SPRING QUARTET
Four of us met Thursday night, glad it’s spring and glad to be with other writers. I chatted first with Margaret, trying to explain to her how to achieve double line-spacing in Wordpad, since it can’t be formatted to do so automatically. She says there are days she would far rather just deal with a typewriter.
Bob read more about Trailing & Waters, who were the largest jewellery manufacturers in Western Canada, and Jacoby Bros.’ biggest competitors. It was common to offer credit to customers, but T & W were quite generous in their terms of credit. In the 1970s they became members of the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and were then required to have a fully qualified gemologist on staff. In 1982, they were required to supply an audited financial statement to their bank, which was not supplied. Their loan was called and the business shut down for a month. T & W reopened, and later manufactured a number of pieces that were sold at Expo ’86. It was common for their employees to bank their overtime and unfortunately they were unable to collect it when the company went into receivership in 1987.
Margaret read “Outfits For Joey” from her Peabody collection. Rev. Peacock washed Joey’s dress and asked Marigold to sew more outfits for him, but she adamantly refused. So he took Joey in his wet dress to shop for new attire. Joey started swearing again. They first looked at baby clothes that were still far too big, and then went to a shop that sold doll clothes. At the latter establishment, a little girl made friends with Joey and dressed him up. Joey loved the attention and insisted on more than one outfit. Peacock gave in to keep Joey from swearing.
In April’s edition of Seniors’ Newsmagazine was an article of Margaret’s entitled “Yesterday’s R.V.”. It was a write-up that had been published in England years before about a motorhome from 1923 that was quite lavishly equipped for the time. It was large enough for a family of four plus a cook/maid and chauffeur. The butler slept in the van that traveled with them to carry all their supplies. This was in Europe. It sold for 7000 British pounds and only went 15 kms/hr.
I read two short pieces. One was written several days after the death of my mother, telling of how our roles reversed in the years I spent caring for her. The other piece is a comment about being devalued in society as I age. I haven’t quite finished the second piece yet.
Marilyn also read two pieces. The first was “Pillar Of Strength” which gives personification to a marble pillar that is surrounded by ivy. The second piece was “Illuminations”, telling about words bursting into her conscious awareness and the frantic need to write them down. And then she talks of finding words in her pen, and what incredible loss she felt when her favourite pen ran out of ink.
Amanda’s house has been sold and they will soon be moving, but she wasn’t sure where yet. Elaine’s father passed away, this morning I think, and she has headed to Thunder Bay to be with her mother and other family at this sad time.
Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, May 1st at 7:00 p.m. Love to see you then.
Lisa
Monday, April 21, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW
REUNION
Thursday’s meeting was a wonderful get-together for four of us. Margaret, Marilyn and Bob joined me after a month’s hiatus due to my Mother’s passing. My sincere thanks to all for your expressions of sympathy during that time.
Marilyn read two of her poems for us. The first one was SKINS, a listing of all the different types of skins found in nature and daily life. The second poem was NORTH WORDS, enumerating words like Inuit and kayak, that are particular to the Canadian north. Interesting concepts in both these poems.
Bob read more about T & W, (Trailing and Waters) who had been his competitor in the manufacture of jewellery. In the 1960s, the making of charms became very popular, and T & W had some unique pieces. Jack Waters, still a heavy drinker, died in November of 1970 at the age of 53. The company seemed to be overstaffed and Bob thought it was because many of their procedures for labeling and packaging were outdated and time consuming. Drinking continued to be heavy at T & W, and some salespeople who called on them preferred to do so in the morning while others who liked to party did so in late afternoon.
Margaret read another story from the Peabody collection, JOEY SEES DR. NOAH. Rev. Peacock takes Joey, the parrot, to see the Doctor because of his penchant for cursing. Peacock had dressed Joey in a dress and bonnet as he thought the Doctor was allergic to feathers. When they arrived, the parrot was given a stool to perch on, but poor Peacock was made to stand. Dr. Noah told Peacock to replace Joey’s vocabulary with words that were more acceptable, but Peacock already read the bible to him every night. The doctor wanted to know why the bird was in a dress, and Peacock said it was to visit him. The doctor then said Peacock needed help more than the bird. Peacock later learned the Doctor was allergic to ferrets, not feathers. But Joey now refrained from cursing any time he was wearing the dress.
I read a short, first person piece called THE PERFECT SIZE. It is a funny account about my acquisition of a used dress form for sewing and Honey’s attempts at making a stand for it. And I know it was funny because everybody listening had to remove their glasses and wipe tears from their eyes at the end. I have since submitted it to THREADS magazine for consideration. Writing something short gave me a nice sense of completion that takes so very long to get when writing a novel.
Marilyn read again, a piece called END OF THE LINE, written by her friend Mike Malone. It is written in two points of view, father and son, and tells of their inner thoughts and feelings when the son admits, at 36, that he is transgendered. The father is a widower who has one daughter living far away, and though he dearly loves his son, he also sees this will be the end of the line for his family. Meanwhile, the son misses his sister’s female companionship and sees his own decision ending a time of pretending to be someone he is not. Pretty deep emotional issues at play for both these individuals and you can’t help but pray they get past the feeling of deep sadness this piece evokes.
Margaret brought me a book called SOURCES. It’s a resource of names and contact info for organizations, companies and agencies. Quoting the book they are “Canada’s finest directory of human contacts. When you need analysis, commentary and information from people in the know, this is the place.” If anybody would like to borrow it, it’s here.
I had a number of books to give away and all but one was fiction. Margaret took most of them for the library in her apartment building.
Ann wrote her piece on floods and mailed it off. Robin was going to attend our meeting but came down with a cold. Last Sunday Bryon and I ran into Nathaniel and Tracy at Princess Auto. (Writers hang out at strange places.) They looked great, and love the sunshine they get living in Victoria’s harbour. Their boat is now moored in front of The Empress Hotel. And Nathaniel says it’s been difficult getting a regular writers’ group over there. People seem to be kind of cliquey. One group was full of drama, and while he was away on a road trip, it just disintegrated. But he’s trying to start another.
Marilyn said she would like to host a meeting sometime, but no definite date has been set for that yet. So unless you hear otherwise, the next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, April 17th at 7:00 p.m. Love to see you then, with or without your Muse.
Lisa
Thursday’s meeting was a wonderful get-together for four of us. Margaret, Marilyn and Bob joined me after a month’s hiatus due to my Mother’s passing. My sincere thanks to all for your expressions of sympathy during that time.
Marilyn read two of her poems for us. The first one was SKINS, a listing of all the different types of skins found in nature and daily life. The second poem was NORTH WORDS, enumerating words like Inuit and kayak, that are particular to the Canadian north. Interesting concepts in both these poems.
Bob read more about T & W, (Trailing and Waters) who had been his competitor in the manufacture of jewellery. In the 1960s, the making of charms became very popular, and T & W had some unique pieces. Jack Waters, still a heavy drinker, died in November of 1970 at the age of 53. The company seemed to be overstaffed and Bob thought it was because many of their procedures for labeling and packaging were outdated and time consuming. Drinking continued to be heavy at T & W, and some salespeople who called on them preferred to do so in the morning while others who liked to party did so in late afternoon.
Margaret read another story from the Peabody collection, JOEY SEES DR. NOAH. Rev. Peacock takes Joey, the parrot, to see the Doctor because of his penchant for cursing. Peacock had dressed Joey in a dress and bonnet as he thought the Doctor was allergic to feathers. When they arrived, the parrot was given a stool to perch on, but poor Peacock was made to stand. Dr. Noah told Peacock to replace Joey’s vocabulary with words that were more acceptable, but Peacock already read the bible to him every night. The doctor wanted to know why the bird was in a dress, and Peacock said it was to visit him. The doctor then said Peacock needed help more than the bird. Peacock later learned the Doctor was allergic to ferrets, not feathers. But Joey now refrained from cursing any time he was wearing the dress.
I read a short, first person piece called THE PERFECT SIZE. It is a funny account about my acquisition of a used dress form for sewing and Honey’s attempts at making a stand for it. And I know it was funny because everybody listening had to remove their glasses and wipe tears from their eyes at the end. I have since submitted it to THREADS magazine for consideration. Writing something short gave me a nice sense of completion that takes so very long to get when writing a novel.
Marilyn read again, a piece called END OF THE LINE, written by her friend Mike Malone. It is written in two points of view, father and son, and tells of their inner thoughts and feelings when the son admits, at 36, that he is transgendered. The father is a widower who has one daughter living far away, and though he dearly loves his son, he also sees this will be the end of the line for his family. Meanwhile, the son misses his sister’s female companionship and sees his own decision ending a time of pretending to be someone he is not. Pretty deep emotional issues at play for both these individuals and you can’t help but pray they get past the feeling of deep sadness this piece evokes.
Margaret brought me a book called SOURCES. It’s a resource of names and contact info for organizations, companies and agencies. Quoting the book they are “Canada’s finest directory of human contacts. When you need analysis, commentary and information from people in the know, this is the place.” If anybody would like to borrow it, it’s here.
I had a number of books to give away and all but one was fiction. Margaret took most of them for the library in her apartment building.
Ann wrote her piece on floods and mailed it off. Robin was going to attend our meeting but came down with a cold. Last Sunday Bryon and I ran into Nathaniel and Tracy at Princess Auto. (Writers hang out at strange places.) They looked great, and love the sunshine they get living in Victoria’s harbour. Their boat is now moored in front of The Empress Hotel. And Nathaniel says it’s been difficult getting a regular writers’ group over there. People seem to be kind of cliquey. One group was full of drama, and while he was away on a road trip, it just disintegrated. But he’s trying to start another.
Marilyn said she would like to host a meeting sometime, but no definite date has been set for that yet. So unless you hear otherwise, the next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, April 17th at 7:00 p.m. Love to see you then, with or without your Muse.
Lisa
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