My cheeks still hurt from smiling...

I have had my pee-wee's playhouse dvd's back out these last few week-ends. Cartoons over breakfast have had me thinking back to when I'd sleep at my grandparents house. I would get up in the morning and see my Papa doing jumping jacks while listening to the radio, meanwhile my Nanny would would be making me Ego waffles, chocolate milk, and a side of orange juice mixed with cranberry juice for breakfast.This reminiscing had me phone up my Nanny and Papa right then and there over my current breakfast in bed. During the conversation I explained what a blog is to my Nanny thinking that maybe a relative close by could show them this blog. My Nanny said "Papa wants to tell you why none of our friends have computers". Then my Papa got on the phone and said "You know why none of our friends have computers? Because there aren't any computers in the cemetery". Major downer I know, but they seemed to think it was hilarious. Then I explained my Handsome Grandpas blog to my Papa and I let him know that he was my very first entry. Well he is always a ham and LOVES attention, he immediately perked up a notch at the idea of him as an internet star and his response to this was: "I will tell you one, and then I am going to go. Did you hear about Elizabeth Arden? Max Factor. Bye." Dial tone.

After that Kenta and I took to the streets for some leisurely Saturday Vancouver meandering and that's when we saw the best thing ever. Opera Man! Opera Man has been singing on the Vancouver streets since I first moved here years ago. I have yelled (more then once) out my window "Opera Man We Love You" whenever I would hear his beautiful voice early in the morning. (By we I meant the community, because you cannot dislike this man's voice). But I had only ever heard him, I had never been quick enough to see him. Well, not only did we see him this week-end but we talked to him! And I meant what I said. I do love him. I love him even more now. I realize now that he never heard any of my many shouts from my window because he always has these headphones on that he won't take off for the life of him. The voice of an angel. What a happy man. My cheeks still hurt from smiling.


Opera Man from crunchator on Vimeo.

Just riding the wind

I went away to San Francisco on a mini vacation and thought I would check out where things stand in the San Franciscian grandpa department. This is what i found. He's handsome, he's Italian, and he's just flying a kite by himself. I loved watching this fellow fully engaged, enjoying his own company, just making the most of his day. Kenta helped me to capture these photos of him. His posture in the last image just gets me right in the chest. The last fellow is a grandpa that we saw in China Town. Chris Allen took this great portrait of him.

Grandpa Pong

I often wonder what it would be like to go back in time and see my friends when they were young and small and what it would be like to play with each other as children. Even better is imaging what your friends are going to look like years and years from now when they have all of their life experiences etched into their bodies and minds. You have to use your imagination because you can't look back to any photos. My dear friend is leaving town and will be sadly missed by many, so I decided to dig deep into the handsome crates and post his gramps. Here is what he had to say about his grandpa:

Here is my father's father, his name was Pong Wing Gong. i grew up with him as a part of my household since the age of 8 or so until my folks split in grade 10. (I remember sometime around grade 3 having a cast on my left arm as i met him and grandma at the airport when they came to Canada). He passed away in August of 2002 with Parkinson’s disease.

I used to hate the way he favored my younger brother and nagged me with little chores like cleaning the ketchup bottle lip before closing the cap. As we both got older I was in college and we saw so little of each other, especially since I moved to Vancouver, so our relationship changed. When we did see each other he was incredibly tender and loving towards me. I was told he was a heavy drinker in his day and I remember seeing bottles of XO cognac and my pops explaining how this was the "good" stuff that gramps loved.

-JP



Here's to handsome grandpas of the past, present, and future.