My husband and I spent 23 years teaching elementary school in Mississauga. As the end of our careers approached, we began searching for a place to retire, and in 2004, we found Prince Edward County! We bought 5 acres in a remote southern corner and spent our summers camping there. Finally in 2010 we retired and moved to West Lake near the Sandbanks.

Our first home was on the original farm of the Pettets, Loyalists from New York, who settled here in 1784. We lived between the Pettet Cemetery and the wood house they built in 1800, on the site of their original log cabin which is no longer there. Every day I thought of these people and the other settlers buried in the cemetery, and wondered what their lives had been like. I began reading about them at the Archives in Wellington, and learned all about the early days of the County: the wild animals no longer present; the First Nations people who once lived here and later came mostly to fish and hunt; the pioneers who cut down the trees to make masts for their sailing ships, buildings, and fences. I read about the 700-year-old maple, the Wishing Tree, that stood on West Lake Road, and the Quakers who founded the town of Bloomfield. I discovered the legend about a barrel of gold that is said to have been buried at Sandbanks by French soldiers during the Seven Years War.

Then, one night, with all these stories swirling in my head, I had a dream. I don’t remember its exact words, but I woke up repeating a riddle, one that could only be solved by going back in time to find the answer. This gave me the idea to write a book for children – one where they travel to the past and meet characters from history. I combined this with the legend of buried gold, and TREASURE AT SANDBANKS was born.

For the past 10 years I have been writing time-travel stories about Bella and Joey Wilkins, a sister and brother named after and inspired by my grandchildren, Bella and Joey Kinder. The stories have become a series called THE KEY TO TIME, of which “Treasure at Sandbanks” is only the first book. The next two books are nearly complete and will hopefully be published next year.