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!