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 have lost Barry and Nancy. They are missed but I am confidant they would be pleased 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".

Thamesview Farms

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Last evening (Thursday) the local Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club (St Marys Stonetown #227) held it's annual summer event outside at the home of Derek and Amy on the grounds of Thamesview Farms overlooking the Thames River here in St Marys. Our president Claire is pictured, the album contains some photos of the location, some of our guests and the servers. I am a current member and past president.

Stonetown is a men's club, originally formed by Pierre after a sabbatical visit to Australia many years ago, but tonight we had wives, partners and invited guests attending. Kate was feeling a bit tough and couldn't go; I took a mutual friend in her place. I'm told we had over 50 in attendance. Usually our meetings are around 24 devoted pissants (or sometime wine connoisseurs). Some events are just tastings, this event was a much more than a tasting with hors d'oeuvres, a full meal and dessert complemented by wine at every course.

Our wine steward Jere selected an interesting flight of wines to explore starting with a Spanish bubbly (Segura Viudas Cava Brut, LCBO #216960), moving on to a Spanish white (Paco & Lola Albariño, Vintages #35004), then a Cote du Rhone (E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône, Vintages #259721) and finishing with a light Italian frizzante (Batasiolo Bosc D'la Rei Moscato D'Asti DOCG, LCBO #277194). As always there was plenty to drink and good food to share. Some of the dishes were from local produce from Derek and Amy's farm — pasture raised beef rand maple syrup in the dessert. The chef, Eli Silverthorne, who has done this other years, did another stellar job — preparing on site and away from his kitchen must be difficult.

A good time was had by all and the weather held for us. It had been threatening rain all day and even misted a bit while we arrived. But it cleared to become another beautiful night in a lovely location.

Ps. These photos (mostly from my Canon T6i and my cell phone) have been augmented with some taken with my Nikon F4S film camera. I have C41 film developed locally but I scan it.

Ucluelet

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After Gill and Cai's wedding on Saturday July 12 there was a birthday party for Tony on Sunday across Florence Lake at Pat's daughter's home. It was a nice spot, at the end of the road high on a ridge top. There was a bit of a fuss to celebrate the birthday. Noel and Grier, who were visiting with Ellen for the week, were there. We had to duck out relatively early as we had an AirBnB reserved in Ucluelet (we like to say You-Clue-Less but that's a tired joke) for Sunday night. We had hoped to spend the day travelling there but the birthday party has changed our plans. The goal now is to get there before nightfall.

Kate had never been to Long Beach, or on up to Tofino, on the west coast of the island and, of course, neither had I. It's about a 5 hour drive from Victoria. You head north along the east side of the island on the mostly 4-lane Island Highway through Nanaimo (famous for the chocolate bar; also the other ferry to the Horseshoe Bay on the mainland). Shortly after that you head west, crossing the island and mountain ranges through Port Alberni and on to the Pacific Rim Highway with Tofino at the north end and Ucluelet on a peninsula to the south. The road is only two lane across the island; sometimes closed because of snow or landslides; few passing areas; snow tires required in the winter season. It's a beautiful drive with lots to see but we don't have much time to make any stops.

It's only 40km along the west coast from Ucluelet to Tofino with Long Beach in between. We made it to Long Beach but not to Tofino. That 40km is the entire highway on the west coast of Victoria Island; all else is only accessible by boat. The island is a big empty country.

Ucluelet is a small fishing and tourism town of about 2,000 people. Our AirBnB is near the lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula. We are on the water, or at least a swampy inlet, but the tide is out. I'm wandering down by the water and find there's a deer there munching on the sweet grass in a swampy area; later on there's one close by our stay. They seem very tame or at least nonplussed by us. I was telling/texting this to our landlord after we had gone. He said, that's nothing. He had moved the fridge out onto the driveway, a bear came along and tipped it over rooting around for something to eat!

On Monday we visited a couple of fishing harbors in town, did a walk in the woods nearby and went out to the Lighthouse before heading up to Long Beach. There's an interpretative centre at Long Beach and an Information Center on the highway where you branch south to Ucluelet or north toward Tofino.

We had a fine Monday to visit the west coast; it had been cool and foggy the night before when we arrived (I gather it often is). On the way back to Victoria we stopped at the "Old Country Market" in Coombs (famous for "goats on the roof " and yes there really were goats who live on the roof). It's a too busy and too cute by far tourist trap that Tony and Pat recommended. Further on we stopped in Cowichan to explore the many painted murals. Tony and Pat recommend the dinner theatre here but that would be for another day. There's another ferry terminal in Cowichan serving some of the islands which are just a stone's throw away.

Back in Sydney, the Victoria Airport and the Sydney Ferry Terminal are here, we meet up with Tony and Pat to return their car that they had kindly lent us. We share a meal together at Riva over looking the water and they drop us off at our hotel. We fly out in the morning.

It was a brief visit, far too short. Kate loves the woods of the west coast, we should visit again and give it more time.

Lake Florence

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We were in Victoria, BC for the wedding of our great nephew Mordecai (Cai) and his partner Gillian (Gil) on July 12 which happens to also be the 80th birthday of Reg's brother Anthony (as a child he was and remains "Tony" to me). It was a fun wedding; we were so happy to be able to attend.

We had rented a hotel room by the inner harbor where we had stayed for Tony and Pat's wedding back in August of 2021 but, having reconsidered, we found an AirBnB on Lake Florence which was much closer to Cai & Gil and Tony & Pat. Had we stayed downtown we would have been closer to Ellen and Ken. Noelle and Grier where there for a week, stayed nearby, and spent quite a bit of time with Ellen.

I am surprised to see that Victoria is a large sprawling city (actually a city of independent towns). Lake Florence is a quiet woodland oasis; you easily forget that you're in the city. It looks and feels an awful lot like cottage country.

The lake is quite small; Kate can easily swim to the other side or each end. Me, not so easily, but I probably could/might make it. Because it's a small lake there are no motor boats; that helps to make it very safe for swimming. Most cottages have a dock that detaches and is powered by a small electric trolling motor. It's quite funny to see a dock putt-putting at barely walking speed crawl across the lake with passengers lolling on a couch or comfy chairs with an umbrella for shade. Our dock detaches as well but we never try it. There's also stand up paddle boards and other toys for us to try. However, we just enjoy the swimming.

Our AirBnB is a private well appointed room on the lower floor of a largeish residence under tall trees. There are several similar units. Our host runs a yoga retreat here. They have a friendly dog and odd collection of garden knick-knacks scattered around the grounds.

A short distance away you're in a California modern setting with shopping malls and multilevel condos. There's a supermarket nearby that we frequent. Cottage country with big city perks!

Tony's Birthday

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One of the nice things about coming to Victoria, BC for the July wedding was it happened also to be my brother Tony's 80th birthday. His birthday is July 12, which was the day of Cai and Gillian's wedding! 

The morning of the wedding we had Tony and Pat over to our VrBO rental on Lake Florence where we had a bit of a celebration before heading out to the afternoon wedding. We bought a cake, with candles for Tony to blow out. We gave him a funny card, a tin of all sorts liquorice and a framed collage of some family photos. We think we saw him shed a tear. We shared a ride with Tony and Pat to the wedding.

The next day, July 13, there was a family birthday party arranged at Pat's daughter's home high on a hill across the lake from us. They are a very nice family, friendly, and put on a great meal for everyone. We stayed for a bit but had to run after the cake as we were on our way to Long Beach and Ocluelet on the west side of the island. Google tells us that's a four hour drive and we want to get there before dark.

There are pictures in the album of Tony and Pat, Ellen, Noelle and Grier, and many of Pat's family.

Ps. We always associate July 12 with the Orange Parade (King Billy, Battle of the Boyne and all the Fenian troubles). I've also just learned there's another reason to celebrate July 12; Google AI tells me

July 12 is celebrated as World Paper Bag Day to promote paper bags as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, highlighting their biodegradability, recyclability, and positive impact on reducing pollution. The date also commemorates the inventions related to paper bag production, including Francis Wolle's 1852 patent for the first mass-producing paper bag machine and Margaret E. Knight's 1870 invention of the flat-bottomed grocery bag.

Now isn't that funny! Something else to celebrare.