Lain's Log: Love, pain, the whole damn thing

August 16/11

The day couldn't have started much better by meeting up, (poolside), with Mike Stewart, activities director extraordinaire at Fern. Mike has been working here since he was a teen.

He has always had a special gift of making every guest feel welcome and remembered. His demeanor is happy-go-lucky, (though I know he's much deeper than that)! He's a musician, M.C., entertainer, and the best lip syncher I have EVER seen in my life. Anyone who has witnessed him perform Day-O at Fern would agree. THE BEST. I'm upset this year, because this insanely, impossibly great number has been dropped from the show. There was anarchy in the dining room tonight over this omission from the upcoming Thursday night performance. I told Mike. He just shrugged, laughed and promised a great new show on Thursday.

Later, my good friend Pam Deacon-Pickard met up with me (ALSO poolside) for one of our annual Fern chats. We first met five or six years ago, exactly in this spot, started talking, discovered we were kindred spirits and have remained pals ever since. She is a wonderful woman, hard-working, devoted to her teenage son, George, her Mum (Lenore) and her brother (Rod). I have come to know Pam and her family in a way I never could have anticipated.

Pam's bro Rod Deacon and their incredible Mum, Lenore Deacon!! - In her 80s, Lenore was diagnosed with breast cancer, same as me, and is a survivor, (also same as me).

Fern can "orchestrate" these things for you, but in THIS case, it is also just the power of Pam, a true force to be reckoned with. Her sense of humour knows NO bounds, lemme tell ya.

Meanwhile, ANOTHER force, is my daughter, Kate. Shot this outside the cabin on the way to dinner. She is brilliant, beautiful and has a style all her own, which will serve her so well when she starts at Ryerson in just a couple of weeks. I can only IMAGINE what lies in store for her there. I will also point out that I have driven her nearly insane here at Fern, asking her to teach me how to upload pics and many other things. She has ALMOST lost her mind with this out-there Mum of hers, yet, she continues to assist me.

Kate is also a great photog and took this pic of me in front of a few of Fern's gorgeous flowers tonight. Since I accidentally forgot about half my clothing in a wardrobe bag at home, (ya, only I could do that), I am wearing Hue short-shorts and a Betty & Veronica t-shirt, given to me by my sister, Carrie. We were both ARCHIE comic freaks as kids. (she moved on, but I never did). ARCHIE rules!

After dinner, I asked my son, Max, to accompany me back to the zipline park, because I discovered that the "Jane Fonda burn" you feel from 'doing the zipline', is SO intense, you just HAVE to do it again! And I HATE ab exercises, but THIS one just feels so fabulous, you NEED to go for more. I want to do it every night. (so, could I just install one of these things in my backyard??)

Hurts like hell, but, in a GOOD way!!

Today's festivities also included the annual pool party at 3 p.m.

You have to be ready for,

Crazy D & his Jamaican dance moves!!

But what I REALLY wanted to do was sit and read the manuscript from my old Seneca College friend, John Axelson. I only re-connected with him about a week ago, (after having searched 25 years or so)! Then, one day, out of the blue, a message suddenly popped up to me thru Facebook, and the next thing I knew, I had his autobiographical book in hand! "Stalking the Average Man," he warns, may be dangerous for me to read, and could lead me to decide I can't be friends with him anymore, according to John. (which, naturally, only fans the flames and makes me desire to read it all the more!!) - And I REFUSE to read it "backwards," - NOT wanting to know the ending in advance. I only want his highly personal story to unfold exactly the way it HAPPENED.

Just days before leaving for Fern, John & I ended up having a 3-hour Skype chat, (my first-ever Skype encounter), trying to sort out this long lost friendship. (which, just for the record, was never a romance, - only an "Intensity Entity" thing). We laughed, cried and shocked each other with over-the-top revelations, and I promised John I would read his book, which chronicles many things, including his horrendous days as a CBC TV soundman during several wars. His stream-of-consciousness style, (as far as I've read), is da bomb. I told him he may NEVER find a better audience than me right now, in my "out there" state of mind.

John also acknowledges his colleagues, Robert Whyte, David Wilson, Brian Stewart, Ann Medina, Al Jazeera and Tony Burman, among others, in this book. I look forward to devouring the rest of his graphic & intense tale.