The Squamidian Report – April 1 / 06
Issue #200
Also in this issue:
Hi All,
Well, I don’t know where the time went but we have arrived at our 200th issue of this little newsletter. That represents almost 4 years of coming up with something to write. Wow. So I want to thank Greg again for all his work and stick-to-it-ness. I’m not all that sure I could have kept it going without his unwavering literary contributions. Next, I want to thank each of you who have sent in your own articles from time to time to be included. We all like the diversity of your stories and look forward to reading them. From Sus’s life in Nova Scotia to Karin’s life in Melbourne to Vivyan remembering her younger days and adventures. Then there is Jackie’s ongoing adventure with Fernglen Inn and Ewan’s incredible wit and humour. Less often but every bit as interesting we have heard form Howard, Lorne, and Wild Wood Warren, and so on. And of course there are the ones we only hear from in their ‘Replys’. It all makes for interesting observations of life. Again, there is lots of room in this publication for anyone who might want to have their story included so don’t be shy.
I want to thank all of you who do read the Squamidian for reading the Squamidian. Wouldn’t be much sense in doing this every week if it’s just being dumped into the recycle bin. And that thanks also goes out to the ones who get theirs as hard copy, printed off on someone’s printer, and to the ones doing the printing. No need to thank the ones who don’t read it, because they won’t be reading this anyway. But if you are in fact not reading it, let me know and I’ll take you off the list so you won’t be bothered by unwanted Email, because by definition, that would be Spam.
You may have noticed from last week that I’ve re-arranged the mailing list a bit. There are not as many names on the ‘main’ list now, mostly due to the ongoing problems with Spam filters and blacklists. I’ve reduced the ‘main’ list down to the ones that are most likely to get involved in a conversation by replying to something. I’ve moved the names on the list of those that we never hear from over to a ‘silent’ list where I am much less likely to run into Spam filter problems because each address is sent separately. If I’ve put you on that list but you would rather be on the ‘noisy’ list, just let me know (and vise versa).
So happy 200th everyone, and on we go.
*
Now this just stuck me as funny, a bit sad and perhaps typical but funny. We have three grocery stores in town. One we never go into because it is a very expensive, high end Yuppy type place that is aimed at the tourists and the city types heading for Whistler. The second one is a large store with a lot of product choice but still expensive. It is where Sue shops and it is always crowded. The third grocery store is the one I go to when I need something. It is less expensive to shop there than at the other two but there is not as much selection and often they will be out of a given item. Kind of reminds me of one of the smaller Zehrs stores of 30 years ago.
So anyway, I had stopped in there on the way home to pick up a few things and as I walked in I noticed that one of the little old checkout ladies was packing groceries at the end checkout that you have to walk past to go on in. She had picked up a bag of green seedless grapes but picked it up by the wrong end. All the grapes went tumbling to the floor. She then looked up and saw that the customer and checkout person were yapping to each other and hadn’t noticed the spill. At that point she simply scooped as many of the grapes back into the bag as she could and kicked the remainder under the counter. It was then that she noticed me watching her, at which point I shook my head and then turned and continued in to get my supplies. I really don’t know what she did after that but would hope she would properly rectify what she had done now that she had been caught, but who knows.
*
We had a thunderstorm go through here the other day. Don't get many of them here, in fact they are quite rare, but this one made up for it. It can rain pretty hard here but I've never seen rain as hard as this before, anywhere. The thunder just kept bouncing off the mountains so it would rumble on and on. The hail covered the ground and roofs. The rain was so loud on the roof that you couldn't hold a conversation without having to shout. Kind of fun actually.
*
And just for the fun of it Sue and I took a drive up to the Garibaldi Park lookout, just up in behind us here. That’s the spot at a switchback about a click below the parking lot where you can get a good look out over the valley. The road winds and climbs up through the forest along the mountainside. One side of the narrow road is pressed against the steep upward side, the other side hangs out into the treetops without so much as a shoulder. It is muddy and pot-holed up to the snowline. Kind of a fun, interesting drive. In a lot of ways, the view is the same angle we have from our back deck, but from higher in elevation. It is still winter up there with lots of snow in the bush and on the road. I only took a few pictures because the sun was not at the best angle for photography, but they can be seen posted at this link.
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/Misc/gb1.htm
doug
****
Someone said “Go Back” so
this is about the first time Lorne met my family (other then my sister Verlet
and brother-in-law Len who lived in Kitchener). On Christmas Day 1943 Lorne took me to my home on the old farm. Verlet, Len & my niece Sandra, who was
almost a year old, went with us. In
those days the road into Cedarville was kept open until Christmas or New Years,
if possible. The car had to be left in
the church shed where everyone that used their cars that late in the season had
to leave their cars. On that farm we did
have a phone so we phoned from the Cedarville store and Dad picked us up with
the team and sleigh.
We had a great Christmas but then a snow storm started up and it didn’t want to stop. That meant that the road was closed for a few days. In those days both Len and Lorne smoked and of course they ran out of cigarettes. When the storm finally started to let up they decided that my younger brother Carman would walk them to the store in Cedarville so they could get more smokes. I guess things went fine walking through the fields to the store but by the time they were coming home it was already dark and the wind had started up again so visibility became nil. Now Carman wasn’t as good as the horses for finding his way and he lost the track. They finally found their way but we were getting worried.
After a few days it became very cold and the wind stopped so they were able to get the road open to allow everyone who had gone home for Christmas to get out again.
Lorne’s car was quite old and the gear shift was on the floor. With the very cold weather nothing wanted to work. When Lorne tried to shift the gears the gear shift broke off about 4 or 5 inches from the floor. Len sat in the front with Lorne and they had to work like a team. When the gears had to be changed Lorne put in the clutch and Len would shift using the stub. We did make it home but it is one trip I will always remember.
As long as my parents lived on the farm the winter trips were always interesting. When you are young you don’t worry that much about things like getting stuck or stranded. But then I remember living where we are right now having 13 people over night after a birthday dinner for Lorne’s mother when a storm closed the road before people could get out.
By the way it was great to have Ryan and Emily around for a few days. Thanks for spending a couple of nights with us Ryan.
****
North Nova Sus & I have set a date for the 2007 down-east Brubacher Reunion of Family and Friends. It will be the civic weekend, August 4, 5 & 6 at Sus’s place outside of Scotsburn, Nova Scotia.
****
Hello my
fellow Squamidians!
Today
marks a milestone in the world of Squamidan literature. It’s hard to believe
that this little newsletter has been in existence for 200 issues bringing us
nigh onto four years total of being informed of many west coast facts and other
interesting observations by our “Editor In Chief” Doug “Digger” Brubacher. I
congratulate you Doug for being able to keep this fun weekend script going for
so long and each week keeping it interesting to all of us who read it. I am
very happy and proud to have been included in your literary venture and have
enjoyed every moment of my participation. Thank you once again for allowing me
to be part of such a fun weekly publication. I sincerely hope we can keep it
going for another 200 editions. Although I have only been aboard for a total of
164 weeks counting today I feel as though I’ve been a part of it since its
inception. As you well know Doug, some weeks I find myself scraping the bottom
of the barrel for a topic interesting enough to put into print. However,
somehow or other if the brain doesn’t work the fingers do and on we go for
another Saturdays ramblings. It’s certainly been interesting to do this week
after week. I’ve always liked writing and one day thought I might write a book.
You never know, this experience of weekly writing may just lead to my having
the confidence to tackle a more ambitious project one day. Again I congratulate
Doug and sincerely hope that all of our group will continue to read the
Squamidian and also to contribute to its ongoing success. Thanks again Doug!
*
I guess
we can all feel the improvement in our Ontario weather. I even went out and got
my license sticker for the motorcycle last Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday I got
to ride for about an hour and somehow it made the winter blahs fade quickly
into the background. Although we really did have a mild winter I can recall
some bitter cold times. I think we’d all like to have a mild climate year round
but that just isn’t the way things work here in Canada. Some scientists blame
the mild spell on “global warming” but others say it’s simply another one of
the weather cycles that the world has always been subjected to and the “Tree
Huggers” among us are capitalizing on public fears to further their cause. I
tend to believe it’s just one of those cycles and within the next couple of
years we’ll see our weather revert back to those cccccold Canadian winters we’re
so famous for.
*
Carole
and I spent the past couple of days doing what we do every Spring. We cleaned
up the yard and spruced up the gardens. With the sun shining we were inspired
to get out the rake and big black bags and clean up the leaves that turned to
mush in the gardens over the winter. With a couple of full bags and the gardens
looking much cleaner we settled into our chairs on the front porch to enjoy the
sunshine and a cup of tea. It sure was nice to be able to do that again.
Although the time seems to pass us by much more quickly now that I’ve retired,
this past winter for some reason just dragged from my point of view. Why is it
the nice weather whizzes by and the miserable stuff goes on and on? Guess we’ll
never know the answer to that one. That’s just the way it is I guess. I’m
really looking forward to the good weather ahead. Hopefully we’ll get out on
the motorcycles and in the Kayaks more this year than in the past. The Kayaks
have been hanging in the garage for about 3 years now without touching any
water. I think it’s time to get them out and paddle a river or two. It’s such
an enjoyable afternoon when we travel the Grand. When viewed from the river,
the world we live in seems so different. Although the river travels through the
city being on it makes one feel that it’s miles away. We are lucky to have such
a beautiful natural resource right here at our doorstep. It’s only right that
we make use of it at every opportunity.
Here’s to
a long sunny summer for all of us and may we all stay healthy enough to truly
enjoy it.
Time to
pack it in for another week. Thanks to all of you for tuning in! I look forward
to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report.
Bye for now… Greg.
PS: Maybe
this summer I’ll get out and launch that mile high kite flight I talked about
two years ago. Man I can’t believe that was that long ago. Oh well!
PPS:
Something To Think About>
The
shadows fall the day is done
The
mountain tops hid the setting sun
The magic
of the night is here
For all
young lovers far and near
The Big
‘O’ (Orbison)
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.