Always nice to have a party. Good food. Friends. Laughter. And in some cases recognition of work well done.
In this photo are some tenants at the Beek Lindsay Seniors Residence who surprised Claudette Quesnel with a beautiful card and gift in recognition of her volunteer gardening work this year. There were 24 residents at the dinner which is given once a month to celebrate residents’ birthdays.
From left to right in the photo are: Gisele Ward, Francine Ledoux, Carole Lefebvre, Dorenda Dorey, Pat Marchand (sitting),Claudette Quesnel and Edna Dorey.
Claudette said that she has had help tending the gardens but since the early spring Claudette has been tirelessly planting, hoeing, weeding and watering the flower beds around the residence. The result is a lot of beautiful flowers and shrubs decorating the area. The residents wanted to show Claudette how much they appreciated it. It was a nice surprise for Claudette.
(Photo courtesy of Bob Katz)
I found this wonderful souvenir booklet of the Girl Guides World Centenary Camp which I attended in August of 1957 at Doe Lake , near Emsdale, ON.
I hadn’t really looked at it for a long time. It has so many interesting articles in it as well as camping activities and pages to keep a diary, which I did. I wrote in it each day with green ink – little harder to read somehow at this point but I recorded pages of having a lot of fun .
There is a greeting from Countess Estelle Bernadotte giving best wishes to the World Committee for the camp during the Centenary Year of the birth of the founder of the Scouting and Guide Movement, Lord Baden Powell ( 1857-1957) . He was born on February 22nd which is celebrated as ‘Thinking Day’. A few of his quotes to the Guides and Scouts are recorded in the booklet : It is our business in life to be happy and make others happy – by making happy homes.” and ” Try to leave this world a little better than you found it.” As a tribute to him, a Centenary Badge and BP Star pin were issued . I still have mine.
The Camp Chief was Mrs. Rankine Nesbitt and the Deputy Camp Chief was Mrs. D. Bruce Wilson. The camp was divided into 4 sub-camps, each given an Indian Tribe name. The sub-Captains were Coralie Lomas, Bella Coola sub-camp, Phyllis Haslam, Cree sub- camp, Daphne Montifiore, Micmac sub- camp and Dora Farthing, Iroquois sub-camp. There is an article on the history of the four Indian Tribes which was very interesting.
For a small booklet it has many other articles including a History of Canadian Guiding, Thinking Day, maps, camp events and other activities such as Visitors’ Day. One item gives the daily camp routine ending with 10pm. bed, 10:45 silence. LOL….. that many teenage girls and silence?? Bet there was a lot of whispering going on for a long time.
Our activities included religious services, rowing, hiking, canoeing, swimming, bus trips campfires, etc. It was a wonderful time when Guides from many countries came to enjoy the camp.
In the photo on the left is Maria Elena from Cuba, myself and Jocelyn from Haiti. In the photo on the right Myrna Plumley is holding up a copy of The Toronto Star she had just received. She had entered an ‘A Typical Canadian Girl’ contest run by The Toronto Star that summer and a copy of that paper arrived while she was at camp. She discovered that she had won one of the weekly prizes. Later, when she got home from camp, she went on to be the overall winner.
One of the prizes was being presented with a cheque of $400 By Bob Hope who was performing at the CNE in Toronto at the end of August. She and her Mom travelled by train and stayed at the Royal York. She said it was all very exciting. Imagine meeting Bob Hope!!!
According to my diary Myrna Plumley and Myrna Lalonde from Trinity Anglican Church Girl Guide Company travelled with me by train to Emsdale and later we were transported to the camp area. There were other Cornwall Girl Guides as well. We were there from August 8th until August 20th. Wonderful experience meeting guides from other countries.
OK. …. I have included one of MY oil paintings in this column. Some people have been hounding me to do it. Here is one that is not maybe a great work of art but one of my favourites because I had so much fun painting it – using a palette knife and a fan brush. I like the colours.
Painting is a very relaxing and a fun hobby. Don’t be afraid to try it. Jean McCormick, one of our very gifted local artists, told me I could learn what the brush does and in this case, the palette knife also. Give it a try. Lots of fun.
I got Tiger a heavier water bowl thinking he would be less messy with it because he couldn’t tip it or move it as he has done with the previous bowls. Not true. Even though it is very heavy and full of water, he manages to move it just a tiny bit, enough to spill drops. He loves drops on the floor and then licks the water or lies in it and licks the side of the bowl.
What a cat!!!
A little joke from a friend:
Teacher: Who answers my next question, can go home.
One boy throws his bag out the window.
Teacher: Who just threw that?
Boy: Me and I am going home now.
Have a good week. Dawn
Enjoyed the column. World Camp was a great experience – how lucky we were to attend. You have inspired me to dig out my pictures and mementoes from Doe Lake. “ Thanks for the memories.”
-Myrna