MOM

To the left is a very young lady. She is of course my mother. On April 1, 2007, she turned 86 years old(young?). At this tender age, you might think that she would slow down. Not my mother.

She lives by herself in an apartment. She still drives and does everything for herself pretty much. Usually at Christmas , she flies to Toronto to visit my older brother. When she is there she can visit with her three grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.

Last Christmas, she came west to visit us for a month and meet the newest member of our family, Owen. She almost spent the whole time in her room as she is deathly afraid of dogs (especially shepherds) and as you know we have 2 dogs( 1- a shepherd). I reassured her that they were very lovable and by the time she left she said that she certainly did like Kaito( the shepherd).

As I wrote , she lives by herself in an apartment. However, during the summer , she goes out to our "camp". It is an old miner's house on the shores of Lake Superior. There is no running water, no phones and no electricity. When my dad was teaching it was a great place to go to enjoy the quiet life. To get water, there is a gas pump that takes water from the lake to a trough up on the cliff. From there it is gravity fed to the house. Cooking and lighting is done with propane. There is also a wood stove for extra heat if it is needed.

We used to have outdoor plumbing(outhouse) but about 40 years ago, my mother went out one night. When she came back in and just closed the door. there was a thump on the other side. She opened the inside door and there , on the outside of the screen was a huge black bear. We got indoor plumbing put in during the next week.

Last year she was getting ready to go out and heard a noise from the kitchen. She went to investigate and there, trying to come in the propane vent hole was another black bear. She took off to a neighbors as fast as she could. So did the bear. She went one way, he went the other. Except he went INTO another neighbours house.

She also has problems with deer. In the back of the camp is a beautiful tiered garden. It also backs up against the cliff. The deer come down the cliff and strip her garden almost every year. When she goes out to"shoo" them away, they just look at her like she is nuts. They have no fear, as this is all inside a provincial park. Which means no hunting.

While she is there, she also walks at least 2-3 miles or more everyday. I just wish I had her energy. If my dad was still with us they would have been married 66 years two days ago.

Here's to you mom.