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| A Winter Wonderland - This Sunday, December 1st, Gravenhurst residents woke up to a winter wonderland throughout this region. With a newly fallen blanket of snow, the Christmas Spirit is into full swing. Nothing like a fresh snowfall to getting you thinking about Christmas shopping on the main street of Gravenhurst and enjoy the local flare of our own hometown. (Photo By Fred Schulz) |
CHRISTMAS IS THE TIME WHEN WANT IS MOST KEENLY FELT - CHARLES DICKENS
WE'VE JUST COME BACK HOME AFTER OUR MULTI-STORE GROCERY SHOPPING REGIMEN. THERE IS A PERCEPTION, OF COURSE, THAT BECAUSE WE ARE ANTIQUE DEALERS, AND CAN AFFORD TO BUY GUITARS WITH PROVENANCE, WE ARE ALSO RICH. IF WE WERE RICH, WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO VISIT FOUR LOCAL STORES TO BUILD PROVISIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK. IT'S NOT JUST A CASE OF BEING FRUGAL; IT'S BY SENSIBILITY, THAT WE HAVE TO BUDGET JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. IF WE GET EXTRAVAGANT, IT'S IN THE PURCHASING OF FOOD....NOT ANTIQUES. WHEN WE BUY FOR INVESTMENT AND RETAIL, WE ARE BASING THESE ACQUISITIONS ON THE EXPECTATION THEY WILL REPRESENT MORE THAN WE PAID FOR THEM.....SOONER OR LATER.
WE DON'T BUY ANYTHING WITH BUSINESS IN MIND, THAT WILL GO DOWN IN VALUE. WE'VE BEEN AROUND THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTABLE TRADE LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW ABOUT VALUATIONS, AND RETAIL PERFORMANCE. I'VE HAD PEOPLE COME UP TO US IN GROCERY STORES, AND IN JEST, POINT US TO THE PRIME RIB ROASTS, BECAUSE APPARENTLY WE'RE THAT WELL OFF. THE ONLY WAY THAT PRIME RIB IS COMING HOME WITH US, IS IF IT GETS DOWN TO THE PRICE OF HAMBURGER. I UNDERSTAND WHY ONE WOULD COME TO THINK OF US AS EXTRAVAGANT, BASED ON WHAT YOU CAN GARNER FROM THESE ACCUMULATED DAILY BLOGS. BUT IT JUST ISN'T SO. WE ARE CAREFUL ABOUT BUYING ANTIQUES, AND ALWAYS ACQUIRE ITEMS WELL UNDER WHAT WE PERCEIVE TO BE MARKET VALUE....NOW AND PROJECTED, FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. WE HAVE TO HOLD ON TO OUR INVESTMENTS THAT LONG, SOMETIMES, TO HAVE THEM PAY OFF. WE'RE PRETTY AVERAGE AS ANTIQUE DEALERS, WHO STILL HAVE TO BUY GROCERIES LIKE YOU, AND WHO DEPEND ON THE SAVVY OF THEIR FOOD PURCHASING, AND BUSINESS ACUMEN, (RETAIL PRICING), TO HAVE ENOUGH PROFIT AT THE END OF THE DAY, TO EVEN BUY HAMBURGER. THE "HELPER" WOULD BE A BONUS AFTER A REALLY GOOD DAY. ONLY KIDDING!
SEVERAL THINGS BOTHERED ME TODAY, WHILE OUT SHOPPING. I'M THE CART-HANDLER BY THE WAY. SUZANNE IS THE HOME ECONOMIST. WHAT I WITNESSED TODAY, WERE TWO YOUNG FAMILIES, AND TWO SENIOR CITIZENS. I GET VERY THOUGHTFUL ROLLING THAT CART AROUND THE STORE, AND I DO PAY ATTENTION TO THE PEOPLE COMING AND GOING. I WATCHED HOW THE YOUNG FAMILIES, ONE WITH TWO CHILDREN, ANOTHER WITH AN INFANT, WERE SO SLOW TO PICK THINGS FROM THE DISPLAYS, AND AISLES THEY WERE PASSING ALONG. I WON'T OFFER ANY APOLOGY FOR BEING CURIOUS. IT'S HOW I LEARN FROM ACTUALITY. SO I DON'T HAVE TO READ THE RIDICULOUS GOVERNMENT OVERVIEWS OF HOW WELL THE ECONOMY IS DOING. I INTEND TO LOOK FOR MYSELF, IN THE MOST OBVIOUS AND TELL-TALE PLACES. THE GROCERY STORE.
BOTH THESE YOUNG FAMILIES WERE SERIOUSLY CALCULATING THE ITEMS THEY WISHED TO PURCHASE, AGAINST WHAT THEY HAD TO SPEND. I'D CASUALLY WATCH THEM LOOKING OVER THE MEAT COOLER, PONDERING THE ROASTS, CHOPS AND STRIPS ON DISPLAY; PICKING SOME UP, AND DEBATING THE PRICE, AND THEN PUTTING THEM BACK, AND MOVING DOWN THE LINE. IT'S NOT THAT THEY WERE DOING ANYTHING ODD, BECAUSE SUZANNE AND I SPEND A LOT OF TIME DOING THE SAME THING. BUT OUR CART GETS FILLED. THOSE FOLKS WERE ABSOLUTELY LOST. EVEN THE SENIORS. EVEN AFTER TWENTY MINUTES, THOSE PEOPLE, I WAS WATCHING, OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY BIG EYES, HAD ONLY A VERY FEW ITEMS IN THEIR CARTS, AND THREE OUT OF FOUR HAD BIG PACKAGES OF PROCESS CHEESE SLICES; PLUS THE BREAD THAT WAS ADVERTISED ON SALE. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE THE STATISTICS ON INFLATION, AND THE PUMPED-UP ENTHUSIASM ABOUT THE LATEST ECONOMIC GROWTH FIGURES, RELEASED TYHIS WEEK, AND UNEMPLOYMENT / WELFARE NUMBERS, WHAT YOU WILL BELIEVE INSTEAD, IS THE INSANE GROCERY PRICES, TO MATCH THE ABSURD PRICE OF FUEL FOR THE CAR MOST OF US CAN BARELY AFFORD TO OPERATE; AT THE BEST OF TIMES. A STROLL DOWN THE MEAT AISLE IS LIKE VISITING A BELIEVE-IT-OR- NOT EXHIBIT. I TELL SUZANNE, EVERY TIME WE PASS BY THIS CHILLER OF THE ABSURD, THAT "I'M SO GLAD WE ARE NOT RAISNG A YOUNG FAMILY TODAY, WITH THESE PRICES FOR GROCERIES." SUZANNE IS GOOD AT STRETCHING THE FOOD BUDGET, BUT THIS WOULD TAKE NEAR-WIZARD QUALIFICATIONS, WITH THE AVAILABLE FUNDS THESE FOUR GROUPS HAD TO EXPEND. OF COURSE I FEEL SORRY FOR THEM, BUT MY PITY ISN'T GOING TO HELP CHANGE THEIR FARE. THIS IS GOING TO BE A BRUTALLY DIFFICULT WINTER FOR A LOT OF FOLKS IN THIS AREA OF SOUTH MUSKOKA.
OF COURSE, THIS WASN'T A SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF FOOD BUYING HABITS IN OUR TOWN, BECAUSE MAYBE THEY WERE JUST PICKING UP A FEW THINGS ANY WAY. HARD TO GET CONSENSUS OR AVERAGING THIS WAY. BUT BEING A FORMER REPORTER, I DO PAY ATTENTION TO HABITS LIKE THIS, AND WHEN WE LATER SAW TWO OF THE FOUR IN A SECOND, AND THEN A THIRD SHOP, LATER ON, IT CAN BE ASSUMED WERE ALL STRETCHING OUR DOLLARS. BUT IN THEIR BASKETS THERE WAS NO MEAT, NO FRUIT AND NO VEGETABLES. BOTH YOUNG FAMILIES HAD MILK AND ONE HAD A BAG OF FROZEN FRENCH FRIES. THE FAMILY WITH TWO KIDS LOOKED AT THE AISLES OF INVENTORY THOROUGHLY, AND ME THINKS, LONGINGLY, AS THE KIDS ASKED FOR CERTAIN TREATS THEY WANTED. THEY DIDN'T GET THEM. THEY WOULD HAVE HAD, AT THE CHECK-OUT, AT ONE GROCERY STORE, ABOUT TWENTY DOLLARS WORTH OF FOOD ITEMS EACH. NOT MUCH, EXCEPT THE MILK, FOR PROPER NUTRITION. THE SENIORS AS WELL, HAD NUMEROUS SALE ITEMS, COLD MEAT, HOT DOGS, AND ONE HAD A BOX OF CHICKEN STRIPS, AND A SMALL CLEAR BAG WITH PARSNIPS AND ANOTHER WITH AN ONION. SOME CANS OF CHEAP SOUP, CRACKERS THAT HAD BEEN ON SALE, AND THREE OF THE SHOPPERS HAD CANS OF CAT FOOD IN THE MIX. EVEN IN THE TIGHT BUDGET, MANY OF US NEED THE FOOD FOR OUR PETS. IF YOU LOOK IN OUR CART, AND FEEL FREE TO DO SO, WE HAVE ABOUT TEN POUNDS OF ANIMAL FOOD EVERY DAY FOR OUR ADOPTED STRAYS. BUT WE CAN AFFORD IT. IT'S REALLY TOUGH WHEN THE KIDS, AREN'T GETTING BANANAS AND APPLES, SO THAT THE CATS AND DOG CAN EAT. I FEEL BAD FOR THESE FOLKS, HONESTLY, BECAUSE, AS I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT PREVIOUSLY, OUR FAMILY WAS FORCED TO LIVE THIS WAY FOR WELL MORE THAN A DECADE; AND WE'VE NEVER STOPPED BEING FRUGAL AND RESOURCEFUL. IT HELPS TO BE MARRIED TO A HOME ECONOMIST, WHO CAN MAKE A STEW OR SOUP OUT OF NEXT TO NOTHING, THAT TASTES DELICIOUS. I KNOW SHE COULD HELP A LOT OF THESE FOLKS STRETCH THEIR MONEY, AND FOOD RESOURCES, THE WAY SHE HAS KEPT US FED AND WELL NOURISHED.
IT WAS ALWAYS BRUTALLY DIFFICULT DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON, WHEN WE'D HAVE VERY LIMITED FUNDS TO MAKE A NICE DINNER WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS, AS WELL AS BUYING THE YOUNG LADS THE PRESENTS THEY MOST DESIRED. SO WE MADE OUR PEACE WITH BEING FINANCIALLY CHALLENGED, AND SHARED OUR SITUATION WITH OUR BOYS, RATHER THAN LIE TO THEM, OR MISLEAD THEM IN ANY WAY. THEY UNDERSTOOD. THEY MODERATED THEIR CHRISTMAS GIFT DEMANDS, AND WE PUT WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND ON GIFTS, TOWARD HAVING NICE FOOD, WITH A FEW SPECIAL TREATS FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON. WE FOUND FUN IN TOGETHERNESS, AND PLAYED GAMES AND SKATED ON AN OUTDOOR RINK WE MADE IN THE DRIVEWAY; AND GOT A REALY KICK OUT OF HOT CHOCOLATE AND FRESH BAKED COOKIES WHEN WE FINISHED. ALL ON THE CHEAP. WE HAVE NEVER HIDDEN UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES FROM OUR FAMILY MEMBERS, OUT OF FEAR OUR PRIDE MIGHT BE INJURED. WE ARE A STRONGER FAMILY, WITH A MORE RESOURCEFUL WAY OF LIVING, BECAUSE WE HAD TO SURVIVE WITH LESS. ALTHOUGH, BECAUSE OF THE WAY IT BONKED US ON THE HEAD, ONE REALLY BAD YEAR, WE DID HAVE TO LEARN FAST, HOW TO CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVED AND PLAYED. THAT TOOK SOME FINESS. BUT ONCE WE GOT PAST THE POINT OF WORRYING ABOUT OUR PUBLIC IMAGES, (AS WE WERE BOTH HIGH PROFILE PROFESSIONALS), WE JUST HUNKERED DOWN AND TRIED TO IMPROVE AS WE WENT ALONG. SO WHEN I OFFER SOME INSIGHTS ABOUT THOSE TODAY, WHO ARE STRUGGLING FINANCIALLY, I DO SO AS AN INSIDER.....NOT AS A FAT CAT VOYEUR, LOOKING DOWN ON THOSE DOING WITHOUT. I WISH WE HAD THE RESOURCES TO HELP THEM ALL. MANY WON'T ASK FOR HELP BECAUSE THEY FEEL EMBARRASSED. WE WERE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME, BUT OUR SECRET WEAPON WAS THAT WE HAD SUZANNE TO STRETCH THE FOOD BUDGET. SHE WAS STILL EMPLOYED AS A TEACHER, SO WE DID HAVE SOME MONEY COMING IN. IT WAS WHAT WE OWED, THAT CAUSE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM. THESE FOLKS ARE PROBABLY FACING MUCH THE SAME. FINDING ALL KINDS OF COLORFUL FINAL NOTICES JAMMED INTO THE MAIL BOX. I USED TO HATE WHEN THE HYDRO COMPANY WOULD HANG A COLORED TAG ON OUR OUTSIDE DOOR KNOB SO EVERY ONE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD COULD SEE THAT WE WERE IN ARREARS.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, WE USED TO HOST CHRISTMAS CONCERTS, AT THE OPERA HOUSE, TO HELP FUND THE SALVATION ARMY FOOD BANK. OUR FAMILY WORKED LIKE MANIACS TO SET UP THE EVENT, AND FIND THE WILLING VOLUNTEERS TO GIVE US A HAND. THERE WERE ALWAYS LOTS OF MUSICIANS TO GIVE US A FULL NIGHT OF ENTERTAINMENT, AND FRED SCHULZ ALWAYS VOLUNTEERED TO BE OUR MASTER OF CEREMONIES. BUT EVERY YEAR IT GOT HARDER AND HARDER TO MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO JUSTIFY THE TIME AND EFFORT TO GET THESE SHOWS OFF THE GROUND. ONE HEART BREAKING MOMENT, CAME WHEN, FOR THAT YEAR'S BOOKING, ANDREW WAS TOLD THAT WE HAD BEEN PAYING TOO MUCH FOR OUR RENTALS (BY CLERICAL ERROR) FROM.....WELL, THE BEGINNING OF OUR PROJECTS TO RUN AT LEAST TWO FUNDRAISERS EACH YEAR. THERE WAS NO OFFER OF A REFUND, JUST THE REVELATION, WE HAD BEEN OVER-CHARGED FOR YEARS. NO APOLOGY. WE GOT A DISCOUNT THAT YEAR, BUT IT CERTAINLY WASN'T RETRO-ACTIVE. WITH THE RATES AND HURDLES WE HAD TO OVERCOME, TO EVEN RENT THE OPERA HOUSE, HERE IN GRAVENHURST, WE JUST GAVE UP TRYING TO CHANGE THE WAY THE FACILITY WAS BEING MANAGED, AND CANCELLED OUR PLANS FOR THE CHRISTMAS EVENTS, WE HAD PLANNED FOR THE REST OF THIS DECADE. ON TOP OF THIS, THE CROWDS WERE GETTING THINNER AND THINNER, AND OUR DONATIONS HAD TO BE TOPPED-UP FROM OUR OWN FUNDS....WHICH WAS FINE, BECAUSE OUR BUSINESS WAS DOING WELL. WHY SHOULDN'T WE OFFER TO HELP THE LESS FORTUNATE?
NOW WE BESTOW CHARITY IN A MORE INTIMATE AND PERSONAL WAY. WE STILL SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE LOCAL FOOD BANK, AND THE SALVATION ARMY. GRAVENHURST IS PRETTY LUCKY TO HAVE THEM HELPING OUR CITIZENS MAKE ENDS MEET.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I WROTE A MULTI PART CHRISTMAS SERIES, ABOUT A FORMER FRIEND OF MUSKOKA, AND SALVATION ARMY MISSIONARY, ADA FLORENCE KINTON. IT'S A STORY THAT DATES BACK TO THE LATE 1800'S, AND IS CENTERED IN THE PIONEER TOWN OF HUNTSVILLE. IT IS A REMARKABLE STORY, AS GARNERED FROM HER JOURNAL, PUBLISHED IN THE EARLY 1900'S, BY HER SISTER, SARA RANDLESON, ENTITLED "ONE BLUE BONNET." I HAVE DONE MANY FEATURES ON THE BOOK, AND CONTENT, FOR A NUMBER OF LOCAL PUBLICATIONS, AND IN FACT, OUR FAMILY DONATED A HARDCOVER EDITION OF THE TEXT, TO THE GRAVENHURST PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND ARCHIVES COMMITTEE, FOR USE IN THEIR MUSKOKA ARCHIVES COLLECTION. SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I USED A SPECIALLY PREPARED SERIES OF COLUMNS, TO PROMOTE GOODWILL FOR THE SALVATION ARMY FOOD BANK....BECAUSE ADA KINTON, A TALENTED ARTIST, ALSO WORKED AS A SALVATION ARMY MISSIONARY, AT SOUP KITCHENS IN TORONTO, DURING THIS TIME OF THE YEAR; WHEN NEED TO THE HOMELESS AND HUNGRY WAS AT ITS PEAK. IT WAS A WAY FOR ME, AS AN HISTORIAN, TO RE-ACQUAINT MUSKOKANS, WITH THE STORY OF ONE OF THE IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS, FROM OUR PIONEER HISTORY. IT WAS MY WAY, OF REMINDING READERS, WHEREVER IT WAS PUBLISHED IN ONTARIO, OF THE GREAT NEED, HERE AT HOME, TO HELP THOSE WHO ARE HUNGRY AND LIVING WITHOUT ADEQUATE SHELTER. WE CAN HELP ALLEVIATE A LOT OF SUFFERING, BY OFFERING A LITTLE BIT OF OUR GOOD FORTUNE, TO ASSIST OTHERS, HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AS WELL.
SO I WOULD LIKE TO DEDICATE THESE COMING CHRISTMAS STORIES ABOUT ADA FLORENCE KINTON, AS A BIT OF SEASONAL INSPIRATION. SHE WAS A WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING, WHO DIED TOO YOUNG. IT WAS HER MISSIONARY WORK THAT SHORTENED HER LIFE. SHE RESCUED MANY SICK AND FREEZING CHILDREN FROM THE COLD STREETS, NURSING THEM BACK TO GOOD HEALTH. AS FATE PREVAILED, THEY RETURNED TO THE SAME DESPERATE STREETS. HERE NOW, IS PART ONE OF THE SPECIAL CHRISTMAS FEATURE SERIES.
ADA FLORENCE KINTON AND I HAVE A DATE THIS WINTER, IN SUPPORT OF THE SALVATION ARMY FOOD BANK
Since I began working for the local Muskoka press, back in 1979, first from a news desk at the Georgian Bay-Muskoka Lakes Beacon, in MacTier, up to and including my years with The Herald-Gazette, Muskoka Sun, Muskoka Advance, The Muskokan, The Examiner, The Banner, The Wayback Times and currently Curious; The Tourist Guide (online), I’ve amassed a rather significant collection of feature articles, some that ran over a few months, and several that ran monthly over a year. Point is, I’ve always got a bin-load of feature articles and local histories to update and re-write for today’s audience. If I was in a musical group, I suppose you’d say, “I’d be my own tribute band.”
There’s one biography I’ve returned to twice before, because I have a deep devotion to the subject. And I’m not really sure why. I’ve worked on many compelling and emotion-laden stories in the past. This one however, was as if I’d been touched by something divine......as one might expect from an audience with an angel. On the day when we found each other, she was alone in the corner of a book shop, and I was a writer without a muse. She was the subject of a 1907 book, entitled “Just One Blue Bonnet,” and I was the book collector with just enough coins in my pocket, to make this biography my own.
It was in part, you see, a regional Muskoka text, as a fair component was set in the Huntsville region, well before the turn of the century. As my job was to ferret-out good local histories, this looked like a gem. And it contained a personal journal regarding her stay in the district, with many observations about the settlement, the inhabitants, local customs and the hinterland surrounding the pioneer encampment, with accurate descriptions of the flora and fauna, and wildlife beyond. You might say Ada Florence Kinton, and I, were kindred spirits even though we were more than a lifetime apart.
Ada Kinton was a member of the Salvation Army, as referenced by the “blue bonnet,” and she wrote for the publication “War Cry,” when not working as a personal assistant to Booth family members, while on international missions. Before she was a member of the church, she was an accomplished artist and teacher, and as well, became a talented writer. She made many pioneer era sketches and paintings, while residing in Huntsville, with her brothers, who were amongst the early settlers and business founders in the hamlet. When she arrived in Muskoka, following the death of her father, in England, the transplanted Miss Kinton was deeply homesick, and worried about her future in a new and barren land.
The story, in a nutshell, is about devotion, sacrifice, and compassion. I visited her grave recently, tucked into an old, treed cemetery in central Huntsville, and felt a gentle comfort standing above her tombstone, as if she was pleased in spirit, her biographer had finally paid a visit to her final resting spot.....which was a beautiful plot in a quiet place, surrounded by family members, and despite the din of daily life in a thriving town, there was a prevailing solitude. She passed away, early in the 1900's, on a porch not far from this gravesite. In those final days, her sister helped her onto the porch, so she could watch the comings and goings of her adopted hometown. She had been greatly fatigued by her missionary work, and had suffered numerous debilitating illnesses, contracted in tropical climates. Ada was still a young woman but appeared much older and feeble, in those last days residing in Huntsville. Despite being in constant bodily pain and being weak from fever, she was contented with the days of her life, and the people she had come to know in so many walks of life. One would think that a great writer like Charles Dickens or Washington Irving, would have celebrated her as a character in one of their memorable novels, had she been known to them. Her work amongst the poor in England and Canada was legendary, and it was this compassion that drew people to her side, whether it was the destitute, the intellectual crowd, or her art students, looking for her leadership and advice. Many of her art school graduates, both in England and Canada, became highly accomplished painters.
This is just a wee introduction to a 12 part series of articles I’m now preparing for this tribute to a Muskoka Christmas. A kind and sharing Christmas, in the spirit of giving. The columns are dedicated to the Salvation Army’s Food Bank, in Gravenhurst, Ontario, my hometown.......and my hope is that readers will be inspired to make a food or cash donation to a food bank in their own community.
Please keep the Food Bank in mind this coming holiday season. They could really use your help......it’s the neighborly thing to do. The folks in need, well, they are our neighbors!
Thank you for taking a for moments out of your busy day, to meet with us at hearthside, here at Birch Hollow. And thanks again to Muskoka photographer, Fred Schulz, for providing the wonderful photographs, that have been published on this Gravenhurst blog, for the past two months. Lots more Muskoka Christmas stories to come.
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