August 5, 2022 – Canada Day had come and gone . Some seniors were talking about the ‘old days’, many moons ago when the fathers would bring the fireworks to the curb outside their homes and light them up. All down the street were big blasts of colour as the fireworks hit the air. Some kids apparently had little lit sparklers and had fun waving them around. At some point this practice was all cancelled due to safety concerns.
They also talked about the fact that there were a lot of parades in Cornwall to mark special holidays and even when there weren’t any special days. It was true. We were so lucky to have had Mayor Aaron Horovitz who made sure there were so many activities for the kids and parades were part of it all. I remember standing in front of the King George Hotel with friends and watching The Blackwatch Band parading down Second Street , kilts swaying and bagpipes piping. It was so exciting.
Ah, those were the days.
I saw a man with a tee shirt which read something like this :” I drink beer but only on days that end with a “Y”. He has another tee that says: ” I retired. Now I work for my wife.”
Lots of fun.
Recently one of our local seniors, Bob Katz’s two great grandchildren ,Gabriella and Jonathon went for a trip to Tiny Town. It is a cute little play place for kids. It has different areas set up to resemble places in a city, such as a grocery store, a fire station, airplane, vet, pizza place, a house, a salon. an ice cream shop, gas stations and roads. go to https://tinytownvaughan.ca/ to read about it. Here is a photo of Gabriella all dressed in a Firemen’s outfit , hose all ready. Little Jonathon is wearing a fireman’s helmet and looks all ready for action also. So cute.
Thanks so much for sharing this photo with us. Adorable.
There was a wonderful story on the internet of a trapped humpback whale. It was posted by Richard Strachan on July 18th apparently. And I quote:
“A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down with hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yard of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and a line tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help. Within a few hours , the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so badly off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her…a very dangerous proposition.
One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
When she was free, the divers say she swam around in what seemed like joyous circles.
She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them . The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eyes were following him the whole time and he will never be the same.
May you be so fortunate.
To be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.
And may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude. “
End of quote.
As Meryl the Dolphin would say, “That is Love.”
In the summer of 2012, Don Smith, an employee of Cornwall Free News at the time, aksed me if I would like to write a seniors column for the internet newspaper. It seemed an opportunity to do some advocacy and have some fun as well as do a bit of writing which is a hobby. My first column appeared August 14, 2012. Now ten years later, after a lot of typing the columns are still live. A big thank you to Don and to our Editor Jamie Gilcig for his continuous support. Another thank you to all our readers and friends who have contacted us with comments and often with jokes and little items of interest to include as well as their concerns for seniors and others. A big thank you to James Ladouceur,, my computer technician who has been such a big help since I am not to “techie”.
I am very grateful for everyone’s support. Thank you.
Joke sent in from a reader:
You know you are getting old when:
A young teenager, listening to some music his mother was playing asked who the band was.
“The Beatles”, she told him.
“Oh, who is the group?”
When his mother told him, he said with surprise,” I didn’t know Paul McCartney had a group before the Wing!!.”
Have a good week, Dawn
Thanks Dawn. Enjoyed your column.
I do remember the fireworks that were set off on the sidewalk in front of our house on Clark Avenue. It was really quite safe as a large garden was across the street. For some strange reason we all enjoyed the burning of the little school house.
– Myrna Plumley Watt