Happiness is...

I’ve been thinking a lot about the WBC theme of “Happy”. I’m very fortunate to have many wonderful people who contribute to my happiness: G, the love of my life; my beautiful daughter and two amazing granddaughters; the rest of our family; long-time friends – I could go on and on.
Other than people, one of the things that never fails to lift my spirits or move me is music. We have an eclectic collection of music and I love it all. Last Monday night, we went to the Gumboot Gala, the final night of music put on by the local folk club. The club brings all kinds of musical talent to the island, but the Gala features local musicians, and wow, are there some fantastic artists here. I’ve chosen this album cover for today’s blip for a few reasons.
One of the musicians playing at the Gala was Bill Henderson, someone whose music we’ve loved since he was in The Collectors, which became Chilliwack. We saw The Collectors and Chilliwack numerous times when we were at uni. Henderson is a fantastic guitarist and he can still rock the house. That's him in the small photo in the link. An extra treat was that Claire Lawrence, another member of Chilliwack, came over for the gala, and I always loved how he played the sax. Here's an old video of one of their early songs.
Another musician at the gala is a staple at many musical events on the island, Valdy. I blipped him here and talked about the influence he had on my life. The man on the album cover is wearing red shoes, and that’s one of Valdy’s trademarks – his red sneakers. Valdy played at the protest yesterday.
It was an awesome night, and I said to G, “It’s killin’ me not to get up and dance.” There wasn’t room to dance in the hall. I LOVE dancing! We’ve danced our way through life, G and me. One of my very favourite teaching memories is about disco. Yes, I taught disco! Dance was one of the units in the phys ed program, and disco was hot, so instead of teaching square dancing or something that the kids weren’t interested in, my three teaching partners (another female and two males, perfect for demonstrating) and I decided we’d teach disco. There was nothing more fun than spending lunch hours in the gym, packed with kids from Grade 8 through Grade 12, doing the car wash, the hustle and others I don’t remember. The noon hour dances went on long after we finished teaching the unit.
I also think the photo on the album cover is cool.