The Squamidian Report – June 4 / 05
For the ‘ON LINE’ version of this newsletter, go to:
http://www.thedougsite.ca/2005/june04.htm
Also in this issue:
Hi All,
Amazing how much prep is needed to do a trip back to old Ontarible, especially if we are all going. Well, all means Sue, Ryan and myself. Emily is working. The fact that Sue gets there a few days before the rest of us complicates it. She did a Winnipeg audit and so flew to Toronto from there rather than all the way back to Vancouver only to turn around and fly to Toronto. So normally she would simply drive to ‘Park and Fly’ where she would leave her car. To accommodate the three of us returning home all together without having two vehicles sitting at the airport I drove in with her last Monday morning so that Ryan and I would have her car to go to the airport with. He and I fly in on this coming Monday, we all fly back together on the 15th.
There are many things to do when leaving a house unattended for a while. The newspaper has to be cancelled so it won’t pile up on the porch, signaling to all low-lifes that no one is home. Because we get our mail in a postal box at the local outlet, we have to let them know so they can stash it for us until we return. Then a neighbour has to be asked to keep an eye on the place. And so on.
Driving into the city at 5 AM to get to the airport is quite nice. No traffic, the highway is clear sailing. There is certainly a lot more traffic on the way home. Saw one thing that made me grin. We all get great pleasure in seeing those that are much better off than ourselves having difficulties. (Oh come on, admit it, you do so). Parked at the side of the highway with its hood up was one of those SUV’s of the elite, a Hummer. The Vancouver to Whistler corridor is full of those fuel-guzzling road hogging things. A tow truck was just pulling up behind it so there was no need to offer any kind of assistance.
Our airport, YVR, while being our major west coast gateway to the world, is still easy to get to and easy to find your way around in. Its on Lulu Island in Richmond and has panoramic views of the mountains, the city and the St of Georgia as well as the southern end of Vancouver Island. The air there is clear and clean with a slight sea salt flavour. We fly into Toronto’s YYZ where the air is yellow and has a distinct diesel smell. Just thought you’d like to know.
*
The biking pictures I hadn’t told you about are at:
http://www.thedougsite.ca/Pictures/ChanceCreek/roe1.htm
We had gone up Roe Creek under a heavy overcast so the mountaintops were hidden from us. Went back up a week later under very clear skies. Only problem was is was so hot that Ryan and I cut our riding short. One of the many neat things about this ride, a young cougar ran across in front of me. Warren and Jason were up ahead, Ryan was behind me, and so I was the only one to see it. The way you tell it’s a cougar is that it is a big cat and has a long tail. The other wild cats around here, lynx, bob, that kind of thing, don’t have long tails. As for the pictures, the first page takes you to the ones under the overcast, the second page’s link is at the bottom of the first page and it takes you to the clear day pics.
And speaking of cougars, Ryan saw one the other night running along the side of the highway as he was heading home from working in Whistler. The cougar was doing the running, Ryan was in his car with the windows up and the doors locked. He also saw a bear sitting in the ditch looking at the cars going by.
Looking forward to seeing some of you this coming week. Should be a good party, or series of parties. I’ll be the grumpy guy sitting over in the corner.
d
****
Lots of happenings in the last few weeks. There are a gazillion things running
through my head that I could write about, but don't worry, I'll edit the list.
First off, I want to wish my mom, Carol, a very happy birthday today, June 4th! If any of you squids will be seeing her this weekend, please snip some lilac blooms if you have them and bring them along for her. They're mom's favourite flower. When I was a kid, I always hoped they'd be blooming at this time so I could get a big bouquet for her birthday. Back then there was a stretch along Old Chicoppee road (Karin, you'll remember, right across from the farm) that was lined with tons of huge, wild lilac bushes. We could cut armloads of them and fill the house with their wonderful fragrance. I don't know if the lilacs are blooming in Kitchener right now, but hopefully they're blooming for you, Mom. They just started a few days ago up here and it's lovely. We found we have some along the road in front of the house. Yay!
Mom and Al came up for a couple days last week to see our place, to see us of course, and to work! I called Mom from the depths of despair to come and help me put away my kitchen. I was overwhelmed by the task of trying to find shelf and cupboard space for my dishes and appliances. Since I've been an avid cook for the last few years, I've amassed a LOT of kitchen stuff. We also acquired a LOT of kitchen stuff that was included in the purchase of the B&B. Trying to figure out what to keep, what to pitch, and where to put things was an enormous task but we got it done in a couple days. While mom and I shlepped away in the kitchen, Al was busy outside, mowing our lawn, breaking down and burning a bunch of boxes from our move, and helping Jim with the "guy" stuff. It was great to have them here. (Come back! we're not done unpacking yet!)
By the way, it took them just three hours to get here from Kitchener, and they swear they weren't driving at crazy speeds. Just lucky with the traffic. It pays to head up on a weekday evening.
We ran into water problems just days after FINALLY getting the water hooked up in the main house. As luck would have it, that was in the middle of my parents visit, and just as we started preparing dinner. Luckily, we could use the water in the guest house. It's just a little inconvenient to have to trot across the deck to use the loo or wash up. And that meant I was back to doing dishes in the bathroom sink! Arg. Well, the plumber came this week and we discovered our problem was due to a septic tank that was in dire need of pumping out. How's that for real country living? The tanks (one for the main house and one for the guest house) have both been pumped out now and we really, truly have functional water works in the house. Yay!
To celebrate our water, we took our new fancy-shmancy front-load washing mashine on her maiden run. Maybe my life is getting too sedate, but Jim and I spent a good 10 minutes watching our first load spinning around. That's really because in the process of finally moving into the house, we've lost the instruction manual. We've managed to lose a lot of things, somehow, while moving our "office" from the guest house to the main house. I think there's a black hole somewhere under the dining room.
I had to go to Toronto on some errands earlier this week, and included a visit to my former next-door neighbours. While Toni and I were outside in her garden, the new owners of my house came home, recognized me, and invited us in to come see the work they've done on the place. They've sanded down and refinished those old hardwood floors in a dark, glossy stain and they look beautiful! Refinishing those floors was one of the things further down on our To Do list, so I'm so glad they're finally done! It was nice to see the house again, and see how my perennials are doing. It was also nice to get back some laundry I didn't know I had left in the dryer!
In other news...Our dog, Saba, proudly caught herself a bee that got in the house. She was rewarded for her efforts with a sting in the mouth, which resulted in a swollen face and a trip to the vet. I'm just knocking wood that she'll restrict her wildlife run-ins to bees and leave all skunks and porcupines alone. Jim was also stung by a bee, but he didn't get nearly as much coddling as the dog did.
We picked up our rack cards from the printer and have been busy distributing them to as many tourist haunts as possible. I'll bring some on the 11th for show and tell. Jim and I have been making the rounds of garage sales for a few weeks now and have landed some good deals. I spent a couple days cleaning up and painting an old cabinet and a desk and they've turned out alright. We also got an old Eaton's steamer trunk for $10. It's in great shape and quite an interesting piece. Now we just have to figure out where to put in.
Lastly, a funny thing happened today... A lady named Linda--a director of the Horticultural Society--was over here this morning to drop something off, and so I showed her around the grounds and she told me the different plants I had, how to take care of them, etc. One of the plants she pointed out to me was horseradish, which I would never have recognized on my own. Later this afternoon I answered a phone call with my usual "Good afternoon, Fern Glen Inn" and a lady on the other end just says "Do you have any horseradish?" I answer "As a matter of fact I do. You must've been talking to Linda from the Horticultural Society."
She says "No, I've been calling everyone." I didn't really believe her. Who else would tell her except Linda? but why would she lie about it? So I say "Well Linda was just here this morning, and I was giving her a tour of my garden. Actually she was giving me the tour and telling me what plants I have. She said I have horseradish but I would never have known. "Oh." is her only reply.So I asked her if she belongs to the horticultural society. She says "No, I've just been calling everyone and nobody has horseradish."
And I think, what? calling everyone in the phone book? The conversation went on along the same vein for a few more exchanges before I finally clued in and asked her if she had meant to call Fern Glen Garden Centre, which is just down the road from us. Sure enough, that was the confusion. She'd been calling all the garden centres trying to find the plant or seeds for horseradish. Well, I told her she's welcome to come take a piece of my horseradish anyway. So she did, and we had a pleasant little visit and a good laugh about the bizarre coincidence that ended her quest for horseradish.
That's it for this week. Hope to see many of you next week for the big shindig!
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Special hi to Ron and Maggie from Carole and Me!
Well, we had a blast at the KCI 150th
Anniversary and Reunion this past weekend. Carole and I met up with Ron and
Maggie in the most unlikely place, the booze line! As it turned out, Ron’s mug
did look familiar to me after 37 years. He was in my older brother Brent’s age
group back then (I guess he still is) and didn’t have much to do with us young
uns. Even Maggie seems to think she’s crossed paths with Carole somewhere along
the line. I think it’s just a kindred spirit since they both hale from the
British Isles, Maggie from jolly old England and Carole from the Emerald Isle.
They yakked off and on for an hour or so over the course of the evening but
never did manage to figure out where they might have met in the past. Ron and I
on the other hand had our KCI heritage in common and that seemed to be enough
to seal the Squamidian bond. Carole and I are both looking forward to June 11th
to have the chance to continue the connection, not to mention meeting some more
of the Brubacher clan that will be there.
Rosemary wrote to me and told me that she had
attended KCI for her grade 10 year. I can’t wait to hear her speak fluent
Latin. I heard through the KCI grape vine that she was top of her class in that
particular subject. I have only one thing to say to Rosemary and that is
“Semper ubi sub ubi”! Figure that one out Rosie! If you’re a good girl, I’ll
tell you a little lesson I personally learned about that one.
The Saturday night gathering at Rim Park was a
success and rekindled a lot of old acquaintances I’m sure. Carole and I met a
pair of sisters that lived behind me when we were kids. I lived on Floyd St and
they lived on the street behind us called Crestwood Dr. Their names are Ginny
and Connie Greig. I attended both public and high schools with them. As it
turns out, Ginny, the younger one by 1.5 years owns and operates a couple of
B&B’s on Vancouver Island. She and her husband Larry have been running the
B&B’s for 16 years now and can’t say enough about the beauty of BC, as our
own Doug agrees. Connie is my age and
pretty much looks like I remember her. She’s always been slim and pretty with
long dark hair. Her hair is now short and has a reddish tinge to it but she’s
still slim and pretty and looks about 40 and for a woman 56 that’s not bad.
Connie is also living on Vancouver Island and moved there from Ontario 6 years
ago. She runs a website building business and her husband Bill Manning is one
of BC’s most renowned psychics and tea cup readers. He’s a psychotherapist as
well and is known for his ability to help people stop smoking. The sisters and
their husbands live within 5 minutes of each other in a little town called
Chemainus BC. I gather it’s about 125kms north of Victoria and is located on
the eastern shore of the island. They can probably wave to Doug and Sue on a
clear day! LOL!
By walking around the huge indoor soccer fields that
they had covered in plywood for the occasion, we managed to find about 25 or so
people that I went to KCI with. Not a heck of a lot when you consider I was
there for 5 years. The band was called Gravity as I believe I told you last
week. They were terrific and played two one hour sets of great James Brown,
Chicago, Santana and many other 60’s / 70’s hits that we all remembered. When
they weren’t playing, there was a DJ by the name of Rod Hoddle spinning great
tunes as well. Rod’s father was Frank Hoddle, a renowned Kitchener Alderman
back in the 60’s. Rod’s brother Craig is a sax player for a 60’s style rock
band but the name escapes me at the moment. They too are amazing musicians that
have played this stuff since it was on the hit parade. Craig is the manager of
Heer’s Paint Centre on Gage St in Kitchener. Some of you may have dealt with
him too over the years; I know Carole and I have. The weekend of reminiscing
came to a close at the Kitchener Auditorium. They had a KCI Assembly style
gathering where they brought back 8 of the cheerleaders from the 60’s. They
also brought back 6 or 7 of the former “Head Boys & Head Girls” from that
era. It was great to see how many of these people look today and hear what
they’ve been up to with their lives. The 2 hour assembly that was scheduled
from 2 to 4pm ended at 5:20pm and even then they had cut out many of the
scheduled acts or interviews.
Speaking of interviews, they had a video of an
interview that was done with a KCI Graduate from 1920. She is Dorothy Russell
and still lives in the house she was born in in 1900. It’s on Schneider Ave and
borders Victoria Park in Kitchener. She lives with her son and his wife and is
in pretty darned good health. She was so sharp that the audience was amazed at
the memory on her. She even chanted a verse or two of the KCI school cheer and
recited some of the school song as well. As it turns out, Mrs Russell spent
many years teaching Kindergarten in the public school system of Kitchener. My
cousin Patrick Hoy and I were sitting together and he told me that he mentioned
Mrs Russell to his mother and she said that Mrs Russell taught Rick’s father
Ken Hoy and his sister (my mother) Irene Hoy in kindergarten at Margaret Avenue
School in the 1920’s. As I read the bio on Mrs Russell in the KW Record I
realized that she was also MY Kindergarten teacher at Prueter Public School in
1954 when that school was brand new. It’s amazing that she’s still hear and
doing well. They say she’s taught more KW kids than any other teacher in the
public school system. How interesting is that? I think she’s incredible! I’m
going to phone her son and see if I can speak to her sometime soon. I doubt
however that she’d ever remember students from way back then but it would be
cool to talk to her and say thanks wouldn’t it? I think so! Well, I should let
you all go for now. It’s been a wonderful weekend and I’m sooooo glad we
attended it. When they announced that the next reunion will be held in 2030
Patrick and I looked at each other and said simultaneously “We’ll be 81”
hahahaaaaa….. the only question will be, which one of us will do the driving to
attend the events of that celebration? LOL! Carole said just so we didn’t end
up in a fist fight over it, that she’d gladly do the driving so we could save our
energies for the dance! Sounds like a plan to me! Thanks Carole!
Better go for now, Carole and I are spending
Thursday till Monday up at our friends cottage near Severn Bridge so I’ve
written this Wednesday evening to make sure Doug would have it on time. I wish
you all a great weekend and I’ll talk to you all again next time in The
Ontarion Report. I gather we’ll all be able to deliver our opinions etc on the
next Squamidian reports in person on the 11th.
Carol…. Can you please write an e-mail containing
the details of the Brubacher event once more to all of us who have short
memories? Thanks in advance!
Sincerely Greg.
PS: We’ll see you all at the Brubacher Bash!
PPS: Confucius say: Women are wiser than men, though
they know less, they understand more!
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
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