March 2026

Miffed in Mexico

Hi Harvey - I am in Mazatlan for the winter. I was in the Breast Cancer Fundraising Golf tournament at El CID on January 26. A best ball fun tournament. For 100 pesos extra you can buy a coupon that gives you one kick and one throw and it doesn’t count as a stroke. There was a lunch and silent auction afterwards. All the money goes to help local ladies with their medical bills. I got to go up on the stage and get a pink rose because I am a 14 year breast cancer survivor. I am the one on the far right, with the cute pink shoes.

I enjoyed your newsletter but I have a few questions.  Why do you shovel snow at your age? It is a very dangerous thing to do. You should pay someone to do it. My husband Dave didn’t come with me this year. He didn’t feel like travelling and he has bad balance and the sidewalks here are very uneven. So I invited two ladies to come with me. I only knew them slightly from playing pickleball with them in Calgary. They are only 61, so much younger than me. I only charged them minimal rent because I thought they were coming to keep me company. It was a disaster. We have nothing in common. They don’t read, go to museums, or play any cards or games. They just wanted to go out and get drunk every night and come home and be rude and obnoxious. Of course there are two sides to every story, but I did have to ask them to leave. They found a place for the last part of the month here in this complex.

My next guests arrive tomorrow. Friends, a married couple that I have known for a long time. I might be selling my park model in Phoenix.

Abolish Ice

I wish I could attend these demonstrations!  Another great one on Ocean Beach in S.F

Peter Storen's 1953 Cadillac Green Dream

G'day Harvey,

Sadly, I rolled the beige Pontiac in B.C. in '67 after driving it out there to replace the '53 Cadillac.  Here's a photo taken in Kazabazua, Qc in 1967 of Baby Jenny and the re-bodied, beige 54 Pontiac which  I bought in 1960 for $550 from Jean Gravel's used car lot next to Victoria Bridge . It was a straight eight, three-on-the-tree and stank of cigar smoke which probably explains why it was in the back lot - a potentially unsellable unit except to a nostalgic car freak as I was then. 1954 was the last year for straight 8 flathead engines and I just had to have one! It was all about "the note” and the gobs of torque at low RPM.

They had $600 on it but knocked $50 off the price and gave me a $250 trade-in for an oil-burning, clapped-out "53 Chev I'd bought a few months earlier for the same price from an employer who sold cars on the side for Monsieur Gravel!

I've found 2 pix of the original, beige car which were taken in '61 at a cottage we rented in Wareham, Mass

My first car was a '48 Pontiac which came with a story which I'll pass along when I come across the photos.

The "green dream" is a '53 Cadillac I bought in Vancouver in '65 for $120; this pic was taken in '66 near Vernon, B.C.  I kept both cars until 1980......

Here's one you've never heard before: "I wish I still had them."

Motor happily and travel safely

Celebrating the marvellous Carnaval de Martinique!

by Fred Hore, Class of 1970

I've been travelling throughout this lush and tropical island nation since February 11. Gorgeous weather with only a few sprinklings of showers, mostly in the evening. You have to like temperatures hovering around 27C - not too hot, not too humid - just right! The temps rarely descend below 24C in the evenings with cool breezes. The ocean water is refreshing and amazingly warm too. This is my fourth trip to Martinique, the first was around 1984 when I went scuba diving at Les Buccaniers - the Club Med facility on a sandy spit of land near Sainte Anne. It's a Departement de France, a French island protectorate, so the predominant language is French. As a bilingual Montrealer, ce n'est pas un problème ! We timed our trip to coincide with the colourful and exciting Carnaval de Martinique, which my partner and I loved on our first trip together here in 2023. So here are a few colourful photos for your March newsletter, if you still have time to add them. Feel free to edit the text and captions of they are too long.

Carnaval de Martinique

Every February, Martinique celebrates this annual pagan festival with music, dance and lively entertainment featuring four days of fun and lots of rum as costumed participants dance to rhythmic percussion bands in a large circuit through city streets. It's a competition see who has the most elaborate costumes and which band is the best!

It was introduced to the French colony in the middle of the 18th century, when slavery was widespread. It was a tradition that satirized the mundane aspects of daily life. Colonialists first created Carnaval for enjoyment with their families and friends. With the end of slavery, the customs and traditions of the island were merged, turning it into an annual festive event.

Each day has a different theme, with Sunday being the presentation of the King of the Carnaval with performers showing off their new multi-coloured costumes. Shove Monday is the day of burlesque marriages, with women dressed as men, and men in women's attire. On Shove Tuesday, the theme is red, when little and big red devils emerge, fully costumed of course, with bizarre and even frightening masks!

On Ash Wednesday, the last day of Carnaval, everyone dresses in black and white. The Carnaval King is burned on an immense pyre and reduced to ashes, celebrating the end of Carnaval, with more partying into the wee hours. It was a great time!

Barbara Mary Brown (née Ricketts)

Following a brief hospitalization, Barbara passed away in peace, surrounded by family and friends. Predeceased by her husband Jim (2003), and her sister and best friend, Hilda Alexander (2017), she leaves a grieving family and community.

Barbara had four sons, Glenn, Chris (Debbie), Eric (Cheryl), and Michael (Headdy); and seven grandchildren, Kristen (Jason), Mark (Tiffani), Nicholas (Julia), Caitlin, and Andrea (Damien), Elisa and Michelle; and five great-grandchildren: Austin, Alison, Robin, Lucy and Tage.

Early in her life, Barbara Ricketts moved to St Lambert, and never left. There she met and married her sweetheart Jim Brown and built a life that encompassed a loving 53-year marriage, four rambunctious boys, a series of dogs (with a special mention of her Yorkie soulmate Minnie) and a tireless enthusiasm for the Habs.

And her church! Barbara was a fixture in the halls of St Barnabas. She sang in the choir for over 75 years, and served as Choir Guild President for many of those years. She volunteered for countless committees. Her Rummage Sale counter was legendary.

After Jim sold Brown's Pharmacy, the couple enjoyed a very active co-retirement, travelling Canada as square dancers, enjoying trailer life, visiting countries around the globe, and running a busy ceramics business. Their ceramics, especially the Christmas trees and ornaments, are still appreciated in family households from St. Lambert to California: Barbara's kids, grandkids and great-grandkids are now spread across the continent. The Brown clan is thriving in NDG, Markham, Brooklin, Oshawa, Vancouver, Coquitlam and Pasadena.
Above all, Barbara (aka Mum/Gram/Grammy/Gramma) was a strong woman of discipline and integrity. Her decline was sudden, and the end was calm and serene, with her hands held by family, surrounded by love and support.

A reception will follow the funeral. There will be no visitation.

Enjoy your Burger

The old man placed an order for one hamburger, French fries and a drink.

He unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half, placing one half in front of his wife.

He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife.

He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them were looking over and whispering.

Obviously they were thinking, 'That poor old couple - all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.'

As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table and politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said, they were just fine - they were used to sharing everything.

People closer to the table noticed the little old lady hadn't eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.

Again, the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them. This time the old woman said 'No, thank you, we are used to sharing everything.'

Finally , as the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin , the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food and asked 'What is it you are waiting for?'

She answered ……. 'THE TEETH'.

Say what?

A teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs to her class. She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to gather the building materials for his home.

She read, “And so, the little pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow full of straw and said: 'Pardon me sir, but may I have some of that straw to build my house?'

The teacher paused, then asked the class: 'And what do you think the man said?'

Little Johnny raised his hand and said very matter-of-factly ...'I think the man would have said, 'Holy crap . . . a talking pig!”

Some youngsters can think so logically.

Smart Robot

A guy goes into a bar in Calgary where there is a robot bartender.

The robot says, "What will you have?"

The guy replies, "Whiskey."

The robot brings back his drink and asks, "What's your IQ?"

The guy says, "168."

The robot continues to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.

The guy leaves, but the more he thinks about it, the more curious he gets, so he decides to go back.

The robot asks, "What's your drink?"
The guy answers, "Whiskey."

The robot returns with his drink and asks, "What's your IQ?"

The man replies, "100."

The robot talks about Nascar, Budweiser, the Lions, and the Jays.

The man finishes his drink, leaves, but is so interested in his 'experiment' that he decides to try again.

He again enters the bar and, as usual, the robot asks him what he want to drink.

The man replies, "Whiskey."

The robot brings the drink and asks, "What's your IQ?"

The man answers, "50."

The robot leans in real close and asks, "So . . are . . you people . . still happy . . with Trump?