i Dear diary: It’s been a constant worry in our home that I don’t keep a daily diary like people with real jobs do. “Tt will instil some discipline into your exist- ence,’ says one child who is full to the brim with life in the University fast lane. “Tt will be useful when you get really old and want to write your memoirs,” says another sibling who doesn’t know beans from Band-Aids but thinks memoirs might be worth a buck to my estate. “Tt will keep you out of my hair,” says Blue Eyes, who harbors a mean streak under a sunny exterior. So, in the interest of acquiring discipline, an estate and domestic bliss, some time ago I became a diarist and am pleased to share with you a whack of wishful wanderings. TODAY: I notice by the papers that my. local MLA has quit for another, and deeper, feed into the public trough. Apparently three lower echelon politicians want to take his place. One is a gul with a name like Bruce. Sort of reminds you of Johnny Cash and a boy named Sue, doesn’t it? Another girl called Boring or Uninteresting or Dull also wants the job. And the third is a fella presumably in the race as the token male. I intend to follow this byelection closely because it’s very important for a number of reasons which escape me for the moment. It’s possible that the voting is already over and I have missed the thing entirely. It’s tough to keep up with the heartbeat of a community and be a diarist too. ANOTHER DAY: Didn’t write for a few days because of a terrible pain in my writing shoulder which a local quack says is age related. What does he know? I’ll bet the young whippersnapper isn°t a day over 50. He had the gall to suggest that men my age should do slow stretching exercises every morning and not bounce straight out of bed and immediately begin vigorous brushing of the teeth. I was so mad I drove straight home and did a Guess what happened today? pushup. The next morning both arms were a little stiff so I stayed in bed until noon. Blue Eyes kindly puffed up my pillows from time to time and asked “There, there, how’s my little athlete feeling now?” : A FEW DAYS LATER: It came to me this morning that what this column needs to spice it up a bit and attract new readers are a few nature photographs. Accordingly, I picked up my trusty pin hole box and trundled off to the beach. It was a damp and drizzly day. The clouds clung from tree tops with one hand and swished the other hand back and forth along the shore and through my sweaters, sox and high-tech under woolies. Great! Perfect for mood pictures. I lay on my stomach like Gary said I should and clicked at rocks, stumps and other out-of-focus things which flew or swam into view, (Gary is a long-suffering photographer who does his best to teach local shutter snappers his professional tricks. We're trying Gary. Honest!) I must have dozed off. Luckily the tide rose and the rapid dampening of my pants woke me up in time for supper. THE NEXT DAY: I cad seem to ged my hed cleer dis mording and I sneeze aw de timb. I dod tink it’s a grade day for wriding so I tink I wait ul my hed cleers. Oday? Ho boy, here combs Blue Eyes wid sum soop. YESTERDAY: Unfortunately, there was no film in my camera the other day so the moody graphic presentations planned for future columns will have to remain merely an overexposed shutter speed in the narrow aperture of life. And as dryness slowly returns to the pants hanging on the line so does my enthusiasm mount for the exacting science of diary writing. These musings will continue against all odds. However, the children seem to have given up hope that a large estate will materialize from the sale of these memoirs and Blue Eyes says she has not noticed any falloff in the rate at which I inconvenience her. They’ll strike a different pose when the cheque for the movie rights arrives. . Not your average sfring-’em-up video A MADE-ON-SIDNEY-WATERS video offers “wholesome, non-violent education for chil- dren,” says its creator, puppeteer Livingston Kint. Kint created the 30-minute video for preschoolers, Smarty’s Marionette Circus, aboard his boat in Tseycum Harbour, Rainbow Theatre. Victorian-style marionettes do tricks to help stimulate young imaginations, says Kint, who plans to use his string-controlled friends in a movie. Messages for Kint can be left at 656-3144. * KX THE REVIEW’S newest staff member is production manager Bruce Schneider, who takes over for Koglen Moodley, now with the Business Examiner. Schneider, most recently production co-ordinator for Real Estate Victoria, is married ~ to Victoria Ald. Pieta VanDyke, and the couple have a four-year-old son, Bram. Schneider says so far he likes Sidney’s restaurants, but hasn’t had too much time to see the rest of the town. “I'll be. 29 exploring every nook and cranny,” says the history buff. 4 * kK * __HE LEFT town council last year for business and personal reasons. And now, one of Ron Kubek’s personal reasons has arrived. Congratu- lations to Ron and Joanne, who welcomed a baby girl to the family Sunday. Kubek, a former town alderman, left behind municipal politics last year. - kK x TWO MORE ITEMS were recently crossed off the wish list of the Mt. Newton Adult Day Care Centre, thanks to the Monday Bee group. The Bee ladies promised money for a refrigerator and freezer, during a pre-Christmas visit. Before that, the 10-to-15-member-strong Bee promised two stoves for the centre. In addition, a cheque for $3,000 was presented to the centre’s directors. The centre will soon move into a new building, and the Bee has contributed $16,500 to it in cash, plus the wish list items, over the past five and a half years. The Bee served patients at the adult care centre sandwiches and sweets, just after a successful three-day sale of baking and hand- crafted work at the Peninsula Community Associ- ation Christmas Craft Fair. * KK ENVIRONMENT CANADA is seeking nominations for its annual Environmental Achievement Awards in five categories: munici- pality, non-profit organization, communications, corporate and lifetime achievement. Awards will be presented during Environment Week, June 3-9. _ For further information and nomination forms — which must be postmarked no later than Feb. 15, 1990 — write or phone the Inquiry Centre, Environment Canada, 6th Floor, Place Vincent Massey, 351 St. Joseph Boulevard, Hull, Que., K1A 0H3, (819) 997-2800. The forms are, by the way, printed on paper containing recovered waste. x KK A FEW CENTS a meeting can go along way to helping others, the Sidney Lions Club proved last - year. “It adds up,” says Lion Bill Brain. Each member put a quarter in the pot each meeting — and when combined with the contributions of others in Multiple District 19, nearly $52,000 went to a CARE program for dryland farming in Indonesia. a ae HE’S RECEIVED more than 200,000 Christ- mas cards, but now it looks like the people at Guiness Publishing Ltd. don’t want him in their book. Jarrod Bosth, the young Saltspring Island cancer victim, will be off to Great Britain any way, a relative has pledged. Saanich Peninsula resi- dents helped build the card momentum, when local Lions took up the cause and set up a depot at Macleods. * * A CHRISTMAS DAY. game of crib against his brother gave Eric Sowerby of Sidney the first 29-point hand of his life. * * * TheReview Wednesday, January 10,1990 — A7 FAST MOBILE SERVICE LOCKS KEYS* ALARMS RN. AUTO — HOME — COMMERCIAL DEADBOLTS INSTALLED LOCKS RE-KEYED 656-2633 Coupon good only at B Victoria, Nanaimo and gi Courtenay BONANZA 3080 BLAN Family Restaurants. fla Bes se Steak: Chicken Seafood Salad mee Se ee e COUPON | “Shopper's Relief” Special Offer includes entree, potato delicious piping hot breads, and all-you-can-eat from our fabulous Freshtasiks Food Bar Save o1 .00