Sunday, November 15, 2009

this is a picture of my dad and aunt's grandparents and their mothers...Alice and Vera


It's a rainy Sunday. On Tuesday I am going to Ottawa. My dear Aunt Alice died on Friday. She was one of those great women who came of age in the war and learned early not to fuss but to carry on. She had an indomitable spirit and good humour that I never saw dashed although she had plenty to be dashed about. She and my Uncle Art and their four children were a constant in my childhood as they were the only relatives that lived near us and not in Manitoba or B.C. We loved going to their house because they were NIGHT OWLS according to my parents and that meant that we would stay late and occasionally badger them into packing us all into the station wagon and taking us to the Drive In to see Ma & Pa Kettle movies! My cousin Myrna, Alice's only daughter, and I were just talking about our moms and their disdain for whinging about circumstances. Get On With It! was their slogan. And make sure your lipstick is on while you're about it. When I think about it - I believe my Aunt Alice and my mother were Broads! Yep, a blonde and a redhead, who could have a drink, change a baby, roll a cigarette and drive a car full of kids across a barren wasteland. Here's to them - their like will no be seen again.

post script - my dad and my Aunt Alice were cousins, but my aunt was brought up a great deal of the time at my Dad's house as her mother died when she was an infant...she and my Dad were terrifically close always.

5 comments:

Helen Ginger said...

Thanks for sharing your memories. I've never seen a Ma and Pa Kettle movie, but grew up going to the drive-in - it was just behind our house and my mother was the projectionist.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Jan Morrison said...

Lucky you! But you never saw Ma & Pa Kettle - oh my. The British version would be The Darling Buds of May - a series of amazing books and someone made a movie or BBC series about them. Country folk that seem innocent but are really quite canny. Ducks and pigs that get into the fermented grapes, visiting tax men and clergy, lithsome daughters, etc...

Anonymous said...

There is a strength and a staunchness within people of that era.
Those words were uttered by my mother, who at 16 survived the final fall of Berlin,

She said, "You just had to get on with it,,"

Jan Morrison said...

Exactly! That is exactly what they are like. No fuss no muss - pitter patter let's get atter.

Jan Morrison said...

Exactly! That is exactly what they are like. No fuss no muss - pitter patter let's get atter.