To the family, especially the grandchildren, my warmest thought are with you. Bill was a wonderful friend and neighbour who delighted in his grandkid's sports and was their greatest fan. He spoke as if the sun rose and set on you. He loved you deeply.

Bill always had a "how can I help attitude?", of course with the exception of the time, I phoned during a most riveting hockey game to ask him where my blue box might have blown in the high wind gusts of the previous evening. He sounded like he just didn't care too much given the compelling third period.  

I smile at the day I was power washing my windows - Bill took hold of the hose, took aim with a "Go ahead, make my day" play. He was just fun with a quick and clever sense of humour. 

One day, he shared a ladder. We were both cleaning our gutters at the same time. I thought it was funny to chat with a neighbour across our mutual rooftops. He was obviously much more task focused and eager to simply get the job done. There was a tennis match soon, he was on a tight schedule. He found my roof top laughter, banter, and story telling something short of ridiculous.

Occasionally, he enjoyed a simple BBQ after cutting my grass as well as his own with his tractor that he loved like a buddy. More often, he sat on his deck reading the paper and welcomed any visitor who dropped by. I recall how he discussed, no declared, with seriousness and great intention that the following morning he was going to remove a tree that he had a contentious relationship with off his deck. Last fall, I mentioned that he had made that remark each time I was on his deck since May 2014. Preposterous he thought, had he really not gotten on with the task. 

He was in our small lottery pool and he and I discussed our much-anticipated plans for any winnings. We would have both have large yachts moored off the bluffs in our side-by-side back yards. We would have huge floating docks too with tiki bars and live bands in the evening, he worried not that the plans would be frowned upon, why he would buy Lake Ontario if needed - yes, he was fun and funny and playful in that regard. 

He is a much-missed friend and neighbour for our circle of friends on The Cove. Good bye my friend. Peggy

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs
like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says,
' There she goes! '

Gone where? 

Gone from my sight... that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
' There she goes! '
there are other eyes watching her coming...
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout...

' Here she comes! '
And that is dying. 

Henry Van D.