Connections: Summer Visitors from "the past"
It has been really enjoyable to have long- time friends visit and to meet a first cousin for the first time this summer.
Maureen and Ramsay on their annual cultural visit of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Stratford were able to stay with us and visit new and old haunts of Scarborough. Here we are on the new section of the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail approaching the mouth of Highland Creek. Maureen did not want her picture taken!
June and Verla.
In this photo June is taking notes for documenting a family tree. June is my cousin as well as Verla's cousin. Verla knew June but I had never met her before, although I've been corresponding with her by email for the past 4 years (and I happily wore her clothes when I was in Grade 10). June's mother, Mabel, was my father's oldest sister. Verla's father and June's father were brothers.
Maureen and I taught with Verla in our first years of teaching at William Tredway.
And here are the three of us in the back yard.
Another connection: Paul's brother, Daryl, was a student teacher at Walter Perry, where Verla's husband, Don, was principal.
Both Paul and I went to school with Judith Cowan. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of Judith when she was here this year, but the photo of Judith on the bookmark is one I took last year that Judith has since used for publicity. Gambler's Fallacy and its translation below (La Loi Des Grands Nombres) is a book of short stories that Judith has had published. More Than Life Itself is her first published book of short stories. Its translation, Plus Que La Vie Même is shown here as well as Mirabel, for which she won the Governor General's award for translation. Judith is now working on her memoirs.
My cousin June's daughter, Sandra, went to the University of Trois-Rivières where she met Judith who was a professor there.
It turns out that Verla, Paul, Judith and I also went to West Hill Collegiate at the same time [and Verla rode the same bus to school as Paul. Of course, grade 13 students (Verla) don't pay any attention to grade 9 students (Paul, Sandra and Judith)].
All of this reminds me of the play called Six Degrees of Separation also referred to as The Human Web.
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Also, coincidentally, June's deceased husband was a fraternity brother of mine at university. Small world.
I suggested to Sandra that what the closeness demonstrated was how little we had broken away from east end "Orange Toronto" roots since the Reillys were orange, Maureen's family were orange and june and Verla's families were orange. Sandra, whose family contained no orangemen at all that she will admit to was not amused!
Paul