Pictures of Lorne

Michelle took this picture of me and our dog, Freebie, in the park where we go for walks along the river. Something I don't do often enough, or I would be in much better shape. I used to run a lot, and I find walking frustratingly slow sometimes. But it helps to have a sweet young wife holding my hand to get me from getting too bored. Freebie doesn't let us walk very slowly, anyway...that crazy dog could pull someone's arm right off. He's a strong dog; in the winter he likes to run with us when we cross-country ski, and if I let Michelle go ahead of us Freebie will actually pull me along at full speed, even up a small hill. The dog's just nuts. We try to keep him from pulling us though, since we don't want him to overheat or injure himself without a harness.

Michelle did a nice job of using the overhanging tree branches to frame the picture, although it's too bad the tree wasn't a few feet shorter. I've had to crop and shrink the image a bit to keep the size down (only allowed 2 MBs of web space, after that I have to pay $5/month/MB which is ridiculous).

Taken on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, when both our families spent a week at a rented cottage. The week was spoiled a bit by the insane numbers of fish flies that were everywhere, making it difficult to walk ten feet without being covered from head to toe with the annoying things. Thank goodness they weren't as bad on the beach when there was a wind.

I was still taking my computer programming course when we went on this little vacation, and I rushed through my Assembler training in order to take the week off. As it was I had to return to the city for 2 days so I could finish and hand in my project on time.

This picture was taken on a hiking trail at Morraine Lake, Alberta on our honeymoon. We arrived there a day early because we got the dates mixed up (we had our minds on other things :) and ended up leaving the next day. The place was too crowded, the staff was too clueless, and the food was too expensive. I remember paying over $28 for three pieces of caribou about the size of a quarter. The scenery was breathtaking, but there were just too many people around to really enjoy it.

Here's a picture taken at Michelle's aunt Veronica's at Christmas time. Every husband, son and son-in-law knows that the shortest distance to a woman's heart is often a beeline to a kitchen sink full of dishes.

This picture was taken at the unveiling of my Dad's steel sculpture, "Living Water." I had to crop Michelle out of the picture because she doesn't want to be seen on the internet. In the actual photograph she's across the angel from me, to the left. She's the reason I'm smiling.

Michelle took this picture while she was finishing off a roll of black and white film for a photography course. The shirt is one of hers (I've never seen Phantom of the Opera, although she did take me to see Les Misérables), but the Mickey Mouse red underwear are mine. I'd told Michelle about the efforts of people like Asha Develder and Holly Sullivan in the Fidonet Amiga echo to get me to pose in a "sexy" picture, and how I'd come this close to posing with nothing but a small Canadian Flag to hide behind. Somehow I don't think this picture lives up to what I had in mind for "Canada's Sexiest Writer." :)

Lt. Commander Riker having a nap? Nope, just me having a snooze on Michelle's couch. (That's the couch that was hers before it was ours, you see. My couch is the couch that was mine before it was hers. Now both are ours. It's really quite simple.) Note the prestigious Higher State brand sweatshirt. Nothing but the best for this Real Canadian Superstore shopper. I think my Mom got it for free with one of their "buy enough groceries for a month" coupon deals.

Another picture to finish off the roll. Here I'm pretending to make a serious phone call to my agent, offering to give the next million dollars from my book sales to charity. I wish. :) Judging from the 5 o'clock shadow I'm sporting I must have shaved about ten minutes before this picture was taken. The owner of our favorite video store wishes he could grow a beard as thick as mine, but I think he's crazy. You peach-fuzz beardless wonders don't know how lucky you are.