The Squamidian Report – Sept. 30 / 06
Issue #226
Also in this issue:
G'day from Melbourne !!!
A Note From Ewan
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well, for starters, I had promised to post some pictures from Ryan and Emily’s wedding. So that is what I’ve done. You can find them at:
http://members.shaw.ca/r_brubacher/wedding.htm
Ryan will be posting a web site showing their Hawaii honeymoon cruise once he gets back and has time to set it up.
Its good to be home and have things back to normal. Sue is currently filling a temporary manager position in Whistler while the regular one is off on vacation and I’m working back in Britannia. We had finished the subdivision last winter but there has been other projects added to the job. The sewer treatment plant has been on going for a year and a half and it is still nowhere near completed. The designers and engineers can’t seem to make up their minds what they want or how they want it. They come up with grandiose ideas of how it should be but can’t seem to decide exactly how it should be done. And some of those ideas are pretty far fetched. They are obviously not the ones footing the bill to build the things. But that seems to be the norm these days.
One of the many strange and wonderful things we are doing is building a high tech dry pond with intricate plumbing and piping and valving that is supposed to remove the odor and gasses that come from the sewer treatment plant. Basically, we are building a fancy fart filter!
And Warren and I decided it might be fun to play at the open mic night that happens every second Wednesday at the Gelato place down town. So we did. Normally anyone wanting to play signs up ahead of time and is given about 10 or 15 minutes to do their thing. We told them we needed at least half an hour to make it worth coming in for. That worked for them and we ended up playing almost an hour. We seem to be the only ones around that do harmony and that makes us stand out from all the others. Anyway, we had fun and no one threw anything at us so I guess it went OK.
*
Geek Speak
Actually, just a little bit of Geek Speak. Grisoft, the makers of the free AVG anti-virus program have brought out a new version of their free program called ‘ewido’. It is an anti-spyware program. The version you download is the full version with all the bells and whistles that they want you to pay for but you can use it for a month. If you don’t opt for purchasing it after the month, the program simply defaults to the free version that no longer supports real time scanning and automatic updating. It does not conflict with anti-virus programs or firewalls so it is easy to set up and run. The only glitch I found was that I had to re-boot the computer after installation before it would do its first update of signatures. Scanning time it fairly fast and there are lots of options for setting up the program to work the way you want it to. Get your copy at:
doug
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G'day from Melbourne !!!
Yes, I'm back in Oz! And what a trip it's been. After 9 weeks living out of a suitcase, not knowing how long I would be in Huntsville, and just taking it one day at a time, it's good to be home. On the other hand, I have so many great memories and stories, that it's all a bit overwhelming, still.
I've been home nearly a week now, and Melbourne weather has so far been cold and miserable. It was quite a shock to my system, to come from a warm sunny climate in Canada to cold, damp, dreary, wintry Melbourne. It's enough to make me want to jump on the next plane back. Oh, how I hate the cold. But the reality is that soon Canada will be cold, and by then Melbourne should be warmer. I will just have to be patient.
Well, I feel really under the gun: Last time I spoke to Doug, it was to tell him that I wasn't coming to Squamish after all. Because of my longer stay in Huntsville, looking after my dad's affairs, by the time I got to Kitchener, my time there was just going to be too brief. So, rather than leaving Toronto on my original departure date, Aug 23rd, and then have a 4 day stop-over in Squamish, I opted for extending my stay in Kitchener, until September 1st instead, and cancel the 4 day stop-over in Squamish altogether.
I called Doug to tell him of my change of plans. He wasn't surprised, having heard about my father being in hospital, and the extra time I had to spend up there, he assumed that I probably wasn't coming to visit them in Squamish. It was regretful, to have to cancel my visit with Doug and Sue, but at the same time I was happy I had extra time in Kitchener, after all it gave me time with family and close friends. Doug was very understanding, but he did make me promise that I would share my Canada stories after my return to Oz. (hence feeling under the gun).
Today I want to make a special mention of the Squamidian Party which took place on August 19th, at the old Brubacher Homestead. What an excellent party it was in spite of the weather. Hey we had perfect weather almost every day, but as Murpheys' Law would have it, on the big day of what was supposed to be an outdoor party, it rained all day.
It seemed a great shame at first and I for one never gave up hope that it might still clear up, but of course it didn't. But hey, it didn't really dampen anyone's spirits. My good friends Ingrid and Darrel dropped me off at around 3:30 pm, as Carol asked me to come early, being that I was the guest of honour. Wow, that was daunting, to be the guest of honour, little old me, not being the kind of person who likes the spotlight, and who always prefers to keep a low profile. But what can you do when someone does something so nice for you and goes to all the hard work organizing a party for you, and inviting so many people, who all make it special. Well, you just have to grin and bear it, ha, ha.
It was great to see Lorne and Vivyan and Cindy again. Lorne, you must have discovered the fountain of youth - I think you are getting younger... Vivyan too looked young and spiffy, but I know the fall she had at the beginning of the year took it's toll on her.
Anyway, shortly after I got to the homestead, people started to drift in one by one. There were many new faces, but also many familiar faces. I was delighted to see many family members there. My sister, Lore, and her family; my brother Hellmut and his wife and their two little girls; my niece Josie, her little girl, Natalie, and partner, Pat; Beth and and her new partner, and little boy; my niece Karina and partner; I think I was busy for about an hour just saying hello and hugging everyone as they were arriving.
Then there were the many Brubachers and Squamidians, and a few of my close friends. It was all really wonderful. I finally got to meet the great Greg of Ontarion fame, and his lovely Carole. Greg, by the way, was kind enough to take some great pictures at this blessed event, and pass them on to me and you all. I took many photos, but as so often happens, when you take the pictures, you are never in any of them. So, thanks to Greg, I also have some pictures of me as well as everyone else.
Well into the party, and after several bottles of beer (or wine), the party was well under way, and I just enjoyed seeing everyone interacting as well as doing a bit of interacting myself. It was quite an interesting mix of people and I really enjoyed it all. I loved that there were people of all ages, and all walks of life. My only regret was that maybe I'm not terribly good at socializing, and therefore didn't really get to know some of the Squamidians as well as I could have.
Carol, I want to say a special thank you especially to you for all your hard work that you put into this wonderful event. You are so amazing ! The party was great and I realize the work that goes into organizing such an event. I really wish you could have had more time to enjoy yourself. Also, thank you for the wonderful cakes which you baked yourself. Having done much baking myself, I appreciate the love and hard work that goes into this. I will never foget this kind thing that you did, to have such a grand party for me, (although I realize it was just as much for everyone else to get together). I felt incredibly humbled and overwhelmed by it all.
Al, I know you were right there alongside Carol and helped her arrange everything. Hey, I couldn't help notice what a great job you did with the barbecue, all by yourself. You guys certainly didn't get enough credit for all the good food and the organization and everything else too. Hope you both enjoyed yourselves as well.
Did I say thank you to all the people who brought food for this incredible smorgasbord. Wow, I am getting hungry now just thinking about all the good food we had that night. The hamburgers (and chicken) were delicious, the corn of the cob was awesome, and then all the other good food. What a fab feast! No wonder I didn't have much room for the birthday cake. But I did have a taste - it was awesome !!! Hey, and when everyone sang a happy birthday to me, that was the icing on the cake. I was so surprised, really. Since my actual 50th birthday was spent up in Huntsville, and actually went by without much fanfare, I hadn't expected anyone to really make a fuss. Well, they sure made a fuss, and wow, I really felt honoured. Anyway, thank you everyone for making the Squamidian party such a special day for me.
Finally I want to thank Lorne and Vivyan for making their home available to all of us. That was such a generous thing to do. Near the end of the party I noticed that Vivyan was looking so extremely tired, that I felt really guilty for wanting to stay and party longer. Anyway, Vivyan, I hope it didn't take you too long to recover. I'm sure you were not left to clean up the mess, knowing Carol and Al (and Cindy), you would have had plenty of helping hands to pick up after everyone left. Anyway, thank you very much for your hospitality. I hope everyone enjoyed the party as much as I did.
Ok, Doug, you asked for it... my first contribution to your Squamidian. It's no literary triumpf. Keep in mind, I'm still jet-lagged and part of my mind is still in another time zone. I will see about sending along some pictures from the party. Doug can decide how many he wants to post on his website.
For now, g'day andhooroo !!!!
Karin’s pictures:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/Misc/karin.htm
****
A Note From Ewan
Hello
all,
The
new job is leaving me more time to write, and without banging my head against
the wall every day the splitting headaches are a thing of the past!
This
past Saturday was the first Clan Cameron cattle reiving in Ontario. My Dad and
brother were thinking of going at one point, but I wasn't quite sure what to
expect, and there was the possibility of rain. Jamie is working a late shift
too. I knew we'd be hiking on the Bruce Trail Saturday morning, near Waterdown
(close to Burlington). At the last minute I decided not to wear my kilt. Big
mistake. The weather cleared up a little, and it turned out to be a great day.
I hate not having my kilt on when a bunch of other guys do! I thought there
might be a few Camerons and maybe a couple of guests. But the competitive
nature of the event drew a crowd of a couple of dozen people, with several
other clans present. They included MacDonald, Wallace, Campbell and a strong
contingent of MacFarlanes. Many of them wore kilts, and most of them had a good
showing of other regalia. But at least I had my handy Cameron cap! The
MacFarlanes wore the same t-shirts with their clan crest, which also boasted of
their accomplishments in the field of lifting cattle.
Along
with the usual hiking gear, I had brought several small plush toy cows. I knew
I needed at least one, although I wasn't quite sure what I'd do with it. It
never hurts to have extras, particularly because I often lose things long
before they could ever be stolen. I thought it would be fun to have one with
it's head sticking out of the top of my back pack. By the time I crossed the
parking lot to where everyone had gathered around a trailer with a life size
cow statue the MacFarlanes were openly laughing at me, and pointing out that
they were there. Eventually one of them handed the cow back to me and I thanked
him. I assumed I had dropped it. I clued in the second time. They had stolen it
twice before we got out of the parking lot! I put it inside my back pack.
We
received basic instructions to get to the other end and a few details on
scoring. Apparently part of the challenge was to pick up garbage off the Bruce
Trail, and points were involved. But as an enthusiastic supporter of the trail
I didn't mind that a bit! There were enough Camerons that we were divided in to
two groups. Naturally everyone else quickly stepped back and I was the leader
of my group. Fortunately there were people with me who clearly had a better
idea of what was going on than I did, so off we went. Before we left I met with
the leader of the other half of the Camerons, Robert. In a way it's hard to
take Robert very seriously. On another level he's the only one to take
seriously! He asked me if I'd brought a knife. I said I had the one on my multi
tool that I carry when in the woods. He laughed heartily and handed me a loaner
dirk. It was a lovely 45 cm (18") blade with a sheath for my belt. At
first I wasn't sure what to do with it, but it turned out to be perfect for
stabbing garbage! I envied him for wearing his kilt.
Before
leaving I went in to the community centre to use the washroom. I overheard a
couple of young people who were looking out at our group and the cow trailer.
They thought it was weird and I immediately felt great about the whole thing!
Once we got away from the parking lot and street the first leg of the trip was
beautiful. It's a lush valley section of the Bruce Trail. We met an odd fellow
on the trail who was talking fast and asking questions. I thought for a minute
that he might have been part of the challenge, but it quickly became obvious
that he was merely nuts (even compared to us!). Although a little slippery, the
trail was just excellent, one of those beautiful fall days. Over a few hills
and around a few curves we eventually crossed a bridge over a stream, then a
street. This was the first check point and the cow trailer thing was there. The
other teams lost points for walking by some nearby trash that Dave threw in our
bag. We unloaded our bag of garbage, but we were quickly handed a fresh one.
Soon
we reached a nice spot in the woods to have lunch. People started chatting and
digging in to what ever they'd brought. Wallace offered me his sandwich, which
I accepted. I thought he was one of the ones who showed up without a cow, so I
decided to dig out one of mine to offer him (I had already given away one for
the same reason at the beginning). With a bunch of stuff out of my back pack,
and limited space on the trail I put the cow in to my pocket for a few seconds.
That was all it took for it to be snapped up and carried off. I was left
spinning and wondering what had happened. My cow was reived by Donna Goldstraw,
and she'd disappeared in to the forest before I even got a good look at her! I
never would have thought she'd be that good at it, but she turned out to be a
wily one, waiting and watching for any opening. These people were schooling me
in creach, the reiving of cattle.
After
lunch the single malt came out for a toast to Locheil, the XXVII Chief of Clan
Cameron. We made sure to include Wallace and the MacFarlanes, it never hurts to
make peace! This was only my second time having a drink before driving. Since I
still have a G2 driver's license this is a serious no no. But I wouldn't have
to drive for another five hours at least, with exercise and more food in
between. I had a cap full (about 1/4 ounce, just enough to wet my whistle).
Just for the record, the only other time was when I was served ice cream at the
Brubacher homestead, and my Mom had put some sort of raspberry wine on it. I
figured it our half way through, but finished it anyway. It was delicious!
Anyway, in both cases I was totally sober when I drove, I swear!
The
afternoon hike was even nicer than the morning, with the sun streaming through
now and then. I sped up to catch up to Donna, but no way was she foolish enough
to give me a chance at redemption. I did have some fun watching the MacFarlanes
at work as we went through the woods, following a creek. I gave up on Donna and
decided to wait for the rest of my clan by a small waterfall. Eventually we all
made it up the last hill, to a picturesque spot overlooking a larger waterfall.
This was the end of the hike, almost. There was a check point there too. They
had poured a tempting row of tiny cups of whisky, ours for the taking! It was
heart breaking to have to turn it down. I must get a full license, at least I
could have one drink!
We had
several other challenges to complete, which were much more difficult. There
were skill testing questions, and songs. I'm bad at both, but it was fun.
Luckily we had Dave, who is a teacher and has all kinds of useful facts
floating around in his head. I managed to bungle a couple of questions for the
group, but it didn't matter. The last leg of the hike was to the pub in
Waterdown. I still don't understand buying a drink in a place called
"Waterdown," but the others didn't let that stop them. I had iced
tea. Everyone was there, including the people who had organized the hike, and
those who were unable to go on it at all. At the end of the day we even got
certificates recording the details of our reiving experience. Our team one. All
agreed that we must do it again. I'll be wiser next time!
The
rest of the weekend was great. I love a good hike on the Bruce Trail. But the
odd combination of hiking, Scottish stuff, plush toys and whisky really had me
thinking of Jamie again. He's the only one that I know who would fit in with
all of those things! Next year I'll have to bring more people. Not being the
secretary has really opened things up, for myself and the whole group!
Ewan
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I was just doodling around on the computer this evening and for no particular reason decided to put in the words “Double Cola”. Lo and behold, up came a web site for a company in the states that makes a drink called “Double Cola”. Do any of you remember a drink by this name that was around in the late 50’s to mid 60’s? When I was a kid, I used to drink this brand of pop all the time. Not only because it was a better tasting cola drink than either Coke or Pepsi but because it cost the same and was 16oz per bottle. Coke and Pepsi were only 10oz I believe. When I was 15, I worked at a Supertest gas station at the corner of Margaret Avenue and Guelph St in the north ward of Kitchener. It was owned by the parents of a friend of mine. Mr and Mrs John W Kanter were the owners and their son Bob was my friend and we worked together at the station. I pumped gas and Bob fixed tires and did oil changes. It was a lot of fun but the best part was the one room store they operated in the station as well. In the corner was a chest type pop cooler, the kind that was filled with ice cold water and the pop bottles were hung by the neck between metal horizontal slats. Hanging around the store between times when I had to pump gas was sometimes boring and sometimes interesting. The different kinds of pop that were in the cooler made for tempting taste testing. There was a company in Guelph that made a product called “Flip”. It was a 6oz (or was it 5oz?) bottle shaped like a small water tower. The bottle was made of green glass and the cap was a bright yellow colour. Flip was a lemon/lime drink that had a tart nip to it. The other bonus of this little refresher was the fact that it only cost a nickel. That’s right, only 5 cents per bottle! It was the best buy of the day and Mrs Kanter sold more of these little bottles than any other brand, one at a time. Most of the “Flip” drinks were sold to school kids but the adults liked them too. I forget how much the 16oz bottles of “Double Cola” sold for but I think it was around 12cents. You must remember that the average wage was probably $35 to $50 per week at that time. I only know that my pay for pumping gas was 60c/hr and I put a good portion of that back into Mrs Kanter’s cash drawer. There were a lot of cool treats back in those days. One of my favourites was a treat made by the “Silverwoods Dairy” of Kitchener. They made a vanilla ice cream bar covered in chocolate and mounted on a popsicle stick. This delicious treat was sold for a nickel and probably contributed in no small way to my battle with chubbiness throughout my youth not to mention my eventual development of “Type Two Diabetes” in my adult life but back then who knew? We only knew that these treats were delicious to the taste and cooling on a hot summer day.
Other treats that were available were such items as “Thrills” a pinkish/purplish candy coated gum that had a strong taste and a pungent aroma. Thrills were chewed mostly by girls and I can remember many of the girls in school smelling like this cheap gum all day long. Another favourite was hard candy called “Black Balls”! These little Black Balls were about the size of a standard marble and changed colour to pink, blue, gray, yellow, green and finally white as they dissolved in your mouth. Lots of kids got into trouble in school for eating these “Black Balls” in class. They were a favourite of the boys in public school. This reminds me of a story that was circulating when we were kids. It goes like this: “The teacher told her class one day that the first student to answer her next question correctly could have the afternoon off as it was 5 minutes before lunch time on a Friday. As she was about to state the question, there was a clatter in the isle in front of her and several “Black Balls” came bouncing and rolling up to her feet at the head of the class. Obviously one of the boys in the class had spilled his little brown bag of treats. The teacher immediately blurted out “All right, who has black balls?” and little Dougie in the middle of the class yelled back “Joe Lewis! See you on Monday!” LOL! Hahahahaaaa…!
I’d say that about does it for me for this week. I hope you got a chuckle out of this old tale!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report.
Bye for now… GREG.
PS: Something To Think About>
The cruise liner QE2 moves only 6” for every gallon of diesel fuel that it burns.
****
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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