I know, it’s a Taunus, but I was trying to get the colour right!
Dear Mom, I thought I would surprise you by starting a note. First, I can assure you Cyn is recovering rapidly, and not doing too much. She is still “uncomfortable” at times – at 3:00 am, for example, but is able to get around without much difficulty. We got the “value” of our car, less $100 from my insurance, and now have a nice blue two-tone 1962 Envoy. Most of it belongs to the bank, because half of the insurance went to pay the bank what we still owed on the old one. I wanted to tell you also that your Canada Savings Bonds have been sent to me – I bought them for you, to repay your loan to us, remember? I will keep them, but they are registered in your name, and I want you to put the amount and numbers with your “valuable papers”. They are Canada Saving Bond, 1960 series, maturing November 1, 1970. 1 $500.00 Number 515 – B 322075 1 $100.00 Number 515 – A 900883 They can be cashed for full value at any time – plus interest. The interest coupon for 1961 is $24, which I will deposit in your account. For ’62, it will be $25.50; ’63, $27.00; ’64, $28.50; 1965-1970, $30.00. So now you have some Canadian investments averaging 4 3/4%. I was cross with your bank manager, saying he didn’t “think” you could transfer money to Canada. He should know, or find out. Incidentally the Canadian dollar is now 3% below the American, so you would get 6% more dollars for your pounds this year. That should confuse you! Love Cec.
24th Nov. Well – is this a nice surprise to find that you are richer than you remembered! Cec put the $24.00 interest in your account today so it won’t be quite so low. Mr. Olmsted called me today & said your glasses were mended. I asked him to send them to you Air Mail & he is enclosing the prescription so that you will have it for any future mishaps. He is sending me the bill, so I will let you know how much it is later & how much money I make out your blank cheque for. I won’t forget the new cord for your hearing aid. Poor little Charlie had a bad time today. Way back in September the fattest little boy in his class stepped on his toe & when he came home we looked at it & found it all crushed & bleeding & the nail black, so we took him to Dr. K. who bandaged it etc. We cut off the front of his sandals & bathed it & went on & then I took him to Dr. K again just before the accident. Cec had to get him a pair of boots too big so he could get them on & finally took him to Dr. K. again yesterday & today he went to the Hospital & had it frozen & Dr. K took off the nail. The new nail was in growing under it instead of pushing off the old one & was quite a mess & the freezing wore off before Dr. K. finished poor fellow so it was very painful. However he is very good & brave & we hope it will heal well now. He is to go back to see Dr. K. next week. Lots of love, Cyn.
Went to Emil today- feel more respectable! 20th Nov. 1961
Dearest Mummy, Sorry to have been so long in writing. I am fine but I find that it takes me a long time to do anything & then I am fair wore out, so I don’t get much done! At long last Cec got your glasses today and took them to Mr. Olmsted. In the parcel of course he found your letter telling all about your fall. Of course, here & in the U.S. you’re not allowed to put letters in parcels, but what made the big delay was that it was sent to the Customs, & then they sent us a P.C. saying there was a parcel. We didn’t connect it with your glasses for quite a while & Cec didn’t get down to collect it straight away with having no car & all the general confusion, but now I hope we’ll get it soon & send it off as quickly as we can. The first week I was home we did without a car then we got the money from our car insurance & last week Cec went downtown & looked around at new cars & in the end got another Envoy. It is the new model just come in – such an awkward time to buy – no 1961 cars left & hardly any new 1962 ones arrived. It is a little different to Rosie – slightly wider & longer & other small changes & we got the only one in Ottawa so had no choice as to colour etc.! Fortunately it is a nice of blue with a pale blue side streak & blue leather inside & Cec seems to like it very much.
I am doing very well & although I am disgusted sometimes at how little I feel like doing, I look back a week & realize I am improving each day. I still have trouble sleeping through the night & ache a bit, but can now bend & lift fairly well. I never had much trouble breathing as most of my broken ribs were in the back, but a cough or sneeze is a major crisis! I will try & get the typewriter out & write a long letter soon – have to tell you all about Charlie being in the Public Speaking Contest!! Sorry I never told you anything about Christmas presents – I just have no ideas & I am afraid all mine will be months late as I haven’t done a thing yet.
Dottie’s son, from England.
Love & thanks to A. Moo & lots of love to you from us all. Cyn.
I wonder how Hallowe’en went, with Cyn in hospital?
2043 Montreal Rd.. 6th Nov. 1961.
Dearest Mama, Here I am at home again & my! how good it feels to be back in the bosom of my family again! Dr. Kastner said I would be home by the weekend, but didn’t say exactly, then on Thurs. he saw me & said oh – he thought Sat., so Cec & the children were all prepared to clean the house & welcome me on Sat. afternoon when in breezed Dr. K. on Fri. morning & happily said I could leave that afternoon! I phoned Cec & he said “Oh dear, we haven’t cleaned up yet!” but who cared? It was so good to be home – clean or dirty! The children were so surprised to find me sitting there when they got home from school & it was such an amazing day – the 3rd Nov. and it was 74° & so warm it was like summer again! We still have roses blooming in the garden & of course lots of those pink daisy chrysanthemums. In the house we are flooded with flowers to as I brought a lovely bowl of red roses home with me sent to the hospital by the Lab. & then Myrtle sent me some beautiful red carnations & the Spanish Fellow at the lab & his wife sent me a huge sheath of white chrysanthemums & yellow roses, so we are very festive.
Cec and the children had a great cleanup on Sat. & we are all organized again & even have so much food we don’t know which to eat next! Mrs. Dupuis, the wife of the French Dr. who bought Ken’s house sent up a whole dinner to us on Sat. & I have never even met her! People have been fantastically kind – so much so that the telephone nearly drove poor Cec nuts I think! I am feeling fine except for a few aches and stiffness and soreness. Two nurses rended the adhesive tape off me last Tuesday and after that I felt more comfortable in some ways, but a bit unprotected as it were! I can’t bend or lift but otherwise can wave my arms and legs about and be quite active! Dr. K. says I’ll be back to full activity in 3 weeks so that’s not bad. Cec is working at home this week so that I won’t be left alone so that is nice & I am leading a really lazy life, getting up & wandering around & then retiring to lounge in bed! He is down at the school just now for the Parent – Teacher interviews & the children are looking after me! He is having to do all my chores. When I got home on Friday there was a letter from you – thank you so much! – & you said something about being nearly better from your fall except for your wrist. Obviously, we have missed getting a letter from you as we know of no fall, but do hope you are feeling quite all right now. I hope the fall wasn’t downstairs or anything like that, but expect the letter will turn up eventually & tell us all about it. Probably in the same letter you would mention the balloons etc. for the bazaar – I hope they did arrive all right. I still find it a bit uncomfortable to write – it’s extraordinary what a lot of things one needs one’s ribs for! – so I will stop now & get Cec to mail it when he comes home. The children are fine & full of fun playing outside. Will write again soon – Lots of love from us all – Cyn
In her October 12th letter, Cyn promised to write Carol a follow-up, telling about the overnight guests they had while she was trying to make herself a new silk dress, the Thanksgiving weekend, and the Gander’s new cottage they had visited. Alas, we will never know the details! Accidents will happen.
Thursday 26th Oct.?
Dearest Mummy, I am sorry that I have been awhile in writing to you but I have a real good excuse this time! You know how we have a joke that every 2 years I pay a visit to the Civic Hospital – well this year I thought I missed it, but no such thing – it was just waiting around the corner for me & here I am sitting in bed surrounded by lovely flowers, candies & get well cards! And of all things, what do you think is the matter? A nice selection of broken ribs! I am all taped up but Dr. Kastner is taking off the tape tomorrow & says I am doing very well & will be home next week sometime. I took Charlie down to the school at 8:30 on Sat. a.m. to go to a show for the Cubs and then on the way home I turned to go into our driveway at the top of the hill and a panel truck coming from Montreal way slammed right into the side of the car. He was right off the road on the shoulder & going very fast & of course my main feeling was amazement & surprise. I was thrown out of the door on the driver’s side & rolled under the car but wasn’t touched. I was so lucky especially that little Charlie wasn’t in the car as the whole side is demolished. Also, that we had safety glass as my hair & all my clothes were just impregnated with little crumbs of glass, but I only got one tiny little scratch on my hand. I have 8 or 9 broken ribs but no other damage at all & Dr. K. says Someone was looking after me. He says I’ll be home in a week & I am doing fine so don’t worry & I will write soon again. The children & Cec send love- With lots from Cyn.
As I said in the essay that opened this project [Family Letters] distressing events that occur are minimized in the letters that follow because no one wants to upset their mother, and the writer has obviously survived the crisis! Cyn’s car accident was seriously upsetting for the whole family but Carol, far away in St. Vincent, couldn’t do anything but worry about her daughter, so Cyn gives the facts here, emphasizes the recovery, and doesn’t mention the pain or the emotions she must have gone through. Certainly both Charlie and I, aged 8 & 10 at the time, remember it- Charlie because she was hurt after driving him, so it was partly his fault! and Linda because I was there, dressed for my ballet class in tights and leotard waiting for my turn to be driven to my Saturday activity, when two of our neighbours carried my mother in, groaning with pain! My father was sleeping in, and I rushed to wake him as they jostled her up the stairs and laid her on the sofa. What a rude awakening for him. Cars in those days had no seatbelts, and obviously ‘not moving the crash victim’ was unknown or ignored, perhaps because she’d crawled out from under the car on her own, but I can’t help thinking now that she was lucky they didn’t cause a punctured lung. I was removed to a neighbour’s house at a distance, so I have no memory of ambulances, police, or crashed cars, only of the girls at the friends’ being curious and Charlie turning up in the afternoon, and I presume Cec collected us later with the news that Mummy was in hospital but would be all right.
Years later when new housing developments had been built further east and the houses at the top of the hill on the Montreal Road were demolished, Mrs Cardinal’s replaced by a strip mall on one side of the highway, and a dental service surrounded by parking on the site where we had lived, the road was widened into 4 lanes and they somehow flattened the hill, so that it sloped more gently and visibility was better, with turning lanes that made left turns safer. Not that Cyn didn’t have a few more accidents turning left… when she was older… and they might have been her fault then… but she was never injured as badly, thank goodness.
Thank you for your letter of 3rd which arrived on Tuesday. In it you said not to bother sending the babies & balloons as your Bazaar it was to be 1st Nov., but I had this little packet of babies & as they & a small pkt. of balloons won’t weigh much I thought I would just send them off air mail & it would be a little something. They have other tiny party favours of the same type, so if I find some other cute ones I may send them another time. The other enclosure will startle you! Well, about 10 days ago Cec got an invitation for us to go to dinner with the High Commissioner of India & his wife! Cec had been asked to help with the examination of some Indian students for their Civil Service Commission & in addition to that he has had invitations to go to various Indian universities after his visit to Japan, so the invitation was in connection with all this. Actually the invitation was for the 10th (Tues.) & it was a Guild Meeting but Mr. Pulker (the Rector) said this was what Vice Presidents were for, so June Byrne took the meeting for me!
Anyway, I decided this called for a new dress, (the invitation was “semi – formal”) and I have been pining for a pure silk – they always feel so gorgeous – so I decided to buy some really nice material & make it. Unfortunately last week Linda had a cold & was home from school 3 days and Charlie had a bad stye & was home 2 days so I didn’t get downtown till Thurs. I went to a shop on Sparks St. that has lovely imported materials & looked at the silk prints & they were all so beautiful – then I asked the price $11 – $12 – $17 a yd.! I said meekly I didn’t want to pay so much (I had thought about $5 a yd.) so the girl brought out some between $5 & $10 & then she pulled out this roll and said “Oh here is a bargain – this is reduced from $10 a yd. to $6 a yd. because there is only a short piece left.” It was all shades of green & pinky-red as you can see – rhododendrons I think – very gay & unlike anything I’ve ever had, so I fell for it & got it. I only needed 3 yds so with the material & pattern etc. it came to $20 & everyone tells me that you can’t get an Italian pure silk dress for less than $100!! Of course I had a scramble getting it made – Thanksgiving weekend – but I cut it out & did some Friday – a little bit Saturday – a little bit Monday & finished on Tuesday in time to go to the party! I combined 2 patterns to make the dress – I liked a very pretty draped skirt of one but it had a very naked top with straps so I took another pattern with a simple top & it made up very well & fits nicely – tight across around the seat – I must lose weight!
The dinner was very nice – only Mr. & Mrs. Malhautra and the Head of the Indian Civil Service Commissioner were from India & the rest were scientists & their wives & an External Affairs man & his – 13 in all. We expected vegetarian dinner & no drinks being Hindu but as diplomats apparently they follow the international customs & we had drinks before, wine with dinner & liqueurs afterwards & a most delicious meal served buffet style. All sorts of Indian dishes as well as chicken legs cooked in a sauce & a very nicely flavoured fish casserole etc. & afterwards a sort of pineapple mousse & an Indian dessert called “Gold & Silver”. This was a dish of small brown balls looking like crystallized fruit, with a thin skin of gold & silver stretched right over the top like a skin on hot milk. As you helped yourself you got some of the gold and silver & just ate it! The balls were warm & sweet & had a gingerbread-y texture & Mrs. Malhautra told us they were made from milk boiled & boiled & boiled for hours & hours! Wasn’t that interesting? Altogether it was quite a fascinating experience & I enjoyed it. I want to mail this & go to the Coin Wash so I will stop now & tell you about Thanksgiving & our visit to Jim & Lea’s new cottage on Sunday in my next letter. Also we had houseguests for a night in the middle of my sewing!! Will write soon – hugs from the children – much love from us all Cyn.
Historical events pop into these letters about personal lives and domestic details very briefly and without explanation. For example, the defecting Soviet chemist, Dr Klotchko, that Cyn mentioned in her August 21 1961 letter, would have been connected in Cyn and Carol’s minds with the defection of the ballet star Rudolph Nureyev in Paris the previous June, but neither bothered mentioning it, knowing that the other would have been interested and informed about it and would make the connexion. In her September 20th letter, Cyn makes a brief mention of the West Indies Federation, which had been formed in 1958 as a political union that would achieve independence from Britain as a single confederation, but was gradually shaking apart in the summer of 1961. Canada, as a colonial power that had achieved independence, was sympathetic and had given the Federation two ships to be a link between all the islands, and in this letter, Cyn thanks her mother for an article about one of them- The Federal Maple. But foremost in their lives was the parish supper that their respective churches were hosting, and those details feature much more prominently in their letters!
3rd Oct. 1961
Dearest Mummy, Thank you for your last week’s letter and the enclosures about the “Fed. Maple” and your supper. I was tickled about the “Dinner – Dancing – Bar”– I can imagine our church advertising that! Our supper was a great success though – and only .25¢ each! We are going to be about $5 in the hole but as it was to welcome the Reverend Pulker and his family we don’t feel that it matters. We had 220 people buying tickets – more than 1/2 children & it was from 5:30 to 7:00. I expected we’d get them coming gradually. We set up long tables with the food on at the top & card tables & chairs all around the hall to seat 92. We had cold turkey & ham, hot casseroles, (mac & cheese, beans, meatballs, scal. potatoes etc.) salads & rolls, then on a separate table desserts – cakes, pies, & little tubs of ice cream. Milk for children – tea & coffee for adults. To my horror everyone poured in between 5:30 & 6:00, so we were kept rushing to replenish the table with food. Cec & the children came just after 6:0 & I was afraid there would be nothing left for them! However, everything was just fine even though we found some of the boys did help themselves to 6 & 7 desserts! Our greatest trouble was water – the pump was broken & I found this out the day before, so you can imagine my agitation. The plumber worked all day & got it going just at 6:30 as the dirty dishes began coming back! I have both children home this week – Charlie with a bad stye & snuffle & Lindy with a real wooshy cold. Two are easier than one though! Made apple jelly yesterday & spiced crab apples & chutney at the weekend – my cupboard looks nice! Love to A. Muriel & lots for you from us all – Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, I can hardly believe that it is really just 2 weeks since the children began school. It already seems like two months and I am sure that they feel the same! They seem both seem quite content with their new teachers though – Charlie has the English teacher, Mrs. Cripwell, that Linda had last year – Cec and I did not think too much of her as Linda seem to get worse in Arithmetic after having her instead of better, but the children like her all right. Linda has Mrs. Tyler and all summer she was moaning and groaning about how much she hated Mrs. Tyler, but of course after the first day she has changed her mind and thinks that she is O.K. now! Of course they both have homework now and so in a way it is easier than when only Linda had it, but they are both still quite slow and what with half an hour’s practice on the piano they seem to have no time for play much to their sorrow! However they both like their piano lessons and Mrs. Scott says that they are doing very well – Linda is more self-confident and goes at it as if she knows all about it, but actually they are both doing just the same so far. I go down and listen to them practising most days, and they are really very cute with it and I am learning something too! They go every Thursday for their lessons – Linda 4:30 – 5:00 and Charlie 5:00 – 5:30 – it is a dollar fifty a lesson, so we’re paying by cheque every month. Fortunately our weather has abated, and is now more like Sept. weather – nice cool nights and lovely sunny days. We had a very slight frost one night but not enough to damage anything – in fact the gardens are all looking lovely and everything is still so green and pretty – hardly any of the trees are changing yet and it looks fresher and greener than lots of our usual summer months. I hear that there is another hurricane heading for the U.S. and might even reach Long Island, so I expect Monie and Margs will be anxiously watching the weather news – it seems to be a bad year, but I hope none of them will be heading your way. In the news this morning I heard all the worry the W.I. Confederation are having about Jamaica – I wonder what will happen. It hardly seems as if they had given it a fair trial yet. I told you in my last letter that I had begun a letter to you, but when I came to continue it today, it was so disjointed and garbled with many interruptions, and not even getting on very quickly, so I decided that I might as well begin all over again, and try and get this written up this afternoon while the children were at school. When they come home what with practising and homework and dinner, and then when that is over scrub Charlie with his soap every night and bandage his legs up, so that I seem to be fully occupied from 3:30 till about 9 o’clock! Did I tell you that just as school began poor old Charlie broke out in a wretched lot of boils again? I took him back to the specialist, Dr. Jackson, and he told me to continue using the ointment he’d given me (it has cortisone in and some antiseptic) and to keep his legs bandaged all the time and wash him every night with a special soap, and wash all his clothes and towels every day – including his trousers. He had some horrid big boils but they did drain and heal quite quickly, and now I am only bandaging his eczema at night so he won’t scratch, but continuing to scrub him and his clothes every day. I took him to Dr. J. again on Mon. and he says he is getting on fine and gave him some type of new treatment for his eczema – like x-rays he says – just for a very short time and we are to go back next week for him to see if it did any good. What with the skin specialist and Linda’s Orthodontist we are really busy these days! We went last week to the new Orth.whose name is Dr. Bradon and he is to do Linda’s teeth- they will take at least 2 years! Fortunately Linda likes him – he is young looking and has a bit of a look of Hugh P. and has a very nice way with children. Linda and I were horrified in a sort of giggly way, because after examining her teeth, he shook his head and said “Linda, you have got everything wrong with your teeth that it is possible to have!” Apparently, her teeth are big and she has a dainty little mouth he says and they are just all pushing each other out of shape. Her back teeth have got pushed forward till they don’t bite against each other and her front teeth are pushed out and her bottom teeth overlap! She is to begin by having bands on the back teeth to pull them back into place and then will have some incisors out to make room for the others and will then eventually have bands on the upper and lower front ones. Isn’t it a performance? Of course this will be done one thing at a time, so she won’t find it bad, but this is why it will take so long, but by the time he told me all the things to do I was relieved to hear it would cost around 750 dollars – I was expecting thousands! Cec and I are wondering if we’ll have to enjoy Linda’s teeth instead of a trip to England! She begins next month with three appointments to make the bands and fit the first one and then after that we go every three weeks – we pay $175 deposit and after that $60 a quarter. Let us hope she will be a raving beauty before she begins High School! Apart from rushing back-and-forth to Dr. and dentists we have done one or two nicer things this month! Before the children went back to school we went to see a film that we all enjoyed very much “The Parent Trap”– a Walt Disney film with Hayley Mills in it – the little girl who played Pollyanna. It was very funny and the children really laughed and had a lovely time. [Linda already had the book the film was based on but decided she could live with the Americanized changes.] Afterwards we went and had a Chinese dinner – or at least Cec, Charlie and I had Chinese and Linda had roast pork!
On the very day that school began Cec and I went to hear the Red Army Choir sing. They were in Ottawa for 2 performances, and of all places they held the performances in the Auditorium – a dreadful old barn of a place where they have Ice Hockey and Circuses etc. Of course it holds a lot of people but it is due to be pulled down and it is dirty and smelly and just temporary old wooden flooring over the arena part and wooden chairs and for this we paid six dollars each. On top of this it was a roasting night and there wasn’t a slightest bit of ventilation! I sat with perspiration dripping off my brow so how the choir and dancers could stand it I don’t know – I was ashamed for Canada! The singing was wonderful and the dancing too – it was really a first class show, but Cec and I were slightly amused at the Russians singing “God Save Your Gracious Queen” and asking to send her victorious! — Cec took Charlie to his first football Game the Sat. before last. It again was a terribly hot day and their seats were on the sunny side of the Grandstand, so it was very uncomfortable, and sad to say, Ottawa lost! Ken and Mr. Watt went with them, and old Mr. Watt thoroughly enjoyed it, sitting in his waistcoat and thick suit, and never minding the heat at all! Cec has been working away at his outside chores every weekend, but it wasn’t until this past one, that the weather was bearable. He has taken down the old clothesline and cemented me in one of those new umbrella type, that can be lifted out of its socket and brought in during the winter. Then he has replaced all the flagstones along there and cemented them and now he is painting the window frames and puttying the windows and painting the black roof trim. He has to do some work on the roof but is going to do only part this year. My big job of course has been the Guild. [Cyn is now President of the Ladies Guild.] Our new rector and his family have arrived and are settling down. They all wear glasses, Linda says! Mr. Pulker seems very nice – a more practical man than Mr. Bowen, but not with the same charm, but I think he will be easier to work with. Mrs. Pulker is a little dark-haired lady, and reminds me a bit of Merle, and she also seems very nice and friendly, and there is a High School boy, a 12 year old girl and a 10 year old boy. We invited her to our first Exec. meeting, but she couldn’t come as there was a choir practice and she is going to help the choir. However both she and the rector came to our first Guild Meeting and seemed very pleased with it and thought the Guild was a busy bee! Both meetings went well I think, but of course I seemed to hear an awful lot of my own voice! Our first big effort is a Parish Supper to welcome the Pulkers and introduce them to the people and I am organizing this with a committee of 4, so you can imagine the phoning and to do. It isn’t only the Guild, but the Parish, so we have had to phone over 100 people and take bookings and everything. We are having it on the Pot Luck idea – each family is bringing something – a salad, pie, cake, rolls or casserole, as well as paying 25¢ per person, and with the money we are buying a turkey and a ham and cooking them and serving them cold with other things, and also milk for the children and ice cream, tea and coffee. It is our first attempt at this so I hope that it turns out all right and we have enough to eat! We are serving it Buffet style from 5:30 to 7:00 with a long serving table and eating at card tables, and by tonight we should know the numbers, which should be interesting! Greta Cooke, the treasurer, nearly made me faint by making 450 tickets, whereas I planned on about 100, but we shall see who is right! What with the Guild meetings and going to send out notices about the supper and committee meetings, my time has vanished, so I will be glad when the supper is over next Wed. and things will be calmer – I hope. However I had coffee with Fanni this morning, and it was nice to be away from Guild for a little while. Also on Mon. evening I went to Scientist Wives Meeting, but I was very disappointed as it was supposed to be pictures of Upper Canada Village, the newly opened sort of village museum of old Canada, but instead the man just talked about it, and I’d already read so much that nothing he said was new. I took Margaret – poor Eddie is back in hospital again, and we went to visit him first. Finally last week they took x-rays of his tummy and found he had a new ulcer, and also the scar tissue on the old one which had healed had nearly obstructed the passage from the stomach so this was why he could take nothing but milk. They put him in hospital right away and are giving him some treatment – tubes down his nose to drain the acid from the stomach and a special formula every hour and are seeing if this will heal the ulcer quickly, but if not he will have to have an operation to remove part of his stomach. Isn’t this dreadful for a 16-year-old boy? Poor Margaret and Peter are so worried, and having to trail over to the Civic twice a day to see him is quite a thing too. I had the car yesterday so I took Margaret in the afternoon, but of course she doesn’t drive and it takes one hour there and one hour back by bus – if you’re lucky! Cec and I still admire your typing and really looking at some of your older letters and then at your last the improvement is immense and I am so glad that you are persevering. I am so glad that at last you got the parcel of shoes and batteries. I always meant to tell you that I was so sorry that I had not had time to get you something for the Bazaar. What happened was that it was all done in a rush to get it off to you as soon as possible, and just after your letter and cheque came I found myself just outside your bank, which is usually out of my way, so I thought “Here is my chance – I’ll go in and cash it”. So in I marched and thought “How much will it all be?” And in my hurry I thought “Oh $10 will be enough – and Mummy said she hadn’t much money in her account!” So that is all I took out. Then when I went for the batteries they came to over five dollars I think and the shoes were about seven, so my guess wasn’t very good! However, Cec and I still owe you $50 on top of the Bond so don’t think about that, but it just happened that with the bank, the batteries and the shoes are being in different places, it took me longer than I thought to get them all, and also I couldn’t see anything much in the way of novelties, so I sent the parcel off and hoped you wouldn’t mind. The two nets were really for you, but I don’t mind a bit if you sell them at the Bazaar if you don’t need them. I just thought they might be something new. I am glad the shoes were O.K. and that hope that you will find them easier to get into as you wear them. I’m glad you approve of my scuffing them up! Linda is now wearing my shoes! She wears a five Missy and I wear a five Adult, but she puts on my slippers and is pleased as punch! I am so glad that your supper went so well – hope that it is a good omen for ours. Ours of course is not to raise money, we just hope not to lose! I see it is 3:30 so the children will be home soon, so I will finish this I think and answer about the Christmas parcels in my next, and now I will get this mailed. Not that I have any bright ideas about Christmas yet! Love to Auntie Muriel & hello to Doris. Lots of love & kisses from us all to you – Cyn P.T.O.
I can’t imagine what you told that poor girl in Toronto about me. I have had a letter from her but haven’t answered as I don’t know what to say. I see no point in her spending her money coming to Ottawa to see me when I’ve never even met the girl. You’d better write & tell her I’ve moved to Timbuctoo! Love Cyn.
I can only think this ungracious Post Script refers to the family mentioned a few letters back, where the mother (whom Cyn apparently knew) was settling her daughter in a job in Toronto with Bell Telephone after another had fallen through. [June 3 1961] I suppose the small circle of relatives/acquaintances in St.Vincent had encouraged Carol to assure the lonely young woman in her 20s to get in touch with her daughter who would be delighted to befriend her- but Cyn, in her 40s, busy with all her responsibilities, was anything but delighted. And I don’t think Carol realized the distances in Ontario- a bus trip to Ottawa and back on a weekend would have taken practically the whole 2 days!
Here we are, back in Ottawa again. It is just over a week since we returned and already we feel as if we had hardly been away and are all involved with home things once more. When we got back we found both your letter and your lovely parcel of Yummies waiting for us. Thank you so very much – we all enjoyed them so much – particularly me! The children and Cec liked the chocolate and I even let Cec have a little of the Burney Sugar Cake, but he isn’t crazy about it, so what is the point of squandering it on him? Believe me I had no trouble at all in eating it by myself and already it is all gone! I felt I had to eat it quickly and then I could get on with my dieting with no distractions! Yes, I am up to 134 lbs again after my holiday, so I must really begin the big effort once more and try to get down again. Of course, I have never lost what I gained when I was trying to fatten you up, so I have a long way to go. Tell me, how is your weight keeping? I hope that you are able to maintain it and haven’t lost any of your good Canadian fat! By the way, Cec and I both think that you are doing very well with your typing and hope that you will keep it up. Now that you are not having lessons you should try to type as many of your letters as you can and also practice once in a while, because it is very easy to forget and you will find that if you keep at it it will get easier and you will get quicker all the time. I know that at first it is very hard to think and type at the same time and you feel your letters tend to be stilted, but already I can see the improvement in yours and think they are quite natural now. Oh, I was going to tell you about the guavas. When we open the parcel we found that the jar of guavas was fine, but sticky, as if it were leaking, so I took it to the sink and washed it off. Then I noticed that it looked a tiny bit bubbly and the metal top was bulging a bit so I called Cec and asked him what he thought, and he took it and very gently eased the top a bit, and immediately the whole thing turned white with millions of little bubbles! He gradually unscrewed the top and it all began foaming over the top like champagne so I dashed and got a bowl and we put it in. Cec and I decided the only thing to do was to cook it again, so I put it in a pan and gently brought it to the boil and let it simmer till the effervescing stopped. I had to add a little water, so it actually it is now more like jam then stewed guavas, but it still tastes delicious and we are enjoying it very much. The guavas don’t seem as firm this time – I don’t know if this is the action of the fermenting or if they were not as firm to begin with. Anyway, don’t let this deter you from sending some more another time – we love guavas, bubbly or not!
The second week at the cottage just flew by of course, and we could hardly believe that there were the same number of days in each week. The Moors arrived about 10 on the Sat. morning – Merle, Dixon, Lorne and Bruce. John as I told you was away, and apparently he is looking after a Mission Church and Sunday School for the summer and gets all his expenses paid and a small salary for it. He is having the time of his life and thoroughly enjoying it, so Merle is very pleased. He has done all right at the University this year, so has one more year for his B.A. then he is going to McGill University in Montreal for his Theology, so we hope to see more of him then. He doesn’t get outstanding marks, but has managed to get by, and apparently the subjects he does really well in are things like Greek which he will need in his Theology, so it sounds as if he will do all right. I was really disappointed to hear from you about Alan not finishing his year at University. I am sure that Marguerite and Bill must have been very upset, and the thing that is so worrying is that having gone through practically the whole year he didn’t stick it out for the exams as now he will get no credit for that year’s work at all. I suppose they will try and get him into a University nearer home. Lorne, the second boy is now 18, and he was anxiously waiting the results of his exams but apparently there is not much cause to worry as he is the Costain type like Cec and Carman and does well. He is going to McMaster University in Hamilton, and although it isn’t too far away he will live in residence. He has a girlfriend that none of them care for very much, so Merle is hoping that they will both get new interests when he is away! He has a job as a Lifeguard at an Open air swimming pool this summer, so he is as brown as a berry, and as he is a fine figure of a young man and has nice curly hair he is quite a sight to behold! He is an awfully nice fellow too, and played with the children, and helped them with their swimming and is just as easy and natural as can be. He had to be back at his job on the Monday morning, and the whole family was going to leave on Sunday evening, but we found out that there was a bus going to Toronto from the main road nearby and he could catch a train from Toronto to Brantford, so he set off home by himself on the Sunday afternoon and the rest of the family stayed until Tuesday.
Merle was very tired, as she had been staying in Toronto attending this course and had had exams at the end of it and of course the weather had been hot and close, so she really was glad of the rest, and so was Dix as he had been housekeeping for the last few weeks! We all had a really nice time – two swims on Sat. which was a lovely day, and then Sun. turned out rainy, but we still swam twice and we adults chatted and the children played card games etc. Brucie was a real dab at what we used to call “Pelmanism” but he calls “Memory”, but L. and C. gradually caught on and didn’t do too badly – even absent-minded little old Charlie! Monday we swam and rowed and the boys fished with no luck, and then on Tuesday Cec set out at 8 o’clock, and drove over to Gravenhurst and brought back Uncle Milton and Aunt Lillie for the day. They arrived before lunch a while, and we showed them around, and then had a Buffet lunch. I had bought a ham, which we had had for dinner the evening before, so we had cold ham and salad and I made a hot dish of Spanish rice with tomatoes and onion and celery and mushrooms and bacon in it, and then afterwards we had watermelon, which Merle and Dixon brought, and fruit cake which I brought from home. We all had a swim in the afternoon, except Uncle Milton, but Auntie is very fond of the water and had a lovely swim. We had tea afterwards, and then the Moors got ready to leave and they took Auntie and Uncle back home on their way. We were sorry to see them all go and of course it seemed quite flat that evening, so I brought out a huge 800 piece jigsaw puzzle I had brought and we set to on that. We should really have had the Moors help with it, but we had to put it on the dinner table and while we had such a big family we really couldn’t do without that table. It was quite a struggle getting it done before we left on Sat. but Cec stuck with it and we got it done on Fri. evening. We didn’t even go back to Minden that week, we found a little store 4 miles away and got what we wanted there, so the children couldn’t even get P.C.s to send to you as we had planned. In fact we didn’t send any at all, as I had just assumed we would be back again. The weather was lovely and we had a lovely time the last few days and had such fun in the water. Linda liked being under the water more than on top and Charlie was getting very keen on jumping off the dock and beginning not to mind getting his head all wet. The last couple of days we began to play a sort of water polo with a ball in the water Linda and me against Cec and Charlie, and it was a riot – we all grabbed and got dunked and had a great time.
Cousins: Charlie, Linda, Bruce.
We left on Sat. about 12, and this time went home a more direct route through Peterborough, and a better road too. We had a picnic lunch and got to Peterborough afterwards, and called up Joyce and Les Hayward who live there. Do you remember them? They are old Sask. friends of Cec’s and have 3 girls – Linda, Carol and Lois. Joyce told us to come over but said Les was just a week home from hospital after an operation, and when we saw him we were shocked. He had lost 25 pounds and still looked a very ill man. He had had an operation for the removal of his large intestine (polyps growing in it) and then he had had a stone removed from his gallbladder, but this had gone all right until about 4 four days later his whole incision split open and he went into deep shock and nearly died. For two weeks they didn’t know if he would live and he was very low, but thank goodness he has got through it. We stayed and had a cup of tea and a chat really longer than we had planned, but we were so glad that we had called. We had dinner en route and drove through a most torrential thunderstorm and arrived home about 9 o’clock. Apparently the evening before Ottawa had had an even worse time – a baby hurricane they called it, so we missed the big one. Nicki appeared very soon after we put on the lights and we all had a nice reunion! Last week seemed to be spent mostly in coping with all the dirty clothes! I cleaned up on Monday, and then on Tuesday we took Cec to work so that we could have the car and went to the market and had fun there. We can got all the usual meat and fresh veg. and also peaches, blueberries and tomatoes, and then at the fishmongers I got fresh tuna! It was a curiosity of course, and I can’t say I would repeat it as it is very solid and rather tasteless, and we all agreed we preferred the canned! In the afternoon we took all our personal clothes over to the coin wash (4 machines full) and as there is a nice one at the McArthur Shopping Plaza now we went along and looked at the shops and I bought Linda a pretty little dark cotton dress for school. It is a slaty-grey colour with a little red paisley pattern on it and it has a red belt and a yolk with red piping and then pretty red smocking. It has a little white collar and 3/4 length sleeves, so it is very cute and she looks nice in it, but of course she had her eye on a much paler grey plaid with white lace trimming and mauve velvet bows, so she was quite disappointed! It was a very pretty dress, but more expensive and definitely a ‘Best’ dress – also a bit big for her – I wonder how long before I don’t manage to win these arguments! The next day I canned some of the peaches and blueberries, and made dill pickles for my two men! I still have strawberry jam left from last year, so I won’t make any jam, but I will try and do some more fruit I think. On Thurs. I went across to Emil’s and had my hair done as it was quite a wreck after all the swimming. I meant to tell you the last time I went to him before I went away, I just trotted over with a sweater and told the children I would be an hour and a half and left them playing with Jimmy. Just as I was ready to leave, all beautiful and curled, it began to pour with rain so Emil went to see if he could find me an umbrella and I was looking out at the downpour, when out of our house emerged two little figures in raincoats with umbrella and carrying my coat! They troddled over in the rain to my rescue – wasn’t it sweet of them? On Friday I went to the Coinwash again with all the bed clothes this time (5 machines full) and while they were washing wandered down along the shops again, and this time bought a dress for myself! Cec says this Coinwashing is really expensive! It was in that dress shop Reitman’s and you remember what bargains they have at the end of the season, and I thought I would see if I could find something in a dark cotton too, as people wear darker cottons in Sept. and there I found such a pretty black cotton dress in an 11. It was a nice fine cotton with a silky sheen (but not a glazed cotton) and it had a full skirt but the fullness was in flat inverted pleats, and the top had a kind of double breasted effect with a collar and two buttons. The buttons are white and on top of the black collar is a white linen collar which you can take off to wash, and it’s sleeveless. I didn’t know if an 11 would be too tight for me, but it fit very nicely except for the length, and it cost 5 dollars reduced from 14.98, so I got it! The Savics got back on the Tues. so on Fri. afternoon she asked me and L. & C. over to tea. They had been to England you know – Peter on business, and Margaret to see her sister and family who are in London, but poor things they really didn’t have a very good time as Eddie’s ulcer acted up all the time, and he was sick and in pain, and living on crackers and milk nearly all the time. He is so thin now & he used to be a plump boy. They went to Paris and he was so bad that they flew back to London the next day and really the whole trip was ruined for them as well as the constant worry about Eddie. They couldn’t get him to a specialist in London – it is really hard for visitors to get much medical attention at all now because it was so abused by foreigners previously, so they were all glad to be home. Peter and Margaret came over and had a drink with us on Sat. evening and then yesterday evening we drove over to see the Ganders and return the sleeping bags which they lent us, and get back the case we lent them! They had been to Edmonton to see Jim’s family and to Vancouver to see Lee’s and got back about the same time as we did. They have bought a lot up on a lake in the Gatineau and are having a cottage built this fall, so they are very excited about it. It is near McGregor Lake where we were that time.
Our big excitement this week is Lindy’s birthday of course. I was so tired of the usual party that I talked her into inviting 2 smaller groups of girls this time, and going out for a little expedition instead of games etc. so tomorrow the girls are coming at 10:30 and we are driving out about 15 miles to a place called Clarence past Orleans, where they have started a little Zoo, and then we will come back here for lunch and birthday cake. Then on Thursday we are taking a few more at the same time to the park at Hog’s Back for a picnic, and I only hope that it is fine! On Thursday there will be 4 little girls, but tomorrow I think only 2, as some are still on holiday, but I think this will be a good number to cope with. I thought I would just let them play by themselves at the picnic and perhaps have a Treasure hunt for various flowers and leaves etc. which I would list and give a prize to the winner, but otherwise no effort from Mamma! We had such a job getting Lindy a present this year – in the end after trailing through town all day on Sat. I found a thing Cec and I had thought of – it’s called ‘Pitch-it’ and is a bouncy net in a frame which you set up on the grass and it bounces the ball back when you throw at it.n I also got her ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ which she dearly loves, a doll’s dress and petticoat, and a new pair of shorts and a top to wear at the picnic. Charlie is giving her a little Dolly’s Toy Shop, and I have your parcel and one from Nan that looks like a book, so she will do very well. She got Auntie Muriel’s card and hankie and was very delighted and will write later. I gave her your card too and she got one from Charlie Stainthorpe, so she has an array already.
This is also the week of the Exhibition [a summer fair with rides, midway, and food, combined with the exhibition of prize animals, veg, etc] so we will be going one day, and on Friday we are having a sort of Farewell Party for Alex and Phyl who are going to McMaster University for a year. This is a new Council policy to have people go and take the place of Profs. who are going away on sabbatical leaves, and Alex is the first one and will take the place of a Prof. McClay. They have rented their house and will leave next week to get settled before the children begin school. We will miss them. Talking of the Council you will have heard of the Russian Scientist, Dr. Glotchko, who defected to Canada last week? Well, he and the rest of the Russian group were at the Council the day before and saw round, and had lunch there. Boris and Alex were at the lunch and Boris sat next to Dr. G. and said he was very nice and seemed perfectly normal, except that he was just dripping with perspiration all the time, and it wasn’t a hot day. Then the next morning he just walked out of the hotel early and went to R.C.M.P. headquarters. Don’t we live in the midst of the world news? I must stop now as Linda has Joanne here and it is lunchtime, so I must feed them, and then make a birthday cake this afternoon – not to forget all the ironing still left! My love to Auntie Muriel, and hello to Doris. Thank you again for the lovely parcel, With lots of love from us all, Cyn.
This letter features family rather than friends, so a quick review of Costains! Cec and Cyn, Linda and Charlie live at the east end of Ottawa, in a duplex with Myrtle Rothwell in the other half, which had a ground floor apartment at the back, now occupied by the Knights, who will feed the cat Nicki while the Costains are away. As they start out for their holiday they have to drive west through Ottawa, and then go up Highway 17, which goes through Carp where Cec’s sister Lea and family live- so they stop for coffee. They find and enjoy their cottage, and make an expedition one day to visit Cec’s Uncle, Milton Costain, and his Aunt Lily, who normally live in Toronto but are also doing the Ontario summer thing- going to the cottage. What they really are looking forward to is the visit on the weekend of Cec’s oldest sister, Merle Moor, and her husband Dix, with as many of their 3 boys, John, Lorne, and Bruce, as are available. Bruce is 11 at this point, Lorne 18, and the children welcome these cousins, and miss the oldest one.
Gull Lake
4th August
Dearest Mummy, Well, here we are at the Cottage! I can hardly believe that we have been here nearly a week and we are all having a really lovely time. The weather has been warm & sunny but not too hot & only one evening after dark we had a heavy shower, otherwise no rain at all. The lake is a very big one but we are on a small bay off another larger one called Deep Bay, so actually we only see a small part of the lake but it is very beautiful with wooded hills and rocky outcrops, and all the trees are so gloriously fresh & green this year. Our cottage is not right on the beach, but up a little rise across a field with trees at one side & a rocky hillside behind.
There are only 2 other cottages & the owner’s house (Mrs. Forster- very obliging) & our cottage is nicely off on our own. It is very comfortable with running water, inside toilet, refrigerator, electric stove & light, & a wood stove in the sitting room for heating. We actually just light it in the morning, although it’s not very cold, but it quickens up breakfast if Cec cooks the bacon and eggs on the fire & I do the other things on the electric stove. We have organized a wonderful system – I cook meals (except Cec lights fires & does most of breakfast) & make beds; Linda sweeps the cottage; Charlie washes the breakfast dishes; then Linda washes the lunch dishes & then Cec washes the dinner dishes, so isn’t that a lovely holiday for me? Just knowing I haven’t a dish to wash makes me feel very carefree! So far we have swum twice every day & 3 times one day – usually about 11:30 a.m. & 4 p.m. The water is very nice & warm & is grand for the children as the bay goes out very gradually – the beach is sandy but actually the bottom is mostly mud, but it’s not too gooky & unpleasant! Linda is a complete waterbaby & will stay in hours without a shiver, but poor little old Charlie is still as skinny & gets cold as quickly. Lindy is doing very well with her swimming – she swims very well on her back & floats & does somersaults in the water & touches the bottom etc. On her front she swims a crawl stroke & does very well, but she swims with her face in the water & and has difficulty getting her head up & getting her breath without a gulp of water, but it is coming gradually & she already can swim further than when she was in the swimming pool. Charlie seems to have no buoyancy at all! He still doesn’t like to get his face & head wet, but he tries & it will come sometime I expect! I am trying to do the things Lindy learnt at her lessons – the Jellyfish Float etc. so I am being quite venturesome! We are all getting healthy & sunburnt but not to excess! We have rented a rowboat & we row around & go walks & are really quite energetic – Cec took us a hike over the hill one evening which turned out to be quite an expedition, up & down ravines & through bushes etc. & poor Lindy thought we were lost forever! However we turned out exactly opposite our cottage, so the guide wasn’t far off! Cec bought a fishing rod in a little town nearby & he & Charlie have been fishing in the boat, but had no luck. We all went last night & I rowed them around but Lindy said all the fish had gone to bed! I have said that anyone who catches a fish must clean it himself, so I don’t know if this has dampened their ardour!
We had quite a long drive up on Sat. – nearly 300 miles, & not nearly such easy driving as the Thruway! We had to take food & bedding as well as clothes, so you can imagine how packed little Rosie was. We set out at 8:45 & as we passed right through Carp we had phoned & told Lea we would stop for 1/2 hour for a cup of coffee. We found them all well, but as usual in some sort of flap. Over the prospect of a move to Edmonton this time – goodness knows how it will turn out. Afterwards we went on up the Ottawa River Valley. We had a picnic lunch – in a slight shower of rain, but we were under trees! – & then on up to Algonquin Park – the big National Park you know. Linda was all set to see bears, but we just drove through on the highway of course so there wasn’t much hope but we did see some deer with whole crowds of cars stopped to watch them! We visited the Park Museum which had exhibits of the wildlife of the park – some like bears etc. stuffed, & fishes & frogs etc. in glass cases! Then we drove on through & arrived at our nearest small town, Minden, around 5 o’clock. We shopped for milk & bread & then after wandering around back roads for a while found the cottage. We are about 15 miles from Minden & are going in this afternoon to get meat & groceries for the weekend. The 2 children are so funny & different – if we lose the way in the car or walking Linda gets so agitated & upset & worried whereas Charlie gets all philosophical in adversity & tramps on cheerfully saying “Oh well if this isn’t right we’ll just have to go back!” I had brought a cold roast turkey with me & rolls & salad, so we had a nice supper all ready. Mr. & Mrs. Knight are looking after Nicki for us. It worked out very conveniently as their daughter and her husband & 3 children were due back from Germany (with the Army) on the day after we left, & of course the Knights wanted to have them to stay while they looked for a house (they are now stationed in Ottawa), but Myrtle was being very difficult about it all. When I heard this I suggested giving the Knights our back door key & Mr. & Mrs. K. could come in & sleep in our Recreation Room each night & we loaned them the chaise also as a bed for one of the children, so they were overwhelmingly grateful & immediately suggested that they would look after Nicki. As Mrs. K says, the family might be with them a week or only a few days depending on how long before they get a house, but it will be pretty close quarters for them, & I said to let the children play on our swing & slide etc. as Myrtle has been so disagreeable they are determined they won’t set a step on her path even! We left food for Nicki & her bed in the washroom & if it rains the Knights will let her in our basement. Since we arrived here we have only been on one expedition & that was to Gravenhurst in the Muskoka area where Auntie Lily & Uncle Milton are staying for their holidays. It is about 60 miles away & we drove over in the morning & had lunch & then back home in the late afternoon. Poor Charlie still doesn’t get on well in the car & the country around here – rather like Mill & Ford’s camp – all hills & winding roads & up & down etc. doesn’t suit him at all, so we are going to just enjoy the cottage and not drive around more than necessary as it bothers him so & the pills make him very dopey. His eczema is improving but not gone all together, but he seems in much better shape now & is eating well. We are expecting the Moors this weekend – probably not till tomorrow morning. Merle has been attending a Course in Toronto & finishes today & Dixon has had a summer job marking exam papers, but it is finished too. Lorne has a job as a Life Guard at a swimming pool but he can get the weekend off & we hope Bruce will be home from Camp & come too. John has gone in the “Mission Field” for the summer, so we won’t see him. I don’t quite know what this means, but he has apparently gone somewhere in connection with the Church, but will let you know when I find out more. Well, Lindy has just about finished the dishes, so we will be on our way to Minden soon & I had better stop & mail this. Charlie has learned to play Patience & is very engrossed in it. They both can row now. Must stop – big hugs from us all. Much love Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, This is the Lemon Loaf recipe I told you about – I think it is very nice. I was served at sliced & buttered, but really it is quite cake-y I think, & I hope you find it a success at your tea parties. We have been hit by our summer at last – it descended with a real old humid Ottawa heat wave & last week we suffered! The temp. was 90° & the humidity 90% & everything was so damp & horrid. This week has been quite a bit better, to our relief. Poor Cec has been asphalting the driveway in all this heat & last weekend he had hired a machine to spray on the tar, so had to continue despite the temp. However it is done now & looks very nice – we are still not allowed to walk on it! One night it was so hot I made a bed for the children downstairs but they didn’t really care for it! They said it was spooky & Charlie rolled onto the floor! Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary – aren’t we getting on?! We had to celebrate on Tues. evening as Cec had a friend in Ottawa for 1 day & night on his way home to Saskatoon from Paris, & we put him up last night. His name is Gordon Shepherd & he is an Ass’t. Prof. at the U. of Saskatchewan & Cec had met him at the meeting in Amsterdam & told him to stay with us in Ottawa. He is a nice, a rather quiet shy fellow, looking forward to getting home to his wife & little boys after 3 mths. in France. He arrived at the Airport at about 7 last night & left again at 7 this evening, so Cec & the children enjoyed two jaunts to see the planes! He knew Boris at the U. of Toronto so we had Boris & Joan over last night for drinks & then coffee & fresh raspberry pie. Cec & I went out to dinner on Tues. evening to a new French restaurant in Hull – Le Diplomat. It was very nice & we had a good dinner in romantic candlelight! This latter was very popular with me, but you know men!
I am enclosing some snaps so will close now & write more on ourholiday! We go on Sat. & are all looking forward to it hugely – will tell you all about it soon. Lots of love from us all – Cyn.
A Family History in Letters 