News from Vancouver

It's been a quiet week in Vancouver, my home town on the edge of the Pacific ocean. We heard the news that Catherine, Oma's grandaughter is expecting her first child. This is quite a step in the Camfferman family as it is or will be Oma's first great-grandchild. While this is not earth shattering news it does portend well for the continuation of the species for at least one of the lines of descendants. And Cor Camfferman married Leigh Kamper and they begot 1 son and 5 daughters. The first, Annalies, the second Cora, the third Daniel who was also called Dean, the fourth, Leigh Jane, the fifth, Julia, and the sixth Marian. And lo, Leigh Jane married George Noble after much deliberation and they begot two children, Lance and Catherine. And Lance was too busy to get married but Catherine married Adam Shore a couple of years ago and now they are beginning to beget. The child is due to arrive in September, Lord willing. So, you see, it is quite an event. A lot of begetees go on to accomplish great and wonderful things after being born. Who knows what this one will do? Of course the Camfferman people have been mostly farmers, tillers of the land and milkers of cows for the past few centuries. No kings or nobles have come out yet, but who knows when it will start? At least the mother is a daughter of the Nobles, a very noble name from which surely only good can come. We await the outcome with great optimism.

Dean celebrated the passing of another year of his life. On May 17 he reached his 54th year in good health and better spirits. The family came over for dinner. As he looked around the table at his three sons and wife he realized that there would probably be no more beggeting on his part and that it was up to his offspring to continue the tradition. So, offering a silent prayer that they would all find good wives in good time he left the matter in the Maker's hands and proceeded to enjoy a delicious meal prepared by his loving wife and son. Although he has reached middle age, he hasn't yet reconciled himself to it. As far as he's concerned, he's still around 27 years of age, so when he read one of his cards which said, You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely, he smiled and agreed that the sentiments expressed in the card were not far off from his own. He looked back at the past year and realized that although he knows what he wants to do when he grows up, he still hasn't grown up - two job changes in the past year and another possible one in the near future, a one-month trip to India - these are not things that a man in his fifties does. While his contemporaries are planning their retirement he is planning his next career. So he dreams of moving to the country and building an energy efficient home out of used lumber and growing vegetables and herbs much like his generation did in the 60's. He would have done it then, but he ended up moving to the city and getting married and having children and so the dream of self-sufficiency and a slowed-down life just came a few decades late. But that's what happens when you live on the edge of the ocean with the wilderness never more than a few kilometers away. The dream is always there just over the horizon, waiting for the right set of circumstances to bring it to fruition. So, we leave him in that state. Who knows when it will happen. Stay tuned.

Brenda C. received a call from her brother, Richard. He had won a considerable sum of money in the lottery and was coming down for the weekend to collect his winnings. He's had his share of misfortune so everyone was happy to hear of this turn of events. He arrived with his wife and daughter on Friday. Meanwhile her mother and sisters came over from the island to join the celebration with the result that the Camfferman house experienced a sudden increase in population. A lot of celebrating went on for the next few days. There was dinner at a Japanese restaurant where Richard generously shared some of his newly found wealth with the family. The women were ready to shop and shop they did. By the end of the weekend Richard was looking rather the worse for wear. It's not easy when wealth is suddenly thrust upon you. But they handled it very well although by the end of the weekend he looked relieved to be heading back home again.

And so another week goes by in the life of a few members of the human race in a corner of the world where life is bitter and sweet but mostly sweet. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't seem like much and it probably isn't, but then, who knows? We go about our little lives wherever we are and we hope that we've brought sunshine into somebody's life. That's about all we can do - just take care of things where we are and leave the rest of the world to others to do their part.

That's the news from Vancouver where people are mostly about average and some are good looking.