🌹 40 Years

 

Time flies, but memories last forever:   "The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."   🌹

....or another way of saying "you are the Architect of your Life".   

40 Years ago on October 25th 1985, we got married.  Both of us had been married before but were willing to give love another try.   And what an amazing time it has been!

This was our first little home together, a rental with an acre of lawn out front and almost as much at the back.  Fruit trees and rows of raspberry canes. It was a great place to bring my two kids to play with Bruce's dog Samson, an Airedale terrier.   The rail yard where Bruce ran trains as an engineer was behind the house and down the hill.    I could hear him coming into town and we had a special whistle he'd blow for me to hear.

Our second home was a two story walk up, sandwiched between a school and a church, on a busy road the garbage trucks used.  But it was ours and a new start. 

Our third home was something else entirely.  A 52 foot twin power cruiser with a washer and dryer, queen sized bed and even a deep freeze.   We lived aboard for 5 years between 1988 to 1993.    Then we shifted to a townhouse near the sea walk dyke in Richmond.   By this point we had two Lakeland terriers and so the sea walk was great for them to burn off some energy.  Bruce was running trains in the Vancouver area and I was working for a local grocery store as a bakery / deli manager after previously working for Clinique and the Bay for 8 years. 

Besides living aboard a boat, we also crewed on a racing sailboat.  It was great fun and boats kept us busy and active.  We took Power and Sail courses together and did quite well with navigation and VHF radio.

Here's Bruce standing on the deck right above our bedroom.   We moored in a small boat and float home community called River Bend Marina on the Fraser River, 15 miles upstream from the ocean.    No dogs then but we did have a parrot called Ronnie.

Backing up a bit to 1986  Expo and Steam Expo:  there was a huge display of 23 live and static steam engines off the Expo site. Bruce by this time was the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Union  and so manned an information  tent and chatted with all the rail fan's on the site.    I went down every day and got to visit, and in most cases, ride the engines and got to know the crews from all over North America. I had a blast!

This was the UP4466 and just before there was a race between them and 2-3 other engines and I got to ride along!  

This is me and Bruce on the front of the 6060 and I'm worried that he's going to fall off, but he was fine.  He had helped to scrape paint on this engine when she was a static display in Alberta many years before and she ran live steam all the way to Expo.

About the same time period there was a 100th anniversary of the first steam engine, the 374, to arrive in Vancouver at the Roundhouse.   We attended and apparently I got along with this engineer too. Sadly, I forget his name.

I also go to ride with Bruce on some of his work trains but in this picture I took Christmas time 1984, he's running the Via Passenger train and I'm up in the cab with him.    There was 14 days or 7 round trips and I managed to run with him 5 of those 7. 

Here we are at the beach at a weiner roast at Steveston, where the Fraser River meets the ocean.  We we living in the townhome by then and about to make a life changing decision.     There was an opportunity to transfer to another rail district and make a good deal more money and after much discussion and a quick flying visit to check things out, we agreed to move to Vernon BC where Bruce ran trains, day and / or night shifts in the Okanagan Valley. So he ranged from Kelowna, to Vernon, Armstrong, Kamloops and side excursions to Lavington and Lumby to service mills. 

Here's Bruce shovelling snow on our 120 foot drive way at our first rental home that first never ending winter!   He worked mainly the night shift taking trains to Kamloops and I was a home bored to tears, and knew no one. By the early spring, I had found the local weavers guild and started my weaving journey.  I could weave during the day while he slept and feel productive at least and had made some new friends at the guild. Best thing I ever did!

Christmas party for CN Okanagan division.   Dinner is late coming and we've had a drink or two too many!

Finally it was Bruce's last run as he retired early. The company had made an offer too good to pass up. They were turning the local CN division into a short line railway that would be run privately.  Bruce 'retired' and turned a hand to being a volunteer firefighter (and drove their pumper truck) and later had a 10 year run at selling any type of exterior renovations including roofs and windows.    I kept on weaving!

I supported Bruce's career over the years and he was equally supportive of my weaving and guild activities.   Here at the Kelowna Guild's annual spinning event in 2000, he sported a saucy apron a friend made him while he volunteered to help in the kitchen.    He loved to show that he could put his hands into the 'pockets' in the briefs.   

At this point we had lived in Lake Country, then moved across the lake to just north of  the Fintry Delta and then moved to the Shuswap area to a place called Blind Bay.

From there we moved back to the coast and lived in Powell River for approximately 18-20 months and then shifted to Vancouver Island and the Duncan area, where we lived for 9 years.    Yes, lots of moves but each house was our home for a time and equity was building.

Bruce and I also loved the fun we had winding on warps together.  We'd talk  and have a laugh. He also devised his own system for getting the paper on straight and (try) to keep it from walking sideways. 

Bruce was sweet in that if I needed a tool or loom, he'd find a way to make it happen. Turned a blind eye to the yarn coming in the door, while I ignored the tool acquisitions and model railway gear. 

This one is taken in Cowichan Bay by my brother. Clearly the years are starting to add up. 

But we always laugh together. Here we are on Saltspring Island after visiting Jane Stafford's studio and  dropping an obscene amount of money on 2  looms. We promptly headed for the ferry  as we couldn't afford to stay for much more than a gelato.

Our last dog was an Airedale and we loved her beyond words.  Calli didn't favour either Bruce or me but actually seemed to share her time with us equally.    She'd lay by my loom for an hour or so and then wander off to visit Bruce.    

I caught Bruce "washing the floor" in the laundry room after Calli's bath and she had shaken off.   

Here he is making bread from scratch (but forgot to put the yeast in)

We moved off the acreage in Duncan and moved to Campbell River in 2016.   We wanted a new home and house prices kept pushing us further and further up the island. We've been here 9 years now and staying put.  Yes, we did try to find a smaller home this past spring but decided we love where we are and we'll manage somehow. 

Here is Bruce this past week when the Blue Jays were looking to win. He's finally made me a baseball fan and it only took 40 years to do it. 

Our one and only wedding picture, taken by a friend who apparently only had 2 shots left on his roll of film and no spare rolls.... and both were over exposed, so we got one sort of fixed and decided it didn't matter as it was everyday that counted and not just the first.  

That's 14, 600 days so far .....and counting!  🌹