I once worked for The Canmore Leader newspaper. I had a marvelous time. There in that Rocky Mountain town, at age 40ish, I gave birth.... to a 70 year old alter ego. Her name was Violet Flowers and she gave me a lot of advice. She gave it to other people advice, too. She began writing a column which the owners of the paper, Jacqui and Pete Brewster, gamely published. We had great fun with Violet for a while. Then, it seemed, Violet retired and I got on with my life.

Violet Flowers next made an appearance, again as a columnist, in 1999, when my husband Bill was serving as Moderator of The United Church of Canada. She wrote columns to friends and relatives and faxed them around the country, offering her opinion on his goings-on, and the state of the church -- and, anything else that came to her mind. And then again, it seemed, Violet retired and I got on with my life.

Recently, when I least expected it, she came out of retirement and demanded to be heard. She forced me to learn how to learn how to operate a video camera and worse, how to fiddle around with editing technology on the computer. At the end, she suggested that the result be placed on Utube. I have never been able to say No to Violet. Here she is: