Family Memories at this Time of Year

Looking through the old family photo albums, I came across these pictures of me and my siblings which I recall were taken at the annual Christmas party hosted by my father's employer, Auto Electric, where he worked for many years:

 

 

The Company was very generous with gifts for all the children handed out by Santa Claus.  I still remember the very good quality knitting set I received when I was about 11 - a turquoise carrying case containing various sizes of knitting needles, lots of different wool, plus instructions.  I should get back to knitting again - very relaxing!

 

Edith Adams' Cottage - Vancouver Sun

I am enjoying the regular special features in the Vancouver Sun marking its 100th anniversary.  Recently the Sun announced that it had set up an Edith Adams website on which it intends to post 75 years of previously published recipes and homemaking advice.  For those of you not familiar with Edith Adams, this is a fictional name given to the cooking/recipe/homemaking department at the Sun, which had a succession of editors, and the "Cottage" was their inhouse test kitchen.  This is a picture of editor Marie Moreau in the Cottage (picture from the Vancouver Sun website):

Many cookbooks were published under the Edith Adams' Cottage name which I think contained winning recipes submitted by readers.

I checked out the Sun's new website: www.edithadams.com and have enjoyed perusing the old recipe clips.  So far, they have posted mainly sweets:  cakes, candies, cookies as well as canning recipes.  Sure brings back memories of my mother in the kitchen.  Especially at Christmas time, Edith Adams' Cottage was regularly consulted for special recipes.  They published recipes in the paper weekly, and also had a phone line that you could call in which I remember my mother using.

To my surprise I came across the Edith Adams' Christmas Baking cookbook recently while helping my Aunt downsize the contents of her condo in preparation for moving to a seniors retirement home.

Here is the cover page and the table of contents:

 

 

Skimming through the cookbook, I see lots of recipes for fruitcakes (made in the days before the fruit was already cut up and before nuts were already blanched and sliced), as well as shortbread, old English plum pudding, cookie recipes from other lands including Russian, Finnish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swiss, and then lots of bars and slices (eg Cherry Coconut Slices), rolled cookies, mincemeat, then lots of jello Christmas salads, cheese balls, dips and turkey leftover recipes.  Several that my mother used to make for the holidays.

 

At the end are lots of ideas for "Homemade Gifts and Decorations", including Creme de Winter Jelly, Wine Jelly, Jiffy-Made Yule logs, Christmas candles.  Also various "paste" and other curious recipes - newspaper clay, library paste, finger paint, scrap soap bath bags, and bouncing mothballs!

 

Does anyone remember these curious things?

 

McMillan Family Reunion on Salt Spring Island

The weekend of September 28 - 30, 2012, Neil and I travelled to Salt Spring Island, one of the gulf islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.  We went to attend a McMillan Family reunion organized by myself, and my second cousins, Cindy and Terry.  This reunion was for the descendants (that we could locate) from the marriage of Robert Sheddan McMillan born on January 30, 1848  in Greenoch, Scotland and Jane (Jean) Blackburn born on March 3, 1851 in Loch Winnoch, Scotland.

Cindy, Terry and myself had been working on this reunion for months and were delighted when our Salt Spring cousins offered their home for a Saturday get together and a community hall for a Saturday night dinner.

Neil and I stayed at the Hedgerow House Bed & Breakfast just outside of Ganges on Salt Spring and were delighted with its quiet beauty.  We had a very comfortable room, large bathroom, and outdoor garden terrace. Breakfast was great and our hosts were friendly and helpful.

This B & B has since become #1 on Trip Advisor for B & Bs on Salt Spring Island.  Highly recommended.

On the Friday evening, we joined my cousins, Louise and Stan, for dinner at the House Piccolo restaurant in Ganges, and it was so wonderful to visit with them again.

House Piccolo

The reunion was very exciting because other than meeting my second cousins Cindy and Terry a couple of times previously, and one of my first cousins attending the reunion, I had not met anyone else.  Our great grandparents, Robert and Jean had five children who survived infancy, of whom 3 daughters and one son immigrated to Canada (Victoria and Vancouver).  One daughter, Jean, remained in Scotland.  The son had no descendants, and the descendants of one daughter have died out. So we had the descendants from three sisters:  Jean (from Scotland), Elizabeth (from Vancouver) and Helen (from Victoria), being the McLay, Sharp and Rowan families.  There were about 35 - 40 people at the various reunion events.

I had prepared a stand up tri-fold poster board showing the generations to take with me and display and it was a big hit, and quite helpful to distinguish who belonged to which family.  I worked on obtaining the information from my first cousins, all the photos, and assembling it for weeks.

 

The Saturday afternoon event was at the oceanside home of Don and Gail, where we all met, many for the first time, to gales of laughter, and also wonderment at the resemblances that we noticed.  We talked and talked and talked about family and ancestors.

 

Dock outside Don and Gail's home



Audrey & Terry, from different family branches, but quite a resemblance

 

Part of the gang of first, second and third cousins

 

Neil and I also enjoyed our visit to Salt Spring Island.  On Saturday we went to the famous Saturday market, featuring fresh Salt Spring produce, arts and crafts, speciality food items, and alternative health products.

 

 

 

 

 

Cousins

 

Neil and I also enjoyed sightseeing on Salt Spring Island.  Here are two pictures from the Ganges Harbour:

 

 

 

Sunday morning we went for a drive to the south end of the island and then walk in Ruckle Provincial Park:

 

 

 

 

 

We were very lucky with the weather.  Then we returned home on the BC Ferries, having had a wonderful weekend and reunion.

 

 

Chateau Montebello

We left Blueberry Lake Resort after brunch (hosted by Jack) on Sunday, August 12, 2012 and headed to the famous Fairmont Chateau Montebello in Quebec.  We wanted to spend a day on our own before heading back to Vancouver after Gillian's wedding.  It turned out to be a very good decision and we enjoyed our stay at the Chateau.

Overview of the Chateau, from its website

 

The interior of the reception hall

 

The rooms were a little bit run down, but had lots of character.  We walked along the lake, swam in the outdoor pool and had a wonderful dinner in the main dining room.  Here are some of my pictures of the resort:



The next morning we drove to the Ottawa airport and flew home to Vancouver.  A good 10 day trip, especially being with family we don't see often enough.

Gillian's Wedding

On August 10, we rented a car in Ottawa and drove to the Mont Tremblant area of Quebec in the Laurentians to stay at the Blueberry Lake Resort for two nights to attend the wedding of Neil's niece, Gillian to Adrian.  About 125 wedding guests stayed at this resort which consists of a central reception building and then ski chalets around the large property, some are on Blueberry Lake.  A gorgeous setting in the summer, and must be fabulous in the winter.

Neil and myself plus his siblings and their spouses stayed together in one four bedroom, three level ski chalet, giving us the opportunity to visit and have a reunion.  Neil's brother Jack (father of the bride), lives in Montreal, and we only get to see him about once each year.

Friday night we attended a dinner in the chalet of the bride's mother, Toby, and met many of the guests on her side of the family and long time friends.  Saturday morning some of us went for a walk around the lake.  It was overcast and started to rain during our walk.

 

 

Micheline, Joan & Jack

 

The wedding was Saturday night and was held on the groom's family farm located at Riviere-Rouge, about 2 hours north of Montreal, and 30 minutes from Blueberry Lake Resort.  There were several buses to take guests from the resort to the farm and our bus driver had some difficulty getting there, especially up the narrow lane from the main road to the farm.  As a result, we and the other buses were about one hour late getting to the wedding.  Of course they held up the ceremony until we all arrived!

 

The wedding was held outside, ajacent to the apple orchard, in front of an old barn - the windows of the barn had been painted blue for the occasion, which was the theme colour chosen for the wedding.

 

 

 

The bridal procession began with the flower girls of course:

 

 Toby, Gillian & Jack, proud parents

 

Gillian and Adrian under the Chuppah

 



Gillian, Judge Joe (who affitiated) and Adrian

Gillian with her four bridesmaids, all long time girlfriends

Gillian with her proud father, Jack

 



Gillian & Adrian, now married!

Followed by the reception with appetizers and drinks served outside the farmhouse and then we moved into a large white tent for the reception.

The Farmhouse



And then it started to storm:  heavy, heavy rain, thunder and lightening and wind.  Water blew into the tent openings and onto the floor.  It carried on like this for most of the evening, which is not unusual for this area apparently.  The wooden floor of the tent was swimming in water, and rain dripped through the roof of the tent!

The caterers really suffered the most as they had to carry everything back and forth from the farm house where the catering was set up, into the white tent.

In spite of this downpour, everyone had fun dancing and eating!  Including the traditional "chair" dance for the bride and groom.