If you take the first two letters of the motto water, air, light and sun in German, wasser, luft, licht and sonne, it spells Waluliso. That was the pseudonym chosen by the self proclaimed prophet Waluliso, a Viennese peace activist. I first saw him in 1990 as he strode across the Stephansplaz, the square beside St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, surrounded by a flock of fluttering pigeons, creating quite a scene. He was dressed in a toga, wore a head wreath of olive branches, carried a crook and always had an apple in his hand. He looked like a man on a mission. He was in fact a man on a mission. He was Ludwig Weinberger, he worked tirelessly for the preservation of Danube Island in Vienna in the 70′s and peace & disarmament throughout the 80′s. He was there, front and centre when the Berlin Wall came down. He certainly was a bit of a character.

Who cares? He’s gone and that time has past. I thought of him recently because of a quote I saw that was shared on Facebook. There was nothing wrong with the quote but it made me think how easy it is to seemingly take credit for a clever piece of writing by sharing it on Facebook, without our being the author.  Sharing those quotes is beneficial of course, we all do it and it brings awareness to situations that need to see the light of day. It’s a much different thing however to live out those convictions that we so ardently support. And that was precisely what he did, he was dedicated to his causes. He didn’t just talk a clever line about how all things should be in a harmonious world and hide behind platitudes written by armchair philosophers. First of all he lived in nine square meters from 1944 until his death in 1996, he thought more space would be extravagant when so many in the world had less. He got out there, created a character for himself which drew attention to the things he believed in. There was no social media, he couldn’t build a following on-line, he stood out there in the square and engaged as many people as he could. He lived it and I admire him for that. I certainly don’t have the courage that would take. On June 7th, 1998 a bridge was dedicated in his honour that takes pedestrians and cyclists over the Danube to the island he worked so hard to protect. Nice.

There are thousands photographs taken at Sacré Coeur Basilica in the Montmartre area of Paris every year.  Some of them are extraordinary! So trying to find a different view of this famous landmark is very challenging. When I showed up at the foot of this amazing structure the weather was not helping, stormy with poor light conditions. But I was there and didn’t know if I would be back at that very spot, so thought I might as well give it a go anyway.

I thought it would be a great a idea to walk up the spiral staircase inside the church up to the dome at the top to see the amazing view of the city. If you are claustrophobic, which I am, it’s not the best idea. The staircase is very tight and fairly dark and only gets smaller the higher you go. I was almost in a panic as I finally made it the 25 stories to the top. If I hadn’t made the climb I would have missed the first photograph here, taken at the very top. The slate roof tiles are topped with these interesting circular architectural elements, overshadowed by the church spire.

Back down to earth [luckily didn't have to take the stairs both ways] the sky was darkening quite quickly. There was time for one more shot before the rains came. The photo above is a bronze statue of Joan of Arc seemingly protecting Sacré Coeur atop the grand entrance.

Pont au Double links Ile de la Cite to the Left Bank in Paris. Sunday is the day for taking a stroll and the bridge is busy with Parisiennes as well as tourists enjoying the scene. There is music, portrait painters and many other distractions to occupy your afternoon. One young woman thought it may be fun to do her own tightrope performance on the bridge, high above the river below. Much to the surprise and bemusement of her boyfriend she hopped up on the railing, walked along the length of the bridge, jumped down at the end and kept on walking as if there was nothing to it at all. There was a lot of whistling and clapping as the two of them disappeared down the street. I’m glad I was there!

Last week the wonderful woman who has cleaned our office for years left me a note to tell me she cleaned on Wednesday instead of Saturday because that day her Mom would turn 84. That made me think about my Mom, Dorothy, and I realized that she too would have turned 84 years old, a few days later on this 8th of March. We lost her however at 78, a few days after her birthday that year.

I think of Mom very often as does my sister Bonnie, Mom’s best friend. Or maybe it was my aunt, my sister’s namesake who was her best friend, it’s too close to call. Nevertheless, it’s strange first of all to feel like an orphan and secondly to realize that with the passing of your parents that you are now the ‘older’ generation. I’m not sure I like that very much, but the facts are the facts.

My mother wanted to be a journalist but she didn’t get the chance to pursue that dream. She was a great writer as well as a talented watercolorist, a very creative lady who always encouraged my attempts at creativity. I am grateful to her for that and everything else she sacrificed for our family. Dorothy never lost her dignity for even a moment, setting the bar high for the rest of us. Happy Birthday Mom! We all miss you more than we can possible begin to express…

A few days ago I started to add some photos to a new gallery on my Facebook page. One of them was a photo of Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood. A couple of my friends called to ask me where I found that shot. I told them I took the photograph myself. I didn’t mention that I had completely forgotten about those photos until I started scanning the negatives that I have from the time ‘before digital’ in a land far, far away.

The Langley Times, in Langley of course, had an ad salesman Scott MacKay at one time who also wrote a music column for the paper. He would go to concerts, take photos of the acts and then write a review for his column. One dark and very rainy night he had to attend a birthday party [apparently] and asked me to take his place at a concert in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom. Ronnie Wood was touring with his own band between concert dates with the Stones. He has performed and recorded with a variety artists over his career.

His visit to Vancouver was in support of his album Slide On This, along with Bernard Fowler and Ian McLagan with him on stage. Why I remember that, I have no idea. I do remember that there was a bit of a mixup with the local media for that concert. Wood’s wife Jo was filming the tour and for this concert there was to be no video access as a result. Local media mistakenly thought there was no media allowed at all so come concert time there was just me, and one real photographer, from the Sun. It’s usually crowded in the pit [the area behind the fence right in front of the stage] and you usually have to jockey for position. That night we spent the entire time for the three allotted songs, moving easily from spot to spot getting the photos we were looking for.

Ronnie Wood seemed to be a pleasant guy, quite different from the reports about his life we’ve all seen over the news in the last few years. He popped by the side of the stage to make sure we had what we needed after the first set, the music was great and the band put on a fine show. I wonder what else I have forgotten that I’ll come across next…