CCNA - Best Columnist, Marcus Hondro

W W W. B O W E N I S L A N D U N D E R C U R R E N T. C O M F R I D A Y J U N E 2 5 2 0 1 0 ❚ 7

#102–495 Bowen Trunk Road, PO Box 130, Bowen IslandBC, V0N 1G0

Phone: 604.947.2442Fax: 604.947.0148

Editorial: [email protected] & Classified Advertising:[email protected]

Deadline for all advertising and editorial:Monday, 4:00p.m.

www.bowenislandundercurrent.com

The Undercurrent is published every Friday by

Black Press Group Ltd. All Advertising and news copy content are copyright of the

Undercurrent Newspaper. All editorial content submitted

to the Undercurrent becomes the property of the

publication. The undercurrent is not responsible for

unsolicited manuscripts, art work and photographs. We acknowledge the financial

support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance

Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs.

Production Manager: Jaana Bjork

Contributor

MarcusHondro

Editor

MarthaPerkins

Advertising

Suzanne Carvell

Publisher

Aaron Van Pykstra

604.903.1022

SalesManager

Greg Laviolette

604.903.1013

Publication MailRegistration No. 4003110

Publications Assistance Program(PAP) no. 09531

Who are you going to cheer for? It came down to a battle of the blues in baseball. Marcus Hondro photo

Lines between winning and losing a bit blurryIt was the best of times and the worst

of times and there were tears and cheers and while the parents expect-

ed both they did not know who would scream forth the one and who would let loose the other because it all began before it ended.

It was a game.It was a game between children

and one between friends. It was to pit Bowen parent vs. Bowen parent and even Bowen brother vs. Bowen brother, for Andrew was number 6 on the Mariners and his brother Charlie number 2 on the Tigers (each the most excellent of young fellows so naturally choosing a favourite team wasn’t pos-sible for Laura and Walt).

It was two Bowen ball clubs, one off-island baseball league and but one victor to be crowned. It was life. It was life and it was the Cypress Park Little League Minors 2010 Championship final game on Friday, June 18 at Cypress Park East.

It was tense.It was not hard to get a good quote.

“I want us to win but I wouldn’t mind it if they won either,” one confused and not mentally sound dad said. “I mean, let’s put it this way: I will not be disap-pointed if they win but only I hope my kid doesn’t cry too much. Or throw his helmet. Or throw a bat.

“Especially not a bat.”It was not hard to find a controversy,

either; it came as easily as controversy

comes to Bowen. Just a simple getting together is all that’s required and it hap-pened when the speedy Wilson Dives got together with the first base bag. It was Wilson flying down the base path and staking a claim to first with author-ity, this the same fellow who one game

gained nearly all the ter-ritory between 3rd base and home plate and with but one step to go decided it prudent to turn and flee back to the more comfortable environs of 3rd where, sadly, he was called out.

It was not to be out this time, for safe he was called and the parents on the one side thought

Wilson out by a mile and those of the other said it was close, a tie, he was indeed safe. It was not up for debate for there he was happily dancing upon the bag with the umps blessing and he stayed long enough for a breather before scampering around and tying the game.

It was exciting.It was not hard to find human error,

either, for just as Dawson Taylor made a catch at third a father from the other team swallowed a bug. “It just flew right in my mouth as I was watching Awesome Dawson make that grab,” he reports. “I gulped and it was gone. It was good.”

It was easy to find heroes: Nathan

Taylor catching a ball in right and then firing it to first base; Romeo ‘the Moose’ Minoose throwing so hard the ball seemed no bigger than a pea; Duncan ‘The Beale Boy’ Beale pitching strike after strike for inning after inning; Thomas ‘The Tiger’ Sproule determined-ly swinging and igniting an important rally; Mait Davis slamming a liner to the field; Keelan ‘Stig Jo-Handsome’ Hondro hovering about a high pop fly until the last moment then diving back-wards, catching it and falling right onto his buttocks.

It was painful.It was also easy to find those who in

all the excitement didn’t give a hoot: Dominic and Jeremiah running amok as brothers that age are happy to do, rarely bothering to pay attention, though Mom Megan had them look when big bro Kieran got up to bat. Friends Sophie and Jewel dividing their time between watching brothers Romeo and Isaac play and playing themselves, with more of the latter than the former.

It was full of spirit, too - indeed one team had a player named Spirit - a kind of special spirit that comes from each side wanting to win but neither wanting the other to lose and when one did the one and the other did the other there were tears and cheers and it was the best of times and the worst of times.

And it was fun.

[email protected]@bowenislandundercurrent.com

Slow Lane

Marcus Hondro

PETER DRAKE

B I C O N S E R V A N C Y

July 1 is coming soon. Have you started making your birdhouse for the Canada Day Backyard Birdhouse Building Contest?

Remember there are cash prizes for the ones that our panel of judges select as the best suit-ed for Bowen’s native birds.

Two age classes will be judged: adults and children. Prizes will be given for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Winning birdhouses will later be published in the Undercurrent newspaper.

Judging criteria includes two main catego-ries:

• Construction - design, aesthetics, materials, quality and ease of maintenance

• Biology - species, dimensions, entrance, function and intended location

The Bowen Island Conservancy encourages you to participate in the birdhouse contest as a way of contributing personally to biodiver-sity

Contest questions can be addressed by call-ing Josephine Riley at 604-947-0747. Local bird enthusiasts, nature groups and the wealth of internet resources can help you with birding questions.

MARTHA PERKINS

E D I T O R

Lorne Warr’s tribute to island life has made it to the finals of the Gulf Islands songwriting contest.

Warr’s song, Back to the Island Again, was one of three finalists chosen at the regional championships in Courtney recently.

That means that on Friday, July 23, Warr will perform the song in front of a panel of judges, include folk icon Murray McLaughlin, at the Islands Folk Festival in Duncan. If he wins, the prize includes studio time, publicity and airplay.

Warr wrote Back to the Island for the Spirit of Bowen songwriting contest that celebrated the Olympic Torch Run this past February. When he heard about the Gulf Islands song-writing contest, he slightly rejigged the song. Instead of telling his audience how glad he was to be returning to Bowen Island, he now sings about going back to “the” island.

“What I try to do is capture a mood or emo-tion,” says Warr, a professional musician who followed his heart to Bowen Island. “With this song, it was the feeling of coming home. I hope it captures that emotion.”

Warr grew up in Newfoundland, where music was part of everyday culture. “There’s a tradition of re-creating your life through music.”

Newfoundland is an island but it’s also a vast territory; Bowen Island has introduced him to another kind of island life. “The geog-raphy determines a lot of your life here - it shapes your life,” he says.

Details can be found at www.folkfest.bc.ca. Meanwhile, a video of Warr singing Back to the Island Again, can be found at www.bowenislandundercurrent.com

Island song reaches finals

Build your birdhouse

W W W. B O W E N I S L A N D U N D E R C U R R E N T. C O M F R I D A Y J U LY 9 2 0 1 0 ❚ 7

DOCK DANCEJULY 31ST, 2010

tickets: $20available from any fi refi ghter

BOWEN ISLAND VOLUNTEER F IREFIGHTERS

19TH ANNUAL

604-947-GOLF (4653)Website: www.bowengolf.com

Bowen Is land Gol f Course Is Now

Family-Friendly

WE HAVE:Installed children’s tees so that children start closer to the green.

Designated Fridays after 4:00 PM as Family-Friendly.

Established a Friday family fee that makes a round affordable. $15 per adult and $10 per child, which includes a hot dog and pop per player

Open to the public

Was your photo in the

Undercurrent? You can buy a copy by going

onto the newspaper’s

website. Look for Photo

Store in the top right corner.

Summer is a good time to write about the annual extravaganza we collectively create called

Christmas, or at least it is for my inten-tions because I should like to argue that Christmas needs changing and it is bet-ter for my cause if the Yuletide emotions you possess lie dormant.

So if you can tolerate Christmas in July then please bear with me.

Now much like Marx said about the revolution, I believe the changing of Christmas shall not come until the masses are ready to rise up against it but my hope burns as bright as the star atop Charlie Brown’s tree that the time is near upon us. Indeed, if after digest-ing this just one of you becomes will-ing to work toward the amelioration of Christmas then devoting this Slow Lane to that end will have been worth it.

It is my belief that at its contempo-rary heart, Christmas is more an abyss of commercial excess than it is a holiday intended to celebrate humanity. It is an all-consuming vortex our culture will-ingly gets sucked into, without fail, each and every year. It is there in the dis-tance and then it is coming and then it gets closer and closer still and then sud-denly it is here and poof! - gone.

In its wake? Conflict, debt, exhaus-tion, broken toys and a sickly feeling at the thought of ever hearing Bing Crosby sing anything again.

It seems that instead of using our words and our deeds to express love we use December 25 and costly gifts or greeting cards with loopy or often maudlin verses. Kids will get 20 or more gifts, from aunts, uncles, cousins, grand-parents, siblings, neighbours, friends, schoolmates, parents and Santa himself. All of that for an uncomprehending six-year-old who in days past would’ve got a train set or doll, some socks and maybe an Etch-a-Sketch.

In 2005 Canadians spent over $36 bil-lion on Christmas, or 845 bucks each. This buying of gifts and other holiday stuff like decorations and extra booze - as if we need more booze! - leads many no-longer-so-merry Canadians into financial chaos.

Which makes it difficult to have a Happy New Year.

Now I must confess that I’m called the Christmas Grump around my house for thinking all of this but I like to think of myself as the Holiday Season Voice of Reason. Besides, I argue only with readers who feel Christmas should con-tinue as it is, for I do not seek to banish Christmas but to make it better.

And I have a plan.I suggest we celebrate Christmas

like we do another mega-event, the Olympics: once every four years and then only in a host country. Each coun-try would send along teams of their best Christmas celebrants - my wife would make a fine contestant - to compete in holiday-related events while the rest of us could watch Christmas on television.

In the celebrating country, comple-tive Christmas events would be along the lines of seeing who could send out the most greeting cards to people they otherwise have no contact with what-ever, or who could manage the sincerest thank you after opening a present they intend to re-gift, return, recycle or relin-quish to a closet.

And why not? After all, my scenario would be cheaper, less time consuming and far less stressful. And the kids won’t get overexcited and squeeze the cat or topple the tree or forget to say thank you after opening gifts of clothes (all of which I have witnessed my son do).

And if that idea’s time has not yet come I still say this: Hooray for extol-ling the virtues of peace and love in a year-end celebration but let us tone down Christmas, let us make Christmas more about togetherness than commer-cial excess. And by way of a conclusion I propose we create a website, www.letustonedownchristmas.com where we can share ideas and together seek ways to express love without stressing out our December, going into financial debt and spoiling our children.

So I speak now to that one reader who’s joined me and I ask you to cre-ate that website - after all, I’m simply an idea man - and thereby help to start the amelioration of Christmas. Because surely a little less Christmas will go a long way to making us all a lot more merry.

Thank you for your time and have a great summer.

The amelioration of Christmas... in July


Slow Lane

Marcus Hondro

Dear Editor,

I wanted to thank the Undercurrent for publishing my article on my Canada World Youth fundraiser in the June 25th paper.

I would also like to give a huge thank you to Sally and Hugh Freeman for hosting the event and for opening up their beautiful gar-den to so many guests. I think everyone really enjoyed the afternoon.

I have to say that working with Sally Freeman was amazing. She swiftly and suc-cessfully put together a beautiful fundraiser and gave me so much helpful advice along the way. I learned a lot working with her. Thank you Sally.

I was lucky enough to raise $845, bringing me almost to my goal of $2,800!

My final thank you is to all my donors thus far; your support has meant so much!

Rebecca Dumbrille-Meyrink

The three judges of the Bowen Island Conservancy’s backyard birdhouse build-ing contest - Hans Behm, Billi Gowan

and Graeme Dinsdale - hereby announce the prize winners.

Adult category: 1st - John Riley; 2nd - Bowen Island Golf Course; 3rd - Glen Bagshaw.

Family category: 1st - Thomas Bement; 2nd - Phillip Bement; 3rd - Bryan Hanen

We all had a fun day examining and critiqu-ing the birdhouses on display in Crippen Park on Canada Day.

There will be some happy birds nesting next year in elegant custom-built accommodation!

Many thanks to those who entered a bird-house in the contest and congratulations to the prize winners.

Peter Drake, ChairBowen Island Conservancy

CWY fundraiser a success

Birds have nice new homes

W W W. B O W E N I S L A N D U N D E R C U R R E N T. C O M F R I D A Y J U LY 2 3 2 0 1 0 ❚ 5

#102–495 Bowen Trunk Road, PO Box 130, Bowen IslandBC, V0N 1G0

Phone: 604.947.2442Fax: 604.947.0148

Editorial: [email protected] & Classified Advertising:[email protected]

Deadline for all advertising and editorial:Monday, 4:00p.m.

www.bowenislandundercurrent.com

The Undercurrent is published every Friday by

Black Press Group Ltd. All Advertising and news copy content are copyright of the

Undercurrent Newspaper. All editorial content submitted

to the Undercurrent becomes the property of the

publication. The undercurrent is not responsible for

unsolicited manuscripts, art work and photographs. We acknowledge the financial

support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance

Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs.

Production Manager: Jaana Bjork

Contributor

MarcusHondro

Editor

MarthaPerkins

Advertising

Suzanne Carvell

Publisher

Aaron Van Pykstra

604.903.1022

SalesManager

Greg Laviolette

604.903.1013

Publication MailRegistration No. 4003110

Publications Assistance Program(PAP) no. 09531

My trip to my audition earlier this week naturally began on

our beloved Queen of Cap; I took the Tuesday, July 19, 9:30 a.m. sailing. I dressed poorly because I was auditioning for a guy who doesn’t shower often and is dirty, lives in an old country shack and rarely does anything.

So it was typecasting then.My wife doesn’t sit with me on the

ferry when I’m dressed poorly but she wasn’t there. The Boy was and though

he don’t care how I dress he doesn’t like me using nicknames for other kids. Travis Haggerstone, Amos Rosen and the daycamp were on the ferry– The Great Robinovitch, Dancing Duncan the Beale Boy, the brother of Dal Dal the Human Pal, Madeline Manymoons etc. – and after hearing me reel off those names he bolted and careened about knocking over his fellow passengers and such.

I sat where his Excellency Paul Stewart usually juggles and thought about how I should like to do a column from up where the ship is, you know, driven or steered. If I get to, I’ll ask them to turn the ship around every now and again so the cafeteria end faces Horseshoe Bay and the elevator end faces Snug Cove. The variety would be nice and they could turn it back around after a couple of days. Surely the ship doesn’t care which end is in the lead.

So anyhow, the character I’m reading for is named Spit and he’s a brilliant person – see what I mean by typecast-ing? – but no longer believes in the world as a functional place (again with the typecasting). There are three rea-sons the actor might dress poorly for an audition like this:

1. It’s helpful for you to get into character; wearing a suit obviously wouldn’t do that.

2. It’s good to give directors a taste of how you’d look, though mustn’t go overboard.

3. Regardless of the part many actors only earn enough from the craft to dress poorly.

Here’s a couple of my lines from the audition: “Kinda smells in here, doesn’t it? Guess it doesn’t help it’s been a few weeks since I showered.” I delivered that and the other lines well and felt fine about it. The most inter-esting thing however was the actor that went in before me. The guy actually had an assistant who carried stuff for him, got him some water and did other things. I can see that with somebody famous like, you know, Reese Witherspoon or even a Steve Buscemi, but not someone who’s competing with me for parts. Further, when the actor’s name was called and he stood to walk into the room, his assistant got up and applauded until the door closed; then he just sat back down.

“Huh,” I said, but he didn’t reply.I should like to get my wife to come to studios and

carry my things and stand and applaud when I go into the room. She’s nearby and I’m gonna ask her if she’d do it. Here we go....

That would be a no.So that was the audition experience for the day.

We picked up a grandbean, Mister Smuggle, and the Boy watched him on the ferry while I sat with Susan MacLaren and Al Boysen. The ball league did the tourna-ment draw and Al and I agreed that teams want to play his team and mine, the Cruisers and the Celtics, as we’re, oh...less good. Still it’s sort of almost possible one of us might potentially maybe have a chance (albeit small) to win the tourney.

Happily I have a much better chance of booking my audition.

Dressed poorly, looking for applause


Slow Lane

Marcus Hondro

To the Editor:

We just wanted to share our great pleasure in being part of this year’s PPP Tour. We must admit to having trepidations about being included in this year’s roster of homes and gardens, and know that others were dubious about the choice of our garden. But putting our property on the tour made us go the extra mile to create a gar-den that we hoped would really interest people. We had a fantas-tic time meeting everyone involved in making this event possible and the guests that came through our home and garden. We have nothing but praise for all the volunteers, from the sign and shuttle folks, to the ticket takers, greeters and photographers--extraordi-nary people who gladly gave up their time to make this weekend a great success. We send a heart felt thank you for such dedication and organization, and look forward to seeing some familiar faces in the future.

Deborah Hawksley & David Litzenberger

To the Editor:

Kudos to Dave Witty, Sue Ellen Fast, council, and the members of the OCP update committee. The newest draft of our island’s de-fact-constitution -- which council accepted for first reading on Monday night -- is a document that a great number of islanders can throw their support behind. It calls on the municipality to begin planning a safe, dedicated bicycle and pedestrian trail network, and it rec-ognizes that the most effective way to deal with our relatively high carbon footprint is by protecting our green spaces and focusing our growth in the cove. The update also encourages us all to start think-ing of our waste as a valuable resource, promotes rainwater harvest-ing for potable uses, and endorses a community centre and a wider variety of housing forms that will offer badly-needed options for our young families, service workers, and downsizing seniors. Good stuff! This is what thoughtful and collaborative governance looks like. Thanks to all who have played a role to date.

James Glave for TRUE GREEN: Solutions for Bowen

Hosts had fantastic time

The Hawksley-Litzenberger property offered a stunning view, Cornet photo.

To the Editor:

The 2010 People Plants and Places Tour has come and gone. It has been a true Bowen Island community event and a great success. It reflects the dedication and enthusiasm of all our volunteers involved from the initial planning to the tour’s completion and I want to recognize their outstand-ing efforts.

First we want to recognize our hosts, If it wasn’t for them, we would not even have a tour. All the work they put in to make their homes and gar-dens great places to visit was greatly appreciated and commented on. Many thanks go out to: Marie Rogers and Lindsay McDonnell and their train friends, Gordon Campbell and Wendy Bower, Eileen Booth and Dirdre, Noel and Jennifer Cormack, Richard and Zazue Pearson, Ian and Charlotte Townsend-Gault, David Litzenberger and Deborah Hawksley and our gracious picnic site hosts Roger & Pat Mitts.

The nearly hundred volunteers and master gardeners who worked the sites and on traffic on Saturday and Sunday are not forgotten. All of you made our guests’ visits all the more enjoyable. We could not have succeeded without you. We received many compliments upon how friendly and helpful everyone was . Although there is not room to name names I still want to convey my thanks to one and all.

A special thanks also goes out to Caroline Walker of The Flower Shop for selling on our behalf. The ticket selling and assistance provided by Heather, Mariah, Rebekah and Sarah of the Museum and Archives did not go unnoticed and it was a pleasure to work with you all. I would also like to thank the eateries, garden centre and gas station for displaying our order forms. I will not forget to thank Liz Watson for her colourful art-work we used on our posters. Also, the support provided by all the folks at The Bite, Moat and the Undercurrent, thanks a million, folks.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to this year’s steering committee. Our team consisted of: Jacqueline Bakker, Jacqueline Bell- Irving, Ian Henley, Nairn Knipe, Dorothy Lawson, Mary Letson, Lois Meyers Carter, Alison Morse, Isabel Otter, Barry Seims, Beverly Underhill and myself. It was a great team effort. We pulled it off with great success. It was a pleasure to work with every one of you. In fact the tour was such a success that I have received a phone call from one of our visitors who wanted to know when the 2011 tour was so she could book a B&B for next year’s tour.

Finally, a great many thanks to all those people who purchased tickets and came on the tour. This tour is the major fundraiser for the Bowen Island Memorial Garden Society and the Bowen Island Historians (Museum and Archives).

My sincere apologies if I’m missing anyone. See you next year on July 16 & 17.

Van HaydenChair, 2010 Bowen Island PPP Tour

To the Editor: Re: Undercurrent article titled Councillors

spend the day - Ferries Who in their right mind, would suggest the

possibilities of reducing the number of Bowen sailings? Does he or she not realize that the lat-est figures show that rush hour sailings are cur-rently 58 per cent overloaded?

Erwen Smith

Outstanding efforts recognized

OPC update is good stuff!

Rush hour sailings overloaded

More letters on page 9

CCNA - Best Columnist, Marcus Hondro

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