My Watermark is the Athabasca River, Alberta.

I live on the very beautiful, engaging, inviting, grandiose, Athabasca River in the very diverse and wonderful community of Athabasca. When I think about rivers, I think about water, oceans, rivers, lakes – all that. I've always had an affinity to water. I'm a Pieces, my astrological sign, I'm a fish.

I always knew that I wanted to live on water. Even as a little girl before I knew the alphabet, I knew the 'P' stood for 'Pool' at every hotel/motel we lived in. I'd always sneak out of my hotel room as a little girl My parents much to their dismay would always find me kicking my feet in the pool of all these hotels.

I went from living in Victoria on the ocean, to life circumstances changing, and I ended up in the northern community of Athabasca. But again, close to the river, and close to the water. It's that affinity to water.

When I think about rivers, I think about rivers giving birth to civilization. I think about the triangle of the Tigris and the Euphrates (Rivers), which was the cradle of civilization. But even let's go back to North America, when you think about rivers, you think about the great waterways, the watersheds, and you think about many things historically.

The rivers were a big artery, not just in the land, but in history. You're thinking of, first of all, exploration; rivers spawned exploration. From exploration, we had trade, we had commerce, and then settlement. Out of settlement grew agriculture, and out of that grew towns and cities. If I look at Athabasca, it was a great river, there was the Hudson's Bay Company historically with the fur trade. It's an artery of life, it's an artery in history, and it's a life force. It gives birth to human potential.

Today, time has changed in Athabasca. We have the great river, but we don't see those old skiff boats, the fur traders, and the Hudson's Bay Company. But it's still an artery and it's still a life force because it supplies the water for our town. It gives us the beauty of nature.