This is the fifth instalment of an ongoing guest post by Pat Grafton. (See part one for a proper introduction.)
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As the children grew older, they
each had a close friend to stay over the weekends. They are all still very
close friends today and though both are married with families and live away
from Montreal, they come to visit us with their families at Ile Cadieux when
they’re in town.
Pat and Ted (Ted was best
man at our wedding) lived in a summer cottage at the end of the island and, while
Ted dropped in periodically, their children were older than ours so we did not
see as much of that couple in those days.
However, when their boys grew up, they often visited us by boat, and
their youngest son, Greg, would sometimes bring his guitar and serenade us on
our front porch.
My sister, Doris, and her youngest
daughter, Pam, visited us often. Doris
and I always had many laughs together and I loved it when she could get out for
a weekend. Her eldest daughter, Nancy,
would often stay with me during the week especially if I was alone with the
babies, and we also enjoyed each other’s company. Joanne didn’t visit as often in those days as
she had good friends at Ste. Adele where their home was, but in later years she was
with us as much as possible and we loved to have her visit. She felt the same way about the country as we
did, and even had her own garden.
In 1960 Geoff’s grandfather (H.A.) died
at the age of 98 and in 1963 my mother died at 71 after a stroke. In both their cases, they were blessings as
H.A. had been bedridden for two years and my mother who had muscular dystrophy
had been hospitalized for 15 months with no possibility of returning home.
Our lives at Ile Cadieux continued
in this very happy and busy way throughout the sixties. While we had many guests during the summer,
the highlight of each year was our Labor Day party that varied in numbers
between 20 and 40 people. Of course, we
had all kinds of weather. One year
started out well when suddenly a huge storm blew down the lake. We had two barbecues on, both of which blew
over, causing some excitement. Our motorboat was moored at the wharf
and it and Geoff took off down the lake while Geoff was trying to get it out to
its proper mooring. Some of our guests
were very concerned for him but I wasn’t a bit worried as he had been out in
many storms and much farther from home.
All ended happily in due course and somehow we were still able to feed
the huge gang.
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| A few of the Labor Day parties held over the years. |
Another party, I recall there were
about 30 in number and I had made enough potato salad, coleslaw, bought enough
cold meat, etc. to feed that many. We
were warned that it could be a bad-weather day and hence did not have a barbecue. Well it was a bad day and a large sailboat
capsized and our heroes went out to save them and brought them back to our
house. I invited them to have supper but
as they went to the buffet first, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough
for the invited guests. They were very
hungry and did not hold back in any way.
I still smile when I recall this
incident because it was Auntie Diana who pointed it out to me and anyone knowing
her would understand why! We did have enough food but had to give the FGS
(family go slow) sign to make sure there was enough to go around.
Rescues were often taking place of
boats that got caught on the rocks not far from our shore. My father-in-law Ross kept constant vigil on
the front porch for the poor sailors and when one was stuck, out he’d eagerly go
in our boat to help them and give them a lecture on the fact that they did not
have their nautical map. They’d be told
firmly that only fools would go out on a lake without a map. We never had the same sailors twice! He took great joy in this exercise and would
wait eagerly for another boat to hit the rocks and call us all out to see it. I asked him why he never put a warning where
the rocks were such as a small buoy or flag.
He gave me a very evasive answer because he really enjoyed watching the
boats hit the rocks but of course would not admit it.
In 1972 the Summit Series of hockey
between Russia and Canada started on Labor Day weekend while our party was in
full swing. It was a very hot, humid day
so everyone was lounging around in their bathing suits waiting for the game to
start. There was no possibility in the
minds of Canadians that we could lose; we had the more experienced “amateurs”
and the Russians with their real amateurs wouldn’t have a chance against us. Well, the worst happened; the Russians
won! (The Canadians did eventually win
the series.) You can’t imagine the pall
that came over the party. There wasn’t a
sound from anyone, just looks of gloom, and then everyone started to go
home. Geoff and I both laughed when we
were suddenly left alone so early compared with all other parties around that
time.
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| Lounging on the front porch waiting for the Canada-Russia hockey game to start - a hot summer day |
Another big event in our country
lives came in 1972 when the Davidson house next door was up for sale. Neither my brother-in-law John nor any of his
family wished to buy it so we bought it for $7,500. It turned out to be more of a nuisance than a
pleasure as we tried renting it one year and lending it to family and friends
the following year. Neither of those
arrangements worked very well and we thought of selling it. However, the same old problem would occur; it
was just too close to our house. So…..we
offered it to our friend Ted and told him we would give him the house
if he’d get it off the property. Ted was
always an adventurous fellow and leaped at the idea of adding this cottage to
his and making a much larger home where he and Pat could live year round.
Fortunately that winter was very
cold and the ice on the lake very thick.
The house was placed on a huge truck and taken down to Ted’s on the
frozen lake (about one mile in total) with Geoff following in his car behind
and me nervously watching on shore.
Geoff said that there was one instant when the ice cracked which was a
bit nerve-wracking but other than that it went peacefully down to its new
owner. Ted told me later that the
contractor had a tub of gin for all to share to celebrate the house having
safely made the trip without going through the ice: The estimated load of house, grader and truck
was 50,000 lbs.! The cost of moving the
house was $3,500. The Atkinsons made a
beautiful winterized home out of the two old cottages and lived there for many
years until they moved away from Quebec.
They were happy and we were happy as we now had an additional 50 feet of
waterfront with an extended view of the lake and a large piece of land as our
thoughts then were to build a year-round home when we retired.
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| Leaving its old location |
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| Heading down the lake on the ice |
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| In its new location |
Our neighbors,
Hazel and Dick, were also very pleased when the house was gone as they
had more privacy and a better view down the lake. They had a tiny year-round home. Hazel and I were together constantly all
summer and we could wave to each other and easily go back and forth without the
Davidson house in the way. The four of
us had many happy barbecues during those months and as a result became close
friends. We always had shrimp and scampi
as a change from our large barbecues on the weekends.
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| Hazel and I practising our synchronized swimming. |
There was quite a piece of land to
be fixed up after the Davidson house was gone and after a lot of work two small
evergreens were planted and sod put in.
There was a small rocky hill
facing the lake where the house had been and Joanne made this area into her own
rock garden. She spent many happy hours
turning the pile of rocks and weeds into a garden each year, only to return to
find the weeds had taken over the flowers.
However, she still persisted for quite a few years and there is still a
trace of the odd flower here and there.
