Tuesday 30 November 2010

Margaret in "ihr Gips" - probably summer of 1950. The congenital hip displacement was discovered when she started to walk, and she spent about a year in a cast to realign the leg in the socket. The floppy bow is another story...

Saturday 27 November 2010

Friday 26 November 2010

16 July 1971 - Margaret and Roger had their wedding party at 17515 Ford Road, with family and close friends. Jim and Connie Cooter on the left, Gundel and Alfred in the background. The food, prepared by Gundel, was legendary, especially the potato salad.

Monday 22 November 2010

April 1952 - Margaret with her best friend, Margit Weber, and Fritzl the dog, just before leaving for Canada. When Margaret went back to Gersfeld to visit Aunt Anni in 1984, they ran into Margit in the shoe store.

Sunday 21 November 2010

Gundel in her beloved garden, amid blooming azaleas and rhododendrons. Alfred would have clambered as high as possible on the ladders that led from roof to roof to take this photo, in the early 2000s.

Saturday 20 November 2010

1994 - Scott and Drew try out the cupboards in Alfred and Gundel's new house.

Friday 19 November 2010

Paul, and Peter Benjafield, on the way to Keremos - 1952, perhaps, in the days when young men went up to the logging camps to work. Paul started out as a camp cook, and I hope he'll add his experiences....

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Monday 15 November 2010

Sunday 14 November 2010


Skiing at Crystal Mountain, Christmas 1978 - Kate, Paul, Norah, Martin, Nettie. And Paul and Sue enjoy the view -

Saturday 13 November 2010

Christmas in Pitt Meadows, 1977 - Kate (Hughes), Gundel, Alfred, Nick (Hughes), Nettie - tucking into Christmas cookies?

Thursday 11 November 2010

Wednesday 10 November 2010

A wedding, in Gersfeld probably - but whose? Oma is on the right. Late 1940s perhaps.

Sunday 7 November 2010

Gundel and her beloved hanging baskets, mid-90s - the greenhouses were right outside the deck, and Gundel spent a lot of time in them, potting up and trimming azaleas.

Saturday 6 November 2010

Alfred and Jessie. Jessie was a rescue dog and gave all her allegiance to Alfred, keeping as close to him as possible. She wasn't allowed in the house, so she made herself a place to lie down in the flower bed, right outside Alfred's chair by the window. She wasn't allowed in the greenhouses either, but she knew all the time which one Alfred was working in, and when visitors came to see him, she could indicate which greenhouse they could go to.

Friday 5 November 2010

Oma and Gundel in the kitchen at 18035 Ford Road, spring 1957. The stove burned sawdust, which was delivered by the truckload from a nearby lumber mill. The sawdust was dumped in the driveway - and then began the work of taking wheelbarrowfuls round the back of the house. Of course the sawdust then had to be moved again, by the bucketful, and loaded into the hopper beside the stove. The refrigerator (a step up from the icebox we had in Quebec, less than five years before) was still running when the first house at 17515 Ford Road burnt down in 1973.

The bathroom was beyond the wall with the cabinets, just inside the back door. Before we moved here, we'd come out on weekends to get the house ready for habitation. The tub was absolutely filthy - scrubbing it was a big job for Gundel.

Six glasses of milk on the table - for Mom, Dad, Oma, Auntie Else, Margaret and Steven.

Thursday 4 November 2010

A celebration, mid-90s - Rosel and George Bell, Dieter and Frauke Claus, Alfred, Gundel.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Maike, Frauke, Alfred, Hedda, and Inge (Frauke's three sisters, visiting from Germany), summer 1991. Alfred did enjoy being surrounded by lovely ladies!

Tuesday 2 November 2010