I’m the guest of Jim and Lea Rand in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
This is what SUMMER looks like. 🙂
Category: friends
The Barbecue Widow’s Humblebrag
by Kate Zimmerman
Flavours magazine, Summer 2014, pages 36 to 40
You can read the article online here. … Click through the pages until you find it.
cycling with Rockin’
Stopping in Vancouver en route to my parent’s place, Rockin’ Ronnie and I got out on the bikes two days in a row.
First, his favourite local ride – the Fisherman’s Trail.
He’d never seen it so green, so overgrown. It was solstice.
Next day we rode over the bridge to Stanley Park, the #1 urban park in the world on some lists.
We met friends for a light lunch on Granville Island.
That’s Edible Canada, one of the best of many fine Granville eateries.
From there we looped busy False Creek.
It doesn’t get much better than Vancouver on a sunny day.
And it’s always sunny when I visit Vancouver. 🙂
Ron Shewchuk cycles 240km for charity
Well, I did it.
Two eight-hour days and 240 km after departing from Cloverdale on Saturday morning, I completed The British Columbia Ride to Conquer Cancer! Thanks to the support of friends and family I raised over $6,000!
More detailed thanks to come, but wanted everyone to know I got to Seattle in one piece and, despite a lot of rain and some strong headwinds, I had a great ride and an unforgettable, extraordinarily satisfying experience.
Rockin’ Ronnie at TED Barbecue
The rockin’ one put on an entertaining 2 hour talk last night. He’s a Barbecue evangelist:
“Back in the 1990s, real barbecue was a relatively unknown style of cooking in Canada,” says Ronnie. “I was lucky to be part of a small group of backyard cooks who sowed the seeds of what has become a vibrant and growing barbecue culture in Calgary and across Western Canada.”
Rockin’ Ronnie to Reveal Barbecue Secrets at Free Calgary Public Lecture
Keith Russell’s THANKS for LEAVING Party
Today.
His University of Saskatchewan Kinesiology Colleagues celebrate Professor Russell’s retirement.
Be warned.
He is Professor Emeritus. That means his messy office remains. Keith will be lurking the halls many years into the future. 🙂
Here’s the present I intended to get him.
It’s the thought that counts. 🙂
Jordan’s story
Jordan Chartier died July 30th, 2013.
On Tuesday his parent’s presented Jordan’s story to the Saskatchewan Mental Health Commission review.
Mom Lori:
… Jordan suffered from a deep clinical depression. And had been suffering for a very long time. …
I finished with a challenge to the group. I told them I believed with all my heart that Jordan’s death was absolutely preventable. That our fractured, underfunded, under resourced and quite frankly, fucked up mental health care system directly contributed to his death. …
Greg and Lori are hoping that Jordan’s death will help improve care for those with mental health issues in Saskatchewan.
Jordan’s obituary.
Mike Howarth 2013 retrospective
An adventurer from the U.K., Mike put together some highlights from his travels in 2013.
Including some of his favourite photos.
That last one was from Bhaktapur, Nepal where Mike and I spent about 5 day organizing our trek to Manasulu.
See the rest of his fave pics — A New Year: a new set of reflections
Mike is currently en route to Antarctica.
farewell Port Townsend
I was back once again in Port Townsend, WA just after Christmas. Stayed a couple of weeks. 🙂
This time Carrie, James and I were videotaping Games & Activities for Tumbl Trak, based on a script I wrote 14yrs ago.
James has moved to Port Townsend from freezing Michigan — for 3 months, at least.
He’s living in Doug and Diana’s new guest house dubbed “The Lodge“.
The weather was far better than most anywhere else in North America. But it did rain.
Actually, I spent more time on Doug’s Cycleops 200 Pro Indoor Cycle trainer than on that guest bike. Watching episodes of House of Cards.
Good food. Good fun. Good conversation.
James is a member of the Wall Street Journal Wine Club. He gets a select collection every 3 months.
January in Port Townsend is a time of Tumbl Trak brainstorming for the new year. We’ve hatched plans.
Bruce McCulloch – REELING IN THE YEARS
Bruce Ian McCulloch (born May 12, 1961) is a Canadian actor, writer, comedian, and film director. McCulloch is best known for his work as a member of The Kids in the Hall, a popular Canadian comedy troupe, and as a writer for Saturday Night Live. …
McCulloch was born in Edmonton, Alberta. … a graduate of Mount Royal College located in Calgary, Alberta. …
I’m 4yrs older than Bruce. Grew up right next to Mount Royal College.
Bruce just published a retrospective on his formative years called Growing up weird in Calgary:
Thirty years ago there were no wine bars. Only bars. The Shamrock, the Calgarian, the Port o’ Call Inn. …
In Alberta in the ’80s it was easy to be a punk. You just slept in one day and you were labelled. As young punks we drank at the Calgarian. Yep, first we took the natives’ land, and then we took their watering holes. These bars were so crappy, they chained up the toilet paper in the bathroom. …
It’s almost certain that Kate, Barb, Jude, myself and many of our friends drank at the next table to Bruce in the Calgarian. We had the same PUNK phase.
Click PLAY or watch Hüsker Dü at the Calgarian 1981 on YouTube.
Of the many bands I saw there, my sentimental favourites were The Breeders.
One New Years Eve (1978/79?) I got blitzed at the Calgarian, finally crashing into the band’s equipment on stage. Friends rushed me out and into Barb’s Volkswagen Beetle. I threw up in it. Rich was so irked he dumped me unconscious on to the snow boots in a basement apartment closet. Then closed the door.
On regaining consciousness next morning, I had no idea what had happened.
December 1986 The Calgarian was gutted by fire. And finally torn down. 😦
There wasn’t a lot to do in Calgary 30 years ago. On the weekend, groups of people would “go out for cheesecake.” This actually happened …
We drove to Tom’s House of Pizza, drawn by the resplendent neon sign and the jukebox. We played Nazareth and “Cold Ethel” by Alice Cooper. One of the most exotic things you could do here at that time was order a Hawaiian pizza. And we did. I remember the summer that guacamole came to town. …
… I went to 4th Street Rose, an upscale establishment that served salad in a jar (and, yes, cheesecake) …
read more – Growing up weird in Calgary
How many Caesar salads in a jar did I enjoy at 4th Street Rose?
HUNDREDS. 🙂
related article on Punk Rock in Canada – weird scenes from the 5 and the TCH: metropolitan structure and rock in Canada
Another article published 2011 – Punk at the Calgarian Hotel
Rick McCharles 