The weekend turned out to be pretty nice in Southern Ontario and turned out to be a busy one for us.
We have had a Friday night tradition that dates back many years and one that we hope we will continue for many more years to come. Our friends, Dave and Helen, live only a few blocks away. We have taken turns hosting Friday night dinner with them going way back. This Friday it was our turn to host and we spent an enjoyable evening over dinner and refreshments with them.
Stuart and Heajin dropped in on Saturday for lunch. They are pretty much settled into their new apartment and Canada in general.
Saturday evening we attended the wedding of Damian Rogers and Cheryl Poth at the Glenerin Inn, in Mississauga.
Damian is a Crown Attorney in Edmonton. Cheryl is a professor at the University in Edmonton who just received her tenure. Damian is part of the group of people that Tom used to go white water canoeing with every summer. Damian moved to Edmonton about this time last year. There is where he met Cheryl. Damian said he was looking for a partner who could carry her half of the canoe. He found that in Cheryl as she is just as much an outdoors enthusiast as he is. The ceremony was about half way through when the fire alarm sounded. It continued for what seemed like about five minutes. Maybe Cheryl was saved by the bell.............but no. The alarm was finally turned off and the ceremony continued. Dinner was lovely, followed by a dance. Our friends Don and Lynn Russell also attended. Don and Tom worked together during the liquidation of Confederation Life. Don was part of the canoe group. Other friends Mike and Aviva Murphy were also in attendance. Tom met Aviva through the canoe group also. They no longer canoe together but we have all kept in touch over the years.
The Glenerin Inn is a beautiful old facility built in 1927 as a summer home for a Toronto lawyer, Watson Evans. During WWII a girls school in Whitby, England sent 90 students, via ship to Canada after the Germans bombed the area around the school. The girls arrived safely in Montreal in 1940 but the second shipload of students sent out from England was sunk by a German U-Boat. England then suspended passenger shipping until the end of the war and also suspended sending the funds that were to take care of the students. With no place to stay and no funds the girls were put on a train to Toronto. The girls were given temporary lodging at the Ladies' College in Whitby, Ontario. The Trinity College got involved at this time. Watson Evans had passed away in 1932. His widow was a Trinity College graduate and offered her summer home to the girls until the end of the war. A property originally built to hold 12 people was rejigged to hold the 90 children and 8 staff. In 1944 the girls returned to England. In 1945 the Robert Simpson Company purchased the property to be used as a rest home for its employees. Nurses and staff took care of employees that were seriously ill until they were able to return to work. This was the first employee rest home in Canada. The property was used for several other things following that until the final purchase in 1984 by Someplace Different Ltd. who after doing extensive renovations opened the property as an Inn in 1986.
This picture is only one of the buildings. I believe this is the carriage house. We attended Tom's company Christmas dinner at the Glenerin Inn a couple of years ago. It is a beautiful facility.
This morning we picked up Dave and Helen before heading up to the Richmond Hill Cenotaph for the Remembrance Day Service. We attend the service annually and each year there are fewer and fewer of the old veterans in attendance.
We believe it is so important to go and show our respect for those that have fought and for those that are still fighting in our armed forces. But when I look around I see that for a city our size the turn out is always so pathetic. There may have been 250 or 300 people there. Our population in RH is almost 200,000. That is so wrong. We must not forget the sacrifices that have been made and continue to be made for the sake of freedom.
Lunch at Wimpy's after the ceremony and then home to rake leaves again. We gave our neighbours a hand fixing their fence and Tom got a wash job done Big Mo and Little Red (the new car).
Hope you had a great weekend. Until next time --- safe travels.
