I just realized I never did my Goodbye Calgary post. It got thrown against the seatbelt when I did.

I’m also adding some stuff about my email newsletter at the end of my post, so stay tuned!

Tech Support Housekeeping:

Also, I apologize for all these technical issues on my site. I am sorting them out, but it’s taking a while.

For those of you who have said that you can’t comment on my site, here’s your answer. I asked tech support on WordPress and they said suggested clearing your browser cookies before you try commenting.

Right now, WordPress is fixing some problems going on with my photos, so if you don’t see them, that’s why. Just try again later. I have had to contact tech support a lot lately.

The reason I still went ahead with my post as scheduled is to test the photo situation. As far as I can see, it’s still not working.

Anyway, on with the post.

Goodbye to the Magpies:

Mum and I wondered if our magpies somehow knew we were going to leave. Magpies are more socially intelligent than we give them credit for, so I didn’t underestimate them. I just waited for a sign.

My favourite magpie, who I named Cleo, gave me a sign! It was exactly two weeks before I left, and I was just about to go outside to give her raisins like I usually do.

Mum was sitting at the table and she said, β€œClaire, I think she just pulled out a feather for you!” I went outside and sure enough, Cleo had a primary wing feather in her bill! She put it down when she saw me!

She flew off when I reached down to get it, but she was looking at me the whole time. I was numb. She just gifted me a pristine primary wing feather!

From Little Cleo
I feel like a Disney Princess!

Don’t worry. I cleaned it.

Yes, this was a deliberate action on Cleo’s part. It wasn’t the moulting season for magpies. They were growing their down for winter.

I asked my aunt, who knows a lot about birds what she thought, and she said yes, corvids understand the concept of gift-giving. She also said I must be a very special human to Cleo if she gifted me a primary feather.

A primary feather is an even bigger deal because birds can’t fly without them. I walked around in a daze and cried a bit at the whole thing. If you take care of magpies, they will take care of you.

I keep listening to this beautiful love song to the magpie, especially now that I miss them like crazy!

Holy Moses Magpie!

Then Mum Left:

Dad convinced us that Mum should fly to California and that he would fly up to Calgary to help me with the moving van. It was better for Mum’s hip and knee that she didn’t drive down with us. That ended up being the best decision, especially since we got in an accident!

Mum gave me permission to share her story of flying in a wheelchair on my blog. That will be all lined up for next year!

She left a week before Dad and I were due to leave Calgary. Then, Dad flew up to Calgary two days later. I wanted to show him around Calgary a bit and I needed his help with the heavy lifting part of moving.

When Mum got to California, she and Dad went shopping so that she wouldn’t have to after Dad left. We had originally planned for her to be on her own for 10 days, but somehow she made it for 14 days!

Then Dad Arrived:

Dad’s trip up to Calgary was smoother than Mum’s to California, but it was all good. I finally got my β€œDaddy! My Daddy!” moment, like in the Railway Children. Missed out on it last time because he was randomly selected for a COVID-19 test!

In fact, Dad’s stay was about making up for what I didn’t show him before. After all, the last time was a family emergency. If you don’t remember what happened you can read it here.

I showed Dad the Elbow River and gave him a mini-tour of the downtown. I took him to Stampede Park and we wandered a bit farther than we thought.

FINALLY I was able to get some great photos of the Saddledome! I have a hunch that WHEN (yes, WHEN) I come back, it will be gone.

Somehow, Enmax Park, which includes a historical site, escaped my notice during my two years in Calgary!

Dad was AMAZING at helping me with cleaning up and packing! It’s like we all do this on autopilot now because of the number of times we have moved!

Things went so smoothly trying to do an international move in a month, that part of me was like, β€œThis is a trick. It NEVER goes this smoothly!” Unfortunately, I was right.

Goodbye to the Rivers:

I admit I am not as attached to the Bow River as I am to the Elbow River. The rivers made me fall head over heals in love with nature and the seasons in Calgary!

So, here’s an autumn photo dump of the Elbow River and some views of Calgary.

There will be more where that came from on my IG page!

We left right before the first snow happened. A friend texted me the first snow pics two days after we left and I felt the tug on my heartstrings! More later on where I was at the time!

I Drove on Deerfoot Trail!:

And either I caught it at a good time (late afternoon on a Wednesday as the sun was setting), or it wasn’t as bad as people say it is. I get the impression people in Calgary love to hate Deerfoot since it is the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Trust me, I have driven worse roads than Deerfoot, and I learned to drive in London! Here’s what made driving in Calgary unique for me. The roads are intricate, like a maze.

I will say more about them in my next post which is Part 1 of the trip back to California. At least it SHOULD have been Part 1 of 2 but ended up being Part 1 of 4.

The trip went like this: Part 1: Driving to Missoula, Montana and loading up our stuff. That took two days.

Part 2: Driving from Missoula, Montana to Sparks, Nevada via Salt Lake City and spending the night in Wendover, Utah. Basically, everything before the accident.

Part 3: The accident and everything else that happened that day.

Part 4: Being stranded in Reno for 4 days before FINALLY reaching Mission Control!

Updates:

First of all, thank you to those who have filled out my survey so far! I got quite a positive response to my email list!

Second of all, I will be closing the survey on December 31st at midnight GMT. That is 4 PM Pacific Time/7 PM Eastern Time.

I am going to publish a post after I close the survey, outlining the results. For those of you who are on my new email list, you can expect your first email around January 15th.

You will find out why in said email… Plus, I have some updates to make to my site for my email list.

Third of all, I am providing an introductory offer for my copywriting services! I have noticed people who follow my blog also have their own websites or businesses and I have created an offer tailored for them. Read more below.

Fourth, I’m now on the fence about how often to post. I might do it once a week or I might do it biweekly. I don’t want to mess up my SEO, but also I need to work. Oh, dear.

I have got some questions about my email list/newsletter that I have answered below.

Email List FAQ:

Here are some more questions and answers I have got about my email newsletter. Plus, if you haven’t filled in my survey yet, you can access it here:

https://forms.gle/DSQ4pWKsJrjMBYei9

Will There Be Overlapping Content With Your Blog?:

Generally, no. The whole point of the email list is not to be repetitive. It will put the links to the blog posts from the past month, and there will be content in that vein. I will include content on the email that didn’t make it into the posts.

Will You Have Affiliate Links?:

Right now, I am still researching my options in affiliate marketing. I am only in one affiliate program and haven’t gotten the ball rolling on that yet.

If I do decide to provide affiliate links, it will only be for things I truly believe in. This means Amazon affiliate marketing is out!

Is There an Introductory Offer for Joining?:

Yes. I’m offering either a FREE website audit, a content planning calendar or email marketing for those who join my list.

If you are feeling stuck on your website, blog or business and aren’t sure of what steps to take towards your goals, I’m offering a FREE website audit. If you aren’t sure about what content you want to post and when, or if you want to create an email list, I can help you with that too.

When you subscribe, you will get an introductory sales offer. You not only get a 25% discount for your first service with me but you don’t pay ANYTHING until you start to see results!

***The technical problems of my site have nothing to do with my ability to design websites! It’s WordPress being obstreperous. ***

Will You Send Emails More Frequently Than Once A Month?:

For now, no. I see an email list as an organic thing. It might be a good thing to do it bi-weekly, or weekly. I might want to play with the time frame a little bit at some point but I will certainly announce when I am planning to do so.

I won’t shorten the time period any more than weekly though. If I am offering a deal on my services though, it will be a tad more frequent than that, but only for that period of time.

Do You Think You Will Have Multiple Email Lists?:

Maybe. It depends on the interest. I would like to have one email list for digital nomading/travelling, one for entrepreneurship and one for marketing, but we’ll see how it goes.

Great questions btw! Let me know in the comments what you think or if you have any more questions.

https://forms.gle/DSQ4pWKsJrjMBYei9

Up Next: Part 1 of Moving Trip from Calgary to Missoula.