St. Thomas - my home during the sixties! My old friend, Jim Covil and I went to high school together during that time - well, I spent Grades 9 and 10 at Central Elgin Collegiate Institute, then Grades 11 to 13 at St. Thomas Collegiate Institute. We graduated from STCI in 1967, after which the school was torn down and an old people's home was built on the site. I loved that school, and participated in all kinds of activities there: glee club, french club, cheerleading, basketball, volleyball, badminton, track and field, variety shows - there are probably things that I've missed, too! In the church (Trinity Anglican, where my father was rector for about eleven years) I sang in the church choir and attended Girls' Auxiliary. Actually, singing in that choir gave me the realization that I really had to learn the music well - because if I sang the wrong notes or had the wrong timing, so did the rest of the choir. In fact, one Sunday I wasn't sure of a few entries, so I held back, waiting for someone else to come in - and nobody did - they were all waiting for me!! I remember being quite dismayed at this prospect - I was about sixteen years old at the time and my parents had always drilled into me the importance of putting other people first - so this was quite a soul-searching moment for me! All this came flooding back when Jim and I went to the 10:30 church service at Trinity on Sunday. The service was very cool - because it was All Saints' Day, the church had a time in the service when people came forward to light candles for loved ones who have died in the past. Jim nudged me to go forward at that time and I lit candles for my mother and father - really a full circle sort of experience! I talked to the priest afterwards about accepting my father's private communion box - and she said that would be great! I'll need to talk to Phil about that - I had hoped to place it in the Anglican Archives in Toronto, but they don't seem interested - and this way, it would be back in the parish where my parents were happy - for the first time that I can remember, my mom actually had friends! She was very sad to leave, although of course she never ever breathed a word about her own feelings! When my brother and I took her to the airport to move to Nevis, I remember that she had a cup of tea and she couldn't get the cup back to the saucer, she was shaking so much!
Okay - so much for that tangential rambling! Back to Jim and Marylee! I've been stopping here for visits twice a year since I started this retirement thing - and this is one place I always love to come! This time, I stayed for a whole week, which was awesome! Marylee's sister, Marion, was diagnosed in August with Stage 4 of a very rare form of extremely virulent cancer. She was living in Cochrane and it looked as if she might spend her last days in the hospital there - which terrified her! Jim and Marylee took her into their home and have been caring for her there ever since - with the help of various home care workers, oncologists, and nurses. What an absolutely wonderful place for her to be - she calls for something, and Marylee and Jim are right there with love - and there's never a word about how tiring this is for them - it's all about Marion's comfort. Nominations for sainthood? Right there - two of them!
Marylee and I made a couple of trips to London to shop at the Mary Maxim store, which is chockful of tempting yarn and fabric - Judy and Chris would have a field day!! - and a few other stores, as well. I'm pretty well supplied with crocheting projects for Jamaica Beach - Tuesday craft afternoons, here we come!!
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| Rosebud (aka Rosie or sometimes Buddy) |
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| Marylee with cute, rambunctious little Lulu! |
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| My friend Jim |
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| The duvet cover, made from the quilt top Marylee gave me last year! |
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| Jim, in a professorial mood |
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| The old homestead! |
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| What used to be the Gliddon's house next door to the rectory |
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| Gazebo now in the side yard and lots of statues! |
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| My dad's workplace for years |
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| The purple steeple (doesn't look very purple in this photo, but it's an identifier - even the church bulletin refers to the congregation as the "Purple Steeple People") |
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| I used to sit on the window ledge of the attic, hanging on by the centre wooden strip, and look at people passing by |
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| The chancel |
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| My dad's picture is on the bottom left |
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