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EPISODE 358 WHAT DO SEE HERE? AN IMAGINATION EXERCISE

EPISODE 358     WHAT DO SEE HERE?  AN IMAGINATION EXERCISE


alan skeoch
June 2021

EPISODE 358     WHAT DO SEE HERE?  AN IMAGINATION EXERCISE


FOUR POINTS OF VIEW

“WHAT do you see here?”
(All four of us are looking at a big piece of driftwood)

THE SEAL: “I see a nice sun deck where I can stretch out.”
ANDREW   “I see a great fish zooming through the surf..”
KEVIN  “I see a rocket being wheeled to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.”

“What do you see dad?”

ALAN: ” I see your mother in a skimpy bathing suit…smiling.”

ALL:  “Get serous, how could you possibly see Mom in a skimpy bathing suit in that piece of driftwood?

ALAN  “I alway see your mom in  a skimpy bathing suit no matter what I look at.”

alan skeoch
June 2021

POST SCRIPT TO READERS:  What do you see there?
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EPISODE 358 WHAT DO SEE HERE? AN IMAGINATION EXERCISE

EPISODE 358     WHAT DO SEE HERE?  AN IMAGINATION EXERCISE


alan skeoch
June 2021

EPISODE 358     WHAT DO SEE HERE?  AN IMAGINATION EXERCISE


FOUR POINTS OF VIEW

“WHAT do you see here?”
(All four of us are looking at a big piece of driftwood)

THE SEAL: “I see a nice sun deck where I can stretch out.”
ANDREW   “I see a great fish zooming through the surf..”
KEVIN  “I see a rocket being wheeled to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.”

“What do you see dad?”

ALAN: ” I see your mother in a skimpy bathing suit…smiling.”

ALL:  “Get serous, how could you possibly see Mom in a skimpy bathing suit in that piece of driftwood?

ALAN  “I alway see your mom in  a skimpy bathing suit no matter what I look at.”

alan skeoch
June 2021

POST SCRIPT TO READERS:  What do you see there?
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EPISODE 357 HOW DID THESE MARINE FOSSILS GET TO TOP OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS?

EPISODE 357    HOW DID THESE MARINE FOSSILS GET TO TOP OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS?


alan skeoch
June 4, 2021

“OK boys, we have Now driven more than halfway across Canada and it is time
to find out why.”
“Awwww, dad, you sound too much like a school teacher….this is summer holidays.”
“Your are right….I am going to shut up.   Let’s go mountain climbing.”
“Sounds great.”
“How about right here…we will just park the truck and climb to the snow line…way up there.”
“Can you and mom do that…and the dogs.”
“You bet.”


And so we climbed through a Talus slope …broken rock … held in place for now but not forever.  And away above us was the snow line.  Steep enough to lose footing.
No one anywhere around  and far below was the Jasper highway…more and more distant with each footfall.  The boys tumbled in the snow followed 
by Tara, our coonhound, and Maxie .. a stray we rescued as it was about to be shot.  just the right amount of danger.  




The slope of the mountain was about 45 degrees.  It was a wonder that we did not trigger
an avalanche.   

“Dad, looks what we found!”
“What?”
“Piles and piles of fossils….rocks are loaded with them.”
“You must be kidding…”
“Look…look….”


“Well, I’ll be damned.  You are right…fossils….”
“How did they get here, dad?”
“weird…I thought fossils like these were sea  creattures…things that lived at the bottom 
of the sea.”
“How did they get up here, dad…up on the top of the Rocky mountains?”


“I have no idea…maybe some tourists…”
“Don’t be silly, dad…how did these fossils get up here?”
“Must be some explanation.”
“Dad, how did they get there?”

“I thought this was our summer holidays, boys.?  Cut the school teacher stuff…”
“Dad, we are going to find out.”
“When you do, be sure and tell me.”
“I wonder what these fossils looked like when they were alive?”
“Find that out for me too…Meanwhile let’s have some fun.”
“Fun?”
“A snowball fight in the middle of August…”

(And I winged a nice round snowball at the boys.)

Those of you reading this story must know all  the answers.  Maybe
one or two of you can even identify the fossils.

alan skeoch
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EPISODE 356 OUR FARM IN 1958 AND WAY BACK IN 1914 WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FARM

NOTE:  I HOPE  THESE PICS MAKE SENSE…GIVE AN IMPRESSION OF THE
IMPORTANCE OF THE FREEMAN FARM AS ALL OF US TOOK OUR HUMAN JOURNEY



EPISODE 356    OUR FARM IN 1958 AND WAY BACK IN 1914 WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FARM


alan skeoch
June 3, 2021


THE TERM HARDSCRABBLE FARM WAS INVENTED TO DESCRIBE OUR FAMILY
FARM IN THE DAYS WHEN MAKING A LIVING FARMING WAS VERY DIFFICULT.
TODAY IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE ON A 25 ACRE FARM LIKE THIS…ALL SWAMPS
AND STONEY FIELDS.   BUT GRANDMA LOUISA FREEMAN AND GRANDPA
EDWARD FREEMAN MANAGED TO MAKE A LIVING AND RAISE TWO CHILDREN.
…AND ENJOY THEIR LIVES.




ALAN SKEOCH                                                             ALAN  SKEOCH AND ARNOLD ‘RED’ SKEOCH
THIS IS ELSIE (FREEMAN) SKEOCH WITH GRANDSON KEVIN.  SHE WAS THE PERSON THAT INHERITED THE FARM  IN 1958 AND MANAGED
TO PAY THE  TAXES AND THE UPKEEP AFTER GRANDMA AND GRANDPA DIED.  HOW SHE DID THAT IS A MYSTERY, FOR EVERY PENNY
SHE EARNED WAS DONE WITH A SEWING MACHINE .. MUCH OF THE TIME IN SWEATSHOPS.   A GREAT WOMAN…OUR MOTHER.
DAD’S MONEY WENT TO FEED HORSES AT RACETRACKS ACROSS ONTARIO AND NEW YORK STATE.  MOM WAS MUCH MORE CAREFUL.
DAD WAS ONE OF THE GREAT CHARACTERS OF THIS WORLD.  LOVABLE BUT IRRESPONSIBLE.   THEIR MARRIAGE WAS A GOOD ONE.

MY BROTHER ERIC AND I WERE CITY BOYS REALLY BUT THE FREEMAN FARM
WAS ALWAYS A PLACE WHERE WE WOULD BE WELCOMED…INDEED , A
PLACE WHERE WE WERE WANTED.   ANYTIME.  A SECOND HOME.



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EPISODE 355 WETLANDS RECOVERED 1958 TO 2021 FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM ERIN TWP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

EPISODE 355    WETLANDS RECOVERED  1958 TO 2021    FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM  ERIN TWP, WELLINGTON COUNTY


alan skeoch
may 31. 2021

EDWARD FREEMAN, my grandfather bought this 25 acre farm shortly before World War I started.
He did not have much money having been burned out of his log cabin home near Krugerdorf  in
Northern Ontario.   Not many people would want the farm.  Ages ago an ice sheet covered Ontario.
Beneath the ice was solid rock.  Between the ice and the rock was rubble…millions, billions of stones, all sizes, rounded imperfectly…
great heaps of unsorted rubble was ground then left in heaps as the ice retreated.  Along with the
rubble the glacier hollowed out several places on the farm which became wetlands until the farmers
arrived and attempted to drain the wetlands.   Ed Freeman was successful…partly.  He reduced
the wetlands but at least 6 swamps could not be completely drained.  He piled the rocks in heaps.

Since we took over the farm we have reversed the process and expanded the wetlands so that the farm
today no longer looks like a farm.  It looks much as it must have looked when the ice retreated.


POND #1: ONLY POND LEFT ON FARM IN 1958…AND MUCH SMALLER…ANDREW AND I BUILT A SMALL DAM THAT
RAISED THE WATER LEVEL.  THIS POND IS ABOUT 6  ACRES .

This has been a life long job…getting back the wetlands.  A job appreciated by at least one great snapping turtle, a large cluster of painted turtles,
families of Canada Geese, one couple of wood ducks, wild turkeys and deer that we rarely see and coyotes who leave their scat laden with rabbit fur
on the cedar clad forest that surrounds he pond.  The trail gives access to the only field left on the farm.  My flax field.  But this year it will
be mostly sweet clover if all goes well.   Why clover?  Andrew is raising bees.

Hopefully, given time, the frogs, leaches, sticklebacks, snakes …the great pyramid of pond life will be reestablished.  Right now the small
creatures are low in number…but present.

Lots of birds…this year wild canaries seem more than usual.  No bobolinks though.  The ravens and crows are present …deadly to the
young song birds nesting efforts.  And high above hover the turkey vultures searching for dead things.

 POND #2: WAS A HAYFIELD UNTIL WE HIRED RON SAUNDERS TO EXCAVATE…NOW OUR DEEPEST POND

POND #3  WAS A WET PART OF THE BARN YARD UNTIL RON SAUNDERS EXCAVATED.  WHEN EXCAVATED THE POND WAS SOON
FILLED WITH A DOZEN CHILDREN LAUGHING AND DIVING FROM A WOODEN RAFT AND LATER MARJORIE AND VALERIE TOOK
A NUDE SWIM WHILE I WAS WORKING NOT TOO FAR AWAY.  WATER ATTRACTS ALL KINDS OF WILD LIFE.

POND #4 WAS A HIDDEN SHALLOW SWAMP UNTIL JIM SANDERSON BROUGHT HIS BIG EXCAVATOR…AND THE MACHINE SANK
INTO THE QUICKSAND OF AN ANCIENT BEACH…TO GET IT OUT REQUIRED MANY MACHINES AND A RAFT MADE OF BIG TREES…
THE END RESULT WAS A HOME FOR AN AGED BEAVER…POND REMAINED HIDDEN UNTIL THIS YEAR, 2021, WHEN THE BRUSH HAS BEEN
CLEARED.

SO WE HAVE RECREATED A WETLAND.  AMAZING HOW MANY CREATURES THANK US FOR OUR LABOUR.

MAYBE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE FARM LOOKED LIKE WHEN EDWARD AND LOUISA FREEMAN ARRIVED IN 1914.
COMING IN ANOTHER EPISODE

alan skeoch
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EPISODE 354 ROY MAXWELL SENT ME A NOTE…REMNDER OF THoSE GREAT CBC DAYS ON ‘RADIO NOON’


EPISODE 354     ROY MAXWELL SENT ME AN EMAIL….IMAGINE THAT!
(WE WERE PART OF CBC ‘RADIO NOON’ FOR 
A FEW YEARS LONG AGO)

Alan skeoch
May 29, 2021

Who could resist purchasing a machine like this?  This will make sense as
you read my email letter, Roy.


Well what a great surprise…You Maxwell…the man

who did a farm report imitating Foster Brooks and no doubt
caught hell for doing so. (Foster Brooks was a comedian who imitated a drunk person….slurred his words)


Roy Maxwell did the farm prices and related information for Ontario farmers. What
is wrong with this picture Roy?  You must know.

Great to hear from you Roy.

YES, I am still writing stories

When Covid 19 first hit Toronto I decided to do 14 stories…one a day…until
the crisis was over.  To entertain those in isolation.  We were assured 14 days of isolation would be enough…remember?
Well now I am writing my 354th  story…one a day…except for two sojourns to hospital with
gall stone attack. They gave me morphine Roy.  What an experience.  

 354 stories.  Back when we did Radio Noon… CBC expected 1 story a week which I enjoyed doing in
that magnificent old Parliament Street studio.  The new CBC building was never
as good…as quaint…as real.

Who was it went out in the back alley for a smoke and talked to another smoker who turned out to be a dead guy ?

Drunks drifted into the old movie theatre and offered their words of advice on occasion.  One particular
inebriated person even joined one of our broadcasts…some charity show.  His comment…loud
and clear went over the air waves.  “If it’s free, it’s for me!” He kept hollering that as our den mother
whose name I have forgotten tried to hustle him away from the microphone.  God, those
programs were fun.

Radio Noon was just great.   My first producer Doug Koupar (sp?) let me
do 3 or 4 broadcasts before calling me into his office.   “Just great, Alan, just great…!!!….What is the next word
when someone says that?   the next word is ‘but’….”But Alan, you must remember the attention span
of the audience is one minute if you are lucky.  Put the big idea out fast, Alan.”

That was great advice.  Cut the crap in other words.  I applied that to teaching as well.
Cut the bull shit…let’s talk about something meaningful.  

So many great memories…I still have the tapes…but never listen to them.

I did the shows on my lunch hour.  Racing from Parkdale Collegiate to Parliament
Street and back was no easy task.  On one of these jaunts a guy jumped on the back
bumper of my  truck.  When I opened my door he wedged himself right on top of me.
“I am going to fucking kill you!” he yelled.  I had to think fast.  I looked at my bare wrist
and told him “No time for that, I am late for class.”   He stepped back and let me go.
I have never had a watch…my wrist was bare.  Those were the days that some very disturbed
people were cut loose from the psychiatric hospital in Mimico.  Sad people.
Why did he want to fucking kill me?  I have no idea.  Maybe he was a CBC listener
and was offended by something I said.  Funny thing, Roy, even now 40 years later
I remember what his running shoes looked like.  He had big feet…shoes were all worn.

The end came suddenly.  “We don’t need you anymore” which I was prepared for by another
CBC journalist who said….”Alan, remember we all have a shelf life.”

So Roy…I am going to send you some stories…just random.   They are found on Alan Skeoch.ca   …something like that.


FOLK ART: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  I HAVE NO IDEA.

Life leads us in strange direction Roy.  David Shatsky noticed a hug threshing machine being
hauled up Parliament Street to Riverdale Farm.  “Whose machine?”   Marjorie and I had donated
the thresher.  Had it trucked on a flat bed by Gorden Hume to Riverdale Farm in the heart of Toronto.  David then
asked me to describe the machine to the radio audience.  Sounds boring, Roy, but not so. The
machine is the size of an 18 wheeler and covered in professional folk art…done about 1890…
a snake, an alligator, several lions and lots of garish paint swirls.  On my first CBC broadcast 
I asked David why a snake was painted on that threshing machine.  “Why,David?”He turned the question to me.
“You must know, Alan?” “I have no idea…let’s think about it.”  And we used our imaginations.
I think a lot of radio listeners must have done the same.  Let me ask you Roy.  Why would a professional
sign painter put an alligator on a 19th century farm threshing machine.  There is an answer
but I have forgotten it   Use your imagination.  I love open ended questions that are sincere.
There are so many things in this world that need explaining.   Think of the ex-President of the
United States for instance. “How could he happen?”

Note: Roy, you might wonder why I would give such a great machine to Riverdale farm.
there is an easy answer.  I bought  FOUR of the machines at an auction then wondered
what Marjorie would say when I got home.  “For the museums!” was my answer.


Well Roy, I still collect those old machines and now the movie industry is based in Toronto. They
need those machines often.   Old rusting hulks are great props. All those little threads in life lead somewhere, Roy.
 
Remember you doing Foster Brooks…made me laugh….and, Roy, some farmers must have laughed
as well.   

alan skeoch
May  2021

On May 29, 2021, at 5:52 PM, Roy Maxwell <rmaxwell20@cogeco.ca> wrote:


Alan,

I rediscovered you quite by accident (hay tedder story in an Oakville park) and I cannot resist the temptation to say hello.

Radio Noon was a long time ago! I am still in contact with several of the old CBC gang. Sadly, we recently lost my good friend, Glenn Powell (national Agr. News Reporter), but many of the other folks are still here and doing well.

I am so pleased to learn that you have stayed active and been so successful in pursuing your love of history and farming.

Good on you, Alan.

Roy


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EPISODE 352 ROUNDING UP A LOST HERD OF CATTLE…MAY 27, 2021, FIFTH LINE, ERIN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

EPISODE 352      ROUNDING UP A LOST HERD OF CATTLE…MAY 27, 2021, FIFTH LINE, ERIN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

alan skeoch
May 28, 2021




ALAN MEETS THE ‘CATTLE WHISPERER’

I was pitching stones into the rock pile when Jim Sanderson’s daughter approached me.
“At last we found the remaining three cattle from the herd that got away three days ago. Mr. Skeoch.”
“I have not seen any cattle.”
“Neither had we until now.   Do you want to see them…take a look at Anthony Acres winter wheat field on
your son’s farm…over here.”
Jim Sanderson’s daughter is known locally as the Cattle Whisperer because she has a way of settling
down animals who might be easily startled.  She seemed amused by the adventure.  She seemed confident although I
could not see how these cattle could be rounded up and led like lambs back home…miles away.



“Can’t see any cattle…”
“See that white dot way in the distance?”
“Well, I’ll be damned.  How did they get there?”
“No one knows.”
“How long have they been gone?”
“Three days.”
“Where did they come from?”
“Farm on Trafalgar Road near Ballinafad.”
“That’s several miles from here…maybe 3 or 4!”
“We got the others but these three were a mystery until now.”

PAUSE HERE FOR A MOMENT:  Study the picture.  See if you can
find a tiny white dot.  Do it now.


“There got them on my telephoto lens…got them munching water wheat.”




As we looked, trucks began to arrive.   One truck had an ATV in a trailer.  Sort of a suprise to me.   I was brought up when cattle round ups were
done with horses.   And done by cowboys.  Jim Sanderson’s daughter soon disappeared on the ATV sneaking in behind the cattle.   I thought that
would be done by John Wayne …or Roy Rogers on Trigger…or The Lone Ranger on Silver…”Hi Ho, Silver, Away!”   Instead, and probably better,
Jim’s daughter would whisper, “Time to go home, let me show you the way.”


This began to look like an illegal Covid 19 roadside party


This was not my best picture but does credit to one of the cattle wranglers chest.



Then the owner of the herd appeared with his cell phone.  Maybe the cattle were wired!   Maybe they would respond
to the cattle call….’Co boss..co boss’ which I remembered from the past.

He seemed a little startled as I clicked my camera.

“How can I help?” I said.
He looked me straight in the eye and said “The best way you can help is by staying out of the way.”
Now that sounds like a mean thing to say.   There was no malice in his comment.   Cattle can be
startled by strangers.  Sort of ignored his advice anyway but did keep my distance.



The cattle were on the move.




They burst onto the road for a while and then were herded back into the wheat field while the
trap…the corral…was being assembled and baited.





So, as nightfall approached the corral trap was set and baited.   I do not know the end of this story.  Which would be the happier
ending?  Either the cattle remained in the field until next fall or the cattle enter the corral and someone closes the gate.
As we drove down the road there was no one there to close the gate.  And the cattle were back in the field beyond our vision.



Steer Talking:  “What do you think Elsie?  Is that grain in the trough  trap?”
Heifer Talking:   “I think we should just stay here…whole field of fresh wheat
and lots of water in he swamp.”

Alan Thinking:  “I do not think anyone in this drama appreciates my presence with my camera…
except, maybe, the guy whose bare chest I managed to snap…and neighbour Jamie who 
got same advice I did…”Stay out of the way…block the hole in the fence in the back field…out of sight.”


CONCLUSION

Alan ; “What was the best picture I managed to take of the Great Cattle Round Up?”
Marjorie: “No doubt about that, Alan.”
Alan: “The telephoto of the cattle?”
Marjorie: “No, the picture of the owner of the cattle telling you to STAY OUT OF THE WAY!”



Years ago when our boys were young Marjorie and I and the boys would sing our hearts
out replicating Eddie Arnold’s Cattle Call.   Great days were those.  If only we could
remember the words maybe Jim Sanderson’s daughter would ask us to join her on
the ATV in the big Fifth Line round up.


“Cattle Call”

[Moan]
The cattle are prowlin’ the coyotes are howlin’
Out with the doggies bawl
Where spurs are jinglin’ a cowboy is singin’
This lonesome cattle call [moan]

He rides in the sun till his day’s work is done
And he rounds up the cattle each fall
[Moan] Singin’ this cattle call

For hours he will ride on the range far and wide
When the night wind blows up a squall
His heart is a feather in all kinds of weather
He sings his cattle call [moan]

He’s brown as a berry from ridin’ the prairie
And he sings with an old western drawl
[Moan] Singin’ this cattle call… [moan]







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EPISODE 351 THE RhODODENDRON GARDEN (HANCOCK FAMILY of Mississauga) IN FULL BLOOM MAY 26,2021

EPISODE 351    THE RHODODENDRON GARDEN (HANCOCK FAMILY OF MISSISSAUGA) IN FULL BLOOM MAY 26,2021


alan skeoch
May 26, 2021



HOLD on to your socks!   We visited the Hancock rhododendron garden today.   Full bloom here and there in the climax forest.
Something few people have ever seen and yet the garden is open to the public.   If you live close by then pack up your camera
and hike over there right now.  There was only one other couple there today.  Seemed like a wonderland designed just for us
alone.  Marjorie organized our visit.  I had no idea such a fairyland forest existed in heart of Mississauga.

It will really knock your socks off!

Camilla Road…QEW and Hurontario…one block east of Hurontario on North Service Road…small parking lost for 10 cars…free.

Put your socks back on and hustle over to the Hancock Garden right now.  

alan

        

This CUTE little brown snake was hustling across a pathway in the garden.  You should hustle as well.


Why take this picture?  To show how the Mississauga Parks system has protected the Hancock forest with the very
best cable and couplings.   Do not jump the fence and trample the woodland.



Here is a mystery for you to solve.  Why is this Hancock Woodlands garden shed featuring Japanese script.  There must be a reason.  
My high school chums at Humberside in the 1950’s may have known…Takasaki and Hayashi may have known but not said much
about it…actually said nothing about the sudden presence of Japanese families in Toronto in the Second World War.  The Hancock
story is complicated and heart warming if you take the time to read the signage.   Makes the blooms all the more powerful. 
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EISODE 340 ACCIDENT…SLIGHT ACCIDENT….AND A KIND ACT by A YOUNG SIKH LAD

EPISODE 340   ACCIDENT…SLIGHT ACCIDENT…AND A KIND ACT BY A YOUNG SIKH LAD WITH A BIG SMILE





Sunday may 23, 2021

NEAR empty three lane highway on Sunday morning May 23, 2021.  Totally
enjoyable  to be zipping along at slightly  above the speed limit.  Relaxed. One
hand on the wheel but paying close attention to the road.

“Alan, watch out!”
Suddenly there was  a big white plastic pail spinning down my lane.  From where?
I had no idea.  Empty road.  Dodged it without panic.  
“Another one , Alan…bigger….you are going to hit it.”
“No time to swerve”
..no idea who was in the inside lane.”
“whump!”
“We hit it….did it pop out behind?”
“Too big….trapped under the truck  …Stop!”
“Give me time…big service station  ahead…empty  lot.”

So we parked…Marjorie got me a broom to sweep under 
the truck.  Found the big container bent and fixed to
our front axle.  No damage but it was fixed in place.  Would not
move.

By this time I was down on my knees.  Reached an age when the knees
are no loner acting like rubber bands.  How the hell  was I to 
crawl under the truck?   And then the big nightmare…how was I to
get up off the pavement?

I poked for  a while.  Then suddenly there was another person pulling from
under the front of the truck.  The thick plastic began to give
way.  My rescuer pulled it out front way.   Bashed, twisted…but
intact.   Not me…the plastic tub.  That was the way I felt though and the way the plastic tub
looked.

How the hell  would I get on my feet.  Knee sore from a football
injury at Victoria College decades ago.   How to get back on my feet?

No problem.  The young lad who noticed our trouble was right beside
me…offered his arm as did Marjorie.  

Incident over.  Well not quite. The boy had the biggest smile
I have ever seen.  His name is Shandeep…a sikh …about
18 to 20 years old.  Bright clothing to match his smile
and a black turban wound around his head.  Exuded cheerfulness.

Then he was gone…before I could rudely ask if I could
take his picture.   Gone.  The service station lot was empty
again.

We have had a number of kind acts lately.  Nice.



alan skeoch