The purpose of this website is to enable the sharing of my writings.  It is entirely likely that, given the time of my life and the nature of my writing, this is the only collection that I will ever produce.  Any further works I may attempt will simply be additional to the items herein, and posting them to this website suggests itself as an easy and efficient way to keep this collection current and available as time goes on.  Please note, though, that this website is a "work in process" and that you may see changes/improvements to its format and contents as it develops.

 
My first duty is to explain why I have selected “Baba’s  Lamp“ as both the title and main element of the illustration  for this collection.

 
The lamp featured throughout this website is in fact the very one we used at the kitchen table in our home on the farm before electrification became a fact in our neck of the woods in 1953.  I clearly recall my Mom, in daily ritual, cleaning the lamp chimney with crumpled newspaper to wipe away any soot from the last occasion of its prior use, and the trimming of the wick.  Every second day or so, this ritual called for a topping up of the coal oil, a duty Mom would assign to Dad or one of her children, followed by a thorough wiping-down of the lamp before a match was struck to light it.

I also recall doing a good deal of my school homework in its light, as well as spending evenings with family and visiting neighbours, occasionally playing at cards or checkers, or just reading and talking.  To be sure, we had other lamps, of the ‘pump-up‘ variety with mantles and all, reserved for the stronger light called for by such special evening gatherings as feather bees or the visits of special guests.  But, for most evenings and early mornings, this was the lamp we used to light up our home, carried about from room to room as needed.

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That makes it, for me, a symbol, both fitting and apt for use in this compilation, in appreciation and tribute to my Mom, my entire family and our neighbourhood, for their gentle, loving and abiding influence on the ideas, ideals and ethics of my formative years.  These all played a part in shaping me and have sustained me through-out my adult life. 

“Thank-you, Mom, for the light and the lamp of your love.  All of your grandchildren remember you as Baba, and they treasure their Baba’s light and love in their own way”.