835th Post - Say Hello to Ed Coleman

As I mentioned last evening, today was gonna be a busy day for Patricia and me. First of all, I was up until nearly 2:30 this morning fixing a problem with the stupid webcam I bought with this computer.

I went to bed for three and a half hours, rose, got dressed, and drove to Patricia. Thence, we drove to Port Williams for the village-wide yard sale.

There weren't a lot of "wow" moments for me today. I found a really sweet camera bag, in excellent condition, for five dollars. I can store my digital camera, my camcorder, and my digital voice recorder in, with room left over. Also bought a photo printer for Patricia. Without using a computer, she will (theoretically) be able to print off pics from her camera to this printer. Came with plenty of paper and ink cartridges. Ten bucks. More her thing than mine, but I want to see how well it works.

Bought a cat scratching post for three dollars. A fresh carpet remnant, and it will be A-1 again.

Patricia bought some plants.

But, overall, there wasn't a lot to brag about this year.

Visited my mother in the hospital, ran errands for both parents, and found time for a 20 minute nap before we went to the supper at the community centre. Scalloped potatoes, baked beans, ham (which I didn't want), tomato slices, tea/coffee/juice, and desserts. Free will offering.

The man ahead of me in the coffee line looked familiar to me. I recognized him from an excellent column he has written for more than 20 years. It is all about history in Kings County, Nova Scotia. A second column that he has written since 1960 or so is about hunting and fishing in that part of the province.

"You're Ed Coleman aren't you, sir?"

He allowed that he was that person. We chatted for a moment and went our ways.

Turns out that he was sitting next to us. Screwing up my courage, I asked him if he might be willing to pose for a picture or two with me. He agreed, and after we had all eaten, the four of us went outside to my car, where I grabbed my camera, and Patricia took several shots. The one I liked best accompanies this post. I also shot some video of Ed and told him where he would find this blog; the video will go up here shortly. Lastly, I asked him if he might sit down for an interview with me. He has agreed.

I am not an historian, just a fella with a blog who takes an interest in local history. If I had been thinking straight, I would have asked Ed about Jack Pineo, an Annapolis Valley boy who eventually worked as a broadcaster for NBC in the 1960's. But I wasn't, and I didn't. Perhaps I'll save that for the interview.

I have linked to Ed's columns before. I will again. This page will take you to both of his columns. Ed tells me that someone will be updating it shortly to include more recent columns, but there is a lot to read here. I see that the history columns, online, begin in 1996, even though he started writing it in 1986 or so. I would love to see the earlier columns up there, too.

Ed Coleman, thank you for your time, sir. I hope you find my blog and like it. Keep in touch.

Bevboy