Christine's 50th

I want to make sure that you all know a little about the background of our family, so no real story in this one. Nanny’s family lived at 110 Higham Road in Tottenham, which is a district in Haringey, a borough in North London. My Mom’s grandfather worked for the city of London, and her Dad Percy Howard followed in his footsteps as a deputy superintendent of roads and sewers from 1904-1946.   As far as I know, her Mother Florence (Flossie) didn’t have a job outside of the home. They all lived in London during the German Blitz of WWII. Mom mentioned several times about having to go down to the air raid shelters when the Germans bombed London.                                  Nanny was an only child who was very close to her parents. She said she was an average student who had planned on doing secretarial work as an occupation. She wasn’t that interested in sports but as you all   know she was ve...

While this looks like a simple collection of photos it is so much more than that.  Photography opened up a new way for me to see the world and, to be honest, has gifted me with that oh-so-important time to myself that I cannot get enough of at this stage of life.  Each of the images has its own story and when I look at the ones here that are some of my very favourites, I can transport myself back to time and place but more importantly, to my feelings in the moment. Goose Spit.  I had been struggling through the dark days of winter so I took a couple of days off from school and headed to the island, by myself, for myself.  I have been going to Goose Spit since I was 14.  It is a place where I have contemplated many things in life and while I seldom find answers when I am there, I always find peace.  On this particular day I was sitting up against a log facing the other direction (how I wish I had taken a shot of that).  The bay side of the spit was hunk...

I’m not sure how you found it having your Mom and your Dad as teachers but it probably was a little easier than having your Dad as the principal of the school. I grew up in the same town as my Dad, and he was known as a terrific athlete, an excellent student, a hunter and a fisherman as well as a very successful basketball coach he was and the Principal of the high school. Huge footsteps but I was very proud to be a Watson. I was always very aware that I was Henry Watson’s son. Most of the time it was good but there were definitely times it wasn’t fun being the son of the principal. Most of the time Dad took on the role of the disciplinarian in the school and there were definitely kids that weren’t too enamoured with him in that role. I remember our back fence being torn down on a couple of occasions at Halloween, which surprised me at the time because of all Dad did for community and how well known he was. I was given a hard time and teased a few times because of who Dad was. There wa...

Christmas.  How we have always loved Christmas.  For our family it means a time of gathering.  We don't always get everyone in the same place at the same time anymore but those who cannot be with us are always in our hearts. Our first Christmas as a family was in Victoria in 1973.  Dad, Jason and I made the most of it even though Dad was at university and we didn't have much.  We loaded the VW up with the things we had and headed to Nanny's and Papa's in Cumberland.   This would be a family tradition for many, many years.  In those days Nanny and Papa waited for Dad and I to 'come home' to decorate the Christmas tree, even if it meant we didn't arrive until December 23rd.  The tree was waiting there to greet us.  In those days Papa went into the woods and cut a tree.  It would be set up in a large metal tub and held in place with big rocks.  Papa had already put the red nose on the deer head in the hallway and renamed it Rudolp...