1983 Francolini's Cottage Mom's Stories of Point Aux Pins

Sunday July 3 1983 Point Aux Pins-- Stories by Katherine Punch

   Yesterday Saturday we moved out to the cottage at the Pointe. I drove the children out -Brendon, Christina, Steven, Joanna, Michael and various other sundry. Mary Jane and Suzanne went grocery shopping. They hit the beach immediately Jimmy, Rachel, Mirwan, Laila were there to greet them as well as Celeste and Julia, and the toddlers (who were babes in arms last summer), Gene and Bridget.

   I lay back on the lounge chair watched the freighters go off stage beyond the Pointe Louise range light and said "Thank you Lord for another year!"

   Today I picked Kyle and Rachel up at about 130 pm under an angry cloud churned sky. Michael and John are to sail the Nordica out, although Michael said he would wait and see. The weather forecast was thunderstorms and to quote him “lightin is frightenin".

 Right now it is 930pm. Steven is making popcorn for the crew from the Daly’s cottage, and the Olsen-Yorke quintet. Joanna prances and sings "Popcorn Popcorn".

   We have had a beautiful wild windy unpredictable upper St Mary's River day. The wind shifted by the minute, whitecaps one minute pushing the river up on the shore so that the beach was covered, and the water splashed over the dock, then in a wild change of mood, created vacuum enough in the air that the sudden change made a tide that bared the beach and the reeds, and set the moored boats on bare sand. It had the docks swaying above the water.

   The children raced the whitecaps to shore leaped over them jumped off the end of the dock, and then picked up the beached crayfish and small lamprey eels. Had a beautiful day and Donna came out after her 7-3 shift in the OR.

   Wilf arrived late in the afternoon. Bonny and Jimmy McLean and Janet came for supper. John and Michael arrived in a flurry of wind in the Nordica.

   There were Salties, canalers, and thousand footers up and down the river. Two wind surfers in wet suits were also up and down the river, mostly down. Water skiers were just touching the tops of the waves, not so successful in staying afloat.

   I hope I got a picture of John and Michael arriving. Tacking from shore to shore, and then coming at the dock both of them flat out on the rail stabilizing the craft. I had fun taking pictures of the children up and down the beach, catching minnows, riding the inflated inner tubes, building (and smashing) sand castles.

   Rachel is a water baby (three years 10months), Joanna will be six tomorrow, Christina will be 12 on July 27, Brendon was in May. Steven was 10 in January and Kyle is five and will be six in September.

   This morning about 10am Mary Anne McIntyre Wilson had her first baby, a little girl 8 pounds 7 ounces.

   Steven and I went for a walk this evening along the Indian Path. There were swarms of little flies so we turned up one of the cottage roads to the gravel road and Steven was attacked by hornets. First, there was one buzzing around his head, and he batted it off, and then there were several. We flailed at them, ran a bit, and for about ten steps they would be gone, but returned with reinforcements. This went on, and we flailed our way past the tennis court onto Daligleish Road. Bonny and Jimmy cruised past on the way home, and waved gaily at our flailing Then Michael and Donna approached in the car, and we waved them down. Steven dove into the car and I kept on down the road. They didn’t come after me.

When we got home there was one squashed under his shirt as proof. I can’t believe the experience “unbelievable”.

John is tired, the popcorn is eaten, and the backgammon, trivial persuit games and scrabble are over. Goodnight.

 July 6 1983 Point Aux Pins by Katherine Punch

    The days fly by like the passing ships. Salties, and thousand footers, tugs, sailboats, and even today either a minesweeper or destroyer, grey and soundlessly going upriver.

 “I found a string fish” Joanna, “I don’t like worms” Rachel. They have masks and snorkels. Kyle is overturned already and nothing is right, Michael gets impatient and rides him. Grandma, Grandma, Grandma. I said I was going to change my name.

    Suzanne has gone back to work after two weeks holidays. Long enough! Restless as a caged cat! Irritable! Christina called her Mommie Dearest yesterday afternoon. Touché! Steven senses her mood and fits himself around it but Christina meets it head on. I hope Suzanne realizes that her life is very dependent on her work. The children are important but in a different way. God help the man she ever gives it up for. There is no man that strong. Today she realizes that she would be lost without work. Hope her head always rules. Ron does not realize the stormy petrel side to Suzanne.

   Mary Jane forgot to unlock the house door this morning to let her cleaning lady in “MAJOR” disaster. She dumped on Mary Jane.

    Rachel is complaining because I won’t give her another cookie because Mirwan had two. I have convinced them to look at picture books. Kyle comes racing across the grass a nature call always at the last minute. If anyone else is in the bathroom it is fatal.

   They are playing “super friends”. Towels on them like superman capes. The game is mostly arguments! Joseph Mary Julie and Celeste are added to the crew and a bug has attacked Celeste.

    I must get supper, I have already been late putting the chicken breasts in. John is on holidays and thought he had the day off but Brendon has a baseball game and his hockey school after that. Mary Anne’s baby is darling. Dark hair, dimples, double chin and a lovely wee lady named Lauren. 

Thursday July 7-13th 1983: Point Aux Pins

   It is a rainy morning at camp. I have spent it serving toast cereal, hot chocolate, yogurt, chocolate milk, etcetera, and etcetera. I have finally left the sink filled with water –assembly line of dishes. John, Christina and Brendon are deep into Trivial Pursuit. “Who played Beau Geste in the 1939 film?” “What fighting force is stationed in Corsica?”

   Steven and Jimmy from next door are talking in the bedroom, and everyone else is excluded under pain of death. Michael Yorke and Joanna are playing a form of tag ball with the beach ball, and it entails yelling “snake “every once in a while.

   We had a thunderstorm and heavy rain. Small craft warnings must have been out for the Upper River and Lake Superior, because a stream of sailboats and yachts has taken shelter in the cove. Quite a site to see them trying to negotiate the narrow channel that leads to the cove. One of them faltered for a while on the sand bar. I get knots in my stomach when I think of Michael Punch in the Trans Superior race next week. Lake Superior in a storm is a formidable adversary. Even in this comparatively sheltered part of the upper St Mary’s there are many wrecks. There are divers working on one right now down by the marina.

   I and my camera got drenched on the end of the dock. Joanna is coloring and a huge truck backed up to the back door. Wooden steps are being exchanged for cement. I must check the cove it has just stopped raining.

   The day evolved into wind and sunshine. The small sailing ships went one after another out of the cove into the channel and around the point. Two remain anchored safely for the wind is wild and gusty. John went out in the Nordica across to the far shore racing with the wind on his back until he was a white speck even with the binoculars. Then he disappeared into Marks Bay and finally tacking back and forth with the wind on his nose to his anchorage. At times he was flat out with the gusts. I had planned to go with him, but he tested the wind and decided that a calmer day would be better for me.

    Brendon, Merwan, and Michael Yorke tried to take the aluminum boat out, but they couldn’t get the motor started and were whipped down river by the wind and current. I went to help them wade and tow it back, stubbed my toe and went down on my hands and knees in the water. A great help!

   Poor little Rachel is terribly bothered by the deer flies and other small bugs that bite. Her left eye is almost shut with a swollen bug bite, so we are staying in the cottage. I have finished one whole film. Wilf is bringing me more film out.

    John is in for a beer and is lecturing Steven and Brendon for playing trivial pursuit in the camp. He has roared them down to the beach.

   Suzanne is in a cleanup mood. She has javexed the bathroom, mopped the floor and complained mightily about the sand. She is restless prowling and reading voraciously.

    Mary Jane is working full time and out on the weekends, and after work, but she is still not the enthusiastic outdoor lady. She likes her city routine.

    The boys come in to go to the bathroom and get a lecture from Suzanne about the yellow streaks on the back of the toilet seat. Steven tries to convince her that it could be the girls. Suzanne ends that with ‘physically impossible”

    Rachel is playing happily with herself, talking to her imaginary friend “Doodie”. Doodie is afraid of dogs, but she isn’t very much afraid of clowns anymore, because she holds somebody’s hand. Doodie is Rachel’s alter ego.

   Kyle’s front tooth is almost out, and was helped along by being bashed accidentally in the mouth by Michael Y today. It is not only loose now, but slanted.

    Supper is ready so I must move from my perch. Thank God for spaghetti and meatballs.

    Jimmy and Sue Jennifer and Sarah are arriving tomorrow.

    Marion Gallivan is here visiting Kay and Eddy. Kay has broken some more bones (Sprue and bone cancer) and is suffering greatly. Mary and I are taking her out for lunch tomorrow to the Windsor. Don and Mary Gail are coming up next week to stay a few days and take Marion home with them.

   We had a thunderstorm the other night that crashed and roared and shook the cottage. I thought John's boat had been struck because lightning streaked to the water and thunder immediately crashed. We have had a confrontation Steven reporting that "the little kids" were being rude. It ended up that Brendon and Steven had started it, and the "little kids” had followed on. Suzanne's dire threats had them going out very quietly in line, towels trailing. It won't last long.

July 11 Monday

  Yesterday Sunday Bonny McLean and I counted sixteen children 12 years of age and under as we fed them. The Olsens, the Yorke’s ,the Punches, the McLean’s including Paul McLean, Brian Punch’s two, Greg Punch’s one.

  It was quite the day, the hottest of the summer. I had a swim in the still cool waters of the St Mary’s, the river that never gets really warm, just less like ice water.

  Greg came out with Vinny but Ruth was busy elsewhere. Brian and Judy were here from Toronto, and Lenore and Michele came out too. Bonny McLean, Mary Jane and John, Jimmy and Sue, Wilf and me, so it was a merry crew. We barbequed chicken, wieners and had fruit, macaroni salads and tossed salads, with chocolate cake and strawberry pie.

  Brian, Michael, Greg and Jimmy McLean went for a sail past Gros Cap and came around the point with the beautiful blue and white spinnaker billowing before them.

  The children were in the water most of the day. Little Rachel is part fish.

  The evening was long, and by the time everyone went home except us, Brendon, Michael, Jennifer and the Olsens, everyone was tired to the point of tears. Everyone including me.

   Joanna didn’t want to sleep with Michael, as was arranged, and got beyond herself crying. Finally they all settled down except me. I had been drinking regular coffee instead of decaf so at 2am, I was still wide awake, dead tired but wide awake, my eyes too tired to read, and my mind whirling with inconsequential thoughts.

Tuesday July 13th: Rachel is standing beside me coaxing me to stop writing so I will. The little ones can’t go into the water until an adult is watching.

  A Saltie is steaming downriver fast, a small powerboat races beside her. The water begins to agitate along the shore with its passing The children are swimming Steven and Brendon are tossing a ball back and forth. Little white fluffs of clouds are scudding across the blue blue sky. A short swim refreshes me. Steven has a crock of iced tea stashed under the lawn chair and sips it from time to time.

   The Daly’s and the Rebellato clan, Sister Julia Greco and others are next door under the trees.  Susan and I overheard one of the men (middle-aged) say the other day. “There is my son Dennis” as a big launch pulled away from the shore. “He hasn’t any furniture in his house but he has that boat. All my life I have wanted a boat like that.”   Michael Punch looked at us and said “Depends on your priorities”. He doesn’t have his family room finished but has “The Obstreperous” and he has taken time off work to go in the Trans Superior Race. Then he is cruising for a week among the North Channel Islands.

Steven is in the lounge chair head and body wrapped in a towel. Reminds me of Paul of old!

  

 Wednesday July 14 1983: Point Aux Pins


 645:  Brendon Michael and Steven have just left on an expedition-fishing for whitefish in Marks Bay. They have been up for about an hour getting ready. The kitchen counter is strewn with the leavings of their breakfast, crusts of peanut butter toast. I took their pictures to a chorus of “Oh Granmaw”.

   Michael has his hood up because of an earache yesterday. Evidently the whitefish bite at 7am sharp. We shall see!

   The gulls are noisy along the shore. One of them out near the channel is tearing away at something in the water- either garbage or a dead fish. The birds are noisy in the trees.

   An inland steel ship and a Miseiner meet at the point and salute each other noisily. The light is soft and golden.

   They took rubber gloves to take the whitefish off the hook! Their idea of being quiet is closer to noise than stillness and the motor is loud but at least it started. They had to pull the boat to the dock so they wouldn’t get their sneaker encased feet wet- so who do you think towed the boat holding her dressing gown above water level? Grandmothers are crazy people!

   Yesterday was Jim McIntyre’s birthday his 57^th. Catherine is home with Tarryn, and Mary Anne had nine day old Lauren here with , Mrs. Kennedy, Laurie’s grandmother, Mrs. Wilson, Lauren’s Paternal great grandmother, June Wilson and Mary (grandmothers) Wilf and Marion Gallivan, who is here for a visit, Nora, Sheila with an ear infection and Mark. It was a nice party.

   The river is busy this morning and so is the shore. In the air a couple of small planes overhead. It is now 730 am and if the whitefish bite on a schedule we may have fish for supper, but for now I shall clean up the kitchen debris.

   11am: They returned about 930am empty-handed. The man in the boat beside them caught four whitefish. In the tradition of all unlucky fishermen, they figure they have the wrong bait, and are going into town tomorrow to buy some different bait.

   The morning is beautiful and the river is still. There are only the voices of the children as they dip for minnows. They have caught a pike minnow. A small day tripper boat with a red sail dips down the far shore. Now the river is not silent. A tug pushing a barge churns past. I wish I could get a picture of Jimmy, Michael and Merwan without them knowing. They are at an age where they erupt in crazy faces and wild antics when a camera points at them. There are wasps and deerfly pests and the sun is warm and relaxing. Joanna Brendon and Steven are up in the cottage watching TV. I should root them out but the day is long and sunshine enough for everyone. There are loons in the cove this year where the beaver lives.

 July 15-20, 1983 Point Aux Pins

Anyway, I know it is Friday. I am sitting on the beach covered with oil, uncomfortably hot because Joanna and Michael are in and out of the water. So it is “count heads “time. Lisa Ovens “slept over” as Christina’s guest. And they, and Brendon, and Steven retired, and giggled in the middle and east room. Joanna had her bed to herself because Michael “slept over” at the Daley’s.  Lucille Daley and I were exchanging comments on the beach, because Jimmy and Mirwan were in the boat out in the channel fishing for pike (no luck), and Michael and Joseph were up and at it being kept outside lest they wake all the others. Michael Nanne (the dentist) from Dodge Inn, two cottages up the beach is grooming his new launch “Mikey likes it”.

  Merwan is lying in a lounge chair in the shade with a pail beside him, because he doesn't feel well and may “barf”. Brendan and Jimmy are going out to toss the Frisbee. Lisa, Rachel, and Christina went out quite far to swim in the dinghy. Lisa got coos so she climbed in the dinghy and started drifting off. Great shouting is going on! I have finished reading the Snow Leopard and I am now off on a tangent and want to read many of the books he uses in his notes.

It is now Wednesday, July 20, 1983; this has been a most glorious day. It began at 7:15 AM when I was down on the beach watching for the return of the Trans Superior sailboats. They were supposed to have all reached the finish line at (Gros Cap and Iroquois Point) by the early hours of the morning. Not true we watched all day! This morning about 8 AM two sailed by towards the Sault.

John came out about 10 AM, and he and I, Michael, Joanna, Merwan and Layla (motored) with no wind out in the sailboat, “the Nordica” beyond the Point des Chene Park, to see if we could cite any sails. Only in the distance the far distance. But it was a most beautiful boat ride. John would have been happier if there had been a wind, the clouds were fluffy and scattered and scuddy, the sky blue, the water so still and clear that, we could seaweeds in the bottom of the very, very deep edges of the channel. The children lay on the

Bow, Michael and Merwan took turns steering the boat. What a thrill for them! John has so much patience with the children, is gentle even in his reprimands. The sailboats started going by in earnest this afternoon two and three at a time all sizes, some very big graceful beauties. We checked every one with the telescope and binoculars and argued about the color of the “Serendipity” because it was hard to see the names with the binoculars and we couldn't hold the telescope steady enough.

  The water was deliciously warm. Imagine! At the Point! But we have had record temperatures ever since we came out and the children were in and out of the water a hundred times, climbing around the Nordica leaping off the end of the dock.

Mary, Catherine, and Tarryn came out for coffee this morning about 8:30 AM. I love the stillness of the morning. Anyway after watching all afternoon we finally gave up and had supper, wandered down to the beach and around the lighthouse point came a white sailboat with a gorgeous rose blue yellow spinnaker up sailing. I yelled at Suzanne and Mary Jane to come down and check the name, sure enough the “Serendipity”.  All the children came running and they went out on the dock yelling “Michael “and waving towels. There is a blue shirted figure with binoculars, and Suzanne does a “wild dance”. The blue shirted figure does a “wild dance” too and waves back!  

We have welcomed back the “Serendipity” and crew. There were no winds on Superior, the longest time ever I believe for the Trans Superior Race. They came in first of the Sault boats, beat the two bigger ones.

 It is now 9:30 PM!  Christina is sleeping over at Daley’s, and Layla is sleeping over here with Joanna. Brendon.

 Friday, July 22, 1983: Point Aux Pins-Katherine Punch

   It is 8 am and I am back from my first visit to the beach. Our cottage does not front on the beach. There is grass in front of the front cottage before the sand beach, a perfect place for the children. The beach during the day, and at night, the grassy quadrangle behind the front two cottages. It is a great place for tag and soccer and other wild games.

   This is another clear warm beautiful day, an unbelievably wonderful summer for us, but not so good for the farmers. There are dire predictions of crop failure because of the lack of rain. We only have one more week here, and as always we come to the end of the holiday with regret.

    I have been out here since Tuesday evening. Tonight I go home because Mary Jane, John, and Suzanne will be here for the weekend. Wilf and I may or may not come out for barbecues. I think not, because Saturday is Community Day, and the children want to see the parade. I am going to pass, I hope, although Wilf loves a parade. So do I, but I don't take too well to pavement standing. My legs are not good, they ache, my hip pains, I have difficulty going from one foot to another; the sideways motion hurts like blazes. Not only hurts, I have a very limited span, so I go on my hands and knees, and look and feel like an aging elephant.

    We went for a sail yesterday morning, not much wind, but John waxed enough into the sails to get us beyond Point Louise. Michael came out filled with the Trans Superior. They could have done better but their skipper was not enough of a gambler, and was leery of the position they were in in shipping lanes. Michael's opinion was that the freighters knew they were there, and they had radar reflectors, so they could have used their spinnaker more effectively than they did. Most of the time there was absolutely no wind; it was like being on a glassy pond, a big pond with no shores. The wind was mostly at night and when the moon came up it was so bright you could see for miles. Michael as he always has been is a chancy sleeper at night.  He said that they had three hours on, and three hours off watch, and he only slept about two at the most, which worried the skipper, who was always trying to make him have a nap. Also he doesn’t eat much when sailing (not a huge eater at any time). It was a great experience, and as I watched (with the binoculars) the sailing ships go by and saw the relaxed men on the decks, I can understand the fascination of life removed from the rat race of everyday living. The unusual length of the time taken for the Trans Superior this year has changed Michael and Donna's plans.
   Eric her brother was supposed to drive up Tuesday and sail the “Obstreperous” on the Wednesday with Michael down to Manitoulin. This plan had to be scrapped! Donna, Kyle and Rachel have been at a cottage on Manitoulin with her parents and family waiting, so yesterday, she drove home with Kyle and Rachel and they are a taking off today to cruise around St. Joe's and the near islands there. Perhaps they will go into Meldrum Bay on Manitoulin.
   Suzanne's friend Ron Tribovich is here on holidays from Toronto with his five-year-old daughter Anna. They are in and out to the cottage. Suzanne was at his home for dinner last evening for his birthday, and he is making spaghetti sauce for supper this evening here at the cottage. He is a handsome tightly strung man about Suzanne's age, divorced and has joint custody of Anna a beautiful dark eyed child. Ron seems very intense; he works in a high-pressure job for the providential government with headquarters in Oshawa. His custody of Anna is shared with his wife, who is a doctor. They have Anna on alternate years an arrangement that is very modern and correct, but I think must be very difficult for this child, but that is only my generational gap opinion! Probably her psychologists would laugh me to scorn.

   My advice to Suzanne is to take time and take care. I did not realize how insecure she must feel without an escort, perhaps I should say male companion. She is an independent person most of the time. Ron seems like an intelligent caring man, I hope he takes time and takes care. He has quite a bit of adjusting to do. Until now he has had Anna and a nanny living with him. Now Anna goes with her mother, and he will be lonely and at loose ends. His needs will be heightened and his decision-making about his life will be out of balance. Perhaps   Ron and Suzanne will come to share their lives, but it will take time, patience and great adaptability. Suzanne is real not really free to choose just for herself, the children have rights too, but I'm sure everything will work out for all. Ron is a strong person and so is Suzanne. Their strengths will either be their problem or their salvation. My aren’t we being philosophical this morning Grandmother!  

   Brenda Gallivan, visiting her parents here from Edmonton and their three children Sherry, Teresa, and Joey spent yesterday afternoon here with us. Michael Punch was here which was nice for Patrick, because John had to go in to work. Patrick is Frank’s third son; he is coming out on Sunday weather permitting to go for a sail with John.

   Just had a call from Suzanne she is at work, and said she had a pleasant time with the Tribovich’s.

    Mary Jane has acquired conjunctivitis; her eyes are red and swollen. She works with infectious people and is so careful, but is prone to picking up infections. She only may take the afternoon off if she can get a replacement. She was really suffering last night.

 Brendon lost his ball game, Merwan and Jimmy lost their soccer game. Christina Steven and Rachel went into town with the Daley’s to watch. Brendon was deflated 7-6 the score. They will make McDougal Street their headquarters for Community Day. It is 9 AM and I have written enough for today.

 July 25, 1983:  Point Aux Pins The Angels

 It is Monday!

 In Daley’s cottage next door the little ones are gathered, and a strong deep voice is leading them in song.

“The angels are watching over me.

  In every game we play,

  The angels are watching over me,

  Every night and day,

  Whether I win or lose,

  I know they'll see me through,

  The angels are watching over me,

  Every night and day”.

   In our cottage, Jimmy, Brendon, Rachel, Christina and Steven are watching a scary movie. I don't know what it is, but they are telling Michael Yorke not to look at it. Michael hates the scary parts, and takes them too seriously.

   I am not watching either but the sound effects are so similar to those used in the old Fern Theater for early talkies. The music soars and fades, and roars and whistles and thumps. Joanna must be soon collected from the cottage next door.

   Today the boys played with the “go cart” they made with boxes and an old set of wheels and a rope steering mechanism. Brendon and Gene are not too sophisticated yet for fun.

   Michael and I went with the flashlights to get Joanna at the next cottage.  She tells me that “angels watching over me” is a punk rock song! 

So much for the Angels!

July 26, 1983: Tuesday Point aux Pins

    Ron Trbovich drove back to Toronto today with Anna. .Another episode, how serious only time will tell! Joanna feels quite threatened and has already declared belligerently to Anna that” she (Suzanne) is only my mother you know”!  Any relationships between families must grow slowly. It cannot be forced, and Suzanne has very little patience with slow growth. Joanna is wound up, noisy, and inclined to show off, an unusual mood for her. Perhaps she is trying to demonstrate that she is here! Suzanne had more patience with Anna than I have ever seen her have with her own children. Whatever happens the children will survive in their own way.

    Christina is strong and understands her mother very well for her age and limited experience. I sometimes wonder who the adult is!  She has the markings of a very fine young woman and a lovely one.

    Steven will make a cocoon for himself; he is a bright boy and caring and can engage the wind, however Steven can manipulate her.

    Joanna has a lovely sunny nature, a very pretty child, who can be charming and sweet and stubborn and ornery.  She isn't sure of her place even as a family member.  Suzanne spoils her one minute then makes her insecure the next with her attention to Anna.  They are all very great children, precious gifts to Suzanne. I wonder if it is ever occurred to her just say thank you for them.

   All my grandchildren are precious gift to me.

    Brendon at 12, is a tall strong handsome boy, abrupt, very demanding of his father and mother. He senses that they love him so much that they will want to give him everything he wants. I guess it is called being spoiled, but when there is so much love involved on both sides I'm quite sure it won't be damaging. He has never had to wait for anything, which may create difficulties for him.  He is considerate of me and worries about Michael. He is a silent worrier!  He plays organized hockey.  John and Mary Jane have many hockey friends; sometimes I think he is carried along by them. He plays baseball and has more interest in that and looks more at home on the baseball diamond then in the hockey net. That is my judgment, a grandmother’s prejudice. I don’t like the overbalance on hockey, I think he gets very tired with all the games and practices, but he is keeping up well at school.  Hockey is a very social thing for Mary Jane and John; most of their friends are hockey parents.  I am particularly glad for Mary Jane; she was, for a long time so involved with Suzanne's problems, that she had little life of her own. Now working has given her a new circle of friends and activities. Suzanne is belligerent about being independent, but actually Mary Jane is the independent one. Suzanne is a contradiction.

    Michael Yorke is wild and hyper, and funny, and everything is at top speed. Willful, headstrong, jump first and howl later. He even sleeps hard when convinced, after much argument to go to bed. An example is he wanted a coke just before bedtime last night, I refused. Battle of the wills, argument, “but grandma” tears, and then he wouldn't go to the John for me. Probably his way of punishing me! I was punished alright!

   He wet the bed he and Joanna were sleeping in together.  Christina scared herself so much with the movie that she wouldn't sleep alone, so she got in with them. Michael came crying out to me about 5 AM, and through my early morning fog, I took a damp him into bed with me.  There was no way I was going to wake the others to change either him or the bed. I stuffed towels between the sheets and the mattress. Just wait until Christina and Joanna find out.  That will be Michael's punishment, and he was truly contrite at 5 AM. The Nordair flight is going over at 8 AM and very low this morning.  No one has wakened!  I am alone out here with the five.

    Michael and Donna, Kyle and Rachel are cruising the St. Joe Island waters on the “Obstreperous”.

    Kyle is a deliberate, gentle, loving little boy, mule stubborn, not sure of himself, idolizes Michael Yorke who realizes this and uses his power.  Michael plans and Kyle gets caught in the web. Kyle is a big strong square shouldered boy of almost 6.  He had a few problems adjusting to the school routine, but made good kindergarten progress. He has a great fund of knowledge and seems to be blessed with an excellent memory. He is a family child, is quite content to be with his dad (his idol), and his mother.  He is a natural sailor much to his father's joy, so is Donna which is wonderful for Michael. Rachel is a bit iffy about sailing, does not like it when it is wavy, but she is better than last year.

    Rachel is a water baby when she is in, not on the water's. Sturdy, pretty and loves to eat which will always be her problem. Swims like a little fish and is strong in the water. Kyle is timid, Rachael is not.  She bosses Kyle and manipulates him and bullies him, and Kyle does not retaliate, he is kind.  Someday he will and it will be a great shock to her. I think Rachel will be a very good student. It is too bad that they don't have prekindergarten; she is ready for more than nursery school. Kyle is preoccupied with hot cars and trucks.

    Rachael has an imaginary friend “Doodie”.  She transfers her fears and moods to Doodie. “ Doodies do not like clowns”, “ Doodie goes on the road”, and “Doodie is a careful sailor”.  She plays with Doodie, talking to her by the hour.

    Michael calls Rachael “Phobia Phyllis” her eyes get huge and dark,” what's that noise”.  She is paranoid about dog’s cats and furry creatures.” Paranoid” she will climb you like a monkey going up the tree when a dog meanders into sight, and she can spot a dog miles away, a spot in the distance. She doesn't like Santa Claus, Mr. Bon Soo, and Halloween has a fragile acceptance because of the candy.

    Michael Punch still doesn't like Halloween and had a few fears of his own. Mary Jane had a horror of furry things cats and dogs. Donna doesn't like animals so Rachael comes by it naturally in her genes. We took her to the Shriners parade. I will never forget her howl “I don't like clowns” as she scaled Wilf so fast she nearly went right over his shoulders.

   Jimmy, Sue, Jennifer, Sarah and Angela were up for a week early in the month.   Jennifer, Christina and Rachel Heydon next door got along very well.

    Jennifer is a bright older than her years 10-year-old. Sue said it would take at least a week to put her back in the 10-year-old category when she got home after hobnobbing with the 12-year-olds. Jennifer is tall dark and dramatic, enjoys life, enjoys friends.

   Sarah is quieter and shy and will suffer from the middle child syndrome. She is sensitive and worries like Sue. A gentle little girl with Sue’s coloring.

    Angela is a whirlwind, noisy, direct, outgoing, funny, imaginative, a whirlwind of activity. A pretty small boned child, pixie like. They are a loving family; close knit and very much into computers these days, but with balance. They are also book people. Sarah looks like Sue, has her sensitive nature. I think she is a very very perceptive child and keeps herself in the background, but then she has two sisters and a noisy father to contend with.

    I tried to get pictures of the 10 grandchildren on the beach.  The results are riotous and confirm my descriptions. I cherish all of them and enjoy them so much. I am also glad that it is almost 9 AM and they are still sleeping.

    The parents went into town for a farewell dinner before Ron's departure at the Algo Club.  Suzanne just phoned she was late for work this morning, and Ron is coming back for the remainder of her holidays in August. Life is always interesting in this family, wearing at times, but interesting.

    Wilf has weathered the summer, coming to camp as little as possible. His meetings are his salvation or his excuse. He does not enjoy the outdoor life and the children, whom he loves, irritate him.

   He was brought up in a world of adults, more segregated than an only child and suffers from the “me at the center syndrome”.  He has a hard time putting up with me.  He took advantage of Ron's presence to have wine, knowing that Ron didn't know the background, and that I wouldn't make a scene. He is bothered right now about not drinking, the urges very strong. Perhaps that is why he likes the meetings. I hate to be his buffer because he resents it.  I am sure he has himself convinced that he could handle it, even though he has proved again and again that he can't.

    And where do I stand this summer, the summer of sand, water and sunshine. Other than a sore back and legs I stand very well. I love the cottage and the outdoors. I have been swimming a lot and have been out here enough to relax, and in town enough to care for the garden and give Wilf a certain amount of attention.  He is grumpy with me, but that is not a summer mood. I think he is disappointed in my retirement. I keep myself busy and involved on the Historic Sites board and library board.  The children, the grandchildren are very important.

    I have survived the McIntyre crises. Mary has set me free. I realize now how I was programmed to consider her needs, her fears, and her children before mine. This summer has been a free one. My family has been first and will so remain. I forgive my hurts and will not ever put myself in a position of being hurt again. Our family relationship is clear. Mary is a tough lady, much tougher than I am. She always was a child to me who needed protection, not so, not so. I remember so well the times when she gathered her children about her when they were younger and there was a confrontation between hers and ours. They were never at fault, and I always insisted that mine give in just for the sake of peace. I do love my sister Mary so very much.

    The sun is shining, another beautiful day. Air Canada flight is coming in it is 9:15 AM and I'm sure some of them will rouse with this one. I'm getting hungry.

    The sun shone until the day we were moving in.  In the interim we had Christina's 12th birthday with the entire immediate beach for cake and ice cream. I hated to leave. So did John. I had another two lovely sails with John in the Nordica, in  the wind and the spray!

   I just feel sad leaving. What will next year bring?  Teenagers for one thing, this year they were all children together, arguing, playing laughing children, having fun together. Suzanne's friend being up here this summer gave me the usual pit in my stomach. Last year I lost sleep over her, this year I pray for her guidance and “let God take my worries from me”.

 What a wonderful summer!