Mpby

61. Rekindling the Fire

By the early 1970's Alphy and Margurita were alone. The family had grown up and gone. Eileen married Wendell Harper in 1971. Joan had secured work in Charlottetown and had moved there.

Alphy had semi-retired at age sixty, but by the early 1970's he had fully retired from the window business. The couple had managed to set aside a small amount of savings, enough to get them through the years until Alphy would be eligible for the old age pension. In the past, Alphy had talked about retiring before the age of sixty-five, but Margurita had not been convinced that he would actually do so, until it happened. She wondered how Alphy would occupy his time, as he did not enjoy being idle. But Alphy developed a range of hobbies. Among these were - oil painting, playing the organ, accordion and fiddle, and just listening to his favorite records on the stereo.

Margurita had a sewing machine carrying case which was no longer used as the sewing machine had been placed in a cabinet. Alphy decided that he would make use of this case. He had built some wooden ‘dancing men’. He then cut out a piece of plywood to fit the ‘floor’ of the sewing case, in which he secured the dancing men. Underneath the plywood he placed a small tape recorder. Alphy played his favorite jigs on the recorder, while the dancing men swung their feet to the rhythm of the music.

As a couple, Alphy and Margurita now had more leisure time. They truly enjoyed time together. Two of their favorite pastimes were Snowmobiling in the winter and sailing the aluminum boat during the summer. The couple also enjoyed going for nature walks, and feeding the birds.

Alphy and Margurita spent many contented hours in each

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