I'm going through a very difficult time right now but your morning Mavis missives allow me at least a few minutes of cheer before reality rears its ugly head again. Bless you, Bill.
Hi Rhonda - thanks so much. I'm sorry to know you've hit a rough patch, and I wish you all good things. You'll make your way through. Your kind words mean a great deal, please know that I'm sending, for whatever they're worth, all the good vibes I can muster. Take good care of your good self. BR
Another brilliant Bill Richardson entry. Now that I have read it I can have my shower, get dressed and go out and buy a newspaper (The Toronto Star the paper I delivered as a boy in my hometown of Simcoe Ontario) for the sole purpose of doing the crossword puzzle and I will do the same tomorrow.
Thanks, Terrence. You know, I've never been a crossword doer and I'm also terrible at Scrabble, don't think I've ever won a game. I think it has to do with a really poor grasp of all that's visual. Or it might just be that I'm a bit --- dim. So glad you're reading these, appreciate the reply very much. Best, B
I’m too old to figure out how to send the photo I just took of my mother’s beaded clutch - of which one can never have too many, although in living memory I don’t think I’ve ever carried it except when moving households from the family home on 60th Avenue to a lovely old wisteria-draped house on Alma Road to my beloved cottage in Belcarra (stolen from me by Metro Van Regional District) to a condo in Port Moody (god give me strength) - it’s final place, mine, too? Also photographed - you must imagine it - was my mother’s pearl choker (good lord, what a nasty descriptor). As Gene Poole (get it?), the best hairdresser I ever had, said, “Honey, you can never have too many pearls “. Pearls of wisdom, those.
Hi Jo - this made me laugh, thanks for that. Laugh, although I'm sorry about Belcarra, I remember you were having some "issues" in that regard, but I've been so out of touch with everyone and everything that I didn't know the outcome. That's truly distressing. Houses haunt us, the ones we've loved and the ones that were a burden. A condo in Port Moody sounds like an okay enough place to hang your choker, mind. I hope you're happy there. And hope we'll meet again soon. Are you going to see Nicola C and Co over at Presentation House? Maybe we'll see each other there. Take care, Jo, xo, B
Ah, a long, sad story: you CAN fight City Hall but be prepared to have your heart broken. My dear sweet cottage that enjoyed continuous occupancy since about 1920 (and since 1964 by me) is now boarded up and fenced off. Metro has 'blinded' the place that saw so much joy: birthday parties, weddings, family dinners, glasses of wine at sunset, crab dinners on the beach - so full of life. I can only imagine what it looks like inside - so dark, so lifeless. But life goes on and, at least, I have a roof over my head, a community garden full of bok choi, spinach and kale, and a neighbour's dog that I walk around the Shorline Trail once/week. Quit yer bellyaching, Jo, and get on with it - whatever 'it' is.
Glad I gave you a laugh; they are in such short supply these days, don't you find? And so grateful you reminded me of Nicola C's upcoming show. I had forgotten.
I'm going to give MG another try. As I said before, I like you better than I like her. She leaves me somehow unsatisfied - like an expensive meal that doesn't quite do it. Just finished reading a very quirky book by a Polish author: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - a line, apparently, from Blake. i wouldn't know. I like you better than Blake, too. (Did i write that out loud?)
Keep writing the MG diary as long as you're up to it. It starts my day not with a whimper, not exactly with a bang but with a lovely meandering something.
Dear Bill, there was indeed a kid with a blob of mercury ( aka quicksilver) on our block. Maybe broke a few thermometers to get it. I used it to coat my bronze Centennial medal. All school children in 1952 got them. They came on a purple ribbon and I marched behind the band on Coronation Day wearing mine ( not yet silver) to the laying of the cornerstone for the new Queen Elizabeth II Elementary school, built to accommodate the baby boomers. The Mercury on the medal evaporated and the medal is long gone alas. Long live the Queen and memories of Mavis.
Ann - what was the Centennial in 1952? I remember getting some kind of bronze medal for a fitness program in about 1966. I think it reflected my excellence in situps. The last time I had a six pack, I was 11. Isn't it amazing we survived those childhoods? What was the film where the kinds are running around in the fog of the bug spraying truck? What was that? DDT? Probably. See you in the hood, I hope. When's Herb's big fete?
My partner Heather, an avid reader, was laughing almost in tears one day in April ….
I have also subscribed to your MG Diaries.
Tsawwassen is where I grew 3 children & lived x 30+ years before moving to the Commercial Drive area in 2006 to be with Heather. … I don’t know Don Davis.
As two retired Nurses, we live in an Esquimalt Heritage House since 2018.
We stay at The Sylvia on our frequent trips to Vancouver….. Will search out the ‘Buckstop’.
Very much appreciate your writing … an avid CBC Listener and a Fan for many years !
Thanks, Margaret to both you and Heather. Next time you're at the Sylvia, give me a holler. A dear friend of mine moved recently to Esquimault, is very happy there. Visited her in her new place a while back, and it's a lovely part of the world. Your house sounds like a dream. So appreciate that you and H take the time to read these rambling missives, best to you both, BR
Paula! You'd love Fiona. If ever you want to grab a big old bucket of BBQ, let me know. We can meet for brisket and a beer. It's been forever and a half. Are you still stirring the pot of finance? email me or something, xo, B
Dear Bill. I’m loving this journey. You are the all-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ of synchronicity, of seeing magic in glorious filaments of connection. And sharing them.
Thanks, Christine. You've been so supportive of this little enterprise, if that's what it is -- which it isn't now that I think of it -- and I'm truly grateful. Taking a brief break from it to muster my forces, will look forward to being in touch again soon, yrs with thanks, B
Also -- am just reading the introduction to The End of the World and Other Stories trying to fathom what she didn’t like. Maybe it was the description of her writing as imbued with ‘a kind of bitchy impatience that seems to me to be particularly her trademark’ ha!
Ok am a day behind (or is it two) in reading this but I have to say that alchemy is what you do! I mean I was there on Friday at the nightingale and yet I laughed out loud 3 times reading about it. Also for the record I’m only 10 years younger and you look great, I’m only worried because 3 am feels both too late and too early to be awake!
I am jealous of your midday forays meeting friends in various nearby watering holes…so cosmopolitan! (Isn’t that a drink?) Anyway, must comment on where the mercury in my life came from, and it wasn’t just a tiny blob. Thank goodness for the anonymity of the internet, but my father was a high school science teacher who, um, borrowed a quantity of quicksilver which we were allowed to play with in the rumpus room. Not surprisingly, there was an accident and it ended up all over the floor, hundreds of little balls scattering, fleeing our attempts at amalgamation. (Also a mercury oriented word, insert winky face here). So far, I am still alive, and only occasionally mad as a hatter.
Aha! It started in a lab. I always suspected that. Crankypants, thanks a million for all your good humour and for reading these. I hope your own writing is going gangbusters, see you again here soon. B
Delighting in each of these blog entries! My, how you bring people together--a superb detective who creates such happenstances while digging. Don from the book! Marvelous!
Linda G - as always, you're the best. Thanks for spending some time with these, knowing that you do gladdens my black rock of a heart. Are you nesting on something? Hatching a new book soon? Love to you, Slim. (an increasingly inaccurate handle, btw)
I'm going through a very difficult time right now but your morning Mavis missives allow me at least a few minutes of cheer before reality rears its ugly head again. Bless you, Bill.
Hi Rhonda - thanks so much. I'm sorry to know you've hit a rough patch, and I wish you all good things. You'll make your way through. Your kind words mean a great deal, please know that I'm sending, for whatever they're worth, all the good vibes I can muster. Take good care of your good self. BR
Another brilliant Bill Richardson entry. Now that I have read it I can have my shower, get dressed and go out and buy a newspaper (The Toronto Star the paper I delivered as a boy in my hometown of Simcoe Ontario) for the sole purpose of doing the crossword puzzle and I will do the same tomorrow.
Thanks, Terrence. You know, I've never been a crossword doer and I'm also terrible at Scrabble, don't think I've ever won a game. I think it has to do with a really poor grasp of all that's visual. Or it might just be that I'm a bit --- dim. So glad you're reading these, appreciate the reply very much. Best, B
I’m too old to figure out how to send the photo I just took of my mother’s beaded clutch - of which one can never have too many, although in living memory I don’t think I’ve ever carried it except when moving households from the family home on 60th Avenue to a lovely old wisteria-draped house on Alma Road to my beloved cottage in Belcarra (stolen from me by Metro Van Regional District) to a condo in Port Moody (god give me strength) - it’s final place, mine, too? Also photographed - you must imagine it - was my mother’s pearl choker (good lord, what a nasty descriptor). As Gene Poole (get it?), the best hairdresser I ever had, said, “Honey, you can never have too many pearls “. Pearls of wisdom, those.
Hi Jo - this made me laugh, thanks for that. Laugh, although I'm sorry about Belcarra, I remember you were having some "issues" in that regard, but I've been so out of touch with everyone and everything that I didn't know the outcome. That's truly distressing. Houses haunt us, the ones we've loved and the ones that were a burden. A condo in Port Moody sounds like an okay enough place to hang your choker, mind. I hope you're happy there. And hope we'll meet again soon. Are you going to see Nicola C and Co over at Presentation House? Maybe we'll see each other there. Take care, Jo, xo, B
Ah, a long, sad story: you CAN fight City Hall but be prepared to have your heart broken. My dear sweet cottage that enjoyed continuous occupancy since about 1920 (and since 1964 by me) is now boarded up and fenced off. Metro has 'blinded' the place that saw so much joy: birthday parties, weddings, family dinners, glasses of wine at sunset, crab dinners on the beach - so full of life. I can only imagine what it looks like inside - so dark, so lifeless. But life goes on and, at least, I have a roof over my head, a community garden full of bok choi, spinach and kale, and a neighbour's dog that I walk around the Shorline Trail once/week. Quit yer bellyaching, Jo, and get on with it - whatever 'it' is.
Glad I gave you a laugh; they are in such short supply these days, don't you find? And so grateful you reminded me of Nicola C's upcoming show. I had forgotten.
I'm going to give MG another try. As I said before, I like you better than I like her. She leaves me somehow unsatisfied - like an expensive meal that doesn't quite do it. Just finished reading a very quirky book by a Polish author: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - a line, apparently, from Blake. i wouldn't know. I like you better than Blake, too. (Did i write that out loud?)
Keep writing the MG diary as long as you're up to it. It starts my day not with a whimper, not exactly with a bang but with a lovely meandering something.
Dear Bill, there was indeed a kid with a blob of mercury ( aka quicksilver) on our block. Maybe broke a few thermometers to get it. I used it to coat my bronze Centennial medal. All school children in 1952 got them. They came on a purple ribbon and I marched behind the band on Coronation Day wearing mine ( not yet silver) to the laying of the cornerstone for the new Queen Elizabeth II Elementary school, built to accommodate the baby boomers. The Mercury on the medal evaporated and the medal is long gone alas. Long live the Queen and memories of Mavis.
Ann - what was the Centennial in 1952? I remember getting some kind of bronze medal for a fitness program in about 1966. I think it reflected my excellence in situps. The last time I had a six pack, I was 11. Isn't it amazing we survived those childhoods? What was the film where the kinds are running around in the fog of the bug spraying truck? What was that? DDT? Probably. See you in the hood, I hope. When's Herb's big fete?
Wonder where my misdirected comment went
Should be Coronation Medal
My partner Heather, an avid reader, was laughing almost in tears one day in April ….
I have also subscribed to your MG Diaries.
Tsawwassen is where I grew 3 children & lived x 30+ years before moving to the Commercial Drive area in 2006 to be with Heather. … I don’t know Don Davis.
As two retired Nurses, we live in an Esquimalt Heritage House since 2018.
We stay at The Sylvia on our frequent trips to Vancouver….. Will search out the ‘Buckstop’.
Very much appreciate your writing … an avid CBC Listener and a Fan for many years !
Your Elder at 75 - Margaret
Thanks, Margaret to both you and Heather. Next time you're at the Sylvia, give me a holler. A dear friend of mine moved recently to Esquimault, is very happy there. Visited her in her new place a while back, and it's a lovely part of the world. Your house sounds like a dream. So appreciate that you and H take the time to read these rambling missives, best to you both, BR
Another brilliant bit of prose. And surely a character with the stellar name of Fiona Grieve should appear in a future Bill R production!
Paula! You'd love Fiona. If ever you want to grab a big old bucket of BBQ, let me know. We can meet for brisket and a beer. It's been forever and a half. Are you still stirring the pot of finance? email me or something, xo, B
Excellent headgear today, Bill! I will email you. Still at the Shaw.ca address? Lots to catch up on. Paula 💕
Dear Bill. I’m loving this journey. You are the all-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ of synchronicity, of seeing magic in glorious filaments of connection. And sharing them.
Thanks, Christine. You've been so supportive of this little enterprise, if that's what it is -- which it isn't now that I think of it -- and I'm truly grateful. Taking a brief break from it to muster my forces, will look forward to being in touch again soon, yrs with thanks, B
Also -- am just reading the introduction to The End of the World and Other Stories trying to fathom what she didn’t like. Maybe it was the description of her writing as imbued with ‘a kind of bitchy impatience that seems to me to be particularly her trademark’ ha!
Ok am a day behind (or is it two) in reading this but I have to say that alchemy is what you do! I mean I was there on Friday at the nightingale and yet I laughed out loud 3 times reading about it. Also for the record I’m only 10 years younger and you look great, I’m only worried because 3 am feels both too late and too early to be awake!
I am jealous of your midday forays meeting friends in various nearby watering holes…so cosmopolitan! (Isn’t that a drink?) Anyway, must comment on where the mercury in my life came from, and it wasn’t just a tiny blob. Thank goodness for the anonymity of the internet, but my father was a high school science teacher who, um, borrowed a quantity of quicksilver which we were allowed to play with in the rumpus room. Not surprisingly, there was an accident and it ended up all over the floor, hundreds of little balls scattering, fleeing our attempts at amalgamation. (Also a mercury oriented word, insert winky face here). So far, I am still alive, and only occasionally mad as a hatter.
Aha! It started in a lab. I always suspected that. Crankypants, thanks a million for all your good humour and for reading these. I hope your own writing is going gangbusters, see you again here soon. B
Writing? What writing? (You aren’t supposed to know about that!)
Delighting in each of these blog entries! My, how you bring people together--a superb detective who creates such happenstances while digging. Don from the book! Marvelous!
Linda G - as always, you're the best. Thanks for spending some time with these, knowing that you do gladdens my black rock of a heart. Are you nesting on something? Hatching a new book soon? Love to you, Slim. (an increasingly inaccurate handle, btw)