Bob and I are in Owen Sound enjoying the quiet comforts of my mother's house for the weekend. Mom is still in the UK making the rounds of family visits, packing in several before her return in a few days, according to her latest email to me.
We've had a nice getaway, marred somewhat by the discovery that several things had been stolen from our property up in the Bruce Peninsula. We knew theft was always a risk, since there is no security of any kind, but still it is sad. We lost a screen tent, camp stove, lantern, and a few other small items. The good news is that there was no serious damage -- no broken windows, only a small window latch missing.
We've enjoyed the relative simplicity of being together with only two dogs as company; the other two are romping with friends and family at their favourite kennel.

Posted by lynda at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Auntie Peg died this morning in Portsmouth, England, just days before her 93rd birthday. She was too ill to attend the family reunion in her city on Saturday, but I'm sure everyone raised a glass to her, including my mother and Uncle Roy. She was the youngest and last surviving daughter of Nana, my family's matriarch, whose great age and warmth of spirit inspired the first of the annual reunions many years ago. Peg was like her mother, full of laughter and love of family, but very much her own personality, taking charge of the gatherings right down to the seating arrangements. Always a woman of style, she was gracious, witty and generous, treating me like an honoured guest each time I managed to visit. I shall miss her.

Posted by lynda at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Claire just called to say she arrived safely in Dallas for her next animal adventure. This time it will be three weeks of training and preparation for the bird show at the Texas State Fair, followed by working at the fair itself for another three weeks. In bird training circles, this is the creme de la creme in North America. She will be an intern, but is housed in a shared hotel suite (with someone she knows from school), complete with kitchen facilities. Not much slack time already -- she starts work at 7:15 tomorrow morning.
Her final week at Toronto Zoo was several days in the Americas section, where she got to pat a jaguar and clean the alligator cage -- while the alligator was in it!

Posted by lynda at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My mother and uncle arrived safely in the UK yesterday and hoped to see my great aunt this evening. Aunt Peg is our oldest living relative, the last of my grandmother's generation, the youngest child of our Nana, in whose honour the family holds a gathering every year in the south of England. I have learned a lot about this family through my genealogical sleuthing over the past few months, but no amount of data will replace knowing the people, seeing them smile, feeling their hugs as they greet you.
But pictures certainly help. Mom and I spent last weekend packaging her mountain of family pictures safely for storage, as her basement is about to be torn apart. We organized over 6000 photos and countless negatives -- a filing job I rather enjoyed! I thought how fortunate we are to have preserved all these, unlike many, many people in Louisiana, who have lost not just the sweet memorabilia of their lives, but their entire homes and even their loved ones.

Posted by lynda at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)