A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving. Pub 1989 Despite this being one of my favourite books of all time (it would be on my Desert Island Books list), I realized when I started this one a few months ago that I'd only ever read it the once, back in 1989 when it first... Continue Reading →
Item #19: Mouse pad
At first glance, this looks like a squashed mouse. It is in fact a mouse pad - a rubber mouse track pad, made from recycled tires. I acquired this in the early 1990s, while shopping at the UBC Bookstore with my friend, Natasha. At least I think I did - I thought it was older... Continue Reading →
Book of Treasures: Grade 7
Grade 7: 1978, Van Bellingham Elementary School, Winnipeg, MB. Teacher – Mr. D. Corbett. Grade 7 found us back in the same space as Grade 4, so more open area. I was still in the “B” class, and still very much distracted by the changes at home. I do have class pictures from Grade 7,... Continue Reading →
Book of Treasures: Grade 6
Grade 6: 1977, Van Bellingham Elementary School, Winnipeg, MB. Teacher – Mr. John Chaput. For Grade 6, it was back to the open area classrooms. Mr. H and Mr. Chaput moved up with our class, but I was moved down a bit into the more remedial stream, so Mr. Chaput became my homeroom teacher. I... Continue Reading →
Item #18: Glass pig
This little piggy has been with me since early high school days, a gift from my friend Angie. I seem to remember this was going to be part of a series of gifts, but no other farm animals or glass figurines made their way to me (not from Angie anyway - the cow theme emerged... Continue Reading →
Book of Treasures: Grade 5
Grade 5: 1976, Van Bellingham Elementary School, Winnipeg, MB Teacher – Mr. H. I was super excited to start grade 5. Age 9 felt pretty grown up. With that new maturity came new responsibilities – being a crossing guard, having a house key and going home for lunch on my own. There was also the teacher –... Continue Reading →
Item #17: Pin Collection
One of a collection of items kept in the brown suitcase, this small box contains a diverse collection of buttons, badges and lapel pins from various points in my childhood. Spilling the box out was little trip down memory lane. Various pins and buttons from places lived, events attended, and memorable dates, I remember having... Continue Reading →
Book of Treasures: Grade 4
Grade 4: 1975, Van Bellingham Elementary School, Winnipeg, MB Teacher – Mrs. Delaquis Both Mrs. Delaquis and I graduated to Grade 4, and with many of the same kids in my class again. The “room” was open-area again, right next door to the previous year’s room. With the same school, teacher, room and classmates, I was... Continue Reading →
Book of Treasures: Grade 3
Grade 3: 1974, Van Bellingham Elementary School, Winnipeg, MB Teacher – Mrs. Delaquis We moved in the summer of 1974, from a townhouse in East Kildonan to a duplex in Southdale. Complete suburbia, right down to the white fence. The school was right at the end of our street, so now I could walk to and... Continue Reading →
Book of Treasures: Grade 2
Grade 2: 1973, Princess Margaret Elementary School, Winnipeg, MB. Teacher: Mrs. Soderstrom. I was added to Grade 2 quite shortly after starting Grade 1. Suddenly, I was with kids who were a year older than me and had been a cohort for a few years already. Even though we’d all been at the same school,... Continue Reading →
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