Greetings from Canada

While basking in the sun we remember that all is not well in this world. I write to our friend Igor in Kharkiv:

"Greetings from Kate and Reg. We hope this finds you. (sic!)

We haven't written in some time but you're often in our thoughts. As winter settles in Canada and Ukraine this is yet another tough season ahead for you and the war in UA. Today we're escaping the cold in sunny Mexico but return to Canada soon for the Christmas season. You cannot so easily escape the hardships of winter and war.

We see that Russia continues their daily barrage against the civilian population and energy infrastructure throughout UA. I hope you are safe and doing well in spite of all that and can be comfortable this winter.

We are pleased to see long range strikes into Russia with locally developed drone technologies. Congratulations there. We see EU members continue and escalate their support with aircraft, missile defence, access to frozen Russia assets and more. Much more should be done to support UA and end this war.

Trump, the Lyin' King, continues as an embarrassment to the free world, a fickle friend to NATO and UA, and an obvious Putin Puppet. Recent US "peace" plans seem to be, yet again, a capitulation to Russia that cannot be supported.

War can easily end; all it takes is for Russia to leave!

For many years now we have escaped winter for a month or so in Texas. Not so this year.  We have sworn never to return to the US until fascism is defeated and sanity returns. That will be a long time, but we are hopeful.

I must go now. We pray for a UA victory, a unification with the EU and NATO, a rightful just peace in our time.

Stay strong, you have friends even in the darkest hour. As Churchill said early in WW II, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Slava Ukraine!

Heroyam Slava!

Next summer, or a summer soon enough, I hope we can share a drink together on the sunny beaches of UA Crimea.

XO K&R"

And a few hours later Igor replies:

"Dear Kate and Reg!

Your thoughtful and empathyc messages always lift my spirits.

It's always nice to feel the support of friends.

This winter in Ukraine will be truly difficult.

The gas supply is working without interruptions, so my house is warm. But the electricity is intermittent for six hours, twice a day. So, I bought a gasoline generator. Along with the electricity, the water supply is also cut off.

But Ukrainians are a resilient and resourceful people! Today, I built a makeshift water tower in the attic of my house :)

I'm sure we will overcome all difficulties and prevail!

And then, of course, we'll meet in Ukrainian Crimea :)

Best wishes,

Igor"

We are so pleased that we can still connect, he's still there: alive and kicking. I reply 

"So glad our message found you. We can't imagine the hardships your compatriots are experiencing. It's like some bad movie.

We hope for and believe in better days.

Until next time. 

Your faithful feckless friends from Canada"

And Igor signs off a smile :)

Hayes Carll

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Kate and I went to Toronto on Tuesday to see Hayes Carll and his Gulf Coast Orchestra (guitar/banjo, bass, percussion/drums, mandolin/violin, and keyboards) at the Horseshoe Tavern. He's touring to support a new album, "We're Only Human" (2025) but the show dives deep into his catalogue. We were there only recently to see James McMurtry with Gord and Leslie. In Austin, Hayes Carll is considered by many to be the next best thing since sliced bread — although I believe he lives in Nashville these days (sort of like Guy Clark who was famous in Texas but lived and worked from Nashville). I understand that Hayes Carll is married to Allison Moorer (see "That's the Way Love Goes"), another singer in her own right, whom he "stole" from Steve Earle. If you like Americana you should know of him.

We've seen him live a couple of times in Austin but only at award shows and that sort of thing — we've never been anywhere where we could catch a whole concert. In Austin he plays large halls. He sold out the Horseshoe in Toronto, standing room only, perhaps 300-400 patrons. He has fans here and could probably sell small concert halls in Toronto (which would be nicer for us).

We booked an overnight room at the Chelsea Hotel (Yonge and Gerrard). As it happens it was the cheapest and we have lots of fond memories from staying there over the years. The intention was to arrive early in the day and enjoy a bit of R&R; especially at the pool. But then our next door neighbour's dad, Bill Armstrong, had died and the funeral mass was that very afternoon. Bill was the father to Dianne (of Dianne and Chico), Gloria (of Gloria and Al) and Danny (of Dan and Wendy) and we had spent lots of Christmas Eve's with all of them, next door making music, drinking and chatting. We knew and liked Bill and his extended family — so we couldn't miss the funeral mass. That made us pretty late leaving for Toronto; but it still seemed workable. So we went to the funeral but skipped the internment and reception afterwards and instead headed out for Toronto.

Our plan was to get to the hotel by 6:00 and check in. Reg would immediately take an Uber or cab to the Horseshoe and stand in line to make sure we got good seats, and Kate would lie around resting until the show was ready to start. She hadn't decided whether to go for the fronting act, Aaron Raitiere, or just go for Hayes Carll. The traffic was awful, we ran into a parade (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), and it was looking like we wouldn't get to the hotel until 6:30 or later so we decided to park the car near the Horseshoe, and Kate would take an Uber to the hotel and come back later. Reg would have to watch his drinking since he would need to drive back to the hotel later. Kate had a nice Uber driver from India; Reg arrived at the Horseshoe at 6:30 and met some nice people early in line and of a like mind. He was, like, 4th or 5th in the general admission line. Good plan — doors open at 7:00, show starts at 8:00 with Hayes Carll on around 9:00.

However, when Reg got in, there were no seats, absolutely none. It was standing room only. The best he could do was get a standing spot at stage left by the speakers. It seems they sell VIP tickets, which gives early admission, and they sold so many of these that the VIP's took all of the seats. We could have bought VIP tickets but we weren't particularly interesting in the various perks — there was no mention about seating. So we texted back and forth but in the end, we couldn't figure out how it could work for Kate to go at all. For one thing, for her to get in, Reg would have to lose his spot by the stage in order to meet her at the entrance with the cell phone app that would get her in. Plus, Kate, with her ankle injury, couldn't stand for that long. So she missed the show entirely. Reg stayed and enjoyed the music very much — both acts — but came home with every part of his body aching from the prolonged standing. Plus, he could only have one beer while there, the one he bought while in line, because if he left to get a beer, he'd lose his spot. But being up front he got some good pictures and really enjoyed the music. He took notes of the songs performed and some of the chatter that form the basis of the following.

Opening Act: Aaron Raitiere

The opening act at 8:00 was Aaron Raitiere, who hails from Danville KY, see his YouTube Channel. He was quite the hit coming up on stage and immediately grabbing the audience's attention. He was wearing a "Turtle" green hockey shirt and started the show with a "Go Turtles" holler with the audience. It turns out he didn't bring any "merch" to sell so offered to auction off his Turtle shirt to the highest bidder over $200 (is that Canadian or US dollars?). Hayes told a story later about another time time when Aaron toured with him without bringing any merch; instead he did sketches of Hayes with titles like "Music Righter" and did quite well selling these — Aaron did better than him!

Aaron is an interesting multi-talented performer/artist and has quite a few co-writes (including with Hayes). Hayes tells us that at the 2025 CMA awards (coming up November 19), of the songs nominated for "Song of the Year", Aaron has co-writing credits on 2 of the 4 songs: “4x4xU” (Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey Wilson) and “You Look like You Love Me” (Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron Raitiere).

• There were a lot of jokes and some very brief one-liner humorous songs. One line I've written down was "I'm so miserable without you, it's just like you're here" and that seems to be from a 1992 song by Billy Ray Cyrus.
• Another drunken doped up story song is "Armadillo" (Aaron Raitiere, Jon Decious & Parker Twomey) from Miranda Lambert's album "Postcards from Texas" (2024). The premise of the song is telling a tall tale to your partner when you've arrived home late, stoned and drunk. The excuse is "Met an armadillo with a gun, that's where I was last night".
• Aaron is quite self deprecating and describes his schtick as singing "Songs about boogers and such". There's a song about ADHD and being OCD (he likes these acronyms). See "ADHD Hypomanic Alcoholic Son of a Bitch" (by Frank South, Aaron Raitiere, Colin Raitiere circa 2012) on YouTube.
• This ties to a song about "Cold Soup" from the album "Single Wide Dreamer" (2022) that tells the story of the homeless; perhaps those with ADHD or OCD?
• "You're Crazy" from the same album has the notable lines "And I don't know what else to call it, baby, you're crazy. 'Cause if you had any sense you'd a left him by now".
• "Dear Darlin'" is a breakup letter from the same album. Things are not going well; the notable line is "Cussin' you in cursive, hope this letter makes you cry".
• Kate had found a Youtube video of "Single wide dreamer" from that album. Notable lines include: "Single wide dreamer in a double wide world" and "He works extra hard to not work too hard". The video is cartoonish.
• Someone in the audience called out for "Jesus Jenny" (performed by Ashley McBryde & Aaron Raitiere, writers Aaron Raitiere & Jon Decious) from Ashley McBryde's concept album "Lindeville" (2022). There was a reference to the line "Titties popping out of your turtleneck" but he didn't do the song
• Aaron did perform "Excuse me, you look like you love me" which I mentioned earlier. If you chase the link you'll be taken to a 2024 version with Shelley Fairchild. It's a silly story about bars, gals, guys and closing time pickup lines .. that don't work (at least for guys it doesn't work). The song has been recorded by several artists.
• Aaron refers to Uber, the ride share system, as Hubert, my dog. He played for a little over half an hour and was quite a treat. A lot on the gallows side of humor but well worth a listen.

I'd encourage you to check out Aaron Raitiere (here's his YouTube Channel) there's lots to listen to. "Live at the Basement" (2021) is a good sample of what I saw. If you like a mashup of John Prine, Kinky Friedman and Shel Silverstein he's your guy!

Headline: Hayes Carll and the Gulf Coast Orchestra

After a short break Hayes Carll and the Gulf Coast Orchestra came on stage at around 9:00. The touring band is: Thayer Sarrano on keyboards, Mike Meadows on drums/percussion, Noah Jeffries on fiddle/mandolin, Scott Davis on guitar/banjo, and Jared Reynolds on bass. I didn't catch where all the members were from. His colleague on electric guitar (and banjo) was a high school classmate from back in Houston. The bass player was from Nashville, I think the drummer was from Austin, there was a fellow on mandolin and violin, and a young woman on keyboards who was from Nashville.

• The electric set starts with "Drunken Poet's Dream" from "Trouble in Mind" (2007). I think that's a cowrite with Ray Wylie Hubbard. Lots of notable lines, but I like: "Well, she laughs for a minute 'bout the shape I'm in. Says, "You be the sinner, honey, I'll be the sin".
• "Faulkner Street" from "Trouble in Mind" (2007) is a tune I'm not familiar with. It's a fond remembrance of his drunken early times. The chorus is: "Trouble in mind. How'd we ever lose that time? Livin' for the best. Leavin' all the rest behind".
• "What I Will Be" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a turn around from those drunken days and talks about living a quiet life by the ocean. Notable lines: "I am what I am. An insecure mountain. Long-winded fountain of useless advice" and "From now until the end; I'm gonna be what I will be."
• "You get it all" from "You Get It All" (2021) is a love song, a ballad, that he often sings solo on guitar. Tonight he did it with the full band. Still a lovely song.
• "If I May Be So Bold" from "What It Is" (2019) is a Highway 61 tinged rocker. I'm not sure what it's about. The chorus includes "There's a whole world out there waitin'; Full of stories to be told; And I'll heed the call and tell 'em all; If I may be so bold".
• "Any Other Way" from "You Get It All" (2021) is another cowrite with Aaron Raitiere. Features violin and reaches back to classic country. I like the lines of the chorus "There ain't nobody; Who knows how life's gonna happen; Only thing to do is live it 'til it's gone". Hayes tells us about Aaron's CMA nominations and the merch stories.
• "High" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a a slow one; likely about enjoying the moment with some libations or drugs. But it's also about being content and comfortable with where he is now in life.
• "Progress of Man (Bitcoin & Cattle)" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a co-write with Aaron Raitiere. A great word play with some biting commentary: "The world's gettin' turned on by assholes and racists. And it's all for the progress of man". The title reminds me of a Townes Van Zandt song, "For the sake of the song" but only in the title.
• "Stay Here Awhile" from "We're Only Human" (2025) , another slow one, was introduced with a story about being comfortable in life in Tennessee and watching a blue jay building a nest out the window (the Toronto Blue Jays had just recently won their division title and that got an audience response). "Let me be that blue jay, Knowing I belong. And no matter what lies on the road up ahead; May I always have my song".
• They did a rockin' version of "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" (a Tom Waits song made famous by the Ramones) which appeared, as a much more gentle tune, on "Trouble in Mind" (2007).
• "Down the Road Tonight" from the album "Little Rock" (2005) is another Dylan/Highway 61 spoken word mouthful telling the story of wild times on the road. The line that stuck out to me was "My first girlfriend works at Hooters". I'm not familiar with this album, it's not on Youtube, but gosh, it's 20 years ago!
• "I Got Away With It" is a slow one from "We're Only Human" (2025) that tells the story of a broken relationship where he's at fault. "And I acted like some kind of stranger. When she desperately needed a friend". He may have got away with it but lives with regret.
• Hayes was talking about Fred Eagle Smith, how he had helped him out when he was touring in Texa. He mentioned Roger Marin and Darcy Yates who where both here tonight. He talked about a cross country tour of Canada where gigs where missed, and long days spent travelling to the next gig. Someone from the audience called out for "Bible on the Dash" (2012) with Corb Lund. Another funny tune spearing Christians. He didn't do it tonight. He told a story about touring in Canada and the border hassles — inadvertently they were caught with an orange on returning to the US. They were fined and crossing borders thereafter meant he'd be stopped and searched. Border services in the US (ICE and CBP) have been arseholes for a long time.
• "I got a gig", from the album from "Trouble in Mind" (2007), tells the story of his young days starting out at Hurricane Bob's on Crystal Beach Texas where getting a gig was an accomplishment. There's a banjo prominent in this tune with his friend from Houston, his electric guitarist.
• "What it is", from the album of the same name (2019), is one of those songs of regret and hope for the future. The chorus includes: "And what it is is right here in front of me. And I'm not letting go".
• "Good People (Thank Me)" is another co-write with Aaron Raitiere from "We're Only Human" (2025) . It's become a popular sing along with a simple story and easy chorus: "Thank God for good people, thank people for being kind". We were all encouraged to sing along (unlike the encore).
• "KMAG YOYO" from "KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories)" (2011) is a rocker with Dylan like spoken lyrics (cf. "Johnny's in the basement, mixing up the medicine, I'm on the pavement, thinking about the government") that tells the story of a young fellow who signs up and ends up in Afghanistan ... selling heroin and going down some strange paths with the CIA. The acronym KMAG YOYO is "Kiss my ass good-bye; you're on your own."
• "To Keep From Being Found" from "You Get It All" (2021) is another nice tune I hadn't really listened to before. It's another sad story about the hard life touring and travelling and loves lost. A line that leaps out to me was "I ain't ever going back to Texas. I'll pay the cost, Of being lost, Just to keep from being found".
• "Nice Things" from the album "You Get It All" (2021) is funny commentary on our world — God comes down to earth and she meets all sorts of dumb things we do: pollution, drugs and a hypocrisy.
• "One Day" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a quieter tune with a hopeful. "One day I'm gonna get there. right where I belong."
• The set ended with "We're Only Human" (2025) from the album by the same name. This is another quiet reflective tune, a little sad -- "We're only human, nothing more".
• For the encore, Hayes came on solo, without the band, just his guitar, to sing "Beaumont" from "Trouble in Mind" (2007). A lovely rueful story of a failed romance "I could not wait forever, I hope you understand". A couple of guys behind me seemed to love and know the song by heart; they sang along ... loudly. I wished they had just sung quietly for themselves.
• The encore ended with the band returning. They did a couple of rockers, "Hard Out Here" and "Stomp and Holler" both from the album "KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories)" (2011). Both songs about touring and living on the road.

We have been listening to Hayes Carll for several years now. This show impressed me with the depth of his catalogue and the quality of his song writing. If you like a bit of John Prine, mixed with a large dash of Highway 61 Dylan, lots of blues and Ray Wylie Hubbard then Hayes Carll should be on your must-listen list. Here's his YouTube Channel.

See also Hayes Carll on Wikipedia.

Lynn River Farm

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Last evening (Thursday) the local Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club (St Marys Stonetown #227) held an evening members and guests dinner event outside at Lynn River Farm. The location is slightly north and east of Stratford not too far from Shakespeare. A big yellow school bus had been chartered to get us safely there and back  as we don't want any DUI drivers. There were a little less than 20 of us; we would have liked to have a few more.

There had been a similar event here last year. I'm not sure how/why I missed that one. In any case, although the weather leading up to the event had been cool, it was a lovely warm night for us (last year it had been quite cool). We ate outside under a tent overlooking a pond (actually a gravel pit that had filled in with water). There was a small sail boat docked on the water. There's some livestock wandering about, including some geese, and some turkeys penned up/fenced in. It's a well tended rural environment that handles special events. It's advertised as a "Countryside Dining Experience".

As the evening progressed we saw a hot air balloon pass by in the distance and enjoyed a clear night with a lovely orange sunset. 

We had a lovely 4 course dinner prepared on site with locally grown ingredients. Each course had a matching wine our wine steward for the club (Jere) had selected. For the main course, a lasagna pasta, a red wine was served blind and the game was to determine what the wine was, what it cost, etc. Tom had select the wine which turned out to be a reasonably priced Chianti Classico Reserva by Melini which matched well with the pasta. I guessed that it was a Sangiovese, didn't catch that it was a Reserva, and therefore missed out on the price point. The winner of the game is tagged to do the same at next years event — i.e., he would have to select a wine and speak to it next year.

For the dessert our president Claire had selected a brandy that he thought was particularly tasty and a good value. I'm not usually a brandy drinker, but he was right on both counts.

One of the very nice things about the location and the evening was the ability to have a conversation not only with your immediate neighbors but also with chums across the table and further away. Many times restaurants are far too noisy to be able to have a conversation — flat walls echo noise, music is cranked up, etc. Outside at the farm conversation flowed easily.

With Jere's help here's the menu and wine pairings we had that night

• We started with a Burrata Board served with dry Tawse Sparkling Riesling (Vintage 370361): homemade sourdough and focaccia; whipped herb butter; fresh burrata with hot honey; fresh tomatoes and ground cherries from the garden with balsamic carrot top pesto.
• Salad course was Roasted Honey & Lentil Salad served with VQA Burnt Ship Bay Sauvignon Blanc (LCBO 517185)
• Entree course was a Sausage & Beef Lasagna, home made pasta, on a alfredo and pesto sauce. Served (blind) with the Melini Chianti Classico Reserva (as above) and an Antinori Pèppoli Chianti Classico (Vintages 606541)
• Dessert course was a sticky toffee pudding with a homemade hone ice cream. Served with a brandy (as above)

I recall the Burnt Ship Bay being particularly impressive and good value. The meal was excellent with lots of locally sourced products. 

Many thanks to Lynn River Farm, Claire, Jere, Tom and others for organizing a great evening. I'll be back ...

James McMurty & Betty Soo

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Gord and Leslie came to visit us for some theatre (especially MacBeth at Stratford). We have arranged to meet with them in Toronto and went to see James McMurtry (with a band and fronted by BettySoo) at the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen near Spadina. Both James and BettySoo are artists we've seen many times on our winter stays in Austin TX (search this blog); we usually we see them as solo acts.

Gord and Leslie arrive by train from Ottawa, we drive from home with our car.

Tonight, on this tour, James is performing with a full band — electric guitar, bass and drums. BettySoo accompanies him on an accordion for a few songs as pictured! We had seen her this winter at the El Mercado Sunday Morning Purgatory Players gig and she said then that she was just starting out on the instrument. James we've seen many times as an early evening solo act at the Continental Club Gallery (Austin) where he has a long standing residency. He also plays late at night once a week downstairs at the Continental Club with a band — perhaps these guys he has tonight. Of course these residencies are interrupted when he's on tour. When in Austin we much prefer to see him as a solo act and early in the evening. We're not long ball hitters anymore.

Doors open at 7:00pm, BettySoo comes on around 8:00 and there's a break before James around 9:00. Kate misses seeing James, at the break I take her back to our AirBnB via Uber, and I miss perhaps the opening tune of James' set. The audience wasn't very attentive to BettySoo but were very attentive and supportive of James. Many times the audience would sing along! One neat trick James does here (and at the Continental Club) is to sing one song without any electric amplification. That quiets down thing; people stop yacking to listen closely to what he has to say.

James did songs from across his catalog (he's touring to support his latest album "The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy" (2025)) but can reach back through to his first "Too Long in the Wasteland" (1989). Of course he did Choctaw Bingo; a big hit. Given the times we are suffering through with the Lyin' King in Washington I'm surprised he didn't do at least some protest songs. But then he's not known for that ... well, there's We Can't Make It Here Anymore (2007) and Cheney's Toy (2008) but they are now quite dated.

I like seeing acts here and have over the many years seen some of our Americana heroes —  Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Earl Keen and Eric Bogle (Australian Folk). The setup is pretty good but there aren't many seats; Kate needs to sit down and get off her feet. There is a largeish "dance floor" in front of the stage but that's filled with a standing room crowd who block the view for those sitting down. We met our friends Tom and Tara from London who have grabbed themselves a spot right at the stage left. They were just  a few feet from the performers. Tom has posted some of his pictures to Facebook.

I got my pictures by wheedling my way through the crowd to the front. With a camera in hand people let you do that. Pretty much all my pictures were taken with a flash and bounce card. Someone in the audience seemed to think using a flash was forbidden. If it was nobody, other than her, said anything.

We stayed overnight at a two bedroom AirBnB condo near Bay and College. Gord, Leslie and I stayed up late after the show and at least one of us had a painful hangover the next day.

Next week we will return to see Hayes Carll at the Horseshoe — another TX Americana singer/song writer that we follow.

See also — on YouTube James McMurty and BettySoo.

45th Anniversary Party

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On August 2, 1980 Kate and I were married. In London, on the campus of the University of Western Ontario. This year marks our 45th anniversary. We had planned a celebration of on our 40th — we had a venue, guest list, music arranged, etc. when the COVID pandemic hit. So that party was cancelled.

This year we decided to have a bit of a party later in the month to celebrate with friends and family. The model would be a kitchen party, a Cèilidh, with some food, drink and some informal music. The pictures at left are a reminder of that event. I'll add some comments now and come back later to fill in a bit more.

The party was held on the afternoon of Sunday August 24 at the Riverwalk Commons here in St Marys. The Flour Mill catered the event and provided a server to help keep things organized. We got a liquor licence for a special event and provided the beer, wine and soft drinks. 

Our houseguests for the weekend were Alison (Maid of honour), Kate's brother, Gord (groomsman - Reg met Kate through Gord), and his wife, Leslie, from Ottawa, and our niece, Paula, from New Brunswick. They were amazing in helping to set up the venue in the morning: we moved tables around, made a memory table, put up some of our art pieces and photos. Our photo albums of the wedding, 20th and 25th anniversary parties seemed to interest many of our guests. One piece of art we hung and cherish was a wedding present painted by Barry Foster, a grad school/club colleague. The figures in the Egyptian styled painting include us and our cats at the time (Isis and Osiris). Unfortunately we've lost track of Barry. Wedding photos were taken by another colleague, Neil Farnsworth, who passed away in Hawaii several years ago. Photos from our 25th were by our No.1 son, Chris, and Paula was kind enough to take photos at this party (here's a camera, go nuts and take lots of pictures).

One thing we did not do was a slide show. The venue has a large screen and we were encouraged to show pictures. We both felt that would be too much like a funeral. And, people tend to get fixated on a TV. Instead we had a table of memorabilia: albums and clippings that Kate had prepared after past events.

Our friend Danny provided an anchor for the music. He was joined by Gord on bass and guitar, Rob on harp and guitar, Paul (our nephew) played along as well. Kate and I interrupted the music at several times to murder a ballad or three, with Kate playing her guitar. The picture above has Gord accompanying me on the Billy Joe Shaver song, "I couldn't be me without you". A simple song with heartfelt lyrics that I sang near the end of the event.

I couldn't be me without you
Together forever, where ever we are
I couldn't be me without you

We were thrilled that some of our friends and family from afar were able to celebrate with us. Joan (bridesmaid) and Ron drove from Belleville, Leo (classmate with Gord and Reg) and Glennice drove in from Peterborough area and visited with us the Saturday night. My best man, Mike, and his wife Jacquie, from Owen Sound, had hoped to come but were unable to attend — Mike is recovering from a fall where he broke both feet. Peter and Colleen, my workmates from Western University years, came down from Ottawa and stayed in the area for a few days taking in a few plays in Stratford. My brother,  David and wife, Gail, and their two daughters (our nieces), Bridget and Alison came from Hamilton area with their families (Bridget's husband, Jean Paul and son Quinton) and Alison's daughter, Kara. Another niece, Noelle, came from Toronto with her husband, Paul (who also joined in in the guitar playing), daughter, Grier and her partner, Lorne. Kate's nephew, Mark, and wife, Donna, came to the event from the Guelph area.  

We were pleased that some London friends came, including Andy (Western, Computer Science) and Patricia, Peter and his partner Angela. Sam (Kate's long-time colleague and friend from ARF/CAMH) and Albie made a special early return from holidays in the north just to be with us, and Sarah (CEO of the St. Marys library) and Joe made a special trip out from the city just to share this day with us.

We were also pleased to entertain friends from St Marys and area: Heather & Mark, Gary & Cathy, John & Joan, Gretchen, Jan & Bill, Jan, Tracey & Darrel, Janis & Doug, Jane & Bruce, Steve, Nancy, Sylvia & Rob, Ena & Dennis, Jenn &Tim, Dave, Roger & Barbara, Dorothy & Peter ... no doubt I've missed a few.

If you wander through the photos you'll get a sense of the party. It was intentionally an informal event — there were no fancy outfits and no speeches. There were over 60 guests who came over the several hours. It was quite busy there for a bit. We tried to greet everyone but were unable to have any lengthy conversations (e.g., it was only later in the week that we realized the Peter and Colleen were having their 20th wedding anniversary!). Danny kept the music coming with help from Rob and Gord. As mentioned, Kate and I interrupted a few times to sing some songs we had "rehearsed".

I love music but can barely carry a tune. We interrupted Danny and I opened with "Wilder Than Her", the Fred Eaglesmith tune I had sung for Kate at our 25th (Chris helped that time, Gord helped this time). Kate and Paula were laughing as I seemed to invent my own melody. Sorry about that!

Together we sang/butchered "Marilyn & Joe", the Kinky Friedman song. I recall singing this acapella at Peter and Colleen's wedding — they had no recollection of the event (nor does Kate). That would have been a good time to also recall that it was their anniversary coming up!

We sang/butchered "San Antone Rose" (Susanna Clark), and "In Spite of Ourselves" (John Prine). Fortunately Danny, who we had shared our song selections, led us on "45 Years From Now" (Stan Rogers). I closed with "I Couldn't Be Me Without You" (Billy Joe Shaver) and persuaded Gord and Leslie to do their version of "Once Every 100 Odd Years" (Silver Hearts). I wasn't able to persuade Paul and Lorne to play something (they're both able), or Sam, and we ought to have cornered Paula to play a tune or two. She does an excellent version of "Down Home Girl" by the Old Crow Medicine Show.

The party ended as planned around 4:00. We tidied up what had not been eaten (the caterer brought in a bunch of takeaway boxes -- they would have had to toss it all), we gave some away and took a lot home. We had seriously overestimated the drinks; probably by a factor of 10! I had opened a 5 litre Chianti (2017) and we had barely touched it. Back in our yard we closed the day eating leftovers and drinking up the Chianti with the gang staying with us and our neighbors Darrel and Tracey. We wouldn't want that wine to go bad, eh?

We are well stocked with food, drink and memories.

Gord and Leslie left on Monday morning dropping Paula off at Pearson Airport; Sam left on Tuesday flying out of London. Reg came down with a cold, he had been fighting it for a few days, and spent the day in bed.

It was a great day, a day to make memories. 

"It took me years, to get those souvenirs"

45th Anniversary

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Saturday night, August 2, and the notorious '63 Monroe are playing at the Richmond Tavern in London with Limits of Approach. For those who might be keeping track, today is our 45th wedding anniversary, and we went to see '63 Monroe this night 45 years ago at the infamous Cedar Lounge (which, had it survived, was just a block away on the corner of King and Talbot). We had the band play for us at our 25th Anniversary and we simply must see them again tonight.

We're not long ball hitters anymore and worried that the band might not come on stage until midnight (bars are open to 2:00am these days). We're in communication with Peter, Markii and Scott. Scott tells us we're in luck as they're doing a first set at 9:00pm, followed by Limits of Approach, and then they do their last set close to midnight. So it's a go, we'll come and take in the first set.

We arrive in good time, I'm worried that the room might fill, but we get a good seat near the stage and have a parking spot right in front of the hotel. Peter visits with us for a bit and, as the band tunes up and does their sound check, we are centered out as the happy couple celebrating 45years who came to see them on their wedding night. They open with "At the Boot" which they dedicate to us. The Cedar Lounge was sometimes known as "The Boot".

It was a fun way to celebrate our anniversary. We ought to have stayed to the bitter end but would have paid dearly the next day. We met with several of the old gang (one of the pictures is by Olivia Rose Cairns — the daughter (sic!) of Debbie, a young friend from those days. She's off to Scotland shortly and we tell her a bit about our recent adventures in Glasgow.

Here's another summary. Kate writes to our friend Alison in Winnipeg (she was with us 45 years ago; Neil, our photographer has passed away):

It was great to see them (it was our 25th when they played for us). They did two sets with their first set at 9pm so we were able to see them and be home by 11! We didn't stay for the middle band although they were supposed to be pretty good. Pete got up before they started playing and pointed us out in the audience and talked about how we used to feed them and give them Reg's homemade beer (which was kind of him — I didn't think we fed them that often — but he was a kid — just 19 at the time). Scott even dedicated the first song to us ("At the boot"). I think they were quite chuffed to be reminded that we went to see them on our wedding night and that they are still playing 45 years later (to the day). They have done other shows but we felt that we had to go to this one. We've invited the three guys from the band that we know to our anniversary party.

The really sad thing for Reg was that he came home and immediately loaded the pictures onto his computer from his camera and as he was messing with them, he accidentally deleted them all. He spent hours trying to get the photos back but no luck. 

Most of the pictures in the photo album Kate took with her cell phone, some are cribbed from others (Amelia and Olivia) who posted on Facebook. I took a lot of pictures on my Canon t6i with a flash and I'm sure many would have been great. However, I managed to accidentally erase all them from my computer and could not recover any! Oh fur Dumb! I was up for hours trying to recover pictures from the memory card and from my computer to no avail. There's a moral here: don't erase memory card or computer copies until they are all safely in the cloud.

Kate asks if maybe I ought to have been shooting film?

Dixon Cousins' Potluck

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When I was young, and even into these "Kate years", we used to gather with my mother's siblings for a "Dixon Summer Picnic". Now all of my parents' generation are gone, there are no aunts and uncles anymore, and the summer picnic petered out many years ago.

A few years ago we were at Casey's funeral in Stratford — Casey is a cousin by marriage to Dianne; Dianne is just a little younger than me and lives nearby.  Dianne and I share many childhood memories — regular Sunday visits to our grandparents in Markdale and much more. 

At the funeral lots of cousins gathered, some from quite a distance, to pay their respects. We don't see one another unless there's a funeral. And I thought, this is feckin' stupid, we need to gather together more often to share memories, stories of family and some laughs while we're still alive and kickin'. Funerals are not enough! Of course everyone agreed. So we started the Dixon Cousins' picnic again and have hosted it now for several years at our home on the Wednesday before the August 1st long weekend.

The idea is for we cousins to gather. If there are children or grandchildren or etc. visiting they are more than welcome of course (that's Teresa's cousin from Uruguay in the photo). But the focus is on we cousins who shared a childhood together. As all of us, save for Gordon who is the youngest, are now retired we decided to do this mid week and leave the long weekend for immediate family events. It's been fun to reconnect and to share memories and updates over an afternoon potluck. The first year everyone brought enough food to feed everyone else; I've tried to encourage that a dish or two is more than enough. And for god's sake, don't bring beer and wine, that would be like "coals to Newcastle".

This year traffic over Toronto and construction on the 401 around Milton made it difficult for some. Frank and Jane got away early, they're in Eastern Ontario, but were nevertheless delayed several hours. Likewise Walter and his family were late but made it anyway. People have that kind of devotion when it comes to funerals; it's good they're able to do the same for "we the living".

Much of my family are far away. Tony & Pat made it one year for Dave and Gail's 50th anniversary. They're visiting here from BC later in the fall. Dave and Gail came from Hamilton; Paul is far away in Thailand; Ellen is getting on for travel; Dale, I have only recently discovered, has relocated near Windsor. And Larry is gone.

In the intervening years we lost Barry and Nancy. They are missed but I confidant they would be please to see the gathering continue.

See also photos from Dixon Cousins' Potluck (2023); Margaret Quinton - Grandmother's Album (2021); or just search this blog for "Dixon".