Capturing the Times
Late in the winter of 1914, my Great Uncle Loring Christie was living at the Roxborough Hotel in downtown Ottawa. He was there working for the Department of External Affairs. He contracted the mumps. In a letter to his sister, Helen, he spoke of his need to quarantine: A week has gone; two more must... Continue Reading →
When I was five years old, the Queen sailed on the Royal Yacht Britannia up the Seaway Canal near my Montreal suburb. She was in Canada for Expo 67 and Canada’s Centennial. My parents took me and my three siblings to join the crowds lining the canal. The ship was late, and Mom and Dad... Continue Reading →
The staff of Camp Oolahwan, summer 1981. Anyone who has been to camp will know that the second after this photo was taken, those of us at the front were pushed into the water. On April 30, 2007, an article about a girls’ camp appeared in the Montreal Gazette. I found myself examining memories for... Continue Reading →
Image by Nick_H from Pixabay First came the giant screen and only the giant screen. To access entertainment, giant-screen viewers just had to pay money and show up. That screen kept the populace in Romances, Westerns, and Action for years. Then, just before my generation arrived on the planet, the screen shrunk and moved into... Continue Reading →
Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay I watched it on an airplane to Australia. Airplane culture has certain demands: you are expected to stay calm, do what you’re told and not alarm those stuck with you inside that small metallic object hurtling over the vast Pacific. And there I was laughing out loud in the... Continue Reading →
Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash For me, there will always be a connection between Quebec separatism and the city of Mississauga. The adults of Quebec made a significant decision in November 1976. They chose René Lévesque and the separatist Parti Québécois to govern us, thus signalling a will for our province to separate from the rest... Continue Reading →
The unique Montréal event I witnessed on May 20, 1976, was not just a fire; it was a metaphor. The old had been incinerated. The new was on its way. That day, I was in my favourite seat by the window of my classroom at Chambly County High School in the Montréal suburb of St.... Continue Reading →
Image by Esa Riutta from Pixabay On July 1, 1988, my mother, my sisters Kathleen and Mary, and Kathleen’s young daughters Tamara and Meghan, were enjoying a day of activity at the family camp of the Anglican Church’s retreat centre, Sorrento Centre, in a British Columbia valley. When evening came, and the exhausted little girls... Continue Reading →
I was a big drinker of milk well into my adult years. When I took a youth-hostelling trip to New Zealand in 1983, I loved getting my milk in the solid glass jars they had there. I said so once to an Auckland girl who was showing me around. “Why? How does milk come in... Continue Reading →
A Greek messenger runs through a Greek countryside with an important message. After a grueling twenty-six miles he finds the Athenian leaders and delivers his report: victory at Marathon! The Chief Athenian glances at his fax machine and says to the runner, “We heard already!” This was a 1970s commercial on TV when I was... Continue Reading →
Living the Canada Life 