A year later, photos tug at memories

Even though the memory might fail from month to month, the photographic evidence serves as a reminder of good times past and holidays enjoyed.
After our memorable month in Nova Scotia last year, our photo collection grew by several hundred photos and a large photo album of enlargements. The viewing time for the entire display ranges from one hour to two hours, or longer, for the truly dedicated and the extremely polite audience.
But soon summer was over, the photographs were stored, journals put away, travel bills paid, and the reality of everyday life claimed our attention.
However, one set of long-time friends still had not viewed the travelogue portfolio as the calendar inched around to the beginning of a new summer. They kept asking about the photos, for their interest was nostalgic in nature, having lived in that area of Canada in military service.
Plans were made and postponed on a number of occasions, until finally, a suitable time presented itself this week and a photo-viewing engagement was made.
Even though we only made it through half the photos on that particular evening, it was enough to remind us of the experiences we experienced and long for the next opportunity to return to that area to see again what we saw, and to see what we missed seeing.
In fact, browsing through those photos and talking about last summer got our travel bug revved up and raring to go, impatiently awaiting the official, allotted holiday period.
But, alas, the mileage on the vehicles won't be as extensive as last year, the scenery we view in the summer of '09 will be much different - and further alas - there won't be all those wonderful seafood meals and those lobster suppers.
So, the question likely being considered right now is: where are we going this year? The answer: We have no idea.
With the exception of two invitations to be fulfilled on weekends that don't fall into official holidays, we have no plans for extended visits or excursions.
This will be a summer of spontaneity, going here and there without a pre-arranged schedule or timetable.
This could be a summer of staying home and looking after affairs of the house and yard, some of those affairs already being in progress.
There are backroads to be explored close to home, a GPS system still sitting in a box waiting to keep our vehicle from being lost, community restaurants to patronize where we will be served homemade pies and fries, and Prairie scenery to photograph - so our friends will invite us over for another evening of travelogue and homemade date squares.
Looking forward, as government bureaucrats enjoy saying, I think Newfoundland and New Brunswick definitely have to be on the agenda for the summer of 2010 and a return trek to the Northwest Territories should be pencilled in for 2011.
Let us not be accused of ignoring long-term planning. Happy trails are ahead.

Joyce Walter can be reached at 691-1259.