A Day with the Girls

We were fortunate enough to spend a day with our granddaughters, Sylvie and Caitlin, this past weekend. Time disappears when they are around, aches and pains almost forgotten. Exploration, curiosity, and energy are the order of the day, with a reminder to enjoy each minute because this time in our lives is fleeting.

Such fun!

              Waiting for Nanny and Poppy

        Planting seeds

         They're Small

               Nan Nan Doing Caitlin's Hair

              Lunch Time

                    Fun Squirting Water

                Storytime before Naptime

                           Ipad Time

                       Sylvie at the Ipad

                   Fun after Supper

                        Hide, Caitlin!

The Tin

Last week, I wrote about Reverend RF Mercer, my husband's great grandfather, a minister with the Church of England. He worked in various places around Newfoundland over his career, including Harbour Breton and Catalina. We did not have any keepsakes from Reverend Mercer until recently. 

Rick's Aunt Marie on his father's side, has a tin collection which she has saved for years. One of the tins in her collection was a tin from Reverend Mercer. It is a small tin, which held altar candles. Her brother, Melvin, gave her the tin for her collection. It held small items in his garage such as nuts and bolts.

The little tin has seen better days but it is interesting nonetheless. The tin and the candles it once held were made by Charles Farris Ltd. The company also sold altar wine, church furniture and sanctuary oil. It is still in operation today as Charles Farris, Chandlers, 1845, London. The company, in operation for one hundred and seventy years, still makes Church candles. It started during the early years in the reign of Queen Victoria and continues today into the twenty-first century. The longevity of this candle business is quite a feat.

With the size of this little box and the small candles, we wonder if the candles were brought to homes during visitation of the sick or dying, to be lit during prayers. What stories still linger in this little container? 

 Imagine.

Thank you to Aunt Marie Smith for the little candle tin and the story which resulted.

The Old Fashioned Make-Over

One of my husband's ancestors, his great grandfather on his mother's side, was a minister in the Church of England. Reverend Mercer's son was my husband's grandfather, Richard Mercer.

Years ago, when our daughter was young, we visited Catalina, Newfoundland where Reverend Mercer is buried. 

      Rev. RF Mercer's 

         headstone

He was posted at St. Peter's in Catalina twice during his career. 

            Names of Clergy

          St. Peter's Church

Rick's parents, Melvin and Sylvia, accompanied us to Catalina. 

      External and internal views of St. Peter's

After the reverend died, his family sent his suits to his son. Sylvia's mother, Classie, used the material in the suits to make gored skits for Sylvia. At the same time, one of Classie's sisters gave her a sweater that she was no longer wearing. Classie unraveled the sweater and knit one for Sylvia. 

            Sylvia in the pulpit at St. Peter's

Many women, such as Classie, had the ability to make-over clothes for their families. Sylvia loved her new clothes, made lovingly by her mother from material and wool from her family, and she was so proud of them. 

Today there are many television programs about making over your own personal style or home. However, this old fashioned make-over provided 'new' clothes for families, a more basic need than the current use of the concept implies. Besides, re-cycling of the materials is certainly a twenty-first century concept. There is a lot we can learn from the old ways.

The Dancing Butterfly and Her Sister

If you are lucky enough to become a grandparent, you are granted the privilege of watching another generation as they grow into the world. It is one thing to be a parent, but something entirely different to be a grandparent.

This past Saturday, we had the pleasure of watching our granddaughters at the dance recital in which the oldest child, Sylvie was performing. The two year old, Caitlin, was seated with her family during the two hour performance. 

While Sylvie did her moves, as she calls them,

jumping, turning, pointing toes,

 raising arms, moving across the stage,

Caitlin watched. However, Caitlin watched all the performances and said,"Shhhh," to her mother if Claire spoke in her ear. Caitlin's rapt attention was as interesting as the performances on the stage.

   Caitlin during intermission

Before she was two, Sylvie loved to watch The Nutcracker on youtube. It will be interesting to see if Caitlin wants to dance too; or, is she just an excellent spectator?

Time, Whatever

Retirement is a enjoyable way of life, but for the uninitiated, it can be be a scary thought. What will I do every day? How will I fill all of those hours now filled with work? Will I be isolated with the loss of my work colleagues? Do I have enough money to live as I would like? These are some of the questions that precede the decision to retire.

Rick and I retired in our early fifties. Thirty years in the classroom had worn us down. While we loved our work, the energy which we brought to the profession in the early years ebbed after thirty years. The school system changed with the loss of denominational education and being older, change was difficult for us. We were ready to  retire.

In our early working careers, we worked in the same school for ten years. We enjoyed that part of our careers and worked well together. We spent summer vacations together, the long summer break which teachers enjoy. We knew what it was like to be around the other person all of the time. What some people fear, we embraced. 

Over time, we fell into our new lifestyle and each of us found a balance which we quite enjoy. Rick, a great cook, does as much cooking as I do. He enjoys his life as a host to friends, maintenance of our home, travel, and time with our family living nearby. 

I found a vibrant population of seniors in Summerside which provides many opportunities to do the things which I enjoy, book club, writing family stories, and volunteer work. I venture into the community while Rick maintains the home front.

The best part of the whole process for me is that we live with the "time, whatever" mind set. We determine our agenda, which is flexible. We are available for family emergencies or unscheduled events. As long as our good health continues, we will continue to enjoy this lifestyle.

       

I wish the same for each of you.

From the Rock to the Garden

Every now and then, we are struck by the beauty of our little Prince Edward Island home. It is not that we take it for granted, but every so often, its garden quality is so evident. Being Newfoundlanders, we appreciate it even more. 

           Coastline of Prince Edward Island

On the way to buy some vegetable plants for the garden this year, we passed acres and acres of land at various stages of readiness for planting.

                   Plowing the Fields

The fertile red soil sits expectantly, waiting for the magic of seed, sun and rain to do the work. We live on a garden in the ocean.

                          Fertile fields

 

We compare this home to our birthplace where our ancestors fought for every acre of earth, where soil was a precious commodity, as precious as the cod which brought them to that rock in the North Atlantic. 

                    Newfoundland Coast

Our ancestors worked to accumulate enough earth to grow vegetables to sustain the family through the winter.

        The Rocky Coast of Newfoundland

 The acquisition and maintenance of the soil was a huge effort.

              Newfoundland Coastline

The history of farming on this island is as deep as the fertile red soil which sustains it. 

                    Red soil of PEI

The island is famous for its potatoes of course, and also products of the ocean as well.

                            Seaside PEI

Here the soil is almost devoid of rock however, rich and deep, soaking up water easily. Growing can be as easy as turning the sod.

                  Newly Planted Fields

Canada is a vast country with such diversity of environment. We are island people of the east coast of this country, from two such diverse islands that are less than five hundred kilometers apart. They are each beautiful in such different ways. Their unique beauty is not lost on us.

Time Pieces

The new toy is an incredible piece of electronic genius. Our daughter's new watch keeps time and so much more, such as calorie burn, steps taken, iMessage, among other things, and on a swipe screen. It is a long way from the wind-up wrist watches we used for so long. This watch is almost anything but a time piece, as my grandparents called a watch or clock. It may be the only type of watch that our grandchildren know.

My mother had a watch which her father brought home to her one autumn after he sold the season's salt fish. It had been a good season and Granda settled his account but had more money than usual left over. He bought the time piece as a surprise for Mom who wore it proudly to school that year. 

As a child, my husband, Rick had a new watch and he was so proud of it. He said, "Dad, this must be a good watch because the tick is so loud."

I remember whilst in high school, I wanted a watch with a black suede strap for Christmas. This was in the days when watch straps, bought separately, were not very common. Mom and Dad went all over St. John's to buy that watch for me. The watch outlasted that strap and I still use it today.

Mom and Dad had a new battery-operated watch for my brother, Francis, for his birthday when he was a teenager. This was the first electric watch in our house. Mom asked, "What happens when the power goes off?"

Then there's the clock at my Grandfather Pretty's house. The sound startled you at first, but it grew on you. It was my grandfather's mantel clock, that told the hour with the appropriate number of chimes and the half hour with one. Pop wound the clock every day, not considered a chore in those days because that was what everyone did. This mantel clock had a winding key.

That chime was comforting during the night when you woke. It broke the quiet, so that you did not feel alone. However, the most comforting part was its tick tock. Often inaudible when the residents of the house were busy, the same sound was drum-like when the room was quiet. This audible passage of time filled such moments with company. Sometimes though, depending on your frame of mind, the tick tock sounded like a roar. At such times, one left the room, too preoccupied with the ticking to endure it.

Rick's grandparents, the Mercers, had such a clock on the mantle as well. We have this clock now though it is never wound. We have it for its sentimental value.

Aunt Marie Smith talks about the one alarm clock the Smiths had in their home when she was young. Every night her father, Ern, took the clock upstairs to the bedroom, wound it, set the alarm. In the morning, he took it downstairs where he wound it again. Marie described this daily ritual to her young grandson.   

His response was, "What do you mean by wound the clock?"