Perspectives- Part Two

In honor of Father's Day, I am posting the story of the party held for my Father as he was leaving his home town and joining the military. Once again provided by my cousin who kind of takes over the story.

I've recently spoken to my Father and he has changed over the years. Once an avid golfer, curler and bowler he now spends his days tending to the lawn, gardens and woodworking. The hobbies may have changed but he is not an idle person.

 So, part two:

The day your dad left Quinton also carved into my mind

Ernie was popular and had a lot of cool friends.  Sorry I  cannot name them all... 

He did have a friend called " putsky " a catterpillar driver and land reclaimer plus buck toothed Tony Lovis

Howie knows these guys better than I do!

ANYWAY

 

Memory of your dad s going away party...

 Bill Kauth our grandfather a true gentleman, was so proud of your dad going into the military

He invited every one from Quinton and surrounding area as befitting a proud and classy man

He was an old world gentleman and I loved him to no end

His pipe his heavy work boots his Farley Mowat and he introduced me to Mark Twain and maybe Steinbeck... but that is really along time ago

The party filled that house... I dont know if you ever went there but I spent alot of time in Quinton at Granny Granpa Kauths house became another home for me!

 

Uncle Charlie Kauth and Aunty Mary ~David and Irene (Greg truck's crash death 1968) Kauth's parents

Grandpas other brothers and maybe sister I cannot remember them all

Uncle Jim and Mary Sentes was there to mention only a few but...

I digress lol

My family is big we have nine kids we filled that house our self

Leanne was not yet and maybe Kirk Ward and Todd were not yet this was pretty long ago...

My dad drove us to Quinton in a 1952 Chevrolet blue and white (colour for me is memorable)

I was staying in Quinton that summer and had discovered a coin collection including a bunch of half melted gold coins that our grandfather

Brought from the old country or his family brought from the old country due to rapid inflation and currency deflation

Anyway I digress

The same preparation was to take place as the story about your mom's arrival years after this party

All to prepare us for this party so Howie and I were pretty pumped

 

lol

The food was prepared ... remember in a family with so many kids food like that was so amazing plus granny is still the best cook ever!

Plus grandpa has stocked up on every kind of booze you can imagine

Whiskey (LOL) was only one of the many many drinks that night!

 

There was schnapps and vodka and sweet liquers and beers and wines and home brew from the Sentes' he really shelled out alot for the booze

The food and drink were suitable for your dad and showed grandpas pride in his son,your dad ...my uncle

ME ...In awe of him too BTY

 

Anyway to make a long story longer I had not smoked drank or swore we lived in a Catholic Community and I really was pretty young

 

BUT

The heat of the moment and remember your dad was pretty highly regarded by all!

So everyone was loose with the rules

My dad and mom were there but I cant remember where or what they wrere doing

I only remember my time

I had cabbage rolls I had perogies I had ham I had turkey sandwiches lots of mayo I had pie and cookies on and on and on

 

HOWEVER the sweet drinks in the little glasses tasted so good

The little glasses were not like beer glasses so I didnt fear and wasn't warned about the deadly consequences

I must have lasted about an hour maybe two then I hit the WALL

 

lol

 

Bang!!

 Howie, my family, our grandparents are not even a memory of that time

I was so sick I cannot stress how sick Karen

I am talking alcohol poisoning sick

I do remember that basement bathroom and I did stay conscious but

We had to leave early

My mom Edna never mollycoddled us and true to form I *%$^  nearly died on the floor in the back seat of that 52 blue and white Chevy Belair

LOL with no other concern from her than "thats what you get!"

Since this time when I was maybe ten I have been cautious of drinking and never really developed a "taste" for booze

 

You may laugh but I have never had such a terrible poisoning since

My liver or kidneys  now  even from  then maintain a terrible biological memory of that PARTY UNCLE ERNIE JOINED THE DND!

Hope you get something out of this I feel closer to you hope you feel the same.

After I read this, after the laughter subsided, once again I was shown a view of someone I know well, but not in that light. I'm glad he shared these memories with me. I hope you all have some fond memories of your parents to recollect.

 

 

Perspectives: Part One

While watching a hockey game one evening, I received a Facebook message from my cousin Glenn who lives in China and teaches English at a private University in Shanghai and also has a family there. Since there is a 12 hour time difference, messages are not always received or returned as promptly as one may like.

However, he sent me 2 stories about my parents. My cousin Glenn is the oldest son of my Father's oldest sister. Howie is my Father's youngest brother.Grandma was having her last child when my Aunt was having Glenn. They are weeks apart in age. So, reading these stories opened my eyes to my parents in such a way that really made me feel a tad guilty about my feelings for them. More so with my Mother as the dementia has set in and changed her memory to almost non-existent. So here is a story about my Mother before I knew her as such! Incidentally, Glenn has 8 other siblings!!

 

This happened the year they married or maybe the year before I cannot say but I know it was  summer holidays for me in Quinton

Typical beyond beautiful, a really nice day, blue skies day, cloudless but not those famous scorching prairie Julys.

Granny Kauth gave Howie and me maybe two week heads up ~warning that your mom was coming so this built some kind of heavy suspense for two budding teenage boys

The day is a complete memory and I cannot say why but I do remember that day vividly!

I also remember when your dad left Quinton to join the DND but...

That is another story but a complete memory too plus I almost died

I digress ...sorry

The day she arrived was a pictoral memory... like a painting

Really beautiful something like minimal painting by Mondrian

 or Impessionist Manet.

The light was so like her reddish or yellowish hair her blue dress with maybe red lipstick really beautiful lady!

 

Howie and I budding little nerds who were starting to find girls kind of interesting then..aged 12`13`14 really cannot pin down exactly

You could probably tell me since you were born following year

Well anyway...

Howie was a local kid and not as desirable nor exotic as I was to the local girls.

Especially "Cocker" Degelman's daughter cannot remember her name... (Shelly) yes that's it!

We had shared some letters after Bob Van Vliet goaded me to dance with her at a party at his house

Then she invited me to her birthday party later that year.

Howie teased me so much I never went.

So this Bob Van Vliet was the kid most likely to succeed

Very popular with the girls great hockey player and sports man

(He fell afoul of the Canadian police the RCMP and is or was in prison for a long stretch) diverge..

 

His uncle a famous U of S professor of agriculture and the other uncle a famous Canadian diplomat.

The diplomats daughter Julie Van Vliet was my first real "love"

But I diverge from your mom again...sorry

 

The day you mom came to meet granny and grandpa was the..

Same day as the primary colours red blue and yellow

The main memory of that July in Quinton Saskatchewan is yellow

Mainly the sun the heat and your moms attitude was very sunny in her friendly way

She was shy like you.. I think... and needed to be kind to us so really trying to be kind to Howie and me.

That day Bob Van Vliet was doing chores for Otto his dad at the "general" store

The store and the house were adjoining so they lived in the store essentially

I m sure it was Saturday and Bob was doing a garbage run.

Bob's mom Kate a fire brand who smoked like a chimney and had orange stains under her nose like

Adolf Hitler's moustache... cannot ever forget that... lol.

His dad Otto was so sainted because his wife Kate was domineering! That is an understatement too!

 

Anyway Bob was too busy to join us but I noticed he was trashing these tubed girdles

Never seen anything like since nor before but hey... this is something that I can use..

 

The girdles were packaged in tubes like Pringle potato chips and since I am a scrounger

I took one or two tubed girdles.

 

Awkward is an understatement but it was awkward meeting for all of us

Our granny was herself and held it all together being so nice and loving

But I digress again....

Herein lies the story...

We met uncle Ernie and your mom along the road since they had been dropped off on the highway

since they had taken the Greyhound bus to Quinton

Nothing glamorous at all, maybe dusty I really can't say.

Howie and I were not so keen on meeting this lady but your dad yes of course

Your mom tried so hard to show kindness to us but we were just nerds

We had no social skills and rural Saskatchewan we had never seen such a beautiful lady!

I am sure we were speechless.

You mom tried so hard to find some nice things to say or ask but really... Karen we were completely in awe!

Howie said nothing absolutely nada!

I think I was in shock or something and acted in some kind of reflex reaction

But your mom was so nice to us and so beautiful words cannot describe that moment

I blurted out some fat remark handed her the girdle Howie and I headed for the hills

I don't think we wanted to come home for supper hoping your mom and dad would go back to Ontario

or

Quebec wherever...just go away...

Remember we were just 12 or 13 and our metabolism was equal to the times

We had to come home for supper no matter what...

So after cooler heads prevailed Howie convinced me that we should go home for supper.

 

So embarrassing cannot describe my feelings and your mom was like princess Diana so kind and nice to Howie and me

I could have died and she even thanked me for being so kind to give her a present

The tension I felt that supper is still in my heart.

 

PLUS

Your moms beauty kind personality and shy human contact is clear as day still over~ X~ amount of years since you were born.

 

I think or I know that is why I really feel a lot closer to you than you may realize~ all because of how nice your mom is!

 

That frikin' day I was so rude to such a beautiful lady like your mom

Before this happened was another time I vividly remember

This day was the PARTY.....

Yes,the party!! That is a story for another time indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q

The Troubles

Dear dedicated readers,

I apologize for being an absentee blogger..However, it was not all my fault! Really!

As you may have noticed, I am never too shy to write, never at a loss for the written word. So the troubles began some time ago when I could no longer log into my blog page. Yep-what the heck!! I didn't change my password nor did I delete myself..Hmmm. My son's profile is always open. Perhaps he tried to download a new version of Chrome etc...

So I rectified the situation which was not easy as the other email address on file was my old one from the real estate days!! Plan B was then invoked. So many wonderful things and odd things I wanted to share I could not share with you which added to my frustration.

And then, one day, my whole profile disappeared from my computer!! Holy heck..what now?? All my farm info, photos, contacts..etc... ACCOUNTING!!!! Crap. Some of this stuff was backed up but trying to replace some or find it through a backdoor can be time consuming. So off the computer went to be repaired. I think I will purchase my Mom's laptop from her as she can no longer use anything like a keyboard and I need something where nobody else will disturb the status quo.

Meanwhile, the lambs have arrived, the sheep have been shorn and I am still working full-time. I am quite proud of being able to pay off some bills. It takes a lot of discipline to not blow my pay on other things. Peace of mind is priceless!

So please accept my apologies for the virtual snub-photos of lambs, fleece and much much more are coming soon!