Well friends, the book is finally done and can be ordered in the States by clicking on the following link:

https://www.createspace.com/6854113

The book will not be available in Canada until March 6. It has a separate URL, which I’ll post when it is operative.

Here is the description of the book that is on the back cover:

This family history memoir tells the story of Jacob and Lena (Zimmerman) Willems, the author’s paternal grandparents, who in 1919, moved with their family from a Mennonite community in Saskatchewan, Canada, to another Mennonite community in the raisin country of California’s great Central Valley.
Most of the Mennonites who settled in this fertile farmland prospered. Jacob and Lena did not. They and their young family struggled to survive; yet the stories their children told about their childhood and youth were filled with laughter—their home a place where people sang and joked and enjoyed the drama of their unfolding lives. This book preserves those family stories, while
unearthing the family’s history and exploring a mystery at the heart of Lena and Jacob’s marriage.

Below is the painting which is used on the cover–the same one that is on the top of my home page. I’ll post a photo of the actual cover once I figure out how to do it.

Paul Buxman, “Drying the Raisins,” 1990