DISASTERS, WAR AND A MUSKOKA VACATION

I feel guilty as hell, you know, being a trigger-happy blogger (most of the time) and all, to have taken a writer’s hiatus for the past week, to enjoy a wonderful March Break vacation at home....here in beautiful Muskoka. While many drove, flew and traversed from here to there, for the week’s holiday, Suzanne and I enjoyed a quiet time, by hearthside at Birch Hollow, went antique hunting daily, took two trips south, to antique shops in Orillia and Barrie (business and pleasure), and made it to Bracebridge and Huntsville.....where we enjoyed pleasant strolls and profitable shopping. We’d grab some ice cream treats and sit in the family truckster, at lakeside, and watch the spring settle over the hinterland. We’ve done this for decades and have always found Muskoka to be a worthy host, when we’re in a tourist-way-of-thinking mode.....and a grand place to live when we finally arrive home here to Birch Hollow, overlooking The Bog....full to overflowing with wildlife.....which has long been a stress-release tonic for the work-weary.

I have had the urge, many times this past week, to sit down here and pound out a blog, or a dozen, about the dangers of uranium and plutonium use in earthquake prone areas of the planet, building cities on fault-lines of the earth’s crust, and the reasons why ruthless dictators should be forcibly removed. It has as much been a week of news watching and a certain amount of silence.....contemplating what it must have been like to watch home and family washed out to sea, in Japan, and then finding out that damage to a nuclear facility has destined your community, the nation, to a perpetual, boundless tragedy. It’s hard to be sitting here, in the safe haven of Birch Hollow, and Gravenhurst, and write in any meaningful way, about such enormous human suffering somewhere else. I have no right to do this. And as I was ecstatic initially, that the Libyan freedom movement was going to be supported by international air-power, the suffering on all sides of the nation in crisis, was well beyond any word-smithing, this “out-of-the-action” hack could responsibly represent. Volatility just can’t be appreciated while watching the birds and squirrel at the feeder, outside my window.........or enjoying the sight of wild turkeys pecking at the dried grasses over in the lowland.

If anything I garnered from a week of watching and learning, it’s to once again harp on the issues of global calamities, and their massive imprint on all of us......that there is no escaping, by ignorance or indifference, to the prevailing catastrophes being experienced by our international neighbors. When we give a sigh of relief, about being well away from the main action and crisis erupting, it is a false sense of security. Whether it is with the knowledge we have friends and associates living and travelling in these locations, or experiencing the financial discomfort of higher fuel and grocery prices, the days of being miles and miles out of harm’s way, isn’t any guarantee we won’t feel the pain and suffering of others, a half a world away or not.

I’m not worthy to write about the terrible circumstances happening in Japan and Libya, at this moment, because it requires actuality......of being there.

I hope the Mayor of this town has a group of advisors, who will provide that clear picture of how fast and deadly circumstance can change, such that the clear, settling calm of just another day, can be turned, in an instant, to an epic disaster without precedent. Disaster planning isn’t just a feel-good document, that we can confidently retort, when asked by some pesky reporter..... “Why yes, we have one of those.....somewhere!” After seeing the less than stellar response to the earthquake, by those specially trained to handle these emergencies in Japan, I’d be far more comfortable in this region, knowing the disaster plan is being dusted-off occasionally, and well......read by all those in charge of our municipality and region. After an emergency has occurred, is a crappy time to play catch-up.

One day the Mayor may be asked to perform “the extraordinary” as a responsibility of wearing the chain of office. It’s possibly the most under known of expectations of locally elected office. This is when leadership faces its most extreme test, and our Mayor and council should ponder, what it would have been like, as elected representatives in Japan, to have such a devastating situation develop in their ballywick that may have claimed members of their own family......yet having to work through the carnage, to help save the lives of others. Decision making to save the taxpayers money, and leading the population out of harm’s way, during an emergency, are miles apart in function yet all part of a potential day’s work.

Emergency planning doesn’t get the attention it deserves because we, as humans, like the trappings of complacency. Just as now, I am looking out on such a gentle, inspiring landscape, and feeling happy about my place on this planet. What would happen if this pleasant surroundings I presently enjoy, was torn apart, the landscape opened up with a jagged fault line to the horizon, and a mudslide was tearing away the property I love so dearly? Then I’d be too scared to write!

Disasters don’t feel obliged to schedule their intrusion, to make it convenient for the population.

ADA FLORENCE KINTON DEPICTS HUNTSVILLE IN ART

By Ted Currie

A talented artist, a competent writer, and devotee of the Salvation Army’s international mission-work, Ada Florence Kinton had a wide choice of vocations when she left England, in 1883, aboard the steamship S.S. Sarmatian. She could have had a lengthy career as an art instructor, with private schools in England or Canada. Ada most certainly could have sold her paintings, or worked professionally in the publishing industry as an illustrator. But she felt her passion for art, was secondary to a heartfelt sense of mission to help others. And she did. From the streets of Toronto to international postings, the poor and destitute always had a friend in Ada Kinton.

After the death of her father, (her mother died when she was 10), a devastating turn in her life, Ada had accepted an invitation from her brothers, Ed and Mackie, to stay with them in the pioneer hamlet of Huntsville, Ontario, where both were well entrenched in the business community. After a dreadful storm-plagued voyage aboard the Sarmatian, and a long and exhausting passage west by rail, north by steamship, cart and sleigh, Ada wrote the following description in a letter, posted to her sister Sara Randleson, at this time still residing in England.

"I am happy to say we have safely arrived at last, after being on the journey, on the cars and in the sleigh, from Tuesday evening until Sunday morning. We have just been two days short of three weeks since we left home (England). I didn’t seem to mind the jolting of the train nearly as much as usual. I suppose it was the dreadful shaking-up we had in the Sarmation in the storm."

The weary traveller writes, "We landed at Halifax on Tuesday, and got straight into a Pullman. There was quite a happy little party of us from the ship, and no strangers; about a half dozen young men and Mrs. Hooper (my cabin-mate) and I. We had the train to ourselves. There was only the Pullman and the mails and the luggage, so it was very cosy and select, and we were quite like brothers and sisters together, after the rough time we had at sea, and we walked about and talked. We stopped at meal-time at different stations, and ate steadily for twenty minutes. At Montreal we changed our cars, and from there to Toronto we met with all sorts of disasters. Amongst other things we got snowed-up, and had to wait patiently till we could be dug-out. That was in fifteen hours. It was breakfast time when we started, and happily we had a dining car attached. Eddy (her brother) teased me so about eating sausages at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour. Then we met a freight train off the track and had to wait for that. Then we heard there was a bad collision ahead of us. That took a long time to clear the track. Two freight trains had run into and over one another."

"Next our tender broke, and we had to wait till we could get a fresh engine. Five hours. Then we got to Gravenhurst, and I had my first sleigh-ride. I suppose I shall never forget it. The horses frisked along like kittens and their long tails and manes waved about so prettily. And oh, the ‘tintinnabulation’ of the bells, and the snow and the forest and the quiet of midnight," wrote the artist-voyeur. "Twenty-six miles’ sleigh-ride from Bracebridge to Huntsville. Supper at a little hotel; everyone silent, mutually afraid to speak. Don’t want to show I’m and Englander. Sleigh again. Almost oppressed with the beauty of the winter forest. Scenery gaunt and fantastic in the twilight. Saw grim, weird forms; wondered if there are any Canadian ghosts. Nice to look up, up, up, by the trunks of the slender, towering trees, and see the pale grey-clouds lighted by the snow beneath. Strange, lovely sleigh-ride, packed tight between Ed and the driver, the stars winking at us; the silent trees, the bush, swamp; Lake Vernon, Huntsville; home in the distance."

She pens the following about her emotional state, and the adjustment from busy London, to the hamlet scene in the Muskoka wilds of 1883. "Began to feel utterly done-up and began to cry, but had to quit it; could not manage it and struggle through the snow at the same time. Arrived at the gate panting and gasping. Heard my brother Mackie’s voice again. Kissed Kitty; too agitated to sleep; woke at last in my warm cosy wooden room. Struck with the amount of comfort in this little Canadian village in the midst of the bush."

"The four months’ visit to Huntsville (which her diary covers), was spent chiefly in making exquisitely pretty watercolor sketches of the village as it was then," wrote her sister, Sara Randleson, in the accompanying text of the biography, "Ada Florence Kinton, Just One Blue Bonnet." She adds, "These (sketches) are carefully treasured by Florence’s friends, and will be very valuable if ever Huntsville becomes a city. Considerable attention was also given to baby worship - a new thing for her." Ada joyfully helped out with the children in the Kinton home.

As if painting with words, as she planned out the subjects for her sketch pad, Ada wrote the following brief description of the village scene, as witnessed from the Kinton homestead:

"Cold wind and glare ice, thawed surface of snow frozen over again. Makes walking difficult. Village is very picturesque and quaint in the moonlight, like a lot of miniature toy wooden cottages, chucked down anyhow on the uneven ground, covered over with nice snow and just a light here and there, to make it look pretty; and then all around a dark bordering of great hills fringed with forest; and through the village the river coiling, and under the wooden bridge to the lake, all steely ice except in the middle, where the current is rapid and strong; a dark inky blue bit of stream shows itself in a fitful broken sort of way. Wonder where all the water lilies have hid themselves?"

Observant and a visionary of her time, she could assess the changes to the scene about to come, and she would take a great interest in the welfare of the forests and wildlife it supported. In future issues, we will travel with Ada Kinton, as she roams back into the woodlands to sketch.......as she notes, before the woodsman’s axe fells what’s left of it.

More on Ada Florence Kinton in the next issue. Please join me for Ada’s field studies in the Muskoka woodlands of 1883. This exclusive year-long collection of stories is in support of the Food Bank, operated by the Gravenhurst Salvation Army but it is generally supportive of all the community food banks in our province, run by so many kind and dedicated volunteers. Please help out the food bank in your community.

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WE ARE ALL SO VULNERABLE TO THE WHIMS OF MOTHER EARTH

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE-

When my long-time friend Dave Brown, had his outdoor education centre closed in the late 1990's, largely by political indifference and short-sightedness, (pig-headedness) it clearly meant there were more important uses for the money......than to keep students aware of the nature around them. It was a devastating blow to Dave, who had built a truly dynamic resource centre, largely on his own, and somewhat at his own expense. His programs gave inner city kids a chance to explore nature and learn about man’s place in the grand scheme of earthly life-forms. It was an important way to appreciate the true dynamic of natural occurrences, and the reasons for its conservation. While other outdoor education programs were spared, Dave was sent back to a normal classroom, and it just didn’t work for him.

I could never, and will never forgive any one who would shut down an outdoor education program.

Dave would have found a way to localize, and emphasize, the role of mother earth in this latest earthquake, and Tsunami event in Japan. He would have made a natural-earth-event a learning experience for students of Southern Ontario......he never missed an opportunity to bring events home, so that youngsters could fully appreciate the power of the natural world......by their own immersion. Dave tied the world of nature into his own region, and made youngsters appreciate the fragility yet resourcefulness of mortal-kind. His respect for nature, became ours. He was a damn fine teacher. The earthquake in Japan, would have been his case in point, and from a tragic situation, he would have made every kid in the class appreciate what force was being exerted half a world away.

I was thinking about Dave this morning, while watching news of the earthquake in Japan. I hope teachers in this country will help students understand just how important it is, to know about the capabilities of nature, and the true vulnerabilities of mankind in its wake.

As for outdoor education, fund it! It is an absolute necessity in our ever-changing world, and it could well be the life lesson for our future survival.

ALL CITIZENS NEED REPRESENTATION - NOT JUST PROPERTY OWNERS

WILL RECREATION CENTRE USER FEES BE ATTAINABLE FOR ALL CITIZENS?

I hope the new user fees, at the enhanced recreation centre, here in Gravenhurst, will be set at an acceptable, affordable level, to benefit all regions of the local economy. I’d hate to see all this work and expense result in a new facility that is priced above what some lesser income citizens can afford. I trust town council will appreciate there is a real danger of over-pricing admission, and losing potential users, because believe it or not, some citizens simply don’t have enough disposable income to cover extravagances. Hopefully that won’t include things like public swimming. It would be nothing short of a disaster if this was to happen.

I’ve often wondered whether or not local councillors pay enough attention to the rights and privileges of non-property owners in our town. Even when I bellyache about property taxes, I have to remind myself that the impact of tax increases spreads over the entire population, as landlords have to deal with respective increases......passing them onto tenants. It may be a more subtle application but somehow the increases eventually wind-up as rent hikes. You don’t often read about delegations of “citizens who rent,” approaching council, to defend their rights. It’s pretty much a landowner thing, to take-up issues, in person, with the municipal council. I just wonder, in any given council session, how much time might be devoted to the rights, privileges and well being of those citizens who don’t own cottages, residential properties, commercial buildings etc.? I’d really want to believe they do think about everyone in this community as being equal.

Undoubtedly there will be pool user-rates established, based on fees charged at similar facilities in our region, and possibly beyond. I’d really like to see the town make strong representation, on this issue, to the managing group scheduled to run programs, that fees need to be based on our community’s capability to pay.....versus what happens elsewhere. It will most certainly will be the case that pricing it too high, will exclude hundreds of people simply based on the calculation of...... what is left after food, hydro, water and rent / mortgage payments. If the town is told what will be charged, based on formulas elsewhere, then they should act on the citizens’ best interests instead.......as it is their money, from one source of taxation to another, that has paid for this facility. And they should be able to benefit from it, without having deep pockets.

Priced sensibly, attendance numbers should be enough to make money back. Priced too high, and the bad karma just makes it another resource, a privilege beyond reach......and this negative wave will do far more damage to constituent confidence than anything else......creating the rift between the economies we were attempting to bridge, by building such a recreational resource in the first place.

The Opera House is a good example. Due to the high cost of rentals and the surcharge on ticket sales, many potential users are forced to beg for rent forgiveness or reductions, to run modestly successful events. The high rates might seem reasonable to councillors, elbows on the board table but they’re prohibitive to many show promoters who can’t take the risk of a high user fee, and then a potential low attendance. In the entertainment business, there are lots of inherent risks but having a lower rental fee, from the get-go, dulls at least one blade of the double-edged sword. How much business has been lost, and shows taken elsewhere, because the rent has been too high to gamble on. Considering that the town is losing money by having the site sitting empty, when users are most definitely interested in performing there, is what can happen to the new recreation facility, if rates aren’t managed properly. Penny wise, pound foolish!

When we operate a charity fundraiser, at the Opera House, we can only do so, by taking donations at the door, and hoping to get a good crowd. The donation-only format removes us from the ticket-sale surcharge which is substantial. We would lose a good chunk of what we donate annually, if we had to sell tickets through the Opera House box office. As taxpayers, and understanding the town does need to make a return on their investment, we refuse to ask for a discount.....and instead have found corporate / business sponsors, willing to offset rental costs. While we’re happy to continue doing this, other potential users of the site, are forced to either beg for reductions, pay the piper, or find another venue with a lower rental cost. This shouldn’t happen at the new recreation centre, just to make back the money fast. It won’t work. User confidence is a more important investment to secure right now. And times are lean and getting leaner.

I have worked in a number of charitable positions, over the decades, and we have never taken a break from our annual fundraising efforts in Gravenhurst. I have a good grasp of the social / economic needs of the region, and know how many folks will truly benefit from the pool when opened. Many of these potential users are low income, and range from young to old and all ages in between. And while council might argue that bombastic “Currie” plays both sides of the fence.....wanting us to make money back on one side, but giving discounted fees on the other, the real issue is that the whole project will be a much lesser community resource, as we have financed, if set rates exclude hometowners of lesser resources. So it is something for council to ponder, and hopefully, from within our band of elected officials, we will find an advocate for fair pricing for this dazzling new recreation complex.

As it is my investment, my neighborhood’s investment, my community’s investment, my government’s investment, I shall attend the opening ceremonies with great hope and anticipation......that it is exactly what we needed to improve the social and recreational needs of all us hometowners. And I will extend my heartfelt congratulations to the people at town hall, from council, to respective departments, for so kindly helping our citizens realize an important hometown milestone. And it will be! Expensive yes! A milestone none the less!

TAX INCREASE -

SHOULD WE EXPECT A DECREASE IN FOOD BANK USE?

Why should the Town of Gravenhurst be overly concerned with the present conditions in Libya? Food prices on the rise? Gas? Increases in hydro? Water rate hikes?

Why should the Town of Gravenhurst councillors lose sleep about the steady need for a local food bank to serve their constituents?

Did they really need a new town hall?

Did I read correctly that the BIA is increasing its levy, because it’s the cost of doing business? Seems contradictory but then......

And did I read correctly that the same BIA is worried about maintaining the businesses they have, on the main street, due to prevailing economic circumstances?

Is the town prepared for the considerable new maintenance and operating costs for the new recreation centre, as Bracebridge faced when they opened their newest pool / school / theatre complex? Might be a good idea to meet with their friends in Bracebridge, to get the heads-up before the invoices start flooding in to town hall.

The problem here, as with everyone else on the planet, we have no choice but to fully appreciate and absorb what is going on in Libya as a “new normal.” It does and will impact us for some time to come. As fuel prices increase, and no quick fix appears likely, the ability to pay more is a diminishing reality. Our town isn’t facing “just” a run of-the-mill economic crisis....it’s in the middle and up to its ears, mired in a deep quagmire of their own creation. The town could not afford a new town hall. It could not afford to increase the fire hall space at this time. The pool, while a terrific idea, and a good long term investment, came at an inappropriate time. We couldn’t afford it. I come from a vintage that believed in that sort of thing. And considering that we’ve done without for quite a few years, I think we could have managed a few more years......despite what came from the government, we still couldn’t afford it. We’ve added a pool to an old arena. This will come back to haunt the town. I’m pretty sure the arena alone, needed a substantial makeover, above and beyond spending money on a town pool. I like the pool, and will contribute through our tax bill. But my suggestion is that we get prepared for more bad news; a full appreciation that by this time next year, we will be reading this all again, especially finding unexpected and high operating costs for the new facility.....that we really couldn’t afford but went ahead with regardless. The money from the feds seemed so attractive! Temptations usually are.....but wisdom often prevails that it’s better to opt out, than be burdened by what appeared a really good opportunity......but cost too much to attain.

High gas prices and a high Canadian dollar are not tourist-friendly. We could be looking at a serious downturn here in Muskoka, and that’s the result of a dictator in a far off land. With an 8.9 percent increase in taxes, plus the other rising costs of living, we can expect increasing demand for food bank services. Have any of the town councillors.....and I mean any of them......just one, offered to sit down as a liaison with the Captain of the Salvation Army, to discuss some of the stresses they are facing? For those on fixed incomes, who own property, it is all being complicated by the outrageous re-assessments of real estate in this town....... creating a precarious threat to many of our most vulnerable citizens.....who may in short order, be faced with having to sell their homes or do without food. With the strict provincial social welfare requirements, as they are presently crafted, in order to get assistance, many senior homeowners particularly, are going to face a sad future reality. Food bank? Selling off their security? Do town councillors care about this, now that we’re four years from an election? If they do, then they should start adjusting to the social / economic realities of this town......from the households out, instead of the other way around......that might discourage statements like, “I think they’re doing okay!” “They’ll get by! That’s the way it is.” “We can’t do anything about it.”

When businesses fail and the desire to locate in Gravenhurst seems a tad tepid, has it ever once been the case, a councillor has looked in the mirror and thought to themselves; “is it possible I contributed to this situation.” Yea right? Well, I suggest that it may be time to look in the mirror, and not just for grooming......because the burden being passed on, is an encumbrance that will forge yet another link in a ponderous length of chain, already being pulled along by the average schmoo in this great land. As Charles Dickens pointed out in a Christmas Carol.....and one that should be duly considered by those who assess taxes, “mankind is our business.” Their welfare is our business. And that’s why councillors need to trundle themselves out on a fact finding mission, to see how local families are faring......and how the food bank is trying, against greats odds, to help feed our fellow hometowners. At present, the disconnect is troubling. Now think about how difficult it will be, with rising food and fuel costs, to keep those food bank shelves full. This is the double-edged sword.

Trying to sell an 8.9 percent tax increase will prove interesting, and most certainly provide an early, rigorous test for the rookie mayor, especially explaining how the new recreation centre has increased town costs, to cottage owners already paying a king’s ransom to enjoy lakefront. Keeping in mind of course, that without cottage owners contributing to the pool of town cash....now then, we’d really be screwed. I would hate to be the council representative who has to present and justify tax updates to the cottage associations this summer......especially having to tell them.....like the BTO tune, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

As modern day homesteaders, our family has always lived frugally and within our means. We are students of pioneer life and have taken seriously the stories from our family, how they survived the Great Depression, and helped feed many from their neighborhoods at the same time. We will continue to help raise funds for the local food bank, as we have in the past. We hope you will join us this year. I have been running a monthly column, since December, (to run for a year) in a publication known as “Curious; The Tourist Guide,” (you can find it online), regarding the kind and dedicated charitable work of Salvation Army missionary, Ada Florence Kinton, who worked the streets of Toronto in the late 1800's, helping to provide the sick and destitute with food and shelter. She is buried in a tiny cemetery in Huntsville, Ontario. The biography, running over 12 issues, is dedicated to the Gravenhurst Salvation Army Food Bank, and the wonderful folks who volunteer to keep it up and running. Back columns can be found on this blog-site.

Getting news of a tax increase of this magnitude, while disappointing, is what we expect for a town that has over-spent in the past. As we love the town, and have no plans to re-locate, we will trundle on and cut back where necessary. We know where Libya is, and we know the crisis will escalate. As much as we are glad we live away from the real fighting, we do very much understand their passion to remove a dictator. But their respective liberation requires adjustments on our part. As the Middle East crisis continues, my hunch is, we will all have to adapt to new economic stresses we haven’t even thought of, and become more frugal by necessity.

The potential for crisis, in many areas of the economy, should keep us familiar with the word and condition we know as “recession.” We can’t possibly avoid an even worse recession, if spending slows during this supposed recovery period. And while inflation statistics might reflect differently, reality trumps what seems little more than propaganda. You can’t have these sharp escalations in daily living and work costs, as we are seeing, and it not be inflationary to the average Canadian household. Wages are not increasing enough to cover these hikes. Household debt is at a staggering level. So forgive me for my unenthusiastic look at this year’s budget.

If in good economic times we need a food bank......is it time to adjust to a permanent reality that we can’t do without a food bank?

Will the Salvation Army stay in our town forever? Have we ever asked them this question? Maybe we should!

WHAT THE WOODCHESTER EXPERIENCE DID FOR US?

The same young lads who chased each other tirelessly, on the shady hillside lawns of Bracebridge’s Woodchester Villa, and played everso gently with the Victorian era toys, strewn about in the child’s bedroom, now have surrounded themselves with history as a matter of lifestyle and profession.

From their early-age involvement at Woodchester, they’ve seen fit today, to buy, repair and sell vintage musical instruments and nostalgia. They both admit that being surrounded by history for so many years, at the museum and at home, seeped pleasantly into their respective souls. Andrew and Robert are curators of music heritage, and loving every minute of the experience!

Of course it was the privilege of having parents, who were part of the museum intimacy, you might say, and able, without the actual cost of admission, to spend hour upon hour immersed in family and community history. As I helped launch both the Historical Society and the bid to restore the octagonal Bird family house, (Woodchester Villa), I also worked long and hard to convince Suzanne, my bride, to join the museum volunteers. I was devilishly cunning back then. A few years later, and well, the kids had no choice. We spent so much time at Woodchester, in the late 1980's, from tour-guiding to lawn maintenance, program creation and operation, that it was necessary, a lot of the time, to keep the boys with us. So they adapted to Woodchester as if it was a second home. It was immersion, no doubt about it. But it worked to infuse history into our daily lives in a sort of crazy perpetuity...... of chasing and reclaiming all things old. We’ve got a house and shop full of this evidence of historical connectedness.

When I walk into their mainstreet Gravenhurst music shop today, located by the way in the former Muskoka Theatre building, (which is a nostalgic hoot), I can’t help but think those Woodchester days made an early, solid imprint. While it’s also the case that, as antique dealers, we are surrounded by old stuff daily, those years in the museum business, taught them an early respect and reverence for the value of old stuff generally. The only time either one would touch anything in the museum, or house, was when they had our approval. Such was the case in the allegedly haunted child’s room, on the second floor. They had too much else to think about, in that room, beyond what some guests believed was a spiritual occupation.

Years later, working for Roger Crozier, and then the Crozier Foundation, Andrew and Robert were pivotal players in the arrangement of displays and the handling of the valuable memorabilia for the sports hall of fame. Even before I was afforded the showcase, at the Bracebridge arena, paid for by the Foundation, the boys had assisted with the creation of a huge hockey display, during a summer antique show, honoring Crozier’s career in the National Hockey League. We did it strictly as volunteer curators and it was a blast.

When we changed exhibits in the Sports Hall of Fame, I let Andrew and Robert assist with arrangement of the sports relics, trophies, equipment and photographs. When we finished, we’d stand back and admire our handiwork. Every two to three months over twelve years, we’d show up to make the changes, and it was always neat to be able to handle all the history on display. It was a carry-over of Woodchester, where they learned early, about being responsible stewards of history.

Suzanne asked me the other day, after my recent letter to the editor ran in the Bracebridge Examiner (about the future preservation of Woodchester), what those years really meant to me. By this point I’d thought about nothing else for a week. Finding out that it could take, in excess of $500,000 to repair Woodchester Villa, re a front page article in the same paper, had inspired some serious recollection......as you can gather from the blogs written on this site during the past week. The only answer I had for Suzanne, was what I wrote about in the first paragraph of this blog. I felt our boys had benefitted most of all by the exposure to history all those years ago. My parents had taken me to just about every historic site in Southern Ontario, before I hit my twelfth birthday. It kind of rubbed off but I’m pleased they took the time to expose me to our country’s heritage. It’s helped me greatly over a lifetime..... my contenting days as both an historian and antique hunter. I credit them for my long-sustaining passion to preserve our heritage. When I walk into the boys’ music shop now, you can tell in an instant, Andrew and Robert feel the same. Mom and dad don’t lift a finger inside their shop, or make any suggestions about interior decorating or the inventory to stock the shelves. They are young antique hunters, musicians, entrepreneurs and good stewards of our past. I don’t know how many damaged vintage instruments Andrew (the restorer) has saved, but it must now be in the mid-hundreds. Both boys appreciate the old-time, quality sound of a vintage, time-traveled, worn-down instrument, brought back from the brink of the dumpster. And they’ll demonstrate for you, how in many cases, a cheap guitar of fifty years earlier, can sound better and richer than a top of the line, expensive modern-era creation......made from “sort of wood.”

When I think back to our family’s involvement in the operation of Wodchester Villa and Museum, it is a warm and fuzzy reminiscence, especially knowing that the boys don’t hate us today, for what we had to do then, mostly as volunteers, to keep those museum doors open. Their admiration of antiques and collectibles is immeasurable, and ranges from art appreciation, to the three pump organs we’ve saved from demolition. When I first began writing about my early days at the museum, the clearest recollection, was the long, labor-intensive days that beat-up a lot of good hearted volunteers in those lean days of museum life. There were a lot of aggravations and frustrations that I carried about, and it did impact my family. Over the years however, we found a way of incorporating family life and museum operation. It didn’t alleviate or even reduce the daily work load but it was no longer a burdensome responsibility. Those memories of the kids bouncing across the freshly mown lawns, falling and laughing, is still so vivid and contenting, And when we talk about Woodchester today, and weigh over its precarious future, we are sincere about our concern for its welfare. How could we not be? The immersion at Woodchester, for those years, has very much influenced how we live and work today. I can’t find a single negative in what we have long believed was a strikingly positive relationship.

As for the stewards of this property now.....what to do, what to do? I can’t really expect they could possibly possess the same connection to the site, as we enjoyed. So it’s a more “matter of fact” relationship that must prevail. It’s a municipal matter. I don’t expect my opinion will be of any consequence whatsoever, to the future of Woodchester. And that’s all right. I’ve had my say.

WOODCHESTER VILLA WAS A SPECTACULAR VENUE FOR MANY EVENTS

Out on our weekly antique hunt, one pleasant Saturday morning, I found a large piece of local art, awkwardly positioned against a table of masking tape-priced vases, jars, pottery and general bric-a-brac. It had been painted by an artist acquaintance of mine. I won’t include his name because no artist wants to hear or read about their art work showing up at flea markets. This particular sale was an institutional event, selling off some art donations, to put funds raised back into a recreation fund for residents.

The large framed watercolor was more than just a tad familiar. I called Suzanne over and asked if she could identify the scene depicted. She actually took less time to identify the subject, than it had taken me on my first, second and third return-glances. “It’s a Strawberry Social at Woodchester.” Of course it was, and for old times’s sake, we decided it would have to come home with us. When we look at it, to this day, we can catch the scent of cake and berries, hear the social chatter of hundreds of guests and helpers, feel the excitement of another successful event on the museum hillside, and judge by the contented looks on the faces of patrons, that these same folks would be back for many more events after this. And we can look at this painting, and feel exhausted, as if we have just then finished the hours upon hours of preparation and service to the typically large crowd.

I love the painting but it does serve as a reminder just how hard it was to earn this level of appreciation from citizens.....the folks we needed at Woodchester regularly, to make the museum viable. But it was the unending work that made volunteering at the museum

more like a job than a for-fun, helpful recreation. As lovely as the events were, and profitable, there’s no one who worked on-site as a volunteer helper, back in the 1980's particularly, who wouldn’t feel exactly the same emotions staring up at this thought-provoking work of art. A spirited interpretation of good times but having that aura of imposition, that was so exhausting for the cause of local history. It’s calming at first then quite unsettling, and it’s as if, at any time, Carol Scholey, the master of the really big events at Woodchester, is going to come whipping around the corner, screaming for me to come back to the kitchen for yet another load of something or other. Suzanne winces at the thought because Carol was a taskmaster, and to her, there was no shortcut ever, no slacking-off, and absolutely no job too tough to meet, hand to hand, shoulder to the grindstone. She was a hard worker, unflinching, stalwart but we were just not up to her speed. No one was. So she’d do the work of four. But eventually, even Carol started to tire of the fundraising demands of the little museum on the hill.

Thinking about Woodchester over the past week or so, I have recalled many highlights and a few lowlights. One of my fondest recollections, was when the Board of Directors, took advantage of an offer from Gravenhurst’s Muskoka Festival, to bring a “theatre in the round,” event to the museum lawn. I think it was entitled “Paper Wheat,” and was held a few times that summer season, each time enjoyed by large crowds. With the historic theme of the play, and the interaction with the close-by audience, and the sundry other sounds of train horns, a waterfall, infants crying, folks laughing, and the sun’s diamond sparkle in the overhead canopy of leaves, this was a perfect venue for such open air events. It wasn’t just the museum we were benefitting from, it was the amazing property with its picturesque view of the river. What we worried could be an attendance disaster, became one of the best attended events other than the annual socials. The only other event to shatter expectations, is when we held a Christmas in July event, in the late 1980's, and had the lawn full of chairs, lawn chairs and picnic blankets, to hear the large provincial Salvation Army Band. It was fabulous.

The downside of our success, for this event, was that Suzanne and I had both been sick for most of that Christmas in July week and it wasn’t until the Sunday afternoon concert, that things got worse. We also had to look after both our wee lads at the same time. They were fine and full of that vim and vinegar that makes parenting of toddlers so special. We had to get to Woodchester about two hours before the event to set out the chairs, get the museum up and running, make-up lemonade for hundreds, line up rows of drinking glasses, and cut the large cake into small portions. Suzanne set up the front porch with glasses for the lemonade, and we pulled up a table for the cake and cookies. I worked in the downstairs kitchen, making large quantities of lemonade, half asleep, while Andrew played with his dinky toys on the conference room table. When I got up stairs, Suzanne, with a pounding headache, had fallen asleep in the porch rocker, with Robert contenting himself with two cookies pulled off the tray. It was like that for the rest of the day. Trying to rest-up here and there, without looking too obvious about slacking-off. I woke up once, sitting in a chair up by the fountain (now re-situated to Memorial Park), and it wasn’t until Andrew pinched my nose, to get my attention, that I awoke with a start....wondering where I was......and how the hell these people had got into my yard. It was an easy mistake to make because we spent so much time at Woodchester that it did seem, at times, like a second home. We had staff on for the day but not enough volunteers to free us up. There was no way we could have stayed home or the large event, that gave us a near record attendance, would have had to be cancelled. It wasn’t an option that sunny Sunday in July. The museum needed the money.

I remember getting home later that afternoon, covered in cake residue and sick of anything that smelled like lemon, and both of us hitting the sofa at about the same time. We rested comfortably for several moments, until the calls came from the museum,,,,,,, staff facing some conundrum or other......like who got the leftover cake and lemonade. That was a no brainer. “Take as much as you want.....we insist.”

It always took about three to four days before we could even consider a recently held event, no matter how well attended, or profitable, a success in our own honest appraisal. We were harsh critics of our own work. But we also recognized that in order to get to that stage of accomplishment, where every event was done to perfection, would take many more volunteers than we could muster at that point in the museum’s own history. While we could get a mob up that hillside for a special event, which took every resource to operate, the meat and potatoes, day to day fare, left us without the confidence we could drop or decrease the more labor intensive fundraising events. This realization, more than anything else, was the “bitter sweet” side, we see in this painting of the Strawberry Social. We couldn’t make money on admissions alone without major events being run on the property. With large-scale events we needed at least ten volunteers plus staff working in the two museum buildings. When a director suggested to us, “well, then close the museum when you have these events.....to free-up staff to help,” it was the contradiction of operation that became the obstacle we couldn’t bypass. The whole purpose behind the special events, was to bring people up to an “open” museum, as an association-themed-outing, to put strawberries, cake and history together. It would serve no long term advantage to have folks not be able to attend the museum at the same time. But it was a clear reminder just what the future of museum operation, and perpetual funding shortfall meant to all volunteers left standing.

The painting serves as a poignant reminder, just how much of all our lives, in those years, was dedicated to making Woodchester Villa work.......as it should have.....as we believed it could. So it is with some disappointment that I look at this charming painting and still ponder....what if?