Looking at life through a funhouse mirror
ICYMI, the audio format of Nowhere like This Place: Tales from a Nuclear Childhood was released earlier this year. In case you are really out of the loop, this is what the book is about: Marilyn Carr’s family arrived in Deep River, Ontario in 1960 because her dad got a job at a mysterious place …
As you may know, last week the Greyhound bus had its last victory lap. No canine rescue happening here. No bucolic retirement pasture for the hound, that, truth be told, I have called horrible. Even though I steadfastly maintain I was right, I do apologize for dissing the dog. Because I, like many other people, …
Here’s an Excerpt The very, very, very best Grade 2 art day is asbestos clay day. Asbestos is a wonderful material in the 1960s. Not only does it cover our floors and insulate our walls, it is a mighty fine modelling clay: malleable, full of texture and most of all fire proof. Ideal for making …
The Molloys were already ensconced in the house next door to us on Newton Crescent when we first arrived in Deep River in 1960. Inexplicably, since there was no lack of land to develop, we shared a double driveway and a semi-detached garage between our pre-fab bungalows, such that the middle wall bisected the official-unofficial …
You learn a lot by travelling by bus. Okay, you could probably learn the same things when travelling by car, but you just don’t. That’s because when you travel by car you don’t have to pull off the road every 40 km or so to pick up or drop off passengers at places like Trout …
I once had a summer job in an office. This is different than having a summer job that is not in an office like the one supervising a summer playground program (where I learned to hate the smell of sunburned grass) or the one pasting new-fangled bar codes on library books (where, to quell the …
When you grow up in a small town best described as on the outskirts of nowhere, you don’t need much more than two wheels or your own two feet to get around. That is, unless you wanted to go somewhere exotic, like a place that had more than one clothing store. Back in those days …
Whatever season you decide to visit the area, you will find citizens of the Ottawa Valley enjoying a variety of activities. Here are some examples: Huntin’ Once the leaves are off the trees, hunting season cannot be far behind. It is first heralded by the festive orange quilted vests and the matching flash of orange …