This and That...

I don't know where the time goes...how can it be a whole week since I last posted? I guess being busy is a good thing! I have been spending a lot of time in the studio. I now have the 20 blocks done for the quilt I'm working on. Whew! Next I'll get busy on the pieced sashing and pieced sashing squares... I'm certainly going through a lot of thread...   :)
Our weather is slowly warming up, all fingers are crossed for an early spring. We have very little snow, most of the ground is bare... still frozen and brown but at least it doesn't have six or more feet of snow on it like it did at this time last year. The birds, mostly woodpeckers and chickadees, are enjoying my homemade suet cakes, and the squirrels are still trying to maneuver a heist.
I appreciate the comments made on my last post. All were in agreement that it's a shame we often don't appreciate our grandparents enough when we are young and they are alive, then when they're gone we wish we had known them better, and learned more about their lives. I have since done a little more research, and there is some discrepancy about my grandfather's work; I found something written by my mother that he was licensed as a first class mechanic, so mechanic or machinist? Not sure. Their wedding was during WWI when single men were being conscripted. My great grandfather suggested to my grandfather that "if he was thinking of marriage" he had better "get on with it" before he was conscripted as two of his brothers had been. And so they quickly were married. The photo was taken shortly thereafter. My grandfather was anxious to take his new bride to the Miramichi to meet all of his family and this was the "outfit" she wore- a teal satin  blouse, a long navy skirt and high buttoned boots, which were nearly

ruined as he trotted her all over the community meeting all the relatives, in the plentiful spring mud!!! I have thought of them often in the last few weeks, wondering what their early years of married life were like, one hundred years ago. I know times were hard and work was scarce. He spent a lot of time working away from home in Halifax/Dartmouth. He was working there during the famous Halifax Explosion on Dec. 6, 1917.

I watched a good movie on Netflix on the weekend, Testament of Youth, also set during WWI. (Thanks for the recommendation, Carole!) I thought of my grandparents a lot while watching the young couple in the movie. (This film stars Alicia Vikander, recent Oscar winner; I can hardly wait for her next movie- The Light Between Oceans, due out in 2017.)

I'm already dreaming of my summer garden, during these late winter days... I bought my first packs of seeds last week.   :)

Up next, another book review...

Peace,
Linda

"Over the years, I've learned that for the gardener, in addition to rest, winter is a time for wide-awake visions about things to come." ~ Judith Couchman

100 Years Ago Today...

One hundred years ago today, my maternal grandparents, Myrtle and Edison, were married. This is their wedding photo, although it was not taken on that day, but several weeks later as far as I can tell. She was the youngest of five girls, and only seventeen when she married, he was twenty-two. Wasn't he handsome - look at that wavy hair. (I only remember him as a bald man.) He was the second youngest of seven. How times and families have changed!

As I've said before, I guess one has to reach a certain maturity before you appreciate and take an interest in family history, sadly often too late to get answers to your questions. I know very little of their early years. I think my grandfather was trained as a machinist. As far as I can find out, in 1916 he was working at a factory in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Robb Engineering Co., which manufactured woodworking machinery and steam and gas engines. My grandmother was born and raised in Amherst so I am assuming that is where they met. (I know nothing of her family other than names... her four sisters were Alice, Sadie, Minah and Grace - don't you love those "old" names... they're becoming popular once again... Her parents were Mary and Joseph! Seriously! Her father was a Smith, and her mother was a Pugsley, a common name in Amherst. I only ever knew one of my grandmother's sisters, Aunt Grace. The other three sisters moved west when they were young, and never came back.) Shortly after they were married, they moved to the Miramichi (my grandfather's home) and then in later years to Moncton. After retirement, they moved here to Fredericton.
I was only fourteen when my grandfather died but I still remember him well. He loved music and doing puzzles and crosswords, he was good with his hands and loved building and fixing things. He loved telling stories and a good joke, and he loved nature... my mother would tell me how she loved as a child to go for walks with her Dad in the woods- "He always knew where to find the Lady's Slippers." Perhaps that's where my love of nature and wildflowers comes from....
I was 31 when my grandmother died, so I had many more years to get to know her. She was a fine lady, a hard worker, dedicated to her family. She raised six children in the 20's and 30's when times were hard and money was scarce. I am told she was a beautiful seamstress, and made all her children's clothes, not to mention quilts to keep them warm... Perhaps that's where my love of sewing comes from...?
It seems my grandmother "got in a family way" very shortly after they were married because my mother came along just slightly over 9 months later... I cannot believe both my parents would be turning 100 this year..... How I miss them both. I'd give anything to have them back, even just for a day or two...

Peace,
Linda

Family... where life begins and love never ends...

Happy Anniversary

June 18th - today would be my parents' 68th Wedding Anniversary. They were married in a little country church on the Miramichi in 1942. It poured rain, and Mum got "locked" in her bedroom and was very late getting to the church; I'm sure Dad was wondering if she had decided to bail on him... Apparently, as I remember the story, a piece of old oilcloth somehow got stuck under her bedroom door and she couldn't get the door opened. Everyone had left for the church but she and her dad - he eventually had to climb up on the roof, come in through the bedroom window, and I can't remember if he got the door open or if they both had to exit via the window... Along with the pouring rain, I'm sure she was pretty stressed, emotional, and close to tears by that time!! What a way to start your wedding day!

My Mum loved flowers and was a great gardener. Among her most favourites were roses, irises and peonies. When I was at Corn Hill Nursery yesterday, it seemed I was seeing these three at every turn, so needless to say my Mum was in my thoughts... So bouquets to you, Mum and Dad, today on your anniversary! I'm sure you are enjoying the exquisite gardens of heaven.

All photos on this post are from the Show Gardens at Corn Hill near Sussex.

Peace,

Linda

"Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning." ~ Lydia M. Child

Fredericton's Great Fire, May 10,1943

Today is an anniversary in our family... and also in the city of Fredericton. Not many these days would remember it, but today is the 67th anniversary of one of the largest fires Fredericton has ever seen, and it happened right here on my family's property.

Our place originally was a fox ranch. My paternal grandfather, Alphonso Kelly (yes my grandfather was the original Fonz!!) raised foxes, and sold pelts to the Hudson Bay Co. May 10, 1943 was a very windy day, and a fire started in the building where meat was being prepared for the foxes. Stiff winds carried it quickly to several other small outbuildings and before long the Kellys had a major fire on their hands. At one point my father was up on the roof of the barn beating out flames, and someone else came along and removed the ladder, not knowing he was up there, leaving him trapped for a time. My mother, pregnant with my oldest brother, was at work as an R.N. at the Victoria Public Hospital when someone came in and said there was a big fire on the Kelly farm. She quickly found someone to drive her home. I can only imagine her fear as she saw the fire quickly spreading down the hill towards the city, starting new grass and bush fires as it was fanned by the winds..

It burned all the way down the old Woodstock Road- what is now known as Golf Club Road - destroying five homes, six barns and outbuildings, through the old brickyard (currently Garden Place), to Hanwell Road, through what is now Sunshine Gardens and almost to Smythe Street. It not only destroyed buildings, but also a number of silver foxes, pigs, cows and 400 chickens. The Daily Gleaner reported that two miles of hose were required to battle the blaze, along with the Fredericton Fire Department, auxilliary equipment from the Provincial Forest Fire Service plus 300-400 troops from the No. 7 District Depot.

Of course, this happened before my time, but I have heard the story many times, and have the newspaper clippings... Interesting reading for sure, and a story long forgotten by most, but a significant day in my family's history...

Peace,
Linda
Having someplace to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing.