THOSE WERE THE DAYS: “How’s The Weather”
When I accepted a position and moved my family to this area, we were greeted and welcomed by one of the cities officials. We had relocated from Windsor where both my wife and I were born to Millgrove just north of Hamilton and then to Ennismore. In Windsor Dad used to plant radish seeds and harvest a good crop by the end of April so I was somewhat surprised and amused when he described Kawartha’s weather as being “six months of winter and six months of poor skiing”. When it snowed on May 14th our first year of residence, I was still surprised but no longer amused.
One of my employees used to refer to where I purchased our home as the “holy land”. When he spoke those words there was a hint of snide in his voice and I had no idea why. While at the local library I discovered “The Holy Land”, the history of Ennismore written by Clare Galvin. I liked the book but more so, I received quite an education. Apparently, there was hostility between the Catholics and Protestants going way back to the original settlements, Protestants colonized the Bridgenorth side of Chemong Lake and Catholics occupied Ennismore, known as the holy land, separated by a rickety old wooden bridge that washed out every spring.
Our daily activities were affected by the weather and since the only affordable house for us to buy was several miles from my main office and he lived only steps away from the business; if there was any drastic change in the weather I would have him call me so I could make the necessary decisions. One morning he called and informed me it was snowing. I apologized and said I am sorry but I did not understand.
“Snow, snow,” he said, “you know the little white stuff that falls from the sky.”
“Oh,” I replied, “in the holy land we refer to it as immaculate precipitation.”
It was a touché moment and he never mentioned the holy land again
Windsor’s weather has always been erratic, snow one day, slush the second day and gone the third day. I remember when I was a young lad, one winter we had no snow at all. My wife and I were married in Windsor on March 27th, 1954. The day was gorgeous, the sun shone brightly, everyone wore their summer attire while the temperature teased the seventy-degree mark. We promised to drop in to see my Mom and Dad the following Sunday but were unable to. You guessed it, there was such a fierce snow storm that lashed out across the city that day no one was able to move let alone visit.
There are some dates etched into my mind not completely due to the weather but dates that affect me personally. The hottest recorded day in Windsor, Ontario is listed as June 25, 1988 when the thermometer reached 40 degrees Celsius. The second hottest day in Windsor was on July 14, 1995 when the temperature attained 39 degrees. Dad was welcomed into heaven in 1988 and Mom took her place among the angels in 1995.
Russ Sanders
epigram@nexicom.net
