
Speaker 1:You know, not everyone gets that chance. Right right, right, no, and this you know when, when, when a songwriter writes a song, sometimes it's it's quite literal, there's a message behind it and for the listener, you try to, you try to figure out what, what it means, you try to find the meaning to that song, and then sometimes they just write a bunch of words that sound good together behind guitars and drums and bass and all that stuff. But that's kind of what I got out of this when I read. It was exactly what you were saying.
Speaker 1:And before looking at the elephant, I could see a picture of somebody much older than I, just, you know, just a, a, a picture of of an, of an old person, and sometimes, sometimes I would think it would be like an old Indian man or woman, and you just see their face. You see them from the neck up and you just see their face. You see them from the neck up and you just see all the lines on their face, and that's exactly what I thought of here. And those creases are like the road traveled, and when putting an elephant into play on that, it's the same thing. It's like each of those lines signifies something in that elephant's life, road traveled and experience good or bad, because obviously they have lives just like we do. They have good days, they have bad days, and so that's kind of how I pictured it. So I thought I think that it's so apropos and to have to have that elephant there. And they are, they're just beautiful, majestic creatures.
Speaker 3:Yes. Yeah, and people are so critical on themselves. So I thought if I put a person, people look at the critique of it right you look at your own wrinkles and you look at your own flaws, right and you critique it, you don't see the beauty in it. So if you show something that you can just see the beauty in that's why I went with an elephant.
Speaker 1:That's great, that's great yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, good.
Speaker 1:I'm not as dumb as I think. I kind of pull that one together a little bit. What was the next one? Oh, yes, this one here. I see two meanings in this, and that's rest On what? Page 10? Yeah.
Speaker 2:Rest on what page 10? Yeah, and if you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's one of my favorite ones. This one's a personal one. Okay, well, good, why don't you sock?
Speaker 2:it to us then. Well, I wrote Rest because I have two nieces and two nephews, okay, and I'm so fortunate to have my sisters living in the same city as me and my sisters and I are super close, grew up in a very Latino family, very close familial family. We've always been very close and being close to those kids it's very special. I also teach early childhood to adults, so I also teach early childhood programming. So that is also a passion of mine when I wrote rest.
Speaker 2:I was thinking of children, okay, um and specifically the the children in my life do you want to read that one?
Speaker 1:and then I'll show the picture and then I I'll kind of give my perspective on it as well. And I want, want Alicia to. Well, I think I'll have Alicia speak to the artwork first and then I'll give my perspective and you can tell me whether I'm right, wrong or that's just my interpretation.
Speaker 2:Okay here we go. Here's Rest. Rest in the ocean of my love. Your heart is full here. Be still in the calm of my care. Your nature is nurtured here. I think those are great words.
Speaker 1:Talk about the, talk about let me show it here. I think those are great words. Talk about the um. Talk about let me show it here. I'll show it here, but I want you to show it too, cause yours pops up a little bit better, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Talk. Talk about that, alicia.
Speaker 3:So I decided to go with a sonogram because it just really shows in the womb and how you're floating within the presence of your mother. Right, you feel all of her feelings, you feel the emotion, you're receiving everything and I even put to the colors here. It's creating thoughts, it's creating emotion, but the colors are also throughout and it's hers and you're floating in that love, in that and and that care. So I thought that was a really perfect fit. You're bringing this life into the world and it shows how nurtured you are coming into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see it now, where the combination of colors, what would be, I guess, representative of the mother's womb, are not throughout the body of the child, they're only in the mind, in the head.
Speaker 3:Yes and yeah so.
Speaker 1:I understand that now. Yeah, I like that. And when I read it, I thought two things. The first, I think, is where you were going with this, Gwen being very obvious a mother speaking to her unborn child, her unborn child, bringing safety and security to that child. And then I also thought this is kind of this, this could be God speaking to us, as well as all his children, in the same fashion. So, gosh, I think I'm two for two right now. Yes, gosh, I think I'm two for two right now. Yes, yes, before we move on, do you think that poetry and art? I mean, I understand that the poet and the artist have something specific in mind when they write or paint or draw something, but is it? Is there only one meaning, or can these have multiple meanings, depending on who's observing, who's reading and how they interpret it?
Speaker 3:Yes, a good example of it would be the untethered poem that we have, and when she was writing it and describing it to me, she was talking about the emotion of what it was like to finally be alone and have that to yourself and really think to yourself and sit in your own thoughts. And so we did that, and then I did the drawing to interpret that, but then I also did the drawing with the moon in the background. But it also shows somebody coming into this world, like a new soul coming in, and Mother Moon behind them, you know, helping guide them into it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I was gonna say it wasn't. It wasn't, yeah, because you have the blurry background. So why don't you show that? Alicia, I did not put that one in my notes simply because I don't want to go through every single poem in the book. I want people to buy it and read it and take it in and own it. So that's why I just picked a few of them. But yeah, you brought that one up, so I wanted to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we talk about the quiet of unknown, the calmness of alone. Right and it's finally coming into your own, coming out into the world, but it was also reflecting into yourself as well, being in that quiet and needing that time to yourself to recover or heal. So there's different meanings to that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because when I wrote that poem in particular, it was about cutting ties, like leaving a relationship, a relationship that was no longer serving me.
Speaker 1:So I was like cutting the, I was untethering myself letting go so that one is more of a personal poem.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes it is. So that was about, for me, just surrendering, just going to let this go, and when people read the poem, they interpret it as um a baby being born or a child coming into this world okay right, and I think that's really, really interesting.
Speaker 2:They see the tether as the umbilical cord and they see the moon as mother moon, because we have a poem in our book also called mother moon.
Speaker 2:And so they put it all together and they're like that is about coming earth side, you know, baby, coming earth side. And I think it's beautiful because that's not the, that's not my, that wasn't my intention when I wrote it, right? But, like you said, it can be interpreted in many different ways and as long as it makes sense to you and you feel something great, right? That's my hope that you know, you take from it something that you can reflect on, think about. Hopefully it gives you some some some of them joy, some of them perhaps takes you to places where you're thinking about you know different emotions, or even just feeling emotions, because sometimes I think one of the things we really struggle with as people in general is not just noticing our emotions, but feeling them, right, right, processing them. And so, yeah, I'm really happy when people tell me you know, this is what I got out of it, and I always just say, ok, yeah, that's great. I try not to tell them exactly what I had in mind, but if they ask, I tell them yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what you said. I think when, when a writer writes something, they want to invoke emotion. They want they don't want necessarily to, and I shouldn't say emotion, I mean emotions plural they don't want you to just ride, take that ride here on one plane, they want to take you up, bring you down and and so that you feel all those feelings and discover all that stuff if you haven't yet. And I think that it also allows you to to to help deal with the different emotions. You know, it gives you some experience and just a way of managing that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It gives you a reference point.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It gives you a perspective, definitely perspective, because some of it is not always clear. Right, we're not telling you what to feel. I'm trying to, like you said, evoke emotion. What comes up for you may not be what comes up for another reader, and that's because we're all different. And that's the beauty of poetry and art, that it's subjective, it's subjective Right Right.
Speaker 2:But we were trying to do something where we wanted to make poetry and art more understandable. We were trying to create a bit of harmony here, because one of the things I truly struggled with and I admit this is when I was going through school I struggled interpreting poetry. Okay, I really did, and I would find it quite confusing, convoluted. I sometimes wouldn't understand the theme, the symbolisms, the motifs. So I would really really practice and read and I improved with time. But I think that when you're able to bring more mediums, visuals, pictures and words it helps a person visualize, imagine and those communities come up more. I think and that's what I was trying to do when I asked Alicia if she would paint is to see if this poetry would speak more to people. Right, with more visuals.
Speaker 1:I think having the artwork alongside these poems, I think that it does accomplish what you were looking for in helping the reader to understand what it is you're saying through the poem. But, as we established, it may have a different meaning to them than it does to you, but at least it allows them to take these words and interpret it a certain way. Put some I don't want to keep using the word meaning, but put some meaning behind those words, whether it's what you were going for or not. And then, like you said, people share these things with you and sometimes it's not exactly the message that you were trying to convey, but as long as it has something, as long as there's something in it for them, they understand it.
Speaker 1:And I do. I really think that's the cool part. I don't know if there are other books out there like this that have poetry and art. I have no idea at all. This is like way out of my wheelhouse, but I think it's not only fascinating, but I think it's fabulous as well. So I think you girls have done a really, really fine job with this, and this is great stuff. So I want to move on to the next one. Okay, that's title locked. Okay, that's on 21. I wrote a note here. Let me get to my note. Okay, all right. So if you would like to read this one, gwen, then we'll move forward. All right, cool.
Speaker 2:Title locked. You only ever see one side of many. The shiniest side of a dusty penny. Shiniest side of a dusty penny locked in the allure of a jovial act. An empty vault with a code uncracked, a tidal wave of lies and twisted tensions with the deepest and cruelest of all intentions.
Speaker 1:So my question to you, alicia, is what does the artwork say as it relates to this poem?
Speaker 3:So for me, a lot of the artwork is actually related to the story itself.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:And the person who shared this story with us. This story is the face that they show to everyone.
Speaker 1:Yes, Let me get it right there. Let me get there it is. If you can show that too, that'd be much, much better than mine, there we go. Oh see, it just looks so much better. You can get right up on your camera. Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. This is the face you show to everyone else versus how you actually feel, and you hide what you're really going through from people and how you're really feeling. So it's the side. We show everybody the two sides of a coin, and with this one I decided to go with color theory, so I wanted to show. If you look at it in a red light, you see how upset she is, the struggle that she's going through, and if you look at it in the blue light, it's the side that she's trying to portray.
Speaker 3:But when you look at it as one photo. It's you. If you really look closely, you see all of the emotion. So it's like to really look at people. You need to actually really look, not just what they're trying to show you, but what is underneath the surface as well.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, and and that's kind of how I interpreted this poem was that we're always trying to show our best self and yet what's on the outside may have absolutely nothing to do with what's going on inside. And is that where the third part of the poem comes in? Because it says here, an empty vault with a code on cracked, and then it, and to me that means this is where we're hiding everything.
Speaker 2:And then?
Speaker 1:and then what? And then? The third part is the tidal wave of lies and twisted tensions with the deepest and cruelest of all intentions. The tidal wave of lies and twisted tensions with the deepest and cruelest of all intentions. And is that what is revealed if we open up that vault?
Speaker 3:I think that's more. If, uh, you hold it in for too long. That's what shows is. Yeah, you're showing like it because it all comes out at once. If you hold it in for too long, that cruelty, everything, it just it comes out like a tidal wave all at once.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, it's a lie and it becomes twisted and there's tension. You know, when you struggle with identity, when you struggle with who, you are showing your real self and you're putting up a facade for people right, um, when the realness comes through, it can be, it can be quite like a tidal wave okay, like during right and so it's really interesting how alicia decided to paint this.
Speaker 2:It can be quite like a tidal wave, okay, like during Right, and so it's really interesting how Alicia decided to paint this. She wanted to show a face that, under different light, shows different emotions.
Speaker 1:I think that is so cool. So hold on, jen, before we move on, I want to do this one more time. I'm going to show this book again there. It is Okay, it's called the Canvas of Life, all right, it's art and poetry all together. The book is available on Amazon. The book is also available on FreezenPresscom that's F-R-E-I-S-E-N Presscom Okay, so that way you can go out and you can make the purchase of this book. It's available in ebook, paperback and hardback. Um, but if you have an opportunity, look at that one picture under different light and kind of get what Alicia was going for. I never even would have thought of that. I think that's great.
Speaker 2:I felt the same way. I had the same reaction. I'm like how did you even paint that?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Right. And yeah, the creativity and that's the that's the fun part, that's the exciting part, that's what really gets me enthusiastic about the process is the sharing of ideas. I will send Alicia a poem. I won't really tell her what I'm thinking and I'll let her sit with it and then she'll kind of she'll come back to me and say was this what you were thinking?
Speaker 2:This was what was you know, this is what came up for me right we just share ideas and we've been friends for a really long time and so, uh, we do think similar, uh. So it's really neat. Sometimes we're we're like, oh yeah, that was it. We were both like, right on the money there, we're both thinking the same thing, um, but not always, and I think that's the fun part too. I'm always curious to see what she thinks and she'll also share. Like it's not always poetry shared with Alicia and she paints. Sometimes it's the other way around. She will say I really want to paint something about this theme. Do you think you could write a poem? So it's a, it's a process that goes in many different ways and we get there in many different ways as well.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. So how long have you two known each other? How long have you been friends?
Speaker 2:Like 30 years yeah 28, 30 years.
Speaker 1:You're only like 30 years old definitely ages us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but we've been friends for a really long time I've known alicia, so going all the way back to like grade school then huh yeah, our families are really close friends oh, that's, that's, that's, um, I think I think friends, family, um, those kind of relations, I just think that's also very important and to have a, to have a friendship that has, you know, basically been, you know, almost your entire life, I think it's, it's just, it's's marvelous. I have, I have my own circle of friends that, um, I have known since. I mean I I know one, one of my buddies. I've known him since like the first grade and and then the rest of the guys, from like 10 years old, 12 years old, and, and we're still friends to this day and we're talking, you know, 50 years plus and, um, most of us still live pretty local.
Speaker 1:Um, unfortunately, a couple of us have passed on, but but we're still, we're still good buddies, we're still, um, you know, I I try to get us together like every three months, just to get together on a Saturday morning, go sit somewhere and have breakfast. You know, no distractions, no wives, no girlfriends, no, nothing, just us boys. I think that stuff is so vitally important, it's very healthy, and so I mean that's great that the two of you have been friends for so long and and that you are of the same mindset and you're able to just bring that together for something so wonderful as as your book.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's lovely, it's the best thing you know.
Speaker 2:in a, in a smaller town, you do build those relationships yeah yeah, because we both grew up in a small town and so, uh, yeah, our families are very close and we're just so lucky. I guess they say after seven years, you're friends forever. But you know that was the case for friends. Uh, for the long haul here, yeah, and, and you know, it's actually made our friendship, it's changed it's, it's created something where we find purpose. Right, I'm very much about living through the giving right as an educator, always trying to serve my students' best interests. Alicia's the same. She's volunteering, she's so community oriented, and so for us to do this together and to share it with people, it's really true to our values, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great, that what you said is going to take us to something I saved to the end here. But you know we're not at the end yet, so, so I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to pimp it yet, so let's. I want to move on to the next one that I marked Okay, okay, and it's mountains on page 26. Page 26. And I don't even know. I think there was just something about the artwork that said, okay, I'm marking this one here. I'm not sure what it was, but yeah, let's, can we read that one please? Sure, All right.
Speaker 2:Mountains, collisions meant to vivaciously rise, excruciating growing pains, resting in pale blue skies, humility ascends from the meekness of soil, majestically soaring from the depths of turmoil, breath taking peaks with grandiose presence, peacefully grounded, poised, unbending confidence. You are mountains, your reflection mesmerizing. You are mountains, relentlessly rising.
Speaker 1:It spoke to me somehow, and then you see the artwork associated with it and it's just like what mountains really are, how majestic they are and how they sprout up from, I guess you would say, ground level, and there are these massive peaks and very much like ourselves, we can be as strong and as relentless as a mountain if we choose that path in our life.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:When.
Speaker 2:I was writing this, I was thinking about how mountains, when it's tectonic plates colliding and the ground rising, and I was thinking about people and a lot of hardship. And it's through that hardship, through the turmoil that we often go through in our lives, those dark times that really help us grow and rise and discover ourselves and really become a stronger version of ourselves. And it's usually hardship that gets us there right. The easy stuff is not going to build that grandiose mountain. You know, it's the hard stuff that builds it, it's the built character. It builds you as a person. You learn, you grow, and it's through that, when I was writing this, I was really thinking about people rising above the hardships.
Speaker 1:Well, if life was so easy, we would never grow as individuals.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:We would just just right there. So tell me about the artwork on this one, alicia, and then show. Show the artwork first.
Speaker 3:This here. You can also see at the bottom, the rocks and the water, the color here changing into blue sky. This one is actually the lake of where I live.
Speaker 1:Right on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so this is actually my home here, um oh yeah, I see it right there straighten that little mountain peak there yeah, yeah, yeah um, but I actually do live on a plateau of a mountain okay so I do live up in this and it's a beautiful place and I just always, I always really felt inspired by the beautiful scenery around here and, and seeing the, the poem that she has here about how they're, they vivaciously rise I wanted to show the texture in the mountain and, like you see the hardship, the crust of it, the detail in the mountain, how it was forced to grow into that shape that it is, yeah, and I love the reflection that she did.
Speaker 1:The reflection's great. The reflection's great, and you obviously thought so much about this particular painting here that you made it the cover of the book.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes. We were not sure what to do with the cover of the book. We struggled with that and we had designed some covers and when we went to the designer for the book they truly recommended that image. They thought that that image would really speak to the title as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, how you're growing through this journey with us and being brought along through it Maybe a little bit sort of representative of where you are from as well.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Representative of Canada and the region you live in yeah, Okay, it's what really inspired me to start painting right Is being in this area and being in this. It's so beautiful. I'm literally surrounded every corner by mountains, and it is it a very good spot to be creative, that is for sure.
Speaker 1:So I felt really inspired by this one thank goodness for uh, whomever handles your wi-fi service or your internet service, because, being in the mountains, I know it can be spotty at times.
Speaker 3:Oh, it goes down often, so if I all of a sudden cut out, it's not me. I didn't do it yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we're doing great so far. This is great, okay, so I want to move on.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:Now there are three poems at the end of the book Infinite, time and Markings. And can we do? I just thought of this, right Just came to mind right now, can we do? I just thought of this, right just came to mind right now. Can we do something here? Can, and I don't care who starts, but can one of you read infinite, one of you read time, and then I'll finish with markings. Can we do that?
Speaker 3:sure my audience is going.
Speaker 2:What are?
Speaker 1:you doing, ben, this is a coffee house. We can start snapping our fingers and, you know, playing bongos or whatever, but I think this is just really cool. And then, when we do that, then I want to give my interpretation of it and and then we'll go from there.
Speaker 3:Okay, um, I can read infinite cause. This one was very close to me.
Speaker 1:Okay, the story.
Speaker 3:Um, uh, will I be here tomorrow? My light is slowly fading. Your voice carries the tremble of sorrow, my pain seamlessly dissuading. Is my ask too much. My soul is exposed, completely transparent. We are givers of such a gift that may open the present. I feel the burden of asking another. Is my destiny too soon transformed to ashes? My brother, you will see the world through rose-colored glasses. Your mind carries the weight of guilt. We're at the end of a tight rope. Will I be the right fit? Our eyes agonizing, mirrors of hope. Is my bravery enough? A journey of second, second chances? We are graciously raised. Tough, a pleading prayer for a heart that forever dances go ahead, glenn oh yeah, um yeah, alicia, um yeah.
Speaker 2:So we're not doing interpretations, we're reading. Okay, sorry, I got it Listening to you. Read that one, alicia, okay Time. When rest subdues me, may it dream peacefully, eternally. When breath leaves me, may it exit humbly, gratefully. When time summons me, may it call upon my golden hour. When the end approaches me, may it greet me dignified in love and honor. When death chooses me, may it witness my worthy at essence. When life seeks me, may it welcome me in the eternal presence.
Speaker 1:And the last one markings. You don't simply leave your mark at a grave. It is engraved in the hearts of others, nurturing the world through the roots of good deeds. It is gritty memory that comes alive in lived dreams. And, alicia, if you could show the artwork from both of those, from you know both pages, then I want to read out the rest of the book.
Speaker 3:for us, that'd be great. That sounded so nice coming from you, so.
Speaker 1:I'll get you to read the rest of it, for us so okay, that's, that's infinite there, and then show the, the, the, the next one, and I didn't get it. And then all of a sudden it like clicked, like that, and I want to make sure. I think. I think it's pretty pretty, pretty self-explanatory, but this is about somebody selflessly giving of themselves, their organ or organs to others, to one person or or many people. I have a feeling that time and markings are both about this individual on the last page that they suffered, whether it was a tragic death or not, but they went through death and they gave themselves to. It looks like six people, and the one before infinite is two brothers. I think the first part of that poem is the brother who is in need, like feeling guilty about asking, and the second part is the brother saying no, this is my gift to you yes, yeah 100.
Speaker 3:Yes, that was exactly what we were talking about there. Yeah, um, this is actually a story of my family. The first one is the two brothers oh, wow yeah, and it was a really hard thing for the family to go through and yeah it was a hard ask, for it was my uncle, my father was a hard ask for him and it my father was. Of course I would.
Speaker 2:I would do anything for you, so right, right it was nice to have that in there for them, and thank you to alicia's uh dad and uncle for being so vulnerable and sharing their experience with me, because it was something that we really wanted to to talk about. We wanted to share this experience and we actually have this painting in a hospital, in one of our hospitals here in the city.
Speaker 3:Yes, where they did the donation. That's hanging in that hospital, which one the kidney donation. It's the U of A K Clinic in Edmonton.
Speaker 1:The one associated with Infinite, that's the one.
Speaker 3:Both of them are actually Both of them.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:That's just, that's fabulous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so we've received great feedback from people wanting to know who painted this, and then they find out there's a poetry book. So we're just really happy that it speaks to people, it gives them a way, perhaps, to go through something that's so difficult and hard right right in the moment and to for me, if I can share something that helps somebody in a moment process hard feelings I'm really happy about that yeah yeah, to hear these stories at the hospital was the one as well, with markings and time, to hear those stories of the people who have passed, but to see the people who were getting the organs and they all get their second chance at life because of it.
Speaker 3:It was really cool to be there for all of that.
Speaker 1:Okay, that and that, what a? It's a fabulous way to actually finish the book and I'm sure that was the idea behind it. I'm sure there was excuse me, I'm sure that there was some thought behind the sequence of the poetry and artwork. I'm sure you just didn't know.
Speaker 1:Just go throw it up and say there it is, but what a great way to end the book. But I think that the end of the book actually takes me back to the very front of the book. And, gwen, you and I talked about this a couple weeks ago, and the poem is Gratitude. Yes, now, gratitude is the quality of being thankful, being ready to show appreciation for and to ready kindness. As a matter of fact, I love gratitude. So when I'm done here, I want you to read this one, and we're going to just discuss it. But Cicero said that gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others, and you're nodding, so I hope you already knew that, or maybe I just taught, maybe I just brought something up, but um, but I think the end of the book actually brings it right back to the front it does yeah and um and you're right, it was a very thoughtful process.
Speaker 2:We we really wanted it to have a flow that made sense. The beginning of the book is more spiritual nature type poems.
Speaker 3:The circle of life, the circle.
Speaker 2:We have a poem called Circle and we wanted the ending to be an end that had gratitude.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll just I'll go ahead and read it because, Alicia, you pumped me up, yeah, please.
Speaker 1:And it's so. It's called Gratitude. Gratitude is cultivated in the smallest moments, moments of life graciously given. Be still and smell the roses, witness the beauty of the thorns, hear the bees' purposeful vibrations, taste that warm, sweet honey, feel the sun bend towards you. Happiness blossoms like wildflowers in your heart, rooted with the blissful seed of thankfulness. Gratitude is cultivated in the smallest moments. It begins and it ends the same, and it is, it is, it's just, it's, it's so true. And, oh my gosh, I'm, I'm, I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional here. I'm like I feel like a ball bag right now. It's a good thing. You can't I'm not up close, can't see, I'm welling up here. Just, it's a beautiful thing really, is People, people. Again, I encourage you so much Get this book, get this book right here.
Speaker 1:Okay, the canvas of life. It's a simple book, but it says a lot and it's just the, the, the words in it, the artwork it will we talked about earlier. It's gonna make you do one of these things here, you know, and um, I think, if you skip the first page and read the rest and then go back to the beginning, I think that it will just, it'll do like it just did to me Great stuff. It's great stuff. Tell me about. Tell me okay, now that I did my spiel on gratitude, so tell me about that one, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, for me, gratitude is really small moments, right? And I think if we pause and we notice those things that we are truly grateful for Notice that we have our families, notice that we have the sun that warms us every day, notice that we have the opportunity to take a bus, to work, the opportunity to be able to walk down the street safely when we start to notice gratitude in small moments, we become happier people. We become people where we're starting to realize that it's all of these moments that really matter. And if we pause and actually smell the roses, you're going to start being more present in your life and not be stuck in the motions, right? So many people don't notice, and it's not even just the small stuff. They don't notice the big stuff, the important stuff, because they're like going full steam ahead towards a goal. You know the culture of just work, work, work, work, work, or the culture of I have to be. You know the best version of uh, of this, and you forget all of the other things around you that you truly are grateful for, but you don't notice them anymore and you're not present with them anymore.
Speaker 2:And for me, when I think about gratitude, I truly believe it's built in those small moments and when you're able to actually become aware of those moments, that actually creates joy in your life. It creates joy in your life. It creates joy Because people who have gratitude, typically their anxiety goes down, typically they're more open and present. So I think for me in those moments was just really to to write about gratitude in a way that really shows that it's just those minuscule things that you're grateful for. It's very, it's very interesting. I was hearing someone talk about someone who had passed away and they I had asked them like what do you miss about this person, right? And they say it's the little things, like the way that they close the door, the way that they brush their hair, the way that they looked in the mirror, right. And so when I was thinking about just life in general, it's like it's the small little things that really mean a lot to us, right, and I really wanted to show that in this poem.
Speaker 1:I think when we get caught up in all of the big things, we miss the little things, and it's when we take that time to stop and consider that then we can reset and recognize all the little things that we have to be grateful for. It's all those little things that make the big things. It's all these God-given things that we don't recognize, that we lose sight of, that gives us all the big things that we somehow get caught up in chasing after.
Speaker 2:Capture all the little stuff first. Yeah, yeah, you're really trying to set. The message is to be mindful. To be mindful, be present, um, because truly, when you're mindful, it will change your life and how you exist within your own life. It does. It does change a lot. You're not just going through motions, you're not just reaching for something out in the future. You're in the moment, and I think that's something that our culture is losing and we really need to come back to gratitude.
Speaker 1:I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with you. So I'm going to, I'm going to do this. Alicia, tell me something you're grateful for.
Speaker 3:Something that I'm grateful for. Um, I am grateful for my family and friends, the relationships that I have with them. I live so close to my family and being able to see them as often as I want and have those family dinners all the time, and that's really important to me is getting to be with them, even if we're just playing, you know, games together at the dinner table. You know it's just we. We do it quite often and I'm very grateful for it.
Speaker 1:I think it's those moments you can sit around the table and play those games. It could be Uno, it could be, you know whatever.
Speaker 1:Five Kings, a simple card game or whatever you know, or Five Crowns, I think that's what it's called, I don't know. But those are the small things, those are the little things right there that we take for granted so much and we get lost in all you know, whether it's our screens, whatever it is. We get lost in all that, we get lost in social media and all that and we lose sight of those little things, those little moments. Like you described, yeah Well, like you described, yeah Well, you know, we have in America here we have Thanksgiving coming up next week, and in Canada you celebrated Thanksgiving last month, right?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:So what does Thanksgiving mean to? I mean, what is it about in Canada? How do you celebrate that in Canada?
Speaker 2:Very much about being thankful for friends and family. It's very much about bringing people together, showing love through food. The love language of many of us Americans, canadians, let's be honest all over the world, the love language of food. But yeah, for Thanksgiving it's about being together and sharing our thankfulness to each other. You know, being open and transparent and sharing.
Speaker 3:Looking back, on the year that we've had together and reflection, yeah.
Speaker 2:And good food. Yeah, well, you know?
Speaker 1:yeah, of course you know. Of course in America we celebrate the, you know the the pilgrims landing at Plymouth rock being blown, blown way. Off course, they actually were supposed to be going to Jamestown and ended up in in Massachusetts, but it's, it's funny. We're giving thanks to a group of people who were escaping their homeland for religious freedom. That was what the whole idea was 132 people aboard a ship and I think 60 of them died before they even got to touch land. And they some starvation, some of disease, all kinds of stuff. And we celebrate them. We celebrate by being thankful to them, by turning around being gluttonous and cramming our pie holes with all kinds of food, but it does.
Speaker 1:It gives us a time to come together as family especially if a lot of your family is over here over there together and be as one, be uh, uh, celebrate each other and express what you're thankful for. What you are grateful for more than in addition to what you know, we celebrate here is with the pilgrims. So I, it's, it's a great, it's a great day. So I it's, it's a great, it's a great day, and I think you know we pretty much celebrate it kind of the same way with food. Yeah, so tell me, tell me a little bit more about Gwen and Alicia. I want to know what your other interests are outside of poetry and art and painting let's put that one and home improvement too. Okay, you can start first, gwen.
Speaker 2:Oh goodness, I'm a teacher. I kind of have a little bit of a boring life. But what are my interests? I do like to. I'm going to be going to a Turkish lantern class next Sunday. Where they're going to be, I'm going to make a Turkish lantern with pieces of glass. So I like to like try new things like that with glass. I've done a few glassblowing classes so I'm trying those creative things I really enjoy doing. Not really big on athletics or anything like that, but I like a leisure walk, love going to live in the city. So lots of concerts, lots of concerts in in Canada We've gone to a few of those with Alicia and, yeah, those are always fun. I just like being around people, being social, being with friends, having a good time. Right, I love going to hear live music. What else do I like to?
Speaker 1:do See, it only took an hour and 10 minutes and we brought this all the way back around to music, which is a big thing on this podcast. I know I talk a lot about it, but that's great. So see you like to go to live music? I love live music.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Great stuff. What about you, Alicia?
Speaker 3:Oh, same here. The last one I went to with Gwen was actually Def Leppard and I had an amazing time Because this is the second time that I've seen them and I have the whole Def Leppard gear that I got and very big fan of Def Leppard you didn't go all 80s, did you? I might have had, like the jean jacket, with the Def Leppard logo on it. You know, and I did.
Speaker 1:I, I, I, I dig Def Leppard. I I love Def Leppard. That's a. They're a great band, they're a great band. So I think I told you both that I just went and saw one of your fellow Canadians, aldo Nova you know, you told us about yeah yeah, I had a great time with that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just, you know, live music it's just it's. It's so good and to see artists that you enjoy, you know, out there on stage giving it their best and and really just when, especially when they're just on fire that night, it's so good, it's so great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and not to like bring it back to death leopard.
Speaker 1:But you can bring it back to death leopard they also were.
Speaker 3:There's such a unit together there. You could tell that there's such a close friend group and when, um, the drummer there had the accident and he lost his arm, like he learned to drum with his feet, I'm like and the fact that they supported him all through that and just it's just an amazing thing to see and it really made me appreciate it that much more it is.
Speaker 1:It is amazing speaking of of that, because you knoward just hit. They'd come off of their Pyromania album and they just come off of touring for that album. They were on a break and, of course, Rick Allen has this horrific accident, you know, loses his arm and they're just about ready to get started to record the next album, which would be Hysteria, and I mean you kind of would think that a drummer needs to have both arms. And never was it a consideration by the guys in the band to replace Rick Allen. Never was it a consideration. They waited and waited and waited and said when you're ready, and then that's when we'll get back in and we'll record the next album, and that's what they did. And I mean, like you said, these guys have been friends for a long time, many, many, many years, and so it was. I think that Def Leppard is truly, um a band that we all hope that our other favorite bands are like. These guys are like one for all and all for one. They're truly like a band of brothers.
Speaker 3:And you can tell when they're on stage. They're just having a good time together and they just enjoy each other's company, and I love seeing that Absolutely A hundred percent, all right.
Speaker 1:So what else you got going on? Do you have another book in you?
Speaker 3:Yes, I mean. There's no shortage of human experiences out there, so we are currently talking with more people and getting their stories, like the RCMP and just all sorts of stories from people Royal.
Speaker 1:Canadian Mounted Police. Okay, yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, the police, sorry the police. No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:I want to make sure I understood it. That's good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all right cool. But yeah, so we're working on that now, because there is no shortage of stories, I think should that need to be told and should be shared to help other people. You know, it's something that other people can resonate and feel connected to, maybe in a time where they need it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That is the goal.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, you touched on it way back when Gwen Stories are what it's, you know, life is is a series of stories, and stories need to be told and that's why I started this podcast, you know, a little over a year ago. And if you read the description, it's tell your story and so, uh, it's just, it's a great thing it's. You know, I love to tell stories. Most of them are silly and stupid and all that kind of stuff about, you know, growing up or other nonsense that I get myself into, but but I think all that can be really one therapeutic. But also, people just want to hear a good story and it doesn't matter if it's silly, it doesn't matter if it's uh, if it's serious. You just want to hear a good story. And, um, I try to be like an author who writes a book. I try to be very descriptive, I try to put you right in there with me as I'm telling the story. I get flack from my family all the time. Oh my gosh, can you hurry up?
Speaker 2:The circular story dog.
Speaker 1:Well, first, if you'd stop talking, then I would get done a lot sooner Because you're interrupting. Yeah, no, stories are the best. I'm glad to hear that you are working on another book. I think that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're excited, yeah, we're writing a few poems, a delicious painting, and then as we start creating, we start to realize maybe where there's potential for other stories and we start to kind of look at it and how we can put this together.
Speaker 2:So it's very organic that we start somewhere and then we and then we always yeah, we always invite people to tell us, like the RCMP wants to sit with us, they want to share. What it's like to be a first responder Wow, and we are like on board. We'd love to hear their perspective. Yeah, what's the perspective of what it's like to be a first responder? What's the perspective of what it's like to be someone who's suffering from mental illness, depression, like if someone is vulnerable and wants to share with me? It really, really is special to me because it shows that there's trust and for me, building trust is so important and if people can trust us with this, it's an honor.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll keep doing it and I'll do it for them. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great. That is that's. That's fabulous. I just think it's great. You know, look, I've had. I've had an absolute ball doing this with the two of you. This has been great. I hope you've enjoyed it half as much as I have.
Speaker 2:You're really easy to talk to, Ben. We literally had a little bit of a ball at times.
Speaker 1:Well, look, that's what this is all about. I really have. I've enjoyed it so much. Well, look, that's what this is all about. I really have. I've enjoyed it so much. I hope that the two of you will come back, I hope you've enjoyed the experience enough to where you'll want to come back.
Speaker 3:We love talking to you. We'd love to speak with you again. Yeah, tell you more about our adventures that we're going on. I'd love to speak with you again. Yeah, tell you more about our adventures that were going on.
Speaker 1:I would love to hear about it. Yeah, and certainly, certainly. When you get that next book done, you definitely have to come back and pitch that as well.
Speaker 1:We can talk about that and whatever else you have going on. Look, anything you need, just let me know. I just I'll do whatever I can. I'm no big deal. I'm certainly, you know, except for like Tokyo and in, I think, manitoba I can't walk the streets there. But other than that I'm like no big deal. I'm not even a big deal to my own family. Okay, so it's just one of those things.
Speaker 3:That's usually how it is the family's like oh, I know everything about you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's usually. Oh, it's my dad or it's my uncle, or whatever. Okay, fine, all right, so listen, I'm going to wrap it up, but I want the two of you to stick around. Okay, I want you to stick around after I hit. Stop record, okay.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I appreciate it. See, I don't edit anything, so it's just, it's the way it goes out. All right, folks, I hope you've enjoyed this. Please, I'm going to do this one more time. Let me reach over here without knocking over the microphone, please, and you can do it as well. Alicia Go, ah, there you go. Gwen, go get this book, the Canvas of Life. It's available on Amazon. It's available on freezingpresscom Okay. Ebook paperback, hardback Okay, and get the hardback. All right, it's just better. It sits on the shelf better after you're done reading it. It just, it's just a beautiful book.
Speaker 2:It's a work of art in itself, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It really is. It really is. So, folks, thank you so much for being here Again. This podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts, so just go and search the Ben Maynard program and have a listen Again. If you're watching on YouTube and you can't resist all this right here, then please subscribe to the channel. Give me a thumbs up and leave a comment, because you know I read your comments. You know I reply to your comments. I greatly appreciate it. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply Ben Maynard Program. We are done, it's a wrap. Thanks again. This is yeah. Yeah, thanks to my guests, gwen and Alicia. All right, so until next time, people. This is the Ben Maynard Program. Tell a friend.