Long ago and far away

I'm almost running out of day to get this entry in under the wire. Here's a short snapper:

In those early days when Dad was a temporary civilian, we lived in the booming metropolis of Grimshaw, Alberta. I believe I was not yet five when we moved there, a long way from St-Sylvestre in Quebec's Eastern Townships. At first we lived in one of the four apartments found in the village. (The building was white with green trim. We lived in a basement suite; Auntie Carol, Uncle Clayton and Kellie lived on the main floor. This interlude was brief... some shaky investments and poor business decisions led Dad to return to Brockville and to the rest of us to sharing a tiny, two bedroom house with Nan. Her house was very crowded with all of us there; the three of us kids shared one bedroom, Nan had hers and Mom slept on the couch. The house had no indoor plumbing. Nan had a one-holer in her room; we kids made do with a chamber pot at night but during the day we made the trek to the end of the garden to the outhouse. Drinking water came from a basin in the kitchen where a tea towel kept it clean and a dipper kept it sanitary. Waste water and other unpleasant things went into a slop pail that was emptied into the outhouse once a day. We were bathed once a week in the big washtub in the kitchen. Bruce, then the smallest, went first and I went last. The water would be warmed up from the kettle, otherwise we'd have turned blue along with the goose pimples. Now it all seems so primitive, but back then that's just how it was.

Nan had a house full of treasures. She loved fine china and had a collection of cups and saucers as well as a variety of cut glass serving dishes. All of her upholstered furniture had hand-crocheted antimacassars on the backs and there were doilies on every flat surface. Nan decorated cakes as a bit of a hobby, and sold some for extra money. I couldn't wait for my turn to have a birthday angel food cake with a Barbie doll standing in the hole, her hand-made dress spread out over the top of the cake as the main feature.

There are many other things worth remembering about the time we lived with Nan, but I'll save those for another day.