Friday, October 05, 2001
Today we headed up to Deloro for the Thanksgiving weekend. Mom had called the day before saying that she was feeling under the weather, and was going to make it this year. But Jane and Audrey were still eager to come, and they started arriving just after 8am. Shortly thereafter we loaded up the truck, and we all piled into it with me squished into what is traditionally Vanessa's seat. (Along the way we needed to take a couple of breaks -- if only so that I could stretch my legs).
We made it to Deloro in good time, reaching the place shortly after noon. Jenny, Hugh and their kids were already there, and a while after we arrived, Nancy and her mother, plus Erika's step-sisters Vicki and Wendy. Erika's sister Jennifer and her boy-friend David were already there too.
We came at just the right time to appreciate the Fall colours. While the weather was predicted to be rainy for the entire weekend, the rains let up for a short while after we arrived. So I ended up throwing stones with Vanessa, Ian and Ariel while Aunt Jane looked on from her rocky perch. Dogs Sucha ad Blue were there, mock-chasing after rocks thrown into the river -- with Blue occasionally bringing in an improbably large rock out of the water in his teeth. (Which was not for throwing back in, thank you very much). Jenny's kids went far afield, reaching the other side of the river (which was very low, despite the rains) and of course got pretty wet in the process. People started retreating one-by-one as the sun went down, it got colder, and the rains started to come in. In the end I escorted Ariel back up to the house.
I brought a tone of reading material with me. I cleared out all of the old issues of KMT, History Today and BBC History Magazines I had lying around strategically at various washrooms in the house, and brought them all up here, along with the latest editions of each, plus last Sunday's New York Times, and the Saturday Globe bought while we stopped at a Tim Horton's just outside of Peterborough. The idea is to bring enough reading material for Jean and David (they're up her for a month) plus future visitations from us and other visitors. And failing that, all of the stoves are wood-burning... ;-) I had meant to bring a book I had bought specifically to read while up here, but I forgot to bring it. Considering the plethora of other reading material, I need not have worried about a lack of something to read. I bought a copy of Astronomy -- in part to research the latest funky telescopes -- and my Aunt Audrey eagerly scooped it up. We ended up having long conversations about the latest in telescopes and astronomy in general. Deloro is a great place to sit back, relax and read.
Soon, the Thanksgiving feast was served. Jean cooked up a 20lb turkey (possibly the first time the traditional Thanksgiving bird has been served at Deloro – normally we get something like Salmon or something similar, which actually I tend to prefer to the ubiquitous bird) plus a ham for those not partial to turkey (like myself). We all sat around a new table David had constructed out of a massive abandoned hydroelectric cable spool that had been tiled, edged with copper, and contained a lazy susan in the center. Martha Stewart, eat your frickin’ heart out! ;-) Desert followed shortly thereafter, of which the centerpiece was a cornucopia somebody had made out of puff pastry, filled with treats. Yum!
Afterwards, most people decamped to the area around the fireplace, and either chatted or read, I washed dishes and got into a jokey mood with two of Erika's younger stepsisters Vicky and Wendy. Found out that Vicky was heading out on a trip out West with friends the following day, and that Wendy had taken up kickboxing as a way to stay fit.
Once finished, I opened up the game of Quarto I had brought. I was very disappointed to find that several of the plastic pieces were broken, and that several pieces were actually missing. Will have to return to Mind Games at the Eaton Centre...
I put Vanessa to bed at the "Grand Hotel" (the original small bunkhouse dwelling that David had constructed years ago), and soon joined her in the bunk just below hers. Erika passed over little Annie to me when she came to bed, but she had a very fussy night. I remember lying awake with her finally passed out on my chest, realizing I could not fall asleep in this position. ;-)
Today seemed to be more of a holiday that the previous day. This was my day to go and run some errands and do some further research into the family tree.
Spent the morning at the Toronto Reference Library again, still going through the records for the 1881 census, this time looking specifically for information about the Langes and Robertses that lived in Lancashire. The number of Robertses that lived in the area is staggering -- my rough search turned up several thousand. Even when I narrowed things down only to "Francis Roberts" I still came back with a number of hits. Since I do not know his date (or even year) of birth, sifting through the existing entries will prove tricky. I am assuming that he was married by 1881 (a not unreasonable assumption since his son was born that year, and he had a daughter prior to that), and that he lived in Lancashire. You'd think it'd be easy, but it does not appear to be so straightforward. Not much immediate success researching the Langes either, and unlike the Robertses/Okills, there's no guarantee that they were in Lancashire by 1881, since they were said to have come with Keil, Germany at some time in the 19th century (Albert Langes' daughter, Elizabeth Annie, my grandmother, was born in 1896 -- 15 years after the census).
Once I was finished at the library, I headed down to The World's Biggest Bookstore to buy some fresh magazines as reading material to take up north for the weekend. I selected a copy of KMT and BBC History. Then I headed over to The Eaton Centre, and finally caved in a bought the cheesy "Junior" version of Quarto -- again a donation intended for Deloro. (The "Junior" version uses silly-looking plastic mushrooms instead of the more elegant architecturally-influenced wooden blocks of the regular version of the game). I also went and bought myself a couple of new pairs of pants and a shirt for Fall-ware. Then I headed home.
Since Vanessa was already up at Deloro, we decided to take the opportunity to head out for a real dinner. A good neighbour of ours kindly took Annie for a few hours, and we headed to our favourite restaurant, Southern Accent in Mirvish Village. Great Cajun food served in a place with a funky atmosphere. Cajun calamari, blackened livers, gumbo file -- Yum! ;-)
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About Me
- Name: Keith Schengili-Roberts
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
An early 40-ish married Dad who has written some technology books, teaches at the University as an instructor in Information Architecture and in Content Management, and works at a certain graphics card company as their Manager for Documentation & Localization. The blog is about whatever comes up, and is meant more as a personal journal that I share with friends and family in order to let them know what's going on in mine and my family's life. As a rule I don't talk about anything work-related here, so most of the musings are of a personal rather than of a professional nature. If you enjoy as well, great, if not, there are plenty of other blogs out there to look at... ;-)