I am stoked about it, actually. Yup, odd as it may sound, I am all excited about a great big outdoor garage sale, surrounded by a bunch of old folks.
To clarify—that’s ‘older than me’ folks.
I can hardly wait.
The annual Veendam Sister City Association’s garage sale has become a bit of a tradition for the Hodge house, one that Tez and I look forward to every spring.
A smarter scribe would not tell you about the event—so he or she would have more time to look over all the cool stuff and then snag it. However, my conscience would get to me and I would go through all that unnecessary angst.
This annual June event has turned into a special morning for me not only because it is a great garage sale in the beautiful outdoors downtown at the Memorial Arena, but it’s also a bit of a homecoming for both of us.
While I was on city council, then-mayor Sharon Shepherd appointed me to the Veendam Sister City Committee.
Having a long family history steeped in B.C Dragoons’ military participation or traditions, and as a teenage member of the B.C, Dragoon Cadet Corp, I always knew and connected with war veterans.
To be a part of their committee as a city representative was truly an honour.
And later in my council term, I was asked to take on a different sister city portfolio, however, I remained an alternate to Veendam, group. I had the best of both worlds.
Every Christmas, Tez and I, along with my dearest friend Curtis Tulman were guests of the gala Veendam Christmas event —and it truly was a highlight of the festive season for all three of us. What gracious and inspiring people!
I must admit to being a bit of a lifelong garage sale nut, though I rarely still currently indulge. (Without a van or pickup truck one tends to miss a whole lot of great stuff).
I am a junk collector from way back, trained by one of the best.
My mom could find a reason to keep anything.
She was an arts and crafts nut and when she finally physically left this planet she left behind about seven quadrillion boxes of empty paper towel and toilet roll tubes.
“They will be good for a craft someday,” she assured me as each box was lovingly filled and stuffed into a room. But…once again I digress,
All proceeds from the group’s Saturday, June 9, event, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., go towards their worthy student exchange (to Veendam) program.
That includes money raised from their yummy hot dogs, drinks, and other goodies to munch on.
The sales and food will be great, but best of all Tez and I will get to visit with friends like Dick Gunoff and Wayne Horning, and catch up on life.
You can’t beat that on a warm spring morning.
The Veendam garage sale is a grand time and you do not want to miss it.
Please, just arrive late so I have the chance to scoop all the great books, lamps, neat lawn stuff, toys, games and food.
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Before I run out of space, Los Angeles Kings will defeat the New Jersey Devils in game seven by a 4-2 score to win their first Stanley Cup.
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I had reason to venture to the ‘Big Smoke’ last week and, once again, was amazed by the adventure. Not only was my trek to Vancouver across the spellbinding Coquihalla Highway blessed by fabulous weather and top notch road conditions, but a dear friend lent me his vehicle to make the trip. You are a good man, Graeme James.
A noon appointment meant an early departure and as I roared off into the gorgeous day, I pondered my potential trip.
Despite my fears, the sun beamed all the way to Chilliwack, where it naturally went into hiding, replaced by rain.
However, on my Vancouver departure, thankfully, the same conditions prevailed as I was blessed with sunshine all the way home once I left Chilly.
As I drove across the massive mountain range along the Coquihalla, I continued to be fascinated by the engineering, perseverance, and skill it took to create such an impressive highway through such a daunting mountain pass.
Stunning. I was constantly awed by the beauty of the trip, feeling totally inspired and blown away by our province’s beauty.
However, that awe was slammed into a cold, hard, ugly reminder of how insensitive man can be when within a few miles of home I ran into billboard hell.
The dozens and dozens of gigantic advertising billboards strewn along both sides of the highway 97 through West Kelowna and rounding Bridge Hill stand out like a tacky sore thumb.
It struck me as sad that such a fabulous drive through remarkable landscape could be so tastelessly trashed by a wall of tacky signs at my destination. How sad.
