by Nikki Rajala | Feb 25, 2021 | Voyageur
I need your ideas for Book 4. (Help me, François and Françoise — you’re my only hope!) In Book 3 (in progress): Instead of paddling with Antoine’s brigade, Andre fears he must stay at home and sees his life and career disappearing. But he lucks out with a...
by Nikki Rajala | Feb 3, 2021 | Voyageur
Singing. Sea shanties, sung by sailors on long journeys, have had great press lately — so you can see the tradition of work songs lives on! But wait — there’s more. The technique worked with voyageurs as well. Voyageurs, those jaunty hearty French-Canadian...
by Nikki Rajala | Sep 26, 2020 | Voyageur
Are you dying to know what the Ottawa River looked like 200+ years ago? I am. So this 1831 map from Montreal showing the route French-Canadian voyageurs followed on their way to the rendezvous is a real godsend. WOW! It helps me clarify what Andre needs to do at each...
by Nikki Rajala | Sep 3, 2020 | Voyageur
Are you drawn to the night sky? I’ve read that stars and humans contain most of the elements, that we’ve received those elements through supernovas, so we are truly “star people.” Star Bill and Star Nikki enjoyed this summer’s spectacular NEOWISE...
by Nikki Rajala | Aug 17, 2020 | Voyageur
After I recently wrote a blog post about Fun Facts about Beavers, I got to wondering: 1. How many pelts did a single Native trapper bring in? 2. How many packs of pelts did the winterers at a fur post bring to the rendezvous? 3.What was the yearly take for the fur...
