The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 10 / 11
Issue #485
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Summer finally came to the west coast, at least sort of. Cold wet early spring ended at about the end of July and while the calendar said it was August, we went right into a very nice October. We’ve been having beautiful sunny warm days and chilly, clear nights. Now that we are into September, we’ve even had what might be called ‘hot’ days, with blazing sunshine and cloudless skies. The forest fire season that simply hadn’t happened yet this year did finally kick in to gear in the first days of September. And the heavy snow on the higher slopes of the local mountains is showing signs of melting. We are now having our spring snowmelt.
One very nice aspect of the clear cold nights, most nights this ‘summer’ have seen temperatures down into the single digits, it the star gazing. The sky has been crystal clear, the stars have been dazzling. Jupiter has been as big and bright as I’ve ever seen it. Even binoculars can resolve the finer details as long as you can hold the binoculars steady enough. The Andromeda Galaxy is spectacular with its wispy outer fringes and brighter central bulge. A sweep of the arm of the Milky Way that is visible to us this time of year will bring in countless binary star systems. Really cool. There is nothing like laying out on the back deck at 2 in the morning and just looking up. Of course the moon is now washing out everything with its reflected light but that will be gone again in another week or so, so, get out there and enjoy the show.
Here’s some late breaking news, our subdivision in general and our street in particular is under a ‘cougar watch’. At 8am Friday morning a cougar was spotted calmly walking down the street. I didn’t see it, probably watching the morning news as I was eating breakfast but several of the neighbours did see it. The big cats have become quite a problem on the coast and over on Vancouver Island this year. No one knows why. There is lots of natural prey for them. Perhaps that is the problem, there has been an abundance of prey for several years and so the cougar population has gone way up. They tend to be territorial and there is only so much room to roam so some start looking in or near the people places. Just guessing, who knows. So, between cougars and bears, we have to watch our backs as we go out for a walk or even just work in the yard. I guess it’s a good thing the ‘The Wife’ does most of the yard work.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I like to read The RECORD on line and at least try to keep up with the latest happenings around Waterloo Region. Over the past few months I’ve responded to a column in the Record called “Flash From The Past” written by Jon Fear jfear@therecord.com Every Saturday Jon publishes a picture of a building that existed or still exists somewhere in the region under this heading and asks readers to drop him a note if they recognize the building and maybe have an interesting story to tell about it. I had occasion to recognize a photo a few months ago that was of the Sunset Drive In on Eagle St in Cambridge (Preston). I sent Jon an e-mail telling him I recognized it and it reminded me of going to the Sunset with my parents when we were kids and invariably only seeing half of the movie every time. This happened because we kids, three of us, would fall asleep in the back seat of the car and not wake up until my dad turned in the driveway at home later in the evening. Even so, it was always fun to go to these outings with my mum and dad.
Jon’s column is fun to read because it always stirs memories from my past. Of course there are a lot of the buildings that I don’t recognize but many of them I do and it’s great fun to think back to any memories I might have of these old structures. Seeing the building photos of many of the ones on King St from the 50’s and 60’s is especially interesting since I spent three years working downtown on Friday evenings and all day Saturday from age 11 to age 14. I had a job working for Morris Custom Tailors on these days carrying men’s clothing to and from different men’s shops up to Morris’ shop so he could alter them for the store customers. He did work for Eaton’s at the corner of Water and King Sts as well as Frank’s Thrift Store, Mitty’s Men’s Wear and a little bit of work for Budd’s and Sommer’s clothing stores. It was back breaking work at such a young age to be carrying as many as 6 to 7 men’s suits at a time over my arms with my hands clasped in front of me. It was especially hot on a sticky summer day! It was fun though and I got to know a lot of the shopkeepers on King St and of course knew the location of all of the stores downtown.
Jon Fear’s little column shows a lot of the old buildings that I used to pass every weekend doing my job. I look forward to checking out the latest picture puzzle in his column each weekend and it’s fun trying to figure out what and where each one is or was. Of course the ones from the cities of the Region other than in Kitchener are more of a challenge for me but I’ve been around these parts all my life and have a fair idea of the main streets of the other cities of the region. Jon even has some photos of old buildings of prominence in the city of Guelph. I recognized the one he had in the paper last week and even had occasion to visit that same building back in 1980. It was the old Capitol Theatre building on Wyndham St in Guelph. It was renamed the Odeon Theatre sometime in the 60’s I think, after the original building was destroyed and rebuilt. When Carole and I were looking for a Poodle puppy back in 1980 we answered an ad and had to go to Wyndham St in Guelph to pick out a puppy. As it turned out, the place we had to go to was the Odeon theatre in Guelph. The lady that had the pups for sale worked at the theatre and had them there for viewing. She actually lived in Arthur Ontario but took the pups to work with her. We went over to Guelph on a Saturday morning and picked out a cute little black curly haired pup we named Fluffy. We had fluffy for sixteen and a half years until she just couldn’t go on any more. It was sad to have to say goodbye to her but she was a loyal and loving pet for all those years. When I saw the picture of the old theatre building in Jon’s column it brought back all those and many more memories. I just had to drop Jon an e-mail and tell him the story of “Fluffy” and the old “Capitol” building. He responded kindly with an e-mail and said he enjoyed hearing about my connection to his picture. I intend to keep on checking out his treasure trove of historical pictures and see if there aren’t more that I can relate to!
I’ve often said that one should spend a weekend and travel around one’s town or city and take photos of every interesting building they see. This sort of quest can pay pleasant rewards when you look back on these old photos years later. It’s a lot of fun to see the changes that have taken place in your town and these old photos are a great way to keep the memories alive! In fact, I may just take my camera with me and head out on a history-making mission this weekend!
This is obviously something I should have done 45 years or more ago but, who the heck thinks of such things when they’re young and on the move! LOL!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… GREG
PS: Something To Think About>
Next time you’re just heading out for a few minutes even just to do an errand, “Take your camera along!”
PPS: Check out “Flash From The Past” next Saturday in “The RECORD”!
By the way, just case any of you ever had occasion to make use of “Morris Custom Tailors” services, you may remember he was located on the second floor of “The Arcade Building” directly across from the “Lyric” theatre and “The Nut Shack” in downtown Kitchener. The Arcade Building also housed “Weston Credit Jewelers” and “CKCR Radio 1490 AM”.
To get up to Morris’s shop you had to enter through “Wollynetz Gown House” next to The Arcade Buildings long hallway entrance!
The Arcade Building was destroyed by fire about 8 or 9 years ago and standing in it’s place now is a Pub called “The Still” or at least I think “The Still” is still there! LOL!
Hahahahaa…… Who the hell knows anymore! LOL
Maybe Jon Fear?
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.