WHO NEEDS A SUIT, and OTHER PHOTOS ON LIFE'S JOURNEY

POST # 416

A task that I have been meaning to take care of for some time now, was to delete a bunch of photos off of the iPod that I carry around.   While doing this, I came across a few that I wanted to preserve on this blog, so here they are with a brief explanation provided below each of them.

Who needs a suit!  It would be my guess that it was my mom who took this photo.  I suspect that the year may have been 1960 or 1961.  Summer vacation each year was taken at a place called Sylvan Lake Alberta, where the Marcotte clan would rent a cabin, then settle in for a week and enjoy this lakeside resort.  As you can tell from the photo, it must have been a sunny vacation.  Left to right are my sisters Gerry, (me in between) and Lynn.  Years later, Lynn decided to have the photo made into a T-shirt, and add the words, "Who needs a Suit!"  

Slish-Slosh Hockey Skating.  This year is easy to confirm.  It was 1964, the year I turned 9.  Most days after school, we couldn't get home fast enough, in order to put on the hockey equipment and walk across the ally behind where I lived, and go skating on the local hockey rink.  While Victor and I were skating around the rink, a stranger (Herald Photographer Ken Sakamoto) came up to ask if we would like to have our photo taken for the local newspaper?  We agreed, and the rest is history.  The caption reads: SLISH-SLOSH HOCKEY SKATING.  Paul Marcotte, 9, demonstrates to friend Victor Labbe that the sunshine and high temperatures are no blessing to a practicing hockey player.  Victor is content to sit on the fence and mournfully watch while Paul makes a splashy effort to develop his league technique. 

Fast forward through the decades, and this former suit-less ice hockey player finds himself working as a ferry boat skipper in Vancouver, BC.  This was a photo on a tourist brochure, which explained the history of Granville Island.

And now we're more than half way through the year 2020.  The years fly by so fast that I find it hard to believe that I am the ripe old age of 65.  When I think of my dad at the same age as I am now, I would have said that he was an old man.  With the exception of a few aches and pains, I don't feel old.  Mind you, I have had a much less stressful journey than my dad ever had. For that, I am very grateful.

This is the final post for July, and I will be in transit on August 6/7th so I may be delayed in writing my August 7th post.  I'm heading off to do (wait for it), a house sit.  House sits are becoming as scarce as hens teeth these days.  

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

DOG WISDOM

POST # 415

DORA-DOG, FRANKIE & MURPHY

Dora-dog is letting all of us know, that it's always good to spend time with friends when/if the opportunity presents itself.  

Then after all of that running around together, some rest is appropriate.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PALE BLUE DOT

POST # 414

I stumbled across this image which shows Earth from a distance of about 6 billion kilometers.  It was captured by the Voyager 1 space probe on February 14th, 1990.  Pale Blue Dot became the title for a book by Carl Sagan.

I have to agree with Carl, that "there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves." 

On most evenings, if the sky is clear, I do like to take a few moments and go outside and gaze up at the night sky.  Doing so, helps me put life's trials and tribulations into a clearer perspective.  I realize just how insignificant I am in the greater scheme of things, and for some reason or another, this brings me comfort.

If life were a baseball game, I would suspect that we are now well into the 9th inning, with time rapidly running out, and  no sign whatsoever that the home team (team human) is going to pull off a victory.  In fact, with abrupt irreversible climate change running the show now, (see here: https://guymcpherson.com/2020/07/invitation-interrupted-my-latest-peer-reviewed-paper/#more-22571), it appears that the game will soon be over.   That's all the more reason to do as Carl says, and try and "deal more kindly and compassionately with one another."

Our Pale Blue Dot will continue its circuit around and around the sun.  Our species won't be along for the ride for too much longer.  In the meantime, kindness and compassion are still in our individual control, for as long as each of us still exist.

Speaking of kindness and compassion, in two more days, I will have been here at my dear friend Mary's place for exactly four months.  Now, that is certainly a display of kindness and compassion as far as I am concerned.  Thank you, Mary. (and Dora-dog)

grateful for every breath,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

MONTANA ROAD TRIP

POST # 413

The Thoughtful Wanderer will be on a road trip to Montana with Mary and Dora-dog during this time, so I may be unable to write much of anything.  If the situation changes, I will update this post.


grateful for every breath,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer