I was surfing through MLS listings in Renfrew County in November of 2007 and saw that the Wilno Craft Gallery was for sale but when I read the stats for it, I saw that the living room was listed as being 5.5′ wide by 25′ long!! I thought it must be like living in a bowling alley and I left it at that. In March of 2008 I was again looking through the MLS listings and saw that the Gallery was still listed so I emailed the realtor, Pam Ogelsby, to ask if it really was still for sale. After a few emails and phone calls, Carl and I, decided to fly down and take a look at it for ourselves – and we liked it. Before we left for home (Winnipeg) we had made an offer.
On the 23rd April we flew to Amsterdam for the start of a 5 week holiday that covered Amsterdam, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales where I was born. Making a long story shorter, we signed the final papers for the purchase of the Wilno Craft Gallery while we were in County Clare, Ireland.
We flew home to Winnipeg the first week of June, which was when I realised that we had less than 5 weeks before we took over as owners of the Gallery on July 11th. We had a house to sell and Carl gave in his notice as E.D. of The Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association but would have to work until September so it would just be me that would move in July. The move was fairly uneventful, a huge U-Haul jam packed full and towing a trailer with my car sitting on it and our cats, Hamish and Owen, sitting in the car. The cats were good travellers but I worried what I would do with them in that time between arriving in Wilno and being able to move in to the Gallery. Constance and Rob came to the rescue, allowing us to unload our “stuff” and the cats into upstairs; they also fed and watered them for the 5 or 6 days before the lawyers allowed us in. A big thank you also goes to Pam Ogelsby and Ken Ramsden for putting up with us for a couple of nights!
When we finally got in I had a few days to familiarize myself with the artists, artisans and crafts in the Gallery before Carl left for Winnipeg on the 14th and there I was …. on my own for the next couple of months – but that’s another story!
