POSTING #147

APOLOGIES ARE IN ORDER

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prepare a Posting for May 27th as I had promised.

As we used to say in Arthur after a tough hockey game, I was ‘out of poof’.

Preparations for the War of 1812 Bicentennial, and some family activities completely overwhelmed me and I just wasn’t able to focus on the blog.

The next few months are going to be hectic as we mark the Declaration of War in mid-June and then get ready to commemorate the Battle of Queenston Heights and the death of General Brock in October.

Given all of that, I think it is unrealistic for me to try to have a new Posting each Sunday between now and mid-October.

However, I have a long list of blog subjects, and whenever I have some spare time I will upload a Posting.

You may wish to log on from time to time to see if there is anything new. Or, if you wish you could give me your email address and I will send you a note whenever a new Posting is uploaded. johnpathunter@gmail.com.

We'll see you from time to time this summer!

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I tried to find the expression ‘out of poof’ in some dictionaries, but no luck. I decided it must be an ‘Arthurism’ but then Google found this comment from a woman in a support forum for pregnant women:

“anyone else huffin and puffin when they're fairly active?

i'm so out of poof! i wish i lived in a rambler. house work day, up and down the stairs, vacumming, and laundry and cleaning the kitchen with steam mop and dishes. nothing out of the ordinary, or too strenuous, but i felt out of breath by the end of it. i gotta lay off those potato chips.. i'm sweatin' like a sinner in church.

anyone else struggling with daily activies while pregnant?”

Google is fun!!

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Note:

In Posting #8 in the companion Icewine Guru Blog, the Guru offers his prediction on the US Supreme Court decision on the health care mandate. He and the Professor and their wives then discuss religion and politics. If you would like to read the Posting, please click on: http://theicewineguru.blogspot.ca/

POSTING #146

“YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN”
(Title of a novel by Thomas Wolfe.)

A week ago we were in Richmond Hill buying clothes for my Bicentennial 1812 ‘persona’ (I am going to be a retired surveyor who was born in Scotland in 1736, immigrated with his family to Philadelphia, trained there as a surveyor, then left the US after the 1776 revolutionary war to settle in Niagara, in Upper Canada. A future Posting will describe the clothes Pat and I will be wearing, and include some photos---you won’t want to miss that!)

After we had finished at the period-clothing shop and had had lunch we decided to carry on to Aurora to see how Pat’s hometown had changed, and most importantly, to have a look at the house in which she had spent her teenage years, at 100 Kennedy St. West. (Pat spent the first years of her life in a house at 26 Yonge St. but in 1950 her parents built the house on Kennedy.)

Her mother designed the house, producing detailed sketches of both the interior and exterior, sketches that she and Pat’s dentist dad, Dr. E.J. Henderson (known as ‘Doc’or ‘Hendy’ to everyone in Aurora) pored over in the evenings in the Yonge St. house. An architect, who was mightily impressed by the drawings, smoothed out some technical issues, and work began on the house.

The house, situated in the middle of a five acre lot, was built with top class materials---carefully selected stone for the exterior and thick rich oak for the floors and stairs.

As we drove up Highway 11 from Richmond Hill, Pat recalled how her family had moved into the house when it was only partly completed, and how they had to put up with workmen under their feet as the finishing touches were installed. She particularly remembered the incessant noise of carpenters driving walnut pegs into the thick and wide oak floor planks.

No nails or screws---pegs! The house was built to last.

We drove around the town, saving the house to the end

Although there were many changes, Pat was impressed with how many landmarks still existed.

There was the Ardill block on the corner of Yonge and Wellington where her dad had his dental office, on the second floor. The wall on the Wellington St. side now sports a huge two-story high “Oh Canada’ mural depicting figures from Canadian history, from Sir John A. Macdonald to Foster Hewitt and Marilyn Bell

Pat's father's dental office faced onto Wellington St., through the mural that now covers that  side of the building.

There was her public school that now seems to be a cultural centre, and the substantial protestant churches (there was no Catholic church in Aurora when Pat was growing up---Catholics had to go to Newmarket).

Pat attended the Aurora Public school from Grade 1 to Grade 7, when the school was closed and replaced with a new one. Pat took her Grade 8 at the Aurora High School. During her High School years, the old high school was closed and also replaced with a new one. The 1950s was a decade of great school construction in Ontario!

 Then we turned onto Kennedy St. West.

Pat pointed out ‘Colonel Dan’s’ house on the left as we drove along. Pat thinks that Colonel Dan had been in the military and the RCMP. He was famous to our generation as the Mountie on a horse in some of our Ontario textbooks. The house, probably built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, is being beautifully maintained.

As we drove further along Kennedy Street, Pat pointed out houses that had been replaced by new, modern, large homes. Although the old houses had had a certain early-1900s charm, they didn’t have the quiet elegance and quality of Pat’s family home. Their disappearance wasn’t a great loss to the history or culture of the town.

Pat's bedroom was behind the gable on the far left of the picture. We aren't sure when this picture was taken but the tall TV  antenna suggests that it was probably in the 1950s or 1960s.

As we got close to 100 Kennedy, we recalled that one of our sons had passed by his grandparent’s house two years ago and said that the house seemed to be in good shape and well-maintained.

There was a fairly high hedge in front of 100 so we weren’t able to get a look at the house until we stopped at the gap made by the driveway.

We looked in but didn't see Pat’s house!

Instead we saw a broad, two-story, stone-faced building with a copper turret, and a portico with pillars.

We checked the street number again. Yes, it said ‘100’.

What had happened to the house built so lovingly by Pat’s parents?

Had someone built around the old house, and incorporated it into the new dwelling?

Or, had they simply torn down Pat’s house to make room for this mansion?

The sentimental journey back to the family home had turned sour.

We headed back to Virgil, puzzled and troubled.

Some research showed us that 100 Kennedy was bought for $1.5 million in 2010 (we guess it was just after our son had seen it) and then the house was demolished.

The new dwelling was built in 2011. We don’t have a photo of it but there is a Google satellite view of the new house.

As one zooms in, it is clear that the house is huge, with a number of connected parts, one of which may be an indoor pool. In the backyard there seem to be terraces with an outdoor pool.

Further research showed that neighbouring houses have sold in the three to four million dollar range, so the new owners could afford to pay $1.5 million for the house and land, demolish the house, and build a new home without exceeding the going-price in the neighbourhood.

A millionaires’ row, indeed.

Pat’s father clearly knew what he was doing when he bought a lot on Kennedy St. West.

At first we felt annoyed, and even angry, at what the new owners had done but as we learned a little about them our view started to change. The couple is prominent in business in the area and very active in fundraising for local institutions, including the Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket.

It was just the shock, really.

And the realization that is forced upon us constantly as we age---that tempus does indeed fugit.

And what do we make of the claim in the title of Thomas Wolfe’s novel--- used as the heading for this Posting--- that “You Can’t Go Home Again”?

The answer seems to be that it IS possible to ‘go home’ but that the home you knew may not be there.

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An interesting sidebar on the story.

The new owners of 100 Kennedy West appear to own an office building on Yonge Street that is exactly on the spot (26 Yonge St.) where Pat spent the first 14 years of her life.

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See you on May 27, 2012 for Posting #147 with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please drop me a line at johnpathunter@gmail.com.

Note:

In Posting #8 in the companion Icewine Guru Blog, the Guru offers his prediction on the US Supreme Court decision on the health care mandate. He and the Professor and their wives then discuss religion and politics. If you would like to read the Posting, please click on: http://theicewineguru.blogspot.ca/

POSTING #145

NOTE: The next Posting, #146, will appear on May 20th, not May 13th, to give me a chance to do some volunteer work on the 1812 Bicentennial celebrations and to get our yard in shape. Sorry about that!

The Golden Dog/Le Chien d’or

As in the 2007 comedy, ‘Bucket List’, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, I have my own list of things I want to do before I get hit by the Big Bus. Things like visiting some new places abroad, and re-visiting some old ones.

I also have a collection of ‘shoulds’, things that a part of me feels I ought to do before it is too late. The ‘shoulds’ aren’t on any list. Instead, they’re stuffed---by another part of me---into a big sack, helter skelter. In my mind’s eye I see the sack as having a pull-string that tries to keep the bag shut, so that my remaining days won’t be bothered by these ‘shoulds’.

One of my ‘shoulds’ for a long time has been to read the 19th Century Canadian novel, ‘The Golden Dog/Le Chien d’or’ by William Kirby. An English professor at Queen’s argued that we couldn’t claim to be literate as Canadians if we hadn’t read Kirby’s novel.

Photograph of William Kirby, with his signature, ca 1865

I looked at it, flipped through the 600 plus pages, and decided that it was something for the ‘should’ sack, not for the ‘bucket list’.

Now here we are in the Niagara region, and every time we go to the restaurant at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club (it is open to non-members, like us) we pass the house at 130 Front Street where William Kirby lived from 1857 to his death in 1906.

Plaque in front of 130 Front Street.

And we notice the plaque that tells about The Golden Dog.

And I have always felt a twinge of guilt.

A side view of 130 Front Street.

Niagara-on-the-Lake has its tourist carriages. This scene in front of the Kirby House could have been from the 1800s, except for the people's clothes---and the ‘No Parking’ sign!

But I have managed to keep those twinges of guilt under control until recently.

A few weeks ago, Pat came home from her volunteer work at the Niagara Historical Society Museum where she is helping describe the Museum’s artifacts. She talked about a plaque she had been examining that depicted the legend of The Golden Dog.

Pat is still not sure about the history of this plaque, which is designed to hang on a wall. She thinks it could have been produced in the 1970s, perhaps to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Golden Dog in 1877, or perhaps for tourists to Quebec. Her research continues. I would like to thank Sarah Maloney, Managing Director of the Niagara Historical Museum, for permission to include a photo of the Museum’s plaque.

Pat’s research had begun with questions such as when was the plaque made, by whom, probable value etc. but soon led into questions about the subject depicted on it, The Golden Dog.

At that point, my guilt got the better of me; I decided that the time had come to read the bloody novel. The Museum had a tattered copy of it on its ‘Sale’ table, which I bought.

The book, printed in 1914, has lost its back cover but all its 624 pages are intact.

I started like a swimmer going into the cold waters of the Atlantic off the coast of New England---very gingerly. But as I got immersed in the tale, I found that it was getting harder and harder to put it down.

After more than 600 pages, I didn’t want it to end.

I don’t have the time, energy, space, or (more importantly) skill to do justice to the plot of The Golden Dog or to the life of its remarkable author, William Kirby. (For more information on both, please click here for an article written by Mary Jane Edwards for ‘The Dictionary of Canadian Biography on Line’. )

Let me just sketch in a few details.

The title of the book comes from a sculpted plaque created by a farmer in 17th century France in memory of his dog, which was killed by a neighbour as part of a feud between the two farmers. The plaque showed a dog gnawing on a human bone while the words promised revenge for the killing of the dog.

A settler from the part of France where the feud had taken place had a gilded replica of the plaque placed above the doorway of his house in Quebec City. William Kirby saw the plaque on a visit to Quebec, was fascinated with its theme of revenge and decided to weave it into a novel about the turbulent period in New France before the conquest of the colony by the British in 1759. (I understand that the plaque is now mounted on a post office in Quebec City where lovers of The Golden Dog novel can photograph it.)

Using the history of the time and some Quebec folk stories he created a novel of romance, love, hate, bravery, lechery (warning: the scenes of debauchery at the Palace of the Intendant Bigot are graphic) and ultimately tragedy.

The novel moves along at a leisurely,19th century pace---think of Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’---with time for rich descriptions of life in New France for the habitants and the upper classes, and some philosophising about life, but the author keeps the plot moving along with more than enough suspense to keep the reader involved.

As I read the novel I kept asking myself how Kirby, an immigrant from England with limited education, could have managed to create such a detailed tapestry of 18th century Quebec life. He wrote like a graduate from Oxford or Cambridge but wasn’t. It reminded me a little of the controversy about whether Shakespeare could have authored the plays attributed to him.

As I was finishing the novel, Pat discovered---thanks to Google---that a friend of ours whom we hadn’t seen for some time, Mary Jane Edwards, Distinguished Research Professor and director of the Centre for Editing Early Canadian Texts (CEECT) at Carleton University, was the world’s leading expert on the novel. She had just completed a scholarly edition of The Golden Dog.

I bought a copy of the new edition as soon as it was published, and found that the section on Kirby solved my question about how he managed to write The Golden Dog.

Kirby who was born in Kingston-on-Hull in England in 1817, moved in 1832 to Cincinnati with his parents---his father was a tanner by trade. William was sent to a school started by a well-educated Scottish teacher, Alexander Kinmont, who instructed his ‘scholars’ in “the various branches of Classical, Mathematical and English education”. Kirby learned to read and write in French and Latin and was challenged to study books on a variety of subjects.

After a few, obviously formative years in this school, Kirby followed his father into the tannery trade. However, in 1839 he decided to move to the Canadas because of talk in the US, from Fenians and others, about a possible invasion of the Canadas. As a strong supporter of the British monarchy, he decided to move north to help repel any invaders.

In the new edition (on the left), the novel has 755 pages, not the 624 of the version I read. In addition the new edition has several hundred pages of introduction and explanatory notes

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Mary Jane’s version includes William Kirby’s entire novel, unlike the 19th century versions, which had been abridged to reduce the cost of printing. It also includes an introduction that provides a wealth of information about the writing of the novel, the various attempts to have it published, the eventual publishing of it, the fights over royalties (Kirby's total royalties amounted to only somewhere between $100-$200!), the reception the novel has had since its publication, and on and on.

The book also includes wonderfully helpful Explanatory Notes that explain some of Kirby’s references to history, mythology and the literature of various countries.  (Happily, the notes are not flagged in the text with those annoying and distracting footnote/endnote numbers. If the reader wants more information about something on, say, page 455, it is easy to flip to the back of the book where the notes are organized by page and line.)

Although, I treasure Mary Jane’s edition, I am glad that I read the novel before reading ‘about’ it. The tale is so well told that it carried me along even though some parts of it puzzled me. Now I have the joy of going back and reading parts that weren’t in my tattered version, and re-reading the parts that puzzled me, using Mary Jane’s introduction and explanatory notes.

If I have whetted your appetite and you feel you would like to add the Golden Dog to your ‘bucket list’, I would suggest getting Mary Jane’s version, rather than reading one of the older versions. I would also suggest rushing into the story---as though you are dashing into the Atlantic---without reading the introduction. Leave that until later.

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So, the Queen’s Professor was right---as usual--- and I was wrong. I just wish, however, that he had told us that The Golden Dog would be a fun read.

I am happy that through Pat’s work at the Museum I was encouraged to pull The Golden Dog from my ‘should’ sack, and read it.

And I am so grateful that Mary Jane Edwards has poured her body and soul into this monumental edition.

In her book, Mary Jane says that she grew up with The Golden Dog. Her mother, an immigrant from Britain, discovered it when she was searching for books that would help her understand her new country. She loved the novel, re-reading it often. I am sure she would be proud of her daughter’s accomplishment.


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See you on May 20, 2012 for Posting #146 with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please drop me a line at johnpathunter@gmail.com.

Note:

In Posting #8 in the companion Icewine Guru Blog, the Guru offers his prediction on the US Supreme Court decision on the health care mandate. He and the Professor and their wives then discuss religion and politics. If you would like to read the Posting, please click on: http://theicewineguru.blogspot.ca/