FROM GRAVENHURST WE TRAVEL-
ANTIQUE HUNTING IN SPRING WEATHER, BUT BY GOLLY, IT'S STILL JANUARY. WE COULD GET USED TO THIS
SUZANNE, MUSICIAN SON ROB, AND I HAD AN INTERESTING ANTIQUE HUNT THIS MORNING, AND IT WAS, WELL, A NICE, SAFE, NON-WHITE-OUT KIND OF JANUARY MORNING. I ONLY HAD WHITE KNUCKLES ONCE, WHEN WE MET A LARGE TRUCK ON MUSKOKA BEACH ROAD…..AND THERE WAS A SHARING ISSUE. THE TREES TROUGH THE CATHEDRAL AREA OF BEACH ROAD, ARE STILL ADORNED WITH ICE AND SNOW, AND IT IS WORTH THE DRIVE JUST TO SEE THIS DAZZLING WINTER LANDSCAPE HERE IN SOUTH MUSKOKA. THIS MORNING, IT WAS SO NICE AND BRIGHT, AND THE DRIVE WAS PEACEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL AT THE SAME TIME. I REFUSE TO BE SO MISSION-DRIVEN THAT WE WOULD PASS BY THIS NATURAL WONDER, IN OUR HOME REGION, AND NOT PAY ATTENTION TO ALL OF ITS ATTRIBUTES, WHETHER WATCHING AN OWL PERCHED ON A FENCE-POST, THE DEER STANDING ON A HILLSIDE, THE CROWS FLITTING FROM SNOWY BOUGH TO STUMP, AND THE MOVING VEIL OF SNOW CAUSED BY THE WIND CHURNING BRISKLY OVER THE FARM PASTURE. THERE WERE HORSES IN THE FIELD THE OTHER MORNING, AND WHAT AN ALLURING SCENE IT OFFERED THE FOLKS TRAVELLING THE ADJACENT ROAD.
FOR MANY REASONS, DATING BACK TO HOW I GOT STARTED IN THE ANTIQUE BUSINESS, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE BACKDROP OF THIS REGION, THAT HAS INSPIRED MY COLLECTING. MY FIRST FORAYS WERE DEEP INTO THE HINTERLAND, LOOKING FOR PIONEER HOMESTEADS. I BEGAN A LIFETIME'S INTEREST IN OLD STUFF, DIGGING UP LONG GROWN-OVER, HOMESTEAD DUMPSITES, LOOKING FOR NEAT VINTAGE MEDICINE, FOOD AND SODA BOTTLES. I DIDN'T HAVE A LOT OF MONEY BACK IN MY LATE TEENS, BUT I POSSESSED A KEEN INTEREST, TO INVEST THE SWEAT EQUITY, PUTTING IN THE SHOVEL WORK MYSELF…..INSTEAD OF BUYING THE OLD GLASS FROM ANTIQUE SHOPS. IT WAS AMAZING. THE ISOLATION, PEACE AND QUIET, WINDSONG AND INSECT BUZZING TO ENTERTAIN ME. GROWLING BEARS AND BEE STINGS TO GET ME MOVING ALONG, PACK-SACK FULL TO OVERFLOWING, WITH THE FINDS OF THE DAY. I WILL GO INTO MORE DETAIL ABOUT BOTTLE DIGGING, IN A FUTURE BLOG. AT THE SAME TIME, AS A MATTER OF SOME IRONY, SUZANNE, MY FUTURE WIFE, WAS ALSO DOING ROUGHLY THE SAME THING, BUT MOSTLY FROM THE STERN OF A CANOE. WE KNEW EACH OTHER FROM SCHOOL, BUT NEVER COMPARED NOTES ABOUT OUR ANTIQUING HOBBIES. WHILE SHE DID GO OUT TO DUMPSITES IN THE ROSSEAU AREA TO DIG, SHE FOUND A LOT OF OLD BOTTLES AND JARS, PADDLING HER WHITE CANOE, IN THE SHALLOWS OF LAKE ROSSEAU, NEAR THE FAMILY COTTAGE IN WINDERMERE. IT WAS ACCEPTABLE, WAY BACK, TO DUMP REFUSE IN THE LAKE. LOTS OF IT. FROM MAJOR APPLIANCES TO IRON WORKS, CAR PARTS, CROCKS AND JUST ABOUT ANYTHING THAT WOULD SINK OUT OF SIGHT. THAT WAS THE CRITICAL ASPECT. YOU DIDN'T WANT YOUR GARBAGE FLOATING AWAY, TOWARD SOMEONE ELSE'S DOCK OR BEACH. I'VE HEARD REPORTS FROM DIVERS, WHO FOUND SOME LOCAL LAKES CLUTTERED WITH STOVES AND FRIDGES, LIKE A SUBMERGED APPLIANCE STORE, DISCARDED OVER MORE THAN A CENTURY OF LOCAL SHORELINE RESIDENCY. NOT SO NICE.
WHEN SUZANNE AND I MARRIED, WE BROUGHT OUR COLLECTIONS TOGETHER, AND IT WAS PRETTY IMPRESSIVE. MOST WERE SOLD OFF OVER TIME, THROUGH OUR FORMER MAIN STREET SHOP, ON UPPER MANITOBA STREET IN BRACEBRIDGE….CIRCA 1989-1995.
This morning's venture turned up a neat little 1960's "Kent" acoustic guitar, that our boys will repair, upgrade (add an electric pick-up), and then put up for sale….or use for recording purposes, at our current main street music shop, here in Gravenhurst (opposite the Opera House). Suzanne got a nice white pottery mixing bowl, and some round knitting needles, for a fraction of the retail price, that she uses to knit toques for the boy's store. Good value for shopping second hand. She arrived at the check-out counter of the second hand shop, with a four pound bag of old buttons, which she re-uses on some of her knitwear. Inside there was a nice vintage button, off a uniform, from the Toronto Transit Commission, that will pay for the bag of buttons, and buy us a small, nutritious lunch. It could sell for about $20 to $25, in an online auction. So what did the antique guy get? Well I got two vintage prints, both signed, nicely matted and framed, a very nice 1960's or so, vintage oil on paper-composite board, depicting an old mill, with a minor amount of damage along the top from being placed, still a little wet, in a former frame. The frame was the second in the paintings existence. It is a Canadian art piece. (I will be putting an image of this, and future finds on this blog-site, so you can have a look at what's out there on the antique hustings.) I also picked up a nice little folk art carving, of an old-timer, on a pine panel, and a really neat folk art piece, of two Cardinals, facing each other, done completely with seeds…..and I mean a lot of seeds, hand colored. A remarkable little piece, but no one really appreciated its folk art value. Or how much time it took to create. It is signed…..you guessed it……with colored seeds. I will post an image of this unusual piece, at the top of this editorial copy.
It was a good outing, and I'm already looking forward to tomorrow, our traditional antique hunting day. One of my best finds of the season was a neat rectangular pine, maple candy mold, with moveable partitions, found in a local second hand shop. No one knew what it was. As a maple syrup, and candy lover, I couldn't believe my good fortune. I will also provide a glimpse of this at a later date, when I blog about my favorite time of hinterland retreats……maple sap collecting days. I've written a lot about the spring collection of sap, in the Muskoka sugar bush, published in numerous papers over the past thirty years. What a magnificent experience to get back to the sugar shack. I'll tell you about two special trips, one courtesy of two fine fellows, who worked as outdoor educators, here in Muskoka; John Duncan and George Anderson, and a memorable trip back into the thick maples with Jim Hillman, and gang, off of Golden Beach Road, in Bracebridge. This is upcoming. I think you'll enjoy the trip back.
WEE GHOSTIES AND THINGS THAT GO BUMP…NOT JUST IN THE NIGHT EITHER
OUR NEW (OLD) HOUSE, ON THE FORMER ONTARIO STREET, IN BRACEBRIGE
I HAVE NEVER LIVED IN A HOUSE OR COTTAGE, THAT WASN'T OCCUPIED BY SOMETHING PARANORMAL…..AND NO, IT WASN'T JUST AN OVER-ACTIVE IMAGINATION. FROM THE HOUSE BUILT BY PROMINENT BRACEBRIDGE DOCTOR, AND FORMER MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, PETER MCGIBBON, TO A SIMILARLY AGED HOUSE, TWO BLOCKS AWAY, AND THEN ONTO A SMALLER 1920'S TWO STORY, BRICK VENEER HOME….OUR VERY OWN, FURTHER DOWN ONTARIO STREET, THE HOBGOBLINS AND ASSORTED GHOSTIES, SEEMED TO FOLLOW US…..YET THE INTRUSIONS WERE VERY MUCH DIFFERENT IN EACH DWELLING. FIRST OF ALL, BEING A CAREER ANTIQUE DEALER, AND MY WIFE, NOT FAR OFF, WE ARE USED TO FINDING PIECES THAT COULD WELL BE OCCUPIED BY A HITCH-HIKER SPIRIT.
WHETHER IT IS A PRIMITIVE PINE CRADLE, OR AN OLD ROCKER, CUPBOARD, BENCH, QUILT, OR STEAMER TRUNK, JUST TO NAME A FEW OBJECTS TO ATTACH ONTO, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WE HAVE BROUGHT THE SPIRIT-KIND INTO OUR ABODES, QUITE UNINTENTIONALLY. I'VE BEEN SHOE-HORNING STUFF INTO OLD HOUSES FOR A LONG TIME NOW, AND WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT…..AND FRANKLY, THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT, THERE ARE PIECES THAT HAVE A PATINA HAVING NOTHING AT ALL, TO DO WITH THE FINISH OF THE WOOD. IF YOU WERE TO TAKE THE TIME, TO READ COLLECTIONS OF GHOST STORIES, SUCH AS THE ONES GATHERED BY CANADIAN PARANORMAL SLEUTH, JOHN ROBERT COLOMBO, YOU'D FIND MANY REFERENCES TO PIECES, THAT WHILE NOT NECESSARILY HAUNTED, AS A HOUSE MIGHT BE, WERE INTEGRAL TO THE STORY BEING RELATED…..THINGS LIKE CHAIRS THAT ROCK WITHOUT AN OCCUPANT, A PRINTING PRESS THAT RUNS ON ITS OWN, FURNISHINGS THAT MOVE, ARTICLES THAT SHIFT WITHOUT A HUMAN INTERVENTION. WELL, SOMETIMES, WE BUY THOSE KIND OF ITEMS, THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE FACTORED INTO A SIMILAR STORY, THAT WHILE NOT CENTRAL TO THE ALLEGED HAUNTING, PLAYED A ROLE NONE THE LESS.
MOST OF THE TIME, WE WILL PURCHASE THESE ITEMS, WITHOUT THAT PARTICULAR PROVENANCE, AS SELLERS OFTEN FEEL THAT REVEALING A PARANORMAL CONNECTION, WILL KILL A SALE. NOT FOR ME, CAUSE I LOVE GETTING A HITCH-HIKER, BUT MOST DON'T WANT THE "UNINVITED" IN THEIR HOUSEHOLDS.
SO WHEN WE MOVED INTO OUR MODEST LITTLE HOME, ON ONTARIO STREET, WE CRAMMED ALL OUR OLD STUFF INTO THE SMALL, TWO STORY HOUSE, ORIGINALLY BUILT TO ACCOMMODATE EMPLOYEES WORKING AT THE BEARDMORE TANNERY, ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE VALLEY KNOWN AS "THE HOLLOW." THERE HAD BEEN AT LEAST TWO DEATHS IN THE HOUSE. WE KNEW THAT. THE FORMER OWNER, HAD PASSED AWAY WHILE HAVING A BATH. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW DISTRACTING THAT WAS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE LIGHT KEPT BEING SWITCHED OFF AND ON, REGARDLESS OF OUR CORRECTIVE EFFORTS. WE HAD THE SAME SITUATION AT A HOUSE UP THE HILLSIDE, (SEE PREVIOUS DAY'S BLOG), AND THOUGHT THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY WE'D BROUGHT AN OLD FRIEND WITH US, ON THE BACK OF SOME PIECE OF ANTIQUE FURNITURE SHIFTED BETWEEN HOUSES. NO WIND CHIMES HOWEVER, AND THAT WAS NICE. WHILE THERE WAS NOTHING DISTURBING IN THE HOUSE, AND LITTLE COMPARISON OF THE PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES WITH THE PREVIOUS TWO VICTORIAN ERA HOMES…..WE KNEW WE HAD SOME OTHERS LIVING WITH US. JUST NOT SURE WHO, OR WHEN THEY HAD PASSED, AND WHY THEY COULDN'T SEEM TO LEAVE THIS EARTHLY EXISTENCE. THIS WAS STILL, A VERY LOW KEY HAUNTING, AS HAUNTINGS GO.
It's worth noting here, that Suzanne and I make no claims of being psychic or clairvoyant, or that we "see dead people," or have any capability to run a seance. It is true, if you read back a tad, in these blogs, that we did use a Ouija Board a couple of times, to find out the name of an apparently haunted portrait of a young lady……which the board told us, had been "Katherine." That's as far as we've ever gone with "invitationals" to the paranormal, as such, and have absolutely no reason to gather wayward spirits to make our lives any more unusual, or action-packed. Gads. We already have too much on our plate with seven cats here at Birch Hollow. No more ghosts. Yet we do possess an open mindedness about the paranormal, and have both, since childhood, been experiencing strange interactions with the largely unexplained. I will detail this, as well, in future blogs. You can also access, in this collection of blogs, a reminiscence I wrote, about a childhood experience with what I believe was a guardian angel, and it has stayed with me for most of my life…..as clear and defined, as the dream it companioned, during a terrible bout of chest infection while residing in Burlington, Ontario. So we don't start our days, being obstinate to entities that wish to contact us, yet we don't wander around begging ghosts to contact us, for their redemption. To see Suzanne and I out on the antique hunt, you would never associate us with ghost hunters. I look like a former hockey player with a bad hip, and Suzanne, well, looks like a teacher. We don't carry around any ghost-busting equipment, or elaborate sensing devices, and there is no containment device in my dear wife's purse, for sucking up Casper or Slimmer, from the "ghost" themed movies.
So when we arrived at our just-purchased home, we didn't have a seance to determine who else, from a past life, resided at this address, and we didn't even own a Ouija Board at this point. We just wanted to settle in to a family home, with our soon-to-arrive son Andrew, our first born. As it always seems to happen, and we may have been the catalyst, with what antiques we owned, but we immediately began having problems with the bathroom light. I'd shut it off, and come back a half hour later……knowing I was the only one in the house, and the switch would be on. It happened on most days, and numerous times, and we just thought it was the lady who had passed in the bathtub, playing silly-bugger with the new couple. There was a time when Andrew was having a major crying jag, and when we went up to calm him down, we found him suddenly calm, looking to a corner in the room, where we had an old rocker, as if he saw something or someone in the chair. He couldn't speak then, so we don't know what diverted his attention from screaming to sudden silence…..and a wee smile on his face. Andrew was also visited by another unknown guest, at our second house, on Golden Beach Road, the experience documented in a book by Barbara Smith, entitled (I believe), Ghost Stories of Ontario.
There were the usual footfall on the steps, and no body to match, and the frequent sensation, in a room, of sudden coldness, and the feeling someone was looking at us……with nothing visible, no mist or figure, for the humans in residence to see. Once again, we looked at the hundreds of antique pieces we had brought into that house, and wondered whether the spirit residents, simply objected to the weight and volume of our intrusion, on their former domain. If so, well, they did let us know in a variety of ways, that we should get lost, and take our crap with us. We're well known in the spirit community as the "cluttering Curries."
This was a gentle abode, and a perfect place for those first years with a young child. There was a big backyard, with recreational space to the front and back of our property, which was a tremendous bonus as Andrew began to run. That's right. He started to run before he actually walked. He was fast. There were two unfortunate realities of the house, (the ghosts were not a big deal), including a busy road in front, and a steep staircase to the second floor, that while gated, made us nervous as Andrew's athletic prowess became more dominate. It was actually the reason we put the house up for sale, several years into our residency, in return for a house in the hinterland, very near a wonderful beach on Lake Muskoka.
But the little haunted abode, never let us down, and kept us warm, dry and cozy. Despite the two deaths in the house, we know of, and a tragic connection to a number of other deaths, in their family, it was a forgiving place, and we never felt anything malevolent that would fall into the category of threatening, or even unsettling. Now seeing as our next house, which was much newer, also had a haunted quality, we had to wonder which antique piece, the hitch-hiker had attached itself to…….
As just one additional point, to the kind of whacky, coincidental stuff that happens to us, there was a misadventure that nearly turned tragic for Suzanne, my mother, and wee Andrew, which occurred at the bottom of what we used to call Tanbark Hill, on Ontario Street, adjacent to the former Bracebridge High School. They were out for a walk, while I painted some brick-work on the house. I saw them coming down the hill, and my mother Merle went to talk with them. Previous to this, she had stopped to talk to me, as she was out for a walk from her apartment one block over.
I had a funny feeling…..and as a new parent, I was protective and safety obsessed. The intersection was busy at this time of the day, and I decided to go to the corner and move them along, a little quicker down the hill toward home. It was not a safe place to stand, and Andrew had wiggled out of his stroller numerous times. When I got close enough to see up the hillside, there was a blue car traveling at a much higher rate of speed, than was safe, if, for example, the driver was making a left sweeping turn onto what is known as Victoria Street. Even to make the slight turn to the right, onto Ontario Street, would have put him over a large patch of sand, left over from winter road maintenance. I yelled at them to move toward the grass of the High School, sensing that this jerk was going to slide, either way, and there was no way he could apply the breaks without losing control entirely.
Well, he never hit the breaks, veered to the right (which saved the car from rolling), but because of the angle downward, to the right, at the turn past our house, he began an initial slide on the sand. Due to the height differential, the car took off and flew sideways through the air, within a few yards from where my family had retreated up the lawn. It was airborne until it dropped into our neighbor's driveway, stopping perfectly aligned to the pavement and the bordering trees. From the beginning of the slide, it meant a distance of about thirty or so feet, most of it in the air. I have no idea how the heck it happened to stop that way, other than the passenger side tires took the brunt of the impact, and the car just flopped back onto the tarmac of the drive. It was a dustbowl, and for a moment we thought the driver would be dead, because of the impact that we couldn't see until the view cleared. The young driver with his first car, had survived. If Suzanne and my mother, had crossed the road, to take Andrew to the park, that morning….as they often did, there would have been three fatalities. I have no idea what inspired me to run up the hill, other than instinct, but it happened just as I have written.
The spooky part? The car the young lad was driving, a blue Mustang, had belonged to my wife, a short time before the accident. We had traded it in on a new car. Suzanne stood at the side of the road shaking, saying over and over, "That's my car, that's my car." We pulled the lad out, called the fuzz, and I hope he was fined into oblivion…….because he very nearly caused a family tragedy…..mine, because of his recklessness. So that was the unfortunate highlight, of our residency on lower Ontario Street.
IN UPCOMING BLOGS, I'D LIKE TO TAKE YOU ON SOME ANTIQUE HUNTS…..AND OFFER A FEW TIPS FOR YOUR OWN ANTIQUE FORAYS INTO THE WILDERNESS OF OPPORTUNITY. I'D JUST LIKE TO EXPLAIN, FIRST OF ALL, THAT I BEGAN AS A GENERALIST DEALER / COLLECTOR, WHO NEVER COULD STICK TO HIS LANE. I WOULD HEAD OUT ON AN ANTIQUE HUNT, WITH GIRLFRIEND, AND WITH THE MONEY IN POCKET, I'D BUY WHAT INSPIRED ME AT THE TIME. ANTIQUE DEALERS, WITH SHOPS, DO HAVE QUITE A NUMBER OF PICKERS ARRIVING ON THEIR DOORSTEPS, EVERY MONTH, OFFERING SOME WHOLESALE INCENTIVES TO BUY WHAT'S ON THEIR TRUCKS OR TRAILERS. MOST DEALERS HOWEVER, ARE GENERALISTS BECAUSE THEY BUY AND COLLECT WHAT THEY LIKE, AND USUALLY, WHAT IS AFFORDABLE, DESIRABLE, AND WILL SELL EVENTUALLY FOR A PROFIT. I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO PORTRAY MYSELF, AS AN IMPULSE BUYER, AND A DEALER MOVED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCE, THE OFFERING, AND THE AFFORDABILITY FACTOR. WHILE I'VE TRIED TO BE STRONGER IN SOME AREAS OF COLLECTING, AS AN ANNUAL RESOLUTION OF CONDUCT, SUCH AS WITH OLD BOOKS……, THE VERY NEXT AUCTION, OR ESTATE SALE MIGHT ECLIPSE EVERYTHING ELSE. I'VE DONE IT BEFORE AND I SHALL DO IT AGAIN. BUY SOMETHING THAT CATCHES MY EYE. THAT'S WHY I'VE REMAINED A GENERAL DEALER, COLLECTOR, BECAUSE I BUY FOR INVESTMENT VALUE AND FOR RETAIL TURN-OVER, AND WHEN THE VAN RETURNS FROM A BUYING TRIP, BELIEVE ME, IT'S AN ASSORTMENT OF HISTORICAL OBJECTS…..ART, GLASS, POTTERY, WOOD ITEMS, TABLES AND CHAIRS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER. THE VERY NEXT TRIP OUT, IT MIGHT BE THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE……AND THAT'S THE ADVENTURE. THE MOTTO IS, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT THERE." THAT'S WHAT MAKES THIS AN EXCITING PROFESSION, AND THE REASON WE LOOK FORWARD TO OUR REGULAR ROAD-TRIPS. IT IS MOST DEFINITELY ADDICTIVE.
More to come.
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