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Gayle and I traveled to our old stomping ground in Winnipeg in May. First we celebrated my 80th Birthday with most of my family – daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren and their spouses and great-grandchildren. I presented hardcover copies of my autobiography to my daughters, Shirley and Audrey, and had a bit of a book reading for the “elder” members of the family. Audrey and Shirley were ages 8 and 10 when they emigrated with their mother, Mary, and me from Scotland to Canada. Since they had “lived” part of the story of “From Poverty to Poverty: A Scotsman Encounters Canada,” it was only fitting to dedicate the book to them as well as to my present wife and editor, Gayle.

Then, before Gayle traveled to Norway for over a month to visit her daughter and family and I remained in Winnipeg, we held a book reading at my daughter’s house.  This was a great way to reconnect with old friends that we knew from former Winnipeg days. They seemed to enjoy the readings, especially the tales I’ve entitled “Jig-a-Jig in the Desert” about the ‘invasion’ by Arab prostitutes at the water filtration camp I was supervising during my RAF days in Egypt and “More Than Slightly Sloshed” in which I recount my first encounter with “poteen” or home brew whisky made by my Irish stepfather, Bill Moorhead. The tale concludes with this paragraph: “Somehow, it seemed, my Salvation Army days were really over. To quote my mother, ‘Since ye joined the Royal Air Force, ye’ve gone tae the Devil!'”