Les is More

So many people in our lives become acquaintances. We may smile and wave at each other. We may exchange pleasantries. It’s nice to have such people around. It’s even more special when we can truly call someone a friend. Les (Lesley Anne Weatherdale) is someone easy to befriend. Not only does her smile make me want to smile back, but she is also intelligent, kind, and generous. I am so honored that I can call Les a friend.

I met Les through Vocal. Like me, she writes a bit of everything – fiction, articles, and a bit of poetry. When people read her work, she is quick to reciprocate and respond. Honestly, I don’t know how she finds time to write anything with her many hats, but her pieces are great. She’s got 35 published works to choose from so far. If you’d like to read any of her Vocal work, check out her profile:

Les is also one of the founders and administrators of Vocal Social Society. She is always willing to answer questions or find the answers if she doesn’t know them. She puts in countless hours preparing posts and reading members’ works to choose “The Fab Five” each week. If you do not already belong to the various Vocal Facebook support groups, I highly recommend looking for them. My reads have been steadily climbing since I joined Vocal back in late February. I recently passed the 5,000 mark! Find the Vocal Social Society here.

Les recently published a children’s book call, “Owl in a Towel.” It is a sweet story with many lessons for young children to learn, such as:

1. Being accepting of a new sibling. What a great book to read when Mom is expecting!

2. Cherishing simple belongings, and to make use of them in multiple ways, even as the items become older.

3. Feelings – am I “sad, mad, or glad”?

4. Problem solving – how can we make this better for everyone?

I like that Les consciously chose to make the young owls genderless so that all children can imagine themselves in their places.

The illustrator, Cheryl Woynarski, did a great job of anthropomorphizing the owls. They express the text seamlessly. She chose beautiful, calming colors for her artwork.

I am positive that after having this wonderful book read to them, preschool children will ask for it repeatedly. Imagine that – an author WHOO wants children to love books!

I wanted to buy Les’ book for my youngest daughter, who is expecting her first child. Les autographed the book, packaged it up, and shipped it out, even though I was having trouble transferring money to Canada for the purchase through my credit union. She said, “Honestly, don’t worry about it. I’m glad it’s getting a good home.” That’s how generous Les is. I bought the digital version through Apple Books for myself so that I could speak about her work with firsthand information, and I will tip her the balance over the next weeks, but she wasn’t expecting that. She just gave it to my daughter out of the goodness of her heart.

I’d love to return her act of kindness by spreading the word about her book for her. If you would like to read more about Owl in a Towel or know someone who would love this endearing book, please check out or share this the link for Les’ website: https://www.owlinatowel.ca/?fbclid=IwAR2Y6xdp11lLrzmlkIVpa1lQYeA7O5QZn5VXnXct3e2oLGhvM2SGBjx6WUY

All of this, and Les plays the piano too! What a woman!

Some people cut other people down.

Some people do not care about setting a good example for others.

Some people go about their lives on autopilot, more or less.

Some people ignore the needs of others, more or less.

Because she builds people up, cares about others, and works hard,

Les is more.