HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MUSE

This is a portion of the letter and a copy of the framed portrait that I sent Pete last year for his birthday.





Dear Mr. Townshend

Please accept this gift as a token of my admiration of you and of my great appreciation for your work. I have never made it a habit of writing to people that I do not know, although I find myself relatively familiar with you through your writings and your musical compositions.

May I note that you are rather revealing in your writing... You will no doubt have heard it all before, but this time there is a difference – it comes from me.

I take special delight in your ease to oscillate between omnipotence and self-doubt. You wear your heart on your sleeve. You are the Star, albeit the self-professed reluctant one, and yet you have the knack of maintaining your own down to earth, approachable, human qualities.

I will introduce myself as briefly as possible, although I do tend to be rather verbose, for I enjoy writing. It was with the encouragement of others, including my husband, that I was ultimately able to pluck up the courage to prepare and send this to you. As well, I find my own artwork to be of a highly personal nature at this early stage.

I was born in 1957 in Montreal where I lived with my family until I was eighteen. It was then that I moved to Edmonton where I went to college and studied Horsemanship. Two years later, after graduation, I began to muck about working with horses throughout Saskatchewan, Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia. I became disillusioned with the horse business and I eventually moved to the rural town of Canmore just outside Banff National Park. While living there, I worked with the tourism industry in the Town of Banff.

My oldest daughter was born in Canmore in 1990 and during that year I went back to college in Calgary where I studied Accounting. I considered it not the most glamourous of professions, but I enjoyed doing it and it offered good employment opportunities for a single parent.

In 1993 I settled in the small resort town of Windermere in the Canadian Rockies where I now live with my husband, George and three children, Beth (15), Bobby (9) and Jenny (8). I work part time at the local Ford dealership in the administration department and I also do the books for my husband’s auto body business.

We spend our summers camping, mountain biking, horseback riding, swimming and boating on the lake - we are only two blocks from our local beach and marina. Winters are spent snowmobiling, skating and skiing at the nearby resort of Panorama Mountain Village.

When I was young, my family and friends encouraged me to nurture my artistic talents. I enjoyed writing and my stories and compositions were the ones that were consistently read to the class in school. During those years I did some sketching as well, and was on my way to developing a flair for drawing horses. I eventually ended up pursuing my outdoor activities instead, and I put away the pens, pencils and paper - until now.

I discovered my talent for human portraits a very short while ago. In fact, it was only in June of last year that I attempted my first pencil portrait. The result is a sketch of Keith Moon. This may appear odd, but I felt compelled to do the piece after reading Moon’s biography. In keeping with the theme, I decided to attempt a sketch of you, thus the enclosed portrait. I am presently working on a third piece. It is a long process, given life’s challenges and time for myself is limited, but I am persisting.

I have always been a champion of The Who and their music. During my teenage years, while all my girl friends were immersed in Beatlemania, I was completely swept away by your fascinating “bad boy” band - and I do admit that I was subject to a schoolgirl’s crush on Keith Moon.

The one, striking moment happened while I was listening to Quadrophenia and I found myself completely blown away (for lack of any other term). It was then that I realized it was no mere “rock star” writing and composing this music. That was the point where I truly discovered the genius behind it all.

Enough to say, that since then, I have observed you through your tragedies and your triumphs and I continue to be inspired by you.

Happy 60th Birthday, Pete!


...somebody saved me, I thank you my friend