Life is a State of Mind

I love this picture of Brandon. It minds me of the movie "BEING THERE" starring Peter Sellers, as Chance, a simple gardener, has never left residence until his employer dies. His simple TV-informed utterances are mistaken for profundity when he's taken in by "Shirley MacLaine", who rescues him from a slight car accident and takes him home to their wealthy and influential estate for recovery.



At the end of the movie, we see Chance walk out to tend to a sickly plant in the pond, after dipping his umbrella into the water at least 3 feet down, he walks upon the water, while the eulogy of his "rescuer-now-friend" is being read in the background, we hear his last words:

LIFE IS A STATE OF MIND

PS: This was Peter Sellers last movie before he died in a London hospital just after midnight on 24 July 1980, aged 54.

Pictures of the New House .....

I'm such a WHORE-DER .....

I just can't see myself allowing these things to go on CraigsList....I just can't. NO! NO! NO! We've had these dolls since you were a baby. We displayed them in your bedroom, didn't let you play with them, get them all sticky and wrecked. We cherished them. One of them has your name, so cute. And look, even one of them comes from Royalty, with a long wedding gown, one I hope you'll wear one day.

How could you sell them like this?

Easy, mom. They were never mine.

Sabrina School Pictures at French School, 1-3-5

Add on: Picture of my brother, Keith Allen ... when he actually attended school. This might be in grade 8 or 9. Friends include Doug Halvorson, Kelly & Jackie Labinsky, Pat Roman.

Safe Boating Test - Really?

In Canada we are now required to be tested and licensed for operating pleasure craft with a motor. The guidelines are based on minimum requirements set by the Canadian Coast Guard and what they believe people should know in recreational boating.

Okay. We should know some important terms, such as what a draft is, where port is, starboard. ya-da ya-da. Then there's the criminal code of boating; can't operate in a manner dangerous to the public, can't operate while impaired, etc.

Buoys.

Lights.

Then, there's the quiz:

Question 4) If a breakdown occurs, what should the operator do?

a. alter speed as appropriate.
b. speed up to get back as fast as possible.
c. call the Coast Guard via a "MAYDAY"
d. abandon ship.

I'm sure most of this makes sense ... if you're in the middle of the sea, or on the Great Lakes, but because I ALWAYS boat at Cultus Lake, my answer is (B). Which, of course, is the wrong answer. It just so happens to be the one I do .......

since there's no way in hell I'm gonna' row back.

Graduation !

Some pictures of Brandon graduating from Grade 7......along with pictures of "girlfriend" who happens to be a twin. Oddly enough, Sabrina (my daughter) is dating a boy who is also a twin ! and me being a twin, well.....

Hairy Arm Pits

Because of Facebook, I have linked up to many kids from high school and they have linked to me, and so forth and so forth until we've become a reunion of satellite debris, having decades of life experiences now reenacted in keyboard chat.

John asks: "You don't remember Miss Louie, really, how could you forget? Grade 9 Science teacher, how we laughed because of her hairy armpits, and I sat in the desk in front of you, don't you remember that, how we laughed at Miss Louie?"

I don't remember any of that. I don't even remember Grade 9. But the worst part is that I don't even remember being friends with John. I mean, it's not like we hung out or anything. Fact is, my memories of high school, even with kids I've known since elementary school, are blurry. Oddly enough, I remember names and can even see their youthful reflections buried deep within leathered skin and swollen bodies.

We are all rats, and we are all turning 50.





I remember the years through the music and only a few kids in high school liked Patti Smith, but I remember me and close pals thinking she was the hottest, coolest chick around and how cool it would be to be just like her.

Like New York and CBGB's.

2010 Winter Olympics

My kids were lucky enough to hold the torch before it continued on it's final leg to Vancouver.....

Cultus Lake 2009 Tubing