Memories - Poems, Cartoons and Pics From Long Ago ...

Whilst (is that still a word?) cleaning my little corner of the world this morning, I came across a handmade booklet of poems I had written in the early years of my married life, and as I was rereading it I realized I had a time capsule of the mid to late 70's. And here I was wondering what to blog about today.

I guess Our Story started when I stayed with Auntie Evelyn and Uncle Eliol, before they were Auntie and Uncle to me. They were Auntie and Uncle to Howard though, when he became the last in the long line of fellers lining up at the door. (Only kidding. He was actually the only one in the line. Just sayin'.)

 

 He would sit patiently at the kitchen table while I turned this sweet innocent little maiden ...

  ... into this.

Only kidding. The top picture was an even younger version of me, and that was a pillow in my sweater - never too old to play dress-up!

It didn't take him long to propose. Well, he didn't actually propose, as such, just informed me that he was getting married when I told him I was going to visit my sister and brothers and their families during the summer. I figured he'd be alone at the altar if I did go away, so felt compelled to hang around and see what would happen.

You probably know what happened.

I bet 

(For My Children:  A picture of Bart Simpson and his unknown twin brother.)

you met
And that was that
He threw his heart
Down on the mat
You picked it up
And that was that. 

He took you for a little ride
And soon you will become his bride

Thank God for your lucky stars
Gravel Pits and private cars.


(Call it artistic licence - the above poem and cartoon is not actually for me'n'him. Not sure who got this little gem though.)

Anyhow. Even way back then the bride-to-be got a bridal shower. Unlike the modern ones, that consist of getting up close and personal with male stippers and drinking until your eyes start to bleed, if you can believe other people's Face Book pages, the showers of the 70's were exclusively designed to give the poor unsuspectful soul the equipment she'd need to be a good wife.

Dishcloths to dry your dishes with
And pots to cook his meat
A jug to hold the milk you'll pour
Upon his shredded wheat.

A wooden spoon to mix his cakes
A bowl in which to make them
A cup to measure flour and such
And pans in which to bake them.

A rolling pin to roll out dough
A cookie tin, a ladle,
Some bread pans, cookie tins and such
And placemats for your table.

A basket for your laundry, and 
A broom to sweep your floor
And cloths to wipe your dishes clean,
A gift for every chore.

You won't have time for much else soon
But clean and wash and scrub
Along with his ring upon your hand
You'll get his ring around the tub.

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. Really.

We were married for about a year when we bought a tiny little house in Trinity. There was only one problem with it -

Last spring we bought a house

Not fancy, now, you mind

A four-roomed cottage that

In outports you can find.

Improvements must be made

But that is lots of fun

And so the gyproc and the paint

Already has begun.

However, doing walls

Does not give me a worry

But lack of bathroom fittings,

Is quite another story.

I didn't mind at all

Through summer, spring and fall

To take my pail in hand

And go to the outdoor can.

But now that winter's here

With ice and snow galore

The carrying of the pail

Becomes a different chore.

Can you imagine what

Would happen if I slipped

And fell flat on my back

With bucket over-tipped?

Me, lying on the snow,

Annointed, head to toe.

 

Well, this seems to be as good a place as any to sign off for the day. The past couple of hours brought many memories as I went photo hunting through my piles and piles of old pictures. 

More to come!

Scottish Dancers, Busking (not me), Cuban entree with African Pop, Tornado Potatoes - and Lovers in a Dangerous Time.

On Saturday morning, Nikkie and I headed up to Holland Park for the  Surrey Fusion Festival , which is only the best darn festival of all. The sound of bagpipes lured us into the park, and the first stage we saw had two hornpipe dancers on it. I don't know about your computer, but mine isn't sharing the music for these ... unfortunately. You can just get someone to stand behind you and whistle, if it makes it more real. Sorry.

Next on the stage were these two little lassies showing off their skills.

As we walked around, we came across some performers - these were from Surrey's Heritage group, and they were performing vignettes throughout the weekend, telling the story of pioneer life in our province.

And of course, there was the Pan Pipe guy, playing Hallelujah this time around.Since this video has no sound (at least not on my computer) you can watch him and listen to this.

One part of the park that really intrigued me was The Sound Garden. Pianos make really neat planters, don't you think?

I'm not sure how serious musicians would appreciate these instruments embedded in big pots ... but they were inviting to the music makers that passed by.

I don't know how the Jolly Green Giant's utensils ended up in a music garden, but they did.

A little jazz, anyone?

This busker was a very good busker, indeed. Hope he made lots of money!

 

I can't remember what country this bike represented - it's a big gaudy compared to Breehy.

Of course there were Cirque Soleil people walking around - or at least they could have been Cirque Soleil people. They were certainly tall enough.

And there was a tiny corner of Newfoundland in a Canada tent.

By this time, our tummies were rumbling, so it was a huge decision what to eat. There were food tents there from so many countries - making a choice was really difficult.

I chose a Chicken Empanade from Peru - it was very good, nice flaky pastry. If this makes you hungry for your very own Chicken Empanade, here is Paula Deen's recipe - so now you can make your own.

 

I wasn't sure about the heat content of this food, so decided to buy a drink. They were selling Coke products, which don't seem much like an  international food festival item to me, so I wandered across the grass to an African tent, where I purchased this -

Pineapple ginger pop. It was different. At first, I could just taste the pineapple, not as sweet as the Crush product, but then the ginger kicked in. Wow.

And I was concerned about the Empanada!

However, Nikkie wasn't very curious about any of this world food, so she stayed in Canada with ... you got it ....

French Fries and Coke.

We walked around a bit more, then headed home. It looked like it was going to rain, and some of us were getting sore feet. However, the plan was to come back up after dinner for the Big Concert - which we did!

Bruce Cockburn was playing on the Concord stage, and we hung around and listened to him sing and play guitar for a while, long enough for the words Lovers In A Dangerous Time to embed themselves in my head. I'm still ear worming them.

A lot of vendors were closing down their tents by now, as it was almost 10pm. However, we found the Colombia one still popping, with lineups even. They were selling, among other things, the Tornado Potato, which I've always wanted to try.

Nikkie was enjoying hers, until she decided she just had to have catsup with it. The Colombians never had any catsup, so she walked over to the India tent, where they were selling French Fries - and had a good supply of catsup on the table - for their customers. (You may know this at ketchup, by the way. Never sure of the correct spelling of that particular condiment.)

I pretended I didn't know her as she walked up, took the catsup bottle, and squirted it the length of her potato. Some people's kids, huh?

It was yet another fun day - except for my poor toes. I didn't know it until Sunday morning, but my new flip flops had been eating away at the area between my toes all day - so I had developed a huge blister that broke into a raw mess. Sorry I didn't get a picture to share with you.

From Hell's Gate to a Bit of Newfoundland Heaven - Thank You, Canada, for Being Wonderful From Coast to Coast!

Another hard 'week' of toil, and there are 4 nice long days ahead before I start another. Last week I ended up taking off with Neil on Thursday and Friday, then heading off for more fun and games on Saturday (we'll talk about that tomorrow), so there wasn't much time for mundane stuff like housework or bike rides. That hopefully will get covered this week.

Last night when I posted here, I promised you a visit to Hell's Gate. Since I haven't been there yet, only to the roadside building where the fun begins, I have to rely on the internet to share information. A lot of the information here is from  http://www.venturevancouver.com/ .

 Anyway, it was still daylight when Neil and I drove by, so he pulled his rig into the parking lot so I could check out the area. Also so he could have a smoke break. I'm not sure which was top on his list, but I do enjoy checking out areas.

The door here is bracketed by two signs, which are really informative.

 

 -and-

 

 Seems like you go in through here -

- out through here -

  - and go way, way, down into the canyon -

- in this. Wow. Now we'll just read Venture Vancouver's words. They know a lot more about this place than I do.

---

Situated in the Fraser River canyon, the daunting Hell's Gate was described as such by explorer Simon Fraser during his journey along the river in 1808. Today, this section of British Columbia is far easier to pass through thanks to the roads high above the canyon and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway below, however, Hell's Gate and its awe-inspiring narrow canyon continue to stun visitors as they descend into the 'Gates of Hell' via its bright red Airtram. Explore exhibits, shops, bridges and more at the bottom of the canyon, learn about the regions history and enjoy spectacular views at Hell's Gates!

  First described and named for Simon Fraser's journal entry (which said of this section of the Fraser River "surely this is the gate of hell"), the Hell's Gate section of the Fraser River - located between Hope and Boston Bar - has been a source of both suffering and of awe for over two hundred years. The mighty Fraser River narrows in this section of the steep canyon and created an obstacle for many explorers and gold miners during the early years of British Columbia. Today, significant road improvements make the canyon a comfortable and scenic drive, however, remnants of the dangers once faced by early settlers remain and can be visited at the Hell's Gate attraction.

Hell's Gate's journey begins on a precipice high above the Fraser River. At highway level, visitors can take one of two routes down, a steep hiking trail, or, the more preferable route, the airtram. Opened in 1971, these small airtrams can fit twenty-five people and take only one minute to reach the Fraser River level. A small village offers a fudge shop, gift shop, cafe, gold panning and fisheries exhibit to explore. There is also a suspension bridge which crosses the Fraser River which connects to the trail, offering spectacular views of the river, tram and canyon.

Visitors can learn about the large fishway at the Fisheries Exhibit, which is one of the most noticeable features of Hell's Gate. Built in 1944, the fishway was an integral addition to this narrow gorge whose water flow was irreparably altered by a rock slide during the construction of the Canadian National Railway in 1913. Inside this museum, visitors can see movies, old photos and learn about the Fraser River and its Salmon.
Some of Hell's Gate's most famous residents are its spirits: Edward haunts near the gold panning station, the smoking man in the restaurant, the Asian spirit on the observation decks and the lady behind the gift shop door. A stove is also reported to be controlled by the spirit of its cook who worked there during the construction on the railroad

An interesting historical adventure for all ages, Hell's Gate provides the opportunity to learn about the perils faced by British Columbia's early explorers, settlers and salmon while offers spectacular views of the canyon from the lower terminal, air tram and highway level. Don't miss some of Hell's Gate Annual events such as Canyon Appreciation Day (May), the River Regatta (May) and the Pumpkin Drop (October)!

See, doesn't this seem like a lot of fun? 

Of course, it probably isn't as much fun as some people are having back on the east coast - I'm grateful for the pictures that are popping up on Face Book showing the Leah Caroline, her extended crew, and the reunion in Little Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

 This is an amazing pic - a sign showing where Howard's family house used to stand. Of the 13  childrens' names here, 12 were born in Little Harbour - the thirteenth baby, Bernice, was born after they were resettled to Trinity.

And here's the star of the summer - the beautiful Leah Caroline -

 

Fusses About Buses, Chasing Smoke in a Semi, and the Proverbial Bang My Head on the Wall with a Customer's Question ...

Once again, I was lucky not to be caught in a five hour sky train problem - by the time I got off work, the congestion I expected was cleared up, at least at the sky train station. The bus was another matter - the one I usually take didn't show up, so I had a 15 minute wait instead of a 5 minute one, and then of course, everyone who was waiting for the missing bus piled up on the next one in line. I did get a seat, but unfortunately the gal who sat down beside me started pushing me over - and over and over, until I explained to her in a quiet voice that I only had one seat (my shadow was a lot louder and I had to stop it from smacking her in the jaw.) Between that unwanted squeeze and the guys with the big hairy bellies that had escaped their t-shirts as they reached up for straps to hang onto, and who happened to be standing right in front of me - well, you can decide for yourself if you'd ever want to walk a mile in my shoes. Or ride 20 miles on my seat. Whatever.

Anyway, the buses don't provide the finest of my rides - they are provided by Neil, and when I left you yesterday, I left you with the forest fires just north of Lytton. 

Today we'll take you to Prince George and back as far as Hell's Gate ... it will become clear tomorrow. Don't worry!

We stopped at Cache Creek for smoke and potty break (one for me, and one for Neil), and before we left the Husky, he pointed out the Dinosaur on the hill. I zoomed in with my trusty I Phone - isn't that cool? It's actually a painted rock - at least, that's what Neil said. 

The rest of the trip to Prince George was uneventful, probably because I gave up and hit the sack long before we got there. 

In the morning, we were just lying in our bunks, dozing and waking, waiting for time to get up. I felt like I had a really good sleep, and for the first time in ages, woke up feeling ... well, feeling awake. It wasn't until Neil's phone rang that we realized it was 9:30, and we were supposed to be ready to leave by then. Oops.

The pictures below will explain why we slept in -

At 9:30 in the morning, when the sky was filled with smoke from forest fires to the North, and there was a heavy drizzle falling, it looked more like 5:30 in the morning. Oh well.

The drizzle gave away to heavier rain later in the morning, but cleared up as we travelled farther south.

This time, the smoke was hovering at Cache Creek, where we stopped once again for the usual reasons.

Neil was very happy as he danced his way back to the truck. See the Newfoundland tattoo on his leg? He designed and tattooed it himself!

Well, I'm glad my day is done. I'm really too tired to eat, but I guess I should scarf down something. 

Talking about scarves, an old lady came in the store this afternoon with an old sweater that she had knitted years ago, and wanted the yarn to knit another one. (I know you're thinking, what does that have to do with scarves - nothing really. As I said, I'm really tired.)

Just in case you're wondering, it's really hard to match up 30 year old yarn that's been knitted into a sweater, worn and washed, and thrown on the counter. I did my best, but she decided to go home and come back another day with the pattern. (Duh.)

New Way of Doing Things - Plus Tons of Stuff - Boats, Whales, Trucking, and Forest Fires .... etc etc etc ....

Since my loyal readership has diminished greatly in the past few months, due I suspect to my lack of writing, I've decided to once again change my way of doing things. Instead of lengthy writings with thousand of pictures sporadically posted to this blog, I'm going to try to be more short and sweet and often. Not sure if I can post every night like I did a few years ago, but I'll try. There must be some exciting stuff that happens to me on days I don't travel - we'll see.

As some of you know, I'm a boat widow. Hubby is no doubt in 7th Heaven, spending time with his family in Newfoundland, sailing in the Leah Caroline - (now I get to steal pictures)

(photo posted by Barbara Vokey)

 - probably yelling 'Thar she blows' as whales frolic and dip alongside the gunnels. Not that I'm jealous, of course. I would much rather be here working 8 hours a day, bracketed by 2 hours of transit on each end. Who likes whale watching anyway? (more stolen pictures coming .... )

(Photo posted by Trinity Eco Tours)

And of course, the cod fishery is open while he's there, so he's probably been feasting on fresh cod, so fresh it's probably flipping its tail in the fry pan.

(photo posted by Devin Hookey)

Oh well. There's still 3 Basa fillets in the freezer. We'll probably pan fry them later on this week. Sigh.

However, life is good on the west coast too, and I've had a pretty busy week. Last Thursday, I headed up to Prince George with Neil, and I have some pictures of the first few hours of our journey - and these are MINE, not stolen borrowed from Facebook postings from incredibly kind, generous and non-suing for copyright people back home.

Now, you may say, she's already posted lots of tunnel pictures, what's the big deal? Well, you just look really close ... and you may decide you actually like your current job. Personally I'd rather deal with an irate customer than hang from ropes on a rock cliff. But that's just me.

Sometimes the train tracks cling to the sides of the mountains, but sometimes they curve alongside the highway.

And some times the highway clings to the side of the mountains - I like this side better than the other though. This is Jackass Pass, and the other side of the road has a way, way down beside it.

As we were nearing Lytton, we passed the airfield where the fire-fighting helicopters were landing. Neil said this one was the biggest one - but my the time I aimed my phone out the window we were zooming past.

 Coming down through the Snake Pit.

Here's one of the reasons the fire-fighting helicopters were based nearby. There were so many forest fires blazing across the province last week, most of them caused by lightning. This one was blazing in the mountains just north of Lytton, and there were times when we could see the lick of flames in the smoke, and a couple of helicopters flying in.

So that's all for tonight, folks. I still have lots of post fodder to sift through - so stay tuned, stay well ... and if you happen to be fighting these fires - stay safe. I know a lot of people have you in their prayers. And thank you.

Life Is a Highway ...the Fraser Highway, that is, to the Honeybee Place and back!

 Wednesday was supposed to be the coolest day of the next few, so I figured I should take Breehy out to see some more of our pretty little world. We haven't rolled over all of Surrey's roads yet - at least, not from one end to the other, so we headed up the Hydro line greenway to Fraser Highway, and this time we had a rather simple destination in mind, so I was pretty sure we wouldn't get lost.

Some people who know the area would wonder why I rode way up King George Boulevard to Fraser Highway when I could have just sailed down 132 Street and took a little path there. Well, sometimes I wonder why I do certain things too. It only added a couple of miles to my journey, but I figured that since I will probably never cycle to the end of Fraser Highway, I could at least start at the beginning of it. 

I haven't ridden enough this summer for my leg muscles to agree with my choice of adventure, so it wasn't long before they were protesting. However, it was either pedal or walk, because the rest of me was adamant we were going somewhere.

And this is about the time when I realized I had forgotten my water bottle, so I was glad to see a Petro station across the road. Unlike a lot of service stations, this one had a bike rack, so Breehy was safe while I picked up some water. I also bought a BLT salad and a yogurt parfait for my lunch. Their choice of dressings was rather poor - ranch (yech), Ceasar (fine for Caesar salad, but a BLT one? Really?) or Balsamic Vinegar (yech.) I chose what I figured was the best of the three, the Balsamic one. I was hoping to come across a picnic area/park on the way where I could sit beneath a tree and relax.

It wasn't long before we got to the Green Timber Park area, and I was lucky enough to be on the bike lane on the shady side of the road. Even on hot still days, these beautiful trees create a cooling breeze. I could have just stopped here and had my picnic if there was a picnic table handy, but there wasn't.

 

I wouldn't think this road was paved way back in 1875, but it's pretty cool to know that there have been wheels travelling here for almost 140 years.

 

The old growth forests are chock full of just about every shade of green in the world, and they smell sweet, too.

However, it's obvious every one isn't as careful on the road as I am. Of course, I was in a dedicated bike lane, and I never noticed any dedicated squirrel lanes.

 I imagine the rest of this little fellow is checking out the retail stores this week.

This route soon led us to Fleetwood which has tons of stores, businesses, and fast-food restaurants. Not so many trees.

Would you consider this a good place to have your business cards printed? I woodn't.

As I was walking Breehy we came to the Prairie Cafe, and I really did consider going in and ordering some food, even though I had provisions in Breehy's basket. At first glance, I thought it was a classic diner, but on closer inspection I saw it was a kinda Asian cafe. Oh well. All day Breakfast was probably classic diner food, but since there was no place to tie up Breehy, we walked on by.

Surrey is such a bike-friendly city, with lots of bike lanes and greenway paths, but it is sorely lacking in bike racks, which is not good, as Surrey is also a bike-thief-infested city, like everywhere else here. 

We didn't get very far when the road in the distance disappeared. Now this isn't a good thing, because that means there is a downhill coming up. You may think a downhill is a good thing, and it would be if our house were at the bottom of it. But the only thing at the bottom was the way up again, and that is called an uphill. Oh well.

Actually at the bottom of one of the longest hills in history, there is the Serpentine River. I can't imagine being lucky enough to own land on each side of a river. I'd have my own personal park there, cabin and all. Even a gazebo.

The Serpentine isn't a very wide river, is it? But it is an important link in the salmon-spawning cycle, so is probably an interesting place to watch in late September.

And, finally, at the intersection of Highway 15 and Fraser Highway, a mere 12.6 kilometers away from home, the Honeybee Centre

Of course the first thing was to walk around the building looking for a place to tie on the bike. We met a Honey Bear ....

 ... a garden with lots of lilies ....

 ... a bumble bee chair ...

 ... some pretty white flowers and gigantic leaves ...

 ... but no bike rack. So we walked to the perimeter and tied her to the lower leg of a signpost. Poor Breehy. But at least she was in the shade, so her seat wouldn't be hoarding the heat of the sun while I explored inside.

The entrance led to a beautiful place, bright and airy and chock full of honey and honey-related items. This is definitely the place to come if you want jars of honey, sticks of honey, medicinal honey, honey chocolate bars, throat lozenges .. you name it. There's also a lot of info about bees, and guided tours, which I would have loved to explore (you have to book them, of course.)

 See the two tiny beehive candles on the next-to-bottom shelf? I bought them!

And there's a Tea Hive Cafe if you want a honey-related snack. I had my lunch warming in Breehy's basket, though, so I settled for a piece of Apple Pie with honey, but minus the ice-cream, in a take-away box.

So, bag packed with honey chocolate, jar of honey and apple pie with honey drizzle, I went out and freed Breehy - for some reason, even though there were tons of parking spaces, someone had parked their van right in front of her, and my suspicious mind wanted her in plain sight. We moved over to a picnic table for lunch, and sat down in front of these beautiful blossoms.

Did you notice too? All these flowers dancing around a big old honeybee shop, but not one honey bee in sight. Hmmm. 

However, time for lunch. I drizzled a tiny wee bit of Balsamic Vinegar over the lettuce, just to help it slide down.  However, this is when I discovered I LOVE Balsamic Vinegar. So let it pour.

The Strawberry Parfait wasn't the greatest. The fruit and yogurt parfaits I absolutely love have small pieces of fruit or small berries all mixed in the yogurt. When I take the cover of this one, there were 5 big strawberry halves on top ... but when I went to get a spoonful, my spoon hit bottom real quick. That's because the strawberries were in their very own little container that sat on top. Now, I pulled at the sides trying to dislodge this, getting yogurt all over my fingers, until I realized that it was just placed on top of the yogurt and all I had to do was lift it off. Okay. But then ... try cutting these big strawberry pieces with a plastic spoon. Can't do it. 

So my desert was big strawberries dipped in yogurt. And I didn't like the yogurt brand enough to finish the fruitless stuff that was left after the berries were gone.

Thankfully, I was just about finished lunch when I heard the back-up beeping from this packed bus.

The long journey home begins. I knew we had to start with that long long uphill. The only plus was it travelled beside a beautifully landscaped golf course, complete with duck pond. Yes, there was a line of ducks swimming here, but because of the security netting, I couldn't get a zoom-in shot of them.

Part way up the hill, I found these. Does anyone know what they are? They were a bit high in the tree, so I zoomed in on them, therefore they do appear a big bigger than in reality.

What a beautiful old tree. As I was taking the picture I realized there was an above-ground swimming pool to the side of it, with at least one person in it, and music playing in the background. I figured I should move on before I got charged with voyeurism.

I thought it was time for a look back at how far I had come, and this was only about half way up the hill. You can see the roof of the Honeybee Centre just left of the road. Whew. This is where I started thinking about making a will.

However, we soon came to the business area again ... when I passed this sign, I totally agreed with the sentiment. I felt like yelling - My legs hurt. I'm too hot. I need more water. My feet hurt. I'm getting sunburned. All the shade is on the other side of the road.

In advertising, it's important to have something that catches the eye. Unfortunately the first thing that caught my eye here was COLON COUTURE. Of course, on closer inspection, it is Salon Couture.

And on the sign beside that building, Jerusalem Grill, which was just a little way up the road from the ...

Messiah car dealer. This must be an Old Testamenty part of town.

Now, since the sun blocked out the viewing screen while I was taking the picture, I didn't get the name of this business. See if you can guess what it is?

However, the most tempting business of all was this one - it was all I could do not to ride Breehy through.