FIRE, in St. Boniface

 

There is a huge fire raging just outside my door tonight.Just over a block away a building is exploding and sending huge plumes of black smoke up and beyond.

I felt a fireball, with the heat and the pressure rise up and try to burn my eyebrows off.   I was standing at least a block away.   It was the freakiest thing.
A mushroom cloud of gasoline or other propellents went off as Dar and I stood on the street in front of our house.

The whole crowd backed off,  as  huge fireball ignited the fumes and  smoke climbing into the evening sky.

I stood firm,  judging the distance and awaited the heat.   We were bathed in a good blast of sub atomic heat.  But the effect was none the less, quite effective.

Our home seems to be safe at this time as fire professionals have arrived on scene.

We are safe and hopefully sound for the night, should more happen I will let you know at first chance.

Bob

 

It’s Been a While…

Hey folks sorry for my absence.  But it’s been one of those months,  a knock down drag out no holds barred assault on our family and my body.

First of all the family, Darlene, my partner has lost a beloved auntie.  I wish I could say she went well but I really can’t, cancer is one of those afflictions that can take a life away slowly and in the most horrid ways.

So we have been dealing with that,  also I buggered my leg up again.   Twisted and turned it to the point that I’ve been off of work for the last two weeks.  Don’t worry bout me I am all braced up and on the mend but it’s been a hell of a struggle.

I am more going out of my mind with boredom than anything else, yes it’s been nice to sleep in but not talking to anyone for most of any given day can take a toll on one’s psyche.  Just me and the T.V. BORING.

So today I managed to limp into the basement and send out the SOS just so you all know I am alive.

I thank you in advance for any condolences you have for Darlene and her family they are appreciated.  Losing a family member is hard, but it’s even harder when you have so many good memories of laughter and love.

I will try to get back to my writing as soon as I am able.

Love you all.

Bob

The Ghost of Tom Joad

I know it’s hard out there now, people living of soup crackers and ketchup packages.  I’ve been there too, day to day. Wondering if I wouldn’t put a knife to my throat cause I didn’t have gas in the tank or a hope for a place to sleep.

It’s hard for all the working folk out there that have been abandoned. I happen to work for one of those mega corps.  I don’t build bombers or death planes. But the guys that pay my rent do.

It’s hard for me, one that’s been in your shoes.  To just sit and do nothing, I give what I can. But that’s local.

For the rest of you please enjoy. Bruce and Tom.

Leo Mol’s Bronze Babes and Working Men

Last post I promised everyone a return trip back into Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park.  More to the point I all but promised to show you the working men and nudes that made Leo Mol sought after sculptor the world over.

As I showed in my last post Mol had a grand love of the beauty and quiet of nature.  A very good friend of mine cared for Leo in his final years at the Taché Nursing Home where he was a resident.  In our long walks through the garden that bears his name she would speak of Leo with worried tones.  As one of the many nurses charged with his care she would often sit and visit with him, she spoke of the the way a mention of his artwork could snap him out of his haze and return a smile and razor edge to his mind as he discussed at length the processes and inspirations that brought life to his art.

I never got to meet Leo Mol personally, but like I often say Winnipeg is a small enough city to know someone through the company they keep.  In his work I could see a steady and measured hand, a quiet mind that enjoyed beauty in all of it’s forms.  A man driven and skilled enough to craft metal and glass and paint into the images that he alone saw in his minds eye.

Bronze nudes and the female form.

Family Group (1990)

Cabin Fever

Hi everyone, and a big Minnie Pearl “Howdy” to all of my new subscribers.

I must admit that I haven’t been very talkative this last week.  The winter blahs have finally caught up to me it seems.   Since last weekend the temperature has hovered at or below -20 Celsius.  Translation to all of you from warmer climates “BURRRRR”.   In trying to make our lives worth living Mother Nature also threw in an assload of snow this weekend when it did actually warm up a enough to want to poke a un-mittened finger outside for a minute or two.

However I do have one very nice thing to report, two of my best friends from my formative high school years dropped into Winnipeg this week.

It was literally the first time we had all been together in over 10 years.  It struck me as incredible that I could walk up to the two of them and pretty much pick up the last conversation we had all been having all those years ago without missing a beat.   I really don’t know what importance Rick Springfield has in today’s world but it was nice just the same.

Other than talking about our significant others and kids.  We pretty much just bullshitted the way we always do when we are together.  With the exception that we weren’t piss drunk this time seeing that I have pretty much given up on the sauce, and another one of my buddy’s has developed diabetes in the years since high school.

It’s nice to know that we can always rely on those touchstones in our lives.  Some friends are more than just buddies they literally are family.  Sometimes closer than our real blood.  I know that our lives have taken us in strange and wondrous directions since we left Fort Frances but it’s comforting to know that we are still as close as we ever were.

Hmmm, funny the winter just doesn’t seem that cold any more.  Good travels my friends.  Till we meet again.

Todd and Darren

Bob and Darren

Bob and Todd