Was it Only Fifty Years Ago?

 “Memories warm you up from the inside.

But they also tear you apart.”  

 Harki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

As we get ready to going into 2017 and Canada’s 150^th birthday I have memories of 50 years ago swirling in my head that need to be shared. 

 

At the end of 1966 we had been married for two years plus and had yet to start our family.  1967 was to be a wonderful year of celebrating Canada’s Centennial of Confederation and we lived in the right city to do that.  Montreal would be hosting Expo ’67, the World Fair it would be Canada’s big party for the centennial April 28^th to October 27th.  

Our passes were ready well before the opening and working downtown gave us a chance to go after work which we did it seems May 6^th for the first time.  We got to enjoy and visit most of the pavilions, counties and other attractions yet not feel rushed as we had plenty of time to go again and again.  Yes we had our favorites but we tried to see and experience as much as we could.  (Found a hand written list in my passport. It has dates and amount of time we spent there -over 44 hours in 7 visits .]

 

That changed in mid-July when my sister and I took our younger siblings and a nephew to the fair. We had packed a lunch of turkey sandwiches which were accidentally dropped off the mini rail while we were going from one area to another. We watched our lunch disappeared among the crowd knowing we would have to now buy lunch.  That and rides for a price on an elephant is what I remember most about that day or was it the cost that seemed to be mounting as the day unfolded  children you know wanting whatever they see… Back to why losing the turkey sandwiches stands out, I love turkey sandwiches and my taste buds were excited every time I thought about our lunch. Didn’t know that day but never got to enjoy what was left of that turkey my sister and I had gone together on so we’d have leftover for sandwiches and soup, all the bits we missed as we were both married and celebrations were at our parents so the leftover turkey for us afterward– this bird was just for us and our hubbies. And what we had been willing to share was lost :0(((  We had plenty of leftover turkey back home but I couldn’t eat it, just looking at it turned my stomach I was soon to find out I was experiencing morning sickness.  Followed shortly by signs that a miscarriage might happen, I was forbidden to travel – our plan to go to Florida with friends was cancelled, still have yet to take that trip south.

My visits to Expo were pretty well nil after that and so was my recording of dates and time spent there. I had another life to prepare for now :D I stayed home and Dick went with our guests to see the fair.

One of the last stamps in my passport is October 7^th in The United States see-through plastic bubble now known as the Biosphere which is about the environment.

 

    A great site to read about Expo 67 back then

   Expo 67  http://expo67.morenciel.com/an/index.php

One of my very favorite pavilions was the Western Provinces. A simulated mine elevator opened at the other side to huge Douglas Firs and a humongous truck and massive trunks of trees, the scent alone had me standing right in a pine forest.   Walking around the exhibition grounds there was a chance of  entertainment popping up up such as the Mexican Mariachi Band or the Fort Henry soldiers with their mascot, David the goat – always try to see David when we visit the fort.

  

Photos are from slides and poor quality  - 

Mariachi band, Fort Henry Guards, David the goat

 

The boutiques were a glimpse into other countries and so were the restaurants .The stacking Russian doll stand out for me as do the delicious smells around the food court.  Habitat 67, the stacked cement complex of dwellings was a marvel of it time but turned out not to be so eventually. 

 

The process  of how the Islands were built up to become Expo 67 were followed closely from start to finish.   A subway was opened and new highways too - some had the lighting system built into the concrete sides, not a great idea for our winters and they were soon replaced. We had a few souvenirs around for several years or until the 76 Montreal Summer Olympics took over.

And what has carried on since 1966? I took driving lessons when I was pregnant and almost made myself sick worrying about where the instructor would make me drive in the dark and city traffic - once along the new highway with those lights in the sides, flashing in my face as I went along; another to cut across 4 lanes of traffic on Decarie Boulevard to make a right turn at the top of an up off ramp. However,  I became a demon behind the wheel once I had that driver's permit in my hands.  Still drive and am proud of my record but am not as brave as once I was.

In the fifty years between Canada’s Centennial and its 150^th We’ve lived on the island of Montreal, had two houses, a few cars and several pets. Have taken a few nice vacations, spent a lot of time in Nova Scotia and learned many new things via the internet for one way, and some hobbies and past times as well. Curling and Golf for my hubby and that too, the golf, is connected to that day the turkey sandwiches were lost at Expo 67. He had gone golfing for the first time with my sister’s husband and the clubs/bag I gave him for his first Father’s Day (think it was).

   In the late winter of 1968 our first son was born and since then parenting our sons and having six grandchildren to love has been a huge part of our lives as family is so precious be they blood , four legged or come through roots. 

AND our main Canadian Centennial project will be 49 before the winter is over. Wonder what we can out do that with for the 150^th?

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” 

                                                                       L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

Magical Santa

“ 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…”

 

Memories of Santa  - Mixture of both boys, with  a friend, stockings and one of a grandson

In the 70’s when our eldest son was starting to doubt that Santa was ‘real’ and would likely share that doubt, I realized for the sake of his younger brother who was just entering the magical realm of the Jolly Old Elf, our eldest had to find the magic again or both our boys would be non-believers.

Luck was with me :D

Early in the wee hours of December 25^th I woke to a strange noise beneath me and realized it was Santa! – here was my chance to intervene and show our eldest that Santa was real!  
 Quietly went and woke him and we creep down the stairs in the darkness and looked over the railing into our living room at the end of the hall, we could see of the Christmas tree in the corner . Seems we were just in time, Santa was kneeling in the glowing lights of the tree scratching his head, checking to make sure he had assembled all the toys for the boys then starting to close up his bag. The two of us crept up the stairs and our eldest lay in his bed as quiet as anything because he know Santa would be coming up to leave his stock on the foot of his bed. I didn’t have time to get back to my bedroom so hide behind his bedroom door. No sooner than a wink Santa was in the room, put the stocking on the bed and went into his brother room with his stocking, then down the stairs and out of the front door.  
 The wide awake boy sprang up and looking out the window  for a glimpse of Santa but the Jolly Old Elf and his tiny reindeer had disappeared in the of a flash of light.
 Now our son was bursting with the wonder of Santa and a need to share it with someone. He ran down the hall to our room, woke his father and excitedly shared his delight.  I watched in azamement to his  return to the Realm of a Believer.

Hours later as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins arrived for Christmas dinner he greeted them and bubbling over, shared his magical experience with Santa :D



Photos are from slides 

The first Christmas with two sons...  a Christmas we were all sick at some point during the day it seemed. It began in the middle of unwrapping gifts and our youngest who was only a few weeks short of his first birthday, barfed in the middle of the mess. Later that day it was my turn and dinner was not a memorable one for sure.

 

 
Think this was the Christmas of the magical Santa Experience. 



“The three phases of Santa belief:

(1) Santa is real.

(2) Santa isn't real.

(3) Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

― Alton Thompson

Celebration Cakes and Memories they Hold

 "Make your occasion a day to remember.  Special cakes for special occasions"

Unknown

Celebration Cakes  

   

Birthdays have always been a day to celebrate in our home with gifts for the Birthday person, a special dinner in or out with a cake to finish off the day. Usually a home make decorated  cake.

  One year when our eldest child was about 3 he and his father make me a cake. It was an orange flavored cake mix and it was covered  with pink icing which was a challenge it seems  as there were cake crumbs in it – something that is difficult to prevent when decorating a cake (have learned to seal the crumbs in with a thin layer or icing and let that harden before icing with the final decorating.)

 The cake made me smile for what had been  created for me and to this day is one of my favorite cakes. Since our son has left home he has become quite the cake decorator.  One year  then we were visiting it was his father's birthday on Mother’s Day and he made two cakes for his father One was not eatable, it was a joke-  when his father tried to cut it, it was as hard as a rock because it was a decorated Styrofoam base.  The reason he did that was because his father love cake or is it the icing ?? 

Other Cake Memories 

 The year our son was in Cornwallis Nova Scotia doing his basic Armed Forces training I made a sailboat cake (he was going into the navy). After dinner we called him and the three of us sang happy birthday to him then blew out the candles.

The last birthday, we four were all together for was mine in 1997. We celebrated it on the 27^th because my father-in-law had passed away on the 24th and the funeral was on the 26^th.  Our son had come home for the funeral   and he stayed for a couple a days afterward. Don’t remember what the meal was or the cake but just to have my three boys here to celebrate with was memory enough for me.

When the boys were growing up I would make character cakes for two of our three eldest grandchildren). The  boys cakes  Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, a turtle, and a Tasmanian Devil all done from pictures and my limited talent. I have gone on to make character cakes for others and  all our grandchildren have had at least one cake made for them. 
them. The first was a teddy bear (for
both of them and 

( Raggedy Andy was for our youngest son's second birthday and the bear in a box for his youngest child's first birthday)

Cakes made for five-year-old grandchildren  Yes the is a cake under
the dinosaurs just happened to find a perfect background to put behind the cake.  The horse was for a horse crazy girl :D not one of my best creations but she liked it and that is what counts.

The strawberry cake

Made a strawberry mouse type of cake for my hubby's birthday . Likely got the now lost recipe out of Woman’s Day or Family Circle the two magazines I bought for years back then just as my mother had.  Actually was going to make it for him this year but the strawberries were not nice and an old recipe doesn't always convert to today's ingredients.

The  photo has a few other stories that can be told.  Love his colourful clothing - where has that like gone to?

 Will start  the stories with the rotisserie chicken and what looks like foil wrapped potatoes; sure have changed my mind about baking potatoes that way. Prefer to have them done without foil as in foil them stream not bake. The charcoal barbeque folded up it seems and we likely stored it in the back shed to left  of the photo. The Birthday Boy was standing on the back fire escape near where the clothes line went from our apartment across the way to the apartment block across the alley/parking lot and was attached to the shed on left in the photo . The apartment in the background over his left shoulder is where the guy I dumped to go out with my True Love lived with his wife and young son, (they moved there after we did).  There is more to that story but it is not to be share in this writing.  When my sister married she and her husband lived two streets away and we often did things together. One night it was having a barbeque but it rained so we brought the barbeque into the spare bedroom and cooked in there . How lucky we were that we didn’t die from the exhaust…

Another time we were having a nice steak, (barbeque was on the front gallery off the living room). When the steak was done I gave my hubby the  package  it had come in as a plate to put it on and it melted from the heat of the steak – it was Styrofoam a fairly new product back then. 

When we moved into a house, a new  condominium townhouses development and young families, the guys would be out barbecuing in the back awhile socializing with each other, we had many a burnt meal because the charcoal  barbeque would be forgotten. 

We got our first gas barbeque after we moved to our present home.  A dishwasher and the barbeque were bought within a week or so of each other. I joked about not be able to use either because we could not afford the food to cook or eat so no dishes to wash. When my hubby was trying out the barbeque it was in the garage and he darn near lost his eye brows because he started the barbeque with the lid down.

When our youngest son married he decided he wanted to have beer-can-chicken for the party for family and attendants we were hosting before the wedding. What a day that was the kitchen sink backed up and while his father was in the furnace room cleaning up the gloppy mess on the floor, the barbeque went on fire, I screamed for him to come and ran out to shut off the gas before we had an explosion and/or the house caught fire as well. I am purified of gas so that was a feat for me to do and  is also  one of the reasons I grew to disliked  camping hated our propane stove, wouldn’t start it and didn’t cook on it if I could help it.

The beer-can chicken barbeque fire had started to melt the front of the barbeque and it was never the same after that. Can’t remember if we lost any of the chickens but that fire is  how I remember that dinner.

Some memories photos tell

Speaking of fires that was not the only fire we’ve had. One night in the  apartment before we had any children  I was cooking can’t remember what and the curtains caught on fire I screamed for my husband and he put it out but by then it scorched the window frame and the curtains were goners. The next day I spent cleaning the window as best as I could, painted it and making new curtains. The next day I had our first born child, always said the fire scared him out of me :D But what a silly place to have a gas stove right next to a window…

Back to the clothes line in the picture of of the strawberry cake  - (if you look at the photo you’ll see the clothes line from the apartments below ours going in the direction ours did).  We didn’t have a dryer so I would either go to the development laundromat or hang the clothes out to dry. One day the wind came up and the laundry was wound around the line so badly  I couldn't pull it in. My man came out, took it off the pulley at our end while I held it up got ticked off about something, went into the apartment and left me holding up the whole damn mess.  Not sure how long he sulked and left likely because I had been nagging him about something but he did come back to rescue me and the laundry.

Another time I had put out  sheer curtains out to dry .  Went  to do errands or something and later that day when I brought the curtains in they smelt  of burning tar. The apartment complex roofs were being repaired and there had been a machine keeping tar hot for most of the day of course the smoke drifted upwards and the laundry absorb the smell not sure I ever got it out.

 The next photo of my hubby  the kitchen is yellow but the paint he is stirring is white it seems not sure what room it was for. . The kitchen door looks like it has been patched (???) AND the cabinet beside the stove is gone – it was an old kitchen cabinet that my father found for  us ... Something is nagging at me that this possibly was before we married...Look how close the gas stove is to the window not surprised the curtains eventually caught fire -as told above.  
There’s another accident waiting to happen in the second picture. (The utensils hanging behind the stove) a reach across the flame or something being knocked over and presto a clothing catching on fire or a mess on the stove, which was not easy to clean, nor was the tiny oven.

In the photo of me the colour of the kitchen walls is the first colour we painted it. Had my hair cut short before our first anniversary and bleached blonde too We had a few parties and dinners in the apartment- not sure what that one was for but again something is nagging and saying it was my parents 30th anniversary which was a less than two months after we married. 
 
Through the years there have been other fires on the stove or in the oven but nothing like the apartment fire. Have even burnt the bottom out of more than one kettle  thus only shut off electric ones now and no more gas stoves after the one that came with the apartment. 

Seems something that started out as a blog about cakes and celebrations has gone on to share a bit of our lives  around cakes and celebrations. - this is only a tinny part of our everyday lives have much more to be shared as time goes on.
 Thank goodness for photos they are worth a thousand words and put life into some sort of order. Must go though the stash I have and get my stories in order as well and when I do will have more photos and stories about cakes to share  such as the teddy bears cake I made for my 60th 50's-60's birthday  party :D

 “Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” 

Marc Riboud