Summer Stock Sunday - 39

Robin's Summer Stock Sunday meme invites all to post summery photos, and to visit other bloggers who share their feelings and memories about this magical season.
















Heading into our Way Back Machine, these shots were taken in the 1970s during an epic road trip out west.

My husband Brad and his family were born and bred in Toronto, except for his dad who hailed from Manitoba, one province west of Ontario.

One summer his Aunt Pat - the Aunt Pat who is always listed as the photographer whenever I post Brad kid pix - took my husband and his brother for a memorable vacation, about which he often reminisces.
















Aunt Pat took the two youngest, Jeff and Brad, and showed them the Rockies, Lake Louise, the Columbia Icefields, as well as touching base with family in Winnipeg.

Summer - a perfect time to dust off the suitcases and see the sights that stay with you for a lifetime.

Summer Stock Sunday - 21

A vintage look at summer for Summer Stock Sunday, hosted by Robin at Around the Island.














This photo was taken by my husband's Auntie Pat, who was a passionate photographer. Luckily for my husband's family, she took loads and loads of shots of the kids as they were growing up. She had her own dark room and a proper camera - but she was also known to use Kodak Instamatics.

Here she grabbed a shot as everyone headed towards an afternoon at the museum in Toronto. In the foreground, oldest boys Ken and Jeff lead the way. My father-in-law David chats with his aunt (I think it may be the same auntie who stood next to him and his mom in the 1930's Niagara Falls picture) as my husband Brad - the excited little guy - rushes to catch up. Obscured by David is my mother-in-law Joan, and probably my sister-in-law Karen, walking next to Grandma Smith.

I love the energy in this shot, the anticipation of heading towards something fun. And Auntie Pat's sense of composition and line turns this shot into something more than just a snapshot, as most of her photography did.

Robin says I love that she captured real moments, not just posed portraits. She must have been quite ahead of her time :)

Dianne says I'm pretty much the family photographer, I hope my photos are appreciated as much as you appreciate these :)

Louise says I can't even begin to tell you how fascinated I am with old snapshots. I get such a kick out of seeing how people dressed back then, how the cars looked, the ads, everything! This snapshot is so great!

The Hubby Meme

Akelamalu opened this meme up for all takers awhile ago, so here's my version.

How long did you date? Well, this is a two-part question for us. We met when we both worked at a movie theatre in Toronto. We became very close friends, but both of us had a history of having strong friendships with the opposite gender. Neither of us had the idea of going out with one another. All of a sudden that changed about two years after we met.


Once we realized we were actually - could it be possible? - in love with each other, we got engaged a year later, and were married almost two years later. It was five years between our first meeting and our wedding day.

This picture was taken in our first apartment together, where Brad moved in with myself and my roommate Dave. I used to be the nanny for Dave's niece. This was Christmas 1990.


This is Dave. This was taken on Christmas Eve 1995 over at his sister's house - the house where I was the live-in nanny. We were over there for a Christmas Eve visit - Brad and I, my sister, my mom who was staying at my sister's on a visit from the east coast, and of course Dave, and the hosts Donna (my former employer and good friend) and her husband Rob.

How old is he? Brad is 44 and I'm 43.

Who eats more? We both have a great appreciation for the culinary arts.

Who said “I love you” first? I did.


Who is taller? I'm 5'1" and Brad is 6'2".

This was taken at my 25th high school reunion last summer.


Who sings better? Although my family is very musical and we have many singers among us, when I attended the first Smith birthday and they started singing Happy Birthday to you I was bowled over by what great voices they have.

This is from Christmas Day 1992 at Brad's parents' place, where Brad's brother Jeff set up his karaoke equipment and we had a ball taking turns singing. Here Brad belts out a tune.


This is Jeff singing at his karaoke show at The Old Sod Pub in Etobicoke, west Toronto last October. Jeff has an incredible voice with a huge range. If there's a gap between patrons, he'll sing until the next one is ready for their spotlight.


Here's me singing Frank Sinatra's Witchcraft at Jeff's show. Swing, baby.








If you want to drop in on one of his shows, check out The Old Sod's schedule and say hi for me!

Who is smarter? Well Brad says, "You are." And I say to Brad, "You are." We'll have to arm wrestle for it.

Whose temper is worse? Both of us are pretty easy going. If we are stirred to anger, both of us can give the death ray stare. We're Scorpios. Luckily, we seem to recognize that we're equal adversaries and leave it at that. The Scorpio thing gives us an ability to sense when the other is troubled, so we never seem to get worked up enough to get mad in the first place.

Who does the laundry? We share that out. He'll wash the clothes in the machine and I'll hang them to dry, either on the drying racks inside or out on the clothesline.

Who does the dishes? We both try to avoid - um - doing the dishes. So we both end up doing them.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Brad does.

Who pays the bills? We share that, both financially and practically.

Who cooks dinner? We basically fend for ourselves. We have different schedules, so he eats when he needs to and so do I. If I feel really horrible, he fixes me dinner, and I do the same for him.


Who drives when you are together? Brad doesn't have a driver's license - never has. So I'm the driver. We're mostly public transit riders.

Here's Brad in the passenger's seat of his brother's car.


This is Brad and me on the Queen streetcar heading into downtown Toronto last fall.

Love the streetcar. Love heading downtown.

Who is more stubborn? I am. I'm Acadian, remember? I'm positive there is no other cultural group more stubborn than Acadians.

And you'll never convince me otherwise.

Who asked who out first? Brad did. Basically, he's the one who turned our friendship on its ear and set us on our new path.

Who kissed who first? Brad got in my way as I was heading upstairs at his parents' place, where I was going to the guest room for the night. As Brad's closest friend, I often stayed overnight on the weekend in the guest room after we'd stayed up nearly all night watching movies on TV.

But one night he just stepped in front of me and kissed me. And the rest is history.

Who proposed? Brad proposed as we ate the Thanksgiving dinner I'd prepared for just the two of us in our first apartment.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We're both very diplomatic and don't hold onto the anger when it flares up.

Whose parents do you see the most? Well, we live with my mom, so I'd say mine. When we lived in Ontario, it was Brad's parents. Geography plays the big role in that.

Who is more sensitive? Brad is more sensitive, due to his bipolar disorder. Other than his mood swings, Brad's actual character is quite solid and not overly sensitive. And I am very grounded. I don't worry about too many things.






Who has more friends? I have a lot more friends, again because of Brad's bipolar disorder and his tendency towards agoraphobia. But considering that, he has a wide network of true and long-lasting friendships that is really rare for a bipolar person.

This is Brad with his friend Andrea that he went to The New School of Drama with. She was his attendent of honor at our wedding (the 'best man', if you will.)


This is Andrea giving her 'best man' speech at our reception, which was actually a reading of Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

- Dr. Seuss

Photo, L to R: Our niece Christi who got married this summer on our wedding anniversary, Brad's brother Ken, Andrea, Brad, me, my best friend Connie, Brad's sister Karen and our niece Emily

Who has more siblings? Brad has more siblings. He's the youngest of four, and I'm the oldest of two. However, my sister and I grew up so closely with my two cousins, that we all feel as if we are more like siblings than cousins.


These are Brad's brothers, Jeff and Ken with their mom, Joan at her 50th anniversary celebration last October.














This is Brad's sister Karen with a very full house following their dad's funeral this past January. We really enjoyed this time together - she still had a crowd five hours after we gathered in her home.



This was taken on Christmas Eve 2002. I'm here at left sitting at my aunt's house with my cousin Julianne, my sister Michelle and my cousin Charlie's wife Heather.


This was taken on Christmas Eve 2007 - Brad, me and my cousin Charlie.












Who wears the pants in the family? I don't wear skirts very often - does that answer the question?

And now, a-tagging I will go, a-tagging I will go...

Heather
Jennifer
Miss Sniz
Olga
Thomma Lyn
Toni

Coming At Us From All Sides

My mom is finding it hard tonight to accept the idea that it's no longer an option to care for Gram at home. Mom has been caring for Gram for fifteen years.

The past few months have been really hard on Mom, as Gram was declining and Mom had to perform real nursing care for her mother. Though you'd imagine it might seem like such a relief to know that she's no longer tied to the house, to have to keep her ear listening for Gram getting up and shuffling off to the washroom with her walker - it's actually very distressing for Mom.


Luckily her two brothers flew here for the past few days, plus her brother that lives here has been sharing the visits at the hospital so that Mom feels a great deal of support from her siblings. I know it's meant a lot to Mom to be surrounded by her family for this dreaded transition in her mother's life.

I'll be getting up at 4:00am tomorrow to drive my uncles to the airport. It's been a short, emotional visit and I've so enjoyed seeing them. I'll share their trip here in my next Thursday Thirteen.

Meanwhile, after enjoying a family dinner quickly put together by Mom so my uncles could see all of us, Brad and I returned to our apartment downstairs to find this note on our Facebook pages:

'Say A Prayer For My Dad'

This was posted by Brad's brother Jeff this evening.


"I'm calling on all of my spiritual friends to say a prayer for my Dad. David Smith is 70 years old and has cancer of the pancreas. He's been fighting it for 8 months and recently he has been having a real tough go of it. He's taking chemo-therapy once a week and he's on pain medication the rest of the time, it either makes him so dopey he's zombie like or it doesn't properly control his pain and he just can't get comfortable. I know from my birthday that people will chime in and send best wishes. I'm hoping to harness a little bit of that good will and send it to my dad. If you're a part of a prayer group and can pass this along or if you've got a good connection with your higher power, please send out a prayer for him. We're doing all that is earthly possible for him. I'm hoping for some kind of holy intervention. Thank You."

November is Birthday Month

Not only is November my own birthday month, but it's the birthday month of almost everyone I know! Seriously.

Let's see - who do we have?

Nov. 1st


Gram












Nov. 2nd


My best friend's daughter, Kayleigh









Nov. 7th


My husband Brad
















Nov. 11th

My birthday


and my Uncle Warren's





Plus a friend of mine I sang with in choir in Toronto, plus blog friend Gabriella




Nov. 16th


My mom Paulette











Nov. 18th


My friend Donna





and my blog friend Akelamalu






Nov. 20th


My brother-in-law Jeff






and a friend from film school, Jason (here with his wife)










Nov. 22nd


My friend from high school, John












Nov. 23rd


My cousin's wife, Heather (with my mom)












Nov. 25th


My Uncle Charlie










That still leaves 20 days open. I wonder if they'll all be filled up by the time I'm Gram's age?