Live from Hester's new digs
In 2002, I moved to Bridgeland. Here's the story in my old sketchbook journal
Hello, drawing book readers! We’re picking up the story in my old sketchbook journal series. Last week, I wrote about life in late 2001/early 2002. At that time, I was feeling the need for a change. I’d lived in my much-loved apartment in Calgary’s Beltline area since 1998. I still loved it there, but I needed a place where I could live with two dogs. My parents were separating, selling our old family house, and the family dogs had nowhere to go. I found an old house in Bridgeland, where I could rent the main floor. Those old dogs were not great with stairs. A longtime housemate lived in the tiny upstairs suite. We didn’t interact too much. It wasn’t perfect, but it was ok.
One thing I didn’t draw in that picture of the yard: A beautiful tree. Once, I remember being fast asleep (as I usually was during the daytime, back then) and getting a knock on my door. A shy university student stood there. She said she was studying trees, and she asked if she could take a sample, or a cutting, or something, from the tree in my front yard. She said, “It’s the finest specimen of a Mountain Ash tree I’ve ever seen!” I sleepily said sure.
I remember what she said, because it was the first time I learned that my tree was a Mountain Ash tree. Back then, I didn’t know anything about trees, or about any local stuff. I came home, I slept all day and and painted all night, and then I got on an airplane and hung around in some other places.
You may wonder what happened to my dogs, while I was travelling around? I shared them with my brother, who lived nearby. He was a flight attendant, too, with WestJet! We arranged our schedules around dog care. That was a funny situation.
I missed my old apartment and the 17th Avenue scene. Bridgeland was quiet and lonely. It hadn’t started its gigantic gentrification yet. The General Hospital had been demolished a few years before, but nothing had yet been built in its place. The old hospital site was a giant wasteland where rabbits romped by night. More about the Bridgeland rabbits in later comics.
This was my house. When I look at this picture, I remember how cold it was. That house did not have much in the way of insulation.
And I remember I had those two blue Ikea couches that had been my dad’s office furniture. I had them for years… I loved them!
That house was demolished in recent years. The mountain ash tree… no more.
Thanks for reading! I hope that wherever you are, and whoever is sharing your space, you get a good night’s sleep.
Epilogue
Many years later (in 2014), I was exhibiting at the Calgary Comics Expo, when someone came up to my table. It was the guy who worked the night shift at the Bridgeland 7-11, back when I Iived across the street! He remembered me!
Back then, I was “live-tweeting” comics about the Expo experience for the Calgary Herald, so I drew this panel about my 7-11 encounter. (I did that Calgary Herald/Expo thing a few times - here are some panels from the previous year, on my old blog. Good times!)
The Calgary Expo will be coming up in April, but I figured out a while ago that it wasn’t really the right scene for me. Instead, I’ll be heading to the Panel One Comic Arts Festival, for the ten-year anniversary of a great event celebrating local independent comics people! That’s not till June 1, 2026. In the meantime, I’ll be here again next week for another episode of The Drawing Book.