Once Upon a Summertime

DEDICA TION

For the brothers and the sisters

and the cousins and the aunts

and the fathers and the mothers

and also

the uncles and the pets

shared the sunshine and the rain

the fun and the fights

and the many crises.

"In truth we never come from anywhere except the land of our childhood."Francois Mitterand"


ONCE UPON A SUMMERTIME

INTRODUCTION

The family tradition of leaving the city in the summertime was established early in our childhood. We were city dwellers, so a holiday away from the city was a special happening.

When we lived in Ottawa in the late 1920 s we visited relatives on farms. My half-brothers, Vincent and Eddy, went to their Uncle Jim Tallmire's farm in Iroquois. My brother, Frank, and I, went to Joe and Nellie Loughlin's farm in South Mountain. Nellie Loughlin was a Tallmire, a cousin of Eddy and Vincent.

There were six children in the Loughlin family, three girls and three boys. The sleeping arrangements were informal. Teresa, Helen, Mary and I slept crosswise on the bed. John, and Mike, Maurice and Frank bunked together in the other room.

What fun we had!

I was almost thirteen years old when we had summer at Loughlin's. John was sixteen, and he became my hero. We rode the farm horses bareback, gathered eggs, helped with the haying, picked strawberries and gorged with watermelons.

On one memorable night we set the hay field on fire because we were parading and waving flamed torches of gasoline-soaked cattails. We were able to put the fire out by throwing pails of water.

The only time we spent in the house was to sleep and eat. Aunt Nellie made all the meals. There were eleven of us, and including the hired man, for three full meals each day. Often we also had the Loughlin cousins from the next farm and joined us in our antics. Aunt Nellie and Uncle Joe were the epitome of patience.

The only thing I did not like the mornings of the pigs killing. This was done in the next farm, at Phelan's farm, in only a slight distance. The shrieks of the pigs were sounding so human, that I spent the day by myself in the farthest pasture.

In spring, 1930, we moved from Ottawa to Morrisburg. Dad rented a cottage in the summer only a few miles west of the town, near Iroquois on the Saint Lawrence River.

My sister, Mary, had her first cottage summer. She was almost four years old. She was glad to go to the cottage as long as she was allowed to take her cat.

One early morning the cat killed a pretty robin bird, one who must have been very important. A flock of the birds gathered in the trees around the cottage and filled the air with their mourning. Mother, Mary and 1 stood quietly in the kitchen, listening and watching, until one by one and then in groups of the birds flew away leaving us alone.

That year Mother spent most of the summer in the kitchen. Our cottage was a pleasant drive from Ottawa; so many Dads’ former colleagues took advantage of the weekends. We had visitors, visitors, visitors!

In 1934, Dad was transferred to Sault Ste. Marie, in Northern Ontario. We spent our first summer on St. Joseph's Island. It was a wonderful introduction to the North.

Dad never owned a cottage. He was a truly outdoors-man, a hunter and a fisherman, but he was not a cottager. However he always made sure we had a cottage. He enjoyed evenings and weekends with us, but always went home to sleep.

Mother was a slight cottager, but certainly not an enthusiastic one. She found the Canadian outdoors had too many large trees and too much deep water. She had always spent her childhood in summer near Kilkenny, and her adventure was to pick mushrooms at dawn in a field.

When many years had gone, my sister Mary and I decided that we would get a cottage together, so we took our five children, four cats, and Mother (age 75) to a cottage where there was a hornets nest at the front door.

It was an experience for all of us.

Our husbands were not cottagers. Mary's husband, Jim, was a golfer. My husband, Wilfred, was a city person who was allergic to insects and cold water for swimming.

However, they were patient and cooperative, so Mary and I and our children always had holidays.