Oh Ruuuuuby
It’s funny that I remember parts of the weekend in the photooos from this January 14, 2006 post in Sault Ste. Siberia but I have no clue exactly why we were there — except to visit the old folks (of course).
So apparently I walked out into the back yard at the Dillon House and took this pic of the old water tower.
I’m not sure if this water tower is still in use although it is still standing. I do know that there is a HUGE modern water tower a few blocks away that is definitely in use.
Here is a photo of my parents’ house on Dillon. It was once my grandparents’ house although not the one I walked to as a child. It’s all a long story and not all that interesting to anyone outside the Finfam. Gratuitous shots of The Comm’s red Ford Taurus and a wee bit of my loverly old Dogha (Dirty Old Green Honda Accord) to the left of it. I have a better pic of the Dogha parked there that day but this is a better pic of the house so this is what I’ll post. I sold this house after it was on the market for a year and last I knew it was up for sale again. Whatever.
This is just about the worst Ugly on earth but I have always loved it and today I found it. There’s me with my Macbook or Powerbook or whatever it was. I look like I’m scowling but probably not. Grandroobly and The Commander are eating breakfast. The TV was probably on LOUD tuned in to a morning news show. There’s my aunt Roberta’s painting kinda behind me. Whether it’s good art or not, I grew up with it and it’s in my house now.
We went to Frank’s for breakfast that weekend and we talked to Ruby (aka RB). Ruby is my dad’s cousin of some degree (not sure if he’s still alive). I’m thinking first cousin once removed but possibly second cousin but I’d have to think it all through and not doing it tonight. (I did not grow up knowing Ruby or his branch of the fam at all.) Ruby eats at Frank’s most mornings (so does the Grinch) and the waitress told him something like, “you have a whole hour of mingling ahead of you, so leave your cousin [my dad] alone so I can take his order.” I love Sault Ste. Siberia so much and here are my dad and Ruby.
This all happened in January 2006. At the end of that January, my dad was taking his daily walk down the escarpment to the post office. He fell (probably not on ice) and shattered his pelvis. My old Army Air Corps pilot dad took an air ambulance to the Henry Ford Hoosegow in Daytwa and I spent that winter driving back and forth to Henry Ford to support him and The Commander. Thankfully the weather was mostly dry and I was not employed (by choice) at the time. The Henry Ford bone docs knitted his pelvis back together and sent him back to his beloved Sault Ste. Siberia. Alas, he wasn’t able to focus on the rehab at his age (86) and he died that March. So that weekend was the last weekend that I visited my parents living together in their home in relatively good health. So glad it was so sunny the last days we were there.
G’night, KW
January 14th, 2016 at 11:19 pm
Lovely memories, except the fall. My dad took a fall on ice(he’s 87) and OH, BOY, did he get chewed out by my mom. Second cousins are on the same level of the family tree, cousins of cousins for example. (my cousins’ kids and mine are 2nd cousins)
January 15th, 2016 at 7:11 am
Kayak Woman knows all about second cousins, and first cousins twice removed, etc! As one of our younger relatives said to me a few years ago, “I know who you are, you’re my grandmother’s cousin!”
January 15th, 2016 at 8:53 am
Deb Harwood remembers your mom as her Bluebird leaser. Love these photos, KW.