The Squamidian Report – Jan. 27 / 18
Issue #819
Including:
Russ
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well now, those of you who still get this news letter know that we were
in Ontario for a week for Sue's dad's memorial. That went very well,
Sue and her sister worked hard and long, stressing themselves to the
limit to put it together and they did a great job. I was very grateful
that I was left to do my own thing and had only to be where I was
supposed to be, when I was supposed to be there.
'The Wife' and I flew in to Toronto's YYZ airport on the 16th and had
the foresight to book an airport transportation service to get up
to her sister's place in Maryhill. As mentioned in the last Squid, I
was duly impressed with the drivers of those vans. They have nerves of
steel and seem to somehow navigate Toronto traffic with ease. Or at
least they make it look easy. I tend to hide on the floor of said van,
unable to even look out at the mad chaotic traffic. Two things were at
the top of my agenda for the first full day in town, rent a car and
rent a guitar. (That rhymes, perhaps there is a song in there
somewhere). I've already talked about the guitar so here's the deal
with the car. I had booked ahead of time, on line, through Enterprise
Car Rentals as they have a yard on Victoria St N, very convenient for
us. The car I booked was the smallest, cheapest thing in their fleet as
all I needed it for was to toot around town a bit. When I got there,
they didn't have what I'd booked, in fact, they didn't really have
anything except an SUV that had just come back from being rented. The
people that had rented it brought it back virtually out of gas and with
the interior full of mess, dirt, food scraps, salt stains on the wet
floor mats and even the inside of the windshield was dirty as someone
had wiped it with a mitt or rag or something. The rental place
apologized and said I could take the SUV if I wanted, for the same
price I'd booked the compact car for, less than half of the SUV's
normal rental rate. As for it being almost out or gas, I could either
bring it back empty or they would credit me for any gas still in it
when returned. Either way was fine with me. Turned out to be a rather
nice vehicle that drove easy and was comfortable. I had cleaned off the
outer lights and inner windows out of necessity and brought it back
with half a tank of gas. They knocked $26 off the rental for that,
making my total bill way lower that the original booking. Cool. I'll
use them again next time.
As you know, I managed to hook up with Greg for that breakfast he wrote
about, and dropped in at the homestead a few times, and mostly just hid
out someplace, keeping my head low and out of sight. Thats just how I
am. On the Saturday afternoon and evening there was a get-together at
the homestead. Good to see everyone. Ryan and Kyra were definitely the
star attractions. Little Kyra won everyone's heart and had the time of
her life meeting and playing with cousins she didn't know she had. And,
she was a real trouper, staying all smiles no matter how tired she got.
Granny and I were certainly proud of her, as was her dad.
There was a nice jam session there, which is why I had that guitar. I'd
played it on several evenings at Sue's mom's place for something to do
so it got lots of use. The evening before I flew out Sue's sister had
us and a couple we had known years ago over for dinner. I hadn't seen
them in almost 20 years. Boy, does Roger ever look old!
I flew home on Tuesday. I booked the same airport transportation as the
one we came from Toronto in. They picked me up at about 6am at Sue's
sister's place and then had a few more pickups in Guelph before heading
for YYZ. The driver's radio was reporting all sorts of problems on the
401 so he found back roads that no one even knew existed, getting all
of us there on time. Worth every penny it cost. Flight home was
uneventful which is exactly what you want. I had been concerned about
an ice storm that have been forecast for that part of Ontario but it
didn't happen. That driver was happy it didn't happen too, it could
have been a very difficult time getting to the airport. The flight was
booked right full, as usual we were all jammed in like toes in a tight
smelly shoe. (Some of my music fans might recognize that line). We got
to YVR almost on time and from there it was fairly routine getting
home, which I did by about 3pm Pacific time. I was weary and tired, but
oh so happy to sleep in my own bed that night. And thats pretty well it
about the trip east, except to say 'The Wife' will be staying there for
another 3 weeks or so. Good thing I can cook and do my own laundry.
Morning after getting home I had coffee with some friends up at the gondola. I like being back to normal.
doug
****
From Russ
Hey Doug, I wrote an essay on ‘smells’ that invoke memories of events,
people, and/or circumstances; it has 12 pages, and 3,768 words and
therefore much too long for a single story in the weekly Squamidian.
I’ll send you the first segment for your approval, or not – here
follows Segment #1:
It stinks – “smells that trigger memories” and
“nostrils that invoke nostalgia”
Are you blest (or cursed) with a keen sense of smell?
Are you blest (or cursed) with a vivid memory?
Welcome to the club, me too, so let’s share some “smells”, good or bad,
that bring back memories of events, people, and/or circumstances:
“new-mown hay” - - - The hay-loft in Sherk’s barn next door to our
house in Centreville - - - I was 8 or 9, and our cousin, Gerry
was about the same age, her parents lived in Kitchener, but they
‘pawned her off’ to live with the Brubacher family most of the time
during the summer.
My slightly older brother Howard and me often took Gerry up into the
hay-loft to play - - it was a ‘bunch of fun’, jumping, tumbling, and
‘kissing’ Gerry.
Since then, I’ve always connected the ‘smell’ of “new-mown hay” with romance!
There used to be an ‘after-shave lotion’ labeled “new-mown hay”, and a
perfume by the same name. (We’ll say more about perfume later)
“breweries and distilleries” - - - The aroma’s wafting from
Seagram’s distillery and from Carling’s brewery - - delightfully
appetizing - - -smelled like cooking porridge. Early memories of
married life - - we lived near the ‘source’ of the smell, at 222/224
King Street, South, Waterloo, opposite the Mutual Life Head Office. How
well I remember my marriage to Barbara(Bobbie) Dickson-Pittman at the
Church of The Holy Saviour (65 years ago), and my new father-in-law and
mother-in-law, Fred and Edythe. Fred, a teacher of ‘machine shop’ at
KCI, Edythe, the President of the Anglican Church Women,(both a bit
‘snooty’); Bobbies sisters, Phyllis (nick-named “bill”), married to
Harry (“Pete”) Peterson, Shirley (“Tiny”), married to Andrew (“Andy”)
Cummings.
(Note: sad to say, all of the above-named people have since passed away).
My marriage to Bobbie came as a “package”, and it was the best “deal” I
ever made! I acquired two step-sons; Macfarlane (“Mac”) Pittman, and
Gregory (“Greg”) Pittman. They were ‘typical’ growing boys with
‘typical’ growing-up challenges, and they both became hard-working,
honest, successful, (can I say ‘handsome’ young men). They now
call me “Pop”, or refer to me as Dad, we have never used the terms,
“stepson or stepfather”.
Does the fragrance of a field of new-mown hay do anything for you?
Does the aroma of beer/liquor in-the-making trigger any memories?
Would you like to “follow me down memory lane” next week when we
feature; “gasoline”- - - -and “leather” ?
?
Uncle Russ.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
We seem to have lost most of our snow in the past couple of days. I’m
sure there is more on the way here though. Sounds like “Nova Scotia
Sus” is getting a good workout with her TORO. At a foot and a half in
one night, I’m sure she’s had fun blowing the snow over to the
neighbour’s side of the fence! LOL! Just kidding Sus, sounds like you
have enough property of your own to pile the white stuff on. Isn’t it
fun though, trying to aim the blower chute at a certain spot? I always
blow ours onto the neighbour’s lawn since my driveway is on the east
side of my lot abutting his lawn. With the prevailing winds coming from
the west, it’s easier to blow it his way than blowing it into the wind!
Like they taught us when we were kids, “You don’t spit into the wind!”
Of course, Adam has done all the snow blowing this year and I have done
the watching! Not a bad arrangement but I’d prefer to be on the TORO
doing the clearing myself. I’m jealous of both Brian and Russ for
living so close to Lake Huron where they get tons of snow that would
give my TORO a good run for it’s money. Oh well, maybe our next house
will be further west of KW and more in the snow belt! I just heard the
city plow go by and looked out to see the sparks flying up from the
blade on the clean pavement! What the heck? What would they be doing
out plowing on a snowless street? I guess they are scraping up what
little snow is still along the edges of the streets but it can’t be
much! With this big melt on, they must be using up their overtime
allotment. LOL!
I saw the same thing happening yesterday with the little “Jigger” they
use on the sidewalk. That guy was plowing air a well! They must all
take their plowing lessons from the same heavy equipment school!
Personally I think it would be more fun to push snow than to replace
warn out plow blades on their equipment. Oh well, what else do they
have to spend our tax dollars on anyway? Oh YA, I almost forgot the LRT
that’s costing one and a half billion so 10% of the population can ride
up and down King St like they used to do on a bus! Almost forgot! I may
just take a bus ride over to the LRT line when they get it working so I
can take advantage of the free rides for the first 6 months! I can’t
wait until the first time one of the LRT trains demolishes a car on the
tracks that run willy-nilly along and across the busy streets of KW.
I’m sure it won’t take long before those 60 km/h trains nail someone. I
hope the region has a good insurance policy in place for the many
incidents they will be facing in court! One would think that the city
of Waterloo would be smart enough to vote against forcing the LRT on
it’s citizens after having the RIM Park fiasco shoved down their
throats 20 years ago! They will be paying for that out of tax dollars
for another 25 years and now they’re taking on a good portion of the
LRT debt to boot! Ouch! When is enough enough? Of course with the
Liberals in power in Ontario that’s the sort of nonsense spending they
are famous for and famous for encouraging our major cities puppet
councils to spend like there’s no end to the cash in their citizen’s
pockets! After all, this ain’t “Trumpville” and very few of us are
“billionaires” even though our governments spend as if we all are! I
think the average Ontario citizen now owes $1.45 for every $1.00 they
earn and it can only get worse from here!
Guess I’ll get off my soapbox for now and try to think happier
thoughts. I’m only depressing myself and no doubt you guys as well with
all this tax dollar stuff. Guess it’s time to take a drive to the
corner store and pick up my lottery tickets for this weekend, ya never
know! You can’t win if you don’t have a ticket!
That’s about it for this week folks!
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: Something To Think About>
Keep those submissions coming in to the Squamidian! It’s loads of fun
when we’re in this together. Besides, it’s nice to know what’s
happening elsewhere in the world!
Bye the way, I’m impressed with Karl’s photos of the harbor at night! Keep ‘em coming Karl, your photos are an inspiration!
****
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.
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