The Life of Fawn and Spot so far...

Fawn and Spot, two characters from the Bed Tyme Tales website, started off as two real calves who were purchased at a livestock barn near Tweed, Ontario in 1990. It would have been spring because I remember the day they stepped down off the truck and into my life. It had just finished raining and it was muddy.

Fawn was a tan coloured calf and Spot was a black and white coloured calf. They were both only a few weeks old and they were both very cute. I remember I used to have to feed them with a bottle which was a warmed up milky solution that calves were fed. It was fun having the two of them around. I love animals, especially baby animals.

At that time I lived on piece of land in Mountain Grove, Ontario. It was very hard to make any kind of decent living in Mountain Grove. There were no jobs and the nearest city was either Kingston, Ontario, which was an hour away or Perth, Ontario, which was about 45 minutes away. I had two young children to raise as well.

Fawn and Spot were with us for all of that summer. At the end of the summer, my ex-husband and I were working at a restaurant along Highway 7. We ended up moving there in the fall. I ran the restaurant and my then husband worked the grounds. My ex made a deal with the owners so that we could bring our animals with us and have like a petting zoo.

If you were ever lucky enough to stop by that restaurant and were lucky enough to have seen the animals in the petting zoo, then you were actually lucky enough to have seen the real Fawn and Spot.

We never really had any intentions on slaughtering Fawn or Spot for meat, although, that is what most people did with calves that were purchased at the livestock barns. Shortly after this period of time is when I actually started writing and shortly after that is when I created the characters Fawn and Spot.

The Hansen family in the Fawn and Spot stories is actually my family. Mrs. Hansen is actually me and what most people don't know is that Mr. Hansen is actually two separate people. The first Mr. Hansen is my ex-husband and the second is my present husband. Ricky and Jenny Hansen are my two children. All of the other family members mentioned in the Fawn and Spot stories are all my actual family members.

I have written quite a few Fawn and Spot stories based on my Mother, but unfortunately, she passed away in 2001. There was a period of time that I didn't write anything after her death and if I did write anything I did not write any stories about Fawn and Spot. I almost laid them to rest with my Mother as that was a very difficult time in my life.

Slowly, story ideas started coming back to me for Fawn and Spot and I think one of the first ones I wrote was about my Mother's death and then I wrote a Thanksgiving story where Fawn tells about how much me misses Nanny. My Mother is mentioned in a few stories after that one but then I found it was getting too painful for me to write about my Mother so I started writing Fawn and Spot stories with just my Dad in them instead.

In May 2005, I moved to Kamloops, BC because of health issues. The dry semi-desert weather has done wonders for me. I have congenital chorea and was finding life almost unbearable in the humid conditions in Ontario. It was getting to the point where I could hardly walk.

When I moved to British Columbia, I brought my characters with me. In my most recent Fawn and Spot stories, Fawn and Spot now live on a ranch in the mountains of British Columbia. They go for many walks in the mountainous region and discuss the many new species of animals that are native to this area.

For me, personally, leaving Ontario was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good, of course, is the health benefits. The other good things about living in BC are the scenery and the wildlife. I have seen only a small fraction of this province and I hope to see so much more.

The bad thing about living in BC was leaving my family behind. I miss my two children very much. I am hoping that I will get to visit with them next summer and I am really looking forward to that.

Fawn and Spot have lived in BC for over three years now Their new life consists of lots of mountain fresh air and exercise. Living amongst the mountains makes anyone want to enjoy the outdoors.

British Columbia has tons of wildlife from bears to mountain sheep to bald eagles. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a bald eagle perched high in a tall tree against a backdrop of mountains. The mountains in BC range from a few hundred meters to a few thousand meters tall. The tallest mountain in BC is Mount Robson. With the tall mountains come year round snow peaks and glaciers. With this comes some of the clearest, bluest lakes and rivers found anywhere in Canada.

So, the sum it all up, Fawn and Spot have a happier healthier life in British Columbia, Canada.

Fawn and Spot are probably going to grow old together on the Hansen ranch. I have no idea how long I will be living in British Columbia but I am hoping it will be a long, long time. That leaves endless adventures for these two characters. There are plans for a trip back to Ontario next summer to visit the family and of course, there will be lots of ideas for future stories.