This is the Trent Christmas card. It makes me smile because it is a very honest card, black and white, showing snow, concrete buildings and grey, grey, grey. It shows a Canadian winter and 60s architecture and drives me to reminisce. Perhaps I would feel differently if I had lived in residence in one of those grey cement buildings on the Trent Campus but I did not- I lived in a long low three-story residence, long corridors with rooms on each side with wooden floors that creaked, linked to an original old Peterborough house that had been repurposed as Traill College in the middle of the town. The kitchen and dining room were in another refurbished house next door, we caught buses to get to the Library or our lectures and classes on campus, although tutorials in professor’s offices depended on which college they were attached to. Such a luxury to stroll down two flights of stairs to my English tutorial at Traill without having to go out in the cold! Peterborough, Ontario is a pretty place, and I first saw the Trent University campus outside of town in the spring after the school year was over, with apple blossom blooming, the hills around green, the river sparkling, and the grey buildings new, modern, and impressive. In the fall when I started Trent it was lovely, and as it got colder, the hills behind covered with sumac bushes turned red and orange and still looked great. But I never again saw blossom- for most of the university year the grey buildings were stained with rain, or covered with snow. Crossing the bridge over the frozen? river to the lecture halls was a windy experience and I was so glad I was not in Science and didn’t need to do it very often. I only needed to enter the colleges on the campus to go to seminar rooms or tutorials, so I never got to know much about Lady Eaton or Champlain Colleges. I badly sprained my ankle on the steep snow-covered stairs going down into Champlain on the way to a cast party in second or third year- the same arthritic ankle due to have its third surgery this summer. So this card is a true picture of Trent for me. However, as my mother’s last letter of December 3 1969 shows, my experience of Trent was wonderful. I enjoyed my classes, I made friends in residence and in class, and met a more varied population of older students and professors when I joined the Gilbert and Sullivan group so I could sing. At larger universities, my observation was that the students in the performing arts field fill these sorts of extra-curricular activities, and there was little chance of getting involved in them if you belonged to a different discipline. At Trent, opportunities were open. The faculty at Trent was also unusual- with a diversity (of the time, mind you- no women taught me, although the Head of Traill College was a woman) that occurred naturally because it was a new school and had hired from around the world. At commencement when the professors appeared robed, there were a multitude of colours from different universities in assorted countries, and even fringes and bobbles as well as unusual hats. There were older men, expert in their fields but also interested in teaching- Trent offered only an undergraduate degree at the time. And there were many younger academics at the beginning of their careers at this new university, who stayed there and helped Trent grow. Because the Trent population was small (as I have said, smaller than my High School had been) faculty and students mixed more than was possible at larger universities and the cast of ‘The Mikado’ included students from the four years in the choruses, and the soloists in the main roles included young professors as well as students. Our music director was a professional who made the necessary learning and rehearsing challenging but enjoyable, adding the stage moves and dance later involved more people and was more fun, and from that first year show came my involvement in more singing groups later- a town-and-gown group in Peterborough and a small madrigal/motet group in the English professor’s office in Traill just for fun, not for performance. Living in Peterborough meant that the bank, bus station, and stores were within (a long) walking distance, and the most wonderful shop was the Trent University Bookstore. Of course I had never met a bookstore I didn’t like, but this one had- as well as all the necessary textbooks- some other books I wanted to read, and records I wanted to buy which expanded my horizons, as well as interesting things to look at. I saw my first live hockey game in Peterborough (so Canadian), and admired (without the slightest desire to emulate) the rowers on the river who practiced their racing skills (so Oxbridge). I was lucky that I went to Trent in the early days, that I lived in residence in town, that I made friends and had fun as well as enjoying my work. I went to class, wrote essays, did well, and continued to grow up. My parents had insisted that going away to university was what they wanted us to do and they not only paid for the whole experience, they were right! Trent was a positive step towards my career in education, and as I taught the next generation of high school students in Ontario, Nigeria, the Northwest Territories, and British Columbia through the 70s to the 2000s, I remained convinced that education is any country’s best hope and must be encouraged. I can reminisce fondly about my university years, and wish that everyone who wants further education could get it. I wish we could change the system and rather than encourage our government to forgive student loans (although that would be a first step), actually support all students in all educational endeavours like more advanced countries!
Dearest Mummy, I am sorry that I have been such a long time in writing, but what with Cec, and Lindy, and all the Graduation goings-on I seem to have been in a whirl, and then I had to rush madly and get off the English parcels and then the Christmas cards. They were late, but at least they have gone – can you imagine Nan’s parcel was here before I even sent hers, but it was not even the last week in November, so I felt that she was very early, not me very late! I can’t even remember, when I last wrote, and from your letter of the 23rd, I can’t quite gather if I had told you of Cec’s operation or not. I remember sending you bits of Linda’s dresses, so it was sometime in the middle of Nov. and in case it was before the operation, Cec had it on the 11th, and had the right side of his thyroid gland removed. It was very hard and calcified, but not malignant, and apparently is some strange sort of infection where it infects and rejects itself. The incision is at the base of his neck in front and Cec says that he has had his throat cut! He was dopey and uncomfortable when I went in to see him the first night, but by the next afternoon, he was very cheerful and talking and eating didn’t seem to bother him too much. He was tired by the evening, of course, but next day, Thursday, he was up and walking around, but I still could hardly believe him when he said, the Dr. had said he could probably come home on the Fri. or Sat. Then on Fri. morning the phone rang and here he was saying ‘Come and get me’. I was amazed, and had to rush around as I had washed my hair, and it was all in curlers, but the dryer soon did the job and I went to the Hospital, and Cec was home for lunch. He was really marvellous, and, although I don’t think he was feeling quite as frisky when he got home as he expected, he never complained but he was restless and couldn’t settle to anything for a day or so. However, he soon began to eat well and sleep well, and the wound healed very quickly, but he still is wearing a cravat in his open shirt as his neck is still a bit swollen, and he finds a buttoned collar and tie a bit uncomfortable. I took him to see the Dr the following Thursday, and he said that he could go back to work when he wanted to but to take it easy, so that since then he has been going in late in the morning, and coming home a little early. The first week I drove him as he couldn’t turn his head very easily, but he is driving himself now. Lea (Cec’s sister) was saying that when she trained as a nurse that any patient with a thyroid operation was kept lying in bed on his back for 2 weeks with a sandbag on either side of his head and he wasn’t allowed to move an inch. Isn’t it fantastic how things have changed and mustn’t it have been miserable? Last week Cec went to another specialist, an endocrinologist or something like that, to get a test to see how his remaining thyroid was acting, and he has to take a little thyroid pill every morning, and will have to do this for the rest of his life, but this is a very common thing now I understand. Little Mrs. Martin was in the Hospital and had a hysterectomy operation the same day as Cec had his – she had a prolapse. I took her some flowers the next day when I went in to see Cec thinking that she would not be feeling very well, and I would just go for a minute, but here she was as cheerful as could be, and all ready for a chat! Amazing! She didn’t have her tum split like me and apparently it isn’t such a big operation the other way. She was home in less than a week and one of her daughters came for a week and now she is on her own again and doing very well. Her husband is in the hospital permanently (we hope) now as he is quite helpless and incontinent and she isn’t able to lift him and do all the work.
The week after Cec came home with the big Graduation weekend! What a Wild Whirl! I had both of the dresses nicely finished, and Charlie’s suit all pressed, so I spent most of Friday cooking and baking so that everything would be ready. Bruce had phoned that his bus from Toronto arrived at 5:15 and Lindy’s was coming at 5:45 so that worked out very nicely. Charlie and I went down to meet them but of course both buses were a bit late so we collected them eventually, Lindy wildly excited, and dashed home. I had dinner in the oven, so we ate at once then they rushed to get dressed as they were supposed to be down at the High School at 7:30 and the ceremony began at 8:00. I had spent $10 on film for Cec’s camera and mine and flash bulbs for both and so Cec and I were already and waiting when they came down, but what happened? My flash didn’t work, and everyone was saying hurry, hurry, we’ll be late, and Cec took a couple of pictures of Linda alone, and that was it! It was the only thing that I was disappointed in the whole weekend – it was the same thing the next night when they were all dressed for the dance – they were late and in a hurry, and although my flash worked then it was so rushed. Cec’s idea is to stand them in a row and take a picture or sit them in a row and say smile, but I like to take my time and have them relax and not beaming at the camera, but goodness knows what we did get in the end. When Linda is home for Christmas I’ll take more pictures of her and Charlie and their finery so you will get to see them eventually. When we got down to the High School Linda and Charlie went off and Cec and Bruce and I got quite good seats in the auditorium – it was nearly full even then, but we got fairly near the front and at the side. Now that it is such a huge High School (1800 students) there were so many girls and boys graduating, as there are both Gd. 12 and Gd. 13 students. There were all sorts of awards and Janek and Janet got some and of course we knew lots of the kids. Both of ours went up and got their diplomas without incident, like tripping over their feet or anything! Linda’s dress looked very nice, and she said that she got all sorts of compliments over it. She had her contact lenses in of course, and Janet has now got them and was wearing them, so they felt very pleased with themselves. One sad thing was that Joanne didn’t graduate – she failed 2 subjects and will have to take at least one of them in night school to make up the subjects she needs before she can graduate, but it was such a pity as they have gone right through school together. This meant that Linda felt she couldn’t even talk to her about graduation or dresses, etc. and Janet wasn’t going to the dance so she couldn’t talk to her about evening dresses, so she had to be very tactful! Of all Lindy’s friends and girls who went through school with her – Jean Craven, Janet, Joanne, Mara Arndt, Carol Ann, etc.. none of them got dates for the dance, so I kept patting myself on the back and thinking how clever I was to have invited Brucie, because it just made the weekend for Lindy to be in on all the festivities, and I know she will look back on it as a really happy time.
After the Graduation, there was a reception at the school for everyone – this was about 11 o’clock or more as the thing took so long with all the speeches and everything – and all of us parents congratulated each other and all the boys and girls caught up on the news! We introduced Bruce to everyone and introduced Charlie’s girlfriend, Maureen to Cec and Bruce. She is a nice little girl – rather like Janet, small and dark, but not quite so freckly! She isn’t all that pretty, but is lively and bright and amusing, which Charlie enjoys! After we had chatted, and had coffee and cookies – by the way, the change in Lindy is fantastic – she was dashing up to people and chatting – boys and girls – which she never would have done before – and we went home, or at least Charlie went off with some of his pals for a while – but the rest of us went home and sat and talked some more. Cec was quite tired as it was his first social outing, so he and I went to bed and left the kids to gab till goodness knows when! On Sat. morning, we got up late, but Lindy had an appointment at the Eye Dr. so I suggested that Bruce should go downtown in the car with her and then while she was in the Dr’s, he could drive around and see where the Skyline Hotel was and the parking etc. so that he would know where it all was for the dance that evening. While they were gone, Charlie had to go for his driving lesson, so he had an early lunch and went, and they came in late, Lindy having taking Bruce to see the Arts Centre, so the day just seem to fly. I had ordered corsages for the 2 boys from the greenhouses, so they drove over later in the afternoon to pick them up. I had got Lindy a pretty wrist corsage of little yellow rosebuds for her graduation from Cec and me, and then Bruce had phoned and asked me to order her a corsage of 2 gardenias for the dance. I had said to Charlie that he must find out what colour Maureen’s dress was so that he could get flowers to match, and he made me laugh so much. He asked one of her friends who said Maureen was wearing a pink dress, and Charlie replied, quite seriously ‘Oh dear. It will clash with my mauve suit’ and he said the girl looked at him with stunned horror and said ‘You can’t really mean it!’ so that Charlie just couldn’t keep a straight face any longer! Anyway, he got her a very pretty wrist corsage (on a little elastic bracelet) of baby pink rose, buds, and the gardenias were lovely too. It was a dinner dance, but not starting till 8:30 so we had a buffet supper at 6 and then they went and got ready. Bruce looked very nice – he is quite conventional but always immaculately groomed, and he has a dark suit, whereas Charlie looked much more young ‘mod’ type in his green! Lindy looked lovely in her dress, and was delighted with it. It was very plain, but suited her exactly, and it was a comfortable sort of dress too with no fuss, so that she could be comfortable in it. She had gold sandals to match the gold on her graduation dress, and I got her a little gold evening handbag, so to co-ordinate her evening dress, which had silver in it, I got a very pretty beaded trim, just to go around the neck. It was just about an inch wide and was long gold and silver beads with pearls and I got her a pair of little gold earrings with a single pearl hanging from a little chain so it all looked very nice. I had great fun getting all these glamorous, things ready – a long time since I used to get them for myself!
I have changed to Charlie’s typewriter as the ribbon in mine is mostly holes! I got a new one which turns out to be the wrong size, so this is better. The young people set off to pick up Maureen at 8 o’clock, so there were Cec and I left – the old people at home! Cec said that we should go out on the town too, but we were left without even a car to get us anywhere! We spent a nice peaceful evening, and went to bed about midnight. I knew that they were going to a party at a friend of Charlie’s, Dave Grimes, afterwards (oh, I forgot – they left before 8 because they went to a party before the dance too – another friend of Charlie’s!) So Cec left the lights on, but I woke up at about 5 am and was very curious to know if they were safely in their beds, so got up and peeked out the door and sure enough the lights were out! They told me afterwards that the dance finished about 12:30-1:00, and then they went to Dave’s and stayed till about 3:15. The party was still going on and they had an invitation to go to a breakfast party at 6 am, but they decided to call it a night and took Maureen home and then came back and sat and talked the whole thing over for an hour or so!
Linda and Charlie were very good and got up and went to the 10:30 service with me and then I had decided that as both the dinners we had had were very hurried affairs, I would have a nice dinner at lunchtime, as Bruce and Lindy were both leaving by bus at 3:45, so we had Fondue Bourguignon then afterwards an angel food cake with fruit and jello in the middle and covered with whipped cream. Bruce loves desserts with fruit and cream and so I always get great pleasure in making him something special. We had a very nice leisurely lunch and then the 2 of them packed and I washed up and we were just in nice time to take them down to the bus station. Lindy got the Toronto bus with Bruce as it was quicker, and she could get off just outside Peterborough, and get a taxi to her college, which we thought was worthwhile for them to have company on the trip. They all seem to have a really good time and enjoy every minute, and apart from the rush, I enjoyed it too, and felt that it all went beautifully. Linda had 2 essays to do when she went back, so she has been busy, but in her letter today got them finished and handed in and was feeling very relieved. She also had a date with a nice boy Jim, who is in her English class – she likes him, and has talked to him since the beginning, but he is shy and lives in Peterborough, so isn’t in and around the college all the time like those in residence, so she felt she wasn’t getting very far but he has invited her out this evening. Really her first proper date! She has joined the Choral Society of the University, and they are putting on ‘The Mikado’ in the spring, and she is in the chorus, and is enjoying it very much. Whenever she comes home, she is singing bits all the time and when she leaves we have it embedded in our minds! I am delighted that she is going on singing and very pleased, because none of her friends at the college are doing this – she just joined and went ahead with it on her own so she is really becoming independent. When Charlie and I came back from the Bus Station after taking Lindy and Bruce, we found Cec asleep on the family room sofa, and I lay down on the sitting room sofa and had a nap, so the older members of the family were exhausted, I don’t know what about the younger ones! Charlie brought home a lovely surprise one day that week – his Progress Report, in which he doesn’t get actual marks, but A B C’s etc. and he got an A in every subject he took, and A for effort in all of them! They call this a Straight A Report and it is the very best one can get, so you can imagine how delighted we were. He is doing very well this year – he has got rid of things like History and Geography which he never cared for and is taking lots of Math, Physics, Chemistry, English, and French. He works hard what and with the Math and Science course has lots more work to do than Linda last year, but he really likes it and the Math and Science is no effort for him. He has just had an English essay to do ‘The character and composition of the Elizabethan Audience’ and that is much more of a toil for him, but he is very conscientious and does a very good job in the end. I have been very busy the last little while while trying to organize a present for Marjorie and Dick Graham for their Silver Wedding Anniversary. It is in the middle of Dec. and I knew it was coming off and that Marjorie planned to have an Open House without telling people it was her anniversary. I had thought I would just give something small, but Eve phoned me and said were we getting together and if so she and her mother would like to join. So I have been phoning people and trying to collect money and decide what to get etc. We at first thought we would get her silver candlesticks as she had none and we knew that she would like some, but unfortunately another friend gave her some, so we were stuck. We thought we wouldn’t get more than about 20 dollars which isn’t enough for an entrée dish, and when I looked at the other silver sauce boats bonbon dishes etc. they all seem so useless. Then I had a bright idea. Marjorie has been getting cut glass glasses and wine glasses, etc. but I knew that she didn’t have a wine decanter, so Ruth Lockwood and I went shopping one day and have got them such a pretty crystal cut glass wine decanter. It is not very big, but very dainty and pretty and to tie in with the silver part, we got one of those silver labels on little chains, saying ‘Sherry’ and put it on, and it looks very nice and everyone is pleased with it. Now to try to get and get my money collected! I have a card for everyone to sign, and I am going to take the present to our Coffee Party which is on Sat. morning and will hide it behind my Handicraft Counter and have people come and peek at it and sign the card. Marjorie will be too busy selling at her Baking Counter to notice, I hope! The open house is on 13 December and I am going on the Friday to give her a hand and then will help on the day and Linda is going to help Jeanie pass around. The WA are going to give her a centrepiece of flowers for the table – the present is just from some of us old timers! One night last week I went to the Arts Centre with Margaret and Peter Savic to see the opera ‘Mignon’. They had been going to take a friend, who was sick and had flu, so the night before Margaret phoned and invited me and I was delighted because what with Cec in hospital, etc. it seemed ages since I had been out. The opera was lovely (in French) and I enjoyed it very much and of course, as usual, the people in the audience at the Arts Centre are always an additional entertainment! We were also invited out on Sunday. Ottawa has been in the grips of a violent Football Fever! The Ottawa team, the Ottawa Roughriders beat Toronto to win the Eastern Championship and then last Sunday the Grey Cup Game was played in the big stadium in Montreal against the Western Champions, the Saskatchewan Roughriders! The captain of the Ottawa team has been very popular for ages, and is a wonderful player, Russ Jackson, and it was his last year in football. He is also Ass. Principal in one of the high schools, and he is retiring this year, so everyone was hoping that his last year would be a good one. It turned out it couldn’t have been better – he won all sorts of awards – Best Canadian player – best this and best that, and the Grey Cup Game last Sunday was the Grand Final. Ottawa won that too after a very exciting game and everyone was just about delirious with joy! Phyl Douglas had phoned and invited us to come over on the Sunday afternoon to see the game on their Colour TV so we accepted with pleasure. Phyl said for Charlie to come too as it was not a party but just them, but when we arrived about 12:30 here arrived Margie and Cy Garrett too sporting big green and white Saskatchewan colours! We had lots of fun, although Charlie was much more subdued in company than he is at home watching a game, but Margie and Phyl screamed and yelled so I did my share too. It was exactly the kind of game I like – Ottawa began to win quite early in the game so I didn’t have to suffer too much! When it was over Andy Douglas drove Charlie home as he was busy with an essay and we sat and chatted and then Phyl gave us a delicious dinner. By the time it was over and we’d had coffee we said we must go and arrived home about 8:15 having been there nearly 8 hours! It was a lovely party!
As I mentioned we are having our Coffee Party on Sat. morning at the Church. How did your Bazaar go? I hope that you did very well after all your hard work and made lots of money. Our Coffee Party is not really a big affair, but I have made some funny little things. When I made my Christmas cakes I made about 24 little ones in cupcake paper cases and then I brushed over the top with boiled syrup glaze and stuck on glace cherries and pineapple to make them look pretty. I have wrapped each one in saran wrap and have it called them Christmas Mini-cakes! Then I had half a bottle of Sauterne and half a bottle of port and some claret, so I got some Certo and made different kinds of Wine Jelly. I got little baby food glass jars from a lady at church and have 22 little jars of jelly, all different reds and yellows – very alluring! I will make my gingerbread men as usual and decorate them and wrap them separately and we get 10¢ each for them and I am also making some little kind of candy/cookies some called rum balls, and others Mocha Truffles (they have brandy in them!) I have some pretty little flowered paper cases for candy, so will put them in these and then my empty Christmas card boxes have cellophane lids, so I will arrange them in these, and I think they will look very attractive. The last thing I have done is the funniest. The nursery school has some funny little shapes of wood for glueing and painting, etc. so I have taken round ones and made little faces on them and stuck on white beards of rabbit fur and pointed red felt hats and then painted other funny oblongs, rounded bits, balustrade shapes, etc. red and stuck the heads on top and made funny little Santa Claus decorations. They look very peculiar, but maybe the children will like them, and buy them! Anyway, this has been taking up my time! Mme. Gemuse is here today, so I have been typing (it is now Thurs. 4th.) and think I should go and do some sewing. I have a ‘Jump Suit’ cut out for Lindy. This is a kind of slacks and top all in one, which is all the Thing just now. I got some warm check material to make her one for the winter, thinking it would be cozy, then I thought she might like a vivid gay one for evenings in college, so I got that and cut it out, but haven’t sewn a stitch yet. The gay one is all blues and wines and green – rather like stained glass window colours, and I am so pleased, I got some of that velvet rouleau stuff in the exact colours, and it will make such a pretty tie belt for the waist. I have also got myself some silvery-greyish material to make a dress for Marjorie’s party so I had better get busy. I can’t make up my mind as to whether I like this material or not – it is the same kind of laminated material as Lindy’s evening dress but I wanted something more practical so stayed away from pastel colours and very silvery goldy things, and this was what was left. I can wear it with black shoes and will get more wear out of it than I do something more glamorous, but I can’t make up my mind if I will look nice in it! It has a zigzag pattern, and Ruth L. says it is a bit ‘busy’ and I agree, so we will have to see how it looks! I am glad to hear that your very hot weather is over and know how glad you will be to have it cooler and some rain for your garden. We have had quite a nice time so far without bitterly cold weather and until this week just the merest powdering of snow, but it became much colder at the end of last week and the last few days it has been busy snowing and now we are all white. The skiers are very happy and I don’t mind once it gets to Dec. it is Christmassy. Cec and I were very pleased because just before it got cold we had a few mild days and I covered up the roses and put away the hose etc. so we were all ready for winter. Please thank Auntie Muriel for her letter for me. Actually I have 2 to thank her for – one written after you got back and one after her birthday. I am so glad that she had such a happy birthday – it was nice for her that you were doing the housekeeping and could make such a nice treat for her without her having to worry. I wonder if you got my recipes for supper dishes after your cri de coeur about not knowing what to have for supper and if you tried them. I must mention all the gorgeous stamps on your letters from statehood etc. I am sending them to Dottie’s Tim – I always feel that Dottie’s sons are knowledgeably appreciative of stamps! I just opened one of your letters to answer, and had the wonderful surprise of finding your $5 bill inside! I am very hard up till payday tomorrow, so I am very happy! What happened was that I got Lindy the pantihose, and Charlie a very nice pair of green socks when I was out shopping and gave them to them on the grad. weekend and quite forgot I had paid for them, and never taken out your money – lovely! Both L. and C. were delighted with them and thought it was very sweet of you to think of it, and asked me to thank you. In the same letter, you were telling me that you had at last heard from Martin’s Bank that they have been taken over by Barclay’s. I wonder if it is really true that you would have to maybe pay back income tax if you transferred all your business to the St. V. bank? That Cambridge bank has been so inefficient and useless that you feel it would be a good thing to have your affairs within reach and be able to know what is going on, so I wonder if you perhaps couldn’t find out a bit more about it. Perhaps Peter might be able to find out for you, or you could ask the Manager here to really write to Head Office and find out properly. I can’t see that you would have to pay tax if you had already paid it in England. You don’t need to do anything beforehand, but I think you might make more enquiries. Probably the income tax in St. V. will go up now they have statehood and have to support themselves, but goodness knows the British Income Tax is high enough and surely the St. V. one wouldn’t be any higher. You were asking about Cec’s technician Geoff, with whom he used to drive. Well, he originally came from Winnipeg and during the summer he applied for a job there and got it, so he left while Cec was away. Our second car will have to wait a while I’m afraid – two university fees for 3 or 4 years is quite something – Linda’s fees this year for residence and tuition come to $1500 and then there is about $100 for books and of course she gets a bigger allowance now, and is supposed to buy clothes and everything with it. So far she has been very cautious and most of her spending has been on food (residence food is not very good!) and bus fares home! I told her I would pay for materials for things I made, but she would have to buy the ready made things and so far I don’t think she has broken down and bought anything yet. She has discovered the joys of exchanging clothes with the other girls and has been home in a pretty gold sweater and a few other things she has borrowed! She has let her hair grow and it is about to the bottom of her ears and she puts big rollers in and has a nice bouncy bob. She didn’t want to go to the hairdresser and get her hair all fancied up for the grad. and she had washed it the night before and set it and she looked very nice and was happy with it herself, which is a big thing. You can’t imagine how happy I am not to take her to the hairdresser anymore because each time she was in a frenzy because it looked so awful! While I was talking about your money I should have mentioned that both the Canada Savings Bond and the money invested here appreciates next year, but I think Cec said that he thought the new Canada Bonds were just about the best investment so probably we should just re-invest them for you. You were talking about sending us a cheque for Christmas – don’t forget that I have your cheque book, and start worrying about where it is! [Handwritten ending!] It is now Friday evening so I had better get this finished & mail it tomorrow. I spent all day making gingerbread men & have just packed a box to send some to Lindy! I will be writing again before Christmas but maybe you won’t get it, so I hope you have a really happy day. I sent my parcel quite early, but my card was late, so you may not get it. Much love to you & Auntie Muriel from Cyn.
I just want to say that the building of the National Arts Centre in the middle of the city near the canal, the downtown shopping district and market, the Parliament Buildings, and major hotels was a game-changer for Ottawa. All of a sudden in one building there were new restaurants, boutiques, with an attractive green space around the building and parking below, housing the three state-of-the art theatres of different sizes with lovely art inside and world class shows coming to or being created there in the nation’s capital. It made my Ottawa summers a dream- I could get last minute unoccupied seats for $1 with my university student card, and so it happened that where the well-dressed members of the audience circulated in the lobby before descending to the most expensive seats, happy but possibly scruffy students joined them and enjoyed the play or opera that much more!
49 Cedar Road, Ottawa 9, Ont.
Monday, 1st. Dec. [The day after Ottawa had won the Grey Cup! (Canadian football)]
Dearest Lindy, I wonder how you are feeling today and if you stayed up ALL night to finish your essays. I hope that you didn’t have to as I am sure that you will be very tired anyway, poor lombkin. Charlie stayed up till 3 am with his Elizabethan Audience, typing it out, so the two of you are one as bad as the other! Of course he was held up during the afternoon with THE GAME! Did you see it and wasn’t it gorgeous? Lovely Russ Jackson going out in such a blaze of glory. Phyl had phoned and asked us to go over and see the game with them on their colour TV and said that it wasn’t a party but just them, so Charlie excused himself from staying to dinner afterwards, but said he would like to see the game. He was serving at the 8:30 so I went too and then he worked on his essay, and I made the Advent Wreath (with many thanks to you) and took it to Sunday School. Sue had had a great argument with her Mother as to whether Advent began on Sunday or Monday, Mother saying Monday, so she hadn’t got one, so I said that after we had done it in my room, I would lend it to her and that is what we did. I had 17 little children, so it was enough without joining either Sue or Debbie and of course the kiddos enjoyed it. I gave Nancy the 3 year olds to show pictures in a very simple story, and I read the 4s a proper story, and it worked better as the 3s don’t even pay the littlest bit of attention when there are so many children. Anyway, I got back at about 12 and we rushed and had some lunch and I washed dishes and made beds and we left for the Douglases with Charlie at 12:30, and then who should arrive as well after us but Cy and Margie Garrett complete with big Saskatchewan Roughrider green and white colours on! Andy was there too, so it was quite a large and partisan company. Charlie was very well behaved and subdued, but Phyl and Margie screamed and yelled, so I did too, and it was lovely to have Ottawa win. Cy and Margie and Alex, who had been shouting for Sask. weren’t too broken hearted so it turned out to be a very jolly party. Andy took Charlie home after the game (he was doing an essay too on LOGIC), but we stayed and had a very nice dinner and arrived home at about 8:15 feeling as if we had been there for days. Thank you very much for your letter which arrived this morning and also for the one last week. I am so sorry that you didn’t get one from me last week, but the mail is so weird – I was sure that if Daddy posted it on Thurs. morning, it would reach you on Friday, but apparently not. I am sorry that you were so disappointed over the results of your Essay, but it isn’t surprising that the first one would be more difficult as you don’t know exactly what they want or anything. At least he did say that you hit on the root of the problem, even if it was just in the last two pages, and maybe the first part wasn’t so unnecessary after all. Anyway, you will probably find out each of the profs. has idiosyncrasies and want different things, so you can’t be expected to know all this right at the beginning. I am sure that although tired you must be feeling very lighthearted and gay to get both the English and Psych. ones off your hands, and maybe they will be more encouraging. You had a busy week with tutorials etc. last week so maybe this won’t be so hard. I am glad that you found your silver ring in your bed and I’m looking forward to seeing your Trent one. I hope that you have fun at the Hockey Game on Thursday, and the Peterborough wins! Charlie had a big boost to his morale last week – he brought home his Report and it was straight A’s! The first he ever got. Only Mr. Lafrenière spoilt the beautiful symmetry as he gave him a B for effort in French after giving him a mark of A. It was a glorious sight! He is now spurred on to even greater efforts and I do hope that all goes well.
My clever brother! I certainly never had a report like this.
He has to fill in the form this week saying which universities he wants to go to, so time is creeping on. Today is Election Day in Ontario so Daddy and I will be going out to vote for Mr. MacQuarrie when he gets home. There was a meeting of the candidates are down at the High School last Thurs. and Daddy went for a while and was given a big MacQuarrie notice which he was supposed to stand up and wave when the CANDIDATE stood up to speak, but you know how much waving Daddy would do! Maureen tells Charlie he is very worried about the result, but Daddy thinks he will get in. The MacQuarries are having Open House tonight after the polls close and Charlie told Maureen that he would be there, but I THINK he was joking! Daddy had a phone call on Friday from Surin Kalra, and he is going to be in Ottawa for a couple days with another Prof. from Waterloo, so Daddy is having a Men’s Party tonight for them. I have decided to make Quiche Lorraine in little tartlets and goodness knows what else. What do you think – I made Christmas cakes on Sat. and for some unknown reason I put in double the quantity of butter. They were oozing in the oven and I couldn’t think why until afterwards I looked at the recipe and thought golly – I didn’t put in half a pound – I put in a pound. Don’t tell anyone (here I mean) I didn’t! Fanni and Teddy came over on Sat. afternoon to see the pictures I took up the Gatineau the afternoon Fanni and Phyl and I went up with Claire for lunch. The pictures were lovely and I was very pleased with them and Fanni is going to get me some copies and send the lot to Claire for her talk to the English Club! Anyway, I had made some little cakes of the Christmas cake mixture and they had them and both said how nice they were, so the extra butter can’t have done any harm! I went to town on Friday morning to get money from the bank and various shoppings, and had a very interesting time. I parked on Albert St. right at the top near the Art Gallery, and suddenly thought I would go see what the Arts Centre Boutiques were like. I didn’t go into the Bistro – a kind of coffee place I think, and then there is a French Bookshop, but I went into the English bookshop and boutique and it is a lovely place and you will love it. The only thing against it is that it all smells violently of incense, but maybe they will run out of it before you come home. The bookshop has both paperbacks and big books, and is very well arranged and most suitable for browsing, and they don’t seem to mind a bit if you wander around and peer and read bits and then don’t buy! The boutique has gift-y things, some cute and all nice to look at, so I know you will enjoy going when you come home. After that, I went and shopped along Sparks St. and then dashed into Morgan’s to walk-through to Queen St. and so to the car. Lo and behold I was just dashing past the hosiery when a nice polite voice said “Can I help you, madame?” and here was Joey, doing her week’s selling there. She said it was nice and she was enjoying it and was getting paid. She also said that she was writing to you, so maybe you will hear from her first. Ruth L. and I are going down town tomorrow to try and get the Silver Wedding present for Marjorie and Dick. I am leaning towards a cut glass decanter now – no I know it isn’t silver, but you can get those little silver labels on chains saying ‘Sherry’ and we could get one of those to make it more silvery. I looked at all the things in Birks on Friday and silver bonbon dishes and ittybitty silver trays, etc. leave me cold, not to mention sauceboats and the like! Did I tell you that Margaret and Peter Savic had asked me to go to the Ottawa Opera Company with them last Wed? They were taking a friend and she was sick so they took me and I really enjoyed it immensely. It is ages since I saw an opera, apart from the Mozart ones we saw in Stratford, and actually, I don’t like his operas so much. [Such blasphemy from my own mother!] This was ‘Mignon’ which I had never seen before, but it was such fun, as soon as any of the important arias began I realized they were very familiar and I knew a lot of the songs. Do you remember in Little Women when Jo gets to know the Professor and he is homesick for Germany that he sings a song in German something like ‘Kenst du das landt?’ Well, to my surprise, it comes from ‘Mignon’ apparently and here was the girl singing ‘Connais-tu sa patrie?’ I was quite tickled and wished I’d had you there to poke and say ‘Do you remember?’ then and there. It was all in French, but there was an English synopsis and anyway I could understand one word in every ten! The people at the Arts Centre were as usual lots of fun to watch. There was a girl, tall and slim in a bright pink long evening coat, and when she took it off, she had a long, slim white evening dress, all covered with shimmery beads or sequins, and she had a long feather boa! With her was a very elegant young man in a dark suit, very mod, with a gorgeous flowery tie. His hair was longish but neat, and then in the paper a few days later, there was quite a write up about the Men’s Boutique Michael is working for at Carlingwood, and pictures of some of the clothes and the young designers of the things, and 2 of them looked very like this couple at the theatre. I asked Margaret how Michael was getting on but she just said OK, but the shop hadn’t yet opened, but was opening later in the week. Must stop and make goodies for Daddy’s party. Will continue later.
Wednesday. SNOW SNOW SNOW snow, snow snow! That’s what is busy happening! I wonder if you were having it in Peterborough too- lucky that you have your boots. I wore mine yesterday for the first time this season when Ruth L. and I went shopping, and the soles are rubber, and have begun to perish, so I ticky-tacky as I walk along! We had a nice morning and bought Dick and Marjorie a really pretty wine decanter – cut glass and a nice shape, but quite small and neat looking. We got a silver label saying ‘Sherry’ and I think that they will like it – I would! I now have to try and collect the money from everyone so I think that I will I take it down to the Coffee Party on Sat. and have people see it surreptitiously and sign the card and PAY ME. I am not doing anything too violent for the Coffee Party, but I will make gingerbread men on Friday and some candy or something. I have been having great fun, making funny little santa clauses out of the small wooden beads and funny small shapes of wood that the Nursery School have. I have painted them red and given them white bunny rabbit fur beards and made faces and they look very funny ha-ha and funny peculiar! Maybe some child will yearn for them. After Ruth and I had shopped, etc. I had arranged to pick up Daddy at 4pm and when I got there found him waiting outside and he came rushing up and said ‘Do you want to park the car at the back and come and see the astronauts? They are due here in a few minutes.’ So we parked and dashed back and Gisbert was there with his movie camera and we waited on the front steps and in about 2 minutes along came the cavalcade of cars and motorcycles down the road with a big black car in the middle flying 2 blue flags with APOLLO 11 on, and they drew up at the bottom of the steps, and Bill Snyder came welcoming down the steps, and all of us clapped heartily and beamed as they got out. Of course they looked so familiar from pictures and TV that you felt they were old friends and as Daddy said they weren’t big and heroic looking but just nice ordinary fellows that you could imagine coming to dinner. Their wives were in Ottawa with them but this was a press conference they were coming to at NRC so the wives must have opted out and gone to have a rest before the dinner and big do in the evening. They were in Montreal this morning and there was a big press conference on TV at 11 o’clock which I watched – I wonder if you saw it or if you didn’t know it was happening. Poor men – it was very stiff and starchy, and they must be bored to tears with such things. Talking of TV, did you see Simon and Garfunkel, one evening? A special – Sunday I think it was. Tonight there is Alec Guinness in ‘Twelfth Night’ but I wonder if you will be able to see it. There is no doubt the colour TV is a very great improvement – even the football game on Sunday looked twice as exciting. Twelfth Night would look lovely in colour! Surin and the other men came on Monday night and chitchatted until all hours. Surin looks just the same and exclaimed at the thought of you in University and was amazed at Charlie’s size. I must toddle along now and take this to the post. I am determined that you will get this letter before the weekend. I am enclosing the cheque, which no doubt you will be glad to see! I have been giving myself writers cramp with Christmas cards and have finally got off those to England, Spain, Poland, Sweden, etc. which should have gone 2 weeks ago! I think I am supposed to send parcels to the rest of Canada this week, but I am paying no attention! Lots of love honey bun – we have a fat, sleepy white pussy here who says prr-p. This morning Charlie left his big grey mittens on the radiator in the hall, and when he went to get his jacket on, here was pussy lying on top of the radiator with her front feet stretched out into the mittens! Much love Mummy.
This is the second letter posted under this date- the first was Cyn writing to her mother, and this one is to her daughter Linda. I am finally catching up with the letters already posted and trying to integrate the cache recently discovered with the letters carefully preserved by my grandmother. By the end of 1969 I hope they will all be published in chronological order once again. (Although there are so many new ones with imperfect dates…)
In this letter, all the events of November 1969 in the Costain household are being reviewed in a hasty manner. In Ottawa, Cec is home on sick leave from work, after a 2 week stay in hospital and a thyroid operation. Cyn is looking after him, dealing with the Nursery School accounts and focusing hard on Linda’s Graduation outfits which she is making, and accessories, which she is buying. Charlie is getting on with his Grade 13 subjects- top in Math, having trouble with an English essay- while he and his friends get ready for their Grade 12 Graduation which will be celebrated at the same time as Linda’s Grade 13. (I’m sure Cyn would be ordering his date’s corsage along with the one my cousin Bruce was asking her to get for me.) Meanwhile Linda is away at university writing her own essays, but not yet getting feedback by having them returned. (Both she and Charlie will do just fine.) The big exciting Graduation Weekend is coming up and Linda (and Bruce) will be jumping on the bus on Friday in time to get to Ottawa for the ceremony.
49 Cedar Rd. Tues. 18th Nov.
Dearest Lindy, What a horrid rainy morning. Charlie has just gone for the bus, Daddy is sleeping, and Saki is sitting on the radiator with her feet up on the window sill. I hope that if it’s the same in Peterborough that you can borrow an umbrella. I am going to sew today & finish your long dress. The other one is done & I will make you a headband. Are you getting excited? Audrey Haynes phoned me last night about Nursery School money, and Janet chipped in to ask me to tell you that she & Carol Anne Dologh are having a “get-together” at the Dologh’s after the Graduation on Friday & you & Bruce are invited. She says it isn’t a party really, but it sounds fun. I asked Charlie if any of his class had come up with parties, etc. after Commencement, etc. & he said “Oh yes – Pat Kemp is having a breakfast party at 6 a.m. after the dance on Saturday night!” He said he & Bob Hirsch were trying to figure out what to do between say 1:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.! As I told you on the phone Brucie didn’t tell me any definite plans when he called. You had better not tell him you know about his asking me to get the corsage as it is probably supposed to be a secret! I will call Mrs. Sylvester at the Maplegrove Greenhouses this morning & see how soon they have to be ordered. Oh, I nearly forgot- I had a letter yesterday from your Grannie (E) enclosing some money to get you a really nice pair of pantyhose for your Grad- wasn’t that sweet of her? I thought I would ask around town about the toeless ones & if I can’t get any I would just get you ordinary ones. I looked at gold earrings & got one pair, but they were too red a gold when I got them home, so I will have another look. Daddy seems to be getting on pretty well. He is sleeping & eating well since he came home, but I think he had a kind of letdown. Perhaps he felt when he got home he would be OK but of course, he’s not & his nerves are jittery, &, he’s restless, but I thought that yesterday he was more relaxed, so perhaps it is improving. The scar on his neck is healing, & I got him a beautiful silk cravat to wear, so he should look very distinguished. He goes to see the surgeon on Thursday. How is the English essay going? I hope that you were satisfied with Sparta when you got it finished & that you get this one done in time to give it to the typing lady. Charlie is struggling with his “Elizabethan audiences” & complicated matters by leaving his English notebook (plus essay outline) in the Rideau Street Library! However, he continues to top Grade 13 in Math so we can excuse his groans over English! Did you by any chance see Wayne & Shuster on Sunday evening? [Canadian comedians on TV. Their skit ‘Rinse the Blood off my Toga’ (Julius Caesar was on the Ontario Grade 10 curriculum so everyone was familiar with it) was a family favourite.] We thought they were very funny. Did you get back your 1st essay yet? Have to get Daddy’s breakfast so I must go. See you SOON. Lots of love Mummy.
Dearest Mummy, I am sorry that I have been so long in writing but as you can imagine it has been a busy time. Cec is now safely home again having been operated on a week ago today and had the right side of his thyroid gland removed. I told you he was going in for tests & that week he really had a going over & was fine except they found he had what they called “nodules” on his thyroid, so they or rather “he” – a thyroid specialist & a surgeon, Dr. Dover, said he would operate on Tues. This was Friday when this was decided so Cec was allowed home from 2- 8 on Sat. & 10- 8 on Sun. which was nice. It was a kind of wild week as Lindy came home on Tues. evening. It was what is called “Reading Week” & they are allowed to “Read” at home, so she had spent the weekend with the Moors in Brantford & then gone back to Trent for a tutorial, & then come on home. Of course we had to choose a pattern for her evening dress & then material & then gold sandals, & each thing involved trips to town & touring the shops & great agonizing & wailing from Lindy, so it was very exhausting! In addition, the visiting hours at the Hospital were from 2 to 9 p.m. so I went in for an hour or so every afternoon & then dashed home, got dinner ready, ate, washed up & then went back to the hospital for another hour or so. It turned out to be the dreariest grey rainy weather, so that was kind of hard too, but at least it isn’t too cold yet. Lindy had also lost one of her contact lenses (popped out unawares in the dining hall with lots of people around) but they are insured fortunately so she had to go to the Eye Dr. & be fitted again etc. Then she had to see all her friends (Joanne & all her family except Mum & Dad had mumps) & I sewed violently so that she could try on the dresses before she left. I finished the green one out of the sari except for the hem
(she decided it was a little too mini – I have to take the tacking out & let it down!) & I cut out & sewed up the evening dress enough for her to try on. I was delighted as it fitted beautifully. In the end Lindy chose a pretty material (I’ll send a piece) which is laminated (i.e. a thin foam lining) which does away with lining, slips etc. [The foam layer disintegrated into dust over the years, unlike cotton or woollen cloth!]
It is lovely to sew & holds its shape beautifully, so I am very happy with it. The only trouble was that the green dress has gold in the edging so L. got a gold purse and & sandals & evening dress mat. has a silver thread in it, so I have got a very pretty edging embroidered with gold beads & pearls which I will put around the neck & sort of tie the gold & silver together.
To go back, Lindy left on Sun. at 5:30 & then I took Cec back to the hospital in the evening, & Charlie & I sat back & caught our breaths! When the op. was done on Tues. the Dr. found that the right side of the thyroid was very hard & calcified, so he sent it for a section to be done. He was so nice, he told Cec when it came back he jumped for joy, as it wasn’t malignant but very inflamed & infected, so he removed the whole right side. Apparently it is called Hashimoto’s Disease & the thyroid infects & rejects itself – very peculiar. Anyway he was pretty dopey that evening of course, with all sorts of drips etc. but the next day he looked better & by the Thurs. he was up & about & looking much more like himself. The Dr. had said he would probably be able to come home on Fri. or Sat. but I could hardly believe it when Cec called on Fri. morning & said “Come & get me”. He is sleeping & eating well now, & the incision is healing well. Cec says he’s had his throat cut! & it is a long scar across the bottom of his neck. It is sore & stiff of course & his voice gravelly but he is really v. well, but of course jittery & nervy & restless & yet tired – which anyone is after surgery, but improving each day. Thank you so much for both your letters – will answer them properly soon. Thank you also for the $5 – will get the panti hose & socks & know L. will be thrilled. Will take pictures & send them. So glad A. Moo had a nice birthday & the card arrived in time. I am enclosing some Supper recipes for you – the 1st one is nice with cold meat & all are inexpensive! Much love from us all Cyn. Love to A. Moo.
November turned out to be a very busy month for the Costains- Cec had surgery, both children had Commencement, and Cyn had to manage it all. Her October letter to Carol had told about tests Cec was having in hospital the first week of November, and the planning and buying of new clothes for the children, but it is not until a month later that she gives all the details. [Next post: November 18, 1969] But, in keeping with the unspoken rules of writing-letters-to-mothers, she never shares the fears that the adults must have had, however relieved they all were after the diagnosis.
Meanwhile, Cec has been in hospital, Linda has come home for Reading Week, shopped, and been fitted for her new dresses, Cec then had a thyroid operation and spent another couple of weeks recovering- with excitement of the graduation ceremony and dance, combined with the visit of his nephew Bruce to accompany Linda, to entertain him. His friends and colleagues sent cards with messages of concern, as did his daughter (who had seen him the weekend before his operation that Tuesday, and was going home the next weekend for her graduation .)
Dear Daddy, Sat. even. Bruce hasn’t phoned yet, so I don’t know when he’s coming. I got my essay done in time (the very nick of time) and have been resting. But Sat. evening is impossible to sleep on, so I’m enjoying myself watching a group of very happy people just went through the hall singing “Jingle Bells” and pressed me to join them, but I was laughing too hard- and I’m a good little girl. I’m going to sleep in tomorrow, hope you are home & can do the same. Love to all. Linda Card Page: For Daddy Get Well Soon… I Sure Miss You. I’m glad I’m coming back on Friday, I’m going to have fun. I hope you’ll be well enough to enjoy it. Love Linda
Thank you for your letter from St.V. which arrived this morning. I hope that by now you have found all your things that you packed away before you left and that you are all settled again. From what you say it doesn’t sound as if you got my AM letter to Long Beach before you left so I thought I had better get busy writing again or you will feel neglected. Our mails seem to be very poor just now – I mailed a letter to Lindy last Thurs. morning and by Tues. when she wrote again it still hadn’t arrived, so goodness knows how long it took mail to reach New York. Did you get a letter from Lindy before you left? I had sent her the picture of Donna and Alan to see and she sent it onto you, but from what you say you don’t seem to have heard from her. Perhaps by now Monie will have sent them on to you.
We are having a Smorgasbord Supper at the church this evening with a magician for the children afterwards! I cooked 8 lbs. of peameal bacon yesterday and we will have it sliced cold with cold turkey and then there will be scalloped potatoes and casseroles and salads, rolls etc. and dessert and coffee. I have just put a big upside down cake in the oven for my dessert contribution – I have made it with rings of pineapple and cherries in the middle of the rings, so it should look pretty. Marjorie is picking me up at 1 o’clock and we are going down to the church to get things ready and set tables etc. This evening I will help serve but not wash up! We had the magician last year, so I am not all that interested in seeing him again, so Cec and I might just eat and then come home. Charlie is busy at school – they are having a Basketball Tournament, and he is helping organize it and officiate etc. so he may not even come and eat – he is to phone me later on and let me know, but if he comes he will just eat and run.
I had a letter from Lindy this morning when I got yours, and poor child, for the first time she was fed up. Some bright sparks had decided to wreck her room as a joke and had not only stripped her bed but hidden an essay she was working on and various other jolly little things, so she was mad and quite upset about it. Very juvenile behaviour and of course Lindy never has had to deal with this practical joke business before, but living with a bunch of girls this sort of silly thing always comes up, and she will just have to learn to live with it. She had recovered by the time she finished her letter – I think that she was more upset because her two particular friends were away for the weekend and she didn’t have anyone to grumble to, but anyway she will have lots of friends this weekend because I think I told you that Janet and Joanne are driving down to see her tonight. They called in last night, all excited, to collect what they call a CARE parcel – goodies!
I spent yesterday morning baking and Mme Gemuse asked me if I was going to have guests and was very amused when I said no, they were all for Linda! I included a tiny pumpkin out of the garden so she can make a baby jack-o’-lantern for Halloween – it is only about the size of a rubber ball, so it will be a miniature! The girls also took down her winter coat and boots as it has suddenly got bitterly cold. We have had lovely weather and no frost at all – the nasturtiums and morning glories were still blooming and the poplar and weeping willow trees all green, and then on Wed. morning it was down to 20 and snow on the ground! Shocking! It was so cold that the snow didn’t melt on the grass and bushes, but is still sneaking around, the horrid thing! Tomorrow will be a bit milder they say which is a good thing as Cec is still busy in the garden clearing up and I had better try and tidy the flower beds.
I have been trying to remember when I last wrote you – not very long ago, but anyway if I repeat please excuse! We have been quite gay with dinner with Jim and Lee before the Little Theatre last week, and then on Friday morning Phyl suddenly phoned and said that there was a guest from Washington and he had brought his wife and they were planning to meet her and take her to lunch downtown. We went to the restaurant at the Arts Centre – we went there for coffee one day, looking out on the canal – and there were 5 of us, Phyl, Nan Ramsey, a Magda Jones and me and the lady, Mary Lide. Her husband is a friend of Cec’s and he had stayed with them quite often in Washington, so I was pleased to meet her. She is very nice – English and is a writer. She has had one book published called ‘The Bait’ but I can’t remember her maiden name under which she writes. We had a nice lunch and then met again in the evening for a dinner meeting of the Canadian Association of Physicists which was very nice. We also went out to dinner on Monday to Marjorie and Dick’s and Charlie was quite disgusted at so many dinner outings and leaving him alone! Mr. Graham was at Marjorie’s and we had a very nice dinner and then played bridge. I think that we only played once last winter, so I was well out of practice, and of course Marjorie is very chatty! Dick was playing and she was watching and I made a bid and Cec replied, and just then Marjorie said something to me and I never noticed that he had jumped my bid! I just bid 3 no trump and of course ended by making a grand slam and Cec was very disapproving!
28th Oct.
It’s now Tuesday – what with the Smorgasbord and the weekend, I got nothing more written. The Sm. was a big success – we planned for about 100 to 110 people and must have had 140 to 150. The only thing we ran short of was desserts and I think that was because a lot of little boys rushed up early and got seconds and thirds! It really is not such fun when there is a crowd – more of a scramble and not at all peaceful and relaxed and Cec thinks the quality of the cooking has gone down, as he got a bit of a casserole that was absolutely tasteless! But there’s not much we can do about it. We don’t really try to make money out of this – we only charge 1.50 per adult, 1.00 for teenagers, .50 for school children and under school-age free, with a maximum of 5.00 per family, but we made 100 dollars anyway.
I had to do my grocery shopping on Sat. morning because now that Cec’s technician with whom he used to drive, has left he just drives by himself and I have to drive him in and collect him when I want the car. It is quite a chore and I am beginning to see why wives like a second car in the family!
Janet and Joanne both called me on Sunday evening and told me that they had had a wonderful time down with Lindy and then L. called later and she seemed to have really enjoyed having them so that is nice. They apparently had a party in L’s room on the Sat. evening which was a big success and Lindy even had some boys there so that was quite something! The Gloucester High School Graduation Ceremony is on Nov. 21st and there will be the actual thing on the Friday evening at the school and then on the Sat. evening instead of a dance at the school the School Council has got together and hired a room and a band at the new Skyline Hotel for a dinner dance – cost 12 dollars a couple! (handwritten not typed: I have said that we will pay for the tickets!) Charlie and the other boys nearly fainted but comparing it to other years when the dance at school cost 5 dollars a couple and usually the boy took the girl out to dinner before, and then often they had a big party downtown in some restaurant after the dance which must have cost quite a bit, actually it isn’t so bad! It is to be Formal! This means long dresses for the girls but suits for the boys – not dinner jackets as it would be in England, thank goodness! Charlie needed a new Sunday jacket and I had asked him if he wanted a jacket or a suit and he had said, “Oh a jacket and slacks,” but when this dance came up he said to me that he thought maybe he should get a suit. We toured the shops right left and centre and it was so hard. Of course he doesn’t want a suit such as an older man would have – he wanted something a little Mod, without being Way Out, but it was very difficult to find. Some of the jackets he looked very nice in, but they were definitely noticeable – double breasted with high lapels and waists etc. – rather Regency style, but although he looked nice in them he felt a bit odd, and I could agree with him. Then tweed suits were very hot, and dark ones were very dull etc. In the end we found exactly what he wanted and we are both delighted – not only is it just what he wanted but it was a summer suit on sale and it was half price – 40 dollars! It is a young man’s outfit, and what they call a coordinated suit now. This means that the jacket and waist coat (yes, a waistcoat, very stylish!) are in a very fine glen check and the trousers are in a matching plain material. It is a rather greyish green colour (Charlie wanted green) and the trousers are very slim fitting. The jacket is single breasted and has three buttons and the waistcoat of buttons up higher than the jacket, so that it shows a little bit above. Charlie was a bit taken aback with the waistcoat to begin with but it looks so nice and altogether I think he looks very elegant in it – tall and slim. He wears a pale yellow shirt with it and a browny- greeny shaded tie and even Linda when she came home thoroughly approved!
Of course, Lindy was another problem. Neither she nor any of her friends had any hope of any of the boys in their class asking them to the dance, and it seemed such a pity to me that she should miss this big occasion at the end of her school career. So in the summer I suggested to her that we invite Bruce up for the Graduation weekend and that he should take her to the dance. At first she was quite horrified that Bruce [her first cousin, a year older than she] would be forced into taking her, but I said that he has always enjoyed coming out to visit us and he has no steady girlfriend so it wouldn’t be any harm in asking him, so she said all right I could perhaps mention it to Merle and see what she thought. Well, Merle thought Bruce would like to come, but she sounded him out and he was delighted, so wasn’t that nice? Lindy is going down to Brantford this weekend to see them and will get things organized I expect, as her Commencement invitation just came last week and I forwarded it on to her. When she was home at Thanksgiving we talked about clothes and of course she will have to have a long dress over which she was very excited! We have the beautiful pale blue and silver sari to make her an evening dress someday, but we both agreed that we would save it for another occasion and buy material for this one. What I did suggest though, was that I should make her a short dress out of the rest of my green and gold sari for the actual graduation ceremony. The Principal wants the girls to wear short dresses as this doesn’t make it awkward for girls who can’t afford long dresses, so I have quite a bit of the green sari left and a long piece which was a kind of stole on my dress and so we got a pattern for quite a plain little sleeveless dress with a little stand up collar, and I have been piecing and fitting and I think I can get it out all right. The sari has a pretty green and blue pattern at the end, and then a narrow gold edge along the sides, and I think I can get the pattern all around the hem and then a little of the gold on the collar. We will have to choose material and a pattern for a long dress when she is home next week, so you can see I am going to be busy! Isn’t it fortunate that I can sew – think how much money I would be spending on my daughter’s finery if I couldn’t! I meant to tell you that Charlie asked his friend Chrystal to the dance, but her father wouldn’t let her go, so he has asked a girl in his class at school called Maureen MacQuarrie – she lives over at Blackburn Hamlet and is one of the ‘crowd’ which has been going around together for most of the year so that is rather nice. She is a little dark-haired girl and has been in Charlie’s class since about Gr. 2 and I know her mother as she is a worker for the United Church, so I hope they all have a good time.
I wished that I had been able to buy the material for Lindy’s dress last week, but you know I wouldn’t dare without her approval! Ruth Lockwood and I spent the day in Montreal on Tuesday and had a lovely time. We decided to go down by train, so we made an early start and got a taxi for 7:10 am and caught the 7:40 train which got us in about 9:30. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had coffee when we arrived and looked at all the fascinating specialty shops in the Place Ville Marie and then went to the big stores. Ruth was looking for a slip cover for her sofa, so at each store we separated for half an hour and I bought thrilling things like socks for Cec and Charlie and a green shirt for Charlie and a scarf for me to match my fall coat (kind of pale turquoisey-green, difficult to match but I got one). I tried to get a hat to match my winter coat, the pale blue one with the greyish fur collar, but mink fur hats are all the rage or else knitted wool berets, and neither was what I wanted! I got some pretty material to make me a winter dress, sort of mauvy colour with little pink roses on – sounds odd, but I’ll send you a piece when I cut it out – oh and I also got a pair of black shoes. Poor Ruth had no luck with her slip cover, and I was getting worried that she would have nothing to show for her trip, but in the end I persuaded her into a dress shop and she ended by buying 2 very nice dresses – they are Crimplene and she likes that and they were reduced in a sale so that was nice. We had lunch at one of the big stores and then we had a snack before we caught the train at 5 o’clock and Cec met us at the station, so we felt we had a very successful day and enjoyed it very much.
I must stop soon and write a note to Lindy and then get on with cutting out the green sari dress – I was so glad when I suggested the idea to Lindy that she was thrilled with it – I thought that maybe she wouldn’t want a kind of “made over” again, after I made the blue one last year out of Marguerite’s dress, but one thing she may criticize Mother about some things but she is wonderfully appreciative of my dressmaking efforts. She tells me all the girls in College think she is so lucky to have such lovely clothes and a mother who makes them for her, and one of her friends was going home to her Graduation last weekend and she was so taken with Lindy’s last year’s blue the Lindy lent it to her to graduate in too! I hope that the green is as successful.
I don’t think that I have had time to tell you that poor Cec has to go into Hospital next week. If you remember all summer he was bothered with an irritated throat after he had a throat infection last winter, but when I mentioned the Dr. of course he put it off. Anyway when he was in Australia he got a very bad infection with a high temp. etc. and went to a Dr there and got something, but it was still there a bit when he came home so we made an appointment straight away with Dr. K. for a check up. Apparently Dr. K. thinks the throat is all part of a type of allergy which contributes to the sinus trouble Cec has and his nose is blocked inside a bit. His father has had the same trouble all his life and has had his nose scraped and so on and Carman and Merle have bad sinus trouble too. Also Cec has an enlarged thyroid gland, so Dr. K. had him go for a swab at the Labs. and he is to go into the hospital next week for 3 days for tests. After the tests the Drs. will decide what to do- if they operate then he will be in for 1 week or 10 days, but we won’t know until they make up their minds. Apparently they can make a picture of the inside of the throat with sort of measurements and see how enlarged the gland is etc. He is also supposed to cut down on his cigarettes, but so far I don’t think he is doing very well – maybe if his throat is sore afterwards he’ll have to stop and that will be a step in the right direction. Poor Cec, he has never been in hospital so this will be an experience for him, and I was teasing him and saying that he had planned to be like his Dad who has never been in hospital at all. However, I am very relieved that he is getting something done about it and that Dr. K. Is looking after him – I hate this business of not knowing and not bothering about going to the Dr.
I must stop now and get on. My love to Auntie Muriel and to Peggy and her family. Hello to Doris and Luenda and June.
With lots of love to you from us all, Cyn.
[Several handwritten postscripts!] P.S. What did Auntie Moo think of your dresses? I didn’t much like the colours in the one you got with Milly – a jersey with green & dark red etc. & I thought Auntie Moo wouldn’t like it either!
P.P.S. Cec came home from Australia via Japan & Vancouver.
[At the beginning of the letter] Charlie has begun taking the Driver Training Course at school – has got his Learner’s Licence & will take his test at Christmas.
As an addendum, here is a letter from Linda at university (missing the first page) written at the beginning of November, after the weekend she spent visiting her Auntie Merle and Uncle Dix and cousin Bruce in Brantford. … I’m just watching the antics of a couple of squirrels in a tree far away, but I can see their silhouettes clearly the darling jumpy things. I’m sorry I didn’t get anything written at the Moors but I had a fabulous weekend & I loved it & them & I want to go back soon! On Friday night [Hallowe’en] we kept answering the doorbell & then the kids [Bruce’s small nieces, Debbie and Cyndie] walked in & fooled me – Trick or Treat Brucie – and marched past us before I knew what was coming off. Then they stayed a bit & then Merle remembered that it was graduation at B.C.I. & so we went & I felt awfully out of place among the formals, but Bruce showed me around the high school & it was quite fun. The next morning we went into Hamilton because Bruce had to move to another room so I helped him & then he showed me around Mac [McMaster university, Bruce was in second year.] & it was raining. Then we came back & did nothing & worked. The Lornes came to dinner & it was funny especially Cyndie & her food. After they left me & Bruce went on working, but Sophocles bored me & his math prob. wouldn’t come out so we gave up & made popcorn & watched T.V. Well, on Sunday I went to a Baptist church, and although we missed the first bit, it was very interesting, and a change. In the afternoon we went over to Lorne’s & Liz & Cyndie went to Glenhurst, but Lorne made me & Debbie tea, and he & Bruce played the piano. After dinner, Uncle Dix & Bruce drove me into Toronto and put me on the bus & went, Bruce was being dropped off in Hamilton on the way back. Bruce had his Mac jacket on & the girl I sat with thought he was my boyfriend & told me all about Homecoming weekend (which she had gone to with her boyfriend). She chatted on for a bit & then tried to sleep, but I had my light on & there was a baby which cried all the time, so she didn’t succeed. Then I shared a taxi with another girl & got here, was greeted exuberantly, fell into bed & slept till noon today. I’m phoning you tonight & will be home soon Love Linda Must tell you about the psych exp.
This letter is the final one in the two month Linda-goes-to-university diversion, after which the letters go back to Cyn writing to her mother Carol instead of her daughter. (I’m sure she did go on writing to me, and that Grannie did too, but the first two months were the only bunch of letters I preserved, although a few from Cyn over the university years have survived.) At this point, Carol’s visits to relatives in Ottawa and New York are coming to an end, and she is going home to St.Vincent where she lives with her sister (Auntie Muriel). Cyn’s letters will continue the saga of Linda at Trent- most events long since forgotten by me- as well as her daily life and news, although when Carol got them is another matter, the cousin in New York having to send on her post to the West Indies…
Linda (unsuccessfully) tries to send a letter to her grandmother before Carol goes home to St. Vincent.
Traill, Trent Wed. Oct 8.
Dear Grannie, This is the shortest of notes, just to tell you I’m doing fine and loving it here. I have lots of friends, and like all my classes. Tomorrow I’m going home though because it’s Thanksgiving this Monday in Canada, and I’ve managed to get no lectures on Friday this week so I’m leaving after my last lecture at 6 on the 7:15 PM for Ottawa. I haven’t really been home- sick – to cry my eyes out every night I mean – but I’ve missed everybody. And letters mean a lot to me so I’m very glad for yours. Mummy sent Alan and Donna’s picture to me & I think he looks a scream. Donna’s outfit is darling. A lot of the boys & professors here have beards, moustaches & long hair. Charlie is going to look scalped when I get home, after living with these types.
I’m looking forward especially to seeing Daddy, because I haven’t seen him since August. Also, there are lots of kittens living around here – although we’re not allowed 4 footed animals in residence – and we smuggle them into visit us, so I’ve been missing Saki too. You’ll be glad to get home and see your friends – both 2 & 4 legged – again. Say hello to June for me. I have Auntie Muriel’s book trough here with my favourite paper backs in for relaxation- everything from Jane Eyre to Elizabeth Gouge. And your teapot, (that is, my teapot that you gave me) decorates my bookcase – my table & shelves and walls are all cream coloured so I need a bit of colour.
I am taking English – all Shakespeare; History – Canadian only, darn it; Greek & Latin Literature in translation; Ancient History; and Psychology. I have about 12 hours a week in class – lectures or tutorials. We have these gowns – dark green, which doesn’t match anything, and they are an awful nuisance. We can wear whatever we want, so I can put on my slacks on cold days. It is very beautiful here now, with all the leaves turning – a perfect Thanksgiving weekend. A couple of West Indian girls are thrilled, and really looking forward to the snow – though I know they’ll get tired of it.
Well, it’s getting late and I’ll be in a bus for a long time tomorrow evening, so I think I’ll get to bed. Thanks so much for writing, if we don’t get at least one letter a day, we get awfully depressed (because everyone else seems to get mail when we don’t) so please keep it up. My love to everybody & have a good trip home. Bon Voyage. Love Linda
49 Cedar Rd., Ottawa 9. Ont. October 4, 1969 11:30 P.M.
Dear Lindy, Hi! (What a great opening). Sorry I haven’t written you more often, but I have been quite busy. Each teacher seems to think we have no other homework to do except their own. My football team (& Alan’s) plays Blackburn Hamlet tomorrow. If we can’t beat them, we are hopeless. In my first letter, I outlined the busy Saturday I had when the Argos were playing the Roughriders here (remember?). Well, this day it was the exact opposite- it was great! And you might have guessed, it centres around another football game. I haven’t got anything else in particular to tell you about, so I might as well bore you with today’s events.
I’m doubting Charlie paid this much for his tickets!
Hamilton played the Roughriders here today. I asked Chrystal to the game & she said she’d love to come. After football practice in the morning, I had a quick lunch & set off by bus at 11:45. I arrived at about 1 p.m. (game begins at 2). Chrystal wasn’t ready yet so I met her grandmother (from Victoria) and talked with Lee & Mr. Morris. Lee is in grade 9 & she isn’t finding it too hard. Mr. Morris is being paid by the Navy to take a 2-year course at Carleton & he is finding it quite hard. He said he is taking a course in statistics (probability etc.). & was getting a bit lost. I told him our Math B teacher had just succeeded in losing most of our class (but not ME) in combinations and permutations. Then Chrystal appeared and we walked from her house down to Lansdowne Park (her idea). It was a good game & we both enjoyed it (Ottawa won 28 – 20). Then we walked back to her house (her idea again, I didn’t mind) & Mrs. Morris invited me to stay for dinner. I said I’d like to & phoned Mummy & she said it was O.K. with her & so I stayed. Then I found out it was Mr. Morris’s birthday. Well, Chrystal went upstairs to get changed & I went & sat in the living room & Mr. Morris came in & said “Did you say that you hadn’t taken combinations and permutations yet?” & I said no, we’d just finished them. (I hope you’re still with me.) He then said “Maybe you can help me. It’s 9 years since I took the stuff & I have forgotten some of it & I am stuck.” Lee said “Och Daddy, you can’t! “& he said sure I can & we pulled up chairs and went about solving this problem in his book that he didn’t understand. Chrystal came down & seemed rather surprised but didn’t seem to mind. We were interrupted by dinner & it was nice (roast lamb) & everyone was nice & relaxed. After dinner we picked up where we had left off & in a little while I had given him a crash course in comb. &. perm., but it was fun because he had once known it & it was sort of a review after a 9- year holiday for him. (If you don’t get this letter before you come home I’ll be really peeved). However he seemed much happier after we finished & said he understood & that he thought that he was back on the track & would be OK now. Then Mr. Morris & Mrs. Morris & Mrs. Morris senior (Chrystal’s grandmother) were going to Connaught Raceway in Hull & were going to be late. Chrystal and & Lee weren’t invited. Mr. Morris said that he could drop me within a few blocks of my house on their way or I could stay for a while with Chrystal & Lee & go home by bus. Guess what I said. I figured that my home wasn’t really on the way to Hull [very true] so I said that I’d stay. After a great run-around, they left, but not before Mr. Morris had said to Chrystal & Lee “Charlie is your guest & I don’t want you two to start arguing”. (It’s midnight now). Before I left, they had had at least 3 arguments, & I found it quite entertaining. After watching the Beverly Hillbillies (I do hope you can read this) I said I’d better go (it was about 7:30). We went outside & talked for a while. BEFORE going on, I’d better fill you in on a little background. The grade 13’s have rented a part of the Skyline Hotel for a commencement dance (I haven’t found out yet if last year’s students are invited) on November 22 (it’s semi formal for boys, formal for girls). So much for background. I asked her if she’d like to go & she said gee, she’d love to, but she didn’t know if her dad would let her. So I’m hoping. Then I came home & watched Julius Caesar on T.V. So it was a good day. Other astonishing facts which I found interesting & you probably won’t. 1. Russ Jackson set a new record today for the number of touchdown passes thrown in a career. 2. Crystal’s grandmother (from Victoria) calls her (Chrystal) Diane (2nd name) because she thinks Chrystal is a far too ‘commercial’ name (you know, in Victoria there is Crystal Everything – Crystal fountains, gardens etc. & WE stayed in the Crystal Palace Hotel.). (She (Chrystal) hates it, Diane, I mean.) 3. I got charged the adult fare on the bus because I had been issued the wrong coloured students card & I was mad & had a minor (very minor) row with the bus driver. (This was before I got to Chrystal’s place.) So it was a good day, all in all. You might have guessed I wrote you this letter because I wasn’t tired & didn’t feel like going to sleep. Well it’s 12:40 am & now I do. I have to do the 8:30 service tomorrow, so I had better go. See you soon, Love Charlie P.S. Have added in red after reading it over. Hope it is legible, don’t tell me if it isn’t. Hope it doesn’t bore you too much – it was fun writing it. C2.
The bus from Traill in town out to the Trent Campus.
49 Cedar Road, Ottawa 9, Ont.
24th Sept. Wed.
Darling Lindy,
I thought that I had lots of time to shorten my new bedroom curtains and then write to you, but it has taken me ages to shorten one so I have stopped and will write a short letter to mail this afternoon and then write more and mail tomorrow. I don’t know if letters I mail on Thurs. will get to you before the weekend, so you must let me know.
Minute groundhog in our back garden!
I am enclosing the pictures which came yesterday and you can send on the ones for A. Merle and U. Dix and then send the others back to us. Your little groundhog came out very well and the wedding pictures aren’t bad, but the ones taken at the Whitwell’s are a disappointment. I sent the film to that Mail Photo Place where I got them 2 dollars cheaper or something – anyway Daddy says that I got a cheap printing job too, but Charlie and I think that it was pretty poor light under the trees that day and that is why they are so sad. Anyway, here they are. Daddy brought back one roll developed and 3 more to do, but we haven’t had a picture show yet.
Cec at the airport on the way home.
Already it seems quite proper and natural to have Daddy back. And boy! – lots more dishes to wash! You can imagine how Charlie and I have been doing lately! It seems incredible that you will have been gone 2 weeks tomorrow. It seems years in some ways and hardly any in others. I went to tea with Mrs. Craven yesterday afternoon – she had Marjorie, Betty, Ruth L. and Mrs. Martin, Mrs. James and Mrs. McNally all to meet Mrs. Craven Sr. so we had a really good talky time. Mrs. C. and Betty D. and I all compared notes about our Girls of course and we all seem to think that you were doing all right. Mrs. C says they will be leaving on Sat. a.m. to go down to Peterborough, so I will take her a box of cookies for you on Friday and she says that she would be glad to deliver it. Maybe they would like to see your room too – you said something about Jean’s not being very nice – have you seen it yet? I think that I will pack up Grannie’s tea pot and put it in the parcel as you have so many guests and the little brown one is so tiny, and I won’t forget to put in the teabags – girls at Traill likeTetley’s Tea! Lipton’s is just the same!
I met Marie Tweedle in Shoppers C. on Monday afternoon and had a great long chat with her – couldn’t get away! Heard all about dear David and how he just LOVES Teacher’s College and it was just his cup of tea. They were doing Gr. 1 Arithmetic or something – ‘You are having a party and you have 5 little friends. How many boys and girls are at your party?’ ‘Yes, that’s right –6 children. Now, how many paper cups will we need’ and they put out paper cups and then plates and napkins and sit down and have a party. Marie says ‘Arithmetic is not his strong point, so I told him he’d better watch that the problems don’t get too difficult!’ Anyway, who else do you think is going to Teacher’s College? Nancy Douglas. She had a wonderful time in Europe, and got back and started right in and is apparently in the same ‘shift’. as David –, so I told Phil to ask her if she knew him! I met Sandy Cooper in S.C. also on Sat. and asked how he was doing and he has changed from Algonquin to Carleton, so I don’t know how Joey will be doing for a ride. Dr. Savic drives Michael every morning because Margaret says it takes an hour and a half – dear Michael! Sandy said that he found the course at Algonquin wasn’t what he wanted and something about having to get an 80% average to carry on at Carleton, but I didn’t quite take it in. I have phoned Pat and got no answer and then Edna Renaud told me she has already gone back to work, so I have no news of Joanne to tell you. Have you heard from her or Janet yet? I guess that was a letter from Sandra which I forwarded to you yesterday. Your brother is going to write and tell you all about a glorious Gloucester football game – I shall tell you that 2 girls came in a car last night and asked if Charlie was in, but unfortunately he was still out at the football practice. When I described them to him he decided they must be Maureen and Lois – they were cute anyway so I don’t think he should discourage them! There is a dance this Friday – GAA etc. and Charlie is now on the BAA as the Officials Rep. so he is going to have to help decorate the gym and is actually going – STAG!
I must stop or I won’t get this mailed today, but I’ll continue and answer your letters and tell you what Daddy brought home. We all love your letters – very interesting and amusing. I must say life in Residence has changed since Daddy L.L. days – bring your own booze parties weren’t known then! By the way, thinking of Daddy L.L. and some of the funny illustrations playing basketball in bloomers, do you have to take any athletics? And if so, what? Also, did you ever meet your Amiga and what is she like? Much love from us all, Mummy
[handwritten] P.S. It is raining – very Nobel of me to go out and mail this. Love.
The references to other letters that I was sent were spot on- all my friends were very kind about sending me the news, at least in the month of September- I have no other letters from this school year, but obviously valued the connection and hung on to the first month’s correspondence, although they have no place in this collection. When it comes to Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs, I’m sure Cyn did not expect any similarities between an American girl’s college before WW1 and Traill, but if I had been expected to take part in any athletic activity, she certainly would have heard my outrage! The nicest thing about Trent was that they did not insist on any courses- no demand for a science to make me well rounded or anything- and I was allowed, after warnings that the essay load would be heavy, to take the 2 English and 2 History courses I wanted (as well as a basic Psychology course which I thought I might need as a future teacher and which resulted in the only D I ever got) so in the next 3 years I focussed on my double major to the exclusion of every other subject and enjoyed all my courses!
A Family History in Letters 