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The
Squamidian Report – Nov. 22 / 25
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1226
Nova Scotia Sus ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
Carol mentioned in the last Squamidian about writing things about our father and that came to mind a couple things I remember. Our Dad Howard was very much a kid at heart. He loved playing tricks on us so you never knew what was coming. One of the times we stayed with The grandparents us kids thought it would be fun to sleep overnight in a tent, us meaning my brothers and me. Unbenown to me my brothers one by one disappeared inside the house leaving me alone for the night. When Dad realized this he took their place in the tent so I wouldn't wake up alone. I slept good and upon waking up in the morning all I saw was two large barefeet at the entrance to the tent. My brothers had turned into my father. And that's just one of the stories.
Sus ****
From Al
When I was a boy we used to do a lot of hiking on the Bruce Peninsula, we would take a canteen of water, a. couple of chocolate bars and be gone for the day. Following the Bruce trail, we decided to check out the McNeil mansion. This was private property but the mansion was abandoned. The interior was still intact with furniture and a fully stocked library. I can picture it just like I visited yesterday. Through the years the building deteriorated and was hit by vandalism. This is a lead up to Carol’s challenge of telling a funny story about a father or father figure. I was raised by my grandparents. My grandparents, her sister and husband would hang out together. One day, about 15 years after my visit, they decided to check it out. All went well on their indoor walking tour until my grandfather went through the main floor into the basement. He came up intact, but with several expletives. They decided that was the end of their tour. The 4 of them were always up for any adventure, my great aunt also went through a floor, of the porch at the cottage, and they always laughed about it. This is really stirring up memories, I am going to have to write about my childhood at the cottage some time. Below is a sad picture of the ruins of the mansion today and also the sign telling the story, if you are able to read it. Al
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From Gary Hello fellow Squamidians. Good news! Tim is breathing without any assistance. He has a long recovery ahead of him but he’s strong and improving. They will have to stay in Toronto for a while yet. Almost all the snow has gone. Coyotes are close and loud some evenings. Vhen’s ( Evys daughter) 2 younger children , Ember and Julio just received scholarships for university. That’s good news for us. Not much happening ( good thing) these days. Stay safe everyone. Gary ****
From Doug Happy Birthday Brother Gary. About 2 years ago I had cataract surgery in both my eyes, not at the same time but about a month apart. The left eye responded as expected and all is well with it. The right eye however was a problem right from the beginning. It had been a very painful experience and then vision never lived up to what was expected. Sight remained blurry and there is just about zero night vision. The frustrating thing is, the lens implanted into that eye was a state of the art high tech new development that was supposed to be the latest and best thing for vision. Well, not for me. It has been a big disappointment. Like I said, I can’t see anything with that eye in low or dark lighting conditions. And, if a light shines into that eye, I can ‘see’ a glowing disk, but nothing else. Under good lighting conditions it is like I’m holding my finger right in front of the eye, that feeling of something blocking my view. My local optometrist had checked my vision a month after the surgery and agreed that I indeed have very poor vision in my right eye. He made an appointment with the specialist for me and the eye surgeon reluctantly agreed that it was not as it should be. At the time the surgeon went on to say the they almost never remove a cataract correcting lens that has been put into an eye but mine does qualify. It would not be a pleasant experience but it can be done. His office would schedule the necessary appointments. That was 2 years ago. One year ago my local optometrist was surprised that the surgery had not yet been done and checked with the surgeons office and was told I was on the waiting list. Then, the second year went by and I had my annual checkup with my optometrist. He was bewildered that the surgery was still not done and said he personally check with the surgeon to see what the holdup was. Three days later I heard for the surgeons office and my appointments were made. That was about 6 weeks ago. Then, the surgeons office called to say those appointments could not be met and rescheduled for late Nov and early Dec. Now just having to get into the middle of Vancouver where all this takes place is about as stressful as the procedure is, perhaps even more stressful as I have to make arrangements to have someone be with Sue while I’m away for several hours, and make arrangements to get to the appointments. The Nov 21st appointment is to have the eye re-examined by the specialist, the Dec 8 appointment is for the actual surgery at the hospital. After exploring various options as to how to get to each appointment, Lauren has offered to take me. For that I am very grateful. I simply can’t drive in Vancouver, especially in the dark or rain or both. So, on Friday we went to the eye exam and then waited and waited and waited. The specialist’s office is either concomitantly slow or they over book or something but what should have taken an hour took almost 4 hours, most of it just waiting. And it was a good thing the Lauren did drive because it was dark and rainy by the time we got out of there and city traffic was city traffic. However, that step is done. * I do believe that last week I promised a song that features Jane. I also said that it would be available ‘if you are lucky’. Well, this is your lucky day because said song has been sung, and recorded, and uploaded, for your listening pleasure. This is a ‘Sweethearts Of The Rodeo’ number that you may have heard me do in the past. Jane had never heard of them or this song until I introduced it and them to her as something she may want to try. She liked the song and it suited her voice and style so we added it to our repertoire and we recorded it. She sings the lead as well as some harmony, and I sing harmony and do the guitar sections. So, put on a set of headphones and give it a listen. You’ll think about how lucky you are that I kept my promise. Doug ****
Have
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