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In summer, it was necessary to iron the clothes early in the morning, for the house would get too hot later on in the day.

There were no bakeries at that time, so all the bread was homemade. During the summer, my mother had to be an early riser to set loaf bread and have it all cooked before the heat of the afternoon.

They had no electric toasters, so they used a wire where they incased the bread in the middle between the two sides. They removed the cover from the stove, placed the wire over the open flame, and toasted the bread. It had such a wonderful taste.

Mary was a woman who always compromised when she needed something. If my coat was too small, she would renovate an old one, by reversing the material and then making a new one. The coat appeared as if it just arrived from the store.

Once Mary needed oilcloth for the kitchen floor, because the existing covering was worn. She rolled it up, took it outdoors and painted it green. When it was dry, she dabbed a cloth in yellow paint and made a design on it. It fascinated all who saw it.

Lorne and I were only three and five years old when we heard the neighbors kids saying that it was the Queen’s birthday and we were supposed to go on a picnic. Mary had no treats for a picnic, but did not panic. Instead, she made molasses cookies and put them in a brown paper bag. There was no such thing as baggies or wax paper in that era. She added a bottle of milk and sent us across the field to have our picnic. The smell of the hot cookies was so tempting, we never even made it to the field, but sat down in the ditch and enjoyed our picnic immensely. Mary called Alex from the shop, and they stood at a distance, and watched their little ones enjoying themselves at Very little cost. Memories of that incident are still very Vivid in my mind today.

Accidents happened in that era as well. One stormy night there was a power failure. Mary, who was pregnant, with Genevieve, was coming ‘ down the stairs carrying a lamp. Suddenly she tripped and fell, causing her to drop the lamp. She suffered only a few bruises, but she worried about her unborn child.

On January 12th, the baby arrived. Mary was relieved to find no injuries, with the exception of a small bone protruding near the baby’s breast. Sixty

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