Queenie; her visit! and the pool cue draw

I picked Queenie up today at the Crofton BC Ferries Dock at 11:20am. A very sweet little lady, we connected instantly and it was a very informative and interesting ride to my place. She has accomplished a lot in her life and is determined to continue doing so for a lot longer. We went straight to the burl and she touched it and loved it for a while, and met my family and friends. Warren Lange was there and shortly after, Albert Chow came with his daughter Trinity.

It was another good day, Queenie, who I bet was a bit of a firecracker in her younger days, looked over Alberts beautiful Komodo pool cue. Paula dumped all the folded papers into a big pot and I brought it out for Queenie to make the draw.

Congratulations to Wyn and Wendy Bunston of Victoria, Queenie drew your name. I phoned right away and told Wendy, she sounded like she couldn't believe it. Wyn was at that time looking at some of the photos he had taken of "Murfitt" on his computer. They sounded pretty happy, and the best part about it is: Wyn is a pool player. Enjoy it Wyn, that cue has a TON of character!, and a very interesting story just like Queenie.

Thanks to Warren I have about 50 more pictures, and he even already brought discs so I could post them here.

Thanks to Paula for being such an excellent hostess, we had a great lunch and an easy time. That's just what you do!

Thanks Albert for your workmanship, and friendship.

Thanks to Lia, Tara, Becky for coming and for all your help and support.

Thank you Myrna and Barry, Fiona and Barry, Jackie and Dave for being there and helping at the open house.

Thanks to Serious Coffee for donating the coffee and cups, and the Highland Dance Club for the big tent.

Thanks to all friends and family, and everybody that donated to the Canucks Place Childrens Hospice. We raised a total of $1,700. It wouldn't have been possible without each one of you doing what you did.

Queenie, my latest 'Murfitt' friend

Since starting this project 6.5 years ago I have had the honour of meeting hundreds of people that I may have never connected with otherwise. Some of them have turned into great relationships, and it's the true meaning of 'Murfitt'

Shortly after the first article came out in the Citizen in March 2006, I received a phone call from an elderly lady from Saltspring Island, Queenie. She told me she loved wood and wished she could come over to see the burl, so we tried to arrange it. At that time the burlshack was just an idea, and all I had covering it was tarps held up with a ladder for a centre pole and brooms etc. to try and keep the wet tarps off the wood. I tried to put off Queenies visit until Peter Murfitt had the burl shack completed so she could enjoy it more.

Once the burl shack was set up we tried several times to hook up but it just never worked out. I was to come over and pick her up once and that failed because I got called out to work. It was disappointing to both of us but that was just the way it was. Through all our communication I was learning that Queenie is quite the character to say the least.

I ended up mailing her a couple small finished trimmings off the burl in the mail, so she could at least get an idea of the quality of the wood. But I never heard back from her after that! I was saddened at the thought that she never got the chance to see it and I never got the chance to become friends with her face to face. To top it off my computer crashed and I lost everything including the contact information on Queenie.

Then, on Monday evening after years of not knowing what happened I received a message on my phone. Guess who? YES! Queenie! "Hello, it's Queenie from Saltspring, I've been reading about your burl again Glen, I've always wanted to come and see it and to see you. I've never have written to you since you sent me those two little samples and I just love them. And I have a little quilt I made with the Canadian floral emblems that I wanted to bring. I don't suppose it'll mean much to you but it might to your wife or mother and I would just love to come over, my son can bring me. So will you call me? It's Queenie, you'll remember." and she left her phone number then hung up.

I could not believe it! I got alligator tears in my eyes and I called right away! I asked if she could come over on Saturday and draw the pool cue winners name. So that's what we're doing.

Queenie was a welder in the war, I think she said the first woman welder in Canada. She made 200 Blankets for babies in Africa last year, and she spent four years writing a 300 page book on her life. She's a character that I am honoured to be able to call my "Murfitt" friend!

I'll post a couple photos and the cue winners name after her visit. She's now 97!

Successful open house!

My family and friends helped make the open house a ton of fun and a very successful fundraising event. The Canucks Place Children's Hospice will receive a nice significant amount of money thanks to everybody that gave a donation. If you were here I'm sure you enjoyed your visit and I thank you for your donation. The pool cue winners name will be announced on this blog after we make the draw later this week.

It's impossible to keep track of how many people came this weekend but we're thinking 500 to 600. Thank you Kevin Rothbauer of the Cowichan Valley Citizen for an excellent job of writing the article that came out June 15th. http://www2.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/news/story.html?id=97f676b9-e580-4e6f-af58-2b1cbd5dee56&p=1
It was an extreme pleasure for me to connect with a lot of old and new friends as well as the many people I didn't know until this weekend. Thanks for coming!

If you missed it and would like to see 'Murfitt' Call me at 250-746-0075 or Leave a comment on this post and we'll figure out when you could do that. Or Facebook me at www.glen.mcleod.5 @facebook.com

photos by good ol Warren Lange.