Sunday, October 09, 2016

The Giving Of...


...The Thanks.


It started early.

To be more precise the giving of thanks began on Friday night when we got past the new mall monstrosity and arrived at the Tsawwassen terminal, reservation-free, and somehow still made it on, 2nd-to-last-sideways, in the stern of the venerable old Queen of New Westminster.

And then, upon destinational arrival, we kicked things off with a little late night yelling of answers in the form of right and wrong questions at the TeeVee Jeopardies that had been saved up by Pops since summer. This is something that is always one of Bigger E's favourite activities.

Saturday noonish we braved big box village out by the old smash 'em up derby/racetrack on the Western edge of the south island big-small town I grew up in and got Pops all fixed up with his new computer. Weirdly, maybe because of the massive downpour that Mr. Beer 'N Hockey (and Lenin's Ghost too!) were digging on the other side of the water, there was hardly anybody in the big box store we chose. As a result, the kids working there actually had the time and inclination to really help us. Have to say that they were really great making sure that Pops got what he actually wanted and, more importantly, actually needed. Later on the planned afternoon of sports watching was interrupted by a heating and plumbing problem that was all fixed up good as new almost within the hour or two, this job done by another young kid who knew what he was doing.

Late Saturday afternoon I made my way into town via the View Royal/Vic West backdoor (man, things are really the same but really different too along that side of the Gorge) to pick up littler e. who spent the front-end of the weekend at her friend A's place. An elementary school friendship that has survived right through a move apart on to what is now 12th grade for both of them thanks, in no small part, to all that new fangle-fished social media business that the kids are so into these days. Of course, all of that also means that littler e. is also an aficionado of extremely old-fashioned (to her anyway) still-film-carrying cameras that she and A. find in Thriftstores.

Later, after a big dinner at C's family side, I followed/tried to keep up with E, she on mandolin, me on her little Martin six string. Also had a bit of a talk with someone for whom an offshoot of the things I do in my day job do my best to help other people get the money to do too, is really helping them. Still a very, very tough thing for those going through it though. However, it made me feel pretty good to talk to a relative for whom rational vs. slash-n-burn is starting to matter.

And now it's only Sunday morning with half a long weekend still to go. Today it will be all my brothers and me and their kids too at Pops' house for dinner. Our Mom, shown as much younger version of herself at the top of the post, will not be there but all her boys will.

Our Mom would have been 76 this weekend.

Here's an old cover of a lullaby by E and me and (and a young whackadoodle too) about family stuff, almost all of which turns out to be something to be a whole lot of thankful for in the end...



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16 comments:

sd said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your family Ross!

RossK said...

You and yours too sd!


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Lenin's Ghost said...

Nice! Good to see you and yours having a great time. Best to you all!

RossK said...

LG--

And but I read over at Beer's place, sounds like you may be having the greatest time of all!


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West End Bob said...

Love your holiday posts, RossK!

Happy Thanksgiving to C, E, e, the Whackadoodle, and, of course, You ! ! ! !

RossK said...

Hope all is well with you and yours Bob!

Are you all having a double North/South-of-the-border double Oct/Nov Thanksgiving season this year?


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West End Bob said...

But of course, RossK!

Turkey breast aroma wafting thru the house as we speak, and there will be another one in about six weeks.

Have to take advantage of all the dining options we can, eh ? ? ? ?

;-)

RossK said...

Bob--

Absolutely!

Do you have your absentee ballots already?


(starting to wonder if a certain group of folks in your fine and native land are thinking that they are actually going to be voting Mr. Baldwin instead of that other guy with the shinehart wiggish thing on the top of his head)

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Don F. said...

The best of thanksgiving wishes to you and the family Ross!
Little E grade twelve? Yikes!

RossK said...

Thanks Don!

Hope you and yours are having as much as fun as we are.

And, ya, littler e. is no longer so little.

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e.a.f. said...

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Loved the song! littler e. is in grade 12?????????O.K. somewhere along the way we all got older, thanks for that, Just remember when you're kids turn 40 you can't say you're 50 anymore.

Willy said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Ross. This was the first one without my mother in law who passed in mid September and an uncle who also passed on a week after. It was uncomfortable but we all did our best as that was what they would have wanted. To all, enjoy these times with your family. They're more special than you think.

Lulymay said...

Fun to get back on the Island isn't it? Sounds like the whole gang is enjoying Thanksgiving over there. I think I enjoy passed loved ones more at Thanksgiving than at Christmas (too much commercialism, maybe?)

Anyhow, don't get too bent out of shape if litter e is in grade 12... my 3 granddaughters are all in uni and the eldest has a Masters and just moved to Washington with a company that some amazing DNA thing that does so much its incredible. Something "sequential" which is beyond me but she's been out to your stamping ground teaching researchers how to use it. It's nice we're all back on the west coast again and can have our small family get togethers on occasion.

Keep up your good work from one of your many fans.

p.s. Off subject -- hear Steve Darling is no longer at Global. Was hoping another name or two were included but no such luck.

Anonymous said...

What a refreshing read on Monday morning. Welcome to the island and here's hoping I bump into you and get a chance to say hello in person.
In the meantime... Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for your extra efforts in the Gazetteer.

Guy in Victoria

RossK said...

eaf--

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours too!

Yup, littler e. is getting up their. To be honest, I gave up on my George Blanda-ish '40's some time ago. Giving up the 50's in a few years is going to be the tough one I reckon.

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Willy--

Happy Thanksgiving to you all too. These holidays can be tough, eh? As I write this the morning after our big Sunday dinner one of the things that hit me hardest was finding all the china and silverware and little holiday festivity add-ons in our Mom's hiding places. All being together helped with all this, though.

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Thanks so much Lulymay--

Always great to hear you chime in with your insights and opinions.

Your grand-daughters are a fine bunch! Regarding your eldest's DNA thing, sounds like maybe parallel, next generation sequencing?...The technology is truly amazing, so much so that the real work is now coming in the after-the-fact 'bioinformatic' analysis to figure out what's what.

______
Thanks Guy!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Bigger E will likely be down at Market Square around mid-day today, Monday. I'll try and spend some time singing/playing with her next time around.

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Lenin's Ghost said...

Thx, mom!