Tuesday 18 August 2015

Happy Birthday Blues: Tuesday, August 18th!

Dreams heed no borders, the eyes need no visas. With eyes shut I walk across the line in time. All the time. -Gulzar, poet, lyricist, and film director (b. 18 Aug 1934) 


Greetings you two! Hot enough up there? I am back in the traces at 1398 Cartwright St and am wondering if you have any plans to come down and volunteer again at the Festival (20-25 Oct)???? We’d love to have you back at Studio 1398 of course, tending bar, and/or helping with the Sunday Brunch/Tea and strike etc. BUT we know we’ve probably worn you out in the past, so are not holding our breath. Still, hope springs eternal! Looking forward to hearing from you!! And hope all is well. Kathryn 

Hello Darling Kathryn and all VWF Folk! Thanks so much for tracking us down in the Sunny Okanagan! Yes, it is hot but I seem to be able to process the heat. For her part, Mme Coriandre insisted on an air-conditioner so her wine allowance has been severely depleted!

With respect to volunteering this year we have already arranged our schedules to take the coming Festival into account. We leave for Inja on October 27th, for six weeks, but will drive to Vancouver sometime before October 19th so that we can start pouring hootch at Studio 1398 when first event takes place! We will be in town, probably between September 21st-24th, with friends visiting from London. They will fly to Calgary on September 12th and spend a week or so in and around Banff before we meet in Kamloops where they will drop off their rental car and then we'll head to Penticton for a few days of wine-tasting. We will be staying with friends in our former building so we'll certainly pop around to say hello and chat about Festival responsibilities, etc.


Much, much to tell but suffice it to say that our new address is on Burns Street. We moved on May 29th and since then we have been to Falcon Lake for two weeks, at end of June, to celebrate Cora Lee's parent's 70th wedding anniversary. Once back Mme Coriandre flew to New York on July 16th, for ten days, leaving me to unpack!

If we moved to the Okanagan to escape Freeloaders, mission has failed miserably! Another whirlwind of overlapping visits started this past Friday. Ayn, our eldest in LA, flew into Bellingham, with Winston, her Jack Russell rescue pooch, Thursday evening. Chloë collected them and they drove up next morning. Will be here until tomorrow. Close friends, Big Al, (He drove 26' moving van in May!), and Colleen arrived later that evening, in his fully restored Sunbeam, aka Get Smart. On Saturday, Chloë's very close friend, Robbie, and his sister, Saara, drove up so wall to wall people!

Among many other things, we have been continuing to enjoy home-grown vegetables as Peter, friend from Naramata, has been extremely generous, bringing us a virtual cornucopia from his thriving garden. We've had garlic, (Truly phenomenal! Cora Lee roasts a number of heads, wrapped in tinfoil, on the bbq, and once done, we squeeze the soft, baked garlic onto crackers. I dice up three or four cloves whenever we are making an omelet.), red/green/yellow peppers, tomatoes of all sorts, Swiss chard, beets, carrots, zucchini and cukes. Apricots and peaches, succulent beyond belief, from their trees. I must speak to him about planting cherries! 

Must away as I want to take my Trek in to Bike Barn as I'd like to go for a ride to stretch out my "new hiking muscles", discovered after yesterday's effort!

Fondestos from The Sisterhood. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Pics: Saturday market with Colleen, Chloë, Cora Lee, Jake, (friend I connected with, by accident, after 50 years! We went to United College, (now U of Wpg), in '65/'66. He invited me to join hiking group.), Ayn. Breakfast on back patio; Colleen and Al in their Sunbeam; Sunday night at Naramata Heritage Inn; Views from Mt N'Kwala and lunch at the top; Italian sodas at Opus after hike!


Patrick, I am relieved and happy to see that you have lost none of your energy and high-intensity zest for life in the move up to BIG FIRE COUNTRY. Sounds like you are settling in beautifully, making great connections with all sorts of local people and groups. You will be fun for them to get to know! J

WE ARE OVERJOYED that you and Corinne are committed to Studio 1398 again this year. Do you expect that it will be your last? The reason I ask is that Cathy A and I were talking about assigning a “Shadow Volunteer or two” to some of your shifts (assuming you’d be here this year) so you could pass the torch on to already trained and oriented vols when the time comes. Let me know what you think of this plan….

Last, and this isn’t really Festival news, but kind of, ….My daughter Ellen who you will likely remember from many festivals past (she started as a vollie when she was about 15 and then moved on to working as a summer intern here in the office in 2006 and in recent years has worked for Eduardo as an ASM at the Waterfront, is leaving town for NYC on Thursday, off to grad school for two years. Still will keep writing BookNews to keep her hand in and to keep the wolf from the door. She has no place to live as yet, so if by chance you and Corinne know anyone in NYC who might offer a room to a young artist/musician at a budget rate, let me know. SHE IS THE TOPS when it comes to reliability, and being a good tenant/guest etc. I am asking anyone and everyone I know who might have NYC connections. Put it down to Networking! I keep telling her I’m going to find the proverbial rich widow in the Upper West Side who has a room or two empty and a soft spot for struggling young writers/musicians/students. Kathryn

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