R.I.P. Dianne

We lost a nice lady this week - my Dad's partner Dianne. 

She was good for my dad and good to us, and had clearly lived a very interesting life full of adventure. We had just visited with them a few weeks ago, and true to form, Dianne was expressing her concern for my Dad's health. 

She will be missed.

Dianne Margaret Wickenden (née Stillman)

July 17, 1947 – November 21, 2023

Unexpectedly, at her home in Oro-Medonte on Tuesday, November 21st, 2023 at the age of 76 years. Beloved partner of Bruce Cole. Loving mother of Michael (Valeria), Kari (Mark) and Ryan. Proud grandmother of Jacqueline, Michael, Chris, Cameron, Abigail and great grandmother of Dexter. Dear sister of Robert (Susan). Will be missed by many extended family members and dear friends. Dianne was a vibrant and caring woman who loved the outdoors.  Whether it was fishing, horseback riding or spending time at the cabin in Renfrew, she was in her element when she was with nature.

In keeping with Dianne’s wishes, cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Life will occur in the future. Arrangements entrusted to the Steckley-Gooderham Funeral Home, 30 Worsley St., Barrie. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the OSPCA or an Animal Rescue charity of your choice.

Dianne being birthed by a tent while camping on our property

Hanging out under The Willow

Misspent Youth

Took the opportunity to pull down a classic machine from storage, just to have a look - haven't fired it up in over a decade (maybe closer to 15 years?) but spent a significant portion of my time on this baby in my late teens and early twenties.....after "upgrading" from its predecessor, the VIC-20!

I even still have my stash of old games on 5.25 inch floppy disks with well-worn labels - including some of the larger and more memory-intensive games (for the time) which took an entire series of 1.2 MB disks to hold the entire game, requiring disk swaps when you moved to a new area or to save your game. I even recalled the old "trick" of notching the side of the disk so you couldn't accidentally over-write or erase your games.

I also went through my substantial collection of old roleplaying books, and donated three boxes of them to a good cause - we have a friend that runs a local gaming store, and he promised to find a good home for everything as part of an in-store library of source books or among his regular clientele.

We also came across various old character sheets for several different games that I/we used to play, and enjoyed a nice little stroll down memory lane in the process.

For the record, I'm keeping all my dice - for now.

Still have the box!

A whole 64 KB of computing power!

This was ONE game - the struggle was real!

Bard's Tale 3 - still one of the all-time greats!

Rolemaster and MERP

One of the greatest games ever - too bad I didn't keep my original version

OG RPG!

Vampire - one of several White Wolf games involving the supernatural

Good Excuse for a Visit

We headed up to the Barrie/Orillia area for an overdue round of visits, predicated on tickets to see Matthew Good play an acoustic show inside a church (and St. Paul's Centre music venue) in downtown Orillia. 

The show was awesome, though Mr. Good was into the bourbon and did wander off into some political or moral meanderings throughout the performance. His vocals and guitar were pretty sharp though, and the Australian-Canadian opening act was also good. We were even able to enjoy a beer inside a church!

We visited with Keith and Ashley, and also met up with my dad for lunch. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, another childhood friend was in town from his usual life in British Columbia, and we were able to catch up with him as well.

The Simcoe County area in general was also resplendent with gorgeous fall foliage....one of the few things we miss! On our way back south, we also spent some time with good friends in Utopia - and yes, it was as good a visit as that sounds!

Stella and Stained Glass - sacrilicious!

Matthew puts on a Good show!

Simcoe County ablaze

Fall foliage

Autumnal Awe!