So here I go a walking down memory lane again.  Now, to you guys this is a new thing, but to me it happens almost every day.

When I drive down a certain stretch of Merivale Road, every single time, I am reminded of when we lived at 81 Pineglen Crescent.  And most of my memories of Pineglen are of Thanksgiving and Winter.  We lived there from 1973-1978 (minus the year in England).  I don’t remember sitting at the dining room table and eating Thanksgiving dinner, but I remember the leaves in the Fall and dressing up warm and the feeling of Thanksgiving.  And Winter, oh you all know me as BeachMama, but back then I was a Winter Baby, my Sister and I would spend hours and hours and hours playing outside in the snow, with our best friends across the street.  They had a hill behind their house that we would toboggan down all day long, only stopping for lunch and bedtime.

I have no idea who took this photo of my Dad, but here he is in front of Pineglen.

The house looks exactly the same now as it did then, same colour and everything.  Only the pine tree by the front door is now so big that you can’t actually see the front door.  And they made the back porch that we had bigger with a huge deck.  This house sits on an acre of land, pretty good for the size of properties now a days.  The man we rented from still owns it, or at least his son does and still lives there.  Every now and then, I take a drive down Pineglen and wonder what it looks like inside and if it is as big as I remember or just a teeny space.

Here is a fun little series.  The first photo is of me and my best friend Keith.  We spent every day together playing and having fun.  The last time I saw him was back in the 1980’s we were both in high school and so not into being friends anymore. But, as far as best friends go, he was awesome.  Maybe that is why I have always gotten along with guys, my first best friend was one.  In the second and third photo Keith and I were wrestling with my Unlce Merf, my Mom’s brother and his daughter is in there helping.  And in the last photo my Grandma and Step-Grandfather were watching on in all their Scottish glory.

Here is another shot in the backyard, with my Sister and I in matching outfits, that I totally remember wearing.  I even got hers when she grew out of it, two for the price of one my Mom would say. My Grandma was in all her glory with the girls.  Not sure where my cousin Jeff was, perhaps he was just born at this time or almost born.

This last photo is a little more special because my Grandmother in this photo was only with us for a short time (for us kids as she was actually 76 when she passed away).  She passed away in 1976 and this photo is probably 1974/75.  My Sister and I are here with our other Cousins who were visiting with Grandma from Montréal.  This is the only photo I have of Grandma.  And the few extra there are stay with Mom and Dad.  Yet another reason I became a photographer at such a young age.

Looking at my Sister and I, I can totally see Apple in me and my two nieces in my Sister, funny how it works that way.

Thanks for walking with me down that lane… I may move into the ’80s soon, but it is a little more scary as I had a camera!

As I was setting the table last night, I had a moment.  One that I didn’t think I would ever have, but it happened so I can’t ignore it.

Growing up my Mom cooked dinner every single night, well except when we went out for supper, but that rarely happened so basically she cooked every single night.  And it was our job as the kids to set the table.  Every night, Mom would call one or all of us to come set the table for dinner.  My Sister and I would fight over it until the younger ones were old enough then, we let them have it.

Dad may have been late for dinner, but for the most part we all ate together every single night.  Something that Hubby and I have been doing too since we have been together.  Dinner time around the family table is very important to us.  For the most part the tv is off and we share in our day with each other. Even when A is here he knows that is it family time at the table and you have to share.

Hubby and I had been talking about getting a new table for a while. Our old one we bought before we were married from the grocery store, it was inexpensive, but served it’s purpose.  Now that Apple is no longer sitting in her clip on chair, it had become increasingly obvious that we needed a larger table to seat our whole family.  We have been on  a search for one, but nothing we saw suited us nor met our needs.

Before Christmas my Mom and Dad finally decided it was time to get a new kitchen table.  The one they had they bought before they were married.  It had been used and abused and refinished and just didn’t match their kitchen.  Mom and Dad, knowing we were looking for a bigger table, asked us if we wanted it.  At first, we were a little reluctant, it’s old (43 years), a different colour than ours, funky chairs.  But, we decided it would make do until we found the table we were looking for.

Last night as my daughter was helping me set the table, which without its extra leaves is still larger than our old one, I realized that for most of my life, I have eaten at this very table.  I had my first birthday at this table, my first day of school, middle school, high school.  My first date sat and got grilled from my Dad at this table.  My friends would gather around this table after school for snacks, I have done homework at this table I have cried at this table.  This is the Family table.  After it sat in our kitchen for a couple of days, Hubby and I both realized how well it matched the cabinets and even with it’s funky chairs, we love it.  It is entirely possible that we will not continue our search for a new table, because the this table, the one that has now been passed down to me from my Parent is all we need.