Issue #971
Including:

From Nova Scotia Sus

From Russ

From Carol

The Ontarion

Hi All,

Here we are a whole 2 days into this new year. I guess you could say “we made it”. And, it looks like we will be carrying this new letter into this new year with us, so, here goes...

Peanut butter sandwiches: The one staple we just couldn’t live without. I think I’ve been having them for lunch for most of my life. I can remember way back in public school eating them when they were all wet and mushy because my lunch bag was soaked due to the fact that we had walked to school in a pouring rain. I think the only times we were aloud to stay for lunch was when the weather was too bad to walk home at noon. Then, as a young adult, I had them on my lunch at work. My first full-time job was in land surveying where I stayed for about 10 years or so. There was no going to a fast food outlet at noon in those days, you had to pack along whatever it was you wanted. My usual lunch was a meat sandwich, a peanut butter sandwich, an apple or banana, and 4 or 5 cookies. What I remember most was that in the winter those lunches tended to freeze and as a young, hungry guy, those frozen peanut butter sandwiches never tasted so good. In fact, because working outdoors in cold weather caused very big appetites, I can’t remember anything tasting as good as those frozen sandwiches. To this day I still like to make a nice peanut butter sandwich using frozen bread (just out of the freezer, not from sitting in the back of some cold car in the winter) and it can still taste great. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to get good bread now-a-days. The stuff you get in grocery stores and even most bakeries is crap, not at all like the tasty bread back then.

Once I left the survey company and ventured out as a self-employed contractor I still brought my own lunch along from home. And yes, in the winter those lunches still had a tendency to freeze, and yes, they still were just as good as ever. Perhaps sadly, winters don’t seem to be cold enough these days to freeze someone’s lunch. I had attested in last week’s letter as to how brutal and cold the winters of our childhood were. I know as a kid and as a young adult I loved those winters. As I got older, well, not so much. And now-a-days they, for the most part, are not cold enough to freeze any kind of lunch. Thats a bummer. The better things in life seem to have melted away.

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Early Tuesday morning we were greeted by a rather colorful sunrise. Because of our high horizons around here we don’t usually see those things very often but this one out did itself. Had the eastern sky looked like that during the dry season we would have been bugging out as it would have looked like a massive forest fire coming our way but this was just the sun rising. Red sky in the morning sailors take warning? Well, the next morning greeted us with pouring rain and an inch of heavy slush so there my be some merit to that old ‘saying’. Anyway, for those who haven’t seen the pic, here it is.

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Well now, here’s another Ian Tyson number called ‘Springtime In Alberta’. It’s cowboy poetry at it’s best. And yes, springtime is still a few weeks away but what the heck, this song can be sung anytime of the year. And also yes, it could use some harmony and some extra instrumentation but you get what you pay for and that’s just bare bones me. Enjoy.

Springtime In Alberta

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

I think this Christmas more than ever a much bigger effort was put into decorating homes. One night for something to do we drove around to find Christmas lights and were amazed and delighted. Everything from simple effects to completely over the top. It was hard to concentrate on my driving, luckily not many on the road. On our way to Pictou is a community called Lyons Brook that is really only one street with lots of houses on both sides. I like to call it Lawns Brook because all the lawns connect for the whole stretch and a lot of mowing goes on there. One house in particular has the largest lawn I've ever seen on a property. They have full time gardeners and mowers to take care of their acreage. It's also for sale but don't know anyone who would want to take on such an expense. I remember many years ago Uncle Lorne while visiting Nova Scotia commented he would love to own it. I think it was just a pipe dream.

Anyway on this such property the owners hired a crane to put up strings and strings of lights coming down from a flag pole. It could be seen from miles away in the distance looking like a pyramid. It was so amazing you couldn't take your eyes off it. We decided that they won the contest if there was one.

We are having a very green Christmas and now New Years. In fact December has given us only a meager amount of snow. We are not complaining much but getting a little sick of rain. We did have a few nice sunny days and clear nights. I tried to see Saturn and Jupiter but our trees hid our view. Thanks Doug for showing us a picture you took.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best to come. Stay healthy and happy.

Sus

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From Russ

And the walls came tumbling down!

“Preston Springs Hotel demolition will take place starting December 31st, and will take about one month to complete.

Heritage group has filed a court injunction to stop the demolition of the one-time luxury hotel at King and Fountain Streets in Preston.

An emergency order was issued on Christmas Eve saying the hotel would need to come down due to serious safety concerns.

Council voted 8 – 1 to refuse the building owner demolition application.

A conservation review hearing was set for April 2021 to see if the building’s heritage designation could be removed. The emergency order supersedes that process.” (News Release)

Many will be sad to see it go. I’m one of them. The 5 story, former luxury hotel was built over 100 years ago, snug up-against a hill, and almost directly over a natural sulphur hot-spring. It was believed at the time, bathing in the smelly (rotten eggs) water would cure many “ills”. People came from far-and-wide to enjoy health-giving experiences while ‘bathing’ in the luxury of the 5- Star hotel. But the ‘fad’ died out as people discovered they were not gaining any health benefits from soaking in ‘old-stinky’, and the hotel eventually closed. The building was then rented for several different purposes, until it was used to accommodate a bunch of girls who were employed by Dominion Woolens & Worsteds during the end of WW-2. They were probably enticed by an ad:

Dominion Woolens & Worsteds is now hiring young women at it’s Plant in Hespler, Ontario. Free training provided. Free living quarters. Free transportation to the site. Reasonable wage.

The ad appealed to girls and young women in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, and they soon arrived on our ‘door-step’ – eager to work, and eager to play! We of the local gentry were just as eager playmates!

Word leaked the girls would be allowed to date ‘approved’ boys. We somehow borrowed wheels and flocked to the main entrance (former hotel lobby) of Preston Springs hotel where we were met by the Supervisor, a mature, dignified lady who carefully looked us over, while we made our request to date 3 of the girls for an evening.

“Wait here”, she ordered. She soon returned with 3 girls, ages 18 – 28, one was pretty, one was plain, and one was tall and skinny. I ended-up with the basketball player. How come? You ask. I was the youngest of us males – shy – slow to come forward, and left with the ‘left-overs’. All six of us packed into our car, and headed for some quiet place (abandoned gravel pit) where some heavy petting began.

Picture this: ‘Lanky’ is perched upon my lap. Nothing happens. The sounds emanating from the other couples were causing me some grief. Hours went by. My bag-of-bones still on my lap (my left leg gone to sleep). Nothing has happened. No hugs. No kisses. No nothing! That’s how my date went – a total disaster!!

But, the reason I will miss the handsome, old structure is because it was always there! The location itself was incredible to behold! It was built INTO the hill; there was NO place on the property for parking; it sat impressively at “the head of the table”, looking straight down the main street of Preston. You could not avoid passing it – whether traveling on Fountain Street, or King Street (Highway #8). Preston Springs Hotel was an impressive building in it’s day.

When we lived in a high-rise on Eagle Street in Preston, our unit on the 14th floor faced west, and gave us a clear view of ‘our favourite building’ for 7 years!

Yes. I will miss her.

Uncle Russ.

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From Carol

Hi Everyone, l am sure many of you are grateful that we are finally through with 2020. I was thinking about what has been positive about the year. We lost Dad but at least he didn’t have to take treatments at a time when we would not be allowed to go with him as support. He would have hated being bedridden, he was just too active and engaged for that. And we all were able to grieve together, which would have been impossible a few weeks later. I have known families that have fallen apart after the passing of the parents but I feel closer and more appreciative of my siblings. Gale has been wonderful, not sure how I would have gotten through the year without her. Both of our parents would be thrilled that the Homestead is staying in the family, as they wanted. So the circle of life continues.

As retirees we are not financially effected by COVID 19 as some are and rather enjoyed some aspects, like an excuse to read more and more family time. We also were able to spend relaxing time at the Wiarton house. Nick has a job disinfecting things at Hefner Toyota, a job that didn’t exist before. We haven’t partied on New Years for decades so the restrictions mean nothing to us. We are bubbled with Beth’s family because the grandchildren need to go back and forth and will spend the evening with them, as usual. Nick is ordering Chinese for all of us.

Al and I wish all of you a safe, healthy, prosperous 2021.

Carol

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ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

Here we are on the second day of a new year and the virus is still here! I guess it’s going to take at least another year to rid the world of this nasty problem. That is, if we’re even rid of it by then. With the weather like it is, it’s not difficult to stay home these days. Guess we’ll just have to make more of an effort to stay home and follow the health department rules. That’s the only way to get a handle on this drastic problem. It’s unfortunate that the “No maskers” cant see the light and conform to the rules. I suppose they’ll just have to catch the virus and maybe then, they’ll learn their lesson! I think if the government would have stopped all flights into Canada from Britain and other foreign countries as soon as the new strain hit there, we might have prevented it from arriving in Canada. Oh well, it’s too late now!

I’m sick and tired of hearing nothing but Covid stuff on the news. It was refreshing to hear the report for a full hour last Sunday on CTV of a review of all the good things they had reported on over this past year. Most of it had been buried in the bad news of the virus and the American election so I guess I had missed the original reports of the odd good news item over the year!

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We have spent the past week taking down the Christmas decorations both inside and out and getting things cleaned up to ring in the New Year. We’ll be spending New Year’s eve here at home in our sheltered environment. I think we’ll find a couple of good movies to watch that evening and have a nice variety of assorted food items to munch on while watching them. We haven’t gone out to celebrate the event for quite a few years now so we really won’t miss any big party!

Speaking of New Years, I haven’t made any serious resolutions in many years so this year will be no different! I’m just hoping for a good resolution to the Covid problem in the coming months! If that happens, I’ll be very happy indeed! As will the rest of the world!

That’s about all for this week folks. Short and sweet to say the least!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report.

Bye for now … Greg

PS: Carole and Adam and I wish each and every Squamidian member and your families a very Happy New Year. Lets hope for a safe and healthy one as well!

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