Niagara Falls is not just about the waterfall. There is beauty in the unique areas around the cataract. This journal features a photo of Dufferin Islands - a nature area located upriver from the brink of the falls. 

Over the couse of over 40 years, I have visited Niagara during every season. Each season brings a different beauty to the landscape - but I feel that she is her most beautiful in the Fall. 

I was inspired by this photo to ponder the miracle of autumn. The time when trees let go of their leaves in order to survive the winter.

 Autumn reminds us that letting go can be a beautiful process.

Release the things that are weighing you down. Let them flutter to the ground behind you like the leaves. Move forward toward a season in which you will blossom.

• A beautiful journal you’ll want to keep close to capture your thoughts

• Lightly printed lines to guide your writing.

• Strong words within the lined pages to guide your thoughts.

• Convenient 6”x9” size

• 100+ pages to help release what is weighing you down

• Let the beauty of Niagara Falls in autumn remind you that letting go is a natural part of life

About the creation of the Journal

I’m Karen Captline, and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with my amazing husband, and our most cherished family members live nearby. 
The majesty of Niagara Falls is just a four-hour drive away. 

I have been a Niagara Falls tourist since I was eight years old. My parents instilled in their children a love of the place where they had spent their honeymoon. I have taken 100+ trips to the area over the course of 40+ years. It is a second home to me and the people I love. 

In 2020, my freelance graphic design business was taking a hit due to the difficult, unprecedented, and turbulent times of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was lucky enough to find a book publisher as a client, so part of my workload became designing book covers which quickly became a favorite type of project.  

While working as much as the pandemic would allow, I protected the health of my mother, and missed the freedom of visiting clients, friends, and my beloved Niagara. We all hunkered down and watched the months pass by. We were all lucky enough to enjoy good fortune and good health during this time. 

In January of 2021, pandemic solutions were being found, but other health concerns emerged. I received a breast cancer diagnosis that set everything in my world spinning. Thanks to faith in God, trust in my doctors, and a little pixie dust — cancer was behind me by October. It was a stressful, eventful, and strangely beautiful time in my life - but that’s a story for another day.  

In 2021, I had started to write a book about my cancer experience and then 2022 brought new challenges in the form of a birth defect that was diagnosed by my husband’s new doctor. It was a bicuspid aortic heart valve that would need to be replaced at the age of 51. God’s kindness was shown to us once again. After surgery, and a few months of recovery, he’s doing fine now.

After a year and a half of actively repairing our bodies, and still recovering from all of it, I wasn’t in a head space to write that book, however, I wanted to create something. Something that would help me focus on the future...a journal! I put my favorite place on the cover - Niagara Falls. I named it “The Beauty of Persistence”, based on the relentless water that created the natural wonder. 

So, I was ready to write that book, right? Well...then I decided I wanted to see my journal in the gift shops around Niagara Falls. I focused my energy on that goal, and I made it happen! Then, I was inspired by another photo I took in Niagara - specifically Dufferin Islands, which is a nature area upriver from the brink of the falls.  

The autumn photo on the cover of this journal inspired thoughts 
of how beautiful letting go can be, and how letting go can be a companion of persistence.  

With all due respect to a certain ice queen, “Let it Go” should be the anthem of autumn! My husband and I are moving forward and enjoying a simpler life appreciating the things that really matter. Everything else has just fallen away. 

I hope this journal helps you sort out what matters most, and what can be left behind.