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Thursday
July 27, 2016
Wow! 131 people have looked in to this Blog since Tuesday... THANK YOU!!
I popped on to Facebook this afternoon in time to see a posting on Ecuador Emergency asking for blood donors with O+ blood to go to Hospital Del Rio to benefit an Ecuadorian. I called right away and jumped on Toxic just in time to ride through a rain shower to go that one mile... They took me in right away to complete that long questionnaire, all in Spanish, with very personal questions. Then the fellow explained that they have a new procedure and he proceeded to take a blood test (maybe because I admitted to maybe taking one Tylenol in the last 3 days, and traveling to Colombia in the last year)..?? Anyway I return on Friday at 11:00am to give my red blood away.
I also decided to keep a photographic record of some items that I consider family heirlooms before I ship them off to Canada for safekeeping. I don't want to leave that responsibility to my executors here in Ecuador.
The first is possibly the first signage made by my great-grandfather Lindorf Bourassa and Grandpa Charles Bourassa from my Mom's side. (she was also a Bourassa, so in Ecuador I am officially Al Joseph Bourassa Bourassa, lol). You can see the date is 1911 (105 years old) and it is done mostly in ink, colored pencils and pastels.
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| This sign is 105 years old |
Next are two photographs that hung in Dad's garage for many years. These photographs are very special for two reasons:
1. They were taken by Grandpa Charles and you can see the date pencilled, in Dad's handwriting, in the bottom left of the first picture as 1949 (67 years old, older than me..). Now, please realize that there was no colour photography in 1949 so close inspection shows that these photos were hand-painted by Grandpa Charles.
2. My Dad Horace is in the front tractor and his brother Victor is in the second one, clearing snow on the side of town where the drifts sometimes went higher than the telephone poles. Thinking of my father always brings tears to my eyes.
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| 1949 is at the bottom left |
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| Dad is in the front tractor, Victor in the rear one |
Then there is "The Bourassa's Summer Home" sign that hung on our cabin at Carlyle Lake in the mid-to-late 1960's. We spent many fun summers on Crescent Beach and have grand memories of those days. I have re-stained the sign just the once that I can recall and it is still in great condition.
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| This sign is at least 50 years old |
Last, but not least, is my Melvin Jones Fellow award from Lions Clubs International that I received in 1990 for my work with the Northgate Lions Club of Edmonton. This is the highest award given by the Lions and I was so very grateful to be so honored by my Club in this way. We did a lot of great work and ran many bingos to support many local clubs and charities. I remember being the Bingo chairman and setting up some brand new bingo boards on July 31, 1987 at the Northgate Seniors Center that we built. We were having an all-night bingo that night and we continued on despite the great Black Friday tornado that hit the city that afternoon. Many of our members were residents of the Evergreen Mobile Home Park that was completely devastated on that horrible night and many of them lost everything. I remember that Pipe & Wanda only recovered one photo album and his Lions vest....
It was a time we will never forget, and neither will we forget the many friends we made on the way. Later, I ended up living in a new complex in east Edmonton that was built on the path of that very tornado.
These items probably mean more to me than anyone for obvious reasons, but they are the kind of things that are passed down from generation to generation because of their historical value, and not their monetary value. I hope my family will look after these the way I have.
I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's
excitement, Cheers,
Al
