Update

Below, I've posted a few of my pictures from my trip to Timmins. I thought it would be nice to share them on this blog, since, well, it is for photos. I put them up in reverse order, so as you scroll down the page, you get them in chronological order (which only matters for the last two).

Also, I've finally figured out how to position the pictures a bit (though still needs work), yay! So, I'll go back and re-position some of the others...

From This Point On...

This was my favourite stop on the trip. Here I am at the sign saying that from this point on all water flows North. I'm not even really sure how that is possible (I wasn't so good at that sort of thing at school), I just know it's cool.

Plus, to me at least, it proves that I really did go North. See, I have the photos to prove it!

Also the sign has a moose on it... This (and Morris) are as close as I came to seeing a moose all weekend...

South Porcupine

I just loved the idea of a town named South Porcupine. Did I mention how much I enjoyed this trip? So maybe interesting little things...

We stopped at a Tim Hortons to use a bathroom and I took the opertunity to have my picture taken next to the town sign, because I figured there weren't many times I'd be in a place with such an interesting name. Also, I'm a bit of a dork.

Anyway, so there you have it. I was in South Porcupine. Really.

My Outfit

Here I am, dressed for the actual wedding. I hadn't brought an appropriate outfit, so I had to borrow one from my cousin and I quite liked what she found for me.

Being me, I look exhausted in this picture. I think I slept until about 9 that morning and napped in the car... So, it wasn't really lack of sleep it was just the fact that I'm always tired, but I recovered in time to go to the wedding, which was very nice. So, in the end all was good...

An Amusing Sign

I loved this sign. "Turn at Cow". How awesome is that? I might live in a small town, but even in Castleton you don't find signs like that... Of course, there are a lot of cows here, so that might get confusing...

Of course, having seen this sign, I now had to go find the cow that was being mentioned... After all, I knew it couldn't be just any cow...

The Cow

Well, here I am at the cow. It does catch the eye, I will definitly admit that...

I love the fact that there's even a milking stool to go with the giant cow. I suppose that it's to allow tourists to take silly pictures, just like I did...

Anyway, it's neat. I don't know maybe we should trade our big apple for a giant cow... Hmmm....

New Family

Summer of 1983.

Father, Mother, and new baby.

We make a nice family, don't we? Well, I personally think I look like a minitaure Jabba the Hutt, but my parents look nice. And happy. I think they liked me.

Mom's smiling and Daddy just looks content, like everything's just how he wants it. I don't look too thrilled, but that was probably because I couldn't vocalise my feelings yet. Also, I probably hated the stupid hat.

The poses change, the outfits change (thankfully), the years pass, but the general feeling doesn't. We always look like family, like we fit.

Though, I'm not a hundred percent certain that Daddy had the best child holding tecnique, given that it looks like he's gripping me my shoulders, while I'm sorta sitting on Mom's lap (though to be fair, she does have her arm around me too). Oh, well, it wasn't I like I could complain...

Hiawatha

Summer, 2002.

My fahter at Hiawatha again. Another summer, another visit. Except this time it was just the men, the women and children had long since stopped going. But, I think that was okay with them, it meant more time to fish. Also, for my father, it meant more time to read.

Though, this picture might make you think otherwise, my father never actually fished while he was there. He admired the fish that the others caught, but he didn't do it himself. No, he stayed back and read, while the others went out on the boat, and just relaxed in the sun. His idea of the perfect vacation.

He looked forward to those few days a year. Away from work and the noise and confusion of every day life (and yes, of my mother and I). Days where he could relax in the sun in one of his favourite places with a good book, a few good friends, and maybe a fish or two.

Fishing Fun

Hiawatha, sometime in the late 80s.

We went to Hiawatha every year. It was one of my favourite places in the world and one of my favourite times of year.

Daddy loved it too, even more than I did. After all, it was a chance to be with his friends, even if he wasn't the biggest fan of the great outdoors. In this picture, he's showing off some fish he caught with Johnny and Jim Viaene (though I will state for the record that I'm sure Jim and Johnny did all the catching).

That's pretty much how I remember him always dressing. Cut-off jeans and a t-shirt with the arms cut off. He did that to all his shirts (and a couple of mine) much to my Mom's disgust. You couldn't convince him that wasn't really cool.

Still, fashion taste aside, he was having fun. But then, again, he always did...

Snack Time

Easter, 2002.

This is a pretty typical pose for my father and I--going for the food. We would always go straight for the munchies at any occasion. Or even some non-occasions. My father was always up for eating something good.

He loved his food. I think eating was one of his favourite things in the world. He always said that if he won the lottery, one of the things he'd do was make sure he never ran out of his favourite luxary foods.

He especially loved the food on special occasions, because that's when he got the really good stuff. Life his sister's cheeseballs or tarts.

He did love his food.

Kids on Rick...

This was taken sometime in the late 80s, not sure of the exact date...

Here's my father, buried under a pile of children. I'm the one front and center by the way, in the red.

My father probably actually didn't mind this. He loved kids, though this might have been a little much for him--as there are five of us and all under 5, I would guess.

Still, though I have no memory of this occasion, I can bet that he didn't protest too loudly when we all decided to pile on or near him.

I would have started it of course, being a) his child and b) the ringleader of the bunch. I would have climbed on his lap, followed by the twins and then Richard and Jenny would have climbed on where they are, and my father would probably have been laughing, even if at the point in the picture he does look a little overwhelmed.

It was one of the best things about my dad, he was fun and he liked kids and he knew how to relate to them--maybe because he never really stopped being a kid himself.

I just know that every kid I knew adored him. He was always a favourite amongst my school friends and the kids I grew up with and he seemed to like it. He enjoyed being the 'fun dad'.

Something New

Sometime in the early 80s...

The interesting thing about this picture is that until recently I'd never seen it. That said, I don't know a lot about it.

I'm not sure when it was taken, though I think it was taken at Grandma Meihm's place in Castleton and since my father has a calender in his hand, probably around Christmas time.

It's a pretty good picture of him. Relaxed, tearing into something new and interesting. I could imagine his interest in the calender, since it was a "Rock Star" calender, bound to peak his interest.

Daddy was like a kid in some ways, always eager to rip into his presents and play with them. He always wanted to open them quickly and then examinine once he'd shed the wrapping paper. It didn't matter waht the present was, a book, a cd, or a calender, if it was his, then he wanted to play with it.

So, though I don't know the full story behind this picture, I can imagine it...