The past ten days have been eventful. I’ve attended a 60th birthday party, funerals of old friends, searched for a western Union depot in our area, had our car hit by a huge deer, interviewed the new BC Premier, attended a jewelry party with delicious treats by Sarah Parry, a baking fundraiser at the Scotia Bank and picked up a cheque from the Fernie Fire Fighters. I was kidnapped early one morning for a breakfast party, met the famous Chef Bernard from Kimberly, attended meetings, hosted out of town guests and went to the library to hear two award winning writers read. These are just highlights, one thing I can say about life, it definitely isn’t boring.

Happy 60th Birthday wishes go to Fil Roccamatisi, Condolonces to the Scarpelli family on the sudden loss of their father Frank. I met Frank when I was just a child, Frank or Ciccio as he was fondly called was a longtime friend of our family. Frank was always the life of a party; he will be missed by everyone especially for his singing of Old Italian folk songs and dancing the “tarantella”. Years ago Fernie had a large Italian population that made for great times when we all got together at weddings or parties. Today, there is only a handful of my parent’s generation left; saddest is that when all from that generation have passed most of the old customs and traditions will also be gone, especially after my generation has died. Our children, born and raised here are very much Canadian and most don’t even speak the Italian language although some like my daughters do keep a tradition of some Italian Christmas baking.

Some of the older Italians receive pensions from Italy for the years they lived and worked in their birth country. This year the Italian government decided each pensioner needed to present themselves with several pieces of identification to Western Union that would provide the May pension cheque. There is no longer a Western Union that does this in Fernie; this is a service that Fernie definitely needs to offer, although I’m told that you can send money transfers though the Scotia Bank but they can’t give cash back to you.

I was thrilled that the staff of the Scotia Bank in Fernie donned miner’s hat and clothing and blackened their faces to put on a fundraiser for the Miners Walk. They raised over $1100 dollars but more importantly they showed a degree of caring and community spirit that was a great boost to the fundraising effort for this project. Special thanks to this terrific group of people from the steering committee and special thanks to the many that have already donated funds, contributed to the planning of the project, donated accomodations, expertise, advice, the team doing the actual work of planning, art and fabrication, writing, research, site and project managing. A project like this doesn’t happen without a lot of people’s involvement. Right from the beginning we have had people step forward to help the steering committee move forward. People like Nic Milligan, Carrie Schaeffer from CBT, Simon Howse, Mike Delich, Stanford Inn, Adam Rigby, Chuck Shoesmith, Summit Lift, Terry Nelson and Jim Hendricks from the City. Mike Sosnowski was the first one to make a grant happen from the Regional District that gave us the ability to keep the designer Lorne Perry and then bring on board graphic artist Pepper Couelle- Sterling, artist Ali Clark and writer David McIntyre. Bill Bennett helped to get another grant from a provincial ministry. The City of Fernie was next with a grant in aid, when the $100,000 from Teck was awarded that became the catalyst for more fundraising that has culminated in donations by Finning, Crowsnest Pass Coal Mining Ltd, CIBC Bank, Scotia Bank, RCR Summit Fund, Best Western and Schickedanz, P&H and others.

Of course the publicity that Dave Hamilton from the Free Press, Krista and Vanessa from the Fernie Fix, Dan Savage of fernie.com and Pierre Dupont of fernietv.com and others have provided is invaluable There is a push right now for everyone to become involved by donating fifty dollars towards a brick that will have their name or that of a loved one on it. These bricks will line the walkway along the exhibit and will provide a very personal touch to the whole area. Please do consider getting a brick, it will be a lasting legacy as well as showing that you cared enough to contribute to this worthwhile exhibit that will honor mining past and present and also educate visitors young and old to the geology, legends and resources of our area.

The Fernie Fire Fighters need praise as well; they chipped in to buy nine bricks in memory of comrades and chiefs that have passed on. Dave Kurschenska presented me with a $450.00 cheque and issued a challenge to other unions to do the same. Our Fire Department can always be counted on to go the extra mile to help out with any project in Fernie, Thank you for your continued support.

My Sorority group planned a goodbye party for a member that has moved to Calgary. It was to be an evening event for Carla Hogan but early Saturday morning my husband opened the door to a group of women in their nightclothes who had dropped by to kidnap me for a breakfast party. I was given time to throw on a robe and brush teeth while sternly warned not to wash face or comb hair. My husband asked where we were going and I surely blanched when they said it was the Park Place Lodge. It might have been a sight to have women dressed in night attire and uncombed hair show up for breakfast but luckily for us after the last one was kidnapped we were taken to the home of Alice Ferrarelli where we were treated to a sumptuous breakfast of fresh fruits, yogurt, muffins, sweet breads, toast, ham, sausages, eggs and cheeses. Ellen McCauley and Alice provided a most wonderful meal while the rest of us sat back and enjoyed visiting with Carla.

I took my visiting friend Lydia to the library for a reading by award winning author Leslie Vryenhoek, author of “Gulf” published by Fernie’s Oolichan Publishing owned by Randal Macnair. She read selections of poems from the book, “A neighbourhood, no matter/ how known, will not slip whole/into your knapsack”. A graceful woman, Leslie said she is American born but now a Canadian through and through who truly appreciates the Canadian feeling. As Canadians many of us don’t realize the difference that exists between the two because on the surface we seem so similar. It was interesting to me to have someone from the USA who purposely chose to become a Canadian. Her poems are wonderful easy to listen to and touch the heart and mind deeply.

AJ Somerset, author of Combat Camera published by Biblioasis, also an award winning writer read excerpts from his book. I read that when asked by an interviewer to describe his book in “six words” he responded by saying “yesterday’s man, nobody’s daughter, redemption unlikely”. Somerset has a background of being a photographer, a soldier, a programmer and a writer. This novel took him seven years to write and is certainly worth reading.

Meeting Premier Christy Clark was fun; she is bubbly and approachable, answering questions honestly making the interview easy. She spoke about losing her father and mother and that being able to care for her dying mother at home with her was the greatest gift her mother could have given her. She also spoke about being a single parent and understanding how difficult it is to get childcare. This seems to be something important to her so perhaps change might actually happen in the future. Childcare availability means a great deal, parents need to know their children are getting safe care, right now there is a shortage of affordable and safe childcare facilites in BC. The Premier emphasized families first in her campaign but this is something that she has long stated since the early days of her political carrier.