Once again we have made it through another Christmas, and to set the mood we have snow.

Living on the prairies is a guarantee that there will be snow Christmas morning, unlike the Okanagan where I remember awaking to no snow on Christmas Day. I mentioned that to one of my sisters and she said she remembers many Christmas mornings with no snow, such a disappointment!

As a follow up with my last story which was a poem from Wally Smith’s column, I mentioned how I didn’t know much about Ian Greenwood. I received several informative replies. Ian worked for Sun Rype in Kelowna for 30 years spending much of his time with the company as General Manager. He was also appointed President of BC Tree Fruits for a number of years. Those two positions gave him considerable influence and knowledge of the fruit industry world wide.

As Wally has done, so Ian has done, and has joined the cycle of life to death and left us May 28, 2010.

Today I’m writing from a different location. This location has a bookshelf right beside the computer. Some of the books are written by men such as Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, and Robertson Davies. Makes one want to take one of those books and curl up next to a fire place for a long session of reading.

Reading a book is one activity I’d not seen Wally do ever. He read periodicals, news papers, and instruction manuals, you know, practical things, gleaning information, but never just for the sheer pleasure of reading.

I think that is what we are seeing today when we see people texting while driving, walking, sitting and lying down. We are seeing those who enjoy the sheer pleasure of being absorbed in the activity of creating words. Makes me wonder about their choice of timing though especially when the person is behind the wheel. I would hope that that person will not have to experience tragic consequences as a result of their texting addiction. Is texting not an addiction when it is done while driving?

Wally always embraced the latest technology. I remember we had a party line phone. Was the ring a long and a short?

I’m not sure how many people were on our line but there were at least four. Any one of them could listen in to your private conversation.

Then we got our own line which gave us more privacy, but the phone was still stuck on the wall and the cord kept you from going anywhere in the house with it. Then the phone jacks came in and you could put the phone anywhere in the house but still on a cord. Wally died in 1982 and I’m not sure when phone jacks started, but somewhere around that time they showed up.

There is much more to talk about with Wally and technology but that will have to be for another time.

With the next celebration coming at us I’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year!

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