Marie is in Terrace

All credit to Marie (or perhaps her friend Michelle) for the photos.

My sister is up in our hometown for the BC Day long weekend.  Well, the holiday weekend is more coincident - she's not there for the holiday, per se, but for her 40-year high school reunion.  From the brief chat we had yesterday, it sounds like the event itself is, well, not surpassing her modest expectations.  Ah well.

But the more interesting thing to talk about, I think, is the town itself.  Terrace, BC.  I've gotten used to people in the US not having a clue as to where it is, and heck, even folks in BC don't always know.  And it's not a little isolated village of 200 people on some gravel road hours from the main highways or something.  I mean, it's not large either, but it's on a TransCanada Highway (the Yellowhead 16), and there are some 12,000 people there.  Small, far from Vancouver (840 miles/1350 km by car), but not so out there in the grand scheme of things.

Or maybe I just think that because I lived there for so much of my life!

I haven't been up there since my last high school reunion, back in 2018.  I may go in two years, we shall see - I didn't think the last reunion was all that great, and I think I'd like to see the town a little more on my terms rather than with an event driving things.  What I recall from the last visit, though, is that the town was still familiar but that so much of it had changed.  A friend I had at the time chided me for expressing that, and I found it hard to explain to him what I meant, not at all what he thought, that I was saying Terrace shouldn't have changed.  Of course it should change.  It changed while I lived there, for goodness' sake!

But it is disorienting to go back and see the place and know that you are from there but you are not longer of there.  It is weird to have the memories of places imposed over the current reality.  And it is encouraging to see some changes and sad to see others.  Nostalgia really hits hard, you know.

I don't trash talk my hometown.  I won't even resort to the patronizing "it was a great place to grow up" language that people use when they really want to say "I was glad to get the heck out of there" or far less kind things.  Terrace has a beautiful setting and so many people there who were important to my life at various points.  But Marie left in 1987, and she has barely been back.  I left 11 years later, and it's much the same thing for me.  A part of me will always feel a part of Terrace, and I take pride in and comfort from that.

Alright, enough of that.  In the meantime, enjoy some photos of the Terrace area and more (including our childhood home) courtesy of my sister. 

back to Terrace (well, virtually)

A lazy Friday night at home alone for me. I've puttered around, doing little bits of this and that and not anything very productive at all. Christmas music has been my soundtrack, too. Yes, I know it's August, thank you.

This will be a good weekend to catch up on the blog postings; that is, get some more photos posted with likely minimal commentary. Rest assured, I hope also to bake this weekend, and I will be sure to blog that, too. For now, though, let's revisit my hometown. Virtually, of course.

Up first, some shots of the old and new Skeena bridges, taken during the few sunny hours of the Friday afternoon of our visit.

Note all the fishermen around Ferry Island. Word had it that someone took a 75 pound salmon out of the Skeena only a week earlier.

We also swung by the Farmer market site. I know, it looks desolate on a Friday. A barren lot, weed-choked in places.Truly, though, the Market is THE social happening each week of the summer.


Saturday morning was a different scene altogether, and we dropped by to say hello to Greer. She and Anya (not in town when we visited) run a gourmet dog biscuit and coffee stand, making their own biscuits, in fact. Nice to see the customers flocking round her.

On Sunday we had a late morning coffee out at Lakelse Lake with Sandra and Wayne. Long time friends, they are renting the little red cabin for use throughout the year. I was envious, in fact. The cabin was very cute, very comfortable. The day was warm, the sun was shining, and the lake was oh-so inviting. Too bad we hadn't time for a dip, or for a leisurely day spent hanging out. Next time, maybe?






Now that I think about it, these three sets of photos sort of highlight some of the things that make Terrace a very attractive and wonderful place to live. I have no regret leaving there, but based on these, I hope it's obvious that I hardly had cause to complain about living there either.

my Terrace life (more or less) in 12 photos

Backing up once again - I'm way behind on blogging thanks to hectic days and nights and more travel since the reunion weekend. Right now? I'm on Maui. Conrad is presenting at a conference here this morning, so I've joined him for a few days. Badly needed ones, in fact. Don't laugh.

Anyway, while he's off doing engineer activities (and let me add that I am immensely proud that he has been invited to speak at this conference) for the morning, I'm going to catch up on blogging, shop a bit, then meet him at lunchtime for an afternoon of laziness on the beach our hotel overlooks.

So, backing up, as I said. The recent reunion weekend was the first time I'd been back in my hometown in 5 years. Much has changed, but I was still able to re-show Conrad a number of the significant Terrace landmarks in my twentyish years there.

We moved to Terrace from Calgary in January, 1976. Yes, I am that old. I was midway through kindergarten, and we lived in this house we rented on Loen. I think it was later that year we moved to a newly-built house on Scott and lived there for most of the rest of my years in the town. Dad, meanwhile, eventually bought and settled into a home on Thomas after he and Mum split up.

From kindergarten to grade 3, it was a walk (or bike ride) a few blocks east to E.T. Kenney Primary School. I can recall my teachers' names, the lay out of the school at the time, the really cool playground that was built partway through my time there.

From grades 4 to 7 it was Clarence Michiel Elementary School for us, located on the same big parcel of land as E.T. Kenney. More teacher names, few playground apparatuses (hey, spell check accepts that!), the weird folding three-speed bike I used to ride to school.

No photos of Skeena Junior Secondary, where we spent grades 8 to 10. Since I left Terrace the school district has torn down the old Skeena and rebuilt a shiny new one. The new building has no meaning to me, and while we did stop to take shots of The Bench from the clear space of Skeena's palying fields, I didn't want shots of the school. We did, however, take photos of the R.E.M. Lee Theatre, home to the Skeena theatre arts productions. Conrad and I share a bit of high school drama geek background, it seems.

Next to the R.E.M. Lee (and everyone used to call it the Rem-Lee Theatre - Jeph, you'll appreciate that if you read this) was the Senior Secondary: Caledonia. Home of the Kermodes. Not an attractive building, I admit, especially not from this shot of one end of it.

In grade 11, I started an after school job of shelving books at the Terrace Public Library.
And look what THAT has bloomed into. Funny to think of now - I think I would vehemently proclaim back then that I would never become a librarian.

In adult life I worked several years at Don Diego's. In fact, the renovated building was not my experience for most of my years there. But when Conrad and I first dropped round to say hello to Annalee and Dick, the kitchen was sooooo familiar. We had lunch with Annalee the next day, sitting up at Table A. Yes, I can still remember the table numbering. Maybe I should have stayed a few extra days just to pitch in a shift or two in the kitchen or out front.

I also worked part time as an assistant swim coach (on top of spending my own time paddling back and forth in the pool), and built a nice circle of friends and activities based on the Aquatic Centre. That, too, has been renovated in the time since I left. A 3-foot shallow end? Did we really swim in that? Wow.

It's not a big town, it's not a glamorous one. I see headlines mentioning Terrace in the Vancouver or Toronto papers only when a particularly heinous crime, horrible accident, or immense weather system warrant it. All in all, though, it was as good a place to come from as any, and I hope you never catch me disparaging my roots in the town undeservedly.

everybody loves a parade

You know how (well, maybe you don't, but pretend you do) every small town has its annual celebration? Its yearly Carrot Festival or annual Hunting Hoe-Down? My hometown, Terrace, has its own: Riverboat Days.

The Saturday of the August long weekend, a parade makes its way from the 4700 block of Park Avenue, along Eby to Lakelse, then up Lakelse to the Legion Hall. I have memories of watching it - and of being in it. When I worked at the Terrace Public Library, I walked in the parade at least once, as part of a "bookworm" entry that was modeled on the Chinese dragons that have many people walking underneath. This year, I returned to the parade, this time as part of the Class of '88 entry.

Let's give credit where it deserves to go: Mitch had arranged for the truck that the kids rode in. Allan created the banners - as we waited for more people to show up, we pointed out where we all had signed them. I hope that they last right through to future reunions.

And then there's the two of the organizers who made it to the reunion. Three people pulled us together, in fact: Becca, Melaney, and Michelle. Michelle - the Olympic athlete among us - gave birth to her first child one week before the reunion. The timing and the trip over from Spain, where she lives, would have been too much too soon. Thank you to her for all she did - I credit her and Dion with being the ones who really got me interested in coming to the reunion.

Ah, but Becca and Melaney made things happen, and very well at that. They were there awaiting us all at 10:30. Others trickled along (and credit to Anita who recruited classmates from among the spectators as we walked along) before the start. Claus, Joletta, and Allan shown here.

And then we were off. How cool to see familiar faces in the crowd. And be assured, there was a crowd. Not Gay Pride in Chicago crowd, but a very encouraging turn out in a town that's not doing well economically. Jennifer had her pom poms from when she was a cheerleader 20 years ago. Someone let Liza drive. Becca was dancing away to 80's tunes.






I had fun.

Conrad managed to get some pictures of the rest of the parade,







including a Don Diego's entry! And hey, that's my former next door neighbour in the orange as part of the cluster of class of '78 grads. And that? One of the 2010 Olympic mascots taking part in the parade and staying at our hotel. That there? Sumi. I dunno - cute, but not my idea of a mascot for the Vancouver games.