FAMILY DAY SITTING IN THE SHOP, AND ENJOYING WHAT WE USUALLY CAN'T - IT'S AMAZING WHAT WE MISS WORKING EVERYDAY
IN THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTABLE BUSINESS, HOW EASY IT IS TO FORGET RESIDENT RECREATIONS
Most Ontarians still can't figure out the Family Day holiday. To open shop or not! We decided to keep our Gravenhurst shop closed for Family Day, and I suppose, in the spirit of this rather curious mid-winter stretch, we gathered together, yes as a family, and for the first part of the day, caught up on end-of-the-year book work. Not exactly a celebration or even relaxing, because book work always makes us impatient and argumentative. The second part of the holiday Monday, was a lot different, because Suzanne and I retreated with Muffin the dog, to the back studio, otherwise our working "recreation room," shared some pizza and chips, and the ambience of a wonderfully nostalgic room, companioned by a still-working 1970's stereo cabinet. For a couple of hours, we let ourselves slip back to the seventies, and we both just let the room work its magic on our winter blahs. Honestly, it was great to actually sit and enjoy nostalgia collection, without worrying about customers standing up at the sales counter, two rooms up the hall. I started to wonder just how much we actually enjoy the antique and collectable shop, that took a quarter century of planning to create as a retirement business. This is a big danger of course, especially calling anything like this, "a retirement" business. Retirement, of course, meaning a honking big change of pace from former professions, working for employers uninterested in our desires for a gentler, more passive existence, with pay! That's the glitch. We want a great job with good profits, as long as we don't have to work too hard to arrive there! We're tired of the same old, same old! And yet, as a folly of many retirees, a business is created to replace the "old grind," that previously dominated the work week. And when you turn on the ignition of this new retirement enterprise, son of a gun, it has a higher maintenance engine than what you had to maintain previously. Running our antique business as a retirement recreation, for profit of course, occupies us seven days a week. We love our business, but for gosh sakes, how did we manage to double the work-load when we were supposed to be lightening it?
Reading through my blogs, especially the ones I consider biographical, going back to the first of this year, a reader might wonder how, what was so carefully planned out as far as a retirement business, could get so far off course, according to the initial template that seemed so reasonable and intimate to our values for the future. Well, first off, we had never really contemplated opening up a shop once again, after our run in the 1990's in Bracebridge. We had been confining our business to online sales, and doing antique shows as an outlet. When our boys had an opening of space in their Uptown Gravenhurst building, we re-considered our position, and decided to join them as a full family business, from one end of the building to the other. We did it a year before Suzanne retired, which meant that I had to be the head cook and bottle washer that first year in the Muskoka Road shop; it worked okay but I am a much better antique picker than a sale's clerk. I have always been the picker / buyer, and Suzanne has provided the sale's skills, as this is her area of greatest experience; dating back to her days working at her family's Windermere Marina. She's great with public relations, as a result of her 31 years as a teacher. So with our combined experience, in retail and antiques, and with a good business plan in place, we took a chance we could handle store-front demands for a few more years. What we didn't expect, however, was that business would be as strong as it has been, and that our later years success, would necessitate working seven days a week to make it all knit together, with a small but acceptable profit.
So why don't you hire someone, if it's so darn busy and profitable? It's profitable because we don't have the expenses of staff, and considering that it is our retirement business, it seems kind of redundant, to then shirk work, at a shop we designed to the most minute detail, to be more recreational and social, than serious, complicated enterprise. So when Suzanne and I settled into the big and remarkably soft, 1970's chesterfield in the back room, it didn't take long before we looked at each other, with shocked expressions, realizing at that precise moment, we had accidentally reversed our retirement, into full time jobs like the ones we had before this. Here we have this amazing shop (because that's what people tell us we have created here in Gravenhurst), but we seldom take even five minutes from Monday to Saturday, to sit on one of these sofas, to enjoy what we have created, apparently for others more than ourselves. Crazy stuff. "I can't believe this sofa is so soft and relaxing," Suzanne remarked before she suddenly fell asleep while in the middle of a fading conversation. It's understandable, and we know where we went wrong, but it's hard to correct now that we've set down a rigid business protocol. We get to the shop at about nine-thirty, Monday to Saturday, and we get the doors open at ten. At ten to five our start bringing our signs in, and any items we've put outside on display. We head to the grocery store, then home, feed the cats, prepare some dinner, get my blog online, watch some evening television, with some relaxing tea, and then well, we head off to bedlam for hopefully a good night's sleep. It is more rigorous and rigid that when Suzanne was teaching and I was working at the newspaper. Retirement is a hoax. It has been evasive, and difficult to sculpt to meet expectations, that apparently a little askew with reality we really should have been able to predict, as we did with our business plan.
In case you've picked up on the contradiction of all this, it's not the case at all, that we don't enjoy the antique and collectable profession inside and out. Since we married, and set down this plan for our future together, as a couple of old relics ourselves, we willingly surrendered to the allure of history in all its glorious material antiquity. Where we ran into trouble, was re-visiting the storefront, we vowed to avoid for the rest of our lives. We had a solid business, that took up a lot less time, and necessitated much less physical endurance, to navigate in order to achieve profitability. But here's the deal we made ourselves, once Suzanne had officially retired. We would create the kind of comfortable retail operation, that would be a relaxing haven full of nostalgic recreation, that would allow us to "bask" in our working-retirement. It should have come to fruition a long time before this, but for some reason, we were often too tired at the end of the day, and the week, to find our specially designed business in any way a sanctuary, or perfect place for a restorative respite. What we had done, in essence, was replace working for kindly others, for an acceptable wage, with working for unbelievably demanding bosses instead. We are hard on ourselves and that includes our sons Andrew and Robert who frequently work seven days a week, often from nine thirty in the morning until eight-thirty at night. We refuse to put in this kind of yeoman effort, because, frankly, our bodies would fall apart on the shop floor.
How does one fix this kind of thing? For starters, we have to retreat to the sofas more often, and take advantage of this recreational oasis that everyone else seems to be enjoying more than us. Occupational risk? This is the hook afterall, because we've been working in the antique profession for long enough to know, the inherent danger is the rigidity of storefront protocols. As we always take things to extremes, we did the same with our revitalized business, and the only thing we can complain about, if we can rightfully complain at all, is that we have too much work, and not enough retirement recreation. Sounds as if we are ungrateful but it couldn't be further from the truth. We just got carried away, with self imposed responsibility, and forgot to take a few hours a day to enjoy the fruits of our labours; and this really soft sofa is pretty sweet. The ambience isn't hard to take either.
I guess we did actually figure out the worth of Ontario's Family Day!
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
THE FOLLOWING EDITORIAL PIECE HAS BECOME MY SECOND MOST POPULAR BLOG, OF HUNDREDS WRITTEN OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, ACCORDING TO VIEWS. THE ONLY BLOGS TO BEAT THIS, IN NUMBERS, WERE ABOUT CANADIAN LANDSCAPE ARTIST, TOM THOMSON. I WILL HAVE A FEW MORE COLUMNS ON THOMSON LEADING UP TO THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH, IN JULY. THIS WILL MARK THE 96TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ALLEGED DROWNING DEATH, ON ALGONQUIN PARK'S CANOE LAKE.....IN JULY 1917.
THIS STORY BELOW, OFFERS AN IMPORTANT REFERENCE TO THE EARLY ROUTE OF THE RAILWAY, AND VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT MUSKOKA DURING THIS PERIOD. IT IS FROM A RATHER OBSCURE BOOK, THAT SUZANNE'S FATHER, NORMAN STRIPP OWNED, AND PRESUMABLY RECEIVED IT FROM HIS FATHER, SAM STRIPP, OF WINDERMERE.
NOTE: AFTER A MONTH OF YELLING AT EACH OTHER, IN THE MOST FRIENDLY WAY, AND LONG DAYS AND LONGER NIGHTS, WE HAVE FINALLY REACHED THE POINT, THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO OPEN THE LAST ROOM IN THE OLD MUSKOKA THEATRE, ON MUSKOKA ROAD, HERE IN GRAVENHURST, TOMORROW (SATURDAY).......WHICH WILL BE KNOWN AS OUR "MUSKOKA JAM RECREATION ROOM," AND I'M GOING TO DEDICATE OPENING DAY, TO THE MEMORY OF TORONTO SUN COLUMNIST, PAUL RIMSTEAD, AS A ROOM HE MIGHT HAVE ENJOYED PLAYING IN (ON THE DRUMS), AND VISITING, WHILE STAYING IN MUSKOKA. THE "RIMMER," USED TO HANG-OUT WITH GRAVENHURST WRITER AND MUSICIAN, HUGH CLAIRMONT, SO YES, THERE IS A LOCAL CONNECTION.
WE HAVE BOTH OF HIS BOOKS ON DISPLAY, AND WE WILL TRY TO LIVE UP TO HIS STANDARD OF ENJOYING LIFE AND GOOD COMPANY.
WE HAVE SET UP THE LARGE END ROOM, ALLOWING FOR A COMBINATION OF RETAIL AND PERFORMING ARTS IN ONE WHACKY SETTING. WE HAVE A STAGE AT ONE END OF THE ROOM, SOME COMFORTABLE SEATING, AND A ROOM FULL OF NOSTALGIA IF YOU HAPPEN TO LIKE TO BE REMINDED OF YOUR YOUTH. WE THINK THIS IS A FIRST FOR GRAVENHURST, COMBINING ANTIQUES, ART, NOSTALGIA WITH A STAGE FOR INTERESTED MUSICIANS TO ENJOY. WE'RE HOPING FOR A FEW JAM SESSIONS TO BREAK-OUT FOR EVERYONE'S BENEFIT. LAST WEEKEND, WAS OUR TRIAL RUN, AND WE HAD A TABLE TOP HOCKEY TOURNAMENT GOING ON, AT THE SAME TIME AS MUSICIANS HAD TAKEN THE STAGE......AND YES, THEY DID PLAY "THE HOCKEY SONG," THAT REMINDED US ALL OF STOMPIN' TOMMY.
THE NEXT BIG PROJECT TO HOPEFULLY COME IN ON SCHEDULE, IS THE OPENING OF "SUZANNE CURRIE'S COOKERY NOOKERY," BY JULY 1ST, IN A SECTION OF THE INITIAL ANTIQUE ROOM, IN THE FORMER THEATRE COMPLEX. EVENTUALLY IT WILL REPRESENT MOST OF THE SPACE IN THE LARGE ROOM. SUZANNE ONLY HAS TWO WEEKS LEFT IN HER TEACHING CAREER, AND SHE'S MOVING RIGHT INTO THE PROFESSION OF OLD BOOK SELLER, AND SHARER OF COOKERY TALES. HOPE YOU CAN DROP BY FOR A VISIT.
THE SIGHTS AND EXCITEMENT AS EXPERIENCED DURING AN 1888 RAILROAD ADVENTURE TO MUSKOKA
SETTLE BACK FOR A LITTLE EXCURSION NORTH TO MUSKOKA UNDER STEAM POWER
SUZANNE'S FATHER, NORMAN STRIPP, FORMERLY FROM THE VILLAGE OF WINDERMERE, AND BEST KNOWN FOR HIS RESTORATION WORK ON MUSKOKA'S VINTAGE WOODEN BOATS, PASSED ON A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT BOOK, TO HIS DAUGHTER, AS PART OF THE FAMILY INHERITANCE.
THE 1889 BOOK, WAS WRITTEN BY W.H. WITHROW, AND PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM BRIGGS OF TORONTO. WITHROW HAD PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN THREE OTHER BOOKS, INCLUDING "THE HISTORY OF CANADA," "THE CATACOMB OF ROME," AND "A CANADIAN IN EUROPE."
THERE IS A FASCINATING ACCOUNT OF A TRIP THE AUTHOR TOOK NORTH, ON THE NEWLY EXTENDED NORTHERN RAILWAY, WHICH I BELIEVE HAD MADE IT TO THE COMMUNITY OF NORTH BAY BY THIS POINT. THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONAL ENGRAVINGS OF MUSKOKA SCENES, THAT I HAVE INCLUDED WITH THIS HIGHLY INTERESTING TRAVEL STORY FROM A BYGONE ERA OF STEAM LOCOMOTION, ON LAND AND WATER.
THE TRAIN IS ABOUT TO DEPART FROM THE CROWDED PLATFORM AT THE STATION, AND INSTEAD OF WAVING GOODBYE, PLEASE JUMP ABOARD, AND WE'LL RELIVE WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO VISIT MUSKOKA IN THE 1880'S, ONLY TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE FIRST SETTLERS BEGAN ARRIVING BY HORSE AND CART, AT MCCABE'S LANDING (NOW GRAVENHURST). THE STEAM BELCHING OVER THE PLATFORM, THE BELL AND WHISTLE, AND ALL THE COMMOTION, TO START THOSE MASSIVE IRON WHEELS ROLLING DOWN THE RIBBON RAILS. THE CARS LURCH, WE ARE JOSTLED, THERE'S A FAMILIAR SMELL OF SMOKE MIXED WITH STEAM IN THE AIR, AND THE DIN OF PASSENGERS YELLING BACK AT RUNNING LOVED ONES, AND EXCITED CONVERSATION, START US ON OUR JOURNEY TO AN ENCHANTED PLACE……THE PLACE MANY OF US LIVE AND VACATION TODAY. HOLD ON. BE CAREFUL WALKING ABOUT.
THE MUSKOKA LAKES
"The Northern Railway, the first iron road constructed in Ontario, opens up a vast extent of rich agricultural country, valuable lumber districts and picturesque lake region. The beautiful, island studded, forest-bordered Lakes Muskoka, Joseph and Rosseau, furnish one of the most admirable camping, fishing and summer resorts to be found in the province. We borrow the following description from an accomplished writer:
"Leaving Toronto by one of the express trains, the passengers will pass through many populous and prosperous towns and villages, and through a rich agricultural country, which is highly picturesque, and illustrates a very high standard of farming and its wealth. At four miles is Davenport, a hill-side locality fast filling with suburban residences, and whose pretty station with flower garden and high gabled roof, conveys reminiscences of English neatness and finish. Between this station and Weston, to the left, is seen the Valley of the Humber, and the Caledon Hills, closing in the distant view.
"The height of land between Lakes Ontario and Huron is reached at the summit (twenty-six miles from Toronto), which is seven hundred and fifty-five feet above that of Lake Huron. A few miles beyond King the line passes, by not a few curves, through 'The Ridges,' and then enters the finely farmed district especially noted for the excellence of its horses and sheep. The Village of Aurora lies to the left. Four miles farther on is Newmarket, population 3,000, a place of considerable age and importance, and the headquarters of some energetic manufacturing interests. Near the Town of Bradford, the line passes over what is known as the Holland River Marsh, a locality celebrated amongst sportsmen for its abundant supply of snipe, wild duck, and for maskinonge and bass fishing.
"To this point Governor Simcoe constructed the great northern road of the province, Yonge Street. Till the construction of the Northern Railway, this was the great artery of commerce. During the war of 1812-14, all the naval and military stores for the naval station at Penetanguishene were conveyed over this road. At the Park at Holland Landing is to be seen a huge anchor designed for the British gunboat on Lake Huron, which was drawn by twenty-four teams of oxen from Toronto to its present position.
"Allandale is situated on the shore of Kempenfeldt Bay, one of the arms of Lake Simcoe, and is one of the neatest and most charmingly situated of railway stations. Having enjoyed this first glimpse of beautiful lake scenery, the train is again taken, and, passing Barrie, the county-town, a prosperous place of 6,000 inhabitants, whose houses, built on a hillside, facing the lake, rise picturesquely above one another. A short run follows over a line of exceptional excellence of construction, and through a country of great agricultural promises, as yet but partially under cultivation. Lake Simcoe is the largest of the inland lakes of Ontario, being thirty miles in length and sixteen in breadth. Its shores are characterized by great sylvan beauty. At Keswick is seen the charmingly situated resort of one of the great lumber kings of the country, (Booth?) and many of the other choice spots begin to be occupied with the summer residences of the more wealthy inhabitants. Passing Snake Island, the isolated home of a fast dwindling Indian Tribe, and Lighthouse, and other islands, the open lake is reached.
"The steamer then skirts the upper shores of the lake, past deep bays, whose wooded promontories jut out picturesquely into the water, and, sighting Atherly, after an easy run of two hours, passes Grape and other islands closely clustered together, and enters the 'Narrows,' the water channel joining Lake Simcoe with Lake Couchiching, of which the first view is here gained. This lake is the highest in Ontario, being seven hundred and fifteen feet above Lake Huron, and three hundred and ninety feet above Lake Superior, as is plainly evidenced by the flow of waters which run northward, and thence by a succession of falls down the Severn River, gain the Georgian Bay, and so by Lakes Huron and Erie, find their way to the 'Great Leap,' of the height of land separating the Lakes of Muskoka from Lake waters of all Northern America, the Niagara Falls, thus reaching Lake Ontario by a circuit of eight hundred miles to attain a point but forty miles from their original source. The elevation and clearness of the atmosphere, and the cool breezes, consequent thereon, would, apart from any other consideration, be sufficient to commend the locality as a favorite summer resort.
"After crossing the Narrows' swing bridge, the line passes through forests, through which distant views are obtained of Lake Couchiching, to the left, and Lake St. John to the right. Having crossed the Severn upon a lofty bridge, it passes the Couchiching. False impressions of the Free Grant District are frequently taken from the appearance of the country seen along this part of the trip; but as, on the south side, there are tracts of fine farming land, so, to the north this ridge being passed over, lies the wide, arable country which is being rapidly peopled by thirty settlers. The Kasheshebogamog, a small stream with a very long name, being crossed, the granite rocks raise their lofty sides, high bluff cliffs overhang the railway as it curves around their bases, in some places the front portion of the train is lost to sight from the rear, but finally the 'Granite Notch,' is reached, and the railway slips through a natural pass, fortunately left for its passage by nature.
"At one hundred and fifteen miles is Gravenhurst, a rising town at the foot of the chain of the 'Lakes of Muskoka.' From its position, is the key to the great Lake District of the Muskoka, Magnetawan, the Nipissing regions, possessing excellent facilities for first-class railway system to the southward, and by steamers on the lakes, and by rail and stages on the colonization roads, to the northward. The town occupies a most eligible site, crowning elevated but not too hilly ground, and encircling pretty bays in the form of huge amphitheaters. The railway has recently been extended through a rugged country to North Bay, on Lake Nipissing, where a junction is effected with the Canadian Pacific. It is probable that before long a further extension will connect the waters of Lake Ontario with those of Hudson Bay. At Gravenhurst the steamer of the Northern Lakes Navigation Company may be taken, and, passing out of the bay, through the 'Narrows,' after a run of an hour through Lake Muskoka, during which dinner is served, the steamer enters Muskoka River. The river is rapid, deep and dark in colour, the steep banks fringed with forest, and the course full of quick, sharp turns. Six miles from the mouth of the river is Bracebridge, the chief village, and capital of the District of Muskoka, situated at the head of the Muskoka River navigation. The village is incorporated, and has obtained a position of prominence and importance in advance of all other villages in the Free Land Grants of Ontario. The site of the town is elevated and well chosen, commanding magnificent views of the fine valleys which abound in the neighborhood. The North Falls, a cascade of about sixty feet, is in the centre of the village and can be seen from the steamboat landing, but the tourist must stop over to see the grand South Falls of Muskoka, which are some two miles from Bracebridge by road, or three by boat or canoe. The falls are composed of a series of cascades, and are well worthy of a visit, the total height being one hundred and fifty feet. A good view can be obtained by descending a pathway down the bank; at about half way down, turn to the right, to where a good solid cliff projects, which commands a view of the entire cataract. 'Wilson's Falls' and 'High Falls,' are also within easy reach.
"After returning down the river, and regaining the lake, in one hour we reach Port Carling, on the Indian River, connecting Lake Muskoka with Lake Rosseau, the higher level of the latter being gained at this place by a lock. The village might not inaptly have been called Interlaken, from its position between two lakes. At this point, Lake Joseph is entered. The waters of all the other lakes of Muskoka are dark in color, but the waters of this are beautifully clear, deep and soft, experienced tourists speaking highly of their bathing qualities. The islands are numerous, the shores rising into bluff headlands, and prominences peculiar to this lake. After a run of sixteen miles is Port Cockburn. This place, better known perhaps as the head of Lake Joseph, is pre-eminently well adapted as a quiet, plain, pleasant, and healthful family summer resort. A very good road connects the lake here with the Parry Sound Colonization Road, a distance of a little less than two miles.
"Proceeding from Port Carling direct up Lake Rosseau, the steamer touches first a Windermere, on the east shore, the outlet of an important settlement, and shortly reaches the head of the lake at Rosseau; the place commands an important commercial position, in addition to its great natural beauties and attraction for tourists and sportsmen. One of the charms of visiting our beautiful Northern Lakes is their association with the memory of the early French explorers of Canada. At Orillia, for instance, was the great rendezvous of the Indian tribes, whither, by the way of the Ottawa, French River and Georgian Bay, came Champlain, who, first of white men, saw these inland water, two hundred and seventy-three years ago (from the year 1888) in 1615, and where he dwelt among the Indians one whole winter. The islands that dot the surface of the lake gleam in the golden light like emerald gems upon its bosom. The islands of Lake Joseph are of a more rugged character, rising often abruptly in craggy rocks from the deep pellucid waters. Dark spry spruces also predominate, keeping, like sentinels, their lonely watch on solitary island or cape.
The greatest fascination of this northern wilderness of lake and stream is the numerous rapids and waterfalls with which they abound. Many of these are of exquisite beauty. To those who are fond of fishing, which we confess, we are not, these streams furnish great sport. But nothing, in its way, is more delightful than gliding, almost like a bird, over the transparent waters of these crystal lakes; or darting, almost like a fish, down the arrowy rapids in the Indian's light canoe. It is the very poetry of motion, and the canoe is, in skillful hands, the very embodiment of grace and beauty."
When someone asks me why I didn't chose to become a writer in New York , or in Hollywood, Toronto, Montreal, or Ottawa, I might suggest they read the passages published above, because what was an allure to the writer, Withrow, in 1888, was the same attraction to this writer, in 1966, when I first arrived in this beautiful place…..in the heart of the Muskoka Lakes. It is, and will always be, my Walden.
Thanks for joining today's history blog, for train and steamboat lovers. Please join me again soon.
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