Having a cottage for a whole month seemed to inspire the Costains to invite everyone to visit! It also meant Cec had to go in to the Lab. some days in Ottawa, which meant he was available to transport the children’s friends up for short stays. They had lent their house to Sam and Sally Butcher for August, but presumably Cec slept there the week nights he was working. The Costain grandparents were also visiting from B.C., with Cec’s sister Merle and Dix Moor so they all came, and John Moor, the oldest son, came east with his family: Sharon, Steven and the new baby Jeff, and dropped in before going to Brantford. Having survived this onslaught, Cyn sat down to write to her mother towards the end of their month.
P.S.New Address.No More Box No. 49 Cedar Rd.Ottawa 9.
Christie Lake Thurs. 29th Aug.
Dearest Mummy, Cec came back from Ottawa last week with a whole bundle of mail which was very exciting! Thank you so much for all your letters – they were from the 15th July up to 15th August – the last one telling that you had got the shoes. I am so glad that the latter were at least a partial success & hope that you will get a lot of wear from the two sandal- type. Maybe you can find someone who could wear the black ones a bit as they stretch quite quickly & then you might be able to use them. Lindy & I greatly enjoyed the letters about Alan’s wedding, particularly some of Monie’s dry, amusing comments. 1111 Great excitement! Saki arrived with a chipmunk she had caught! Lindy rushed out & grabbed her & the chipmunk scooted away under the porch! Remember Charlie & the “damned chipmunk” that bit him at Lake Bernard? 1111 When I got your letters I meant to sit down & answer them straight away, but life is so busy here, I can see it will have to wait till I get back home & get everyone out of the house! When Cec went to Ottawa last week on Wed. a.m. he took back Maureen & Allan Vallee, Linda and Charlie’s friends who had been with us since Sunday (when the Moors & Granny & Grandpa Costain left.) Then Cec came back out Thurs. afternoon with Chris Baird, Charlie’s friend & he stayed till this Monday. In between each lot I have to wash bedclothes etc. as I had to leave some in town for the Butcher’s too, but thank heaven there is a nice washing machine here. Also a freezer in the basement, which is a big help as shopping is quite a distance of course. There is a Lodge & Marina on the lake which sells bread & milk & then a small store about 5 miles away. For big grocery shopping & meat I go to Perth which is about 12 miles away so it takes quite a while. When Cec came back from Ottawa he told me he had invited the Douglases out at the weekend & the Haynes (Linda’s friend Janet & her Mother & Father) & they were both coming on Sunday, so I prepared for quite a crowd, but Little Did I Know! I got 3 chickens to roast & thought of cooking them & having them cold, but decided I could have them all ready & just shove them in the oven & we’d have them hot. I made a Quiche Lorraine (cheese & ham pie) for lunch & baked two pie shells to make peach flan, so I thought I was well prepared. On the Sunday morning I was up at 9 a.m. (early for the cottage) & called Cec & the children & we had breakfast – at least Cec didn’t appear, but the rest of us did. Then we cleared away & about 10 I was just going to wash up (kitchen window looks onto the little driveway) went up drives a little red car – horrors! “Lindy, they’re here” I yell, thinking it is the Haynes – she rushes to get dressed & I dash out to find it isn’t the Haynes, but Cec’s technician Geoff & his wife Beati & their little boy! I didn’t even recognize them at first & Cec had completely forgotten to tell me they were coming! I didn’t tell them of course & went & woke Cec & it turned out that they were on their way to Cleveland to spend the holiday with Beati’s parents & Cec had invited them to stop for a swim & lunch. However, they had decided to come earlier, but while they were swimming I washed up, made coffee & tomato sandwiches, made custard & put in the bottom of the flans, then put peach halfs (fresh) on top & covered with Jello. They had lunch then & were just getting up to go when another car drove into the driveway & more people poured out and this was Lorne & Liz & Debbie & Cindy! Merle had said they might come for a night after visiting Liz’s family in Ottawa, but we had given them up by then so this was another big surprise! Well, they came in & the Geoffs said goodbye & left, & we had one spare room for Liz & Lorne, & Cindy & Debbie went in the extra bed in Linda’s room! After that the Haynes arrived, & we had Quiche Lorraine & all the things I could find for sandwiches & potato salad & soup & cookies for lunch. Then the Douglasses plus Andy came with Professor Pleva from Czechoslovakia, so for dinner we had 16! However the 3 chickens were fine & I had corn on the cob, & a big salad & rolls & the 2 peach pies. We had potato chips & a dip & Linda made some snacks beforehand with drinks, so everything went very well & everyone seemed very happy. It was a lovely day & everyone went down to the dock in the afternoon & the young people swam & the family at the other cottage has a big boat & water skis, so they had fun with them. Charlie can do quite well on the water skis now, but Lindy hasn’t tried. Lorne & his family left after lunch on Monday – they are such a nice family, the little girls are so sweet & very good & Liz & Lorne are so nice with them. Cindy is 2 & is just a pet – friendly & sitting on everyone’s knee & making friends. Cec left with Chris for Ottawa at the same time, so Lindy & Charlie & I were suddenly very quiet. Cec came back the next evening & we leave on Sat. so our time is short. It has been cooler the last few days but lovely & sunny. Poor Cec has had such bad luck this month, he had a bad sinus infection at the beginning & still has a bit, then just after the Moors left he got a violent tummy flu (presumably from John’s little boy Steven) which is still hanging on, so he has not been able to really enjoy himself. It is such a pity. The last few evenings we have been teaching L & C to play bridge – nice to have a family four! Must must stop and get lunch. Love to A. Muriel & lots to you from us all Cyn. P.T.O. Will write soon about L’s birthday & your cheque etc. when I get home. Hard to decide until we go to the stores. Love C.
Dearest Mummy, Do you mind a letter typed in red? I knew the typewriter needed a new ribbon but Charlie has had it up in his room for weeks and now I find the black part of the ribbon looks as if the moths had been at it, it is so full of holes! Thank you so much for your letter started on my birthday and for your Easter card. We have just had the most glorious Easter weekend we have ever had in Canada. As you know it is usually still so cold here and even if the snow has melted, the ground is still frozen and we don’t expect spring until about the middle of May, but this year it rained a lot in March and the snow melted and this weekend it was beautiful, with temperatures in the 70s and the grass turning green, and green shoots coming up everywhere. I had washed the porch last week and cleaned the windows, so we got out the garden chairs and were even sitting out under the big tree, although it has no leaves on it yet of course! When we went to Church on Easter Sunday we didn’t need coats (didn’t get a chance to wear my new one) and for once all the flowery Easter hats looked appropriate! Lindy was very industrious and did quite a lot of gardening and cleared most of the flowerbeds, and Cec even got some of the vegetable garden plowed, which was extraordinary as it is usually too wet for weeks after it has thawed. Charlie had quite a cold, but it didn’t stop him from playing baseball, football, horseshoes and going swimming every minute he could! It is still heavenly weather now and I am sitting typing on the porch, but of course we are all back at work again. Lindy is disgusted as it poured with rain during the week they had for Spring Holiday in March, and she says if we had had the holidays in the old way we’d have had all this nice weather! However, I really felt I needed that rest in March, and now we had a lovely weekend, and everyone feels more cheerful when the weather is nice. One thing, as soon as the weather became nice I got my hay fever again, and was sneezing and using Kleenex by the boat load, so yesterday morning I decided I would have to take a pill which I did. Lindy said, “But Mummy, you’ll fall asleep at Nursery School, but actually if I keep on my feet and I’m busy I don’t get sleepy, so I was fine all morning, and in the afternoon I had the car, and went all over town buying things for the nursery school – cookies and paste and goodness knows what – and then home, got dinner ready, washed up and then sat down to look at the paper, and bonk! – I was asleep. So uncomfortable too – I woke up after a while and took my glasses off, and said to Cec “I hate doing this – you should wake me up” and bonk! – I was asleep again. I struggled up at 11 o’clock and went to bed and slept all night without turning a hair. You wouldn’t think that one pill in the morning could do that to me, would you? But it does – I don’t feel a bit sleepy or dopey, and even when I sit down to read I don’t feel tired, but with no warning, I’m asleep! I took another one this morning, so I will have to try and keep busy tonight and not sit down! Do you remember Edna Renaud? She must have been to some of my coffee parties sometime when you were here. She is English, blonde and not very tall – was married during the war I think. Anyway, she walked up from her house with her dog this afternoon and had a cup of tea with me. She belongs to a group which is trying to get a Children’s Hospital in Ottawa, and they have various things every now and then to raise money. This year they are getting their friends to do the work for them! They ask their friends to have a coffee party or tea party and collect one dollar from each guest for the hospital, and in a weak moment I said I wouldn’t mind having one. She has brought me special paper napkins etc.- called a ‘Hostess Kit’, so I will have to get busy and have it sometime I suppose. [It was built by the time I was teaching in the 70s- I substituted there when unemployed.]
Mrs. Barltrop is having her Golden Wedding this summer – June, I think – and I have promised to ice and decorate her cake for her, and also some of us are going to help Eve with the refreshments for the Open House she is having for her Mother and Father. Mrs. B has been in bed for nearly 2 months with her legs – she has very bad varicose veins and has had a few operations, and apparently if they break out they don’t heal properly unless she keeps them up all the time, so this is what had happened. However, Marjorie had a lunch the week before last with Mrs. B. and Eve and Ruth Lockwood and me, and this was the first time she had been out. She still has to rest a lot but is doing fine. She and Mr. B. had been going to England as a G.W. trip this summer, and the Dr. says she can still go but must take it quietly and rest each day, but her MOTHER of 95 has just fallen and broken her leg and is in hospital, so she is in a turmoil about this. Lindy and Charlie were astounded to hear that Mrs. Barltrop had a mother! [Added in handwriting] Later: Phone call from Eve & she is flying to England tomorrow as her G’mother is very ill & Mrs. B can’t go. Do you remember someone else – Hilary Mackey who has the house behind us where Flora Wansbrough used to live? She is a widow, English and a bit peculiar we think! Anyway, since the Fall she has had a sister living with her from England, – she is older than Mrs. Mackey and is called Miss Titcum! She comes to our church and to the WA and of course we all kept getting her name muddled up and at home I called her little Mrs. Tittlemouse, so that we hardly dared call her anything, but it turns out that she is a retired Domestic Science Teacher, and when I told her that I was one once she became very pally and said that I was to call her Doris, which I find very difficult, as none of us like her very much. She is one of these English people who finds everything in England so much better than over here, and she has a kind of superior expression all the time as if there was a rather disagreeable smell! When she smiles she looks as if it was hurting her, and one of the Canadian girls said that she was the kind of Englishwoman who should have stayed at home! Poor thing – I am sure that she is lonely as Hilary is out at work all day, but she is really very hard to get along with. She reminds me of Mrs. Rothwell in that she is soppy about animals you know! She takes Hilary’s dog and another little one for walks every day and I usually meet her when I’m coming home from school across the fields. I met Becky Rothwell the other day, by the way, but I couldn’t remember the name of the lady whom you had met so I couldn’t ask her. Mrs. R. is in this home for elderly people, and Becky says is well, but doesn’t take much interest in things or people now. Do you remember Grace? Mrs. R.’s sister Mrs. Ward? She is older than Mrs. R. and is well over 90 but is just as spry as can be apparently. I was amused at you and A. Muriel drinking my health on my birthday [April 3] in Tia Maria – we didn’t have some actually on my birthday, but at the weekend we went out to dinner and when we came home we had a glass of Tia Maria too. If you remember Cec had bursitis just then, so we didn’t go out to dinner on my birthday – I just hate making my own birthday cake, but it looked as if I wouldn’t get one if I didn’t make it myself, so I roasted a chicken and made a four layer cake with chocolate icing! By the weekend Cec had been to Dr. K. and was feeling better, but on the Friday it was Exhibition Night at the High School, and both Lindy and Charlie were involved so we had to go to that. Lindy’s class was putting on a play ‘Pyramis and Thisbe’ all in Latin, and Lindy was Wardrobe Mistress and we had been busy making Greek costumes etc. for weeks past, and also she was in a group of girls who did Israeli dances in the gym. Charlie was Quiz Master in a Math. quiz and helping in one of the Labs, so we had to go around and see them doing their stuff. The Latin play was screamingly funny – Lindy had told us it was, because although it is a tragedy on the lines of Romeo and Juliet, the male lead ranted and roared so much that everyone laughed, and the villain of the piece, a lion, was taken by Janek and Fredi, and they were a great success in a lion’s head and a yellow blanket! And you probably don’t hear much about Canadian politics in the WI, but this was the weekend of the Liberal Convention to choose a new Liberal leader to take the place of Prime Minister Pearson who is retiring. Actually, at the same time the assassination of Martin Luther King happened in the U.S., so everyone was worried about that, but of course everyone in Canada was very interested in the Convention to find out who our new Prime Minister would be. It was fascinating to watch on TV and to hear the various men speak, and on the Sat. they had the final voting, so we couldn’t go out to dinner that night, but had to stay at home and watch with tense excitement. We are all very pro-Trudeau and were very impressed with his speeches and talks on the TV, so we were very excited and delighted when he won. He is very intelligent and most un-politician like, in that he never makes the tub-thumping kind of speeches full of clichés, but is very reasoned and logical. It will be most interesting to find out how he gets on. Anyway, we finally decided to go out to dinner on the Sunday, as the following week was Holy Week, and I felt that if we left it much longer I would never get my dinner out! We went to a place that we had heard served a Sunday Smorgasbord for the family, but it really wasn’t very nice! Linda and Charlie went with us and it was OK, but not a place we’ll ever go to again, so it was nice to have a Tia Maria when we came home! I forgot to tell you what I got for my birthday – Cec gave me a pair of baby doll pyjamas, Charlie a new wallet which I needed badly, Lindy some brush-on eyeshadow (very glamorous) and a pair of darling little pink earrings. Then from Dottie I got hankies and from Nan a smart patent leather handbag in a kind of tan colour. I did thank you for your birthday parcel when it arrived, but I am afraid I must tell you that I was unlucky with the contents! The slip was too small for me – it must have been a very small 34, because I take a 34 slip all the time, but of course in a nylon jersey which stretches more. Anyway, it fits Lindy so I passed it on to her. The dress was pretty, but you know I really look awful in a straight shift dress – just a little square tub! I could get it on, but it was tight on the seat and much too big on the shoulders and bosom, and of course when I sat down it skinned way above my knees like all these tight skirts do. I felt sorry after you had gone to all the trouble of sending it, but I feel it is better to let you know the truth rather than being polite and telling white lies about it, so that you will remember another time that I am a Pear–Shaped Hazell and not a straight up and down one! I wondered if any of my friends were the right size to wear it and thought of Pat Tomlinson, so on Monday Linda and I dropped in to see them and I gave it to her and she was just delighted. I feel that Pat was really a nice person to give it to, as we have always exchanged our daughters clothes – Joanne’s coming to Lindy and Lindy’s to Susan (that time is past now – they are all very much the same size) and Pat works hard and doesn’t have too much for herself. Anyway, after that Lindy and I went to the new Shopping Centre, and I bought myself a pretty new Brunch Coat with some of your money – it is a pink and white striped material, a nice firm cotton and a tiny stripe, and has smocking around the neck and across the top of the pockets, so I am very pleased with it. I still have more than half of your cheque left so I think I will get a cotton dress as I don’t have many just now. I sent a lot of real old ones to you last Fall, and last year I got more things suitable for travelling and not for just the house and garden. I will let you know what I get. I am filled with admiration for you making the Altar Frontal – I know that the other lady did the embroidery, but making it up was a big job and I am sure that it must have looked beautiful when you had it finished and on the altar for Easter. Our church was just packed at Easter – no 5:30 service like A. Muriel, but at 10:30. It is so nice to see some new families and the congregation growing bigger now that there is new building in the district. We were the faithful few for so long, and now to have to put extra chairs in at Easter and have even a few who are new coming every Sunday is a lovely change. Mr. Graham is keeping well and we had a joke with Marjorie. Apparently [Cyn and Linda would have been teaching Sunday School upstairs during the last half of the service, so would have missed the sermon] he preached a sermon a few Sundays ago where he lent over the pulpit very solemnly and said “Now I have a very serious question to ask you. WHAT am I going to wear at Easter?” and then went on to talk about the Easter Parade etc. Anyway, on Easter Sunday here was Marjorie wearing a new hat of white flowers and we said “How did you dare after Fr. Graham’s sermon and she said “Oh the funny thing is that I didn’t hear that sermon. When he was giving it I was at home sitting up in bed making the hat!” I see that you and A. Muriel sent Caroline Bryan money for a wedding present. Jeannie [Cyn’s cousin] sent me an announcement and I meant to send something, but with Jean being away I left it, and now the wedding is on Sat. Perhaps we’ll send a cable and I can send a small present later. I wonder if Alan and Donna will have a big wedding? I think Marga would enjoy it, but probably not Bill! But it is up to the bride’s parents after all. [More Hazell descendants getting married- Caroline in England, Alan in New York.]
To answer the questions in your letter, Lindy was speaking against Ottawa becoming a Federal District in the Debate, but this was just the part she was given – not necessarily her convictions! Charlie got quite a good mark for his Mohamet paper, but was criticized for being too partial to him! He doesn’t like his history teacher at all and doesn’t get very good marks from her, but one thing he will probably have someone quite different next year. You were asking about Phyl Douglas’s mother – yes she is still alive, and Phyl goes to see her often. She is blind and deaf, poor dear, but still her mind is fine. Every now and then she has another heart attack and they think that this time she will go, but so far she has recovered. The Ganders came and had Easter dinner with us and it was nice to see them all again. I was talking to Lee about her sister Johnny – she is not at the Civic Hospital now but in a hospital where more or less incurables are. There doesn’t seem to be anything else that the Drs. can do for her and they can’t tell Lee what will happen or anything. They get her up in a wheelchair each day now but she still can’t help herself much – she can lift her arms a little and turn her head a bit but that is all. Strangely enough Lee says she will do certain things Lee tells her – such as “Put this on the bed Johnny”, but she can’t get her to nod for yes, or shake for no, or even squeeze her hand if she understands. They got her a small radio and she appears to love to listen to music, but she can’t turn it on or off herself, and Lee says that after 4 in the afternoon there is very little care and very few nurses. It is most heartrending and distressing, and poor Lee has become so careworn this winter. You were asking about Graham Smith – we heard that he and his family had left Ottawa and gone to Hamilton where her family lives. Then at Christmas we got a card from them with that postmark, but no address so I hope that he is doing better there, poor fellow. I must stop now as it is 11 o’clock and I have managed to keep awake all evening, by not sitting down on the sofa! But just before I go I must tell you that on Sat. your grandson is setting out to walk 40 miles – or at least so many of the 40 as he can! I will enclose a cutting to tell you about it and I will let you know how the poor footsore boy feels and how he makes out. Cec is giving him 50¢ a mile and I am giving him 25¢ and Lindy 10¢ and he has a few other sponsors, so I hope he makes out all right.
Hello to Doris and Luenda from us all. How is your dear little white pussy? Our Saki is fine and sweet and fit, but did I tell you that our poor little Noli died? [The hamster.] He got sick apparently and couldn’t run on his wheel and then he just slept and slept until he died one night, poor little fellow. Much love from us all to Auntie Muriel and please thank her for me for her birthday card. Lots of love to you from Lindy, Charlie and Cec and Cyn.
Marjorie and Cyn at the Golden Wedding- no cake showing!
This April letter tells Carol about the activities of the Costain family in the spring of 1968, and so combined with the scrapbook, enables me to cover the summer too. Although just mentioned in passing, Cyn gives an idea of the children’s involvement in activities that would later become part of their adult lives. Linda belonged to the Debating Club- even in a school of 2000, limited appeal led to a membership of about 10 students- (not that she grew into a speech-making politician, but I’m fairly sure any teacher can address a crowd at the drop of a hat), and enjoyed helping with amateur plays. Charlie participated in the Miles for Millions fundraiser each year from this point on, which foreshadowed his adult marathons and biking tours. The whole family was interested in the political change in Canada, and the events of 1968 were world-shaking enough to ensure that the Costain teens would keep an eye on current events for the rest of their lives. The scrapbook shows pictures of the Golden Wedding the Women’s Auxiliary of the church were helping to celebrate- but not a photo of the cake that Cyn decorated for it!- and the announcements of a Hazell wedding and a new Costain cousin, Jeff Moor.
The children both were promoted at the end of June, Charlie to Grade 12 and Linda to her final year of high school, Grade 13. Cyn’s year of working at the Nursery School was over, although she would remain an organizer, and available for substitute teaching if needed. And plans were made for a cottage rental for the month of August, with enough room for teen friends or visiting family.
This letter from Carol Ewing (Grannie) to Linda, now 16 years old in Grade 12, seems to have accompanied the return of the Travel Diary which had taken her a few months after the summer trip to be completed and sent out to Grannie, with a plea for its return as a memento. In the letter, Carol mentions the younger generation of Hazells in St Vincent- older than Linda and at a different stage of life, but also leading what seemed to her (Linda) an exotic existence with parties, dancing and cars. [Recap of relationships in St. Vincent: Alex and Peggy Hughes, Cyn’s cousin and Carol’s niece, had the party for their daughter Margaret. Patrick is the adult son, Perry another, quite a bit younger. Milly and Ford are the visiting New York cousins of Peggy and Cyn’s generation, but older. Uncle Fred is Carol’s brother, Peggy’s father, and has been ill. Auntie Moo (Muriel) is the oldest Hazell sister, and Carol lives with her.]
Feb 10th 68.
Dearest Lindy, I have had this envelope addressed to you for some time- p.c.s which I thought you might like, to add to your collection, & I meant to write right away, then realized my writing pad was finished, & all I had was that “Shocking” little pad that you did not approve of!! I did enjoy your prolonged letter so much, (mine will be very old by the time you get it as it’s going by sea) (- was begun on 5th Nov. – – – after Xmas – – New Year.) You must soon repeat it, & then perhaps I’ll get one after Easter, eh? It’s a shame to tease you! when I know quite well it’s not easy when you have to write essays of 2000 words or more – as well as lots of other things. I hope you did well with Nelson – did you mention his lady friend Emma? You say they are making Easter holiday static – tell me what date it’s to be? I hope it means you will get a longer break. I’m afraid I misled you about Margaret, & her party was not so huge as I said, Peggy told me afterwards 36 – & some of them were Peg’s younger married friends, & it seems after supper & 11 p.m. they all went & danced at the Aqua Club – that’s a wild New Year’s Eve party where everyone kisses everyone, when ‘Big Ben’ strikes 12 – & there are wild whistles & yells & kisses galore! I have been to one or two of them, & it’s amusing – as of course, one tries to dodge the folk you don’t appreciate kissing you!! Margie is really quite a nice girl, rather silent & reserved – so is Patrick – but Mill & Ford who had heard this about him, when they went to lunch with them last Saturday, were surprised to find him quite chatty, so when Pegs came home, Mill said to her they found Patrick quite nice & friendly. Pegs said – “that was because he had had a few drinks at the club – otherwise he wouldn’t have opened his mouth”! Not a very good reputation, is it? As I have told Cyn, Margie’s latest is that she has dashed off & bought a small 2ndhand car – it’s a bright sky blue – & looks quite new. She took me out in it to ‘Grand View’ on her way home on Thurs– & it seemed very nice – but we are amused at them being a 4 car family – only Perry hasn’t! What a lovely cake Fanny’s sister made for you all, is she still with the Blachuts or did it come all the way from Switzerland? I am glad to tell you Uncle Fred is progressing slowly- he goes drives in his car now, & takes a great interest in the cricket matches which are going on right now on radio & TV – G.B. versus W.I. All the Hughes are going to Barbados next week to see the next big test match – & incidentally poor Perry is going to have his tonsils out – they’ll be away 3 weeks. Since the New Year we have been having quite a number of Tourist Cruisers coming here for the day – & you see lots of odd looking people about the town! – aren’t I rude? My friends the Carnegie’s in Newcastle wrote telling me some friends of theirs were coming on “M.V. Botany” on 27th Jan. & it w’d be nice if we could meet– but believe it or not they never mentioned the peoples’ name, & anyway I never got their letter until 1st Feb. after the ship had come and gone! Mr. C. said he had given them my address – but evidently they couldn’t find me – or didn’t want to perhaps – not knowing them – I am not sorry!! Now Honey Girl I’ll end this scrawl & beg you to excuse it – Auntie Moo sends love & is full of remorse that she forgot to say thank you for her shower cap when writing – Here’s good wishes for High marks this term. Much love from Grannie. Love to all 4. XXXX.
Stamp showing the crater in the middle of the volcano at that time: next eruption 11 years later…
From this point on, the letters preserved are sporadic, with 2 to 6 month gaps. The scrapbooks, however, provide a record of events in the family, and I will use them to link up the letters.
After the success of their trip to the UK, the Costains settled back into normal life in Ottawa. Cec returned to work, the teenagers returned to school, and Cyn prepared for and entered working life again, even if only temporarily, at the new Nursery School. Cec travelled for conferences and Cyn audited classes, and Linda and Charlie, now senior students in high school, became involved in various extra-curricular activities that suited them.
In November, the Centennial project that Cec had been involved with, the Science Museum, had its official opening. It was an exciting place, with interactive exhibits designed to appeal to the public, especially children. One exhibit that has lasted over 50 years is the Crazy Kitchen, tilted to confuse the senses and alter perceptions. (Fifteen years after this opening, Linda’s future stepsons enjoyed the kitchen and then climbed all over the trains in their outside exhibit. In this century, during the pandemic, the museum took advantage of the closing to update, refurbish, upgrade and expand- Cec would have approved.)
At Christmas, there were adult parties at home, then the Costains went down to Brantford to spend the holiday with their favourite relatives, the Moors, who now had adorable grandchildren as a draw. Cyn’s scrapbook shows the international greetings that came at Christmas, new photos of friends’ children and grandchildren, and includes a card from the old days from Uncle Harry Costain out in Calgary.
In the New Year, Cyn’s scrapbook celebrates a teen party, then the fact that as a Nursery School teacher she gets Valentines!
A booklet shows Gloucester High School’s summary of growth since its opening in 1963. The Centennial project of an adjoining community swimming pool would be available for the next school year, Linda’s Grade 13. The education system in Ontario meant that students in the 5 year Arts and Science Academic Program, preparing for University, stayed for a 5th year while all those completing 4 years, Grade 12, graduated. (The commencement ceremony for both 4 and 5 year graduates was held the following November, so in the middle of Grade 13, the students still at school celebrated with those out in the world- and looked forward to a second celebration the following year when they would return from their universities to party and get their Grade 13 diploma.)
This letter enclosed the one Cyn had written to her mother at the beginning of the Costain’s trip to England in July, on notepaper from the Clarendon Court Hotel. [July 10 1967] Because Carol had been on holiday away from home, Cyn’s letters did not reach her- this arrived in Ottawa in September and was sent on.
At this point, Cyn was embarking on the ambitious Centennial project with the women’s group of St Christopher’s Anglican Church: opening the first Nursery School in the community. They were using the Sunday School rooms of the multipurpose Church Hall that included the Church, having enclosed an outdoor (treeless, windswept) area at the back as a playground. Cyn and other women from the group were to work at the Nursery School at the beginning- Cyn to bow out after a year, and the other women – especially Gertrude Pierce, as she mentions- taking courses and getting the qualifications in Early Childhood Education that were required, as they worked. Cyn was to audit the course, but had no intention of going back to teaching permanently after 20 years.
Thurs. 7th Sept Dearest Mama – See what I got back in the mail today! Why, I can’t imagine – I am enclosing the envelope so you can see where it went, but I am sorry you didn’t get it when it was fresh! Thank you so much for your letter from St. Vincent which arrived today. I am glad that you are safely home but sorry that you got a cold. I feel dreadful about not writing to you sooner, & even worse as I guess you didn’t get my last letter which I sent to Trinidad. I wondered as I sent it, but I couldn’t find your letter with your return date, so thought it would reach you in time. I’m sorry, also I will really get down to a long letter next week. The children went back to school on Tues. of this week & Cec left for a meeting in the U.S. but I have been madly busy getting the Nursery School ready to open next week. Gertrude Pierce and & I have done all the organizing so we have been busy all last month & this week we have been there every day getting the rooms ready as we are having Open House for the mothers & children tomorrow morning so we had to have everything ready. We have about 20 children I think – not all coming every day. I must stop now as I have to take some more stuff down this evening. Will write a proper letter soon. Love to A. Moo & lots of love from us all to you- Cyn.
My grandmother didn’t keep many letters from 1967. What I am posting here is a typed page 4 of 2 1/2 paragraphs, a signature, and then a rather long hand-written postscript. When I originally organized these letters 15 years ago I filed this remnant as written in February ’67 because of the mention of Christmas activities, but I have decided that it is more likely to be written after Spring Break, since Cyn and Cec stayed home to chat to my Auntie Merle, who would have been teaching in February. It does seem to be in 1967, however, with a Centennial Play at the Little Theatre with one of my classmates acting in it (and of which I have absolutely no recollection) but otherwise, ordinary adult life with 2 teenagers.
Cec’s cousin, Evelyn Abbott
Social Life!
- 4 -
… took our tickets to the Little Theatre and went to see the “Centennial Play” particularly written for Canada’s birthday, while we stayed home and chatted to Merle. We had not had good reports of the play so we weren’t a bit sorry to miss it but the girls quite enjoyed it and Linda was intrigued because Jean Craven was acting in it. On Sat. I had a small dinner party with a Dr. Trembetti from Italy who is at the Lab. for 2 years, a young couple, Dr. and Mrs. Englemann, from the U.S. Atomic Lab. at Los Alamos, New Mexico and Mr. Graham, and we had great fun. I had invited Phyl Douglas too as Alex is in India, but she couldn’t come. Her Mother has been failing quite badly lately – she is blind and a bit deaf as you know and had the broken leg, but she also has been having heart attacks and has to be rushed into oxygen at the hospital, and about 10 days ago this happened again and Phyl didn’t think that she could possibly last long. She couldn’t keep anything down and was sort of semi-conscious all the time in the oxygen tent. I haven’t liked to phone Phyl too much as she has been spending nearly all her time at the hospital, but so far Mrs. Wright must be still alive as I have been watching the papers. It is so sad as Phyl says each breath is such a struggle and she feels that it is so hard for her. I must stop now as I have so many letters to write. Please tell Auntie Muriel thank you for the letter and that I will be writing soon. I will write again soon to you and answer your letters now that I have at last caught up on our Christmas activities. I have bought 2 gorgeous lengths of material with your Christmas money and have had my sewing machine fixed, so I am longing to get sewing. I will send you little bits of the material later.
Much love from us all, Cyn.
P.S. Meant to tell you – there was a Confirmation at the Church last Sunday week. Charlie thought he was to taper and & was quite tickled at the idea of doing it with the Bishop there. Then when the procession walked in 2 other boys were holding the candles & when I looked for Charlie here he was walking in front of the Bishop holding the crozier! An Archdeacon usually comes with the Bishop but he couldn’t come, so Mr. Graham chose Charlie & he did the job beautifully – putting the crozier on the Altar & helping the Bishop on & off with his robes etc. & the 2 of them sharing a hymn book & singing lustily! Afterwards the Bishop told me he did it like a veteran & Charlie was so proud of himself!!
The letter continues with the events of July 10-24 …
Mom and Dad went up to Lea and Wendell’s cottage on the Sunday evening (10th) and on the Mon. I baked the anniversary cake. I made it in my 3 square Christmas tins and used a very nice birthday cake recipe I had. I made the big one at the bottom white and the two smaller ones pink just for fun. On the Tues. I iced them all with a gold coloured icing and put the smaller cakes on foil covered cardboard squares, and made dozens of different sized gold coloured sugar bells, and then finally on the Wed. I put it all together and decorated it and stuck on the bells and then put the whole thing in a big plastic bag and put it in the freezer! In the meanwhile, on the Tues. evening I was in bed and just asleep when the phone rang and here it was Carman – they were at Renfrew about 50 miles away and would arrive in about 1 1/2 hours. What a to do! Of course they had a big tent and the idea was that they would sleep in it, but it was about 12:30 then and the thought of trying to put up a tent and put tired children in it at that hour of the night was a bit much, so I rushed upstairs, and woke Lindy and Charlie. We took Linda’s things into Charlie’s room and made up the sofa for her, then in her room we had two single beds, the sofa and an extra mattress on the floor for the 4 children. Then the family room with the new sofa bed was all ready there as Mom and Dad had left the day before, so I decided that Leona and Carman could just crawl in there. They finally arrived about 2:30 with all the children asleep on a mattress in the back of the station wagon and they were very good, all woke up smiling and we tucked them up in bed and they were very lively for a while. David is 8, Leslie the little girl is 6, Robin is 4 – 5 soon, and the youngest Phillip is 3. They are quite nice little children, but maybe it was because they were all together in one room, but there seemed to be an awful lot of argument and tears and telling tales! Perhaps I’ve just forgotten what little children are like. I certainly had forgotten how early they wake up, and every morning I was awakened at 7 or earlier with bangs, thumps and bumps from above while their parents slept happily through it! Leona is very calm and good tempered with them – perhaps too much so, Carman is the disciplinarian but somehow they didn’t strike me as too happy a family. Carman is very self-centred you know and not at all easy-going and nice mannered as Cec and he is quite horrid to both Leona and the children at times we think. As for being a help while a lot of people were around, he needed a full-time slave of his own all the time – I got used to finding his shoes, sandals, dirty glasses, coffee cups etc. each morning when I went into the sitting room (he never went to bed before 3) but the day I found his dirty socks in the middle of my living room carpet as well, I nearly said what I thought! However! Mom and Dad were coming back from Lea’s on Thursday afternoon, and Linda and I were to stay home that evening and babysit while the rest of them went to the first Football Game of the season. In the afternoon Leona and I went down to Shoppers City for me to do my grocery shopping for the weekend. You can imagine – I filled cart after cart and ended up with a bill for over 100 dollars! We arrived home with all this – a roasting hot day – to be met with the news that while we were out Russell had called and they would be arriving in about 1 hour! We dashed and got all the food put away – quite a job – and then there they were. Now in this family there is Russell and Errol, and then Terry who is about 3 months younger than Linda (14) – he is a very nice boy – in fact the whole family is really nice, and Terry and Charlie (13) got on like a house on fire and were buddies straight away. Then there is Brian, Brent and Bobby- the latter about 9 and the others in between, and then a little girl Barbara, who is 7 or 8. The little girl is cute, with front teeth missing, and very sweet and affectionate, whereas Leslie is the most self-centred young lady you would ever meet! They all piled in, tired and hot, and they would have been here sooner but Errol got sunstroke in Winnipeg where they stayed a few days with one of her sisters, and had to go to hospital, and was still headachy, and not feeling too good. Just after they arrived, here drove up Wendell with Mom and Dad, so there we were, 19 for dinner! Wendell wouldn’t stay but set off to drive back to the cottage to get Lea, saying he would be back about 8, and the idea was that the Russells would go over and sleep at the Atchison’s 5th Avenue house – they have no rooms let now. I had been going to have chicken for dinner but I couldn’t manage that but fortunately I had bought dozens of frozen meat patties, so I cooked them and had corn and French bread and salad then ice cream cones and grapes, and I think everyone had enough to eat. At least everyone got one helping always as I was last in line over the weekend and I always found something to eat! We hardly got everyone fed when they had to begin going to the Football Game as they already had the tickets, and fortunately, Charlie (who is now a regular paper boy down at the NRC like he used to do for Johnny) was given a ticket by one of the papers, so they were able to take Terry with them. Errol and I cleared up and she is a marvel that girl. I liked her very much and talk about a help – all weekend if there was a job to be done – Errol did it. She didn’t wait for me to begin or to ask, she was just right there working and was the most efficient and practical helper. Leona would help but she would dash off to do something for the children in the middle, or sit talking and forget there were dishes to be done, but Errol would have them finished before anyone noticed if she could. Frankly, Leona is a nitwit, Cec and I decided, but Errol is very nice and we liked Russell too – he is much more like Cec than Carman is and he and Cec got on very well together. He would give Cec a hand with things too, whereas Carman would sit under the tree and read while Cec cut the grass around him, sort of thing. Anyway, that first evening we sat and waited for the Atchisons to come, and Linda and I put the little Carmans to bed and as time went on we decided that the Russells might as well sleep that night in Carman’s tent which he had put up under the old apple tree – where the children used to sling the hammock. Errol was keen to get her children in bed as they were all tired, so eventually they unpacked and put the children to bed in the tent, and still no Atchisons.
Nice for everyone except Russell and Terry! The Grey Cup in November had the same teams but opposite result.
Finally the others came back from the Game, and poor Errol was just about dead on her feet so off she went to bed, and of course then, at about twenty to 12 Lea and family appeared! Well, we finally got to bed about 2 or 2:30 and awake at 7 of course – the little dears! With Mom and Dad back in their own room we put Carman and Leona on the porch to sleep – and of course they heard their children even less! We had 19 sleeping that night and breakfast was from 7:30 till noon! Leona annoyed me madly by rushing to make everyone bacon and eggs as they appeared whereas I reckoned that anyone wanting breakfast after 10:30 could have coffee from the perc. and make themselves some toast and marmalade. I might say that I was having a baking morning and had cleared everyone outside as it was a lovely morning and I made pies and cookies and a cake and could really have done without the bacon and egg activities! The Russell family were to go over to Lea’s that afternoon and take their luggage to stay, but I said for them to come back to dinner as I was sure that Lea wouldn’t have a meal ready – anyway she is still hobbling around with her back, so I had said why didn’t they all come but Lea said Oh, no, they wouldn’t, but I suggested that they come for coffee and dessert later, and she said they would do that. I had a big 7lb. roast of beef, so we were going to have that with roast potatoes and green beans, then sponge cake with raspberries and ice cream for dessert. I decided that the children could eat on the porch and as my table will hold just 8 adults, which we would be, I set the table in the dining room nicely, and was all organized when at 5 o’clock Lea phoned could they come to dinner after all as they had nothing ready and Errol had persuaded her I wouldn’t mind. Grrrr! This was 4 extra, and believe me, there was no roast beef left for sandwiches next day! Merle, Dix and Bruce were arriving that evening, but we didn’t know when – so Errol said they wouldn’t wait so that she could get the children to bed in good time, and they and the Atchisons left about 9. I had got ready Charlie’s room for Merle and Dix, and Linda and Charlie and Bruce were to sleep out in the tent – they had air mattresses and sleeping bags and it was a lovely big tent. Lindy and I had a good laugh – before they all came, I told Linda that they were probably all too old to sleep together like in the good all days, and she would have to sleep somewhere else, but when it came to the point there just didn’t seem to be any other place, and none of them seemed to think a thing about it, so in they all went together and had some very good bedtime chats! The Moors finally didn’t come till after midnight as Dix had to work that day, so we had another late night. 15 sleeping that night!
The next day was the Golden Wedding! Everyone was supposed to be here at 5 o’clock, so that we could take pictures while it was still nice and sunny, so I suggested that the families all go swimming in the afternoon, so that I would be left a clear field, and that is what they did. They all went to Lea’s and the youngsters went to a nearby beach on the Rideau River with some of the adults, and Merle had a chat with Lea, and Mom and Dad stayed here and had a rest and Cec and I got things ready. I set a buffet table on the dining room table with the Wedding Cake as a centerpiece, and gold candles and it really looked lovely. I had bought a huge 24 lb. turkey at Shoppers City and for an extra 15¢ a lb. they roasted it for me and had it all cooked and piping hot at 5:30. This was a great blessing as it saved having the oven on all that hot day and saved me such a lot of trouble. Besides that I had a big ready cooked ham, and I made a tomato aspic salad, a potato salad, a macaroni salad, a green salad, and a mixed bean salad which I had got Leona to make for me the previous day. Then I had hot rolls carrot sticks, celery and radishes etc. and then the cake with ice cream for dessert. Everyone was back in good time, and I was all ready and beautifully organized, and we all got dressed – Lindy in her blue linen which I had made and which looks very nice, and me in my new shaded blue dress for the first time. Leona had a white linen sheath, and then when the Russells and Atchisons came, Errol had had her hair done and had curled Barbara’s and they had on Mother and Daughter dresses of a very pretty pink and white lace which Errol had made them for her sister’s wedding. They looked so pretty and the dresses were lovely. Bruce and I rushed and got the turkey and put it in the oven while we took pictures outside, and then we went in and Russell and his family gave Mom and Dad a big bunch of carnations and the Atchisons a bottle of ‘Golden Wedding’ Canadian whisky, and Merle and Dix gave them a card with the present of the trip to Prince Edward Island. Cec and I had been shopping at Birks and we got Mom a lovely little gold brooch of a spray of tiny maple leaves made of 3 kinds of gold – yellow, white and red, and for Dad a tiny little tie pin of one small gold maple leaf with a wee diamond dewdrop on it. They seemed very pleased and we thought they would be nice mementoes for them. We then had dinner, with Russ carving the turkey, and Dix the ham, and there was plenty for everyone – we sat some in the dining room and some out under the tree and it was just lovely – the weather couldn’t have been more perfect – not even any mosquitoes! Afterwards Mom and Dad cut the cake, and then Cec produced champagne (we found we could rent glasses from the wine shop for 25¢) and we all drank their healths, the children in coke, and ate cake and ice cream. It really went beautifully, without a hitch, and everything was so pleasant and went so smoothly that I really felt much less tired than the 2 previous evenings. The next day, Sunday, we invited everyone to come for a Wiener Roast to christen Cec’s new barbecue, so the Russells came after lunch – at least poor things, I don’t think that they got lunch at Lea’s and I rather doubt if they got any breakfast either from what I’ve heard, but anyway they brought Darryl and Patty Lu with them, and they all had a good time, playing badminton and baseball etc. We had planned supper for 6 and of course Lea and Wendell didn’t appear until 7 or after but we didn’t wait for them. We had hot dogs and salads and Potato Chips and afterwards watermelon and the 2 pecan pies I had made. Cec was very pleased because his fire worked beautifully and the hot dogs were lovely. We sat around and chatted and then bade farewell to Russell and his family as next day they went with the Atchisons up to the cottage for 1 day and then on the Tues. Merle and Dix left with Mom and Dad to drive down to Brantford and Russ and family were driving down the same day and spending a day or so with them then heading home again as Russ only had 2 weeks. He has another week’s holiday but he is a great hunter you know and some friend of his had arranged a week’s hunting in the Fall with a plane, so he was keeping time for that. He left us some moose sausage in the freezer, but we haven’t tried it yet! This left us with just the Carman family, and it was a bit of a mistake, as we were all so tired after the weekend, that I would really have been much happier if they had all gone! However, they did go to Lea’s for 2 nights and then came back on Sat. evening and took Cec and me out to dinner and to another football game. I had actually never seen a football game in Canada, so it was quite fun as it was a lovely evening but although Ottawa won it wasn’t a very good game. I enjoyed the dinner which we had at an Italian Restaurant, and we had yummy pizzas. The Carmans left the next morning and really we all collapsed in a heap! Quite a visitation.
Grandpa and Granny Costain on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, surrounded by grandchildren.
Our next excitement was our own Anniversary, on the Tues. and Cec and I went out to dinner at a German Restaurant and had a very nice dinner and then went on to a movie “Walk Don’t Run” with Cary Grant, which was quite amusing. I forgot to tell you that before the crowd came, we all packed into the car – Mom and Dad and us 4, and went to the Drive-In to see it “Born Free” the film about Elsa. It was really marvellous and we all enjoyed it so much – if you ever get the chance, you should see it.
After all my own excitement, I had to gird my loins and get down to work again, as there was a wedding in our Church on the Sat. afternoon, and the WA were catering to the reception, and I was in charge. It was a young man who lives here in Rothwell Heights and comes to our church, although his parents go to the United, and his bride comes from a small town not far from Ottawa, but apparently her parents didn’t approve of the wedding as they didn’t even come to it, and the young couple paid for everything themselves. We felt so sorry for them as they are very nice -not young and silly and dashing off to get married in haste, but had gone together since High School and she is a teacher and he has just got his BA and is specializing for a year and then going to teach Gym etc. Anyway, it ended in being a very pretty wedding, and we served them a nice cold buffet and it all went very well. The only bridesmaid was a disappointment though – her dress was rather an ugly shade of dark gold – more like a Fall wedding. All this time Linda and Charlie were toiling away at typing – we did let them have 2 days off while all the family were here, but otherwise they went every morning and seem to have done very well. They are not madly fast yet but seem quite accurate – more than me! – they finished on 4th of this month and apart from having a Czech. Dr Poldus from work to dinner one evening, and Mr. Graham and the wife of a new Fellow of Cec’s who hasn’t come yet another evening, life has been placid and I have been slowly getting the washing and ironing done and tidying and cleaning gradually. Linda and Charlie’s rooms were just shambles after the little Costains left – no other words describe it. They had every toy in every cupboard all over the place, although we told them certain things weren’t to be touched, and some of Charlie’s things will never be the same again! Lindy thinks we were very silly to have the whole house so clean and beautiful before they came, but at least I can remember that I had it looking nice once this summer! I forgot to tell you a very important piece of Costain news! Charlie has just reminded me that on our wedding anniversary I was standing next to him and suddenly said “You are taller than me!” We immediately dashed and measured, and sure enough he is about half an inch or more taller, so here I am the smallest member of the family! Linda is about half a head taller than I am now and whereas last year she was about the same height as Janet and Joanne was much taller, I now notice that she is as tall as Joanne and that Janet is left behind. Now to get back to some of your letters. You were talking about the Test Matches in one of them and asking if we were interested, but really we never even hear of them hardly. Last week I heard a BBC news broadcast and they said that the WI were beating England hollow and since then Cec has been talking to a Fellow at the Lab. who is going down to the University in Jamaica or Trinidad – I forget which – to teach for a year, and he has been getting the local papers and is very interested and told Cec how well the WI team are doing. This man, Barry Morrow got his PhD in Cambridge and has a nice English wife, and they have just got a little baby. I expect everyone is now very interested in the Empire Games, about which we do hear something, but mainly how Canada is doing so it is very hard to get a good overall picture. Cec probably knows more as he hears the late night sports review on TV but I don’t watch. We have just been watching the TV news now at 7 o’clock, as a big new bridge being built over the Rideau River partially collapsed this afternoon, killing about 6 men and more than 50 more seriously injured. It seems fantastic that in this day and age such things could happen but earlier this year a new building under construction did the same thing, although fortunately not so serious. You feel that something must be very wrong. You mentioned earlier that you had heard that Vivian Leigh and Sir John Geilgud were at Young’s Island, and we were interested because Cec met them when he was down in Washington at Easter. He stayed with a scientist friend and his wife and while he was with them they took him to the first night of Sir J.G. and V.L.’s new play, as the young brother of Cec’s friend was in the cast. At the moment, I can’t remember the man’s name or the name of the play, but it was going on to New York after Washington, and it must have been after the New York run that they came to St. V. After the play Cec was taken backstage to meet the cast and was introduced to V.L. and warned that she didn’t enjoy being told that she was remembered in ‘Gone with the Wind’. Cec said that she looked beautiful on the stage, but older and very tired near by – she hadn’t been well during the run, and they were quite anxious about her, because of course she had TB once and so I don’t suppose is very strong. [See post January to May 1966] You were answering my letter and in it talking about Harry Kroto and his wife up at the cottage, and getting him all confused with one or two others who were there! Harry is a very dark vivacious young man and he is from England and his wife is English too – he has a strange name because his parents were refugees from Germany before the war but he was born and brought up in England. They are leaving NRC at the end of this month after their 2 years and he is going down to the US for a year. We will have a farewell party for them when we come back from Brantford. You were asking about Linda and Charlie’s reports – they arrived about a month ago and were both good without being wildly outstanding, but that is fine with us! We hear that Darryl failed Grade 9 again, which means that he, at 16 is behind Charlie who is 13. He is certainly one mixed up boy, but you couldn’t find a nicer, more polite boy during the time he spent here with all the visitors. Lea is dreadful with him I think, but she always has been and this is the trouble we gather – he is resentful and uses school to get his own back. While we had our guests we were so pleased because our garden looked very nice. It has been so hot that everything has bloomed and finished in no time at all, but just then we had masses of delphiniums in flower and lots of yellow and gold and orange day lilies and it really looked lovely. Even our centennial rose was blooming madly, but we were disappointed because it turns out to be a multi-flora so the flowers are small, and although they bloom in clusters and make a nice show we prefer the bigger blossoms. It is a lovely orangey-red colour though, so we are glad it is doing well, and even Charlie’s poor little dug-up rose put forth one flower! Our little Saki is growing into a lovely little cat and is lots prettier now and just as playful and sweet. Linda throws her around like a little bag and the children play with her by the hour and she is so good tempered and will jump at your feet as you go by or pretend to pounce on you, but never a scratch or bite, and always little soft paws without a claw showing. We got some pictures yesterday of her when she was tiny and we all had to laugh as she was so funny and tiny and wispy with a little straggly tail! Now she is really pretty and so white and clean, but still a little cat – an appetite like a baby horse though. The hamster is as fat and cuddly as ever, and his appetite is pretty good too – a bathtub full of pablum twice a day – a doll’s bathtub that is! Also sunflower seeds and peanuts and some lettuce or celery or apple. Ruth Lockwood is going to look after them for us when we are away. My sewing came to a halt when our visitors came, but as I told you I did finish the pale blue linen for Lindy and she looks very pretty in it as it is just the colour of her eyes. She thinks it is too plain, but I think it is very nice. She finished her yellow shift too and then I made the material you sent me for my birthday with the big navy blue flowers on it into a very nice dress for me with a front opening, which is a nice change from struggling with a back zipper. And I like the pattern and think that I will make another like it but I find the material very crumply – you know, you wear it once and then it has to be ironed again, even if I have starched it. You say that you don’t think I like the materials which you sent me much, actually I do like them, except for the fact that they both have the kind of mauvy-pink colour which I don’t care for too much. I was going to make the pique into a sundress, but I have no time now, and think I’ll keep it till next year. I have worn the dress you brought me from New York last year all summer long. I don’t know what made you think I didn’t like it – I do, but if you remember last year we didn’t have much weather for sundresses, whereas this year I have worn hardly anything else. The one you gave me is lovely as it doesn’t show the dirt much, and when I do wash it it opens out and is so easy to iron! Thank you so much for the cheque for $18. I told Linda that you had sent her $10 and she is very thrilled. She has been so good this summer, with only 3 dresses really, as nothing from last year would fit her, so her pale blue dress, the yellow dress, a grey and white dress we bought and a couple of summer skirts is all she has had apart from a pair of jeans and a couple of pairs of shorts! Anyway, with her birthday coming and going away too, I thought she could do with something else, and we went shopping and got her a very pretty two-piece. The skirt is a nice soft sage green and the top, which comes over the skirt at the waist is a cream colour with a little half belt in front of the green. It has a plain round neck and is sleeveless and she looks very nice in it. It is made of a laminated jersey – like the mauve coat, you know, but a finer thinner material, so should look nice, both for best and then when she begins school next month. I suggested to Linda that she use your money to get two nice blouses and she is very pleased with the idea. The linen one you saw sounds lovely, but perhaps it is just as well that you didn’t get it as she is so tall and long waisted that we have to be careful that blouses which are slim enough for her are also long enough. The ones she wears for school are the shirt type with good tails that tuck in well, and she thought she would get one with a green print (which she has already seen and had her eye on) and a nice white one. She can wear them with the green skirt. [Note: in 1966, girls were not allowed to wear trousers to school. We didn’t wear uniform, but there were rules!] And I will send you some green string and fertilizer for your violets when I get home from the cheque too, and you didn’t say if you wanted batteries now or not. Let me know.
I must stop, as I have been typing all day off and on, and my fingers are sore! At the moment I can’t think of another thing to tell you but probably I will sooner no sooner seal the letter that I will think of all sorts of interesting things. Anyway, much love from us all and say hello to Doris and Luenda and Mr. Cox and Dowers from us. One evening when everyone was here we had a film show and Merle asked to see our West Indian pictures, and it took us back quite a while! [Since the trip had been a decade earlier!] Love to Auntie Muriel and Peggy and much love to you from Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, It is so long since I wrote you a proper letter that I hardly know where to begin. I am so sorry, but after our visitors left, we all were just exhausted, and seemed to spend the first week either sleeping or sitting, and it was only last week that I finally got the last of the 16 sheets washed and ironed, not to mention the other odds and ends! In addition to that all the garden things are flourishing and I have been picking and freezing – raspberries, green beans, wax beans and peas. The small carrots are ready and the beetroots, so I should get on with those sometime today. The raspberries haven’t been as good as last year as it was very dry for a while when they first began and the berries were just little wizened up things, but then we did get some rain and they improved. Mom Costain when she was here just loved a jar of blackcurrant jam which I had made 2 or 3 years ago, but I am the only one who likes it here so I hadn’t bothered since. However, when I have the currants it seemed a shame not to make some jam for her to take home so Cec picked me the currants on Sunday (sitting peacefully on a garden chair!) and I spent one entire evening topping and tailing the miserable things and then making the jam. I don’t think there is more than 2 lbs. of it – I put it in small plastic jars with lids – but it was more than 2 lbs. amount of work. My fingernails are still stained black. We still have lots of currants on the bushes, but I don’t think I will deprive the birds of them! Leona was crazy about gooseberry jam, and again no one here eats it except me, so we picked a big plastic bag full for her to take with her, and they were still very firm, so she hoped that she would get them home and be able to make some jam. I still have the bag of gooseberries in the freezer from last year! We have had a simply incredible summer – beautiful sunny weather day after day for 3 months or so. Ever since the children finished school at the beginning of June it has been lovely nearly all the time – we have had occasional thunder showers and one or two cool days, but always the next day has been warm and nice again, and we have even had more pleasant hot days than miserable humid ones. We have had it very hot – over 90 quite a bit, but the nights have been quite pleasant and usually the humid horrid weather just was a day or so, and then nice again. Yesterday turned very hot and humid and was over 90, but there was a thunderstorm about midnight and today is lovely and cool and sunny in the high 70ies. It has been perfect for all those people who have cottages, and would have been so nice for us last year! However, we certainly couldn’t have managed our visitors nearly so well without the gorgeous weather, so I can be thankful. Actually, the hot weather doesn’t make me any more energetic of course, but there haven’t been all that many days when it was an effort to move, although I am beginning to get fed up with trying to think of meals without putting the oven on! I must be needing a holiday to be getting fed up with cooking, and ours begins on Tuesday! We drive down to Stratford on Tuesday, and stay in a Guest House. That evening we go to see ‘Henry V’ and then next day Cec and I hope to go over to London for a quick visit with Pete and Lu Forsyth while Linda and Charlie stay in Stratford and go to the matinee of the opera ‘Don Giovanni’. This seemed the simplest thing, as really our children and the Forsyth children don’t know each other now and have very little in common, and Charlie was quite heartbroken at the thought of not seeing the opera, which is his favourite. Personally, Mozart’s operas don’t thrill me that much, but he loves them. Then when we come back we go to see ‘Twelfth Night’ that evening and afterwards drive to Brantford. That makes an awfully long day, but we arranged it that way as Merle and Dix thought that they might bring Mom and Dad over to see ‘Twelfth Night’ too, and we would all be going back to Brantford together. While we are in Brantford John and Sharon and their new baby Steven will be there too as they are home for a month, and while they are there there will be a double christening on the Sunday with Lorne and Liz’s new little baby Cynthia. I had thought I might be godmother to my namesake but they are both going to be a little members of the United Church so I don’t suppose they will have godparents.
Stratford was great. We had a wonderful holiday.
Lindy’s birthday is on the next day and we will spend most of the day in Brantford and then go back to Stratford to see the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and spend the night before we drive home the next day. We will be away just 8 days, but it will be a nice break, and Cec took quite a lot of time off when we had the visitors etc. so he doesn’t have much time to spare if we plan to take a month in England next year. You will be glad to know that we have saved airfare to England and back, so now all we have to do is save the money we will spend when we are there, and we won’t have to “Go Now – Pay Later”! I have at least 3 very nice letters of yours to answer, and all sorts of things to thank you for, like the cheque and anniversary card etc. but I think that I will begin by trying to get you up to date with our doings, and then I may find that I have answered some of your questions while doing so. I think that the last time I wrote you a decent letter was at the end of June just before Mom and Dad came. We had the Sunday School Prizegiving on the 26th and in the afternoon the S.S. races etc. and then the Chicken Barbeque – do you remember last year? It was a very hot day again and the chicken got a bit burned but everything else was fine! The next day Mom and Dad arrived by train during the afternoon both looking very well and exactly the same as they have looked for the last 10 years.
The next evening Lindy and I were invited to a shower for Alayne Staniforth by Mrs. Pierce and Mrs. Craven. Alayne is the eldest daughter of Phyllis Staniforth, who you will probably remember is a very close friend of Margaret Savic’s. She and Margaret have always been pillars of the Altar Guild, so this is why the Shower and all of us Church ladies were there. Alayne is the oldest girl – there are 2 others, one training as a nurse, and one, Pamela who is Linda’s age. Alayne is a Hospital Librarian, and her fiancé is a Medical Student and they have been going steady since High School, although Robert moved with his family to Vancouver about 4 years ago. They are to be married on August 20th in our church, and then will live in Vancouver. The Shower was great fun, and Lindy and I made up a Kitchen Basket, with all sorts of little presents in it for our gift and she really got a wonderful lot of useful things and no duplicates. I even managed to make her an apron, and Linda wants one the same, so I will have to hustle on with it! Alayne’s was blue and white stripes but Linda is going in for green this Fall, so I have got a white material with green and gold spots, and a gay green trim, so I hope it will look nice and that she will be pleased. We had quite a nice visit with Mom and Dad – not doing much, and of course Linda and Charlie began their Typing Lessons on 4th July, and had to be there from 8:30 to 11:30, so this meant an early rising. They left here at 7:45 and got the bus downtown, and it put them off right outside the door of the Business School (next door to the Zenith Shop.)
It introduced us both to typing, and we would bring our (mis)typed efforts home each day for Cyn to giggle over the peculiar sentences that resulted. We may not have enjoyed it but it was useful.
We had Carman’s friends Joy and Jack Locke over one evening to meet Mom and Dad as they knew them from when the Lockes lived in Penticton, and late one night the phone rang and here it was Carman, saying that they had decided after all to make the trip East, and could we cope with them. Of course Cec said yes, and they were to arrive on 13th, driving and camping on the way. In the meanwhile, Mom and Dad had told us that Russ and Errol’s little girl had scarlet fever when they saw them in Saskatoon and didn’t know if she would be well enough or the boys catch it, so we had no idea if they were coming or not.
That week Cec took some days off work and he and Dad began building a big barbeque fireplace in the back garden. Dad had built a big retaining wall at the back of the garden of his new house in B.C. so Cec thought he would have expert advice, but of course the job turned out to be an enormous one and took much longer than they thought as always happens! It is at the back corner of the patio, and if you remember Cec had piled there some cut limestone blocks which Ken had used for a fireplace in the other house and which had been torn out when they remodeled. Cec always said that he would use them to build a fireplace, but of course he had to build it out of concrete blocks first and pour cement for a platform, and then face the whole thing and chimney with the limestone, so it was a very big job, but it really looks beautiful now. It is sort of 3-cornered, with the firebox and chimney in the middle and two wings on either side, which Cec has covered with slate tiles, so that there is a working space on either side. Cec of course wanted to get it done before all our visitors came, as we didn’t think our little hibachi would be much use for all that crowd, but Grandpa went away in the middle of it, so he had a hard time getting it done in time. However, he managed, and we christened it while they were here and Cec was very pleased that he could cook 36 hotdogs at once!
Seated in front: Leslie and David Costain; in chairs L-R, Patty Lu Atchison holding Phillip Costain & Barbara Costain with cousin Robin Costain; in a clump standing L, Terry, Brian, Brent and Bobby Costain, then Leona Costain, Lea Atchison, Merle Moor, Cyn Costain, Linda and Charlie Costain; back row, cut off, Daryl Atchison, Russell Costain, Carman Costain, Errol Costain, Wendell Atchison, Cec Costain, Bruce Moor, Dixon Moor.
Just a note of review of the Costain Family: Mom and Dad Costain had 5 children: Merle, Lea, Cec, Russell and Carman, all married, with a total of 16 grandchildren. Merle, Lea, and Cec live in Ontario- Lea and Cec in Ottawa, and this is where the family plan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their parents’ marriage. Mom and Dad, and Carman’s family live in British Columbia so have the farthest to travel, Russell and family live in Saskatchewan (although Cyn says Alberta, which surprised me) and in the end all (except the 2 oldest grandchildren, Merle’s sons John and Lorne and their very young families) managed to make it to Ottawa in July to celebrate.
[Continued from Monday’s letter…]
Tuesday. Linda and Charlie are off to school for their exams and Cec is away to work, so here I am to finish my letter. I am meeting the children at 12:15 and we are going downtown to get Daddy’s birthday present and Father’s Day present! This year the Columbus Meeting isn’t until Sept. so for once Cec has his birthday at home – we are going to celebrate by having Mr. Graham and the Grahams over for bridge. We thought that we would get him a new card table for Father’s Day as the old one is not very presentable now, but as F’s Day isn’t until Sunday he won’t have it for this occasion. Saki is rushing madly around at the moment trying to run off some of her high spirits! She just loves going outside now and climbs all the trees and the other day we couldn’t find her anywhere and then looking up the old apple tree we saw her fast asleep up in the branches. She still uses her sandbox inside, and doesn’t seem to think the garden soil is the same thing at all. While Cec was away last week we took her down to the Vet. Dr. Cherry for her distemper shot, and poor little thing she had a horrid time. She was just terrified and gave a great squall when he gave her the injection and then bit the assistant who was holding her and rushed off. Her ears have always been very dirty inside and I had cleaned them a bit with the cotton covered sticks and warm water, but I told the vet and he gave them a great cleaning with cotton wool and got out gobs of black stuff and of course she hated this. He then looked at some of this stuff under his microscope and found she had ear mites and showed me the little things wiggling (Charlie wouldn’t look – Lindy wouldn’t even come into the Vets.) and so he put some stuff in her ears and frightened her some more – so much so, poor little thing that as she was climbing up Charlie and me she had a B.M. and didn’t do our coats any good! However, she soon recovered when we got her back in the car – which she quite likes, and I have been putting in the ear stuff and she doesn’t mind me doing it. She also has some vitamin drops and she loves them and licks them off the dropper with great gusto! Noli is doing fine and is just as fat and gentle as ever. Saki loves to watch him in his cage and if we go out quite often will go and sit up beside the cage for company. Of course if Noli is out on the floor Saki thinks he is a plaything, particularly if he runs, so we keep them apart! Our plans for the summer are slightly more organized – Mom and Dad are arriving on the 27th of this month, in 2 weeks time. We have got a beautiful new sofa bed for the family room, as we felt they had slept on that old one for so many visits that they deserved a new one for their Golden Wedding! It is a brown sofa when closed, about the same length as the old one, but it opens out so that the head of the bed is the back of the sofa, and so makes a big Queen-size bed. It has a foam mattress and is very comfortable – the children keep begging to open it out so they can lie in luxury and watch television! Just after we had ordered this what should happen but the washing machine should break down! Of course when it broke down last time over 2 years ago the man told us this was giving out and that was breaking down etc. and it had been leaking, so it was expected but of course it would happen just then. Cec said it wasn’t even worth getting a repair man out to look at it and that we should look at new ones, so 2 weeks ago we went out to Simpson-Sears and got a beautiful new one. It is pretty much like the old one but just a few more adjustments – in the old one I could either have the machine full of water or if I wanted a smaller wash I had to stay there and push the button when it was full enough, and then come back and do the same thing for the rinse, but this one has three amounts of water and I can set at any one and it does either a small, medium or large wash. While we were waiting to get it I went back to my old friend the Coinwash, and of course got all behind and in my washing and ironing and seemed to spend all last week catching up. I was in the middle of washing all the curtains etc. too and had got Lindy’s curtains and bedspreads done but now will have to attack the rest. We have got the Indian rug in the family room and it looks very nice and fits the colour scheme beautifully and makes it much cosier I think. To go back to our visitors this summer – Merle phoned up when Cec was away, and apparently she had got fed up with waiting to hear what Russell and his family were going to do this summer and had phoned them. You know the rumour has been going around that they would come and visit us for Mom and Dad’s Golden Wedding celebration, so at Christmas I wrote and said how pleased we would be to see them etc. – not a word. So we asked Mom when we wrote if she had heard if they were coming, and she had heard they might, and so it went on, and the same with a brother of Dad’s called Uncle Harry, and it was so annoying because none of us here knew what was happening. Well, finally poor Merle couldn’t stand it and phoned them (Russell is with Bell Telephone and we think can probably phone free) and after talking they said yes that they would come leaving Alberta around the 8 or 9 July and camping on the way – they have 4 boys and 1 girl. Then Merle said would they write and let us know but they said they didn’t know where our address was would Merle let us know, so poor Merle had to make another long distance call to us! If I were her I would have been mad! As it is I don’t much appreciate being a hotel where reservations needn’t be made! Merle and Dix and Bruce will arrive on 15 July and the celebration will be on 16th – Uncle Harry isn’t coming we just heard from Mom on Sat. so at last we are beginning to know what is happening! I called Lea to tell her the developments, but she’s is still in as bad a way as ever with her back and expects she will have to have it operated on – she doesn’t know when – so she is out of it as far as any entertaining goes. However she does have plenty of room so I think that Russell and his family can stay with us for a few days and then when Merle etc. come they can go over to stay at Lea’s and come to us to eat – as far as I can see this makes it 14 for meals and nine to stay part of the time and 11 the rest of the time! Linda thinks it would be lovely if all 14 were here and we could put them all up except as far as I can see the sitting room sofa would be the only place for her! I feel with this crowd I just can’t do much preparing – I’ll just have to wait and cope when it comes – I just hope it isn’t one of those Ottawa heat waves! Merle and Dix are taking Mom and Dad a trip to Prince Edward Island so will be only here a weekend I think, and I don’t suppose that Russell and Errol will be here very long as driving to and fro will take 4 days or so each way, so it will be a wild few days! I plan to do one thing beforehand and that is make a 3 tier wedding cake for Mom and Dad. I won’t make a fruit cake, just a white one, but I will make it in 3 square tins and ice it in gold and decorate it and I think it will look nice and be fun. I will freeze the cakes iced, I think and then just decorate it at the end, so it won’t take too long. Lindy and Charlie think they are having a very Organized summer – at the end of this month they are having tennis lessons for 10 days down at the tennis courts on the Lower Level of Rothwell Heights, then in July they are going for typing lessons at one of the High Schools in town, and Charlie now has a Paper Route – it is not really a route as it is the one he used to help Johnny Lockwood with at the NRC buildings on Montreal Rd. and all he hast to do is go and sit beside a pile of papers in the beautiful new air-conditioned hall! Johnny used to do 2 buildings but found his money was disappearing from the building where he just left the papers alone, so Charlie now does this one and he’s very proud of himself as he makes about 2 dollars a week. Lindy is panting for some babysitting jobs so that she can make money too, but so far she hasn’t done too well. In August we are going down to Brantford and Stratford for a week. We have booked a room in Stratford and will see Twelfth Night, Henry 5, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Lindy and Charlie are going to a matinee of an opera Don Giovanni while Cec and I go to London to see Pete and Lu. Charlie was most distressed at not seeing the opera which he said he wanted to see more than anything, so this was the solution, as really the children don’t have much in common with Pete and Lu’s 2 now, and hardly know them. We will then go to Brantford for a few days, and John and Sharon will be there and their baby christened. Lorne and Liz are expecting another baby this week – Debbie will be 2 1/2 now I think, and poor Liz had taken 2 night classes all winter and was sitting the exams last week! Now at last having caught up on all my news I will try and answer your letters. I got one last night – thank you so much for it – written on 6th. I am glad that you got my letter with the recipes, I don’t know if they will be much use to you, but I know you and Auntie Moo like to see them anyway. If you can get the chocolate chips I think you would like the Pot au Creme dessert of mine – it is very rich and creamy tasting and very nice for a party – if you put it in small dishes you don’t need much in each one as it is so rich. I hope that you enjoyed the Queen’s Birthday Parade – it is nice that the Admin and his wife have been inviting you to some of the things as I know how much you enjoy them. Lindy was quite disappointed this year as I didn’t bother to sign the book to go to the Governor General’s Garden Party and she had made up her mind that she was old enough to go this year! But I think it is fun once in a while, but not every year. I am glad that you enjoyed the visit of the nice blind men and had a drive out to see Lily Purnett with one of them. I was amused about Mrs. Manton and her son who is going to McGill. As you know the distance between Montreal and Ottawa is counted as nothing here, but I am quite sure that when he is in Montreal at University he will have no desire to come visiting some unknown family in Ottawa. He will have all his own friends and activities and would think it an awful bore. I am so sorry that I forgot all about the cheque book. I will get one this afternoon and send it to you. I also have a box (small!) all ready to send with the stockings for Auntie Moo and I must get it wrapped and mailed. Your Bank Account number is 8900 I think but I will check and let you know for sure when I send the cheque book. The children say thank you for the letters – perhaps when they are taking their typing lessons you will get some epistles from them. I am so glad that you met Mrs. Bedell – I haven’t heard anymore on the radio lately as I just have it on you know and it depends what I am doing as to whether I hear the talking bits or not, and in the summer I am out and about more. You mentioned in one of your letters having heard from Brenda and I have often wondered what happened about the scare that Arthur might have a spot which was cancerous. I imagine that they found it was all right or you would have said, but I hope everything is OK. I am sorry for them – they seem to have had a pretty hard time, travelling around and never settling for too long in one place, and some of the places pretty dreadful climates too. I am sure she must be longing to get back to England and have a proper home, but of course they must go where Arthur has a job. How is Richard doing in Australia? What part of Australia is Hazell Ann living in, and is Richard anywhere near? I am glad she is going to have a baby and I hope all goes well. I am glad that Jane and Bill are having a nice leave, but sorry that they didn’t come via Canada this time – next time, I hope. It was a big disappointment for John and a blow for all of them after all his hard work. What do they think he will go in for now? You ask about Charlie and his music lessons – well Ken and Dot only came back from Florida last month and are going away at the end of this one so poor Charlie doesn’t get much encouragement! I think I may have told you that the Scotts bought a small house trailer down in Florida and so when they go back in the Fall will have it to live in. It is in a trailer-park and they pay $25 a month and the park people look after it and the garden and keep it all in good shape whether they are there or not. Ken got it for 500 dollars from a man whose wife had left him and was on a drinking binge – trust Ken to get a good bargain! All the others were well over 1000 dollars. Dot is having a little music recital out at Cumberland next week, so Charlie is having to practice and refurbish some of his pieces, but anyway as long as he keeps it up a bit I don’t mind. The clarinet playing at school fell through – it was in the lunchtime you know, and someone didn’t come and then came back and they never seem to get any further than the ones who went regularly got very bored. By the way, you also ask about Lindy in one of your letters, and you will be interested to know that she is now a young woman! No trouble, but it seems very odd to me to have to remember such things at the supermarket again! She still complains over her small bosom but she actually has a little bit of a figure now. I am horror-stricken – I found an Airmail letter amongst yours, and thought oh, an old one from Jean, and ripped it in two, and then suddenly realized it is from Peter and that you had said something about wanting to keep it, so I will have to return it to you in 2 parts! I think you will still be able to decipher the name of your shares. You really shouldn’t send me letters you want to keep, you know. Well, it is 10:30 and not a dish washed, as Dottie used to say! I must stop and get something done and I think that I have really caught up with all the news. Our love to Auntie Muriel and hello to Peggy and her family when you see them. Hello to Doris and to Luenda and Mr. Cox! Much love from us all – so glad that your blood is behaving itself,
dear grannie, Mummy said half an hour ago that she was going to write to you a letter, but I don’t believe her. (i before e except after c) maybe if she hears this going it will stir up her conscience, but I wouldn’t count on it. I am finished school except for one (english) exam. I am making a yellow summer dress for me, but I am feeling dopy so mummy must tell me what to do. Whoops here she comes! by lc. it is now the next day and I doubt if you will ever get your letter. but go on hoping. lc it is now 2 days later. keep hoping.
Monday, 13th June. [Carol’swriting: Got it on 25th.]
Dearest Mummy,
Well, Linda kept you posted on my progress – or non-progress, but at last I have begun your letter! Last week I was very disorganized as Cec went to the Canadian Association of Physicists Meeting at Sherbrooke, Quebec, on Wed. afternoon, and Lindy and Charlie had exams last week and we were all at 6es and 7s! Neither of them had to sit all the exams, they got recommended in most things, but Lindy had to write three and decided to write English too, and see if she could improve her mark, and Charlie was recommended in everything, but had some marks in the 60s so decided to take those exams and see if he could improve them. He got recommended in Math. with a mark of 88 but took the exam to see if he could get his mark up to 90, but he doesn’t think that he made it! Some of the exams were in the morning and some in the afternoon and other days they didn’t have to go at all, so with Cec away we slept late in the mornings and everything was in a muddle. Cec came home on Sat. evening, and this morning I was so unaccustomed to the routine that I slept in until 8:20! Linda and Charlie both have an exam tomorrow morning and then they are finished for the summer and are feeling very sorry for the poor little kids at Fairfield who begin exams today and have another 2 weeks of school. I am so sorry that I have been such a long time in writing. Of course when I am determined to write a long letter, I always seem to put it off until I have a longer time, and it gets later and later. Linda has just come down in her bathing suit – it is a glamorous new 2 piece in navy and white and she looks very cute in it. We are having a roasting day today – well over 80 but quite a nice breeze – and last week after a very hot spell that finished off the lilac and tulips in short order it got so cold and when Cec was away we had to put on the furnace it was so cold and rainy a couple of days. I feel virtuous because I went out and gardened all morning, we are having a very bad year for mosquitoes so I haven’t been doing as much as I should, but this morning I covered myself with mosquito dope and went out and fixed up the small bed at the back just along the side of the garage you know. Do you remember Pat gave me some little plants last year that made quite pretty little green bush-like clumps which turned red in the Fall? It is called coxchia but I don’t know how to spell it! Anyway that whole bed was covered with seedlings so that it looked as if it were growing pale green moss. So this morning I transplanted some to the back of the other bed by the patio and wherever I wanted them and then dug all the rest up. I have planted nasturtium seeds along the front and then lots of my geranium slips and up the back some chrysanthemum plants which I had from a pot of chrysanthemums in the house. I have also planted a clematis plant at the back, with some strings to climb up to the garage roof so I am hoping that when next you come I will have a beautiful clematis vine! I planted all my patience plants out in the front last week and I have planted marigolds in the front bed where I had petunias last year. Cec has put cement curbs all along the sides of the driveway, and he has got some flat square cement paving stones and he has made a path from the front path to the door onto the porch, along in front of the garbage cans! The curbs give it a nice finished appearance, and we laugh, because Marjorie Graham keeps remarking about how nice they are and how she wishes they could get some, and she is still talking about the container for the garbage cans, so Cec says Dick must dread driving past our house! Do you remember Charlie’s rose? Well, it looked very dead this spring and we were sure that it was winter killed, so about two weeks ago we dug it up and of course we then found one tiny shoot on it still alive, so had to plant it hastily once more! We thought that we had probably finished it, but it seems to have done it good and it has quite a few shoots now and it’s looking quite healthy. We bought a Centennial Rose, which by the pictures looked very pretty and it is growing well, and I hope that we will have some lovely Centennial roses. Last time that I wrote was just before we had the second of our two big buffet dinners, on Friday 27th May. It went very well – we had June and George Lindsay among others – I felt very guilty as we hadn’t had them for so long, but George has been down in Kingston this year taking some high-powered course and only home for weekends, so it was hard to organize anything. George was on top of his form and telling funny stories and Linda thought he was very funny. He isn’t as terrified of her now that she is no longer a tiny baby! Anyway, after that was over, I thought oh, goody, a quiet week – I’ll get some sewing done, so on Monday I cut out 2 dresses for Linda – the yellow one she is making for herself, but I began the pale blue one, then on the Tuesday I went to the bank and grocery shopping and all the odds and ends I do when I have the car, and then about 4 o’clock, the children were home from school and I had just put all the food away when the phone rang and a man’s voice said hello and who should it be but Alan Jaeger! [Cyn’s first cousin once removed, son of her New York cousin Margs.] I was completely amazed as I had no idea Alan ever thought of coming up here but it turned out that he had a week’s unexpected holiday and he decided to come to see Canada. I discovered all this and that he was on his own and had settled in a Motel on the Montreal Rd. so I invited him for dinner and told him how to get to our house. I can tell you I scuttled around because we had been going to have hamburger and so I dashed to the store again and got a roast of beef and some strawberries and everything was in control when he arrived at 6:15. He was very nice – Both Cec and I thought that he had improved since we met him at Mill and Ford’s camp that time, but he is so like his Father – I can’t see any of Marguerite in him at all- and as Lindy said afterwards not much sense of ha – ha! He stayed till midnight telling us all about his work – of course Cec knows about computers so they could gab about them, and about his adventures in Quebec where he’d been before he came to Ottawa. Cec invited him to the Lab. next morning and showed him around a bit and then took him over to the City Hall for lunch and then he was going on his way. Next day was Wed. and Marjorie had invited Cec and me to come for dessert and coffee after dinner and to play bridge with Mr. Graham (Rector)! We were one over, but we had an uproarious time as Mr. G. seem to thoroughly enjoy himself and although he plays well he isn’t the dead serious type and we had a lot of fun. Thursday I had suggested to Lindy that she invite some of her school friends to dinner as they live quite a distance away some of them and they never see one another once the holidays begin, so she brought 3 friends home with her on the school bus and I gave them tea and cookies and afterwards dinner on the porch. About 8 o’clock we sat out in the car to take them home and one girl lived on a farm way out in the country so that we weren’t home till after 9:30. We had never been to this little village before and I don’t think that I could ever find it again! On Friday one of the Fellows at the Lab. got married. He is an Englishman called Phil Bunker and he married a Hungarian girl called Eva. She left Hungary after the uprising and went to England where she met Phil and when he came over here on his Fellowship they arranged for her to come and she got a job here and they got engaged. With her parents still in Hungary and his in England they got married in a Registry Office but in the evening some friends of theirs whom he had known in Cambridge gave a Reception Party for them and we were all invited. It was very nice – mostly people from the Lab. but the host was a Dr. Earnshaw who had married an English girl when he was in Cambridge and he had a brother married to another English girl, so Cec and I had a lot of fun talking to them and to the Earnshaw parents. We had champagne and a nice wedding cake and although it was very informal it was very nice. Eva had made her dress – it was a very pretty shade of turquoise lace, short and quite plain and straight with a little overblouse to match, and she had made a little handbag and hat in the same material, and she had a spray of roses pinned to her bag. On the Sat. we had 2 young couples and their babies to dinner! Cec has had this young technician for quite a few months and felt quite badly about not having him and his wife out sooner, so we invited them with Harry and Margaret Kroto whom I have spoken of before – he is one of Cec’s fellows this year. The Kroto’s baby is now about 4 months and the Joffrey’s about 8 months but both of them settled down nicely and slept all the time they were here! So that was the end of my quiet week!
A Family History in Letters 