Night at the Museum - April 30, 2017
Laurence and I seem to live by the all or nothing principle when it comes to hobbies. (By hobby I mean an activity one engages in obsessively but does not make money at. In fact, it’s normally quite the opposite.) In Sudbury, Laur’s “all” was his Scrivener Press – 65 books in 20 years to say nothing of launches, mailing out of orders, getting distribution, and sitting at event stalls. Mine was cats – and one sentence would not give the slightest hint at what is involved in trying to “save” every cat at the District Animal Shelter.
I haven’t really found my “thing” here is St. Catharines yet. It can’t be cats because we are limited to two in our seniors’ apartment building, and there are many cat rescues out there already. But Laurence has found the new love of his life – the Welland Canal. Not so much the canal itself – he’s not a boat-spotter, at least not yet - but the history behind them. Yes, I used a plural. We are now at canal #4 – there are three that predate it.
So far, Laur has been content to find out things on line, or do bike trips – some of which aren’t terribly legal – to investigate remnants of the earlier canals. Until now… He found out that there is a Welland Canal Historical Society (not the real name, but close enough.) Oh my glory! I haven’t seen Laur this excited since we last toured Old Fort Henry. (My mom, Granny Marj, will get the humour in this.) Laur signed us up right away – parting with a grand total of $15.00 for a family membership.
Our first event was Thursday evening – doors open at 7 pm, meeting starts at 7:30 pm. My hubs – who normally thinks that arriving on time is getting there early – was ready to rocket out the door by 6:45 pm. (It’s a 10-minute drive.) He practically raced across the parking lot of Lock Three to the museum where the presentation was being held – nearly taking out three people with canes and walkers on his way.
I expected we’d be the first people there. Not by a long shot. Then I remembered, this is a Historical Society. It’s all old people (ie people our age) and most old people like to get to things early. Very early. We walked into the meeting room and saw a sea (maybe an inlet) of persons who looked remarkably just like us. Grey haired men with short beards and slight (ahem!) paunches; women with various hair colours and no make-up. I thought of what my mom would say on seeing this group – something like “Good heavens, there are more of you?!” and I got a fit of the giggles. Tears started streaming down my face. Off to the bathroom to get some tissue.
I was pretty much composed by the time I got back. I was stopped by one of my ‘twins separated at birth’ who asked me, “And what is your name?” I wasn’t sure if this was a skill testing question or not – perhaps there was an Alzheimers Awareness booth at this event – and I answered, “Jan…?” The woman smiled graciously – I guess I answered the question correctly – and then added, “Oh, then you’re not our guest speaker, are you…” I laughed and said, “I hope not or this will be a short presentation. ‘The Welland Canal is out there, and my name is Jan… I think…’”
Back to my seat in the front row. (Yes, front row, because I would not want to miss a thing. Truly!) Laur was buying what I thought were 50/50 tickets. I thought to myself, “Oh goody. We could win our Tim Horton’s money for the month.” Yes, I dream big.
As it turns out, we first had to have the 2016 Annual General Meeting. What?? No!! Thankfully, the AGM was pretty short. Their annual budget is about $3000, and – being good Scots (I guess) – they have trouble finding ways to spend it. Their activities are mostly having presentations and writing the occasional strong letter. Just Laur’s and my speed – presentations for him, writing letters for me. The board was for the most part re-elected. It seems the only way people get off this board (actually, just about any board these days) is to pass over to the Big Canal in the Sky. Laur whispered in a loud voice, “Don’t you DARE nominate me!” And before I could put my had up, someone moved to end the nominations. Ah well, next year.
Finally, the presentation. Forty-one slides of various drawings and pictures of the Welland Canals. It was on a power point so I could tell that there was going to be 41 slides. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that looking at pictures is not my thing. I blame it on the many presentations I attended as a kid that were given by missionaries – they spent half their time turning around the upside-down slides on their Kodak carousel, and then trying to focus them. I knew that once they showed the “sunset slide,” it would be over and we could eat the goodies. It’s how I developed my understanding of “eternity.”
In fact, these slides of pictures of the Welland canals were careful chosen and very interesting – Laurence was positively riveted to the screen. Me, I used it as a chance to practice my math skills. Two slides out of 41 – we’re 1/20th of the way through. Five slides – we’re 1/8th, and so on. There is going to be an exhibition of these paintings at the Riverbrink Art Museum in September. We’ll be there. Laurence, because he’ll want to see them again. Me, because I’ll get a bike ride and a Tim Hortons out of it. Laur definitely married below his artistic class.
But before the meeting was officially over, it was time to announce the winners of the draw. As it turned out, the prize was not money, but five old books that members must have painfully pared from their libraries. Laurence was so excited his pupils were dilating and his nostrils were practically flaring - a chance to add a book to his collection and his wife wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Sadly, he didn’t have a winning number. Ah well, at least there were cookies. Laurence reached out to take one, and then remembered he had a date with the scales the following morning. Poor lad. Next time I’ll bring a bag of mini carrots.
We arrived home at our seniors’ complex at 9 pm – the latest we’ve been out since…. Well, we can’t remember when. I hope we didn’t wake anyone up. Though we better have an eye out for our behaviour. The woman whose unit we took over was “graduated” from the building when she got sunset dementia. It means that you take off after the sun goes down. And I notice in the minutes of the last board meeting that there is a new “Mrs. Prone-to-Wander” – and her family has agreed it’s time she had more monitoring and care.
Bah! If we can wiggle our way into forbidden areas of the old canals, I’m sure we can wiggle our way out of ankle monitors.
I haven’t really found my “thing” here is St. Catharines yet. It can’t be cats because we are limited to two in our seniors’ apartment building, and there are many cat rescues out there already. But Laurence has found the new love of his life – the Welland Canal. Not so much the canal itself – he’s not a boat-spotter, at least not yet - but the history behind them. Yes, I used a plural. We are now at canal #4 – there are three that predate it.
So far, Laur has been content to find out things on line, or do bike trips – some of which aren’t terribly legal – to investigate remnants of the earlier canals. Until now… He found out that there is a Welland Canal Historical Society (not the real name, but close enough.) Oh my glory! I haven’t seen Laur this excited since we last toured Old Fort Henry. (My mom, Granny Marj, will get the humour in this.) Laur signed us up right away – parting with a grand total of $15.00 for a family membership.
Our first event was Thursday evening – doors open at 7 pm, meeting starts at 7:30 pm. My hubs – who normally thinks that arriving on time is getting there early – was ready to rocket out the door by 6:45 pm. (It’s a 10-minute drive.) He practically raced across the parking lot of Lock Three to the museum where the presentation was being held – nearly taking out three people with canes and walkers on his way.
I expected we’d be the first people there. Not by a long shot. Then I remembered, this is a Historical Society. It’s all old people (ie people our age) and most old people like to get to things early. Very early. We walked into the meeting room and saw a sea (maybe an inlet) of persons who looked remarkably just like us. Grey haired men with short beards and slight (ahem!) paunches; women with various hair colours and no make-up. I thought of what my mom would say on seeing this group – something like “Good heavens, there are more of you?!” and I got a fit of the giggles. Tears started streaming down my face. Off to the bathroom to get some tissue.
I was pretty much composed by the time I got back. I was stopped by one of my ‘twins separated at birth’ who asked me, “And what is your name?” I wasn’t sure if this was a skill testing question or not – perhaps there was an Alzheimers Awareness booth at this event – and I answered, “Jan…?” The woman smiled graciously – I guess I answered the question correctly – and then added, “Oh, then you’re not our guest speaker, are you…” I laughed and said, “I hope not or this will be a short presentation. ‘The Welland Canal is out there, and my name is Jan… I think…’”
Back to my seat in the front row. (Yes, front row, because I would not want to miss a thing. Truly!) Laur was buying what I thought were 50/50 tickets. I thought to myself, “Oh goody. We could win our Tim Horton’s money for the month.” Yes, I dream big.
As it turns out, we first had to have the 2016 Annual General Meeting. What?? No!! Thankfully, the AGM was pretty short. Their annual budget is about $3000, and – being good Scots (I guess) – they have trouble finding ways to spend it. Their activities are mostly having presentations and writing the occasional strong letter. Just Laur’s and my speed – presentations for him, writing letters for me. The board was for the most part re-elected. It seems the only way people get off this board (actually, just about any board these days) is to pass over to the Big Canal in the Sky. Laur whispered in a loud voice, “Don’t you DARE nominate me!” And before I could put my had up, someone moved to end the nominations. Ah well, next year.
Finally, the presentation. Forty-one slides of various drawings and pictures of the Welland Canals. It was on a power point so I could tell that there was going to be 41 slides. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that looking at pictures is not my thing. I blame it on the many presentations I attended as a kid that were given by missionaries – they spent half their time turning around the upside-down slides on their Kodak carousel, and then trying to focus them. I knew that once they showed the “sunset slide,” it would be over and we could eat the goodies. It’s how I developed my understanding of “eternity.”
In fact, these slides of pictures of the Welland canals were careful chosen and very interesting – Laurence was positively riveted to the screen. Me, I used it as a chance to practice my math skills. Two slides out of 41 – we’re 1/20th of the way through. Five slides – we’re 1/8th, and so on. There is going to be an exhibition of these paintings at the Riverbrink Art Museum in September. We’ll be there. Laurence, because he’ll want to see them again. Me, because I’ll get a bike ride and a Tim Hortons out of it. Laur definitely married below his artistic class.
But before the meeting was officially over, it was time to announce the winners of the draw. As it turned out, the prize was not money, but five old books that members must have painfully pared from their libraries. Laurence was so excited his pupils were dilating and his nostrils were practically flaring - a chance to add a book to his collection and his wife wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Sadly, he didn’t have a winning number. Ah well, at least there were cookies. Laurence reached out to take one, and then remembered he had a date with the scales the following morning. Poor lad. Next time I’ll bring a bag of mini carrots.
We arrived home at our seniors’ complex at 9 pm – the latest we’ve been out since…. Well, we can’t remember when. I hope we didn’t wake anyone up. Though we better have an eye out for our behaviour. The woman whose unit we took over was “graduated” from the building when she got sunset dementia. It means that you take off after the sun goes down. And I notice in the minutes of the last board meeting that there is a new “Mrs. Prone-to-Wander” – and her family has agreed it’s time she had more monitoring and care.
Bah! If we can wiggle our way into forbidden areas of the old canals, I’m sure we can wiggle our way out of ankle monitors.