Back in the 1960's there was a joke about the easiest way to clear a room was to offer to show off home movies.  But you know what?  Wait a couple of decades and those old films suddenly look really interesting.  They become a window on another world.   

 

As a kid, we had a black lab named Skipper.  She was so smart that when I told her to go get her dog food, she would race down to the basement larder and pick out the Dr. Ballards from amongst all the niblets, peas and other can choices.  Could she smell the food through the tin, or did she recognize that German Shepherd on the label?  I never knew - but neither did I ever reward her for her ingenuity.  

Times have changed, apparently. 

As someone whose youth was spent constantly adjusting the TV antenna above our old Black and White so I could watch Get Smart without all the onscreen snow, I did not have a particularly high opinion of off-air television signals. 

I saw the posters - 3 Days 300 Artists - and thought there must be a story in this.  The Eastside Culture Crawl has been held every November for more than a decade.  It's a chance for lesser known artists - and plenty of well known ones too - to showcase their work in one frenetic free-for-all at dozens of galleries and makeshift galleries throughout an area roughly from Vancouver's Main Street to Commercial Drive. 

So here I am, just back from my first trip to Mexico in 20 years and, for my first story, I get to meet a fellow in Vancouver who is from Mexico City.  This is not important to the story I did, except that within two minutes of it running on TV - I got an e-mail from a viewer in Palm Springs, California which I share with you now... 

Hey, the idea of bedbugs creeps me out as much as it does the next guy.   I recall getting in late to a pretty well known hotel in Winnipeg years back that some rather nasty critters in the room they gave me.  What hotel - you ask?  Well, without naming names - it was close to the Forks - but they did give me another room that had no such problem, and it was years ago, so probably they got rid of the problem, within minutes of my complaint.  Really! 

 

You've heard of food banks.  But did you know there's a grocery store in Vancouver that offers food at a fraction of the price that it costs in regular supermarkets?  Now, of course, there's a catch.  Still, it is a remarkable service and one you should know about, especially if you qualify for the discounts.  Discount Dinners 

Stacy Kohut has known alot of success in life.  A ski racer, he's collected his share of gold and silver medals at the Paralympics.  But now that he's retired, he says the time has come for the Paralympic Games to become integrated into the other Olympics. 

Now here's a story we got when a fellow called us from his hospital bed after one major, major operation.   He wasn't looking for sympathy - he wanted us to know about someone he had met who was making life easier for people like himself. 

And more than that, he now wants to help the fellow out, because that guy will soon be facing major problems of his own.   Wheel Friends 

    These are tough days for farmers.  Cattle ranchers still face lingering problems over BSE, hog producers watch demand dwindle over an apparently misplaced fear about the connection between pork and H1N1. 

    But that's not the case with sheep farmers.