All Together Now

Mine's not a prolific clan. Of the fourteen grandchildren born of the six children born of my paternal grandparents, less than half had kids. All told there were between twenty-five and thirty of us gathered for the reunion in Qualicum Beach. The crowd ranged in age from not-quite-born-yet (my grandniece Charlotte Ann Scruton chose to make her official entrance a week later), to my 92-year-old Aunt Betty, pictured here, my oldest living relation. 

Here's another photo of Betty (back row, leftmost), taken long ago with her grandfather. The goofy kid in the front row, left, is William Ledingham Clark Junior, my father. 

Reunions and Festivals: A Comparison

There were a thousand times more people at the Pemberton Music Festival than at the Qualicum Beach Reunion.

The rain fell gratefully all day at Qualicum. The sun shone unremitting for the full four days of the Festival.

The dress code for the reunion was "summer casual" and for the festival was "whatever." 

A Few Words On Festival Fashion

The festival - like carnival and like the beach - is a place where the rules are looser. It is OK to dress up in your fantasy, whatever that is and however weird it might be. 

The most common outfit for girls was short cut off jeans and a skimpy top: either a bikini top, a cropped bustier or a bra, usually black.  

Most boys wore long baggy shorts and big baggy t-shirts in an infinite variety of fabrics, patterns and colours. Sometimes the t-shirt was a tank top. Boys also went bare chested. 

Girls went bare chested too, but only for a second or so and only when a camera was pointed at them.

Boys also affected capes, hats and a small handful of costumes - for example, a cowboy riding a T-Rex. It was far too hot for costumes.

Two young men - separately and not I think as a team effort - wore dresses, perhaps their mothers'. One wore a sad blue sun dress, the other went for a stern governess look with a black ankle length long sleeved dress with a while lace collar. 

A man introducing himself as Taylor sat with us on Friday afternoon while we listened to Judah and the Lion. He was wearing the worst gold wig in the world, plus Mardi Gras beads. I think it was Taylor I saw on Saturday night, same wig, bright blue leggings and a Harry Potter body suit. 

Of the festival's thirty thousand plus attendants, only one, and that would be my husband Bruce, wore Levi's 501 jeans, not cut off.

Also Observed at the Festival

There was music at Pemberton but mostly it was a festival.

People shuttled toward and away from the 100% hard-working acts (no one mailed it in) following imperatives that had nothing to do with the music. Thirst maybe. Or hunger. Or boredom. 

Oddly, there were many hula hoops. Serious-faced girls who looked like they took training in the method danced to the music with the hoop as a prop. 

We, On the Other Hand, Looked Like Sensible People

Three times I was asked by one or another ecstasy-riddled twenty-something if I had some sunscreen they could borrow. One went so far as to ask, after I'd produced the sunscreen, what other sensible things I had in my little knapsack. I wanted to say "a gun" but the better angels of my nature just made me smile and not answer.

Back Home, Security's Still Tight

The one other thing in common that flat, hot, dusty Toronto has with mountainous, hot, dusty BC is that there are an awful lot of cops around. Security was thick on the ground at "Pembyfest." Same here while the Pan Am/Parapan AM Games are on.  

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

Special Mid-Week Edition: Fire and Rain

Standing in the shadow of the photographer (Bruce's brother Jeff) and grateful for the shade at the Pemberton Music festival.

I spent the week before our trip to BC obsessively checking the forest fire and air quality updates in Qualicum Beach, Whistler and Pemberton - our three vacation destinations, all of them affected by the wildfires in BC. 

Three days before we flew out, the air quality in Whistler and Pemberton was as bad as could be measured by the Air Quality Health Index (2 is good; 10 is bad; Whistler was 11) and was 38 out of a score of 50 on the post-(Vietnam)-war-vintage air quality index system. Eeeeep.

Out of the blue the rains fell on July 11, 2015 - first time in almost three months. That miracle coincided with the family reunion in Qualicum and was the more welcome for that. Everyone got better acquainted standing close under shelter from the rain. No one complained about the heat. 

Whistler Mountain, seen from Blackcomb; the kind of alpine splendour you get used to around here.

Details to follow.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Family: This One's For Pat

The two people in this week's picture had never met one another before this shot was taken, in late June 2015, in Pemberton, British Columbia.

The man is Bruce's brother Jeff. The woman is my cousin Pat.

Bruce of course has known his brother his whole life, and I've known Pat all of mine.

How is it that these two have never met before, especially seeing how many years (36) Bruce and I have spent together, plus the fact we threw no fewer than three (3) wedding ceremonies?

There is never any shortage of things that keep people from meeting. Circumstance. Proximity. No paths in common. You name it.

An equally long list - with many of the same words - can bring people together. Circumstance. Proximity. Paths in common.

We learned when we got our little dog Molly that having things in common with people will bring friends into view. 

Family can be held in common, but Pat and Jeff's long non-acquaintance shows it takes more than being related-by-marriage.

What finally drew Pat and Jeff together was the potency of being polite. Pat and her partner were driving through the BC interior on their way to Alberta. Their travels took them through Pemberton; family etiquette compelled them to stop and say hello.They knew a few things about Jeff, and in a small town a little information goes a long way.

Another powerful force that brings people together is hospitality, especially when it comes in the form of a family reunion. 

My cousin Pat has taken it upon herself to root around in the family tree and invite everyone who has my father's parents in common to a gathering this month. Some of us are as long non-acquainted as were Pat and Jeff.

The reunion's in Qualicum Beach on July 11. Stay tuned for future posts about the friends who come into view that day.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen