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Barris Beat

Cruise-In 2013

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This 1961 Metropolitan Nash was the featured classic car at Thursday’s Cruise-In Car Show in Uxbridge.

If your travels have taken you by the Uxbridge arena Thursday evenings, over the summer, you might have been drawn into the parking lot by the colour, the commotion or just the sheer number of cars. That is, of course, if you could find a spot to park. All summer long the extra daylight, the warm evenings and word-of-mouth, have brought classic-car buffs to the arena by the hundred to show off their prized possessions.

In fact, last Thursday night, I asked one of the organizers of the Cruise-In car show, Rob Holtby, how many exhibiters had driven in.

“Oh, there’re 250 cars here tonight,” he said. “Yes, it’s getting so popular, we’re even outgrowing this space.”

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Barris Beat

Friend in need

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Mustafa Ahmed in a spoken word performance. Photo SpeakOutPoetry.

Five days from now, he and a lot of young people in Canada will wrap up their summer holidays. They’ll all be putting away their T-shirts, cut-offs and flip-flops and starting to wear school shirts and pants again. Instead of baseball gloves or tennis rackets, they’ll all be carrying their smart phones and backpacks full of textbooks again. Only this teenager I met from Toronto’s inner city, last week, has something in addition to school on his mind.

“There are friends out there who bring real benefit to your life,” he said this week, “and there are friends who don’t. It’s important to know who your real friends are.”

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Barris Beat

Play is the thing

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The Bonner Boys Splash Park earlier this past week, before the official opening – Sunday, August 18, 2013.

Recently, my daughter took her children to the park area just west of the arena in our town. Enjoying the last days of my summer holidays, I joined them. The kids seemed pretty excited, but that’s what being a kid is all about – looking forward to the next adventure. Anyway, when they arrived at the hillside beyond the arena, they saw the animated figures and waterworks flowing. My grandson’s remark kind of summed it up.

“Wow!” was all he said. And he just repeated, “Wow!”

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Barris Beat

Principles worth competing for

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Diane Jones (Konihowski) in full flight over hurdles early in her career. University of Saskatchewan photo.

She said it was one the most difficult decisions of her life. She weighed every option. She considered the reactions of her peers. She wondered what other Canadians might think of her, that her choice might turn fellow citizens against her at the time she most needed their support. She agonized over it as she prepared for perhaps the greatest opportunity of her career.

“I considered giving up my Canadian citizenship,” she told me back in the 1980s at her home in Saskatchewan.

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Barris Beat

Morning delight

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Sanitary truck at work, photo Miller Waste Management.

It’s one of the best feelings of the week. In our part of town, it usually happens Tuesday. I get up pretty early each day it happens. I make sure everything’s just so; sometimes I partly prepare things the night before. Then, about the middle of the morning, (since I’m on holidays this week, I’m actually around to see it happen) there’s that visit. There’s that telltale engine roar and sudden stop in front of my house. Sometimes it comes with a friendly wave.

“Have a nice day,” the guy in the Miller Waste truck says.

“You too,” I answer.

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Barris Beat

A prince by any other name

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The new arrival – a “royal” entry.

Everybody was buzzing about it. There had been a new arrival. We knew it was a boy. But nobody knew what he would be called. We were all breathless with speculation. Then after a couple of days, we saw the announcement from the parents on social media.

“All right,” the mother said by text. “It’s official. Tell the press and the paparazzi. We have a name…”

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Barris Beat

Township crown jewels

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1967 tree planting crew (l – r) Theodore Kontozoglus (my grandfather), Colin Kaiser, Allan Bourne, myself and Michael Clancy. Oh yes, he’s holding a bundle of 2,000 seedling evergreens.

One spring weekend in 1967, I managed to convince several of my friends to accompany me to the family’s property in the country. The weather forecast promised to be sunny and warm. My mom promised some of her renowned Greek cuisine. My dad said he’d allow us a few beers at the end of the work day.

“Work day?” one of my friends, Michael Clancy, wondered.

“Yeah, just a bit of planting,” I said, “about two thousand evergreen trees.”

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Barris Beat

Summer rite of passage

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This week, summer settled in. The news isn’t worth reading for a while. The backyard is halfway between being under some control and being taken over by weeds. Any songbirds that are coming, have come. A lot of neighbours have disappeared to their cottages. I’ve slipped into a summer break like a pair of favourite sandals. Then, the other day, my daughter dropped by.

“Taking two of the kids to summer swimming camp,” she told me.

“Yup. It’s summer,” I sighed.

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Barris Beat

Four score and seven years ago

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This painting entitled “Confederate Standard Bearer” (by Don Trolani) is the emblem for the 10th Louisiana Regiment re-enactors of Canada. Their members joined the re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg on the 150th anniversary.

They wore uniforms highlighted in grey, and broad-brimmed army slouch hats. They carried tents, kit sacks, ammunition and Enfield rifles considered state-of-the-art during the American Civil War. They were troops of the Confederate Army of General Robert E. Lee. And last weekend they were defeated by the Federal Army of General George G. Meade in a re-enactment of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. To my surprise, several Canadians were among the Confederate re-enactors, including Lesley Peplinski, of Paris, Ontario.

“I am the colour sergeant for the 10th Louisiana Regiment,” she told me between re-enactment stages of the famous battle. “And it’s historically accurate.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Summer is music to my ears

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Drummer and Lighthouse band leader Skip Prokop epitomized music in the summer in Canada with 1972 hit song/album “Sunny Days.”

I have lots of thoughts associated with this time of year. Most are memories of the beginnings of summers past. The smell I most relate to this time of year is that of a high school locker; this time, it had to be cleaned out right to the bottom. The sight I most associate with early summer is an open road. It seemed with the first of July we drove to a cottage, a farm, maybe a campground. And the sound? Yes, mosquitoes, but mostly…

“Sittin’ in the sun and listenin’ to rock and roll,” sang Skip Prokop. “Sunny, sunny, sunny days…”

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