Remembering the Past With Some Old Photos

Jarslaw Church near Yorkton Saskatchewan. This was taken in the 1980's

Jarslaw Church near Yorkton Saskatchewan. This was taken in the 1980's - I heard that it is now gone, as it decayed to the point it collapsed. I also remember that the religious icons that where left in the building after it stopped being used, ended up stolen, but that was bound to happen.

My Commodore 64, and a small color TV. I had it hacked to have a stereo sound output (not hard to do) and had software that played music files in stereo called "SID Player". You can find versions of it for the PC and Android I do believe - then you can listen to them rocking 8 bit music files.

This is the only photo of any of our Christmas trees ever taken. I took it when I was 16 I believe. It's not the nicest tree you ever saw, but it did the job and we loved it. We used to get real trees, then Dad and I decided to see how flammable they where. They had been putting water in it's base and everything the entire time and it was up for maybe a month. Dad placed it in a trash can (metal) and put it in the middle of the years and took a lighter to it. Well it started on fire instantly and shot flames 15 feet into the air. Dad, myself, and my friend where just astonished how much of a fire hazard they where, and the next year and every other year, we had a plastic tree.

You know, I have no idea what his name is at all. But we danced like mad men at my brothers wedding reception after most of the people left. All that remained was some of my brothers friends and myself, and this guy who was running the bar. We did actually get rather wild, there was nudity LOL. I found it amazing no one cared in the 1990's that I was dancing with another man. I guess his friends where cool with that. BTW all photos where taken on a very inexpensive 110 camera with low quality film. The photos sat for decades before I scanned them in, and they degraded.

This is my Dad and Chico. Chico was the last pet I ever had. He lived almost 20 years and was such a friendly dog. He liked to play with anyone who would play with him and other dogs as well. I miss him a lot. He was very much my dog. As for Dad, he was a police officer in the Moose Jaw Police Service for years. Before that he served as a cop in Regina and North Battleford. Before that he was a gunnery Sargent in the armed forces. He met my mother when he was in the army and sent to help with the floods in Winnipeg Manitoba. The fell in love instantly and for the rest of his life, they where deeply in love. A shinning example of how it can be if you let it. Most of who I am today, I learned from Dad. He was charitable, kind, caring and friendly. He was also never afraid to stand his ground and I got that from him as well - that got me in trouble when I ended up punching out people trying to bully me at school or bully my friends. I was a strong kind in the day, and I did not take any shit. For that I was labeled "violent" by the school. I never started anything but I mostly ended it. Dad was always ripping the school a strip when they called him. He knew exactly what kind of person the ones doing the bullying where, as he had dealt with them or their family members many times.

Well, we can't forget Mom. After Dad died, we became very close. She was not just my mother, but a good friend who I could tell anything too and I would not be judged. She was always there for me in the dark times when I was depressed as hell, and my mental illness got out of hand and I had to be hospitalized. She always supported me no matter what. Mom was a teacher at one time, a telephone operator, a lab tech (doing blood tests and so on), and finally and EKG technician. She ended up stopping work a bit early in life, because she herself was mentally ill and could not handle the stress of the job anymore. I don't want to go into detail, but she had issues and would not admit them, even know we all knew exactly what it was. She was loving and kind, and supportive always.

This is from the 1990s, and I did them in pencil crayon. I used to actually be able to draw by hand, but lost the ability when I started having tremors in my hands. I don't think I was ever super good at it, but good enough. I really enjoyed doing it. You may recognize the image in the top right from an album cover I can't remember the name of, or the band. I just remember it was from an album cover and I just wanted to draw it. Interesting note, the Pizza Bell was using the name without permission and ended up getting sued into the ground by the corporation for doing it. I can't remember how to spell the last name of "Madame" - my art and French teacher in grade school, but she changed how I looked at the world and got me into art. She is long dead now, but I thanked her when I saw her years after I got out of school.