Barbara Nesbitt & Friends

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We were back to the Continental Club Gallery last night (Thursday Feb 1, 2024) to see Barbara Nesbitt and friends. Doors opened at 8:00pm with the performance starting at 8:30. It's "First Thursdays" on South Congress so the streets are pretty busy, there's a lot going on. I drop Kate off at the door and go searching for a parking spot. Luckily I found street parking on James Street right by the iconic "I love you so much" graffiti on Jo's Coffee.

The cover at the door is only $10, and when I arrive Kate has purchased a couple of Margarita's ($10 for two! Wow!), and laid claim to one of the ratty couches, under a Dale Watson mural, near where the performers will be. This is where we were seated for James McMurtry the other night. Again the lighting is less than minimal, hence the B/W photos. When we arrive there are only a few friends of the performers there, who are all greeted warmly, so finding a good place to enjoy the evening wasn't difficult. As the evening progressed more arrived so ultimately it was a good house — not crowded but about as many as at the McMurtry event. Many were, of course, friends/family or performers who played. There was a gang who arrived a bit late having thought the show was downstairs at the Continental Club.

In the picture above, that's Shawnee Kilgore with Michael O'Connor behind and Barbara seated to her left. Shawnee sang a very funny song about "Too Much Texas" (which dates back to at least 2019); Kate remembers seeing her last Sunday at the Purgatory Players; I remember seeing her there over the years and at other events (e.g., at Threadgills, The Austin Acoustic Cafe, etc.). In any case, she was a guest tonight who only performed this one song. But that one song really helped to make the evening.

 Michael and Barbara did a song swap over the evening with all original tunes. Barbara repeated some of the songs we had heard earlier this week at the Monday Night Dinner Club with Ben Jones. We had never seen Michael before but he was a very good accompanist with songs of his own and others he had co-written with Geoff Plankenhorn and/or Gabe Rhodes (performers we do know). He's a big gentle bear kind of guy. There's some confusion and laughs around his middle name — is it Sterling, or Scott, or Scott Sterling? Or perhaps it's just the whiskey that's talking.

In the photo album there's some photos of Nevada Newman who, it turns out, is Barbara's house painter. .. or at least so they said. He's another great guitar player and came up to play while Barbara snuck off to the pisser. TMI! He played her guitar and tuned down the bass strings which was quite a surprise to her when she returned. I thought it was pretty brave/foolish of him to do that. Others were warning her, but she missed their warnings.

Barbara was nipping on some tequila having been dry for the last couple of months. So she was a little wild and a bit raunchy. She sang a song about "batting for the other team" having had her fair share of failed relationships with men. The song about "I know what you did!", another failed relationship with a guy who "done her wrong", had her naming Dale Watson and pointing to the Dale Watson mural where I was sitting — it seemed like she was pointing at me! I don't look anything like Dale, certainly haven't done her wrong and, for a while there, people might have thought she was pointing at me. Ultimately, we all had it figured out that it was the Dale Watson of the mural and not me! She and Michael thought the mural looked like Dale was enjoying a blow-job and when Kate purposely took a picture of me with the mural Michael thought the picture would be better if I turned around so it looked like I was giving the blow-job (sic!).

We cut out a little early as Kate's ankle pain became hard to bare. Barbara asked why we were leaving and Kate replied "Too much Dale Watson" (cf. Too much Texas). Everyone hooted at Kate's witty response and Barbara replied  "Well played." She then added that "Dale would be playing downstairs on Monday ... no pun intended". He has a residency at the club.

We have seen Barbara several times over the years starting with "The Whiskey Sisters" in 2013, a house concert in 2019, Purgatory Plays and most recently at the Monday Night Dinner Club with Ben Jones.

We enjoyed the event and, no doubt, will be back before our visit to Austin ends.

 

James McMurtry

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We were at the Continental Club Gallery to see James McMurtry on Wednesday performing solo at 8:30 with a $15 cover charge (he performs with his band downstairs on Tuesdays later in the evening). It's an awful dive bar but gosh we keep coming back. James is an amazing performer — great lyrics and he makes a 6 or 12 string sound like a full orchestra. We first saw him back in 1994 here in Austin at La Zona Rosa (a club in the warehouse district that's long gone as are the warehouses). ... 30yrs ago, so I guess we're fans.

James isn't much of a talker and doesn't tolerate an audience who want to talk over him: "Simon says keep it down" — that small group chatty left. He did many tunes we know like "Levelland" (which was a hit for Robert Earl Keene), "Choctaw Bingo" (described as his hit — a couple got up and danced! I think there's a new verse in there), "Long Island Sound" (Kate says it's her favorite), and "Red Dress" (in protest to some of the recent anti-drag laws he has been performing in a red dress, but not tonight).

He did a new song, "Pinocchio in Las Vegas", which was pretty interesting and more than a little weird. It tells the story of Pinocchio after Geppetto dies, inheritance battles, lawyer fees, ugly rumors and how Pinocchio wins at cards because he has a blank face and now it's his penis that grows when he lies, not his nose. It's weird, I'm not sure what the story is really about. 

He reminded guests to tip big, he suggests you start at 20% and work your way up, as TX does not pay waitstaff (I think I read the wage for staff who receive tips is only $2.15/hr. sic!). I recall our bar tab being quite reasonable and we left a good tip. Prices seem to very widely at the clubs.

We see he's going to be touring soon with BettySoo so we want to catch him here while we can. Perhaps we'll show up next week.

See also "James McMurtry plays in a dress to protest new Tennessee law" (May 10, 2023).

Purgatory Players

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One of our Sunday morning pleasures in Austin is to attend the Purgatory Players performance at the El Mercado South. This is a regular event with a fluid group of local musicians and guests who play together to raise funds for the Central Texas Food Bank. They're mostly professional musicians and pass the hat for the food bank rather than themselves — they are giving their time. They say every dollar raised makes for four good meals and, over the years, have raised quite a bit of money. 

The El Mercado "Backstage", where this event happens, is a very good listening room where you can also have a meal and drinks. We each have a huge Tex/Mex breakfast with Morning Margaritas.

The "regular" players today are Scrappy Jud Newcomb,  Rich Brotherton, and Guy Forsyth who perform a first set of well rehearsed tunes (perhaps a little heavy on the gospel side). All are amazing performers who we've seen around town and on ACL over the years. Guests include Kate Howard (who Kate talked with by the WC — she's a regular), Bonnie Gibson sang Steve Earle's Jerusalem and brought me to tears, and others included Guila Millanta and the sound man Drew Preston. They're all supportive of one another and make sure we're aware of who is playing where in the coming week.

Drew will be playing at the "Regal Rooms" and Guila with Ben Jones at the "04 Center" — venues we will investigate. The 04 Center is pretty across the street from us in Zilker ... well within walking distance.

The link under the picture is to a video of the event recorded by DanViewtube (his nom de plume) who I talked to at the end of the performance. He's been documenting these live music events on YouTube for many years and I have approached him before. We talked about how much I appreciated his work in general and over the pandemic when we've not been here. I especially liked the recording of Christine Albert's Mystery Monday Farewell show back in 2020 (now replaced by a Monday Night Supper Club hosted by Ben Jones and Barbara Nesbitt). Dan suggests we go see Ulla at the Saxon later today (Rich Brotherton is also part of that gang), but I explain that we're off to a house concert. We both comment on how much great music there is to see in Austin. That's why we're here! We'll catch Ulla another day.

Kate and I remark that the house hasn't bounced back to pre-pandemic numbers. It should, these are fine musicians, a worthy cause and a great place for breakfast. We will be back.

Our waiter invites us back ... little does he know how soon he'll see us (we're back the next night).

FCG Newsletter

From a Facebook post I made today (we're in Austin, TX today):

My friend Dave O'Halloran shared the Forest City Gallery newsletter with me. The photo is from a Hippies gig at the gallery many years ago. Dave does a great job of archiving these old photos and giving credit as appropriate. From the bend in the ceiling it was probably my 16mm fisheye on my Canon A1 with a Vivitar 285 bounce card flash.

Forest City Gallery responded: "We love this photo, Reg! Thanks for sharing"

Rivers of Texas

ACL Stage Moody Theatre

We went to see "A Celebration of Songs and Stories from Deep in the Heart of Texas" at the ACL Moody Theatre here in Austin, TX on Saturday night. This was a benefit show for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The show was organized, headlined and hosted by Alejandro Escovedo with a long list of local performers who were to each do two Texas songs — one by someone they admired and one of their own. 

We had first seen Alejandro at Strange Brew (2014) at another fund raiser so were looking forward to this show. Strange Brew was a great listening room; it's another Austin club that's sadly gone.

We bought good aisle seats on the floor to stage right and took an Uber to the show. Parking downtown might be a burden and the theatre seats probably near 3,000 people so it would be busy.

At security we're stopped and told, "You can't go in with that camera." I had my Canon T6i with a 18-135mm lens and had hoped to take some photos. We argued a bit (after all you're letting everyone in with cell phone cameras), do you want me to Uber home again, where can I leave this camera, etc. .... Finally, they agreed to hold my camera at security and I could retrieve it when we leave. The picture above was one of the very few usable photos taken with our cell phones. It's hard to make out but that's David Ramirez performing; he did a smokin'/swaggerin' version of Terry Allen's "Amarillo Highway". Next time I'll remember to bring a smaller camera and carry it in my pocket (eg. on the Outlaw Country Cruise (2018) I could only bring a pocket camera).

We were surprised when we took our seats that the theatre was only just starting to fill up. The upper balcony, the really cheap seats, seemed to be mostly empty. Alejandro encouraged people to come down from the balcony and take some of the empty better seats. That proved to be a bit of an issue for folks arriving after the show had started.

You might note the house band arranged for this show. That's Glenn Fukunaga on bass (we've seen him with Terri Hendrix) and Gabe Rhodes on guitar. There's a three piece string section and Warren Hood joined them. I'm not sure who was on drums or keyboards. Notably, Lloyd Maines was not there. We were surprised as we often see him in house bands on the ACL stage. It was nevertheless a well rehearsed tight band who made it all seem effortless.

Butch Hancock opened the show with "Rivers of Texas" (the link is to a TVZ version) which he recalled hearing Townes Van Zandt play many times over the years. It's a traditional song we had never heard before but we did bump into it again a few days later. He followed with "She Never Spoke Spanish To Me" (the link is to a Texas Tornados version) and included a verse entirely in Spanish. Given the recent border squabbles (Greg Abbott's razor wire barricades on the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass) this song is particularly poignant recalling a simpler time with open borders.

Alejandro introduced Warren Hood who he had baby sat as a child. We've seen him several times over the years (first back in 2014 playing with Joe Ely at Guero's on our last night) and seems to have a regular gig at the ABGB. He has developed beyond playing as a session musician on fiddle. He did a song I've got to research (I have a tape) and another of his own. He's really coming along.

I've already mentioned David Ramirez; an artist I'd not known about. He was followed by Terry Allen who played a couple of his own tunes (breaking the rules). He has a show case gig coming up soon at the Paramount. Alejandro mentioned how these two regular shows often conflict with one another; but this year they're sharing one another's stage. Terry is more of an artist than a musician and pounds out simple tunes on piano. I was surprised to find about 12 or so different CD's of his at Waterloo Records the other day.

John Doe, of the LA band X (not to be confused with Twitter), has moved to Austin and performed a punk tune he wrote in Austin. Of course neither are very "country". Will Johnson was another performer we did not know. He's young and in the John Doe/punk mold. The first set was closed off by Ruthie Foster who is a blues artist.

The second half of the show would have included Alejandro, Kimmie Rhodes (Gabe's mom), Rosie Flores, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Shakey Graves and Robert Earl Keene but we cut out early. Kate wanted me to stay but I'd not have that!

Christmas for Kate

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Every year, for quite some time now, I've prepared a "Xmas for Kate" CD of tunes to remind us of the year that has past, events we've been to and places we've been. You can find these playlists on my iTunes and YouTube channels (click on the image for the 2023 YouTube playlist). 

This past year we didn't travel as much — covid is still an issue and, more importantly, Kate had surgery to replace an ankle she had broken back in 2025. Between waiting for and recovery from the surgery we've missed a lot of events. E.g., there were a couple of KBS events in South Africa and a Bar Room Health conference in Liverpool we had to miss. Nevertheless, we have some tunes and events to remember. Sadly, many of these tunes are tinged with loss as our favorite singers age and pass away.

Here's an annotation for the 2023 Christmas playlist. Kate has remarked that this year it seems to be dominated by women singers. Well, there's a reason: I know what boys like.

1. "I Know What Boys Like", The Waitresses (1982). Kate and Sam are doing a bar room research project around male attitudes and behaviours towards women (butt grabbing, that sort of thing). It's pretty clear what boys like, it's not clear they know how to get it. We saw the Waitresses in 1984 in Washington, DC. Patty Donahue, the singer, died back in 1996. 
2. "Friday Night, Saturday Morning", The Specials (1981). A sad reflection on the dance hall scene, very much like the scene Kate and Sam are looking at. Clearly, the boys don't have much luck with the girls. Perhaps their strategies (bum grabbing for example) don't endear them? Terry Hall, the singer, died in 2022.
3. "Strong Enough", Molly Tuttle and Madison Cunningham (2021). This is a great cover of Cheryl Crow's 1993 tune. "Are you strong enough to be my man?" Yup!
4. "The Story", Brandi Carlile (2007). This song is overwrought but the lyrics are quite moving. "I was made for you". Yup again. Brandi Carlile was named one of "The 10 Greatest Female Songwriters of All Time, Period!" by the American Songwriter in 2024.
5. "Been to the Mountain", Margo Price (2022). This is a bit of a drug induced psychedelic rocker from a Nashville singer I have followed for a while now. I like that it tells a story of someone who has been there and done a lot. "Used to be your waitress... I've been on food stamps, I've been outta my mind... stood in the welfare line". Reminds me of a Go-Go Dancer from Montreal.
6. "That River", Margo Cilker (2021). I like the rhythm of this song and the melancholy of looking back but I really can't fathom what it's about. Sample lyric: "That river in the winter, It could fuck me up". Not as romantic as Joni Mitchell's song "River" but I'm sure there's a connection.
7. "Not Ready Yet", Jamie McDell (2022). A new artist for me. And a song about not settling down. When you're our age you start to wonder if we'll ever settle down.
8. "Great Confession", Amanda Platt and the Honeycutters (2021). Another woman singer, one that we did see several years ago in Austin. It's a song about looking back — "Ain't it a crime the way the years go rolling by?" As we get older it certainly seems that way.
9. "Growing Up", Lori McKenna (2023). I've been following Lori McKenna for several years now. Many of her songs are about looking back and tinged with melancholy. This one too.
10. "Lonely Tonight", Jobi Roccio (2023). Winner this year of John Prine Songwriter Fellowship from Newport Folk — what more creds do you need?
11. "The Painkillers Ain't Workin'", Buddy & Julie Miller (2023). This tune, a reference to Kate's recovery, is dominated by Julie Miller's voice. It's a bit of rocker.
12. "The Coo Coo", Townes Van Zandt (1994). This is an acoustic cover of a traditional folk song. I first heard it this year and was impressed by the lyrics. I can't find a full copy of the lyrics Townes sings and on the two versions I've heard he sings different lyrics. I like the idea that he was too lazy for working, and robbing trains was too dangerous, so he ends up a gambler. Some of the lyrics are found in "The Moonshiner". It's a lovely odd tune by another singer who died far too young (January 1, 1997).
13. "Jerusalem", Steve Earle (2002). With a war raging in Gaza it's hard to stay hopeful and believe that "One fine day, all the children of Abraham will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem". We can only hope. We've seen Steve Earle a few times, once in Austin at Waterloo Records.
14. "She Left Me for Jesus", Hayes Carll (2007). A bit of humor on religion. "If I ever find Jesus, I'm kickin' his ass". We've seen Hayes Carll in Austin performing at Waterloo Records. Hayes is married to Allison Moorer who was Steve Earle's 7th wife! He appears on several of our Xmas playlists.
15. "Monk's Chant/He's Not Dead Yet", Spamalot (2005). Kate got us tickets to see Spamalot in Stratford for our anniversary in August. We liked it so much we went back again and I went a third time for the closing night with our friends Erich and Lisa. Erich, the "Half a Bee", was a house mate when I was at university — a time when we were both big fans of Monty Python.
16. "Goo Goo Muck", Geek Music (2022). This song, originally by the Cramps, who I did follow many years ago, was redone for the dance scene in the movie "Wednesday" which built on the Adams Family story. We streamed the movie at home, it was fun. Dark and comedic; I'll recommend the movie.
17. "Barbie Girl", Aqua (1997). This was a pop hit back in the day and, to my surprise, never appears in the Barbie movie, which was a big hit this year. We streamed the movie with Gord and Leslie while in Ottawa. I would recommend the movie and would watch it again.
18. "Push", Ryan Gosling (2023). This did appear in the Barbie movie. It's a retake of a 1996 song by Matchbox Twenty. This bit of misogyny has Ken promising to push Barbie around. See above, Kate and Sam's research on men's attitudes and bar room violence towards women. 
19. "Go Go Round", Gordon Lightfoot (1967). Gordon Lightfoot passed away in the spring of 2023. There are many songs I could have picked but this one is for the Go-Go Dancer from Montreal who I married. In the song the Go-Go dancer is mistreated by a guy who doesn't care — more for Kate and Sam to research.
20. "Fairytale of New York", Glen Hansard & Lisa O'Neill (2023). This song, which has been a Christmas favorite for many years, was performed at the St. Mary of the Rosary church in Nenagh during Shane MacGowan's funeral. It's not a surprise that he died; more a surprise that he lived this long. Nevertheless, he is another singer/songwriter who will be sadly missed.

Anyways, there's usually a reason behind these picks and now you know.

Christmas Letter

December 11, 2023. St Marys

This note is late – Christmas season is upon us and there’s much to do. So, we’ll try, but fail, to keep it brief. Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to this year.

January. Started with an eventful trip to Ottawa for Gord and Leslie’s “Hair of the Dog Party” (a sort of NY Day Levee/Jam session). We were all pretty tired of COVID restrictions and were looking forward to finally being with people and a return to normal. We hadn’t seen Gord or Leslie in a while and met with Vince, Eva’s beau (Eva is Gord’s youngest – more on her later). Unfortunately, soon after we find out that one of the guests had come down with COVID and shortly after we had the same. Which meant for a pretty crappy January.

February. On the plus side, we thought, we’ll recover and we might as well go to Austin, TX (we hadn’t been since 2020 when the pandemic began). We had arranged a place for February and had made a reservation for 2024 (we are definitely going this winter). Unfortunately, our Honda had other ideas. A major computer component failed, the car was not safe to drive, and the dealer couldn’t get the part and might not be able to get it for some time (computer chip shortages were affecting all sorts of supply lines). We were without the car for a month or so, we had read about others in the same boat who were without for 6 months! But by mid month we were back on the road. For Reg’s birthday (1952) we had a naughty weekend in Niagara and a conducted tour of the wine region. The tour was a lot of fun – there were 7 of us and Reg was the only guy! Later that month there was a fancy Emily Murphy fundraising event at the Café Buffon in Stratford and the BOOM-X one man stage show by Rick Miller at the Grand in London. Sadly, February was also the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine; worse yet, not much has changed there. We continue to reach out to our colleague in Kharkiv.

March. We went to the Stratford Chef School’s Graduation Dinner at the Bruce. With COVID behind us we made a trip out of the country to visit our friends Deborah and Jerry in Ann Arbor, MI. There we met a gaggle of wild turkeys in their yard who were proudly flaring their plumes as they court the hens.

April.  We met with Andy Szilard & Pat at Museum London for lunch (Andy was Reg’s prof and thesis supervisor in Computer Science at Western). Peter & Colleen, who had worked with Reg at IT/UWO were dealing with an aged parent and were able to visit us as well. The Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club came out of hiatus with a dinner at the Baseball Hall of Fame here in St Marys.  We went to see our favorite country band, the Rizdales, at the Richmond Tavern in London. But Kate came down with a mysterious illness – it turned out she had a blood infection (a sepsis, hospital for 3 days) and this delayed a planned ankle replacement surgery which was to happen in May.

May. It’s a good thing Kate didn’t have her surgery for we had several visitors. Alison (Kate’s childhood chum) and Barry (her partner) came to visit from Winnipeg. Chris, or No.1 son from Germany, came on a trip to a conference in Florida. We put him to work helping with the garden and moving plants outside. It’s been a year since Reg had his knee replacement surgery, he’s much better but still not 100%. Reg’s wine club met at the “King of Pigs” – a favorite Portuguese restaurant in the east end of London. To top the month, we went to see Grievous Angels at an afternoon gig at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Charlie Angus (NDP MP and leader of the Grievous Angels) and the band were in fine fettle.

June. We both have a regular weekly get together with friends. Kate’s group continued to meet outside throughout the pandemic even in winter. Reg’s group, a “Bunch of Old Geezers”, are not made of such firm stuff and met regularly with Zoom. But with the warm weather regular outdoor gatherings resumed. June is also the month for Pride events. We attended a parade in Stratford and an outdoor Pride event with the Friends of the Library (the library has been doing a Drag Queen Story Time). At the Stratford Forum they had several Pride events. We saw “Agit-Pop” again and enjoyed it just as much as the last time. Our sister-in-law Judy came to visit and a grade school chum of Reg’s, Sam Bell, dropped in. Sam, who lives in BC, is quite the character and has led an interesting life working in the mining industry around the world. Reg had not seen him since high school, there were lots of stories to tell.

July. Over the summer we caught quite a bit of theatre and many Festival Forum events (e.g., CBC Ideas recorded for a week). There’s a small professional group in Stratford, the “Here for Now Theatre”, that started during the pandemic when the Stratford Festival shut down. They first staged small productions outside on the lawn at the Bruce Inn. This year they set up an event tent at the Stratford Perth Museum with a small stage seating an audience of 50 or so. This year, they did the best theatre we had ever seen in quite some time: “The Myth of the Ostrich”. If you ever see it playing, do go (it also fit with the Women/Pride theme). We had our friends Erich (from Reg’s UWO years) and his partner Lisa down to see “Grand Magic” at the Tom Patterson Theatre (a $100M rebuild which was to open in 2020). In November we had them back to see “Spamalot” (more on that in a moment).

Our gardens were lush this year with lots of plump wild blackberries and currants for Reg’s jam making. We had a huge garlic harvest and made Garlic Scape Pesto when the garlic flowered. Our tomato garden was especially productive – we’ve just finished up the last of tomatoes which were picked green at tend of season and left to ripen when the frosts came.

August. Our anniversary is on the 2^nd (it was our 43^rd) and our brother David and his wife Gail celebrated their 50^th this month. Reg’s brother Tony and his wife Pat from Victoria BC came out to visit, for the 50^th anniversary), and stayed with us for a bit. We arranged a Dixon Cousins’ reunion (Reg’s mom’s side of the family) while they were here. Reg took Tony and Pat on a backstage tour of the Tom Patterson Theatre and we four went to see “Spamalot” (the Monty Python musical/revival play) at the Avon in Stratford. It was so much fun (we went with our coconuts to participate) that we went again later when tickets were very reasonable, and then again with Erich and Lisa in November on the last night! We also took Tony and Pat to see “The New Canadian Curling Club” at the Huron County Playhouse, Grand Bend (it’s part of the Drayton Group). We had seen the play when it premiered in Blyth several years ago.

Kate had her ankle surgery in late August at Victoria Hospital in London. This did not go as planned. Her recovery was very painful with many visits to ER here and in London where many different casts were tried, then removed. Ultimately, she ended up in a plastic boot that she could loosen (even remove) at will. The swelling aggravates a pre-existing condition and caused further nerve damage.

September. Kate is coming along, she’s “Not dead yet” (a reference to a bit in “Spamalot”), but struggles continue with casts and recovery. Reg attends a funeral in Markdale for our cousin Ruth Wheildon (Dixon side). Kate could not attend but does have her friends over for a tipple on our deck which is lush now with lots of flowers and greenery. Kate and Sam (her work colleague) wrap up the data collection phase of a study that has been upended by the pandemic. They want to get some data on attitudes and behaviours of male bar-goers in London. During the pandemic most bars were closed!

October. The annual Thanksgiving Gathering of Reg’s family in Walter’s Falls (his childhood home) is Kate’s first “long” car ride. It’s about 2hours due north of us and Kate is comfortable enough in the back seat. But the gathering is somewhat subdued -- there aren’t as many in attendance, the weather is crappy, raining and cool. Kate is uncomfortable with her foot down and we head home early.

Back at home we are preparing for the first frost and clearing plants from our deck. Many we give away (Reg divides plants in the spring, gets them to thrive during the summer, and saves only a few). Over the summer Reg had bought a vintage camera (from the 1960’s), had it restored, and shot a first roll of film. He found a place in Stratford that would develop the film but his first roll jammed the processing machine and was ruined. He’s not been deterred and continues to collect vintage film camera gear (for no good reason, it’s entirely senseless).

Our niece Eva and her partner Vince have a baby Eloise this month. She’s the first great niece/nephew on Kate’s side of the family (Reg has many with the great and great-great designation). But all family are equally great. Gord and Leslie are especially chuffed to be grandparents.

At the end of season, we saw “Much Ado” at the Stratford Festival. We’re not great fans of Shakespeare but this play was updated with lots of contemporary changes. We really enjoyed it. When Kate’s surgery was originally scheduled for May we had deferred much of the theatre events until late in the year. Some of these, e.g. the Margaret Atwood Forum event, she missed.

Kate, who is chair of the Board for Optimism Place (a women’s shelter in Stratford), had a retreat near Goderich where we stayed overnight. On the way we dropped in to Maelstrom Winery near Clinton to sample their wares. We hadn’t been in some time (hadn’t been anywhere in some time!) and gosh they’ve improved and expanded. We’ll have to go there sometime for lunch. Reg spent the day of the retreat tromping around the area taking film pictures with his vintage camera – these actually worked well and were developed without the machinery jamming.

Kate has been retired for several years now and the closing of their office in London has become a reality that cannot be ignored. Kate and Sam worked closely with their colleague Sharon who has just announced her retirement. The office space at the UWO Research Park is no longer viable and will shutdown soon.

Local theatre by the St Marys Community Players can sometimes be outstanding. Their fall production of Norm Foster’s “Opening Night” is one of their best in years. In partnership with the Friends of the Library (Reg is the current chair of the FOL) we had a dinner theatre event with dinner at the Westover Inn that was very well attended. Shortly after the play, which is staged in the Town Hall Auditorium, the FOL had another successful Fall Book Sale.

November. The first snow of the year was on the first day. Reg has been tending to the “Thai Greenery” which grew to over 12’ in our garden – it’s hanging up drying in the basement but there’s a lot of greenery and not much “killer bud” to pass on to family and friends.

You might be excused for wondering what year it is: the Rolling Stones have a new album out and the Beatles have a new single. We go to a Westland Gallery opening and a Mexican restaurant in our former neighborhood. Our old home looks much the same but the trees have really grown.

Reg’s obsession with vintage film camera gear is out of hand. He’s bought a Black Nikon F2 (eBay) and then later in the month a black Nikon F (but he already has a silver Nikon F). That makes three entirely senseless camera, and assorted gear, when we ought to be down sizing! He promises to quit but we’re not convinced.

We went to dinner with our friend Joan at the last night of the Braai House in Stratford. A “braai” is a South African wood fired grill/BBQ and the food here is unique. This is/was one of our favorite restaurants (we took Chris when he was visiting) but, unfortunately, they are closing.

Late in the month we made an Ottawa trip to stay with Gord &Leslie. We met up with Eva, Vince and baby Eloise. Paula, Eva’s sister (the postie from New Brunswick), was visiting as well. We met up with Judy again and together we watched the “Barbie” movie which we all quite enjoyed. We met up with Peter & Colleen on our way out of town and have arranged to see them again, and perhaps stay with them, when we’re back for the “Hair of the Dog” party at New Years. Fingers crossed.

December. This year we’ve been trying to spiff up the front entrance to our house. We had replaced the door and the post on the deck and had been waiting on a landscaping crew to redo the steps and deck (it looked tired with the original shabby outdoor carpet). While we were in Ottawa, we got an email note from them saying, “We’re starting your project tomorrow”. This seemed pretty crazy as we weren’t there and there were decisions we hadn’t made. Nevertheless, they had a plan and moved forward with replacing steps, concrete driveway slabs, etc. We were somewhat distressed, especially when we got a panic call from our neighbor telling us that someone had driven a cart or bike through the wet concrete. Nevertheless, problems were addressed and we are happy with the result -- it really looks nice.

We moved Kate out of her office reclaiming some of her gear (desk, printer, etc.) for office space set up in the basement rec-room. We had gotten rid of the basement pool table earlier in the year (we could not sell or give it away and ended up paying to be done with it) and have recarpeted that area. Our plan is to redo the guest bathroom, we’ve got fellows who will do it, not today but someday soon. After that, we can recarpet the bed room.

Lastly this month Shane MacGowan (Pogues), the singer and writer of many fine tunes, has died proving that, apart from advertising, “Guinness is NOT Good for You”. He was an incredibly good writer and performer in the 1980’s but spent the last decades in an alcoholic fog. The funeral service, there’s lots to watch on YouTube, was quite the event. You would have thought that it was an Irish Pope and not an Irish poet who had died. But his music lives on and many tears have been shed. We’re sure “A Fairytale of New York” will be a Christmas hit again this year. And rightly so.