Memory Lane - Another Birthday, and More (August and September 1987)

I think a few things must have happened in 1987 between the end of my last post (Cathy's birthday July 14th) and the beginning of this post (Christine's birthday August 20th) but not according to the family photo history. 

As you may have noticed from previous posts, the kids' birthdays were often held at the family cottage, owing largely to the fact that all three kids have summer birthdays. These early parties at Avon Rae were fine for the family, but seldom included the kids' playmates. 

Also, having summer birthdays meant the kids could never celebrate a true birthday with their school classmates. They had to settle for the well-meaning but strained elementary school tradition of celebrating the "half-birthdays" of those poor souls born in summer months. To compensate for this parenting failure we would host birthday parties for the girls and a few guests at home whenever we could work out the details. Such was the case for Christine's sixth birthday.

These parties had a certain rhythm to them. They would start with a nutritious meal, as evidenced by this shot of the birthday girl. 

Guest Alison.

Guest Sarah.

And special guest little sister (who felt the need to bring her own entertainment). 

Following the fine cuisine, came the cake ceremony. With a mighty woosh, the deed was done.

Then came the highlight of the day - a cupcake for everyone.

Even those with reserved seating.

After a little cleanup, there were presents.

And games.

And finally, a kid movie. On videotape, of course.

There you have it. The complete kid birthday package - home version. Only one pic left to share - party planner, cake baker, game referee and audio-visual specialist. Mom. Kudos.

We did make a final visit to Ipperwash over Labor Day, to end the summer. We helped with a little cottage closing prep as Rae and Marge were getting ready to move back to GPW for the fall. The actual closing of the cottage for winter wouldn't happen for another month or so and would involve draining the pipes, mounting shutters and stowing boats and beach gear. This short visit was really just one last gasp that had to last until next spring.

There was a last day of sand play.

A final sail for Rae and Nancy's brother Dave.

A final after-dinner beach walk.

And that final "where did the summer go" sit at the water's edge.

It had been a fine summer at the cottage, which was becoming an important dimension of our ever-widening family groove. Without realizing it, we were planting the seeds of a family value that would eventually lead us to Wiser Times. 

We started the fall social calendar with a trip to my parents for what turned out to be a mini-reunion. My brother Jeff and his family and sister Cindy were there as well as my sister Wendy's kids. We did the usual things like play with Grandpa's toys. Shown below from left to right are Christine (facing away), Grandpa with Ted behind, Tristan celebrating his tank ascent, and Melanie and Dee Dee on the yard cruiser. 

The most popular attraction at the time was definitely the cruiser. There was usually a queue.

But in time, everybody got their turns.

There were also arts and crafts, here led by niece Melanie (sporting her Hungarian roots).

And some big-girl wine time on the carpet (hopefully not with wine on the carpet).

On Sunday before we all headed our separate ways we stood for the usual family pic. Most (but not all) were delighted with this idea.

For the record from left to right - in the front row are Christine with her cousins Dee Dee and Tristan, and brother Ted. Second row - niece Jennifer, sister-in-law Sue, Melanie, Nancy holding Cathy, and my mother Dolores. Back row - my brother Jeff, Sue's mother Elaine, sister Cindy, my father Wendell, and me.

Back in The Pointes, we settled into our fall school/work routine. There was a bit of home schooling.

Art homework.

Some pre-art homework. This staying within the lines thing isn't really for everybody.

Ever wonder whatever happened to all that old gimungus tractor-feed printer paper? Well, now you know.

It wasn't all classroom work. There was time for driver's training.

And even a field trip. A very good friend of mine at the time, Dave V, was an avid rock hound. I remember his third-story walk-up apartment being littered with baskets of polished rocks and stones of all types and shapes. Dave thought it would be fun to take the kids on a rock hunting trip to the northern shore of Lake Michigan, a veritable rock paradise. So we did. Here are a few pics.

First the players. This was one of the rare adventures when Ted's other sister Jamie (by his mom and her second husband) joined in the fun. That's Jamie next to Christine in the pic below with Ted and me. Much to her dismay, Cathy was deemed a bit too young to join in on this trip.

In this pic we have the full group including Dave V and a close friend he invited along (shamefully I can't remember the friend's name).

We explored the lakeshore between Charlevoix and Petoskey for most of two days, sacking out in a luxurious roadside motel for the night. Here's a shot of the path down to the shore somewhere off US 31. While interested, Ted wasn't quite as sold on the program as his sisters. That's him in the foreground taking a little extra time to embrace his fate.

In this pic Dave is coaching Christine and Jamie in the art of picking up just the right stones. I believe he summed things up with the insightful comment, "It's tricky."

And here are the kids proudly toting their booty from the hunt.

It looks like Ted's big find was...a golf ball? Oh well.

In this final pic from the trip, from the rear bumper of our burgundy Chevy Celebrity, the kids seem ready to move on. 

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should share the fact that in the post-trip satisfaction survey the kids voted "the motel" as the highlight of the trip. I guess rock hunting requires a more mature outlook on recreation. And about my tee shirt - I have no idea.

That brings us to the end of September and of this post. Next time we'll explore the 1987 holiday season beginning with...more birthdays. Have a great Labor Day weekend.

Grosse Pointe Charles

Memory Lane - We Get Out Much, Part 2 (The Rrrrest of July 1987)

At the end of Part 1 of this double post the family had just completed a little R&R at Avon Rae cottage, recovering from a series of kid-focused, end-of-school-year outings. After a week or so of lounging on the beach, overeating and reveling in extended happy hours, we were ready for more adventure. So we headed east.

To this happy spot.

The overhead sign is a little hard to make out in this pic. It reads Story Book Gardens.

Story Book Gardens is a combination garden, zoo, playground and fairy tale theme park in London, Ontario. It's been around a long time. Nancy and her Canadian cousins went there as kids. From Christine's posture in the above pic she may well have been thinking "Oh no, another Deer Acres" (see previous post). But she soon learned better.

The first order of business was to rent a big shoe. You know, the kind you ride in. It was a crowd pleaser. 

The next step after the shoe rental was this touristy spot, for the required "I was really there" photo.

Put out by the fact that this attraction had cutouts for only two heads, Cathy stayed in the car shoe.

A little restless from the photoshoot, we took the kids to the playground area to burn off some energy. Ted and Christine jumped in with both feet. Literally. 

Eventually, they climbed their way out.

And up.

Cathy chose a less thrilling but safer form of recreation.

After all the excitement, we paused for a cold drink in a shady spot. Ted was behind the camera, having already chugged down his Mountain Dew.

Although the play areas dominated the visit, we did stop by a few animal friends. Here's Christine exchanging pleasantries with a bovine in residence.

And the kids and I once again gazing in awe at these peculiar creatures. 

Canadian flamingos. These pink beauties seem to be everywhere we go.

At the end of the day as we headed toward the exit, there was one more stop to make. And it was the highlight of the visit. 

We saddled-up.

We held on tight.

And eventually, rode into the sunset.

Or rather, out to the parking lot.

There was some disappointment that this didn't happen. Expectations are often a problem.

To move the kids past the crisis, we took a brief detour before returning to the cottage. All the way to Toronto.

We had seen our Canadian cousins recently at Avon Rae. But we were sort of in the neighborhood, so what the heck. It's always fun to see how the other half of the family lives, and to have an opportunity to catch up out of earshot of the senior generation. (Now that I'm a part of the senior generation, I'm fairly confident our kids feel the same way.)

We did stay long enough to take cousin Heather and our girls on a walk to the park.

Spot them on some high-brow exercise equipment.

And treat them and Ted to a combination fine-dining/menu-art outing. Heather and Ted are waiting for fresh crayons.

Having eaten and caught up on family business, and determined to not overstay our welcome, we headed back to the beach for another dose of R&R. 

One thing I'm constantly reminded of as I wade through these old pictures is just how the beach really changed over the years. I have this image of Avon Rae and Ipperwash Beach fixed in my mind from 30-plus years of visits. But I'm realizing it's not a particular memory. Rather, it's an overlay. A seamless blending of hundreds if not thousands of real images. 

I am very much enjoying my reacquaintance with those real images and associating them individually with their proper time in my memory. And appreciating the often subtle changes that occurred from year to year that I had forgotten or not even noticed at the time. 

Back to 1987. The second stop at Avon Rae this trip was every bit as relaxing as the first. And the weather was typically gorgeous. We dug in quickly as we knew we were going home in a few days. 

As noted earlier, we continued to do the same things on these recurring trips to our personal paradise but with slight variations. The kids grew more curious about their surroundings and how far they could push their limits. 

Nancy and I grew more aware of our own limits with her parents, as at that time Rae and Marge were retired and spent all summer at the cottage. They had their preferred ways of doing things. We were welcomed guests, but also intruders of a sort. At times, the distinction was subtle. But through reflection and well-timed beach walks, we managed. A second cocktail at happy hour was another valuable mood-management tool. 

A few pics from this second Avon Rae session of that summer. First, a reminder of what the beach looked like in 1987 with the lower lake level, new seawall and deluxe stairway. 

This picture is always striking to me as the beach did not have this look for long. As you will see a little further along my Memory Lane journey, the shifting sands and varying lake levels would reengineer this waterfront area dramatically.  

The kids, of course, didn't know from lake levels. It was all sand and surf to them. Dimensions didn't matter much. They returned to their usual play routine. First, lake time. 

Then afternoon quiet time for some.

For others, quiet time didn't quite ring the bell as well as trying to beat your best time down the patio block walkway in your bare feet. Who does this remind us of?

There was also some together time.

And some not-so-together time (out?)

There were old chores to perform.

And new chores to learn.

And at the end of each day, there was a classic cottage dinner. Spaghetti was a family favorite. Almost as much fun to watch as it was to eat.

And while the Burk family was living and playing and making themselves at home on foreign soil, our hosts - Rae and Marge - did their best to go about their business of retirement. I think that every once in a while they even got in some rest and relaxation.

Here's a shot of Nancy's mother Marge enjoying one of her favorite pastimes. My guess is there's an Italian tenor (and a couple of Spaniards?) at the pointy end of those earphones. Recognize the chair?

Nancy's dad took his pleasures differently. He liked to fix things and make general contributions to the common welfare. As we used to say, Rae had a loose foot. A classic example.

This picture tells a story. And not just the fact that we had a big dinner. It documents that Avon Rae at one time had a built-in dishwasher. It was installed in 1983 when the kitchen was expanded along with the pouring of the concrete porch.

It had been a tricky installation, something Rae's engineer's brain never shied away from. It involved smuggling Nancy's old portable dishwasher through the border, worrying it down the sloped patio blocks to the kitchen door, creating a space to house this avocado green beauty, and multiple trips to the hardware store for hoses, valves and other thingamabobs to connect it up to the well pump. My part in the adventure was driving the little brown pickup truck. 

The dishwasher was always a center of controversy. It made a horrible noise when it operated and required frequent maintenance. It was eventually retired when parts to keep it running could no longer be had. Still, while it lasted it was quite a coup for Rae after a generation of washing dishes for large crowds by hand. 

I often think about that little dishwasher when I find myself standing over a soiled stack of those very same Strawberry Fair dishes at Wiser Times. The more things change.... 

Our cottage visit having run its course, we headed over the Blue Water Bridge and down I-94 back home. We had one more July event ahead of us. Someone was turning two. A few pics.

Birthday dinner. Note how much neater two-year-olds are.

The cake. There's probably a story about the non-layered status of this (intended) layer cake, but I don't remember it at the moment.

The classic birthday group photo, party hats included.

And finally, Cathy's first independently successful extinguishing of a birthday cake candle. Literally a crowd pleaser.

The hullabaloo of the last few weeks behind us, Nancy and I returned to our respective working lives in the Patrick V. McNamara Building. She in her new-fangled role as an automation analyst. Keyboards and (truly) floppy disks.

And I back in the Special Procedures office. Note the index cards and yellow pad. This was two years before I was rescued by the Franklin system. We're still together.

This'll do it for this post and the July '87 adventures. Until next time.

Grosse Pointe Charles