June 16th, 2013:

I have always been intrigued with how long items have been around.

The kaleidoscope was invented by Sir David Brewster and patented in 1817. David named his invention after the Greek words, kalos or beautiful, eidos or form, and scopos or watcher. So kaleidoscope means the beautiful form watcher.  Brewster’s kaleidoscope was a tube containing loose pieces of coloured glass and other pretty objects, reflected by mirrors or glass lenses set at angles that created patterns when viewed through the end of the tube.  The kaleidoscope creates reflections of reflections of a direct view of the objects at the end. The image will be symmetrical if the mirror angle is an even divider of 360 degrees. A mirror set at 60 degrees will generate a pattern of six regular sectors. A mirror angle at 45 degrees will make eight equal sectors, and an angle of 30 degrees will make twelve. The lines and colors of simple shapes are multiplied by the mirrors into a visually stimulating view.  I have always been intrigued by the beautiful patterns that can be viewed through a kaleidoscope.  This book is a kaleidoscope of my memories to be enjoyed.

As I was growing up, there were many simple things to amuse us.  A doll whose eyes would open and close was a great fascination to me as a young girl.  The Barbie doll was available from 1959, but I don’t remember my sister Shirley and I having one.  Perhaps our friends had one.

From dolls with eyes that open and close to teddy bears, from ice skating to roller blading, from card games to crayons and colouring, from the ferris wheel and carousel to cracker jacks, from the sewing machine to the zipper, from candy and ice cream to candy floss, from refrigeration to air conditioning, from early cameras to digital cameras, from washing machines to dishwashers, from a sweeping machine to a bagless vacuum cleaner, from typewriters to computers, from quill pens to gel pens, from cloth diapers to disposable diapers, from paper drinking straws to plastic straws, from horse-drawn vehicles to gasoline-driven cars, from chocolates to life savers, there are so many things that have changed our lives.  Each invention begins with an idea, often based on a desire for something better.  Even a simple band-aid has an interesting history.

Television was still in its infancy when I entered this world and most of the shows were in black and white.  It wasn’t until I was in high school that most of the programming was in full colour.  I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke were enjoyable to watch and get involved in the entertainment.  The opportunity to go to the movies was rare and therefore it was a big event during Grade 12 for a group of us to go to the theatre to see Gone With the Wind based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell which we had read earlier in the year.  Hawaii Five-O, The Bionic Man and Wonder Woman were fantasies to enjoy.  The movie Fiddler on the Roof has special meaning to me as it was the night I fell in love with Harry, my husband of the past 40 years.

Canada’s Wonderland was a great place to take our boys; Michael was the eager one to go on all the thrilling roller coasters, while Zane was a little more laid back.  Harry and I had seasons’ tickets for several years to Theatre Aquarius, an incentive for us to spend time together on a regular basis without the children and the everyday cares of life.  Tall Ships were in Port Colborne in 2001 and Harry and I took our daughter Annette with us for a day on the waterfront. Tall Ships are coming to Hamilton at the end of June 2013.

It is my belief that as life continues on I must nourish and stimulate my mind on a daily basis, always looking for ways to grow and mature.  I began taking courses in 2005, beginning with Evelyn Wood’s Memory Dynamics where I learned techniques for remembering details.  The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The Eighth Habit by Steven Covey were more food for the mind.

I continue to pursue my interests in history, art, geology, architecture, photography and astronomy.  I joined a women’s Book Club in 2006 and have had the opportunity to read several classics, such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, as well as more current books.  Since I had never been exposed to this type of reading, there were many ideas that I followed up with research on the internet.  Sea Biscuit and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Born to Run by Christopher McDougall were enjoyable books to read and learn from.

Our trip to the East Coast of Canada in June 2009 started at the Halifax Airport where Harold and Diane Miller met us to take us on a tour of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island on the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We spent an enjoyable day in Baddeck, Nova Scotia to see the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and to watch an air show commemorating the 100^th anniversary of flight.  We travelled to Pictou where we took the ferry to Prince Edward Island, had a tour of Charlottetown, and the next day travelled the country roads to the Green Gable Shore to see the area that Lucy Maud Montgomery made famous in her book Anne of Green Gables.  That evening we had tickets for Anne the Musical which we thoroughly enjoyed.  We continued our journey through the quaint villages of P.E.I. to Summerside, then on to Gateway Village at the base of the Confederation Bridge which we drove across into New Brunswick for a short drive back into Nova Scotia.  We had time to see some of Amherst before night closed in.

Our trip in 2002 for our 30^th Anniversary to Newfoundland started in St. John’s at Signal Hill and continued through Gander, Grand Falls, Kings Point, to name a few of the villages we travelled through.  We spent a day hiking in Gros Morne National Park.  On our way back to the airport, our trip was not complete until we had visited Bonavista, the name sung for years in the song This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land.

December 14, 2013 – sold another copy today

For the past fifteen years I have had the desire to write my story.  The original title was “My Story.”  In 2008 I set out to complete it but was sidetracked with a burning desire to write a story about my Mom.  This book took on the title “Coins of Gold” and was published in 2010.

In 2009 my next writing project took off by my dedication of spending time to write every morning.  Sometimes the words flowed easily; sometimes I didn’t have much to say.  Whenever a thought came to mind, I would write it down.  Lo and behold, a story began to take shape and before long I had a beginning and an end.  From there it was a matter of filling in the middle.  The story of Beth Worthington and Timothy Eadon was born and the title “Arrows, Indians and Love” came to mind for the gentle love story from Boston to Boonesborough and beyond.  History of the time of Daniel Boone helped to fill out the story.

These are two books written, with two completely different audiences to appeal to.  Some will like both because I wrote them; these are my loyal supporters.  Some will not be interested in either because they won’t believe that insignificant me could write a book.

Now it was time to finish my autobiography.  I had an outline of what I thought I wanted to share and went ahead to complete writing it.  Then it was time for editing.  I struggled with who would want to read it.  Who is my target audience?  Why did I write it?  Who can it help?

I came across the book “How to Write Your Life Story” by Karen Ulrich and it was an invaluable tool in the process of writing my story.  Karen encourages the reader to make lists of all kinds of things, including my timeline, how I fit into history.  There were lists of my best friends, decisions that changed my life, people who have influenced me, goals achieved, favourite food, places, jobs, my passions and what I am drawn to.  We were encouraged to write short stories and poems.  Twenty years ago I began organizing and compiling my memoirs and have about one hundred volumes put together.  They were a great resource for writing my story, along with the dozens of photo albums of family pictures and outings over the years.  No one is likely to read through 100 volumes, so it was time to reduce them to the size of a book and include the most relevant information.  As the editing progresses, a new format begins to emerge.

A project at Pioneer Club was to do a “This is Me” booklet.  Often I would do the projects right along with the children.  It was a good resource of memories.

The kaleidoscope was invented by Sir David Brewster and patented in 1817. David named his invention after the Greek words, kalos or beautiful, eidos or form, and scopos or watcher. So kaleidoscope means the beautiful form watcher.  Brewster’s kaleidoscope was a tube containing loose pieces of coloured glass and other pretty objects, reflected by mirrors or glass lenses set at angles that created patterns when viewed through the end of the tube.  The kaleidoscope creates reflections of reflections of a direct view of the objects at the end. The image will be symmetrical if the mirror angle is an even divider of 360 degrees. A mirror set at 60 degrees will generate a pattern of six regular sectors. A mirror angle at 45 degrees will make eight equal sectors, and an angle of 30 degrees will make twelve. The lines and colors of simple shapes are multiplied by the mirrors into a visually stimulating vortex.  I have always been intrigued by the beautiful patterns that can be viewed through a kaleidoscope.  This book is a kaleidoscope of my memories to be enjoyed.

The Olympics have always intrigued me and though I was not very athletic as a young girl I liked to try doing figure eights and camel spins.  Baseball and tin can cricket were fun to play as I was growing up.  Skipping rope, single and double dutch, were often enjoyed pastimes.  The level of competition at the Olympics just boggles my mind.  When I watch some of the sports, such as speed skating where the skaters are on such an angle, my stomach clenches up as I fear they are going to crash.  The beauty of diving, figure skating and floor exercises in gymnastics are a thrill to watch.  Nadia Comaneci was so graceful as she performed on the balance beam; what a thrill it was to watch her.  Watching other events, I feel myself encouraging the athletes onward towards the finish line.

With the introduction of television to broadcast the Olympic events, many hours have been spent watching the athletes perform.  The opening ceremonies have been come such a big production that without a commentary explaining what is happening much of what is viewed would not be understood.  The achievements of our Canadian athletes is recognized, but there are always other performances that are awe inspiring that round out ones appreciation of what the human body is capable of performing.

There is a huge amount of information available on the internet about the Olympics for anyone who cares to weed through it.  I have chosen to record some of the gems of the events over the years and left out much of the political undertones and the catching of cheaters who have used drug-enhancing substances in order to win.

As I grew up, I heard about the Wonders of the Ancient World but I never knew what they were.  I also heard of other wonders of the world and Niagara Falls was named as one of them.  There are also architectural wonders such as the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario.  I researched the subject and was amazed and intrigued by what I discovered.

There are many wonders that we can only read and surmise about while there are many others we can visit today.  Travel with me from the great pyramid of Giza, to the Iguacu Falls of Brazil and Argentina, to Mount Everest, Fuji and Kilimanjaro, to Big Ben in London, England, to the Empire State Building in New York, to the Panama Canal, to the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal of India, and on beyond.  What a thrill it was for us in 2013 to travel through the Panama Canal.

We went on our first Caribbean Cruise in 2004 with the highlight being the wedding of our son Michael to Grace Wang on the beach on the island of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.  We also visited Nassau, Bahamas, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.  In 2008 we spent two weeks on a cruise from New Orleans to New York City with our first stop being Santo Tomas, Guatemala.  In Belize, we took a boat trip up the Olde Belize River and then went to the Altan Ha Maya ruins.  In Aruba we went snorkeling among the colourful fish, and then we were on to the colourful city of Willemstad, Curacao.  Our last stop was Samana, Dominican Republic to see some of the local scenes and then be shown how the tourists live.  Our arrival in New York City was a thrill to see the huge Statue of Liberty, the Staten Island Ferry, and to recognize some of the buildings of New York that are familiar sights.

I have always enjoyed seeing animals at zoos, and I research about them to learn where they live in the wild, what food they eat, how many young they have, what are their enemies, what colours are they.  Some animals we have seen many times at various locations; others are specific to a particular park.  The Toronto Zoo, African Lion Safari, and Marineland are some of the locations where we have seen and learned about animals, birds, and butterflies.  Some exist in these parks as a means of protecting them as they have become endangered in the wild.  Come and explore with me into the world of nature that exists around us.

Most of these storms and major disasters discussed have been far away from my home and have had no direct impact on me; however, they have each been avidly followed in the news and some details remain in my memory years after they occurred, details which were brought to life again in my research for this book.  Several times during the research, another incident would trigger a memory of a train derailment or a bridge collapse.  There are many hundreds of other huge disasters that have occurred during my lifetime, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in places like the Philippines and Mexico, terrorist attacks in New York and Oklahoma City; bombs in London subways; hostage taking in Iran; killing of athletes at the Olympics in Sarajevo; shootings at schools in various locations; and the list can go on.  Maybe some of these events will crop up in another book in the future.

There have been wars throughout the history of mankind with one group attempting to take over an area from another group.  Wars affect the people who survive as well as doing a tremendous amount of damage to the landscape.  In this book, I have provided an overview of some of the major acts of destruction that have occurred in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. The book begins with World War I and my grandfather’s part in it, and continues with World War II and my mother’s experiences in England during it.  The situation in Ireland escalated for many decades in the twentieth century with some wanting to make all Ireland free from Great Britain although the majority of those in Northern Ireland wanted to stay with the United Kingdom.  The Korean and Vietnam Wars caused lots of bloodshed and destruction to the land in those countries.  Berlin became divided between the east and west and a solid wall was built between the two areas which kept people from leaving East Berlin from 1961 to 1990 when the wall began to come down and free travel was permitted once again. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.  Problems arose in the Suez Canal area from 1956 onwards, and the Middle East erupted with the Yom Kippur War in 1973 with fighting for control of the area continuing to this day.  There have been many incidents of shootings at schools around the world and I have provided a brief description of a small number of them.  Cuba has been a hotbed of trouble for the United States with their fear of the spread of communism and their thwarted attempts to take control of the island nation.  The Chernobyl Nuclear disaster in 1986 caused much environmental damage to the area and the people in the surrounding area were displaced from their homes and are still unable to return for any of their belongings.  Jumbo jet crashes due to pilot error were an interesting topic to research, while ditching of planes in the water where many have been rescued showed quick thinking on the part of the pilots.  Tiananmen Square in Peking is discussed and analyzed, as well as Nelson Mandela and his work to end apartheid in South Africa and give rights to the vast majority of blacks living in the country.  A snapshot is provided of the Kuwait Gulf War as well as war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Siege of Sarajevo was brought to light in the book I read, “The Cellist of Sarajevo” by Steven Galloway.  The Oklahoma City bombings, 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attacks, and London, England bombings are discussed.  A senator is shot down, the Boston Marathon ends with destruction of lives when bombs are detonated near the finish line, a garment factory collapses in Bangladesh killing about a thousand workers, and a man from our area, Tim Bosma from Ancaster is kidnapped.  Good news is scattered amongst the agony when we hear of the release of three young women who had been kidnapped ten years ago in Ohio; this brings to mind the book, “A Stolen Life” by Jaycee Dugard who was kidnapped at age 11, kept for 18 years before she was freed, having given birth to two daughters by the kidnapper, the first one at age 14.  Wars, terrorist attacks and major disasters continue to be present in our world.  What really counts is our response and reaction to them.  We can live in fear of what might happen, or we can take each day as it comes and make the best of whatever presents itself.