Port Moody used to be somewhere you drove through, or avoided, to get to Vancouver. These days, people actually come here to visit. I grew up in Port Moody before it was considered a nice place to live. I always held a special place in my heart for Port Moody. I remember my paper routes on St. George hill, tobogganing in Rocky Point, flattening coins on the train tracks, the yellow sulfur (the icon of industry), Golden Spike Days, the years at Moody Elementary and the teachers that I adored, buying candy from Casey Jones gas station, the geese and everything that comes with them…

Now that I live in the heart of Port Moody in Newport Village, with my camera in hand I can actually record the details that I might otherwise forget. The deep blue winter sky speckled with geese (why haven’t they gone south yet?) The produce market I’m so happy to have right outside my door. The shops and especially the kitschiness of the children’s toy store. The empty metal seats outside the gelato store that look so cold this time of year. Coffee and improv shows shared with friends at Gallaghers. The playground that 9 months out of the year echoes children’s laughter up to my balcony. The pansies that border the Brown’s Restaurant patio in December. The Scottie doorstop that holds open the door of an upscale men’s clothing store, where inside an unpredictable Yorkie cross barks away.

I love it here and I’m glad to be back.