Who wore it best?

Arta was fashionable. She was often dressed to the 9s, even to go around the corner to London Drugs. Beyond jewelery and scraves, she also loved glasses. One of the most interesting pair of glasses she owned made a top ten list of glasses in 2021 Check her out wearing them here.

Everyone loved these glasses and wanted to try them on. My question is who wore them best? You can answer in the comments below.

June 24, 2024 -- first morning at the lake

When I stepped out onto the cool wet deck with my bare feet and saw this cloud hovering over the lake, i knew I was in heaven.

Then down the path to visit my lovely stream.  Ferns and foxglove on the way.

Last little bit of unfurling underway.

And then the little waterfall...

And last but not least, the skunk cabbage landing.

From the skunk cabbage I heard Rebecca come out on to the deck wondering where I was (I had gone into her room to say good morning and when she was already on a call already, took off on my adventure).

So back up to the house for some visiting.  

Perfect start to the day.

Addendum  (still day one)

Found our first friend of the trip.  Naomi named him Julian.  She later took him with her on our adventure over the Janet and Glen's pottery haven then down to the beach.  They became fast friends.

At the beach:  Axel is on his phone on a video call with his girlfriend Erica showing her the property, so she's in the photo.  Also, see if you can spot Julian.

When Rebecca arrived 2 days ago she made a goal of getting in the water everyday for 30 mins.  So I decided to join the challenge.  According to the internet, the lake is about 14C right now. In case you're not sure.... that is cold.

Post swim.

Rachel Franklin Doll - Part 2

The Story of How the Rachel Franklin Doll come to live at my house in Montreal. The story begins many years before. Really it began the first time I saw Rachel at Arta's house. I loved her. She reminded me so much of Arta and I loved the backend story that she had been pulled from the Johnson family reunion doll raffle and gifted specifically to Arta. I love that the women who made this doll (my aunts and cousins) knew it would be loved and appreciated by Arta.

At some point in the last decade, I made some off-handed comment to Arta like --"when you don't want that doll anymore" or "when you are downsizing your stuff" or "when you are dividing up your stuff for your children, I'd love to have it". I was shocked when she quite firmly responded with NO. I realized then how much she valued and loved the doll. I realized she had other plans for the doll, and I was only going to get to admire that doll when I came to visit Arta. One such visit was in March of 2016. I came to spend a week with Arta to get her settled into her new basement apartment at 2427 26th Ave. The previous year had been very difficult. In the fall of 2015, we had moved Kelvin out of the 2427 house and into a nursing home--the "nut house" as I later called it after he was hopsitalized related to poor care. (A story for another blog post) We then re-moved/removed him from the Clifton Manor when he got a place at Seton Place in Nov-Dec 2015. At the same time, Arta had her hip replaced after a long and painful time of having bone on bone. Arta's recovery was complicated so she spent 6 months recovering at Rebecca's home in Victoria. She was finally ready to come home. In the interval, we renovated Arta's basement at 2427 to create an apartment where she could safely return after her surgery. That too might require it's own blogpost. Never-the-less, in March the apartment was ready for Arta's return and I went to Calagry to spend a week unpacking her. Part of the unpacking was getting enough shelving for all the boxes of things that Richard, Mary, Bonnie, Rebecca and others had packed up speedily in the fall when Kelvin and Arta were ill. Here are some cute photos of Michael and Alice who helped me put together the furniture for the new apartment.

Don't you love Michael's double handed hammering technique and Alice's care with taping things. Spending time with these cute kids was just a joy. Below you will see the plate of sliced apples they "finished" during our work session. I'm pretty sure Arta ate all the peels.

At the very end of my trip, we had Arta moved into her new apartment space. Here are a few photos of her bedroom, her jewlery trays and the new kitchen. You can see that the most important part of moving back in was getting the rods hung for Arta's collection of scarves.

At the end of the trip, just as I was leaving to go to the airport, Arta had me come and choose some of costume jewlery for Hebe. Then she told me she'd like me to have the Rachel doll. I was shocked and moved by her gift. It made me cry. She asked me to take it home and let Hebe play with it, which is what I did. Here are a few photos of the Rachel doll once she arrived back in Montreal. Hebe decorated her with the jewlery I had brought back from Arta.

The doll is sitting on the ledge in my living room and anyone who'd like to see her or play with her is welcome to stop by for a visit. If you have a story about this doll, or know more about her history, please add it in the comments below. Love Catherine

Rachel Franklin Doll - Part 1

Rachel Franklin sits in the corner of my dining room on the ledge underneath my collection of family photos. Here she is!

Arta Johnson, my mother, was gifted the Rachel Franklin doll during a Johnson Family reunion. I didn't attend the reunion, and don't have too many details about this gift so would love for people to add what they know in the comments. What I did understand from Arta was that Aunt Nadine and my cousin Charlene (maybe with the help of other aunts and counsins) made a huge collections of hand-made dolls that were raffled off at a Johnson Family Reunion. Each doll was named after of one of our ancestors. The only doll that wasn't raffled off was this one--Rachel Franklin. It was gifted to Arta. I'd love to hear the back end story about this. I can only imagine why they chose this doll for Arta. In my mind it is because this doll is a one of a kind, like Arta. The doll is so unusual, quite spectacular. A doll not afraid to be herself. Check out the details of the handiwork below.

Don't you love the earrings, makeup, breasts and hands. Of course Arta added the rings to the fingers I love the mix of colors and patterns in the dolls clothing. Her earrings and hat of course have the flavour of a gypsy. The sash and rings of course are so over the top.

The tights, bloomers and boots are also very smart. Your can't easily see the bloomers and underskirt which are really fun. What I love most of all is the hidden envelope pinned to her bloomers. If you carefully open the envelope, you will find a one page history about Rachel Franklin. Rachel was our great great great grandmother on the side of Bessie Johnson. Rachel was born 14 December, 1817 in Clanfield, Oxfordshire, England. She married Thomas Hadlond. They had 11 children. She died in St. Louis, Missouri, on 29 March, 1879. She is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery. Read the letter for some family intrigue.

In a follow up post, I'll share the story of how this doll came to live at my house.

The tooth fairy cometh....

Background:

Since very early on, we decided to get the kids to tape the teeth to a piece of paper, or write a letter and put the tooth in an envelope before putting it beneath their pillows.  It was a method of keeping children busy as well as trying to keep teeth easier to slip out from under pillows.  

 While the kids were away saturday night, I decided to do deep cleaning.  I ended up cleaning up the pile of childrens teeth that are stuck in a corner.

I organized the piles as best I could, separating by child.  I then sent the ziplok bags home with grandma joan so that she could take a look.