July
1, 1986
Canada is 119 years old today and we are in
the third day of the month long holiday at the cottage on Humbug Point, St.
Joseph's Island. It is 11 years since we holidayed on St. Joe's at Hilton
Beach. We are now 4 km east of Richards Landing on the Lakeshore Road, within
easy sight of the bridge.
I have been down since Saturday and will go
in reluctantly to pick up a 7.5 hp Mercury motor which I have invested in.
There isn't much use having an aluminum boat without a motor for the teenagers.
They would have preferred a 40 hp naturally. Brendon was 15 years old in May
and Christina will be 15 the end of the month. Steven was 13 in January,
Michael was 10 in May, Joanna will be nine on the Fourth of July. Christina and
Steven are in the rowboat catching minnows. Both are great campers. In fact I
am both pleased and surprised at the pleasure that Brendon and Christina are
taking in camp. I thought it mightn't fit the teenager’s picture of a holiday.
They have already explored an old tumbled down cottage near the bridge. They
are swimming, sailing and playing grudge games of Scrabble.
Tonight they have gone into town. Brendon
plays hockey tomorrow and golf in the morning. Michael plays baseball;
Christina is working as student help at the library. She is scheduled for
Wednesday and Thursday evening.
July
2, 1986: Wednesday
Suzanne and Mary Jane have both returned to
town. Amy Ryan has come to stay with Joanna. Steven is exploring the shoreline.
Sylvia and John Stortini came down to visit Mary Jane and John and Suzanne. Only
me and the urchins, disappointing for them but they should have phoned ahead.
We have a phone, I brought my TV and microwave down, far cry from Attles Alley
and the outhouse at Maskinonge Bay.
There
is a shower in the bathroom, hot and cold running water, spring water. The
cottage is snug and roomy, pine floors, pine paneling, the dining room table
and chairs are old refinished pine farm furniture. Sturdy turned legs, the
chairs very strong with unusual backs. The China cabinet is pine and old. An
acorn fireplace and oil heater, a big old widescreen side porch for storing
bicycles chairs and sails also sleeping accommodation if necessary, a good plan
for us lots of sleeping room, three double beds and one set of twin bunk beds.
The cottage is comfortable sleeping for 10 people plus the couch in the living
room and two couches on the porch. God willing they won't be all filled at one
time!
On the weekend Jimmy was up and he and Susan
stayed with their three, with Michael and Brendon. Suzanne and her three arrived
from Florida on Sunday afternoon. Jimmy and family left, and the Olsen's Brendon
Michael John and I stayed. Jim Mary Catherine Tarryn, Nora and Greg Zahn,
Laurie and Mary Ann, Lauren and Megan, we're down for Sunday too.
John bought brought the sailboat down and moored
it at Richards Landing. We had a great sail on Monday afternoon, a stiff breeze
but not wild. Catherine and Jimmy had a Wild West sail down from Richards to here
on Sunday. On Saturday Jimmy Brendon John and Michael sailed the “Stitch in Time”,
(John bought the Tanzer 22 from Michael, Michael bought up, (Way Up!) to a C&C
29, down from the Sault in record time not one tack.
Steven was the lone male here last night. He
went down in the dark along the shore with his flashlight. There were strange
cloud formations over the bridge that made the bridge lights look like UFOs.
Then there were flashes of headlights from the far shore. All of a sudden the
cottage door flew open; Steven capitulated in and slammed the door behind him. He
was white and shaking! “I shone my light on the rocks and then I shone it on what
I thought was a floating log, and it was an animal. It reared up out of the
water and made a loud splash and disappeared! It was a monster!” I couldn't stop laughing! The cool, logical, the unflappable Steven was
terrified! I think it was a startled beaver, there looks to be a beaver house
down the shore.
Joanna
and I saw a long skinny water animal swimming just beyond the next door dock yesterday
afternoon an otter I think by its size.
This is a beautiful spot very woodsy and
unspoiled but not too isolated. It is for sale for $39,900. If I had 36,000 I
would offer it although it is that price without the pine cabinet and chesterfield
and coffee table and dining suite and wicker chairs. I would bargain for the
dining table and chairs the other stuff I could easily replace with the extras
on our third floor on McDougall Street.
Anyhow I haven't got the money so I don't
have to bargain and make decisions. How many years have I yearned and for a
cottage? Since my first job when I went to lands and forest and picked out a
plot of crown land and let myself be talked out of it by my father. Then when
there was a cottage at the Point that I coveted, I even went to the bank about
that one, but it was sold the morning of the day I went. A man bought it; I
found out later that he had never paid the mortgage. Then there was the Red Rock
journey with Mary and Jim. Anyway I can enjoy the rentals and have for so many
years. Oh I forgot the time Fay Barton informed me about the last lot near the
Allagash, $800 and I didn't have either the nerve or the foresight to borrow and
build.
Steven
and Paul McCarthy, Amy and Joanna are going frog hunting. I don't quite trust
the boys they will terrorize the girls in some way.
This
morning Amy and Joanna and I walked towards the bridge along an old unused “private”
road. All along the shore wild strawberries and wildflowers, the water lapping
in the breeze. We came upon an interesting old place, huge piles of boulders,
cement piers and a house or series of attached dwellings. I had heard that an
artist was restoring an old cottage. What a weird pile of buildings but
fascinating. We walked up a wooden incline to a wide veranda that encircled the
house. There was a fridge, with the door open, a stove, with the door open and a
clutter of belongings but no people. The wall on the south southwest of the
building was glass. Inside along the windows were collected rocks and driftwood
and tree roots, all interesting twisted shapes. One painting on the wall look
like a row of chipmunks stylized with horns in strong greens and browns oranges
and yellows. One silver globe was suspended from the ceiling; a huge poster on
one wall depicted the hind end of an elephant straight on. The bed was
queen-size centered in one room, a studio I think covered with plastic, the
plastic covered with mice droppings. This building was connected to another and
all we could see looking in the window of the front door was a square pine
paneled vestibule. An adjacent building reached by a walkway had a large
skylight on the slanted roof. We did not explore it. There was an eerie aura
about the place, I was glad to get away from it. I took pictures, but only had
my one 35mm with me so was limited, of flowers butterflies, Amy and Joanna and
the swamp. A lovely morning!
This afternoon I went to the museum with Amy
and Joanna and I bought a season ticket. They have old ledgers and papers and
books that I will look at another day. I have just taken my first sunset picture
and I'm sure it is not my last.
Tomorrow I am going to the Sault as I have
invested in the motor. My friends buy term deposits; I buy marine equipment
that I will never use myself. Not too sensible I suppose but life is so short,
smell the flowers!
Suzanne and children were in a car accident
on their Florida trip. Suzanne has torn ligaments and a cut ankle. Joanna had a
black eye and a head cut, Steven cut his knee. Not her fault. She had to change
many plans because for several days she could not drive, then recovered enough
to drive home. Thank God they escaped serious injury!
Joanna and company are coming back no frogs!
“Grandma
are you writing a book? You are aren't you! Mary Jane says you’ve been doing it
for years!” This from Joanna, bouncing to the table, Michael Yorke and Michael McLean
disbelieving at her side. “Yes and it's about you.” They haven't given me any peace
since!
Sunday,
July 6, 1986
The
cottage is quiet! Mary Jane has gone into town with Shamus Fyfe Brendon’s
friend and Tricia Ryan Christina's friend. John has taken Michael Yorke,
Michael McLean, and Joanna Olsen to sleep with him on his Tanzer 22 which is
docked at Richards Landing. Wilfred has gone back to town and Brendon and
Steven are out in the boat fishing. Christina
is wrapped in a sleeping bag watching TV. The day is almost over.
Joanna caught her first fish of the season
off the dock and sailed straight up about 4 feet off the dock in sheer ecstasy!
The two Michael's followed suit.
There was a rock concert at Richards Landing
last night Mary Jane, Steven, Brendon, Michael, Michael, Joanna, Shamus,
Christina, Trisha and Nicole and the McCarthy’s (Stevens’s friends) attended.
Michael Yorke wiggled his way up to the front row and came back and got Michael
McLean and Joanna. They were in seventh heaven. Steven saw a drug bust. The
police frisked a man up against the wall and then handcuffed him. Then someone
crossed wires in a car and when it was started it blew up! Brendan and Shamus
slept on the Tanzer last night.
One
night last week I made the mistake of allowing the five of them Brendon and Shamus
on the bunks, Steven in the middle on a cot, Trisha and Christina in the double
bed all in the one room! How stupid can you get? At 5 AM I dragged myself out
to the couch in the living room and managed a couple of hours sleep. The
giggles!
I told
him in the morning, they slept until noon, they were allowed one night like
that before the axe fell.
We went to mass
at 5 PM yesterday at St. Boniface Church in Hilton Beach. Mary Jane and the
seven, Brendon, Shamus, Michael, Michael, Christina, Trisha, Steven and Joanna.
We were late and the tiny church was packed to the doors so we were directed to
the organ loft. The seven arranged themselves on metal chairs and the organ
bench looking over the railing. Just as mass was to begin an agitated lady
rushed to the organ and began to play standing up. Michael and Michael gave her
bench back and she began to sing in a loud soprano alto whatever, for all the
world, in the same tone that Mary McIntyre uses in her operatic rendition of
happy birthday. Michael and Joanna almost had hysterics. Not much praying after
that. Her organ playing matched her voice, fervent, loud, and unmusical. Hyper!
Can't
believe that it was 51 years ago that I first attended that church with Frank
Mary Dad and Mother!
Last
Thursday Joanna, Suzanne and Joanna's friend Amy Ryan and I went to a farm in a
misty moisty morning and picked 3 quarts of strawberries. Got our feet wet but
great berries! Then we visited the Kentvale General Store and I mapped some old
barns to return to for photographs. Today was lovely! Wilf and Steven had a
great sail with John. John is on holidays sailing up and down the channel,
watching the children swim, wrestling with Michael, barbecuing and
congratulating himself on the excellence of his barbecue technique. What a fine
man he is, a great influence on the children, infinite patience with the small
ones.
Brendon and Steven are in from their fishing
expedition it is 10 PM and they are cooking up a batch of Kraft Dinner. They
had steaks and broccoli and rice and salad and garlic bread and strawberry flan
for a meal at 6 o'clock but that was four hours ago and they are “Starving”.
Did you catch anything? From Steven a dejected “Zippo” not even a nibble.
Tomorrow I hope to get over to the museum
again to look through their records. They have old ledgers and accounts of past
pioneers. I am seriously thinking of donating Dad’s traveling medicine chest to
the museum. He loved this Island and the people on it! The weather has been
spotty, tomorrow is supposed to be the beginning of a heat wave!
Wednesday, July 9, 1986
Today
was one of those Arthur Lismere Georgian Bay days. The water was sparkling
white caps with a strong west wind, a cooling wind but not cold. I sat on the
beach for a couple of hours reading and watching the comings and goings of the teenagers,
Tricia Ryan , Christina, Brendon and Steven, the girls on towels on the dock
getting a tan, Michael Yorke on the edge.
Brendon took him out in the boat and slap
slapped over the waves. John and Suzanne, Mary Jane and Joanna and her Cabbage
Patch kid “Jason” went out in the sailboat and raced down the Wilson channel to
Hilton beach, and then beat their way back against the wind. Wilfred came down
for supper and took off shortly after.
Joanna and I went after supper in the car
into Richards Landing to see the two beautiful yachts tied up at the dock, and
then we went around the road towards Sailors Encampment chasing the sunset with
my camera. I got out of the car and almost dropped my camera, and in catching it,
I knocked my hand sharply against the lens, and knocked it crooked so I can't
get it on properly or off! I'm going to the Sault tomorrow. I'll be lost
without it if I have to leave it.
Mary
Jane Suzanne Christina and Tricia have all gone into the Sault, so have John
and Michael. Christina and Suzanne work tomorrow so it is only Joanna Brendon
Steven and me tonight.
Yesterday I had a lovely day went to the
museum in the morning and read old scrapbooks and local histories that they
have in their archives. Interesting old material, I'll go back. Then I travelled
a few roads and took some farm and barn pictures.
Mary Jane went into Richards Landing to do a
washing. Wilf came down John barbecued chicken for the late evening meal. Wilf
took off for the Sault and an hour later phone that he was coming back he
forgot his briefcase.
We started a riotous game of Trivial Pursuit!
Suzanne Mary Jane and Joanna team one. John Michael Christina and Trisha team two.
Brendon Steven and I team three a great noisy lot of fun! Then a near tragedy!
Steven couldn't get the little pie shaped pieces of plastic out of the circle
so he tried to suck them out. One of them lodged in his throat cutting off the
air supply! We didn't know what happened to him at first and then realized he
was choking on something. Suzanne Thank God was here and gave him the “hug of
life” dislodging the plastic but not before three attempts and close to black
out for Steven. Close! Life is so fragile every normal breath is a miracle! It
was a frightening experience for everyone particularly Steven, but also for
Joanna and Michael Yorke. Joanna was close to hysterics and Michael in utter
panic with his head hidden under his jacket. Too close!
Brendon and Steven are in gales of giggles
at the moment about nothing. They are enjoying the boat and motor, they are
careful, took to the waves this evening in front of the cottage and came in
soaking wet. I am falling asleep! Good night!
What
a lovely location! What an attractive and comfortable cottage! I'm going to go
into the Sault tomorrow and then I don't have to go in again, I don't really
care for the drive. Brendon astounded everyone with a broad range of his
knowledge in the Trivial Pursuit game. Christina was angry that she wasn't
winning, and withdrew and then was miserable! I know some of the golden oldies
such as what were the names of the Gish sisters no one else knew who they were.
I
have read these books “Helen McGinnis Prelude to Terror”, “My side” the
autobiography of Ruth Gordon and “My Mother's Keeper” by BD Hyman, the story of
her daughter’s life with Bette Davis. I should be knitting.
Brendon and Steven remind me so much of
Jimmy and Michael at the same age. Cookies, muffins, rice crispy squares just
evaporate. Brendon will make himself a sandwich before a meal for a snack.
Steven is a cookie monster and they make Kraft dinner at midnight, they are
constantly hungry!
TO
BED!
What a lovely lovely St Joe Island place!
Thursday,
July 10, 1986
8 a.m.: Another bright sunny day coming up. I
got it got very cold last night, Steven put the heater on. I don't know what
time they went to bed. Brendon and Steven get along very well for 13 and 15,
both are responsible lads, have great senses of humor or are it sense of
humor's? Whatever! Both have also have a good sense of who they are. Stephen
seemingly has survived the stormy years before the divorce and the time of
adjustment after. I say seemingly, who can tell except Steven himself. He is a
good boy and so is Brendon. Thank God for them! They will have a great
influence on the others. Right now they have the teen tendency to put down the
younger ones. Christina is hard on Joanna, Brendon is hard on Michael and
Michael the bubbly effervescent one is very insecure. He wonders if he is loved
by his parents.
I am sitting in front of the picture window
looking down on the river. John's little blue dinghy is reflected in the still water.
A flight of gulls just swooped by the clearing followed in a straight line by a
big grey owl. I am sick about my camera!
Christina
is a pretty sophisticated about to be 15 years old. Her problem is been the
best! The other evening playing Trivial Pursuit when she was not winning she
withdrew saying it was a stupid game and she hated it. Is it in her genes? Joel
wouldn't play tennis because he didn't always win, wouldn't play competitive
games where he might not star. I must try a grandmother talk with her.
The
little blue boat has a perfect reflection in the sparkling water which in turn
is reflected in its side. I wish I didn't have to go into town for the Historic
Site Board meeting tomorrow. I like this place!
Saturday,
July 12, 1986
A
rainy day at camp! You can hear it on the roof and looking out the window at
the wooded green leafy incline is a little like a ballet. First one leaf bobs
then another and then another and as the rain increases so does the movement
until it is a rhythmic movement of the dripping foliage. The rain on the roof
is a drumming sound. John enjoys it so much that he goes out on the screened
porch to read and hear it better.
Rachel Joanna Joel Nielsen and Michael are
wrapped in coverlets lying on the couch and the floor watching TV. Rachel and
Joanna get their books to read. Joel goes to the fridge and Michael follows.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny warm day.
Mary Jane stayed over. I went into the Landing and met Nette Young, Lili Luoma
and Kay Climie, and we had lunch in the Landing Café. Then they came back here
to see the cottage and have coffee and a gab. John barbecued pork chops Wilf
came down for supper. Oh yes in the morning I climbed the hill behind the
cottage and found the blueberry patch, an old clearing, flat rock with ferns
knee-high bordering it, soft with grey moss, but not many blueberries. A
beautiful spot! I listen to the wind in the woods! Very relaxing! Joanna Rachel
and I went back to “The Other Place” to pick some more strawberries but the
season is over.
In the evening John cut sticks in the woods
and built a fire on the shore and the children toasted marshmallows and
wieners. The night was beautiful, shades of gray that got darker and darker not
a ripple on the water, just movement where the beaver swam. The teens followed
him in the motorboat. Brendon is up now having his cereal having had a shower.
Christina Steven and Paul McCarthy are still sleeping it is 12 noon.
I neglected to tell up Brendon's escapade! I
was sitting reading near the road when Brendon Michael and Steven started a
game on their bicycles. They started at the cottage gained speed down the rocky
red road and crashed across the beach and into the water, on their bicycles. I
objected! Dangerous! Someone would get hurt! It’s bad for the bicycles! “Oh Grandma
not to worry”! John was watching from
the boat and didn't object so I shut up and I took pictures of them.
Brendon came racing down once too often, hit
a rock, dislodged it, fell off violently, and slid down the rock strewn
gravelly rut in the road on his chest and shoulder and back and arm. Raw meat
on his chest and shoulder, leg gouged, elbow deep and raw. Into the Landing
Hospital for tetanus shot and bandages. Subdued! Wrecked front tire on Stevens
BMX! “Oh grandma not to worry”!
Today is Jim McIntyre's 60th birthday. Mary
is coming down tomorrow morning to stay over with Tarryn. I hope it clears but
Mary is like me, rain or shine cottage life is wonderful. Oh I wish I could buy
this place sell my house and invest here. Live in an apartment and if only I
kept it for five years it would be a dream come true. If Wilf were interested
we could easily do it.
Tuesday
at 11 PM.
Mary
came down on Sunday and it rained nearly all day. Monday was beautiful and she
and John had a great sail down the Wilson channel. Tarryn stayed with me. I had
Joel, a friend of Michael's, a precocious spoiled boy and was happy when he
went home. John and Michael and Joel went into town for Monday evening. Suzanne
came this morning on two days off, is reading voraciously. Donna and Kyle and
Rachel are here. Donna went home overnight and came back down with Suzanne this
morning.
I spent five hours on the sailboat through
the Wilson channel to Hilton Beach. John is alive but relaxed at the tiller.
The scenery is beautiful, the bent and wind shaped Pines. One little island was
rock moss about six scraggly scraggly pines and the stone chimney of a long
gone cottage standing on the stone. Other
cottages were like compounds with back houses, guesthouses and main lodges,
with wooden steps from docks going up the face of steep rocky inclines to the
cottage. Some looked very old, according to their architecture, others new. All
blend beautifully into the evergreen landscape. Only two have lawns sloping to
the water, one was terraced with a flag pole and lawn furniture and several
boats, canoes, launches and sailboats. Affluence American-style! I took many
pictures.
The
evening was marred when Suzanne and Michael Punch had a bitterly worded
confrontation. Upsetting for the children! I just said to reassure them “if
they were children I could spank them and make them stay in their rooms, but
when adults act like bad children it's not that easy”.
The morning early, down on the dock, calm,
reflections. There is a Blue Heron nearby, and I have seen him in flight. There
is a beaver and the duck family “Northern Pintail”, I looked them up. A rabbit
tonight and the beaver swims between his house down the shore and Robertson’s
dock. This is a beautiful place! It was advertised for this sale in the paper
again tonight.
Friday,
July 18, 1986
I
can't believe that we are in our fourth and last week at St. Joe's but it is.
We have had three days of muggy heat occasional
sun but mostly humid and hot with thunderstorms.
The only night that I was alone with the
children we had a violent storm and wild wind and the power off for three
hours. Joanna loomed at my bedside! “Grandma I'm so scared”. She crawled in,
her heart pounding and curled up in a tiny ball thumb in mouth. It was a wicked
storm!
Last evening there was a weather watch for
severe thunderstorms and we sat until 11:30 PM watching the lightning flash all
around us but not much thunder. Later on towards morning two loud claps of
thunder woke me.
The
towels are wet, the bathing suits don't dry, and the ground near the water is
soggy from the rain. It is so humid!
We had a casualty this morning. I leave the
plastic basin with water at the front door for the children to dip the sand
from their feet and this morning there was a small frantic frog in it and a
drowned field mouse.
John’s holidays are over this week. I am on
my own from Monday. Suzanne has one day off and will be out and Mary Jane comes
out tomorrow until Sunday evening. They really can't get here after work and
have any time before returning home. It is a solid hour’s drive if the traffic
isn't too bad.
Jimmy
and crew won't be up until we are back home in August. I have asked for an
extra day here so we can take in Community Day and also rent a truck and have
my helpers on Saturday to move the boat and bicycles in.
In spite of the weather everyone is enjoying
it. I had a beautiful sail with John on Tuesday and the five, Brendon Michael
Steven Christina and Joanna are in swimming again. They went fishing after
supper again with no luck. They are using the upside down Sunflower 11 as a
raft. They get along very well but sometimes they gang up on Joanna who rises
to the bait every time and ends up crying.
I spent more time at the museum. I hope it
clears so I can get the children up to the mountain on Wednesday. We went to
Fort St. Joe's, much more sophisticated than my last visit, very well done.
July
25, 1986 Friday
The last day! The holidays have flown. I have
enjoyed the place and the children so much. The pseudo sophistication of the fifteens
is discarded in favor of fun. The upside down sunflower too provided a great
base for their water activities. They frolicked often on it like playful seals,
fought over it too, but so what. They enjoyed the boat and the motor; it was
worth much more than the $600 impulsive purchase.
They
ranged the river! Suzanne and Donna went to islands in search of blueberries.
We picked wild raspberries along the road and the children caught frogs and
toads, and one un-cautious salamander. The Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit contests
continued.
I've
been in swimming every day for the past four days. the children have been in
the water more than out of it. Mary and Catherine and Tarryn came down last
Sunday to stay until Tuesday at noon. Ernie Dourcey died on Friday afternoon so
I went in for his funeral. Mary revised her plans and went in with Jim on
Sunday night and back after the funeral. Lenore and Eileen Stableforth dropped
in on Sunday afternoon and we had a great visit. Eileen regaling me with Nancy (her
daughters) visit with the Pope. She was a member of Jim Kelleher's entourage
the Minister of International Trade. I have only been into the Sault twice
since coming here. I leave reluctantly.
When
Mary and Catherine were here we slept 11 comfortably, Brendon on the rollaway
and Steven on the couch in the living room. Tarryn and Lauren, Joanna and
Suzanne in the two twin beds pushed together. Catherine in the bottom bunk! Donna
and Rachel in the double bed in the bedroom, Kyle and I in the double bed in
the back room and Mary in the other double bed. Christina was at Ron Irwin’s
camp with Nicole. I can't remember where Michael was probably in the top bunk.
Lauren three years old had a great while
time with Tarryn 3 1/2 years old. I hope I got some pictures. They made sand
castles, they fished. Brendon and Steven took the younger ones for rides in the
boat.
We played Trivial Pursuit one evening until
almost 2 AM. Mary and I as a team beat Brendon and Steven, yippee!
Yesterday Michael and Kyle, Rachel Joanna
and I went berrying along the shore road. The water was so high it cross the
road in a deep puddle, so we came back to the cottage and on the advice of one
of the neighbors, we climbed up big hill behind the cottage to the waterline (a
black hose that comes from a spring somewhere up and beyond and feeds into all
the cottages including ours). So we follow the water line through the thick
woods and after much effort came out on the road near east side of the puddle.
So we gave up on the berrying and went for a swim instead.
Suzanne's ankle has been diagnosed as a torn
tendon. She should have had a cast on it at the very beginning but then
wouldn't have been able to drive home from Florida. Now she is faced with a
tendon transplant but is choosing not to have it.
This
past week the weather has been warm and humid and stormy, one sunny brilliantly
beautiful summer day and another half a day, other than that overcast showery
and humid.
Yesterday was very hot very humid grey kind of
a day, a shower once in a while. The children swam during one of them and the
storm growled around most of the afternoon and then broke last night after
everyone except Joanna and me had gone home.
Joanna was on the verge of getting very
upset, tears began. I reassured her and then distracted her by putting candles
in the candelabra and left her holding the flashlight. I pretended that I was
reorganizing my purse and went into the bedroom to get it and brought it to the
coffee table. The storm was brief but a few wild lightning flashes and crashing
thunder, and I wanted the car keys kept close by if we had to evacuate. The
lights only flickered once so we were not in darkness.
Mary
Jane, John and Suzanne (she brought my ailing car back after repairs) and Wilf
came down after work last night and took loads of stuff home. How it
accumulates! Brendon Christina and Michael went in with them. Donna came
earlier for Kyle and Rachel to take them home to see the two tall ships.
Joanna and I are going to the Richards
Landing Community Day this afternoon. There are booths set up along the street
a sailboard demonstration and the parade. It is a gray overcast day.
Toni
phoned me at 8 AM yesterday morning. They want Wilf “one of their own” to move
down to Little Current. “It is entirely up to you if you come Kay, but we are
sick and Wilf should be here”. “We want one of our own! You do what you like
but I'm putting this on you. I won't call again! You can call me!”
Toni
has not lost her colossal nerve and her complete self-centeredness. This is the
third call. She phoned Suzanne's house last Monday and got Christina. She cried
and carried on on the phone, she was dying, scared. Christina, who called
Suzanne at work, finally got the message through to Wilf. He called Toni who
kept him on the phone (prime time) for almost an hour, complaining about the
treatment she is getting. She says she is having constant blackouts and not
receiving any attention. Wilf called Mrs. Kemp the supervisor, who Toni really
likes, she told Wilf, that they have been having a bad time with Toni over the
past two months. She complained about her hip, there is a pin in it from a fracture
several years ago. She was taken to the specialist in Sudbury x-rayed and
deemed okay. So she started on the blackouts. No one has ever seen her in one
of them, not the nurses, the attendants or any of the other “inmates” as she
says. She reports them after-the-fact. Mrs. Kemp told Wilf that she has been in
the Little Current Hospital for tests and a heart check. They even monitored
her heart, no problems. Then they decided to continue the monitoring of her
heart to double check and Toni refused to leave the monitor on. My diagnosis it
is that she is looking for a lot of attention, and also wants Wilf to feel very
guilty.
We are going down for family day, and have
made reservations for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. I intend to come back
on Monday and stay over at Jimmy's on the way back to see his garden and the
new deck he has built. Toni says Friday maybe too late. We will not change our
plans, it is already costing us enough and probably when we get there Toni will
refuse to come to any of the events. Wilf is really bothered by Toni’s statements.
He won't go to Little Current again without me. They torture him with their
tears and complaints, and when I'm there (the tough one); I don't let them rant
on.
Anyway
I must do a bit more cleaning. Mary Jane and Suzanne are coming down after work
to do the heavy stuff; I am doing cupboards and shelves. I am looking at the
cedar hedge and the pine trees in the clearing down to the open water. At the
blue dinghy and the dock! It has been a lovely month.
Yesterday
Michael Kyle Rachel and Joanna were playing hide and go seek indoors during the
shower. I was in the kitchen and suddenly from one of the bedrooms there is a
loud crash, screams, then shouts of “lift it up! Get it off him!” Brendon's
voice. I freaked out! I still live with the memory of Angel’s small arms
through the glass on our front door, impaled on a large splinter of glass
spotting blood.
So
my imagination before I got to the scene went wild! I screamed too! Michael was
hiding under the bed and Kyle flopped on it, the legs collapsed and Michael was
flattened. I have been forbidding them to jump on the bed, I know it is fun but
it is also dangerous, so I scared everybody with my scams, even myself.
So we all went berrying and then for a swim
and it was then I realized how edgy Toni's call made me!
We have had two bonfires. I got pictures of
one of them, Joanna and Michael and John in silhouette. My pictures and slides will
illustrate what I have written.
I
would buy this place in a minute! All I need is Cash!
Brendon
Christina and Steven have been delightful, fun with each other and good with
the younger ones most of the time. Christina and Steven had one battle with
Joanna almost in hysterics. Joanna is a reluctant sailor and thought she was
going onto a rock, hysterics. John and Steven were away across the water and
heard her screams.
Rachel is quiet and stubborn and a real
water baby, has all four of her Cabbage Patches with her.
Joanna
is a sprite, bossy and merry baits Rachel, I think it is because the older ones
bait her.
Michael is most of the time an accident
looking for a place to happen, in constant movement, inclined to obey rules
only while he is being watched. Then he uses his sparkling eyes and impish grin
to get out of trouble. It works!
Kyle tries to keep up with him and is
usually the fall guy.
Suzanne has sunned and sailed and has been
here every minute possible. Mary Jane has been here every minute necessary.
John enjoys the cottage, sailing, the children, the books and the campfires. What a lovely lovely St Joe Island place!
July
26, 1986
Yesterday Richards Landing held its
community night. Joanna and I were alone overnight at the cottage and somehow
we got our signals crossed and went at 3 PM. The parade started at 7 PM, so
Joanna got an ice cream cone and I went to “Mrs. Pooks Art Show” at the Hall, some
good some mediocre. Joanna got an ice cream super deluxe three scoops and ate
it sitting on the steps. Wilf caught up with us after a BMX biking exhibition
which saw one of the participants injured and hospitalized. Most of them are 13
to 15 year old tough looking little kids.
We went back to the cottage and put in time
until 6 PM went back to the Landing to have supper at the food booths. The day
was sponsored by the Matthews Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.
I ate
a hotdog; I'll not eat another until next summer. Wilf had a beef burger and
Joanna who had bounced herself silly in the moonwalk just sat and recovered.
Suzanne arrived and we watch the parade
together. It went from the hill to the dock and doubled back on itself. John
was driving a rented truck down from the Sault to the cottage to take home the
boats and bicycles and barbecues, but he didn't count on Community Day and the
road to the cottage was closed off because of the parade. Mary Jane in the
station wagon behind him was in the same predicament.
We
watched the parade and ate homemade pie, and then Joanna and I stayed while the
others went to the cottage to pack.
Joanna tried to win a stuffed animal and to
dunk the MPP in the tub, and she rolled balls to win $.50, and then tried the
stuffed animals again. No luck! We had
to go to the bathroom so badly that we ordered takeout French fries and tea at
the Landing restaurant. You had to be a patron to use the facilities. Then we
played bingo five cards for a dollar.
On
the second five we got the bingo! I squeaked “I have it”, thee lady across from
me said “Yell!’ I said “yell Joanna” and
she shook and didn't, but Claude Elliott behind us let out a bingo roar, and we
collected $19. We had a bargain to split our winnings, I was paying, so Joanna
got $10 and I got nine. Joanna was ecstatic!
Today
she is at the Soo’s Community Day to spend it!
Suzanne and Joanna stayed over at the cottage
with me. This morning I was awake at 6 am and down on the dock till 7 a.m., a
beautiful soft grey dove and pale blue morning. Still, water birds singing,
absolute perfect place!
A
casualty though, a reminder of the real world under the Woodland Place, a rats
body on the shore. Joanna was sure she saw the Blue Heron on the far dock. How
I have enjoyed this holiday.
Barry
Baker says he probably won't sell and we can have it next year. Suzanne loaded
her car and mine. We set out with a stop at the garbage dump for me and Suzanne
to pick wildflowers. I was so happy that I even sang out loud on the drive home,
I can only do that when I'm alone. The hymn “Morning has Broken.”
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