Friends and Memories

Mornin'. It's snowy and blowy here in the city this morning; spring has been delayed. In its absence, here is a group of pictures of friends: more people who make me smile.

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1. Dale, July 1987: This photo is from our Kate Bush Convention. Dale is about to sing and mime "Kashka from Baghdad." This is the Saturday evening, July 25, before the infamous Black Friday tornado, the following week. We are in Acacia Hall in Old Strathcona; the weather outside was hot, and the air inside the hall was stifling. Still, a very fun night.

2. Montreal, 1988 and 1989: One of the most spontaneous and unusual things Nicole ever agreed to do with me was to fly to Montreal over Reading Week in 1988 — we booked the trip less than two weeks before we departed, a big no-no back then. The first picture below is from that trip; also in the picture are Dave, our host, and his brother Donovan, to the far right. The second picture below is from my return trip, in April 1989. A big year. I recently read a cultural history of photobooths in Canada; images like these are definitely endangered.

3. Nicole, 1994: This is Nicole's Uni grad photo. Shortly after this photo was taken, Nik departed for a two-month trip to Egypt, Turkey, and various European destinations; when she returned from that trip, she and Jim got serious and then got married. I think you can still see Nik's early plans for world domination in the corners of her eyes.

5.  Jim in the 1990s: This is Zak's birthday party; I'm pretty sure the year is 1995, although I did not record that detail on the photo. We took Zak on the riverboat for his party and after had cake at the park alongside the riverboat landing. Just out of the image is Adrienne, Zak's closest playmate until we left King Edward Park. Jim is being tied up in this photo — always a good sport and great with kids.

6. School friends, May 1996: This photo was taken at a birthday party for my professor, at the right-hand side of the image. The woman on the left was my grad-school friend, Shazia. She was a great grad-school friend but we lost touch, as soon often happens after the bonding pressures of grad school have diminished.
 

5. Friends at Work, 1996: This photo was taken at the end of my term at Western Board. I'm very glad that Earl remains a friend and did not lose touch after my leaving — because if grad-school pressure was a bonding force, then the exigencies of working at WB were on a scale to create diamonds.

7. B in 2011!: Here is B at work. This photo was from the first Beers and Bouquets event. He's doing a cameo here because, he says, he never gets to be in any of these retro throwback picture sets — but that's true no more.

And so. Here's to good friends and people who keep us on the right side of the glass. Cheers!