Simple Gifts

It's a snowy day, not absolutely frigid but cold enough that it's nice to be indoors in comfortable fleece clothing. It's getting close to Christmas. We haven't put up our tree yet and I haven't done any Christmas shopping so gifts are on my mind. I have a folder in my brain in which I store the surprise gifts I have received from strangers and acquaintances and as I think of giving gifts i go back to that folder.

The first gift in my collection was given to me when I was in my early 20's. I was living in Banff and had a rare day off from my duties in the theatres at the Banff School of Fine Arts. At that time I didn't own a car and used a bright purple ten-speed bike for transportation. On that particular day, I decided to ride my bike from Banff to Lake Minnewanka. I'm not sure of the distance but it wasn't a long ride as I've since come to understand them. I wasn't in particularly good shape and it was a hot day. On my way back from the lake, tired and hot, I stopped at the pullout of a scenic lookout. I was sitting on a picnic table with my bike leaning beside me drinking warm plastic-tasting water from my water bottle when a woman came out of a motor home parked a few feet away from where I sat. I didn't pay too much attention as the woman approached me. In her hand she held a plastic bag of cherries. As l looked up she smiled and handed me the bag. "We have more of these than we can eat," she said, "and you look like you could use them." She smiled. I thanked her. She stepped back into the motor home; the driver started the engine and they pulled onto the highway to continue their journey. The cherries were cold and I was hungry and, although I have long since forgotten the woman's face, I will always remember her kindness.

A number of years later when Richard, my cousin David and I were on a cycling trip in southern B.C. it was another hot day. While the guys stayed with the bikes I went into a small roadside store to buy cold drinks. I also picked up some fresh fruit for a snack. When I brought my purchases to the counter the man behind it told me that the fruit would be free and apologized that he couldn't really afford to give me the drinks for free because of what they cost him. "Anyone who rides in this heat deserves a bit of a break," he told me as he rang up the drinks. I thanked him and filed his kindness alongside the lady with the cherries.

There have been times recently too where people have given me unexpected gifts. One day as I was pulling into a pay lot and getting out of my car to buy a ticket from the machine, a young man walked over and offered me his ticket. It still had quite a bit of time on it he said and someone might as well use it. Since then I always look for someone to whom I can give my ticket before I leave the lot. Sometimes no one appears and I drive home and discard the ticket. Most times, though, I'm able to give it to someone else so they can use the remaining time.

Twice a month I meet my friend Katharine downtown not far from where she works so we can have lunch together. I get there first and buy our lunches, always the same from the same stall in the food court. We've been doing this for over two years now, and while I wouldn't call myself a regular because I'm not there every day, one young woman behind the counter recognizes me and calls in the order as I approach. Twice lately she has leaned over the counter and said quietly, "Today the drinks are on the house." I smile, thank her and leave a tip. Does she give other customers free drinks on occasion? I don't know and it really doesn't matter. I am simply grateful.

The last example in my mental file arrived just a week ago. Judy and I were on our usual walk and we stopped in for lunch at a quiet cafe. We ordered our meals and took them to an empty table. I was facing the window and Judy was facing the counter. One of the women behind the counter caught Judy's eye and asked if we would like a piece of apple pie. Who turns down apple pie? It was a huge piece and we enjoyed sharing it. Perhaps it was getting late in the afternoon and the woman didn't want to keep the pie until the next day. Again I don't know the reason behind the gift and I don't need to know it. In part the gift is in the reminder of how little it takes to brighten someone's day.

I will eat turkey this Christmas as is traditional in our family but I will also think about cherries, cold drinks and apple pie and be thankful.

Turning One Hundred

Let me start by saying that I'm not turning one hundred, just in case there is any doubt. Last Saturday I attended a celebration for the hundredth year of the church I attended as a kid. It was a rather strange experience. I've maintained few relationships from elementary, high school or university. It's almost as if each chapter of my life is in a box by itself and once a box is closed it doesn't get opened again; so it was odd, and wonderful, to meet up with my first best-friend.

Many people put in hours and hours of work on scrapbooks and photo boards for the evening. There were pictures of church suppers, Sunday school groups, church camps and individuals who were part of the church's history. My dad showed up in a couple of newspaper clippings. In one photo he stands with a group of men behind the corner stone for the 'new' church (built in 1960). Dad was also in half a dozen photos in an album. These were taken in the seventies during a church service and it looks like Dad's health had taken a turn for the worse. The shirt he wears is too big around the neck and the jacket seems to have too much material in it.

I was also in at one picture. I didn't notice it until someone pointed it out to me. In it are several small girls, all of us in frilly dresses, with our mothers standing proudly behind us. I found out later that it was taken at Judy's fourth birthday party. Someone remarked that it was uncharacteristic to see both Judy and me in dresses. She didn't like them any more than I did. I wonder if there was a discussion about the dress code for little girls' birthday parties prior to the event, or if some kind of bribery took place to get us both into the dresses.

I talked to many people during the evening. Toward the end of the evening I chatted with the current minister. I knew, in addition to serving on various committees in the church, that my dad was a trustee for a long time. Until Saturday night I had no idea just how long. The minister told me that for twenty-five years after he died Dad's name remained, as the lead trustee, on documents at city hall . I'm not sure when the error was discovered but it took a number of people and much patience to set the record straight. Dad never would give up on a job before it was done to his satisfaction.

As the chairs and tables were being put away and I walked through the snow to my car, I felt my father and the child I was had gained substance and, perhaps, came a bit closer to each other. I also smiled at the realization that we never know just how we will be remembered.

Adventures, expected and unexpected

When we set off on a cycling trip in Spain and Portugal we knew it would be an adventure. We stayed on the Wind Spirit, a motorized yacht that holds 140 people, at least, there were 140 tandem cyclists aboard on our trip.

This was the first time Santana Cycles had run the Spain/ Portugal trip so there were a few kinks to be ironed out. Bill McCready, the leader of the trip and owner of Santana Cycles, is very good at getting things back on track when they look like they're about to go sideways. There was the time that the ship couldn't get into the port and we were all on shore with our bikes. Bill arranged to rent a tent where he and a couple of other Santana stalwarts spent the night with the bikes. The rest of us were tendered to the ship. Bill then managed to rent a truck to transport the bikes to the next port so they would meet us.

Another time the Spanish authorities got a little nervous because they thought that our group would be like the Tour de France closing down roads and disrupting traffic. With the help of a volunteer translator from among the cyclists, Bill managed to allay the governor's fears and we were off the next morning as planned, albeit with a fairly heavy police presence at the pier where we started.

Our last stop was Lisbon, during the NATO summit. All cars were being searched on the way into Portugal and a number of roads that we would have taken were closed. We ended up doing quite a bit of riding in traffic to get to our ship, not our favourite thing to do, but at least we've done it before and know how to do it.

All in all, the cycling wasn't the highlight of the trip for us, a few too many unknowns and a bit too much time pressure. We broke a chain the first day and that put us behind so that we missed a winery tour which, apparently, had fantastic architecture. We rode like crazy one day to make sure we got to the ship in time only to discover that we had the wrong time in our minds and the ship hadn't even arrived when we got there.

Richard says he saw a lot of Spanish pavement as we didn't really take much time in stops. The weather was perfect, for us, highs in the low 20's. Some folks from warmer climes found it chilly but I had my tights on for all of five minutes one morning before getting too hot and taking them off. We rode mostly in shorts and short-sleeved jerseys, although the wind jackets were handy first thing in the morning. The only time we used insulation clothing and our rain jackets was in Tangier where it had rained and was cooler than most of the other places we stopped. Who would have expected that?

Gibraltar was fascinating and I would like to go back and spend more time touring the tunnels. We had a wonderful storyteller/ guide whose grandfather had worked in the facility after WWII. The apes came out to show off on our way to the tour. They weren't used to visitors that early and the van drivers came equipped with goodies to feed them out the window.

Much to my delight, we had two bird surprises. In Barcelona I elected to stay in the hotel room and get some extra sleep to help me deal with a cold. When I felt better, I went wandering around the area by the hotel. I heard a squawk I recognized coming from one of the palm trees. I followed the noise and discovered the first of many Quaker nests. I spent a wonderful hour or so tracking Quakers and watching them go in and out of the huge communal nests.

On the Danube trip two years ago, I was disappointed when we elected to stay on board one day and missed seeing storks. Well, this time we saw storks in Portimao. They really are as large as people have told me!

All in all the trip was enjoyable. We'd like to return to some of the places we saw and spend time to hiking and taking photographs.

The next adventure awaits.