FEBRUARY 11, 2021 – February is a busy month. We just had Ground Hog Day on Feb. 2nd. It was a snowy blowy day but the ground hogs gave their verdict. However, one was “six more weeks of winter” and others, “an early spring”. So…I guess we will have to wait and see just like every year.
This month White Cane Week starts on February 7th and ends on the 13th. The Chinese New Year is Feb. 12th. Valentine’s Day Feb. 14th. (don’t forget we women love flowers and candy) and Family Day on 15th. So, busy, busy.
February is also Black History Month. There was a great article about finding a place to honour the late Bob Turner. It brought back memories of Bob and his wife Dorris.
Since September 2013 I have written several articles about Bob and Dorris hoping for some decision about the honours they deserve. It is important to write them again.
One evening in 1961 I was on duty on Pediatrics at the Cornwall General Hospital. I noticed a man walking in the hall from the next ward First North. He stopped at our playroom and was talking to some of the children who were playing in it. He went in and played with some of them and made them laugh. It seemed an easy thing for him to do…make children laugh. He introduced himself to me as Bob Turner. He said that he was scheduled for surgery the next morning and was getting a bit of exercise. I remember thinking that he was a very nice man.
I was off for a few days but had heard that Bob was ill after the surgery. I came back on the night shift and would relieve his special nurse for her breaks. We would hold is hand from time to time and tell him that he was going to get well. Sadly, he didn’t. It was a big loss for his family and our community.
Years later, his wife Dorris and I became friends. Dorris was involved in organizations to help people with disabilities in our community. I knew of her work because she got me involved in some of them. I used to joke with her and tell her that if she had any more ideas I would have to quit my day job to keep up to her. She was instrumental in obtaining the Handi-Transit for Cornwall. I tried years after her death with the help of Guy Lauzon’s office to get the Queen’s Medal for her but it didn’t happen. She had done so much for Cornwall and worked so hard to make life easier for people with disabilities. She also should be honoured.
My great-nephew, David Johnston in Calgary, makes and sells these wonderful squirrel feeders. Looks like a little picnic bench. The squirrel certainly seems to be enjoying his treats seated and content on it. His Dad, John, told me that the rabbits use them also. People apparently buy the feeders and use lettuce and celery instead of peanuts in the shell for the rabbits. Really cute.
Photo courtesy of John Johnston. Thanks, John and David for sharing this with us.
A little item of some phrase origins.
“Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman’s face, she was told,” mind your own bee’s wax”. Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term, ‘crack a smile’. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt…therefore, the expression, ‘losing face’.
A friend sent me these photos of some old 1943 and 1944 Gasoline Licence and Ration coupons.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
A joke from a reader: Getting Older
A distraught senior lady phoned her doctor’s office.
“Is it true”, she asked her doctor, “that the medication you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life?”
“Yes, I am afraid so,” her doctor told her.
There was a moment of silence before the lady replied, “I am wondering, the, just how serious my condition is because this prescription is marked ‘NO REFILLS’.
Have a good week, Dawn