44 - Sunday, May 5, 1991 -- North Shore News

There is a ‘first time’ for everything

IT WAS my first time.

Bowe
THE VINTAGE YEARS

You have to agree that any
“first time’? for someone of my
age is reason to goggle. Gosh,
you'd think all the ‘‘firsts’’ of
everything would have been used
up already — the first beau, the
first job, the first trip to Europe,
the first shipboard romance, the
first baby, the first home run, the
first aeroplane ride.

But this was the first time U'd
been a senior day-tripper. Won't
be the last.

It was one of those absolute
days we had, remember? Abso-
lutely clear and absolutely
gloriously sunny. Perfect for an
outing, or an inning if that’s your
game.

We were all of us, all 41 of us,
not counting Ellie the guide dog,
the bus driver and Lisa, delighted
to be on our way to tiptoe
through the tulips.

The tulips were at, or near, La
Cenner, a town I’ve heard of for
years but never visited. This was
my chance, as | am no longer in
command of a vehicle of my own,
to see the village and to revel in
the spring flower festivals in those

parts.
Lisa Dowding, North Shore
Neighbourhood House coor-

dinator, had organized the day,
one of a score of trips of all sorts
that she delights in presenting to
her seniors groups. Some are for
half a day, like the one that takes
you up to enjoy the theatre on top
of Grouse Mountain; some are the
sort that Em telling you about, an
all-day pleasure.

Then there
two-day deals
everyone's looking forward to
later this month, an overnight
‘retreat’? to Bowen fsland,

But this is La Conner (named
years ago alter Mr. Conner’s lov-
ing wife whose initials were L.A.)
which is achieved by driving to
Mount Vernon and then hanging a
right to the sea. [C's in the Skagit
Valley, which is famous far and
wide for its bulb-growing. These
are country roads and foaded
with traffic during this celebration
of the glorious spring bloom, but
the locals are used to it and there
are no tie-ups or stalling (hat we
are aware OF.

Which vives me a goed place to
tell vou about our transport.

The bus was a bus. what else
can you say cacept t it was a
clean bus and well driven. The

are occasionally
like the one

driver, Randy, had made this trip
10,000 times, probably, and view-
ed endless tulips, but his sense of
humor and his sense of responsi-
bility hadn't vot tired of it all.

When we were approaching the
border euard going south he said,
“If you haven't brought any [.D..
just gay *eh?? *

We see off to the left, off to the
right, great lakes of dazzling
yellow or intense red, like paint
smeared on the land. These are
the tulips we have come for. We
want to get up close, of course,
we want to wade right into those
fields of color, but each farm we
visit has a proper garden centre
for our viewing. Here are laid out
more or te formal beds of
masses of prized tulips interspers-
ed with iris and hyacinth and even
still some daffodils and narcissi.

They are backed by sheltering
rhododerdron shrubs and laurel
and flowering trees that help the
fragile bulb-blooms survive incle-
ment weathers.

T noted some ef the names —
my garden space is confined to a
few tubs, now, and bulbs thus
planted are vulnerable to the sort
of frosts we suffered last winter.
However, hope springs, and if $§
were tucky I’d plant some Monte
Carlo bulbs and celebrate their
thrining triple yellow blooms as
big as hydrangeas.

Or some Carltons, also triple,
also big as peonies, but red, red,
red. The cups on the Holland’s
Glory must measure at least nine
inches deep: same with the
Longfellows, except that their
petals are shaggy-edged.

Paths of people crossed and
re-crassed and one heard, “Oh,
look at these’ and “‘Oh my

word’ and ‘Come see this one’’
over and over again. Gudoshink is

an early scarlet’ Darwin-type:
Toronto similarly, but flame-
colored: Red Riding Hood has

long pointy petals and Yellow
Lion is precisely named. Wonder-
ful tousled blossoms.

Ic was a long day, and next time
Vd carry some food and urink. La
Conner has food places, but not
enough to handle the swarms of
bloom-starved Canadians, and no
plans to provide more to sit empty
1} months of the year, as a native
confided to me.

It does have a main street toilet
facility, the inspiration of a
former practicai-minded mayor,
and it has a fire half museum and
pleasani promenades and piers for
loafing by the fjord when the sun
shines.

The long day also offered some
time for reflection. One can't hetp
but notice the imbalance, a gentle
word, between the sexes on these
excursions, It was 38 to three on
our journey, and = sure, maybe
looking at tulips could be called
women's work, but any one of
these organized seniors trips will
reveal a similar dearth of men.

This painfully obvious fragility
has to lie in their upbringing.
which includes married vears as
well as youth and adolescence.
Certainty they were always
directed firndy towards responsi-
bilits, tewards the dominant role,
in school and tater. The worst
thing they could be seen to be was
selt, or uncertain. The minute fa-
therhood was thrust upern them
they shouldercd some awesome

burdens. From that moment on it
was “tote that bale.””

Women, on the other hand,
were always centred on the home,
were expected to submit and nur-
ture and create the perfect nesting
place. Many women of my gener-
ation worked in offices, in
schools, but mostly only until the
first child was born.

We took a lofty attitude
of mass
cooper

towards the Soviet way
rearing of children in

tives. Our kids would never suffer
that.

Thus pressures were largely
minimal. We worked hard and ran
our households and contributed
time to the community and if we
got in a flap it was from taking
on more than we could chew, We
were daily restored.

So we hope that all young men,
young fathers and husbands are
learning to cook and take turns
with the baby’s care. While

women are strengthening
themselves in) the commercial
wortd — and in battle! — men are
sampling the pleasures of being an
involved parent, rather than a
mobile pay cheque.

They'll find out the magic that
taking time out to be soft conjures
up, and will be able to get a
Perspective on the obligatory
competitiveness of the male work-
ing world.

TO THE SALVATION ARMY

ON MONDAY

When our volunteer knocks at
your door, Or mat! donations to
the 1991 Red Shield Appeal.

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