The Squamidian Report – Dec. 29 / 18
Issue #866
Including:
From Lorne
From Russ
The Ontarion
Hi All,
This is always the ‘dead’ week where not much happens which is just how
most of us like it. The hustle, bustle and frenzy of the past several
weeks is over with and done. For those that wish to, there is time to
catch our breaths, relax and let everything fall back in to some form
of perspective. We all breath a collective sigh of relief. I watch with
both horror and amusement the news videos of frantic bargain hunters
lining up for pre and post Christmas shopping. As if all that nonsense
before the day wasn’t bad enough, hoards of zombies stampede into the
malls with hopes of satisfying their need and greed. So I guess I’m not
talking about them when I remark how ‘we’ can now relax and enjoy. And,
I can say with total accuracy, I did not go near let along go into a
single shopping mall during the lead up to ‘the day’. I confess to
popping in to both Canadian Tire and Home Hardware but only stayed
about 5 minutes in either place. In fact, thanks to being retired for
as long as I have, and given I seldom have to be anywhere I don’t want
to be, I have gone from using a clock or watch to just having a
calendar on my desk. Just knowing what day it is is close enough.
An observation…..
China has figured out an ingenious way of getting rid of their
abundance of cheap plastic. They sell it back to North Americans in the
form of children’s Christmas toys.
On Thursday morning, at the crack of dawn, I and anyone else that
happened to check the sky was treated to a rather nice spectacle.
Because of the almost endless Pacific storms that have been pumping in
off the ocean we’ve been constantly overcast for several weeks. Didn’t
get to see that last meteor shower or that comet, but, Thursday morning
came with a perfectly clear cold sky. And low and behold, there was the
moon high in the south west, Venus high in the south east and following
in a nice row, Jupiter and Mercury. Mercury is hard to see from this
part of the world due to our high horizons. Because of her close orbit
around the sun she can only be seen at dawn or dusk for a short period
of time and never gets very high into the sky. It was only because her
position low in the south east just happened to fit into a gap in the
mountains (from my viewing perspective) that I could see her at all.
But it was cool and I’ll take it whenever I can.
I think thats all I have to say for this year. Happy New Year everyone.
Keep those stories coming in if you are one of the one’s contributing,
and get off your butt if you are not.
OH, there is one last thing…. When the grand kids were up, Kyra
expressed and interest in singing her Christmas songs into the mic. So,
thats what she did. As well, she wanted to include some of the ‘moves’
her grade one class had learned, as well as some ‘embellishment’.
Here’s Kyra’s Christmas songs, as recorded. I know you’ll enjoy.
http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/Covers/KyraXmas.mp3
doug
****
From Lorne
I missed writing about Christmas times past because my mind was still
in the weekly bath. Well, most weeks. My family had
Christmas on Christmas Eve. a tradition on my mother's side, Presents
were left on the front porch after a loud knock on the front
door. I being the oldest and fastest after knocking the others out of
the way, would open the door to find a bushel basket full of goodies.
And the sound of church bells playing 'IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR'.
would drift in along with the basket. Christmas of 1933 brought all the
children to the town hall to receive a stocking full of nuts,
candy and a big orange. Speaking of oranges, while visiting an aunt and
uncle, sitting around their dinning room table that held a
bowl of oranges, my aunt noticed my longing gaze at the fruit and asked
if she could peel one for me. Oh.! Yes please! I sat watching her
peel away until she held the treat of a lifetime then watched her
eat it herself. Some things are never forgotten no matter how old
one gets.
Shopping for the perfect gift was always a challenge even at a young
age. At about the age of 12 years I had earned enough mowing lawns and
shoveling snow to have saved a whole $ 1.00 . That provided enough to
buy all my family a gift from Woolworth's at 5 -10 cents each and had
enough to by myself a wind up train for 30 cents. I haven't played with
the train for months.
Lorne
****
From Russ
Christmas, & no toys
It’s December 26th, and I’ve just come out of Walmart in Goderich,
Ontario’s “Prettiest Town”, where I picked up a few produce items.
The store was crowded, as usual, but the main back-ups were not at the
check-outs, but at the Service Department. People exchanging ‘gifts’
that were the wrong size, or that ‘they just didn’t want’.
Shoppers are streaming in, anxious to find bargains, and staggering out
carrying bags so full they’re spilling out, dropping stuff onto the
slush, or pushing over-loaded shopping carts and dollies carrying new
TV’s about 6 feet long.
A picture of affluence!
Now, let me tell you what I was thinking about as I watched this scene:
It’s 1937, we’re living in Centreville, in a two story three bedroom
house with four boys and one girl; no indoor plumbing, water from the
pump had to be heated on the kitchen stove for any kind of washing.
Money was always scarce, and we often were late with the rent, and if
it weren’t for our Jersey cow, vegetable garden, apple orchard,
and laying hens, and Mrs. Forler willing to “put our groceries on
credit”, we’d have starved! Almost.
In a ‘good’ year, Santa came on Christmas Eve, but most of the time
there were no toys – Santa missed our house. Sad kids. But Pop came to
the rescue. On the day after Christmas, he took us to some toy store
that had everything on for half price! We were allowed to pick out just
one toy each, and I remember my choice was a wind-up race car. I’d
crank it up tight (but not too tight, as the spring would break) and
point it in a safe direction, and ‘let it fly’ across the linoleum
floor. It “screamed” like a real race-car, but travelled about as fast
as a turtle.
It might have disappointed some kids to have a race-car that didn’t
‘race’, but not this kid. I LOVED that little metal toy, and I can
still vividly picture it my mind to this day. I wish I still had it, it
would probably be worth a small fortune as a ‘collector’s item! But,
I’d NEVER part with it!
Wondering if any of you had childhood memories of a scarce Christmas?
Your ‘very’ old Uncle Russ.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, Christmas is over for another year and already people are buying
gifts for next year’s event! I stayed home (Boxing Day) just to avoid
the crowds at the malls here in Kitchener. I wasn’t sure if things
would be any better today if I ventured out. I decided to head out this
afternoon and take a couple of gifts back to the return counter at a
their respective purchase points. I found that although the lines were
relatively short, it still took about a half hour at each one of the
three stores I visited. People don’t seem to be able to explain the
problem with their return items very well. What does it take to say,
“It just didn’t suit the recipient!” that’s about all one has to say as
a reason for the return of the item. However, most people fumble and
fart around making up excuses for their being there at the “Return”
desk. I don’t know about you but I got to the point where I was ready
to strangle a couple of the slowpokes that stood in front of me in
line! Like the person behind the counter really gives a damn if your
aunt Tilley didn’t like the polka dots on the item you gave her and
thought it smelled funny! Just get to the point and hand over the
receipt! Sheesh! Have some consideration for the people lined up behind
you and get on with it! I went out at 1pm and thought I’d be maybe an
hour doing my returns but as it turned out it took me until 5pm before
I finally rolled back into the driveway at home! I was relieved to
finally be home where I could kick off my shoes and settle in for an
hour of enjoying supper and then watching a little TV. That’s exactly
what I did but not before I was asked to venture back out on the town
to pick up some “Take Out” for supper because Carole had had a very
busy day packing all the Christmas decorations away in large plastic
tubs for storage until next year when it would start all over again!
LOL! No big deal to do that task for my loved ones but the
thought of standing in another line at the eatery I was heading for
didn’t sit well after all the idiots I’d followed in lineups earlier in
the afternoon! Oh well, as usual, I just decided to face the possible
crowd (or their backsides) and get on with the task of ordering and
transporting food for the night’s supper! As luck would have it, when I
got to my first stop at Pizza Pizza there was nobody in line at the
counter at all! I was pleasantly surprised indeed! Once I had the order
from that establishment, I only had to cross the parking lot to find
the local Swiss Chalet and their take out desk. When I entered that
order room, once again I found only three people in the room. Two were
sitting waiting for their order and one was waiting at the cash
register to order his take out. I waited only about three minutes for
him to order and then it was my turn. I just stepped up to the register
and the clerk behind it waved her finger at me and said, “I’ll only be
a minute!” and walked away into the back room. I thought, “Here Goes!”
but to my surprise she returned to help me within about another three
minutes. I placed my order and figured I’d be sitting there for a good
20 minutes of more before she’d reappear with my food order. Well, I no
sooner got into a nice conversation with the guy next to me about
vacationing in the warmer climes during the winter when the clerk
reappeared at the counter shouting my name and my full order to
everyone in the room to hear. I chuckled and begged the fellow’s pardon
and politely said, “That’s me!” I then thanked her for the order and
headed out to the car to try to get home before the food got cold! As
it was the pizza was already sitting in the car for about 15 minutes
but I chuckled to myself as I drove out of the parking lot saying out
loud, “There’s always the microwave!” I was home in less than ten
minutes and all of the food was still warm enough that we could forgo
the microwave! I guess that food lines move faster than “Return Lines”
and thank goodness for that. At least we didn’t have to wait 4 hours to
sit down to eat supper. All in all it was a full day indeed. We had
decided yesterday that we’d spend today removing all the indoor and
outdoor Christmas decorations and thankfully that only took about two
hours and was basically finished by 1pm for my part anyway. At least
the weather was mild enough that I was able to remove the outdoor
decorations without suffering much from the cold temps. It was only
about 1c today and with my bundle of winter clothes on and Adam’s help
the task went fairly smoothly. Carole worked on gathering and packing
the indoor knick-knacks while we worked on the outdoor stuff. I had to
climb my stepladder to remove the large wreath that always hangs on the
front of the garage. The lights on the front wall of the house that
light the walkway up to the front door needed to have the bulbs changed
from red to white once again as well I had to remove the boughs and
other greenery that adorned the light fixtures. That took the use of
the stepladder as well but wasn’t too difficult a chore. We also had a
real Christmas tree on the front porch with lights and decorations on
it for this year’s festivities. That as well had to be “undecorated”
and moved to the end of the porch so the birds could enjoy eating from
it for the rest of the winter. No sense in putting the tree out for the
recycle before making good use of it for Mother Nature! It is only a
small four-foot tree and I’m sure it will feed the local wild birds for
a good couple of months and then it can be recycled! I managed to
secure some green branches from the large Cedar (I’m not sure what type
they are) 20’ tall shrubs that line the other side of the Hydro Right
Of Way out back early in the December month. They however turned out to
be very attractive while hanging on the lights and a couple of
different display items that Carole set up on the front porch of the
house. They had an abundance of blue berries on them that I’ve never
noticed before this year. Carole figured we should leave them on the
side gate as well as piled on the front birdbath so the birds could
enjoy eating them as well. In the spring I’ll make sure the remains get
recycled too! Well, I guess I’m about typed out for this week! It’s a
good thing that my days sometimes supply me with a topic for the
Ontarion of the week, otherwise I’d be stuck for something to write
about some weeks. This week just happens to be one of those times when
things work out because of the particular activities of the day. Thank
goodness!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading about my day and I’ll call it quits for this week!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
By the time I talk to you again, it’ll be a New Year indeed and we’ll
have lots to talk about again for another year! I most certainly
enjoyed reading all of the submissions that were put forth last week
and sincerely hope that amount of participation happens many more times
over the New Year. Keep ‘em coming everyone!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Knowledge makes men humble, and true genius is ever modest!
PPS: I want to wish you all a Very Happy New Year and good fortune as well as the best of health in the coming year!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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