I am sure I have mentioned before how important the seasons are here in Interior British Columbia.  Because they are so important, I am constantly on the lookout for those first signs that indicate the coming of the next season.  Today I was happy to see one of those important signs that indicate Spring:  The ice that has covered my pond for several months has now just about all melted, and I can see open water.

    It is such a joy to see the reflection of the sky in the pond, instead of the boring snow-covered ice.  Yesterday morning when Kona and I did our walk around the pond, a pair of mallards flew off.  I am sure they are the same mallards that nest on the pond every spring.  They too are happy to see open water again.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Remembering Some Old April Fool Fun

  In 1984 I submitted a few photos and captions to the local paper for the edition that comes out on the first week of April.  It featured such April Fools photos and captions showing us growing bananas in our garden, our car damaged by terrorist (actually rust), our damaged root cellar caused by a meteor strike, etc.

    The paper’s editor, did tell us that several people where initially taken in until they realized they were April Fool spoofs.  

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Pop Quiz

 

    If the quiz has you stumped, here are some definitions:

        Kakistocracy-  A government that is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.

        Kleptocracy-  A government by corrupt leaders who use political power to steal the wealth of 

                              people.

        Oligarchy-  A government in which power rests with a small number of (usually wealthy) people.

        Plutocracy-  A society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income.

       

View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca 

A Memorable Encounter With A Fox

         One of the joys of living in the bush, are the occasional encounters I have had with wildlife.  In going through my 1993 diary, I came upon one of those memorable encounters which happened one night when I went out into the woodpile to get some firewood.

        I picked out some pieces of wood, cradling them in my arms, then turned back toward the house to carry it in.  Suddenly a fox came out of the darkness and trotted across the driveway toward me.  It shuffled through the snow to the far end of the woodpile, sniffing around.  I was very surprised, knowing how wary wild animals are to humans.  The fox then walked around walked around the end of the woodpile and started headed directly toward me.  

        This seemed very bizarre.   Surely, I thought, it was aware of me standing there, but maybe it was paying all of its attention to sniffing around.  Just to make sure that it knew I was there, I spoke out to it.  

        “Hey fox, I am here. “  

        However, the fox seemed totally unconcerned about my presence.  This was pretty amazing, so I yelled to my wife who was in the house, so she could come out and see the fox, but unfortunately, she was busy playing the piano, so didn’t hear me. 

         The fox then turned its back to me and walked calmly away, disappearing back into the darkness from where it came.

        Of course, this was not some dramatic wildlife encounter, but it was an incident that has always stuck with me, because of the fox’s trust that I didn’t present a danger to it.

View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Behind Those Autographs

     Last week I blogged about how my prized autographs had been largely obliterated by time.   I wasn’t planning to get any autographs when I went to those long ago concerts of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and John Denver; I had just gone to listen to the music.  However when the opportunity arrived to meet those guys, I scrambled through my wallet to find something that they could sign their autographs on.  What I found were some cards for various things that were blank on the back, so that is what I had them sign.

    Last week when I studied those cards where the autographs occurred, I happened to turn them over and I found it interesting, because they told of some of the things that I kept in my wallet back then.  

    Perhaps the most interesting to me was the back of the card that featured David Crosby’s autograph.  It was my old Bob Schaad Record Club card, something that I had totally forgotten about.  I remembered the name Bob Schaad, but little else.  Bob Schaad had a record store in downtown Evansville, my home town.  I don’t remember much about the store, but evidently I was a member of their Record Club.

    It looks like if I bought ten record albums, I got a whopping $.98 off of my next album.  Back in the 1960’s albums were very expensive, especially for a teen like me, who didn’t have a lot of money, so it would have been a big bonus to get 98 cents off, after buying ten.  

    This Record Club card tells another story.   See the two “X’’s over the stamps.  After I got David Crosby’s autograph on the other side of the card, I certainly didn’t want to turn it in when I became eligible for the free album, so I must have taken the card into Bob Schaad’s and explained the problem, and they marked the two “X”s over the stamps to indicated they were no longer valid, then they gave me a new card, with the same amount of stamps, so I could still get my $.98 discount, and at the same time keep my David Crosby autograph.

    The other cards that I had gotten autographs on the back of, were:

        A 1963 Driver’s Education Certificate so I could be taught how to drive at my high school when I was 15 years old.

        A high school “Letterman’s Pass”  (I was on the track team).   The pass allowed me to get into all of my high school’s “home”  games.

        My college student ID and also my college library card.

    At my age, I have been enjoying looking back at the life I lived, and certainly, seeing these sixty year old artifacts that I used to carry around in my wallet, stimulated some long buried memories.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca 

    

Theme Parties: The Blues Brother Party

     One of the more memorable parties that we attended at our neighbor’s house had the theme:  The Blues Brothers.  The Blues Brother movie that had recently come out on video tape was full of great music and a lot of laughs.  Above and below you can see the invitation to the party, and fortunately, one of the partygoers took some photos which you can see at the very bottom of the blog.

        I have been constantly surprised at how rich our social activities were in the Robson Valley during the 1980’s and 90’s.  We were surrounded by a wonderful group of like-minded friends with whom we visited, watched VCR movies, dined, played volleyball, and partied.  Luckily, we lived right next door to Kjell and Celine, whose house became the party-central for many of those get-togethers.

         They hosted many theme parties that required costumes, food, and music related to the theme.  The “Blues Brothers” party happened in 1989.  Dark suit coats, hats, and glasses, were donned by the males, emulating Elwood and Jake, the main characters in the Blues Brother movie.  The women also wore dark glasses to accent their swanky dresses.

        The on-going eating and dancing to the blues music, was interrupted by the Blues Brothers Air Band performance.  I was impressed at how much Bruce, the high school principal, (shown holding the girl) got in to the part.  When he wasn’t mouthing the words during the song, he gyrated and dangerously swung the microphone around by its cord. 

        The women performed as a dance troupe named  “Ruby and the Red Lips” and grooved to heavy beat of a driving blues song.  It was a wonderful party of abandonment with our alter egos, and I am sure it is remembered fondly by all of the participants.

        Ah, to be young again.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Theme Parties: Come As You Were

    Another one of the many “theme” parties that was had during the heyday of our social life during the 1980’s and 90’s in the Robson Valley, was the “Come As You Were” Party at Monroes.  The idea was to dress as some historical figure you might have been in a past life.  I really don’t remember who I went as, I think I went as Mark Twain, but I see on this invitation it has me down as Sigmund Freud.  I don’t really think that is how I came as, because making a beard would have been a problem.  Being Mark Twain (one of my heroes from the past) would have been more logical, since I often used the long white mohair from my Angora goats, to make a mustaches and hair for costume parties.

    I do remember making a dance tape for the party, because one of the songs on it was Dire Straits, “Money For Nothing” which had just been released, and was was a big hit during the party.

    Our large group of friends sure had some stellar times back then.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca