Tag: Ottawa

49 Cedar Road,
Ottawa 9, Ontario.

3rd December, 1969.

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.