AND LITTLE TREES News photo by Ed Mills | ...but whatever size you're looking for, you should be able to find it at the Rotary Club's annual Christmas tree sale being held in the West Kooteany Power yard on Columbia Avenue. Ss jay, December 7, 1991 @ Letter carriers deliver ‘small sense of adventure’ “I have no more than one or two letters in my life that were worth the postage.” Thoreau: ‘Walden IP. It is just 10 a.m. and Matt Gallo, our faithful postman, has just hustled out our front gate and is loping down the street half a block away by the time I hear the mailbox click and open the front door. His bag is obviously lighter as the box is full. Just as well. The weath- er is not for walking. ) It occurs to me in that, mo- ment how significant in our lives is that daily ritual. What a special small sense of adventure and anticipa- tion it brings. What pleasure. Mr. Thoreau, an essentially positive ma’ some 150 years ago lived and wrote so tran- quilly in his cabin by Walden Pond, was wrong. Had he lived today, inundated by the vast tor- rent of unwanted junk mail which only Charlie Brown of the Peanuts comic strip would wel- come, he would have had a case for complaint. I, for one, am prepared to take the dross with the gold and after a brief smelting to enjoy the latter. This morning’s haul, for example. After a brief ski g of it, the usual “important mes- + sages,” mail order catalogues and Bunny-Bruce correspondence, there is much anticipated treasure to enjoy. First, a Christmas from Norwich, Eng- land, from our friends rdon and Vera Liv- ingstone. Last fall, we spent several all-too- brief days with them, including one wonderful Sunday at Gordon’s alma mater, the Universi- ty of Cambridge. It is a column yet to be writ- ten. Gordon, a displaced Scot, had spent the pre- vious year as an exchange chemistry teacher at Selkirk College and in that time they both made many friends, formed a Scottish country dancing class, left with many good memo- ries and is now back teaching at the college in the beauti- ful city of Nor- wich. On be- half of all of his friends we wish both of them a joyous Christmas, a merry Hogmannay and an early return to Canada. The second letter comes from Sister Kather- ine of the Poor Clares Monastery in Mission, about three miles down the hill from Westmin- ster Abbey. The community is busier than ever, she says, as it puts the garden to bed, designs special Christmas cards and decorations for the festive season, and as well, caries on its voca- tion of prayer. The Poor Clares are a close order. For exam- ple, they never leave their monastery, spend much of their time in contemplation and prayer and depend mostly on charitable donations for their livelihood. Yet they are the most joyous group of women I have ever met in my life. It is always a pleasure to call on Sister Katherine for a chat and if possible to attend a Vesper ser- vice for, as one writer noted, the Poor Clares are always as happy as larks and sing like an- gels. I strongly suspect that there is a message here for the rest of us. Sister Katherine is originally from Grand Forks and is consequently well acquainted with the Kootenays. On behalf of all Koote- nayites, therefore, I send her and her sisters Reflections ‘I, for one, am prepared to take the dross with the gold and after a brief smelting, to enjoy the latter.’ very good wishes for the Christmas season to which they give so much of them- selves. The third item is a post- card from Father Augustine O.S.B., Rector of the Semi- nary of Christ the King at Westminster Abbey and my immediate boss when I teach there. He has just made a breakneck nine day and pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a group of priests and has returned home exhaust- ed but excited. The card, headed “Galilee, Oct. 22, 1991, 6 a.m.,” and which has a picture of the Dome of the Rock, has trailed him back as they often do, but I am deeply touched that he should have, typically, taken the precious min- utes to send Bunny and I a card. The fourth letter is an Abbey ‘hasty signed by all of my boys in the Juniors (high school) to wish me health and a good Remem- brance Day. Another small gold nugget. The fifth piece of mail is a newsletter from the Alexander MacKenzie Trail Association, a group which is sponsoring and reenacting MacKenzie’s historic trek by land two hundred years ago to the British Columbia coast. I note it has much information, and equally impor- tant, that my membership is paid up to 1996. It is an organization to which every school should belong. Call me if you would like the address. The last of the letters is a large, packed manilla package from Spokane. It is addressed in the large, generous hand of Mary Bronson, ebullient, wonderful spouse of Rotary past president Gene Bronson and as usual is packed with clippings and a long and detailed missive on all that has transpired since the last long and detailed letter Besides the written mate- rial there are at least a dozen enclosures — some quite long — including such varied items as the Birth of Yankee Doodle, Quonset Huts in Building History (how well do I remember them), Reindeer — John Charters in Alaska, The Bare Buns Fun Run at Kadisku Family Nudist Park (no, she isn’t), and jokes and cartoons. Our Scottish friend Jean Cormack gleans the Aberdeen papers for me in a like manner. It is a great way to enliven a letter. Highly rec- ommended. There are, as well, two magazines. I get a fair number. The first is The Highlander, a magazine which features all things Scottish — natural- ly. A quick examination turns up such stories as The Fair atKinkindrie, Heather Jock and a dozen other historical anecdotes and essays, columns and so on. A good read. The other is the In Britain magazine featur- ing colorful articles on all parts of Britain. The main feature is entitled The Ancient Kingdom of Bernica (the border country of Northumbria where my mother came from and, as we dis- covered last fall, was so rich in history, places to visit and legend that one weeks’ visit was material for a dozen travel columns, but scarce- ly scratched the surface.) Another article featured some of the thriving monasteries of south England, including the wonderful Buckfast Abbey which we also vis- ited and enjoyed. @ Saturday, December 7, 1991 *89 Isuzu I-Mark Sports Sedan FEATURE U ’ eS) ‘90 Mazda PU. With Canopy and Box Liner ‘89 Caravan. Dodge. V/6, air conditioning 240 SX These 4 used vehicles represent truly exceptional value in every respect. 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