Rest In Peace, Susan

 Was saddened just recently to learn of the death of Suzanne Campbell, Terry's oldest sister. Her death came quickly and involved emphysema and pneumonia.

I drove up to Timmins to attend the funeral. Much as it was sad to see her daughters Sherry and Cathy, it was heartwarming to see them along with all the other family members who were able to attend. I didn't want to be there, but it was far more important to see the family members and pay respects. (Click to see a larger image)

Interestingly, because of distance and winter in Northern Ontario, some family members were not able to attend. I was surprised  during the actual funeral service to see a couple of smartphone cameras had been set up to that the funeral could be livestreamed on social media. I had never seen this before but I was assured it is becoming a common thing. 

Rest In Peace Aunt Sue.  

Better late than never ...

It's about time I post some updated photos and info eh. 

Now that Christmas is past us, I can't help but think just how nice it all was, even though everyone's work and time-off schedules didn't jive. We all enjoyed a very nice dinner at Christine's place where Denise and Don added their amazing hospitality touches.  As you might expect, the dinner was a five-star affair and the food was just too good. I can't get over how much I enjoy a turkey dinner, especially with cranberries. The stuffing the gravy was outstanding. 

Another very nice tradition was that the boys and I enjoyed a nice outing on Christmas Eve. It has become something of a nice tradition to spend time with my grandsons having lunch or brunch or whatever we can manage.

This time we settled on a really nice pasta lunch at East Side Mario's. Again, the food was amazing and the portions way too big. The best part was spending quality time with the guys just chatting about whatever comes up. I told them that as young men they are exceptional individuals and I was really proud of them. Life does not get much better than this.

Five important words

 I was so pleased this Christmas to receive a book from my Grandson Nathan. It is A Promised Land, written by former President Barack Obama. I am a huge fan of Obama. I was just into a couple of chapters when he wrote something so important. 

Obama said throughout his younger years he struggled to find the thing to convince him that he was on the right path, or at least moving in the right direction.  He was not entirely sure. His mother had taught him the importance of thinking about others and the importance of the civil rights movement. He also experienced racism when he worked to help poor people to get ahead in Chicago. 

Then he wrote something so important. He said he came to believe in "the basic decency of people". Wow. That is a generous thought. I wish more people would see that. Thank goodness that important people still believe in things like that.

I am so happy to have this book.

Yes, winter is here in Sudbury

 I get a kick out of seeing Jennifer work so hard as your typical mom and housekeeper.

I snapped a photo recently of Jenn in her jammies cleaning snow off the porch after the first big snowfall in Sudbury. There was a time that Jenn seemed shy about being the subject of my photographs, but these days I think she just accepts that I always have a camera handy for when I see good things happening. 

The best visit

 So Christmas is approaching, but this year things seem just so different. I haven't put up a tree or anything like that, but thank goodness that Jennifer has. She has two trees up at the house; one in the living room and one in the rec room. She has also put up a tree and many decorations at the camp. It's nice.

I was so pleased that Neil visited us last week from Vancouver. It was just the best visit ever.   We spent a week laughing, drinking, eating great food and enjoying each other's company. 

Jennifer invited both of us to head to camp for an evening. I was surprised at how much fun it was, especially with a fabulous salmon steak dinner. I enjoyed listening to Jenn and Neil discussing the best ways to cook the salmon, the asparagus and the little roasted potatoes.  It is so amazing -- and entertaining -- to think about how my little kids became such brilliant adults. I take no credit. But I love seeing them, listening to them, being with them.

Penny for your thoughts :)

 What's the point of living in Sudbury if you can't brag a little bit. So yeah, here's my picture of the Big Nickel. I get out to this part of town about once a month and so last week, the weather was nicer than normal, and I snapped a photo.

I am still amazed at how much Nickel the mines in this city produce. This week, General Motors announced a new deal with Vale Canada Ltd. (formerly INCO) to provide enough nickel to GM to produce 350,000 new electric cars each year. That is mind blowing.

I remember when Neil was a schoolboy he did a class project on the popularity of nickel coins, It was fun to go through my change each week (or was it each day) to find enough nickels to put into his collection. 

Murals for $200 Alex!

I haven't been here for several days but I figure it would be nice to post this photo of a mural  of Alex Trebek, painted on the side of his old high school, Sudbury Secondary. Back in the day, the school was known as Sudbury High School.  The mural was done of course in tribute to Mr. Trebek who was born and raised in Sudbury. He died in November 2020. 

It has a lot of Sudbury folks talking and enjoying. So I am happy to share it here.

Have my own coveralls now!

 So I was pleased last week to visit another underground mining operation in Sudbury, but this time with a difference. I visit mining properties enough that I decided to spend a few bucks to buy my own coveralls. In Ontario the law dictates that all persons going underground must wear orange coveralls with reflective striping. Cool. So now I have my own coveralls and it saves time in not having to fart around at different mining properties getting outfitted every time. 

Plus I have coveralls that fit me properly and they're easy to put on a take off.

Also, I use my own hardhat, which I wear turned around so it makes it easier to get photos when I hold the camera up to my face. That hardhat is from my early days working at the Texas Gulf Kidd Mine.  And thanks to mining photographer James Hodgins for shooting the photo. We were both there because Premier Doug Ford was touring the mine. 

My fifth vaccine dose.

 So I am pleased to say I have just taken my fifth COVID-19 vaccine. I got the shot today of new Pfizer bivalent vaccine and so it goes.
The nurse who gave me the shot said she was surprised I had not had COVID-19 in the past two and a half years. I said I wasn't surprised. I wear a mask. I take precautions. 

Of course I am not qualified to make the call because I am not a scientist, but I believe if you get the vaccine it lessens the chance of getting the disease. Just my take on things.  To me it is a no brainer.

I guess it's the same with the anti-vax types who float all sorts of theories. I say theories because they don't know either. They're not scientists.

I just feel better about my situation. Literally. I feel better than most.

A royal encounter

As you my expect I was saddened to learn of the death of Queen Elizabeth. At work it led to many discussions of when, and whether, any of us had seen a Royal.

 My first ever Royal encounter occurred when I was a boy in Toronto, living at RCAF Base Downsview in the mid-1960s. As a base kid, I had free run of the area near the base hangars where it was fun to go and watch airplanes coming and going.  A lot of base kids did that. 

This was the same base where the De Havilland Canada plant was located; building DHC6 Twin Otters at the time.  I became an aviation fan from my earliest days living on different bases and watching airplanes come and go. 

We had lived on a NATO base in France where they had CF86 and CF100 fighters. We had lived on a base in Manitoba where the famed Golden Hawks would train in the summer. This was a few years before the Snowbirds Squadron was formed.  We had visited Base Trenton to see the huge CP107 Argus, the C115 Buffalo and the C130 Hercules. 

So it was no surprise when I think back to the spring day when a new Hawker Siddeley 780 Andover landed at Downsview. I think I was attracted to the fact that there was a crowd of VIPs gathered in front of one of the main hangars. I was used to seeing everyone in uniform, but for some reason, the apron by the hangars was crowded with civilians.

The base MPs knew us local kids who would loiter around the hangars. And as base kids we knew you never went anywhere near a moving aircraft. 

I was hanging back away from the VIP crowd when I saw a dark sedan pull up nearby. This was surprising because nobody, but nobody, ever drove that close to the apron. I walked over to see a man in civvies open the trunk and remove several cameras. I asked him who he was. He told me he was a newspaperman and he was there to take pictures. Take pictures of who, I asked. 

Prince Phillip, he answered.

At that point I could hear an aircraft taxiing in our direction. At 12 years, I was not tall enough to see over the grown ups. But as the newspaperman headed toward the airplane, I watched as the crowd parted in front of him and let him just walk through. It was like seeing Moses part the Red Sea. I was amazed.

Just then I saw the Hawker Siddeley,  "The Queen's Flight" airplane slowly rolling to a stop, not more than 100 feet away.  Here is a photo of that moment.

(Toronto Public Library Archives / The Globe and Mail)

There in the cockpit, in the left side pilot's seat, was His Royal Highness. It was March of 1966 and Prince Phillip was visiting Toronto to make a presentation for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards program. 

I remember telling my Mom. She worked on the base and remembered seeing the crowd of VIPs. When I told her it was Prince Phillip she was so disappointed she hadn't seen him.

Keeping good wishes for Her Majesty

A lot of people might not know that when this young lady was a teenager in London she worked as a mechanic on army trucks and was also a part-time ambulance driver as the U.K. fought off the threat of Nazis. Thank you for your service, Queen Elizabeth.

Enjoying some time at camp.

The weekend was fun. Jennifer decided that the weekend BEFORE Labour Day would be more enjoyable and less crowded in the bush. It was nice that everyone was able to get together at Camp Alexander to enjoy a few days of relaxing, great food and riding the ATVs out for a picnic and a few drinks. We even showed off our nice new T-shirts for Camp Alexander.  Don & Denise, Scott & Jen, Nathan & Dara and Baby Ace, Christine, Victoria & Alex, Tyler & Emilie and I all enjoyed ourselves. Life doesn't get much better. I brought my Kobo along for some reading and really got caught up on my sleep.

We also came across the skeletal remains of a bear that apparently died last spring. Interesting for sure. But that's a story for another day.

Click on each picture to see a larger size.

Going for a walk ... a big walk.

 One of my assignments this week is to write up an advancer story on the Terry Fox Run which happens every September. It got me thinking about the first time I was in a charity walk. It was 1968 in Toronto. It was called Oxfam's Miles for Millions.

I can't remember what prompted me to get involved other than it was the thing to do if you were in Grade 8. It was on a Saturday in May, I think. And for a lot of young teens, it was the thing to do, to just be cool.

No one seemed to give any thought to the idea of walking 40 miles -- yes, 40 miles, in one day.  

The Toronto walk, from what I can find on the Internet, was a reaction to walks that took place in Montreal and Ottawa in 1967 as centennial projects. 

In my minds eye, I remember being down at the Exhibition grounds by Lakeshore Drive. It was around nine in the morning. There was some music, some speeches, and then we were off, a mass of humanity about 50,000 strong. It was exciting to be part of it. But soon enough, the dreariness of continual walking set in. We all had little cards to be stamped at waypoints along the route., proving we had been there. 

Thank goodness for the waypoints. There was free water, pop and food; things like cookies, bags of chips and popcorn. 

Interestingly I noticed that young teens such as myself and my cohorts had lots of stamina. Sure our feet got sore and it was a hot and sunny day, but we just kept going, because the crowd kept going. I remember commenting to my friends about the many different parts of Toronto where I had sold newspapers, a job I had for every weekend for three or four years.

As I remember the walk went from Lakeshore out to Islington Avenue, north to Lawrence Avenue, west to Kennedy Road in Scarborough, south to the Danforth and then from there to city hall. 

It was around suppertime that I began to feel the aching in my feet and legs. By that time we were in Scarborough and heading for downtown. I sat down a couple of times to rest, but soon regretted it, because I did not want to stand up again. But we did. And we plodded on.

I think the best part was as we approached Nathan Phillips Square we could hear rock music pounding away through the downtown streets, especially on Queen Street. It was around 8 p.m. Sure enough as we finished the walk by arriving at city hall, there was excitement over the fact that Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick were giving a free concert. They were a big rock band from San Francisco. 

We were also excited to have finished the walk. It was a fun time to be alive. We hung around for the rest of the concert before a terrible fatigue set in. I remember going home on the subway and buses and barely being able to stay awake. 

(Photo: MacLean's Archive)

Bell Media bullshit

I am confused by the decision of CTV / Bell Media to part ways with well-respected news anchor Lisa LaFlamme. But I am not surprised. I have seen this over the years in my experience as a broadcaster where management interferes with the newsroom. I have worked for both CTV and CBC, in situations as a reporter and as a news manager.

Broadasting is a business. It is about selling advertising that is featured as part of regular programming. When management cannot successfully sell enough advertising, or successfully run a broadcast unit,  they turn on the newsroom and point fingers saying that somehow it is the fault of the news people that not enough advertising revenue is coming in. 

But that's not true. We need to get better sales people who can do their job. We need better managers to run the stations.

Leave the newsrooms alone. Let the news people do their job. Quit interfering.

My first ever hair stye

So it was only 50 years ago this summer I was working at a resort lodge on an island on Lake Temagami in Northern Ontario. I was the junior bartender and occasional dock boy. It was the Manito Lodge. It was a great job. I had just finished high school and this was the summer before going to journalism school.  This is a postcard of the Manito. 

One day I enjoyed a day off and went into town to get a haircut. I had to hitchhike everywhere back then, so it always  took some extra time.

When I found a hair shop in Temagami, I asked the guy for a haircut. My hair was always a bit longer those days and I had lots of hair. He convinced me I should get a hair style. I didn't know what to say. I had never had my hair styled. This would involve washing it, cutting it and then styling it. It would cost a few extra dollars, but I figured let's do it. So about an hour later, I paid the man and was quite pleased with my new style. It looked good. It looked cool. Not rockstar cool, but still okay. 

I stayed in town to have a beer and then hitchhiked back down the Temagami Mine Access Road where I would reach the boat dock.

It took about an hour or so and when I walked to the end of the dock, there were a few older guys there. I asked them where they were going. They said they wanted to get to the Manito lodge, but the boat was not around. I walked over to the phone hut, which was the way to contact the lodge. The old phone was a crank style. So I cranked the phone half a dozen times which should have sounded the ringer on the phone in the bar, at the lodge.  No answer. I cranked again, and again.  

It was like we were all stranded on the mainland and could not get over to the island, about 400 metres away on the lake. 

I had no choice. I stripped down, taking off my sneakers, my socks, and shirt. I left my jeans on. Then I jumped into the lake and began swimming. I was young, 18 and a strong swimmer. The lake was warm and I knew there was a marker buoy about halfway with a big rock just below the surface, if I needed to rest.

As things turned out, I got to the island in about 10 minutes. I climbed onto the dock. Some of the guests were surprised to see me and I walked up to the bar. 

Stan, my boss, was there and asked why I was soaking wet. I explained the situation about guests waiting at the mainland dock. We both looked at the bar phone. It was off the hook.

I grabbed the boat keys and went down to the pontoon boat and fired up the engine. In about five minutes I was back at the mainland dock and the guests there were happy to see me. 

They were polite and I wasn't sure if they recognized me. My cool hairstyle had disappeared. 

First time using iPhone for work photos

So I have been shooting -- photographing -- car crashes for years. Today was a first for me. I shot all the pictures on my iPhone and then just as quickly I was able to send the pics back to the office as part of a text message. It took about 45 seconds.  

I know other reporters have been doing this for several years, but it was a first for me. The editor took a phone call and said there was a crash over on Lorne Street. I was the only one in the office at that moment, so I grabbed my camera bag and scooted out to the parking lot. In about nine minutes I was at the scene. No big deal, but traffic was backed up everywhere. I knew it would take several minutes to pull out my big Canon DSLR, fire off a bunch of shots and then get the photos back to the office. 

But it was nice and sunny so instead I pulled out the phone, took half a dozen pics from different angles and walked back to my car. I thumbed through the pictures, typed in the editor's text address and attached the photos. Just to be sure, I then telephoned the editor. As soon as he answered the phone, he said, "we have the pictures." Cool.

Just so nice ...

I was more than pleased this past week to attend the celebration of marriage for two nice people, Alex Mongeon and Victoria Alexander. Victoria is the same amazing young lady who has been part of the young lives of her first cousins -- my grandsons Tyler and Nathan. I stood in the backyard to watch the ceremony on a lovely, sunny day. I was happy to see two young people moving along in their lives and to take in all the good things that go along with it. Weddings are nice to bring people together. It was so nice just to see other people being so nice. After all the crap on social media, all the angst of the pandemic and all the other uncertainties in this world, this was nice. 

Best wishes

 Our newsroom is losing our "new media" reporter.  Eden Suh is moving on to a new position in Toronto after being our new media specialist for the past year. I didn't put a lot of stock in things like Twitter, Tic Toc and other new media stuff, but Eden helped drive  a whole lot of new internet traffic to our websites. I guess that's why so much emphasis is being put on social media these days. I just know she was a good reporter. And a nice person. Was happy to grab a beer this week and give Eden our best wishes. 

Fourth shot ...

 Can't explain why but it looks like the COVID-19 situation is not improving in Ontario. So I am glad I went and got my second booster -- which is my fourth vaccine shot now. I am not qualified to say that I needed the shot, but the experts with the Ontario Science Table and NACI - the National Advisory Committee on Immunization are saying its the right thing to do.  I am glad we have experts out there.

COVID-19 vaccine: Canadian Immunization Guide - Canada.ca

Shooting photos

 Part of the job in the newsroom means having to scoot out to grab an urgent photo every now and then. That's what happened last week when the PM was in town. The main story was happening in the afternoon, but Mr. Trudeau was also scheduled to take a nature hike and meet with environmental students in the morning. So I had to tag along on the hike and grab some photos on the pool basis. That means I get access to shoot photos, but I have to be willing to share them in case other Canadian media companies wanted a shot or two.