BYE WINTER, HELLO STRING

I'm always impressed, as a guitarist, by all my friends who are violinists. On a guitar, I'm lucky because there are frets and I stand a higher chance of hitting my notes in tune. For violinists (and any other fretless string instrument), a combination of good intonation and dexterity is required.

FOREFATHERS

It's important to me that, each time I visit Toronto, I take the time to go visit my grandfathers. Curiously, there is a trend of the male side of my family being outlived by their female counterparts. Yet, I find the visit to the respective cemeteries of my grandfathers very consoling. It is a reminder to me of where I come from and who I am currently. Things that I do today can have lasting impacts, even beyond my living life. In my stash of memories, I have many meaningful ones of these visits (although I find that as each year passes, the exact location of the specific plots become more faint - thank goodness for PDA's). During the time of "ching ming", our entire family would gather at my grandfather's plot. We would take the time to make his area nice, removing the old flowers and replacing them with fresh ones. We would also pour my grandfather some wine and bring some food to him. Paper money would be placed on his headstone or burned in a makeshift oilcan, to ensure that he could have enjoyable spending sprees at whatever after-life retail outlets he might find himself in. We would then proceed to eat lunch with him, often a spread of roasted suckling pig, an amazing collection of buns, sticky rice and various fruit. At this point, the cousins would be chatting it up, catching up since family gatherings like these become less frequent.

Today, it was just my immediate family. Still about 2 weeks ahead of when ching ming is, the cemeteries were quiet. No crowds, no fuss about finding a parking spot, no overflowing garbage bins. The four of us gathered around the plot, placed the fresh bouquet of tulips at the base of his headstone and secured it with some stones. At one point, there often is a moment of reflection that is spent differently by different members of the family. Some will do the tradition bowing, some will talk to the headstone, some just stand in silence. Today, my dad said a few meaningful words to his father. Me, I relished the fact that our clan of 4 was together once again, albeit the gathering catalyzed by trying circumstances. I wondered at what words of wisdom my grandfather would have said to us, looking up at us from where he laid. I am certain that he would see how strong our family ties are, that no matter what things happen upon our lives, we are resilient and will successfully tough it out. I also thanked him because I know that, somehow, he plays a part in keeping the scales of trials/blessings balanced.

THE BEAR ESSENTIALS

It's been rather busy these past few weeks. To not fall off the blog wagon, a slightly light entry:

Because this pertains to my childhood, I suppose this entry poses little risk to any current reputation damage. I'm guessing that most kids, boys and girls alike, have a stash of plush animals that kept them company and served as props for many silly stories. During a recent visit to my parents' house, I took a stroll down memory lane:

"Cheurn-Cheurn"









Though his name is clearly marked on his muscle shirt (?), Quan-Quan was renamed to Cheurn-Cheurn because that's how I heard it pronounced on the news. He, and a buddy, were all the craze at the Toronto Zoo in the early eighties: celebrity pandas who were visiting from China. My parents took my sister and I to visit them and I was absolutely delighted!


"My Friendly Bear"









Yeah, didn't get too creative with this guy's name. My Friendly Bear (MFB) was Cheurn-Cheurn's best friend, and helped to defend against my sister's scarf bear gang. MFB was a Christmas gift from a church friend.

"Beary-Bear"









I swear my sister named him "Beary Bear" but, somewhere down the road, he became "Bearington Bear". He was usually docile, but sometimes would be found sitting on Cheurn- Cheurn and making me very upset. That's when I would unleash MFB's fury. I feel bad now, because Bearington Bear isn't able to quite sit upright (here, he's propped up against the wall).

"Charity Bear"









I believe Charity was one of the later additions to my sister's scarf bear gang. When you purchased him from Eaton's, a portion of the purchase was donated to charity. Charity was like the leader of the gang, never getting his paws dirty but always apt in deploying his minions to incite terror on my bears. Notice how his coat is still so pristine white!










After many years of unsolvable conflict, the bears are at peace now.

MY VISIT TO HEAVEN...

Once again, I find myself blessed with the opportunity of going to Whistler for some sick riding! Rather than making the incredibly crazy (and incredibly dangerous) drive, we decided to fly to Vancouver and then get driven up to the resort. Of course, a seat sale also helped to make this mode of transportation easier.

The moment we landed in Vancouver, it was raining. It rained during the entire drive up to the resort and pretty much all of the next 2 days. A rain jacket wasn't an item I even contemplated bringing. Yet, as we got up to the heavenly heights of the runs, all that precipitation turned to snow. It was a little wet but very ridable. The temperatures dropped after the second day and it stopped raining. The slush from the previous day turned into ice and this made for some interesting riding. Instead of giving up, we rode up the other mountain and discovered that conditions can vary greatly from one peak to the other. It's about persistence and the willingness to ride on different terrains. Overall, it was a great trip and I'm glad I got in 4 solid days of riding before having to head back to Calgary. The great thing about Whistler is that it's not just about the awesome riding. There is a whole other schedule once that board comes off: the apres-ski at Zog's (yes, had the artery clogging Great Canadian poutine, TWICE!) or Old Spaghetti Factory (I've never seen such a huge nacho platter before), the walking around the village and, of course, the dinners at various restaurants (another amazing dinner at Sushi Village).










Although it may appear that I'm getting some sick air, in fact, I'm sitting on a slope with my board's tail resting into the snow. Still, I think it's a nice shot...










My riding partner, D.










View from a chairlift.










My helmet resting in the snow, contrasting the awesome cliff behind me.