I have started on my journey back to Alberta. Red Deer, to be specific. I
made it as far as Maple Ridge where I have been staying with some very good
friends. Twenty years ago, we sang in the same choir for several years.
Sunday I leave for Revelstoke, the halfway point of my journey. Only a
short stop then on to Radium where my family spent many summer vacations.
Then Banff where I suspect I may be the only sober person in the hotel.
Calgary to visit with friends and to pick up a 48” tall Chinese vase I
found on Calgary Marketplace. The new interior will be Chinese-Persian
fusion.
It will be interesting to go from left BC to right Alberta. I must keep my
head down! Hmmm. Back to reading the Edmonton Journal after 50 years.
Perhaps give the Herald a try.
The moving van fellows had to rebalance their truck. 4,000 books do weigh
a fair bit. Otherwise loading went smoothly. Leaving White Rock after
four unpleasant months was a relief. Sonia andI came as a couple; I leave
as a widow. My landlord was very kind and let me out of the lease. The
place was rented within three days.
Art, my Maple Ridge friend, has been a life long collector - of just about
everything. Think of a Englishmen, Cira 1880. Books lining the walls and
stacked about, paintings, small bronze and brass statues, over 2,000 music
cds, African masks next to flower cross-stitch, diverse collections of
everything from sniff boxes to Chinese vases. Just my type of place. The
closest I can come is Soane’s Museum in London, not far from the Inns of
Court. Soane was a Victorian amateur and collector of any type of
antiquity. An Egyptian mummy in the basement, a complete set of Hogarth’s
Election paintings, and every floor and nook and cranny filled with things
he had gathered in his many travels. He was an architect and the museum is
his dwelling. No doubt it was too difficult to move when he passed away!
Art’s home will be as difficult.
I have always been a history buff, since junior high thanks to a wonderful
librarian. Before my memory faded, I had returned to university for a
Master’s in history. So Soane’s museum and Art’s home are my kinds of
places.
Now, Those who know me these days acknowledge I tend to ramble verbally. I
also do so in writing as you poor souls will soon find out!
Willow
