Spring has finally arrived in Vancouver ...
.
I guess that the last few months have been my longest period without any entries since I started my scribblings in LJ circa 2001. Maybe I've run out of things to say - although my family would roll their eyes at that. But winters seem to silence even me, to some extent. However, I have been busy this winter collecting and editing all of my 7 years of ramblings - as I had planned for inclusion in a 'family memoir' when I began journaling. I call my memoir "End Game", a collection of writings covering each of the eight decades I've been around - the 30's (I was born in 1937) through the current 00's.
I couldn't see myself having the organization and dedication to just describe each decade in turn - so I decided to randomly record various stories in a journal format as they occurred to me for a couple of years. But over seven years have gone by - so I now have some 225 pages of stories to sort out. A task for the next few months.
I've been busy in other things during the past few months - mostly dealing with my role as 'doting grandfather' for my two incredibly beautiful and intelligent (of course) grandsons - about which, more later.
But this springtime has been marked by a wonderful event - Chris Kay's ('Cobalt999') graduation from the University of West Florida a couple of weeks ago. I packed my summer clothes and flew off to the Florida panhandle for a week of summer in Pensacola and Walton Beach. Chris and his wonderful mother were great hosts and I stayed for almost a week in a place I'd never visited before.
Chris received TWO degrees at the UWF Convocation - a B.Sc. and a B.A. - in Molecular Biology and Philosophy respectively. Suddenly, the 'undergraduate grind' is behind him and better times beckon. My family is looking forward to welcoming him to this BC coast later this summer. It was a wonderful experience for me - a great friend, a 'borrowed son' achieving a goal that he worked so hard to achieve. I've been to a few graduations in my time - my own in Montreal (McGill U.) in the distant 60's, my two sons' from SFU in Vancouver in '89 and '91, Peter's MBA in France (INSEAD) in '96 - and, now, another in Pensacola, two weeks ago. The first 'two-degree' graduation!
I liken undergraduate years to 'being in an attic' - with a 'ceiling' separating a young person from the open sky. Graduation is like opening a skylight and climbing out onto the 'roof', where the sky's the limit. So, CONGRATULATIONS, Chris - and to all recent graduates I'm fortunate enough to know and care about.
I'll save the 'grandfatherly stuff' for a later post. But, this picture really says it all - Introducing BEN WOO Routledge, our new Korean-Canadian grandson: -
I guess that the last few months have been my longest period without any entries since I started my scribblings in LJ circa 2001. Maybe I've run out of things to say - although my family would roll their eyes at that. But winters seem to silence even me, to some extent. However, I have been busy this winter collecting and editing all of my 7 years of ramblings - as I had planned for inclusion in a 'family memoir' when I began journaling. I call my memoir "End Game", a collection of writings covering each of the eight decades I've been around - the 30's (I was born in 1937) through the current 00's.
I couldn't see myself having the organization and dedication to just describe each decade in turn - so I decided to randomly record various stories in a journal format as they occurred to me for a couple of years. But over seven years have gone by - so I now have some 225 pages of stories to sort out. A task for the next few months.
I've been busy in other things during the past few months - mostly dealing with my role as 'doting grandfather' for my two incredibly beautiful and intelligent (of course) grandsons - about which, more later.
But this springtime has been marked by a wonderful event - Chris Kay's ('Cobalt999') graduation from the University of West Florida a couple of weeks ago. I packed my summer clothes and flew off to the Florida panhandle for a week of summer in Pensacola and Walton Beach. Chris and his wonderful mother were great hosts and I stayed for almost a week in a place I'd never visited before.
Chris received TWO degrees at the UWF Convocation - a B.Sc. and a B.A. - in Molecular Biology and Philosophy respectively. Suddenly, the 'undergraduate grind' is behind him and better times beckon. My family is looking forward to welcoming him to this BC coast later this summer. It was a wonderful experience for me - a great friend, a 'borrowed son' achieving a goal that he worked so hard to achieve. I've been to a few graduations in my time - my own in Montreal (McGill U.) in the distant 60's, my two sons' from SFU in Vancouver in '89 and '91, Peter's MBA in France (INSEAD) in '96 - and, now, another in Pensacola, two weeks ago. The first 'two-degree' graduation!
I liken undergraduate years to 'being in an attic' - with a 'ceiling' separating a young person from the open sky. Graduation is like opening a skylight and climbing out onto the 'roof', where the sky's the limit. So, CONGRATULATIONS, Chris - and to all recent graduates I'm fortunate enough to know and care about.
I'll save the 'grandfatherly stuff' for a later post. But, this picture really says it all - Introducing BEN WOO Routledge, our new Korean-Canadian grandson: -