She was often talking about being short of money and had me rolling coins in the back of her Transcona store when I was about 11-12. But a more memorable lesson was at her house on Banning Street in Winnipeg when she had me check in her big floppy couches for change men visitors might have lost to their subterranean depths. She didn’t warn me about nails and sharp edges and the like so if you ever try this on your own, go very slowly. Was it a profitable exercise? Financially–for a poor boy–I can recall retrieving several coins in the process.

Yes, Lou was an interesting lady and scared the pre-school pants off me one day in the Bay basement lunchette (early 1950s) when she went through her purse wondering if she had enough to pay the 20 cent or so bill of ours. It was a little nerve-wracking as she pulled out pennies and nickels, tediously working her way toward the necessary amount. I got really nervous when she said that if she was short, we would likely have to work in the kitchen washing dishes. I don’t think I took a full breath till the waitress collected enough for the bill! She was a wild lady with a wicked sense of humor who was not above scaring her own grandchild as a ‘big’ joke.

ps/Later she would have me working at age 5 washing dishes in her Portage Avenue/Thompson Drive corner lunchette, neglecting to caution me about sharp edges, and so I cut my hands on a knife. (Child labor leading to potentially serious injury.) Overall, she was a scary, dangerous woman who also lost my dog when my family left it with her when I was 14 to go to the beach. She had absolutely no idea what happened to Scamp; it didn’t seem to matter to her at all. She was just bad news: “The lady that’s known as Lou.”

Grandson at funeral

is an overdue idea right across Canada. No phones should be turned on within classrooms. And that goes for beeps and music signals, too. Instruction and learning are the priorities in the classroom. If there is any kind of emergency, parents can contact teachers via classroom phones through school secretaries. Some things are sacrosanct and student focus is #1 in schools. School classrooms need no technological distractions and diversions. Teachers remain the main facilitators when it comes to classroom learning, not cellphones.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Phones and technology will never, ever love you.

Too, the Kenny move to tear up the new NDP curriculum worked on for years is a terribly retrograde move. Business should not be in charge of education. (This is a retrograde move to the PC years when all students were ‘ideally’ supposed to become little entrepreneurs. There is far more to life, learning, and schools than business, soullessly making money, and materialism.)

They competed in the Dragon Boat competition in Asia and did extremely well, winning 81 (!) medals in a sport which is not native to Canada. Nothing is impossible, indeed! Very impressive.

“At 70, each man has the face he deserves.” (R.D.)

(the 20/20 post-operative look)

(the new reading glasses look)

you start tracking leaves into the house. And the blue jays return to your bird feeder on cooler mornings.

(After the most humid Edmonton summer ever, my hall barometer has finally dropped below 70. Too much regular rain. Often no two sunny days in a row. Edmonton leaned more toward Vancouver weather this summer. Since we’ve noted a discernible change in weather patterns the past two years, what can we expect for fall and winter weather this year?)

Looking forward to our 25th straight year of Symphony under the Sky. ESO is honouring long-timers again with access to their VIP Lounge. Weather is starting to behave more normally at this point and it should be another fun aural weekend with the 4 featured shows and the ever-witty Robert Bernhardt back as conductor. This has been and continues to be the best Labour Day weekend entertainment ticket in town. Classical music outdoors=sublime.

The LRT.
Already, maintenance and building expenses greatly outweigh ridership revenues and the city still can’t track how many free riders there are.

I take the time and effort to put in a special word for someone who could use some recognition and praise. In this case, this morning, T at Good Will who has been helping me for years with unloading donations at their depot. I sensed he was under stress and went around to the front entrance to the store and asked to speak to management. When the asst. mgr. arrived, I told him what a good, polite, friendly, hard worker T was. He really appreciated this and said he would mention this later at a general staff morning meeting which included T.

In my opinion, people are far more typically likely to complain and criticize than to bother doing the sort of thing I did this morning. Again, it is important to go with openings and a sense of appropriate timing when doing such things. But compliments and praise are often appreciated and can make a big difference in people’s lives and workplaces. I have seen this happen myriad times going back to my classroom days and when I acted similarly with only predictably positive results. A good word put in for someone is a truly easy no-brainer that costs absolutely nothing and usually changes the quality of many people’s days, not just an individual’s.

(WB, 1991 DVD)

Defending Your Life written, directed, and acted by Albert Brooks captured the core of a lot of living, human choices, and relationships. As he correctly points out, fear inhibits people from making correct, fulfilling, intuitive choices of the heart based on want, need, desire, and experience.

Brooks’s born-loser schnook character Daniel dies an absurd death at the beginning of the film and goes to Judgment City where his past life is painfully scrutinized in a court of judgement to decide whether he’ll return to Earth or ‘move forward’. He meets Julia, a beautiful kindred spirit, and they fall madly and easily in love, but the complication is that she’s had a much better life and they may eventually be destined for separation.

Daniel is ‘aided’ by a sarcastic, caustic, cynical lawyer played perfectly by the late Rip Torn. The highly-successful prosecutor they’re up against is portrayed icily by Lee Grant. Goofy Buck Henry subs in as a one-day, not-so-helpful replacement for Torn. And Shirley MacLaine does an appropriate guest turn as the host of the previous lives pavillion.

There are many funny scenes and much witty, ironic dialogue. This is easily the best movie Brooks ever made. For that matter, this is easily the most warm co-starring performance of Streep’s career; she is charmingly radiant and impossible not to love. The music by Michael Gore is also spot-on for capturing the many changing emotional moods throughout this surprisingly romantic comedy about what happens after death.

But the message (mentioned in the first paragraph) gives this film an extra weight and wisdom that lifts the viewer and confirms how we might better decide and choose, especially in those situations which really matter in our lives. Highly recommended. Viewers who enjoyed Woody Allen’s recent classic, Midnight in Paris, will love this one. Defending Your Life is truly uplifting, entertaining, and deeply satisfying.

(the first essays ever penned)

Tothineownselfbetrue.ca, my totally non-commercial, personal consciousness blog, is just finishing its eighth year of innumerable quotes, photos, social observations, musings, short ‘essais’, poetry, fiction, reviews, family selections, reminiscences, recommendations, personal favorites, obits, lists, and other writing.

Michel de Montagne’s approach to recording his personal consciousness was the main inspiration in the blog’s beginning (August 2012), and you will find many idea pieces back in the first two years, in particular.

(All personal writing and photos are copyrighted by Richard Davies.)

If you are interested in olde Canadian literature before 2000, I have a separate illustrated, chronological-history blog–likewise, non-commercial–of prominent Canadian writers and books going back to 1850 (http://canlitbooks.ca/canlit-blog/) which features many visuals, dust jackets, and ephemera (letters, cards, etc.) you will not find anywhere elsewhere online. In many cases, these books are rare or scarce copies from my unique Can Lit library.

(the very rare American edition)

(Artisan video, 1999, rated 18A)

Of course, Fonda’s most famous movie was Easy Rider (1969) and his other major acting success was in 1997 Ulee’s Gold. The Limey was another intriguing Fonda character study released in 1999, smartly directed by Steven Soderbergh. Fonda plays a self-absorbed, sleazy record producer mixed up in the drug trade who is connected with the death of a young English woman who stumbles on his secret and threatens to go to the police. As a result, her persistent, lower-class criminal-father expertly and humorously played by a truly nasty Terence Stamp comes seeking information and, potentially, revenge.

The film is about the latter’s quest, but contains strong supporting actor performances (by Fonda, Luis Guzman, and Barry Newman) that are interesting character studies unto themselves. In Fonda’s well-rounded role, for instance, the viewer also sees his vanity, his superficial schmoozing manner, his nervousness, and cowardly fears.

Soderbergh also makes clever use of actual old film footage involving Stamp to flesh out the Limey’s history and narrative. He deftly plays with ‘film consciousness’, skilfully intertwining the past and present as well as fantasy and reality for the main plot, keeping viewers on their toes. The film’s style includes the use of old pop songs like The Who’s “The Seeker” and Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride’ (the latter slyly referencing Fonda’s use of “Born to Be Wild” three decades before).

All in all, a good Fonda, Stamp, Guzman, and Soderbergh. Recommended easily for their fans.