The best idea I ever had

The best idea I ever had popped up in my head many many years ago. It was on a Saturday afternoon when I was 10 years old and playing with my best friend, Arlene. My father had brought the two of us to see our new house in Baie d'Urfe in Montreal. 

We ran around the empty rooms. which echoed our giggling excitement. To our amazement, we discovered the house had a laundry shoot. A modern wonder! From the top floor down into the basement there was a metal shaft to throw dirty laundry down.

While my father was off somewhere taking measurements of the rooms, Arlene and I were left to play on our own. We were fascinated with the laundry shoot. We'd throw our winter jackets down from the top floor, run downstairs, pick them up in the basement, run upstairs and start all over again.

Eventually, I wondered whether it wouldn't be more fun to go down the shoot ourselves. Like the tv series "the flying nun". After some planning, I decided to leave our jackets at the bottom of the shoot to cushion our fall. I thought it would be best to go head first so we could see where we were going. 

As I was holding Arlene by her dangling knees, and asking her if she was ready, my father entered the room. I heard a deep intake of breath in the stillness. He spoke ever so quietly and said to me, "Do Not Move." 

(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)  

Hadley Story Corner: #5 Babysitting (Karen)

One of the tasks Karen was given as the eldest of four siblings, was to babysit us. I’m not even sure whether or not she was paid for doing this. It was undoubtedly a thankless task.

Kim and I probably ignored anything Karen told us to do. Daniel, who was much younger than us all, was self-sufficient out of necessity. He never received the attention his age required. (For this, I apologize, Daniel.) If our parents had any common sense, they would not have left us to our own devices.

Thank you, (cc) Andy Blackwood for your music.

Hadley Story Corner: #4 Grandma Buckley (Karen)

(grandpa and grandma Buckley, Pat, John, and Peter)

Grandma Buckley, Pat’s mother, was one of our family’s unsung heroes/sheroes. She gave her life to the care of her family and community.

 

Karen talks about all of the fine handwork grandma did her whole life long. She titled this story “needlework compacts purses and teacups”. It is lovely to know that Karen still has so much of grandma’s artwork. Thank you dearly, Karen, for keeping grandma’s legacy alive.

 

(Diane, John, grandma and grandpa Buckley (50th wedding anniversary), and Pat)

There was another aspect of grandma’s handwork that I thought to mention. 

This was the work she did for the Women’s Church Auxiliary. Grandma knitted a storm of mittens year in, year out, which were sold in the Christmas Bazaars. 

Thank you, (cc) Andy Blackwood for your music.

Hadley Story Corner: #3 Pets We Had (Kim) + Story Revisited (Lia)

(Photo of Kim and Megan (as a puppy))

 

Kim tells a story about various pets we had in the Hadley household when we were a child. Then she talks about the dogs she and Damien and Dylan had.

 

As I was editing this story, I realised how different childhood memories can be.

(Photo of Lia, Bonnie and Miel as a kitten)

 

So, I recorded what I will can “story revisited”. It might be interesting to have all of the siblings give their spin on what actually happened all those years back.

 

If you do not want to record your memories, please feel free to comment in this blog post.

Thank you, (cc) Andy Blackwood for your music.

Hadley Story Corner: #2 Auntie Barbara (Lia)

A few years ago, I drew/wrote Sara my story of Auntie Barbara. For, I see a lot of Auntie Barbara in Sara.

I am not sure whether you can actually read the drawing. I might have to do it over again.

Karen asked me to "tell" the story in the drawing. Not so easy to do, but I tried my best.

Thank you, cc Andy Blackwood for your music.

Hadley Story Corner: #1 Auntie Barbara (Karen)

The Hadley Story Corner is a place for Karen, Kim, Daniel, and I to reminisce about people and occurrences in our past. It is our hope you will enjoy the telling of tall and humble tales.

Today’s story is about Auntie Barbara. She was Dave’s sister. Karen tells us about wonderful influence on her as a child.

There will probably be a lot of stories about Auntie Barbara. She was both larger than life and down to earth.

Thank you, cc Andy Blackwood for your music.

Sometimes a Gentleman, Sometimes a Bozo

Years ago, a friend of a friend explained how she was walking through Macy’s department store in NYC, and she saw Richard Gere standing at a tie counter looking at some ties on display. She became so flustered at seeing him, “Right Before My Eyes!” All she could think of was how desperately she wanted to find a way to make contact with him. On the spur of the moment, she decided on the Canadian Moose Maneuver, barged ahead, and rammed into him.

Now, we are talking about a Big Gal here. I remember hearing that she played defence on a mixed basketball team. So, when she said she rammed Richard Gere, you have to think of a male moose during the mating season. Apparently, after the collision occurred, she breathlessly apologized to Richard Gere for bumping into him, and he said, “Not at all, the fault was all mine”.

Gosh, wasn’t that a graceful gesture on his part?

Then, I read an article on BBC News about Richard Gere accepting the Havard University Brass Pudding Award. To explain why he even came to pick up the award, Mr. Gere said, "We're really all bozos on the bus. All of us, especially in this world and this country right now, when the biggest bozo on the bus is actually driving it."

Maybe he is not always the gentleman, yet he still manages to get things right.

Knocking Ankles

I went off skating today with my daughter and friends. The skate rental counter gave me a pair of white girlie skates we had as children. My heavens! Can you believe the same model has been around all these decades?

So, I laced on the skates and manoeuvred through the crowd of adults standing around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes (Sunday is, after all, family day) until I got to the rink.

I glided over the ice with my ankles knocking together and remembered how, ions ago, we would always tease the kids who skated so. One boy in our neighbourhood skated with his ankles so badly bent that his skates were positioned parallel to the ground. We are talking about Canadian children who are born with skates on their tiny feet and hockey pucks in their mouths.

Not liking where these reminisces were getting me, I went back to the rental kiosk and got myself some modern (i.e. plastic, no laces, total support) skates.

When they start hanging

I overheard a fun conversation on the bus this afternoon between two elderly women (60-70 years). They were dressed up and on their way to the Christmas party. I suspect their hearing aids were turned down, because the front half of the bus had no difficulty hearing what they said...

At one point in our journey, the bus drove by an elaborate store window display of evening wear. One of the women comments about the evening gowns and how they skimp so much on the material around the bosoms that it is impossible to wear a bra.

Her friend responded with the observation that once our breasts start to hang down, losing their battle with gravity, it is time to use “support and lace” to handle the situation. Though she personally enjoys a bit of freedom and goes braless when she is working in her garden. She assures her friend, it is ok to do this because it’s only she and the birds that can see.