When you are the first born child in a family, your first real friends are your cousins. My first friend was my cousin Kathy Forbes. She was two years older than me and she was also the first born child in her family. Eventually, we would both become big sisters to younger brothers named Patrick.
I've been thinking about Kathy a lot this week. She passed away 3 years ago today, after a long, hard-fought battle with brain cancer. She was 43 years old.
This morning when I got up, I poured a coffee and started going through some photo albums my parents had put together for me a few years ago. I had a good time looking at the old family pictures of us kids. All of us look like kids, children and parents alike.
I scanned the first of what I expect will become many batches of photos from those albums and put them on flickr. I plan to share them with my cousins because I'm sure that some of them have either not been seen in a while or not seen at all by them.
In other news, today is Gracie's birthday. She's 4. Sam turns 4 on Monday. They got to have chicken for dinner and a fancy organic dog cookie for a treat earlier today. It's a dog life around here for sure.
Via Flickr:
me and my cousin Kathy, hanging at Grandma Forbes' house during the summer of 1968.
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Thursday, January 06, 2011
rest in peace Mr Rafferty
I meant to post this yesterday when I first heard about the death of Gerry Rafferty but the day got away from me before I could do it.
The song "Baker Street" always brings a particulary sweet childhood memory back to me whenever I hear it. I recall going on an errand with my dad in our 1974 Dodge Dart. I think we had to go Canadian Tire, the long-gone one down on Rideau Street. I was probably 10 or 11, it was either spring or summertime and I waited in the car while dad ran into the store. On this particular trip, he'd let me pick the radio station (which was a huge deal to me at the time) and he left the radio on for me while he was in the store. While he was gone, I remember both "Baker Street" playing on the radio and "Reminiscing" by the Little River Band. For whatever reason, hearing "Baker Street" always triggers something in my head and I'm back on Rideau Street, happily sitting in the Dodge Dart, waiting for my dad.
I was saddened to hear about Gerry Rafferty's death and about his struggles with alcohol. Thanks to you Mr Rafferty, for the music and the memories.
The song "Baker Street" always brings a particulary sweet childhood memory back to me whenever I hear it. I recall going on an errand with my dad in our 1974 Dodge Dart. I think we had to go Canadian Tire, the long-gone one down on Rideau Street. I was probably 10 or 11, it was either spring or summertime and I waited in the car while dad ran into the store. On this particular trip, he'd let me pick the radio station (which was a huge deal to me at the time) and he left the radio on for me while he was in the store. While he was gone, I remember both "Baker Street" playing on the radio and "Reminiscing" by the Little River Band. For whatever reason, hearing "Baker Street" always triggers something in my head and I'm back on Rideau Street, happily sitting in the Dodge Dart, waiting for my dad.
I was saddened to hear about Gerry Rafferty's death and about his struggles with alcohol. Thanks to you Mr Rafferty, for the music and the memories.
Friday, June 12, 2009
merry market
Last night, Mark had an eye appointment and I went along because he was getting drops and needed me to drive him home. In the end, his appointment took so long that he was okay to drive by the time he'd finished but I waited, all the same.
Not wanting to sit in the waiting room, I decided to sit in the van with the windows down and enjoy the first really summery feeling day we've had so far this year. The doctor's office is in a strip mall / plaza. Across the street from the plaza are four big apartment buildings. Due to the time of the day, there were a lot of folks heading on foot, walking toward the buildings (coming from the direction where I know the bus stop is).
I spent some of my time reading the news on my phone, some of it taking photos and some of it just watching the parade of people. One woman I saw reminded me a old school chum, someone I was very close to but lost contact with after she dove, head first, into some really seriously bad shit. the friend had moved to a pretty remote part of the country with her parents after high school. While she was up there, she developed a pretty serious drug habit. I wasn't entirely surprised that this happens because both of her parents were drunks. When she got back to town, we saw each other a few times and I tried and tried to see her (and her dad was calling me all of the time, wanting me to see her too, I guess he thought I'd be a good influence or something). Eventually, I got tired of trying and she just disappeared. About 15 years ago I ran into her brother and he said she was "okay" but I didn't press him for details.
So this all happened about 20 years ago. The woman I saw didn't remind me of what the friend looked like 20 years ago, rather, she looked like what I thought this friend would look like now. I'm pretty sure it wasn't her but if it was, it means that she's doing okay. Thinking that she could have the potential to be okay wasn't something that had occurred to me until yesterday. On some level, that actually makes me feel good.
Not wanting to sit in the waiting room, I decided to sit in the van with the windows down and enjoy the first really summery feeling day we've had so far this year. The doctor's office is in a strip mall / plaza. Across the street from the plaza are four big apartment buildings. Due to the time of the day, there were a lot of folks heading on foot, walking toward the buildings (coming from the direction where I know the bus stop is).
I spent some of my time reading the news on my phone, some of it taking photos and some of it just watching the parade of people. One woman I saw reminded me a old school chum, someone I was very close to but lost contact with after she dove, head first, into some really seriously bad shit. the friend had moved to a pretty remote part of the country with her parents after high school. While she was up there, she developed a pretty serious drug habit. I wasn't entirely surprised that this happens because both of her parents were drunks. When she got back to town, we saw each other a few times and I tried and tried to see her (and her dad was calling me all of the time, wanting me to see her too, I guess he thought I'd be a good influence or something). Eventually, I got tired of trying and she just disappeared. About 15 years ago I ran into her brother and he said she was "okay" but I didn't press him for details.
So this all happened about 20 years ago. The woman I saw didn't remind me of what the friend looked like 20 years ago, rather, she looked like what I thought this friend would look like now. I'm pretty sure it wasn't her but if it was, it means that she's doing okay. Thinking that she could have the potential to be okay wasn't something that had occurred to me until yesterday. On some level, that actually makes me feel good.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
patrick & the stand gt
I think I mentioned the other day that I've been going through some old photos this week.
This is a favourite of mine. I know exactly where it was taken and remember taking the photo but, for the life of me, cannot recall the date. I know I have a flyer from the show floating around here somewhere which will, one day, tell me the date, but until I find it, I have to accept that I am getting old and that dates will sometimes slip my mind. yuck.
As I was going through photos, I stumbled across a whole bunch which I had taken at Alfies (a pub on campus for those of you not from the greater Kingston area). I took me several minutes before I recognized that the band in the photos was Pluto. I could barely remember the show (and no, I wasn't drinking to excess) and hardly remembered the pictures. I do remember that they slept on my floor that night, and during that weekend, my roommate moved out. I recall us all going to breakfast the next morning too but the show was not something I remembered. And where are they now, anyway, right?
Don't know if I'll be scanning the Pluto shots but I know that I have a bunch more stand gt photos so watch out!!
This is a favourite of mine. I know exactly where it was taken and remember taking the photo but, for the life of me, cannot recall the date. I know I have a flyer from the show floating around here somewhere which will, one day, tell me the date, but until I find it, I have to accept that I am getting old and that dates will sometimes slip my mind. yuck.
As I was going through photos, I stumbled across a whole bunch which I had taken at Alfies (a pub on campus for those of you not from the greater Kingston area). I took me several minutes before I recognized that the band in the photos was Pluto. I could barely remember the show (and no, I wasn't drinking to excess) and hardly remembered the pictures. I do remember that they slept on my floor that night, and during that weekend, my roommate moved out. I recall us all going to breakfast the next morning too but the show was not something I remembered. And where are they now, anyway, right?
Don't know if I'll be scanning the Pluto shots but I know that I have a bunch more stand gt photos so watch out!!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
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