A LITTLE HELP FROM THE OTHER SIDE - NEVER HURTS
ROAD TRIP FINDS MAKE ME WANT TO TRAVEL MORE OFTEN - ACTUALLY, ALL THE TIME
I WON'T TRY TO SELL YOU ON RELIGION. I AM NOT A REGULAR CHURCH GOER, AND MY GRANDFATHER STANLEY GAVE UP ON CHURCHES ALTOGETHER, AFTER HE BUILT ONE IN TORONTO, AND GOT STIFFED FOR HIS MONEY, BY THE UNCHRISTIAN CONGREGATION. YUP, HE SWORE-OFF CHURCHES FROM THE DEPRESSION YEARS ONWARD. IT DIDN'T MEAN HE WASN'T SPIRITUAL, AND I KNOW HE BELIEVED IN GOD. GOD MUST HAVE BELIEVED IN OLD STAN, BECAUSE HE BROUGHT HIM HOME, ON THE FRONT STEPS OF A CHURCH IN ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA. SO THERE'S A WEE BIT OF BLARNEY AND IRONY IN THE CURRIE / JACKSON CLAN; SO WHEN I WRITE ABOUT THE AFTER-LIFE, AND THE INFLUENCES OF SPIRITS MINGLING SOCIALLY, AMONGST US, IT'S NOT TO TRY AND INFLUENCE YOU INTO BELIEVING THERE ARE REAL-LIFE, EVERY DAY, STRANGE INTRUSIONS BETWEEN THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED, AND THOSE WHO STILL WANDER THE EARTH, IN LIFE.
YOU CAN ALWAYS CONJURE UP MY "MUSKOKA AND ALGONQUIN GHOSTS" BLOG, IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN OUR FAMILY'S ONGOING ENCOUNTERS WITH THE SPIRIT-KIND. AS FOR THE STORY I'M ABOUT TO RELATE, IT IS JUST ONE OF HUNDREDS OF PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS, WE ROUTINELY EXPERIENCE OUT ON THE ANTIQUE HUNT. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE IN GHOSTS. I DON'T GET MESSAGES FROM GHOSTS. I GET THEM FROM THOSE WHO HAVE CROSSED OVER. SPIRITS NOT APPARITIONS. I'VE BEEN COMMUNICATING WITH AN ARRAY OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO HAVE PASSED, FOR DECADES NOW, AND I'M NONE THE WORSE FOR WEAR. AND I HAVEN'T BEEN HAULED OFF FOR THERAPY EITHER. I TOOK MEDIUM JOHN EDWARD'S ADVICE MANY YEARS BACK, AND BEGAN VALIDATING THOSE WHO HAD CROSSED OVER……AND REGULARLY ACKNOWLEDGING THEIR PERCEIVED SIGNS TO US, THAT THEY STILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE…..WHEN IT'S NECESSARY, TO THEM, TO PASS ON A MESSAGE. THIS IS WHEN FOR EXAMPLE, THEY WISH TO REMIND YOU OF SOMETHING IMPORTANT IN LIFE, AND INSPIRE YOU, BY VAROUS MEANS, TO RECOLLECT EVENTS AND OCCURRENCES OF THE PAST. THERE'S NOTHING SCARY ABOUT IT. NOTHING WORTHY OF EVEN A SHIVER. THE SIGNS ARE SUBTLE BUT INTERESTING. YOU'VE PROBABLY HAD LOTS YOU'VE MISSED, ESPECIALLY IF YOU DENY SUCH EVENTS TO OCCUR IN THE FIRST PLACE. I OPENED MY MIND TO POSSIBILITY AFTER THE FIRST DOZEN PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES, LIVING IN AN OLD AND VERY HAUNTED RESIDENCE.
THIS IS A LONG INTRODUCTION, JUST TO TELL YOU FOLKS, THAT I TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE, AND THEY SEND BACK SIGNS TO ME. AS A WRITER, IT IS A CRITICAL RELATIONSHIP I USE ALL THE TIME. IN THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE FIELD, I STILL DRAW ON THE WISDOM OF MY COLLECTING BUDDY, DAVID BROWN. I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT MY DOZENS OF CROSS BORDER CONVERSATIONS WITH DAVID BROWN. ACTUALLY, THEY'RE KIND OF ONE SIDED CONVERSATIONS. HIS MESSAGES BACK TO ME ARE LIKE PUZZLE PIECES, THAT JUST KEEP SHOWING UP, UNTIL I GET THE WHOLE PICTURE. FOR SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, AND ALSO VALIDATES THOSE WHO HAVE CROSSED OVER, THE STORY I'M ABOUT TO TELL, WON'T INSPIRE TOO MUCH SHOCK AND AWE. IN PARANORMAL CIRCLES, MY EXPERIENCES ARE ABOUT A TWO OUT OF TEN. BUT THE COINCIDENCES THAT WE EXPERIENCED TODAY, ARE STILL PRETTY NEAT, AND A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE KIND OF LIFE WE LEAD IN THE INDUSTRY OF BUYING AND SELLING OLD STUFF. SO HERE GOES.
AS I WROTE PREVIOUSLY, ABOUT SPIRITUAL INTERVENTIONS, IN THE WAY OF SIGNS, AND WITH PARANORMALLY ENHANCED ANTIQUE PIECES…..THAT MAY CARRY A GHOSTLY HITCH-HIKER, MY FORAY INTO ANY ANTIQUE SHOP OR MALL, IS LIKE WALKING INTO A TERMINAL OF ANXIOUS ENTITIES. I'M USUALLY HIT BY THIS IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES, AND I GO WITH THE FLOW. I DON'T BLOCK THEM OUT OF MY MIND, OR REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE POSSIBILITY, THAT ONE OF THESE AT-LOOSE-ENDS SPIRITS, WOULD LIKE MY ATTENTION. AS I ONLY HAVE SO MUCH TIME TO WORK THE AISLES, I START EACH QUEST WITH THE SAME QUESTION TO DAVE BROWN……(WHO IS DECEASED BY THE WAY), TO POINT ME TO THE HOLY GRAIL, WHICH FOR ME IS EITHER MUSKOKA RELATED COLLECTIBLES, OR INTERESTING PIECES OF ART. DAVE USED TO SLEEP IN MY ARCHIVES ROOM, HERE AT BIRCH HOLLOW, SO HE KNEW MY PASSION FOR CANADIAN ART. WHETHER OR NOT I CAN COMMUNICATE WITH THE DECEASED ISN'T IMPORTANT. LIKE A GOALTENDER WHO HAS TO TAP EACH GOALPOST THREE TIMES, ON EACH SIDE, BEFORE THE NEXT FACE-OFF, OR THE BATTER, WHO MUST TAP HIS BAT TO HIS CLEETS TWICE EACH FOOT, I HAVE MY OWN SUPERSTITIOUS OPENING STATEMENT, BEFORE I TRAVEL MORE THAN A FEW STEPS IN THE BUILDING. "DAVE, OLD BUDDY, SHOW ME THE WAY."
THERE WERE TWO THINGS I WAS LOOKING FOR TODAY, WHEN WE WENT ON A ROAD TRIP TO BARRIE, TO BOTH THE 400 ANTIQUE MALL, AND THE BARRIE ANTIQUE MALL. I WANTED ANY "SLEEPER" CANADIAN ART, WHICH WAS PRICED BELOW VALUE, AND MUSKOKA RELATED BOOKS…..ESPECIALLY COOKBOOKS, AS WE ARE WORKING TO ESTABLISH OUR COOKERY HERITAGE RESOURCES, FOR OUR GRAVENHURST SHOP THIS SUMMER. WE WANT ALL MUSKOKA RELATED COOKBOOKS. TWO MINUTES INSIDE THE DOOR, SON ROBERT CAME RUNNING BACK TO THE DOOR TO MEET SUZANNE AND I, DEMANDING THAT WE FOLLOW HIM TO A GLASS CASE IN THE FIRST BOOTH OF THE HUGE MARKET. THERE IT WAS. A 1943 COPY OF "MUSKOKA RECIPES ……. OLD AND NEW, AS COMPILED BY THE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF THE PORT CARLING UNITED CHURCH, PORT CARLING, ONTARIO." NOW WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE IMMENSITY OF THE 400 ANTIQUE MARKET, AND THE TRILLIONS OF ITEMS ON DISPLAY, FINDING A SMALL, STAPLE-BOUND VINTAGE COOKBOOK, FROM PORT CARLING, SEEMS LIKE THE "NEEDLE," FOUND IN THE PROVERBIAL "HAYSTACK." TWENTY BUCKS. SEEING AS THIS IS GOING TO BE IN OUR PERMANENT RESOURCE COLLECTION, WHICH WE WILL SHARE WITH PATRONS, TWENTY DOLLARS WAS AN INCREDIBLE VALUE. I HAVE SOLD PORT CARLING COOKBOOKS IN THE PAST, FOR THIRTY DOLLARS EACH. SO WE GOT A BOOK WE HAVE NEVER HAD BEFORE….AS THIS ONE IS THE ELUSIVE 1943 ISSUE, AND IT ONLY TOOK SEVERAL MINUTES TO MAKE THE WHOLE TRIP WORTHWHILE. IT GETS STRANGER.
THE MENTALIST, WELL SORT OF, BUT NOT QUITE
Those who have hunted antiques with me, in the past, would admit that I withdraw from social intercourse, once the adventure begins in earnest. I wouldn't call it channeling, but by golly, I turn on to what I'm most interested in, that particular day. It changes of course, and can depend on the shopping list we have for customers back home. We often have "want lists" to work from, when we're heading off to some antique sale or shopping adventure. I can't hunt and converse that's for sure. I might talk to the dead, but not to the humans, because I wind up losing my focus. It's sort of like witching for water, except I'm looking for antiques and collectibles. So today we started off with a bang. Usually it will take hours for something like this to manifest, and it is always under the strangest circumstance. Such as dropping an invoice from your pocket, and while picking it up, you happen to notice the bottom book shelf, in a vendor's booth, and discover three or four significant Muskoka books. The boys have this happen constantly with vintage vinyl and guitars. Something inadvertently, draws them into a booth, and all of a sudden, they've found elusive records, and highly desirable musical instruments, from banjos, drums, cymbals to guitars. They just laugh about the coincidences, because they happen with such frequency now, that thinking about the paranormal connotation isn't necessary……for them to know and appreciate its handiwork. Robert found his own Holy Grail this afternoon, when he found the elusive Frank Zappa album, "Weasels Rip My Flesh," by Zappa and the "Mothers of Invention." He'd been looking for this record for a long time. So he found us a cookbook we needed, and had a bonus find for himself. Naw, I don't think the Zappa find was a sign from the great beyond, unless from Zappa himself, as a vote of thanks to a loyal fan.
Today I wasn't having my usual banner exploration and discovery. Suzanne was finding a few bric-a-brac items, and vintage cookbooks which we are always looking for, but I just wasn't picking up the slightest vibe one way or the other. At one point, I blurted out "Dave, please show me what I'm missing here." Suzanne looked at me and said, "Dave's working for me today." Dave Brown loved antique hunting, especially old books and logging artifacts. He would have been there with us, if it had been humanly possible. Now in the afterlife, our meetings are kind of abstract, and based on him providing me with signs……and a little encouragement to search just a little more…..with added patience, which I'm usually short of by this time in the hunt. Unless of course my arms are laden with big finds. Today I would have taken a small find as a good sign. On the second last aisle, of our mall experience, I spotted a wooden crate on the floor of a booth on my right. As is common, this rather unremarkable box, and the collection of frames inside, beckoned me to look more closely. Now for some reason, even after begging for Dave's help, I didn't pay close attention on the first walk by, and that is surprising. I'm habitual with these kind of "come hither" vibes. I didn't stop in, but I said to myself, I bet there was something in that box Dave wanted me to see. Anyway, Suzanne and I went down the last aisle, and had to endure a terribly high pitched alarm, caused by a water leak in the bathroom. Apparently there was a wired-in sensor, to detect a flood of water, and it couldn't be disconnected. So we walked quickly by the restrooms, and decided at the end of our tour for the visit, to take a venture back up the same aisle we had visited a few moments earlier. I didn't need that sound in my ear again. I really wanted to find something. I was on the right track. When we dawdled our way up to the last few booths before the sales counter, it's as if my head was being twisted by forces unknown. I looked at that box with the picture frames in it, for the second time, and I knew it was necessary for me to explore. Now only seeing the outline of frames from a distance, I had the name "Owen Staples" hitting from one side of my sensory perception to the other. "Wouldn't that be nice," I muttered to myself, leaving Suzanne asking what I wanted. Were you talking to me," she asked. I didn't answer. I dove into the box with anticipation, a holy grail was hiding there. It took ten seconds, for me to extract an engraving of University of Toronto's "Hart House," by……well, Owen Staples. He was a highly accomplished Canadian artist, and I have sold a number of his engravings in the past, all for considerable money.
I said, "Dave did it again Suzanne. You're never going to believe what I just found." All she saw was the picture from about ten feet away, and stated, "It's an Owen Staples isn't it?" "Yes it is," I answered happily. "You know what the building is in the picture?" "It's Hart House, right," she replied. "It's where we had your book launch; you see I do remember?" She was referring to the book Muskoka photographer Tim DuVernet, and I, wrote back in the early 1980's, entitled "Memories and Images." Tim's mother, Sylvia, a well known writer, connected to the University of Toronto, booked Hart House for us, for a special Toronto book launch. I was so proud to take Suzanne, my soon to be bride. Now Owen Staples was a legendary character in Canadian art, and a mainstay as an illustrator for University of Toronto yearbooks. The well conserved and framed engraving, was priced at $45, which was an amazing bargain. The art value of this depiction will be around $250, based on the size of the picture. So yes, this was a "sleeper" piece of Canadian art. Okay, it gets stranger than this.
When we drove north to the Barrie Antique Mall, we had been looking around for about fifteen minutes. I was still thinking Owen Staples, and unconsciously I suppose, thanking David for insisting that I look through the box of framed art work. We went into a crowded corner room of the antique mall, and I've got to tell you, there were thousands of pieces for sale in a small, small room. Every time I go to this mall, the room I'm describing, is the one place in the whole building, where I find a lot of treasures. We have similar tastes in art, books and artifacts. Suzanne was deep into a pile of old books, looking for any cookery titles. She yelled across the room, "Ted, come here. You are not going to believe this." She held open a scrap book with news clippings glued inside. She had opened the page to a 1936-37 collection of articles, the top one pasted to the upper left, was headlined, "Owen Staples, Great Artist, Fifty Years With Telegram, Marks Seventieth Birthday." Out of a sea of collectibles, and miles of antique wares, on two floors, the first book she actually opens in the Barrie Antique Mall, contains a brief biography of the artist, of the engraving, I just purchased at the very end of our tour at the 400 Market. Weird? Coincidental. The odds? Staggering, that this could happen as such. As a bonus bit of weird. I was standing at the counter, while Suzanne paid for our purchases, and something on the wall kept commanding my attention. There were many vintage business signs nailed to the wall, and I guess Dave was getting mad that I was missing what he wanted me to see. Moments before I was to head down stairs, I took one more glance at the wall to my left, heading out the door. There it was. A business sign for "Sunshine Uniforms," of Toronto……a laundry service that my father Ed worked at, as a driver, before he married my mother. His boss, who he adored, was Joe Sunshine. Shortly before Ed died, I remember talking with him in the hospital, about his days working for Joe, and the trucks he had to drive that didn't have any heaters in the cabs. Coincidence. Maybe. Message from the other side? Dave and my dad are teaming up to keep us Curries on the straight and narrow.
Getting back to the article on Owen Staples, here are a few lines from the published biography dated Septemeber, 1936. "Owen Staples, O.S.A. for fifty years a member of the staff of The Evening Telegram, is today celebrating his seventieth birthday. One of Toronto's best known and best loved artists, Owen Staples, was born in Stoke-on-Hamdon, Sumersetshire, England, on September 3, 1866, and came to Canada at the age of six years. From his boyhood he loved to paint and in his youth he studied under famous teachers in Rochester, New York City, Philadelphia, and Toronto. His first canvas was exhibited at the Powers' Art Gallery, Rochester, when he was but thirteen years of age, and to his delight it was deemed worthy of a prize.
"As a young man he joined the staff of The Telegram, and for many years worked on the John Ross Robertson collection, of Landmarks and on newspaper cartoons. Later he devoted his time to larger paintings and his works of old Toronto and 'Muddy York,' which hang in the City Hall, which have for years been a centre of interest and admiration. Mr. Staple's pen has sketched hundreds of pictures for the John Ross Robertson historical collection in the Reference Library, College Street." As a sidebar to this, I have the original published list of the John Ross Robertson Collection, that includes listings for many of Mr. Staple's historic sketches. I just can't find it. I kept it by my desk here at Birch Hollow, because it contained a great deal of reference material on historic Muskoka sketches, by Mr. Harolow-White, dating back to the 1870's. The book went missing just before Christmas. Maybe if I ask Dave to help me find it, the book will appear sometime in the next two weeks. Most likely found when the cats at play, knock down a pile of books…….and there it will be in all its glory.
"Owen Staples was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1902. He has exhibited pictures at the Chicago World Fair, the Pan American Exhibition, the St Louis Exposition, the Art Gallery in London, and in various cities in Canada and the United Stares during the past forty years. Many Toronto public buildings have been enriched by the paintings of Mr. Staples. In 1919 he presented to the Danforth Avenue Baptist Church a large mural in memory of the men of that church who lost their lives during the Great War. Two large murals hang on the east and west walls of the RCYC. A life-size portrait of the late John Ross Robertson, presented by the staff of The Evening Telegram to the trustees of The Telegram, which hangs in the office, was painted my Mr. Staples. Owen Staples has many other interests besides his art. he is a member of the Canadian Author's Association, the Rose Society, and the Arts and Letters Club. He is a lover of music and has been a member of the first tenor section of the Mendelssohn Choir since its inception."
Yes, it was an interesting day…..yet still quite commonplace for us. If I can have this kind of good fortune, talking to the dearly departed, whether it's possible or delusional on my part, I'm not going to stop what has become a tradition of asking the spirits for their kind assistance…..if they're not busy being guardian angels elsewhere. It's somewhat the same, as the story about the mother who had a boy who thought he was a chicken. When a friend asked her why she just didn't confront the boy with the truth, that he was definitely not a chicken, she answered, "Well, I would, but we need the eggs." Whatever works for you! By the way, and in case you are wondering, we never ask for help when picking lottery numbers. That would be cheating, me thinks.
Bless you for coming to keep me company. I have lots of road trip stories upcoming in you're interested. As for big finds out there……trust me, it's like digging for gold, in a gold mine. Don't believe those impatient folks, who will tell you all the good antiques are gone. It just isn't so, and a lot of collector / dealers, are coming up with major finds every day of the year. Finding an Owen Staples engraving guaranteed this was a good day in the antique profession. The fact that I got to spend another day on this beautiful old earth, with my wife Suzanne, and sons Andrew and Robert, was a divine pleasure. I love our antique adventures. It's history. Family history too. See you again soon. Drive carefully out there. It's almost March…..the boys of summer start the exhibition season this week. Oh glory, the spring is just around the corner. And an early Easter holiday as well. Lots to look forward to!
BREAKING NEWS: WHEN I TOLD SUZANNE ABOUT THE FURTHER COINCIDENCE OF OWEN STAPLES WORKING ON THE J. ROBERTSON COLLECTION AND MY MISSING BOOK SHE SAID "YOU MEAN THIS ONE?" I SAID " THAT IS THE ONE!" SO THIS IS MY POINT. PARANORMAL IS COMMON PLACE IN OUR LIVES.
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