Remember When … 0 Remember When … 1 Remember When … This book was written by members of the Lifescapes group, a memoir writing program sponsored by the Brantford Public Library. Editor: Robin Harding Editorial Assistance: Lorie Steiner and Carolyn Harding Photo editing: Geoffrey Moyer Corner art: Carolyn Harding Cover: Robin Harding Copyright ©2014 by the authors ISBN XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Brantford Public Library Press 173 Colborne Street Brantford, ON N3T 2G8 2 Remember When … This book was written by members of the Lifescapes group, a memoir writing program sponsored by the Brantford Public Library. Editor: Robin Harding Editorial Assistance: Carolyn Harding Photo editing: Geoffrey Moyer Corner art: created by Carolyn Harding using brush sets by Lileya Cover: Robin Harding Copyright ©2014 by the authors ISBN 978-0-9810538-6-8 Brantford Public Library Press 173 Colborne Street Brantford, ON N3T 2G8 3 Remember When … Table of Contents Introduction …………..……………………………………………………………………………………….………………………. 5 California Dreaming……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….… 7 Bill Van Gaal Could This Really Have Been One Summer? …………..…..……………………………………………………….… 17 Karan Stemmler How I Learned to Type (With a Little Help From My Friends) …………………………………………………. 23 Wayne King Illegal Rodents ………….………….………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31 Ardith Martin It Takes the Darkness to See the Stars ……………………………………………………………………………………. 36 Jean Henderson Life at Georgina House …..…………….……………………………………….…………………………………………….… 45 Kay Boyd Lives Asunder …………..………………..…………………………….……………………………………………………………. 54 Bertha Joseph My Sister’s Wedding …………..……………………………………………………….………………………………………… 66 Paul Benoit Not Quite Grown-Up...………………..………………………………………………………………………………………….. 70 Sharon Bolger Potato Pancakes ………..…………………..……………………………………………………………………………………… 74 Gurmeet Panag Three Memories …………………..………..………………………………………………..……………………………………. 81 Marilyn Bricker The Trouble with Secrets ……..………………………………………………………………………………………………… 86 Nancy Poole Watercolours ……………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 92 Vickie Iorio When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World …………………….………………………………………….… 95 Gillian Holden 4 Remember When … Introduction Lifescapes is a writing program created to help people write their life stories, to provide support and guidance for beginner and experienced writers alike. This is our seventh year running the program at the Brantford Public Library and Remember When … is our seventh collection of stories to be published. A limited number of print copies of each edition are available for sale. Alternatively, the library archives copies for borrowing and provides PDF versions that can be viewed online on our website at http://brantford.library.on.ca/adults/lifescapes/. On behalf of the library and this year’s participants, I would like to thank the guest instructors who so generously offered their inspiration and guidance. In order of appearance: Zig Misiak, author and historian; Larry Brown, author and instructor; Penny Mackenzie, library board chairperson and English teacher; and Lorie Lee Steiner, magazine editor and writer. We appreciate the time you spent with us more than you know. As always, I am in awe of the dedication and talent I’ve been privileged to witness over the course of this program. What we do in Lifescapes isn’t easy and every year presents more challenges to overcome. Beyond the considerable time and energy required to craft these very personal stories, there is also the potential for personal injury, illness, or even a polar vortex to disrupt the creative flow. (The polar vortex was particularly vexing.) This anthology is a reminder of the importance of persevering beyond adversity to find our moments of peace, those times that allow us to stop and reflect and ask each other: Remember when …? Yes. We remember. Robin Harding Adult Services/Readers’ Advisory Librarian Brantford Public Library 5 Remember When … 6 Remember When … California Dreaming by Bill Van Gaal "Daddy, can we go to Disneyland to see the Mickey Mouse show?" asked my young daughter as she watched the Mouseketeers on T.V. My reply, intended to put the issue on the back burner for a while was, "Honey, that would take about five or six days of driving to get there and I don't think we can do that now. Maybe in a year or two we can go there." This request came out of the blue, but did get my wife and me thinking and talking about long distance travel and camping. We had both grown up on farms, Sandy in Norfolk County and me in Simcoe County and travel or camping had not been on the agenda for farm families. There was always too much work to be done especially when the weather was compatible with camping. We did do some camping after our marriage in 1964 with borrowed tents and tent trailers. While it was primitive camping, we did enjoy it, but would have liked more creature comforts. The birth of our daughter in 1967 temporarily stopped those activities but the interest was still there and we discussed future excursions with children to think about. 7 Remember When … 1968 saw us move from our small apartment in Toronto to our own home in Glen Williams on the outskirts of Georgetown. It was there in 1969 that our son was born. We hadn't lost our interest in camping and in February 1970 purchased a new Volkswagen Westphalia camper bus priced at $4253.75 including license, taxes and delivery charges. We traded in a 1965 Meteor Montcalm convertible and its value was deducted from the final price. The vehicle included an attachable tent and had a pop-up roof and a place for the children to sleep above the front seats. For a few years this was also our only vehicle for family transportation. We traveled extensively and camped with it whenever we could. In some of these campgrounds we met people who belonged to a camping club called National Campers and Hikers Association, NCHA for short. Members were friendly, helpful and always spoke of the benefits of belonging. There was no chapter in the Georgetown area and along with a group of five or six interested families we were determined to start a chapter and set about to make it happen. Hungry Hollow Hoboes In the Glen Williams Community Center our Charter was presented to us by the Canadian NCHA Executive on March 21, 1973. Six couples formed the first Chapter Executive with Sandra and I being the secretaries. The name came from local history and signified an area where strange things allegedly happened in the past. The hobo part of the name also spoke to the The first Hungry Hollow Hobos Executive. mobility and travel camping offered, a group of Source: Georgetown Herald people with wanderlust. A Larger Camper Round about '72, with the children growing and all of us enjoying the camping life we decided that a larger camper was required soon. The usual shopping for new and used campers proved that the family budget would be strained and we looked at alternatives. Some of the camping community we had met used old converted school busses made into large and well equipped motor homes at a very reasonable cost. In the fall of '72 we purchased a full size school bus, designated as a 72 passenger, 3 children to a seat, from an operator in Orillia for $900.00. It was a 1961International with a modified 327 cubic inch G.M. motor and a 5-speed 8 Remember When … standard transmission. Mileage on the odometer was 99,000+ miles or 160,000 kilometres in metric. The tires and body were in excellent condition and I drove it to our home in Glen Williams. Immediately after getting the bus home I removed all 24 seats and advertised them for sale in the local paper raising $75.00. Our intention was to get it fully converted and ready for a trip to California in the summer of '73. That timeline would satisfy two desires our family had: Disneyland for the children and the 1973 International NCHA convention in Los Banos, California. We asked my Sister Liz and her husband Terry if they would help with converting the bus into a camper and join us on the California trip. They readily agreed, which meant there would be eight travellers, four adults and four children aged, 4, 5, 6, and 7. It promised to be an adventure of a lifetime and we planned to be on the road for six weeks. California Bound Travelers. Photo credit: Ken Castle Laying out the floor plan took us in excess of a month. The floor was marked with chalk and pieces of cardboard until a suitable layout was found that would make the best use of the available space. We had a full 34 feet (10 meters) of space to work with and we wanted to maximize our available room. With the floor plan done we set out to replace some of the windows with metal on the outside and wood paneling on the inside. We painted the outside cream and white and built cupboards and as much storage space as possible. I purchased a new propane four burning stove with a full oven and a refrigerator that ran on propane and 120 volt current when it was available. The kitchen dinette had storage under the bench seats and converted into a bed for two adults. In the middle of the camper on each side there were two sets of bunk beds which slept the children and turned into sofas for the day. 9 Remember When … In the rear was a permanent double size bed with storage under it, accessed from the rear door. Here we stored tools, hoses, the BBQ and other assorted items. In the kitchen area was a sink with water supplied from a storage tank underneath the camper, the propane tank was there also. A clothes closet was built in front of the back bedroom and a bathroom with sink and portable toilet on the opposite wall. The two doors opened in opposite directions closing the bathroom off from the rest of the camper. Lighting was supplied from two 12-volt batteries recharged when the engine was running and an electric battery charger when hydro was available.