Grouchy ...

grouchy, originally uploaded by flyzipper.

Ok, sometimes I can be a bit cranky. Friends have teased me about it but I've only just come to realize that some people take it quite seriously and find it off-putting. Sometimes I just can't help myself. Some of my pet peeves can send me off into a rant without much provocation.

On the other hand, last week a columnist in the Globe and Mail wrote about a study that had been done that said that grouchy people are often smarter than those who see the world through rose coloured glasses. They question more ... want to know the why of things ... and, unfortunately, I guess, those qualities can make them a bit more cantankerous.

More Matt Alber

Another song from the talented (and adorable) Matt Alber.

Green River Map

Green River Map, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

Awhile ago I had an email from a company in Montana that publishes guides for fishermen and anglers. They were asking permission to use a photo I'd taken on a guide they were preparing for the Green River. It was a photo I'd taken on a trip down the Green River in 2004. Even better they were willing to pay me for that permission. It's the first photo I've ever sold. It wasn't a huge amount but I appreciated them contacting me after they found my photo on Flickr. I didn't even have to send them the photo as they were just able to download the larger file size directly from Flickr.

This is a link to the original photo.

Caboose

Caboose, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

This is the caboose from the model train set I got for Christmas about fifty years ago. I've always loved trains and even thought I wanted to become a railway engineer when I was a kid.

This caboose is part of a Lionel model train set. The rest of the set is in a box in the garage. Yesterday I was walking by a hobby shop downtown and saw a similar caboose in the window. The price on it was $35.00. Who knew I had a collectible train set. A locomotive similar (but not in as good shape) as the one that goes with this set was selling for over $200.

Guitarist

Guitarist, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

A balmy Victoria afternoon today. Down on the neighbourhood beach lots of people were hanging out enjoying the warm sunshine. This is one of two guitarists who were doing some strumming.

Trombones

Music, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

Last night a trombone player I know presented a concert with more than a half dozen of his trombone playing pals. There was some jazz (Ellington), some Saint-Saens and Wagner, some arrangements by Scott himself, some original compositions by Ian McDougall (the elder statesman of the group).

Be the Person

Be the Person, originally uploaded by Barue2u.

Now there's a challenge.

Butterscotch Pie

Butterscotch Pie, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

I made this butterscotch pie last night. It used to be my favourite dessert that my mother made when I was a kid. I was a bit surprised to discover the amount of brown sugar it contains. It didn't taste as sweet as I expected but it was still very sweet.

Blossom Dearie

I was a little sad to hear that jazz/cabaret singer Blossom Dearie died earlier this week. Blossom Dearie sang with a small, kittenish voice that would make you lean closer to your stereo speakers just so you wouldn't miss a word or inflection. Blossom Dearie sang lots of songs by Dave Frishberg. One of my favourites is "My Attorney, Bernie". Surprisingly there don't appear to be any YouTube videos of her performing but I did find the above. Perhaps listen with eyes closed to hear Blossom Dearie herself and then watch the video. It's quite hilarious.

New York Times Obit

Prairie Home Companion

I've had the DVD for Robert Altman's Prairie Home Companion sitting around for a few weeks and I finally got around to looking at it last night. I'd seen this movie on a big screen and it holds up very well on my little wide-screen TV. Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin are wonderful together and I love how Altman has his cameras slide around almost as if they're evesdropping on the characters. And as I remember from the movie, I didn't much care for Lindsay Lohan as Meryl Streep's daughter. Something just doesn't ring true. And I'm afraid her singing just isn't up to the level of everyone else in the movie.

Sometimes I give the DVD extras a miss but I was glad that I had a look at the ones on this disc. In the movie, musical numbers are often cut short as the story moves backstage. However, the DVD includes quite a few numbers complete and a few musical numbers with the band that I don't even remember from the movie. The band is led by pianist, Rich Dworsky. He's a marvel. He and the other members of the band have worked with Garrison Keillor for a couple of decades at least. And it shows. If get a chance to watch the DVD, dig down into the menu and find these instrumental numbers. They're really terrific.

Bob Paris

Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, I suppose I should have figured out my sexual orientation since I was always attracted to men without shirts and especially if they were lean and muscular. Oh, well, those were repressive times and homosexuality was something rarely mentioned in books or on TV and radio, at least not in any positive sense.

So it was the mid-1970s before the penny dropped for me. Finally I was able to acknowledge to others and myself my attraction to men. In the 1980s my friend Jon and I were particularly intrigued by the career of a young body builder named Bob Paris. Not only did he have a beautiful physique ... not overly large but beautifully proportioned ... but he was drop dead handsome. Jon and I were both thrilled when he eventually came out as a gay man. This did not go over so well in the body building community which although very homoerotic was at the time (and perhaps still is) very homophobic.

Jon and I continued to follow Bob Paris' career. There were photo shoots by the likes of Herb Ritts. More and more his life work moved into the areas of motivational speaking, writing and civil rights work.

For awhile I lost track of what Bob Paris was up to. Then awhile ago I read that he was living near Vancouver Island. Yesterday at work, I was working at the cash desk when I looked up and who was standing in front of me but Bob Paris himself. I did a double take at first and then realized it was indeed him.

I was mildly flustered to have one of my gay heros standing in front of me. I eventually sputtered out something to the effect that he was who I thought he was. He was very pleasant to deal with and at the end he leaned forward and offered his hand for a handshake and said: "Hi, I'm Bob."

He's still a very handsome fellow and I was thrilled to meet him. (My friend Jon met him and his then partner, Rod Jackson, in New York back in the 1990s and I had been envious ever since.)

Familiar Holidays?

Familiar Holidays?, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

My friend Bruce took this picture of a sign in a window on Broughton Street here in Victoria. He didn't have his camera with him so made a return trip. Perhaps they are closed for a break during 'Chinese New Year'.

My Westy (aka Helmut)

Brooks Memorial State Park, WA, originally uploaded by pinkcanoe.

When I first moved to the west coast of Canada I had a lovely Subaru Impreza. But since I live close to work and shopping, it sat in the rain the first winter I lived here. I ended up selling and buying a 1984 Volkswagen Westfalia camper van.

It's a wonderful piece of design .. at least the camper part of it. There's a small refrigerator and propane stove as well as lots of storage. Plus an upper and a lower bed. I sleep like a log in the camper. I occasionally wonder if there's a carbon monoxide leak somewhere but since I never sleep with the engine running I'm probably safe.

Living with a 1984 piece automobile can be challenging. I've had a number of things repaired and one breakdown where the water pump died and the engine overheated quite quickly. Still, one is always left wondering what might happen next. Last week I tried to open the side door and nothing happened. The handle moved up and down but the door remained shut. It wouldn't open from the inside either. However, a little while later when I was driving through downtown the door opened and slid all the way back all on its own. Yesterday afternoon I decided it was time to take the thing apart and see if I could figure out what was wrong. When I tried to open the door, it opened easily as if nothing had ever been wrong. Another Westy mystery.

Matt Alber

Clearly I have been less than obsessive about posting to this 'blog'.

But yesterday I came across a video by a singer from California named Matt Alber. He used to sing with the all-men choir, Chanticleer but now appears to be pursuing a solo career. He writes most of his own songs which are tender and personal. As a 'pop' singer he still occasionally makes good use of his countertenor voice. His album "Hide Nothing" contains a lovely acoustic version of the song from this video with just guitar and trumpet (flugelhorn?) accompaniment.