A FEW HOMETOWN / HOME DISTRICT OPINIONS AS A SIDEBAR

MORE ANTIQUE AND GHOST TALES FOLLOWING:

EVEN ANTIQUE DEALERS AND FEATURE WRITERS HAVE TO, FROM TIME TO TIME, MAKE COMMENT ON THE STATE OF LOCAL AFFAIRS. AS CURMUDGEONS OF THE TRADE (WE'RE NOT ALL CURMUDGEONS), WE FEEL A CERTAIN PRIVILEGE OF HISTORY, AND ANTIQUITY, TO THROW SOME COMMENTS OUT TO THE MODERNISTS…..WHO SOME OF US OLD FARTS THINK AREN'T DOING A VERY GOOD JOB AT LOOKING AFTER OUR ASSETS…..SPENDING WAY MORE THAN WE CAN AFFORD….AND FORGETTING THAT WHATEVER GOES UP, INEVITABLY COMES DOW. THE MORE ASSORTED TAX INCREASES, THE LESS MONEY MANY FOLKS HAVE TO AFFORD FOOD ETC., ETC.

DELIGHTED BY DISTRICT CHAIRMAN'S CONCERN ABOUT SOCIAL SERVICES PRIORITY

I'M PROBABLY THE LAST PERSON JOHN KLINCK WOULD EXPECT, TO BESTOW A CONGRATULATORY COMMENT ABOUT THE PROCEEDINGS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT. BUT I MUST. AS I HAVE CRITICIZED SOME OF HIS POLICIES AND INITIATIVES, IN THE PAST, AS MAYOR OF THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST, I MUST ADMIT MY OPINION IS MUCH BETTER TODAY……KNOWING MORE ABOUT HIS FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE AS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA. PARTICULARLY, THIS MORNING'S HEADLINE IN THE BRACEBRIDGE EXAMINER, DATED JANUARY 4, 2012, THAT READS, "SOCIAL SERVICES TOP PRIORITY IN 2012, SAYS JOHN KLINCK."

I don't want to get all gushy about it, but by golly, I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I have been begging local councillors, for years, to pay more attention to the progressive creep of poverty amongst constituents. The issue has apparently crested, initiating a variety of approaches, and hopefully a greater appreciation for those in economic peril, living in our community, and our region. I have always had a deep concern, that our councillors……who don't just represent property owners, have only a minor knowledge of the social-economic problems in our area, and don't seem to have any significant liaison, with for example, the Food Bank, operated locally by the Salvation Army. These folks have a real up-close and personal knowledge of the demand and the suffering that is ongoing in our little town. We're just one of six municipalities facing increasing demand on social services. The fact that the District Chairman is placing this issue as a priority for the next year, is a huge admission, that poverty is a high profile problem…..and that it must be addressed through an assortment of programs, initiatives, and lobbying I suppose, at the provincial level, to profile the situation as more serious, than it often gets recognition…..Muskoka being a place for the rich to retreat, or so it appears.

I am thrilled that this issue is being pursued, and that the Chairman has taken such a commanding role……and that the press seems to share the opinion, that the plight of the poor and unemployed in our region, is going to take a behemoth effort to change……and that will take considerable dedication to sustain at council level for the rest of the present term. In that time, we are very likely to be influenced adversely by declining economic conditions elsewhere….and with reports about Canadian's personal debt-load being at an all-time high, this is a better-late-than-never initiative that inspires me…….that the New Year has got off to a good start.

DISTRICT REVIEW - START FROM THE START - AND TAKE THE BLINKERS OFF

I don't have a mission to de-rail the proposal for an over-haul of how regional and area governments operate. It isn't so. While there are some critics out there, proponents, who can not see any positives in the government structure we have in place today, I don't jump on bandwagons just because they pass my way. As I have commented, to some of my readers, and in phone chats, the way to proceed is by challenging status quo. I'm good with that. And for a start, I suggest, strongly so, that a near-forensic review be done, regarding the amalgamation of the Muskoka Board of Education, and others, into the present Trillium Lakelands Board of Education. This was a provincially generated amalgamation, that was supposed to be the model of efficiency, and cost savings. At least this is what the ratepayers of our region were told, when it was a bandwagon on a roll. Well, for those who are pushing for not only a review of local government inefficiencies (because they're not looking for efficiencies, are they), they can't honestly present a profile of this change-for-the-better, taxpayer-friendly overhaul, without knowing all the good and not so good qualities of the Trillium Lakelands amalgamation…..and it must include the comparisons with the way it once operated, as the Muskoka Board of Education, as compared to the present. Are we getting better services and quality of education at present, as compared to what we might have had, if the Board had stayed the same? What are the cost efficiencies as compared to the still prevailing inefficiencies……, where today we are paying more because of distance issues (transportation)……than what had been forecast before the amalgamation.

As I have written previously, the problem here is tax burden. So we're in agreement. Duplication of services is a big drain on fiscal realities. I do not appreciate my tax dollars being squandered, and that is an acute feeling about the way our money is wasted in the upper levels of government as well. Still, if you can look at the Trillium Lakelands amalgamation, and find that there has been tremendous cost savings in its years of service, and that efficiencies have been steadily increased, and duplication of services virtually eliminated, then we, the taxpayers, generally, might look on a regional overhaul more favorably in the future. The problem here is simple. The idea of improving fiscal responsibility appeals to us. Why wouldn't it? But by experience, we know that when "change for the better" is deemed the end-all at the beginning,……. and when it's not quite what we signed up for……all of a sudden, the proponents disappear, and the "oh-wells," are the only words audible over…."yup, we got screwed again!" My advice to the citizens of Muskoka……don't blindly support something you don't understand. Make sure you ask the right questions of the right people……and a good start, would be asking the newspaper to start some investigative pieces……about what this is all about……and all the future implications on the taxpayer…..if it all doesn't work out, as proposed. Keep in mind, that a revamp of regional government is going to take a long time to benefit us financially. So how much, and how long? If we're already deep in debt, shouldn't we clear this matter up, before we undertake a project that could add an even large burden of budget deficit? It will soon be time, for the proponents of change, to provide some statistics about such a government overhaul.

Gravenhurst Councillors need to bone up on this stuff fast……because your constituents are keen to know what the heck is going on out there!

WINTER CARNIVAL SONG HAS BEEN WRITTEN, FIRST SCARF HAND KNIT, AND I LIKE BOTH

JUST A LITTLE UPDATE, THAT THE GROUP "PRESSURE POINT," HAS A SONG IN PROGRESS, TO COMMEMORATE THE UPCOMING WINTER CARNIVAL IN GRAVENHURST, AND SUZANNE IS NOW WORKING ON A SECOND SCARF TO BE WORN BY THE GROUP, IN PERFORMANCE. WHERE'S THE GIG? WE MAY HAVE TO HEAD TO THE ROOF-TOP, TO PERFORM IT, BUT THE GROUP IS KEEPING THEIR OPTIONS OPEN. IT WAS THEIR INITIATIVE, AND WE HOPE FOLKS WILL LIKE THE TUNE. THE CARNIVAL TAKES PLACE IN MID FEBRUARY, HERE IN GRAVENHURST.

AS PROMISED-

A HAUNTED GIRL, AND WHACKY PORTRAIT, AND THE GAMES THE SPIRITS PLAY - ANTIQUES….YOU GOTTA LOVE THEM!!

THERE IS ONE ASPECT OF ANTIQUE HUNTING, AS OUR FAMILY PURSUES THE PROFESSION, THAT I WANT TO STRESS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS STORY-BOOK ON MUSKOKA ANTIQUING……IN THIS NEW COLLECTION OF BLOGS. WE ARE NOT THE KIND OF HUSTLE-AT-ALL-COST COLLECTOR/ DEALERS. WE ARE FOLKS WHO ARE VERY RESPECTFUL OF THE BEAUTIFUL REGION, IN WHICH WE RESIDE, AND WHEN WE HEAD OUT ONTO THE ROAD, THE LANDSCAPE IS VERY MUCH RELEVANT TO OUR ADVENTURES. AS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK, "ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE," WE ARE ENTHRALLED BY THE NATURE OF THE HINTERLAND, AND WE WILL DAWDLE, AND STOP FOR A GANDER, TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH OF A MOOSE IN A LOWLAND, DEER IN A PASTURE, OR JUST THE VISTA OF A SUNRISE OVER A MUSKOKA LAKE. IT IS PART OF THE EXPERIENCE, AND THE MOTOR-TRIP, AND THE DISCOVERIES, ALL HAVE A BACKDROP OF THIS CANADIAN LANDSCAPE…..AND NOTHING IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED. WE STOP AT EVERY YARD SALE, ESTATE SALE, CHURCH FUNDRAISER, FLEA MARKET, AUCTION, ANTIQUE SHOP OR MALL, AND THEN THERE'S THE PICNIC LUNCH WE HAUL WITH US…..AND THE ROADSIDE VENUES, AND PARKS WE LOVE TO STOP FOR A WEE RESPITE BEFORE MOVING ON. JUST SO YOU KNOW. WE'RE NOT OF THE RUTHLESS, "TIME IS MONEY" ANTIQUE OBSESSIVES. WE ARE SET IN OUR WAYS, AND I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW HOLLOW IT WOULD BE, IF ALL WE THOUGHT ABOUT, ON THESE OUTINGS, WAS THE COVETOUS GRASPING-UP OF SOME HOLY GRAIL……..WITHOUT ACTUALLY HAVING ENJOYED ALL THE STEPS IN BETWEEN, THROUGH THE MILES OF BEAUTIFUL WILDERNESS FROM HERE TO THERE. WE BEGAN OUR ANTIQUE PROFESSION IN MUSKOKA, AND IT IS WHERE WE WILL RETIRE IN THE BUSINESS…..BUT THAT'S A LONG, LONG WAY OFF. I HOPE YOU WILL OCCASIONALLY SENSE, THROUGH THESE BLOGS, JUST HOW IMPORTANT THE NATURE OF MUSKOKA, IS TO THE PURSUIT OF ANTIQUES, IN OUR LINE OF WORK.

AS I WROTE ABOUT, IN A PREVIOUS BLOG, I PURCHASED A VICTORIAN PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG LADY, AT AN AUCTION, SEVERAL YEARS AGO, IN THE COMMUNITY OF MILFORD BAY, PICTURESQUELY SITUATED BETWEEN PORT CARLING AND BRACEBRIDGE. I DIDN'T HAVE A LOT OF MONEY THAT DAY, AND THE ESTATE AUCTION DREW A LARGE NUMBER OF DEEP POCKET COLLECTORS AND DEALERS. I MADE VERY FEW PURCHASES THAT OUTING, EXCEPT AT THE COFFEE WAGON. OTHER THAN THAT, I GOT ANGRY, ABOUT THE CONDUCT OF SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES. ONE WHO ACTUALLY HAD THE GALL, TO STAND IN FRONT OF ME, TEARING APART THE BOOKS HE OUTBID ME ON, FOR THE GRAPHICS ONLY. THEN HE DISCARDED THE BOOKS. AS A BIBLIOPHILE THROUGH AND THROUGH, THIS MADE ME NAUSEOUS. THE DEALER KNEW I WAS A BOOK COLLECTOR AND HISTORIAN. IT WAS AN "IN YOUR FACE MOMENT," AND I NEVER SPOKE TO HIM AGAIN.

MY FRIEND ART CAMPBELL, THE AUCTIONEER, MORE OR LESS THREW ONE MY WAY, OFFERING THE HAND-TINTED PHOTOGRAPH TO ME FOR A FIVE DOLLAR BID. THERE WERE NO BACK BIDDERS. SO I DID GET SOMETHING AT THE AUCTION BUT VICTORIAN PORTRAITS OF THIS NATURE WERE, AND STILL ARE, BLOODY HARD TO SELL. SO BASICALLY, THIS GIRL WAS OURS. I WOULD HAVE TO BEG SUZANNE FOR A LITTLE WALL SPACE TO HANG IT, AND IN OUR HOUSE, WALL SPACE, EVEN THEN, WAS MODEST. I LOVE ART WORK.

THE FIRST SPOT WE CHOSE FOR THE VICTORIAN LADY, WAS NEAR THE BATHROOM, BESIDE A BOOK SHELF, AND HUNG ABOVE A BEAUTIFUL JUG AND BOWL SET I'D BOUGHT SUZANNE ABOUT THREE WEEKS EARLIER, ALSO AT AN ART CAMPBELL AUCTION. THIS ONE HAD BEEN IN BRACEBRIDGE, AT THE OLD BROWNING HALL. THE COLLECTION HAD COST JUST UNDER TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS BUT IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY. WE'VE HAD MANY OF THESE BUT, AS BUSINESS TENDS TO OUTWEIGH PERSONAL SATISFACTION, WE WERE FORCED TO SELL THEM ALL. THIS TIME, THE SET, INCLUDING A JUG AND BASIN, COVERED SOAP DISH, A SMALLER JUG, A SHAVING MUG, AND A CHAMBER POT AND LID, WAS FOR SUZANNE. NOT FOR SALE.

I've got to tell you. It looked great. The Victorian lady (girl), in her white frock, in a nicely appointed gilt frame, and this 1800's jug and basin set, sitting on a very old pine and oak washstand. What could go wrong? Well here's what did go wrong. We came home one day, and the portrait had fallen to the carpet, missing the jug and bowl, falling over the washstand, and landing face up, staring at us, without nary a scratch to anything. The nail was still in the wall, and the wire on the back of the portrait was just as it had been before being hung. It had landed about four to four and a half feet from the wall. Suzanne and I stood over that picture, trying to find any reason at all, why it had fallen off, and then, how it came to physically jump over the jug and bowl set. Not being able to offer a solution, but finding no fault with the nail or wire, I re-hung the wee lass exactly as I had before.

I'm not sure whether it was a week later, the exact same thing happened, but this time it looked like the portrait did a cartwheel to an area in front of the brick heart, almost twice the distance from the first misadventure. Once again, there was no damage to the jug and bowl, and nary a mark on the frame. Yes indeed, the portrait was facing up, as it had the first time. The glass over the portrait was fine. The nail was exactly the same. Suzanne moved the jug and bowl set when I picked the picture up, and headed back to the washstand, obviously intent on re-hanging the little girl. Now I know there was a third occasion, when the girl once again brought the portrait down to the carpet, but I can't be sure of the time-frame….as to whether it was a week or month later. (there is a more complete account on my Muskoka and Algonquin Ghost blogsite if you're interested)

But then the really weird stuff started to happen. We'd wake up in the morning, and find books had been pulled from the shelves, and dumped on the floor. Her portrait was always crooked, and as I'm particularly fussy about this, I corrected the photograph each time I noticed it hanging off-kilter. I could easily count five or so times every day, that I'd tend that little girl. On some mornings, she'd surprise us, by only pulling out the books part-way off the shelf, but not actually dropping them to the floor. Then, for a change, she'd be crooked the opposite way, to what had been her trademark for weeks. So here was a bright idea. Why not try a Ouija Board, in an attempt to contact her in the great beyond. Now if you are familiar with the paranormal, or a dabbler in things like seances, you just don't get one of these boards and start inviting wayward spirits into your homestead…..which is what, apparently, can happen when novices start playing games with those who have passed. Well there's a giant "oops for ya." I sometimes think we have a whole social club in here now, of the dearly departed, since the day we whipped out the paranormal magnate…..the Ouija. By the way, we had two people, who told us in advance, we were making a mistake…..one was the person who was selling us the board, at the local department store. Did we listen? Of course we didn't. We were smarter than that! Or so we thought.

So we took the portrait to the downstair family room, and fired up the board. We did what the instructions suggested, and it wasn't long before the young lads, Andrew and Robert, were moving the table by their own enthusiastic spirit, while asking those who have passed, specifically the Milford Bay girl, what her name was. Well, it was a first attempt, but the table pointed to the letters, which after considerable trial and error, spelled "Katherine." I don't remember all the other information that Ouija spelled out for us, but I don't think Katherine was amused when we suddenly stopped for a dinner break. I hung her back on the wall, in the space she had occupied for months, over the jug and bowl set, and the pine washstand. In short order, she was crooked, and all that night, she seemed intent on hanging the way she wanted, no matter how many interventions I had to take, "to right" the wrong angle. The next morning, we had more books pulled from the shelf and one on the floor, and yes, she was undeniably off kilter. But she at least stayed on the nail.

Now during this time we checked the wire hanger, the nail, the vibration caused by the frequent opening and closing bathroom door, and no matter how much we tried to re-create the right conditions for a little disarray, with Katherine's portrait, it couldn't be done. For weeks Katherine was unhappy with her lot in the after-life. I actually stopped correcting the crooked positioning, and I remember one morning getting up, and finding her hanging perfectly. I asked Suzanne if she'd straightened the little girl out, and the answer was a clear "No I didn't." By later that morning, the picture was crooked again. I assumed she was mad at us, for ending her conversation with the boys, that day in the family room, when she spelled out her name. It seems she had much more to say about her distress as a mere portrait on a wall.

Now I can't recall when I decided to take Katherine off the wall, and take it to our main street Bracebridge antique shop. I didn't do it because of the girl's refusal to hang properly, but it probably had more to do with a recent expansion at the shop, on Manitoba Street, and the fact I had a lot more wall space to work with. She would fit perfectly, just above my sale counter.

So every day, she hung askew. It didn't matter how many times I'd straighten that kid out, she'd revert to her old ways. The only thing I didn't see, was the actual physical shift of the frame, the inch or two it usually travelled. I'd take the picture down, out of frustration, measure the eyelets for the wire hanger (to make sure they were even), and tighten or loosen it just for the heck of it……to see if it made any difference at all. Not a chance. I could have nailed that frame to the wall, and it would have shifted anyway.

In the shop, attached to a Victorian era house, (which had a few paranormal situations attached), Katherine not only liked to pull the books out on the shelf, or topple them to the floor, but she found it fascinating to knock over all the dolls in the same room. I would come and open up the store, flip the lights, and find every single vintage doll (Suzanne had made clothes for), knocked over onto their faces. Never sideways, as you might expect could occur. Always as if grabbed by the head and pulled over…..showing that each one had to be individually knocked down, not the case of a domino effect. Which to me made it a bit more unusual. I tried to explain it as a mouse event, or a strange shift of the building, or an inside wind…..but I did everything to challenge the paranormal qualities, with some actual hard facts from the prevailing realities. It didn't happen every day, but at least two to three times a week.

One day, a local theatre set-designer, came into the shop to beg a few antiques for the staging of a "you guessed it," Victorian thriller; known to lovers of murder mysteries as both "Angel Street," and "Gaslight." Guess what she wanted to borrow most of all? I didn't want to laugh but I did anyway, and I told her that Katherine's presence would certainly enhance the mood of the murder mystery. She knew all about ghosts, from growing up in England, and had no reservation whatsoever about taking the portrait of the unhappy Katherine. I did ask her, for me, if she'd mind keeping track of her little quirks…..like refusing to hang like other pictures. The production assistant agreed, and actually gave me tickets to the show, in return for sharing the antiques.

Well, on opening night, Katherine was a delightful addition to the stage, and she appeared to be smiling in the portrait……certainly different than the frown we new and loved. The show was a crowd pleaser, Katherine did hang slightly off-kilter, and right down to the actor's customary bow to the audience, at show's end, things had gone pretty darn well, in spirt of having a haunted portrait on stage. Just before the curtain closed, one of the actors collapsed with an apparent heart attack. Katherine completely visible, hanging above the scene, as it unfolded with medical assistance. I don't think even the wildest expectation from experts in the field of the paranormal, would have attributed an actor's heart problem, on a slightly askew portrait hanging overhead. When we went the following evening, and a replacement cast member, had been brought in to fill the vacancy. His name was Simon Richards, a well known Canadian actor, and he played the part beautifully. When that curtain opened, by golly, there was the nicely illuminated portrait of our girl, Katherine. You know, I can't even remember if it was hanging crooked. It didn't matter. She looked to be in her glory. She was getting the attention, I suppose her spirit had been craving.

The theatre group brought the portrait back to the store, and the stage hand agreed she'd been somewhat difficult to straighten on the wall. But nothing paranormal occurred. Or at least to her knowledge. From that night, back in the store, the dolls would be knocked down, even in an adjoining room, several or more books would be pulled from the shelf, and her frame was always crooked on the wall. A lady, who had heard about Katherine, and the fact we assumed her to be a wayward spirit, offered me five hundred dollars, if I'd sell the unhappy child. The answer was "No!" Whether she was haunting our home or shop, she was family, and we all agreed to send her back home, such that I wouldn't be tempted again. We were broke most of that time, due to recessionary woes, so the money would have been helpful. We still have it by the way.

When I was giving a guest lecture, one summer night, at the Muskoka Lakes Museum, in Port Carling, I took Katherine on a road trip, that also included a picnic in the park. Of course I took the portrait. Seeing as she had some lifetime experience in this part of Muskoka, or so we were told at the auction sale, a stint on Island Park, where the museum is situated, was appropriate to the circumstance of local folklore. On this evening, I changed from my usual lecture topic, to cover some of the "stranger" incidents in Muskoka history. I had about a dozen to share with the audience, in the old log cabin attached to the newer museum facility. Suzanne was my assistant that night. We put Katherine on a nail hammered into the easel, so she could move-about, so to speak, and covered her with a table cloth, so the audience would speculate what was resting beneath. Well, throughout the presentation, we would stop suddenly, and remind the guests, to let us know if they spotted any movement beneath the cloth. In fact, we asked them to stop us in our presentation, if at any time, they believed the article had begun to move on its own. We had about three interruptions, suggesting to us, the article being shielded by the cloth, had definitely moved.

The final portion of the evening, was devoted to ghosts. Famous ghosts of the region, and we discussed the story of a somewhat spirited Victorian portrait we had purchased at a Milford Bay auction, some years earlier. We asked again if anyone else in the audience had seen the piece on the easel move, during my presentation. About five hands went up in a crowd of about thirty-five patrons. When we unveiled the portrait, and officially introduced Katherine to the museum guests, you guessed it……she was a tad crooked. We had a good visit with guests afterwords, and considerable discussion about legend and superstitions, folklore, mysteries and hauntings that some had experienced in their own homes, and cottages, throughout their lives. Most of that audience was enthralled about discussing paranormal possibilities…..even for the few, bound and determined to debunk the stories. But they didn't race out of that lecture. We stayed for more than an hour with Katherine at our side. It was an enjoyable evening on all counts.

I brought Katherine down to my archives room, here at Birch Hollow, and found a nice bit of off-corner wall space, sunk a nail securely into a stud, and asked her if this would be an okay place to hang. Whether she approved of the location, which is where we had held the impromptu half-seance, to find out her name, or the fact I asked her opinion on the matter, Katherine has hung perfectly straight for well more than a decade. The only intrusion is a little regular dusting, and occasional greetings in passing. She has not pulled any more books off the shelf, and has never again performed acrobatics off her nail on the wall. Yet nothing at all has changed. It is the same wire, on the same eyelets, with the same tension…..on an even more secure nail….perfect for a little off-kilter fooling about. Is Katherine contented? Well, she's watched our boys grow up, and kept an eye on them, that's for sure. Her eyes watch everyone in this house, who passes by, or lingers at Birch Hollow.

Would I sell her? Nope!

More to come on antiques and the hitch-hikers attached - how common is it?

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