Last week I learned the house I left in central Toronto, twenty years ago, is being demolished. This isn't just any house. This house was built for my great grandfather and was the home where my daughters grew, a solid, large house that reflected the time in which it was built.
The house had always remained in the family, welcoming every generation, my mother and her sister as children, my cousins in their later childhood and teenage years, my grandmother, aunts, uncles and all their pets through time. The house was loved and had many friends.
We celebrated the house with a big backyard party, fireworks and all, the week before I left for this loved place by the sea.
It is funny but the concept of it being no more has a rightness. Everything inevitably comes to an end. It is difficult to see the essence of the old houses in the neighbourhood being renovated into oblivion.
However it was difficult reading
Demolition/Content Sale - Midtown (Yonge and Lawrence)
83 Glengrove Ave W
Hosted this Saturday July 20th 10am-3pm.
Bring Your Own Tools.
The house is now gone. The memories good and bad live on with us. The neighbourhood now houses more and more of the shakers and movers of the city. Their lifestyles require much more of a house than my great grandfather could ever imagined.
I cry for the gardens. There is a picture of my aunt as a child in about 1918 standing under an impressive maple tree. When my children were small they could put their ears against the thick bark to hear the fairy elevators going up and down inside.
It was under this tree I made a wild flower garden. The trilliums came from the farm where my other grandmother grew up, the periwinkle from my Aunt Lilah who loved all things living, the ferns and a lady slipper from the cottage, several umbrella plants from the sides of rural roads and of course some of my mother's infamous Niagara red wiggling worms. I hope they and theirs survive.
The other garden that was important to me was between the old, perfect pink, climbing roses, that through time had made it past the second floor. It was here I planted special flowers to honour special people and special occasions. It was so difficult to say good bye to this garden. I don't think there is a chance, the plants will survive the mighty machines that are now preparing this tiny drop of the ever expanding city for newness. I do hope someone thought to take a shovel to rescue one or two of them.
So goes time. So goes life.
I think it is now time to go out to work in the garden, I dreamed into existence on long winter nights. My mother gave me money, for my fiftieth birthday, to make the dream a reality. This garden brings enough joy.
Tuesday 30 July 2013
Thursday 25 July 2013
Hot Dogs and Black Olives
My house is now oddly quiet. My grandchildren are once again living their urban lives. We had so much fun together. The transformation of city mice to country mice was almost complete, if only temporarily. The little girls ran out the doors into the space of forever. It makes me so happy to think they are old enough to remember their visits to grandma's house by the sea and take those memories with them.
Happy summer memories warm hearts through long cold days of lifetimes.
My cousins and I thrived in the liberty of childhood summers at the cottage. Those days are gone and the cottages are gone, but the happiness of those summers is with us always.
I said the city mice almost became country mice.
We took part in a special Day that happens annually, the Shoreline Yard Sale. Yard sales take place along miles of rural roads and in the tiny communities that dot a significant stretch by the the Bay of Fundy. Treasures await the eager, excited participants, but for many the food is the draw.
It all begins at breakfast at the Morden Hall. Men fill the community kitchen. They jovially fill the plates of a long line of a hungry bunch who hold out their plates to be filled; fresh fish cakes, homemade baked beans, scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and fried ham. The jams and jellies and relishes from the local kitchens wait on the tables. A jar by the door fills with free will offerings.
With full tummies we set out by car in our quest for the best. On this occasion the best seemed to be porcelain collector dolls. It is amazing how much two little girls can buy with their baggies of change that they clutch tightly in their hands.
Before long we find ourselves at the Burlington Hall. Men are setting up for the horse pulls that are about to be held this day, because they were cancelled due to rain on Canada Day. Women are slicing the homemade pies.
My red headed five year old granddaughter decides she wants a hot dog. She goes to the booth to place her order. The hot dog arrives and she chooses ketchup and relish as her condiments. The friendly woman behind the counter asks if there is anything else she needs. She innocently asks for black olives. Her cover is blown. Are you a little girl from a city the lady asks. Those around chuckle. Black olives are not a mountain staple.
We're off to Harbourville Hall for fresh lobster rolls for those who still have room for more and then on to Black Rock Hall where the Jolly Workers are offering strawberry shortcakes with real whipped cream.
The trail continues but we are done, more than pleasantly full and a little bit weary. With little regret, we head home to display the many purchases, as I sit with a fine cup of tea, admiring.
Happy summer memories warm hearts through long cold days of lifetimes.
My cousins and I thrived in the liberty of childhood summers at the cottage. Those days are gone and the cottages are gone, but the happiness of those summers is with us always.
I said the city mice almost became country mice.
We took part in a special Day that happens annually, the Shoreline Yard Sale. Yard sales take place along miles of rural roads and in the tiny communities that dot a significant stretch by the the Bay of Fundy. Treasures await the eager, excited participants, but for many the food is the draw.
It all begins at breakfast at the Morden Hall. Men fill the community kitchen. They jovially fill the plates of a long line of a hungry bunch who hold out their plates to be filled; fresh fish cakes, homemade baked beans, scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and fried ham. The jams and jellies and relishes from the local kitchens wait on the tables. A jar by the door fills with free will offerings.
With full tummies we set out by car in our quest for the best. On this occasion the best seemed to be porcelain collector dolls. It is amazing how much two little girls can buy with their baggies of change that they clutch tightly in their hands.
Before long we find ourselves at the Burlington Hall. Men are setting up for the horse pulls that are about to be held this day, because they were cancelled due to rain on Canada Day. Women are slicing the homemade pies.
My red headed five year old granddaughter decides she wants a hot dog. She goes to the booth to place her order. The hot dog arrives and she chooses ketchup and relish as her condiments. The friendly woman behind the counter asks if there is anything else she needs. She innocently asks for black olives. Her cover is blown. Are you a little girl from a city the lady asks. Those around chuckle. Black olives are not a mountain staple.
We're off to Harbourville Hall for fresh lobster rolls for those who still have room for more and then on to Black Rock Hall where the Jolly Workers are offering strawberry shortcakes with real whipped cream.
The trail continues but we are done, more than pleasantly full and a little bit weary. With little regret, we head home to display the many purchases, as I sit with a fine cup of tea, admiring.
Wednesday 17 July 2013
Ingredients for a Successful Visit to Grandmas
INGREDIENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO GRANDMAS
1. an aunt and uncle full of fun.
a red headed toddler full of mischief
a faraway aunt who is up for adventures,
specilizing in Frenchies.
and her two little ladies with endless energy
grandma's cousin who can't quite believe all that is going on around him
grandma's cousin who can't quite believe all that is going on around him
friends and neighbours, big and small who love
to play
2. a tiny white fluffy active puppy and a great big aging beauty
3. a big pink front porch with two hammocks and a wicker rocking chair
4. a sunny deck with a gate that closes
5. an ocean
6. a bundle buggy to roll around the youngest cousin when he is willing.
7. a fort in the bushes
8. a car to explore
9. a large inflateable pool.
10. an ancient round sprinkler
11. a box of bandaids
12. endless changes of clothes
13. mud flats
14. a long clothesline
15. beach fire and marshmallows
16. lobsters
17. enough libations but not too much
18. never ending snacking
19. a children's picnic at the hall -egg races, three legged races...
20. gross slug, amazing moth, smelly lobster shells
21. toys from other times
22. bubbles, water balloons, water guns.
23. somewhat controlled chaos
tbc
4. a sunny deck with a gate that closes
5. an ocean
6. a bundle buggy to roll around the youngest cousin when he is willing.
7. a fort in the bushes
8. a car to explore
9. a large inflateable pool.
10. an ancient round sprinkler
11. a box of bandaids
12. endless changes of clothes
13. mud flats
14. a long clothesline
15. beach fire and marshmallows
16. lobsters
17. enough libations but not too much
18. never ending snacking
19. a children's picnic at the hall -egg races, three legged races...
20. gross slug, amazing moth, smelly lobster shells
21. toys from other times
22. bubbles, water balloons, water guns.
23. somewhat controlled chaos
tbc
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)