White Rock

Happy Birthday, Russ, in this second year of our COVID, 2022. I wonder what you would have made of this. 

There is an actual stage door, here in White Rock, BC to which I could have taped this stage-door-related quote. It's an unmarked brown door, surrounded by a broad expanse of unremarkable brown wall. A proper picture of The White Rock Players Club, taken from across the street, would show only a pinpoint of yellow, over near the left corner. 

Today, Russ's naming day, was grey, wet and downcast in White Rock, BC Canada. Last year's SA4QE took place mere seconds before the plague struck the world. This year, I wore a mask. I chose a quote about fragility and unpredictability. I hope all my co-conspirators are well, and safe at home ... reading.

This year on Russ’s naming day, a morning snowstorm transformed my SA4QE plans. My yellow paper was left at a local mall - very busy today with White Rockers (my neighbors here in White Rock, BC) hastily doing their shopping before the snow gets any deeper. I did the same - and taped Russ’s words to a semi-sheltered mail box. Best regards to my fellow SA4QE conspirators from the west coast of Canada!

A blustery but beautiful morning has turned grey, then black, as I watch from my home on the hill. By now the yellow paper I left overlooking the pier will have disintegrated. Appropriate, I say. Part of the bigger picture. Part of the moment beneath the moment. An ephemeral celebration of Russ’s naming day.

Russell Hoban's naming day was cold and rainy here in White Rock BC, Canada. The pier was mostly deserted. I walked to the very end and attached this year's quote to the railing that looks out to the American San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands.

As I walked back, a small smile of a rare kind took over my cold and wet face.

Happy Birthday Russ, and thank you.

r