The Lark & the Cycle of Life
Parents will know the Cycle of Life moments, when an instant in time with your child parallels a moment in one’s own childhood. I had such a moment on Monday. Each day when Sebastian goes to school, we drive his friend Adam, too. Sometimes Tess comes along because she needs to be dropped off in Central, or is reading for Sebastian’s class, or going to the triplets’ school. If I am in Hong Kong (as opposed to traveling) this means the car is FULL. We had such an occasion this past Monday. Our eight seat Renault Espace was full. The easiest thing to do was have Seb sit in Tess’ lap in the front seat for the five minute ride to Kennedy School. You are welcome to condemn us for this action and I know that it is illegal in Canada, but sometimes things are done a little differently here in Hong Kong. Everyone buckled in and we drove off. Thirty seconds into the trip Sebastian reached down to touch the automatic gear shift. I politely but firmly said, “Please don’t touch that, Sebastian.” He promptly recoiled, knowing that sitting in the front was a privilege and duffing it up would result in no future invitations next time the car swelled at the seams.
Right at that moment, the Cycle of Life happened. I remember sitting in the back seat of our family’s car, the same age as Sebastian, and marveling at the instrumentation of the car. I knew that the power – as in supremacy not physical power – lay in the steering wheel, brakes, accelerator and gear shift. This moment on Monday really affected me and I thought long and hard about those childhood times in that car. We had a late 50s/early 60s Studebaker Lark Wagon similar to the one pictured above, except I seem to remember ours was brown. Via e-mail I queried my dad about the Lark who reported back to me that unfortunately we didn’t have any pictures of the Lark. He added, “In the summer of ’62, when you were born, we camped in the Hi-Lite at Lake Simcoe at the end of June or the beginning of July. Mommy used the Hi-Lite (ed: expandable camping trailer) and I slept in the wagon. We had a full Home Delivery Kit with us just in case.” Don’t be alarmed, as a doctor my dad would have known exactly what to do with that kit. "Ah yes," I thought, "the period year for the movie American Graffiti… with the slogan where were you in ’62?" This brings us to the second picture: the Studebaker Wagonaire. The next wagon model after the Lark was a car with a roof that opened. I thought the picture apropos. While we only ever had the fixed-roof Lark, the forest scene pictured here might have been similar to that June/July, with my sisters about 6/7 years old, mother and father nearby.
Studebaker cars were a Canadian success story. After World War II ended, there was great need for automobiles in the country. Studebaker Canada required larger and more modern facilities. An old anti-aircraft gun plant on the property of Otis-Fensom Elevator was acquired from the government in 1946, and on August 18, 1948, the first Studebaker built in Hamilton, Ontario rolled off the line. The plant had 320,000 square feet of space. By 1949 the plant produced about 70 cars per day, five days a week. In 1954, the parent company, Studebaker of USA merged with the Packard Motor Car Company. The amalgamation included Studebaker Canada (now Studebaker-Packard of Canada Limited). Hamilton was again selected as the headquarters of the new Canadian organization. This plant was a great success and produced many models including the Scotsman and Lark.
Unfortunately, Studebaker USA did not share the Canadian company’s profitability. Studebaker of USA ceased car production in December of 1963. In March 4, 1966 it was announced that the Hamilton plant was closing, having produced 179,325 cars and trucks in its 18 year history. The final Studebaker car, a V8-powered Cruiser four-door sedan, rolled off the Hamilton assembly line on March 16, 1966. Now fully restored, it is on display at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. Internet sites suggest that Studebaker-Packard of Canada Limited still makes trucks for the Canadian military but I’ve been unable to verify this factoid. As I surfed various sites, including the one where I found the above information, I encountered similar Cycle of Life stories. Certainly makes one stop to think. Do you have any Cycle of Life memories to share?
Nightmares…
I keep having re-occuring nightmares. They have been going on for several months and started with cars. I’ll be in a large car, or large truck (like an 18 wheeler tractor trailer) that is too big to manage. While driving the truck, it will start going out of control. Many close calls and in the end things either work out or there is a mild crash. There is also a travel version, where I’ll be alone in a hotel room trying to figure out when I need to leave the hotel to reach an airport in a strange destination to get home. Now the dreams have shifted to boats… motor boats. I’ll be alone on a boat at the helm when it will start going faster and faster. Something will happen where I’ll be tossed overboard, without a lifejacket. There I’ll be swimming in the water, knowing there is no realistic hope of swimming to safety and that the inevitable lies ahead of me. That’s about when I’ll wake-up. What do you think this means wise readers?
The above picture was taken at Fintry this past summer. The kids were watching something fun on our new video camera.
I STILL don’t wanna…
Reportedly Sela was up to her little tricks again yesterday. Upon crawling into her seat at the dinner table she complained and whined and then cried at full volume… that she didn’t like her dinner and didn’t want to eat her dinner. Is this how Biker Chicks behave? Because now I am thinking back to Fintry, where one afternoon after quickly running out to the local store, (La Casa) I grabbed some kids tattoos. Everyone received at least one, and most of the kids had two or more. Sela and Carys had some real butch looking tattoos on their arms so called them Biker Chicks. Maybe Sela has locked her identity onto the tattoos (long washed away of course) reflecting them in her new found attitude. The tattoos can be seen in the pictures below of the kids (including one of Tess) feeding ducks late one afternoon at Fintry.
Even though Hong Kong kids are back to school, it is still cottage season in Canada, in fact my sister is at the cottage this week! Sigh… oh to be back at Fintry, instead I am off to smoggy Beijing.
I don’t wanna…
Sela is going through a nasty temper tantrum phase. She knows that Lita will be leaving in a few weeks and is already giving the new team, Gary and Marianne, attitude and the cold shoulder every so often, resulting in time-outs as pictured at left. (There is about a one month transition between the two helper couples.) On another but soon to be related note, we finally surrendered to water wings for the triplets (and Sebastian on occasion) in June. I’m not sure why we waited so long before using them. The difference is HUGE… the triplets love being in the water and it’s possible for one adult to watch all three and stay out of trouble. This past week I bought brand new Speedo water wings that are very reliable at holding air and keeping the kids buoyant. Therefore, yesterday and today I took all four kids to the ABC (Aberdeen Boat Club) for swimming… by myself. Saturday we had a fantastic time with the kids spending most of our 2.5 hours there in the big pool. The overcast skies kept crowds away and we had the pool mostly to ourselves. Swimming was followed by a fun shower and the surprise arrival of Tess who joined us for dinner.
Today the ABC was busier. Tess remained at home again to get some work done. Generally everything went okay until it was time for our shower. While gathering up our stuff beside the pool Sela spotted cookies in our bag. She wanted one. "Not before dinner," I replied, "we can all have one after dinner." This set her off like a rocket. A train of dad and kids meandered into the Men’s washroom with Sela at full volume wail. Sebastian, Jasper and Carys excitedly stripped and jumped into a warm shower. Sela wanted two showers – one all to herself with her own siblings of her choice joining HER SHOWER. Picture this: the washroom is a small facility with three toilets, three urinals, three showers, three sinks and a bunch benches and lockers. The walls are cement with nothing to absorb sound – this thing is an amplifier. Sela screamed for twenty minutes. NOTHING would calm her down – loving hugs, tough love, distractions like a comb to brush her hair… blah, blah, blah. She refused to get into the shower (this after saying all afternoon, "I want a shower… I want a shower…" She refused to stop crying. Knowing that she likes to be a drama queen, burrowing her head into a sofa when melting down, I folded a towel next to her. She keeled over and screamed into the towel, muffled herself, then turned her head to the side to return to original volume. There was a lovely gentleman changing and showering who, well, didn’t have such a relaxing time. Meanwhile the rest of the ABC heard Sela screaming.
Finally, I laid down the law. "Everyone, we’re not staying for dinner. Sela has lost the privilege to stay for dinner and I can’t leave the rest of you so we’re going home." The other three were not impressed (but reacted remarkably well to the news) and Sela kept on screaming. One by one the kids got dressed, we got in the car and drove home. (I called Tess to warn her.) Halfway home Sela figured out what had happened and turned into "sweet as pie" but at the dinner table she refused to eat her dinner (she also refused to eat her lunch and went down for her nap hungry.) When the attitude re-surfaced at dinner I gave Sela one chance to redeem herself… she crawled into her chair and started eating.
Tess appeared and we had "the lecture." Had we had both been at the ABC, one of us would have come home with Sela. We explained this to the kids as they munched away. Sela had already apologised earlier to me, but Tess suggested an apology was owed to Sebastian, Jasper and Carys. Sela hesitated not a moment with, "Sorry Carys, sorry Jasper, sorry, Sebastian," looking at each one determinedly. That wasn’t enough for JJ who looked up from his dinner and shot back, "Louder, Sela!"
Back in the saddle…
We are back in Hong Kong but after less than 16 hours I was on my way to Singapore. Wow, I am tired. I had a terrible, terrible nightmare last night and woke-up at 4 AM badly jet lagged and with that yucky post-nightmare feeling. You know the one… that feeling that won’t go away even when you think to yourself, "thank goodness that was only a dream." In a nutshell, in the dream Sebastian was abducted. About 2 – 3 years later we were reunited. Seb had no idea who I was but he was still wearing his Superman outfit. The dream lasted forever and was sprinkled with a variety of criminal activities – robberies, drug deals etc – where people tried to implicate me. The real criminal was the guy who abducted Sebastian… it was just all bad and a far cry from the peaceful picture of Nathan fishing off the dock at Fintry (above).
The second picture here is the final version of T4 sailing near dusk one evening. Blake suggested I do some green "misting" of the sails, hull, etc. I think he made a good suggestion. (Blake also used the same paint to paint a dead bush in the Fintry driveway… I should have gotten a picture of that!) In the end I managed to get T4 balanced enough to successfully point "to windward" and a very quick close to broad reach balance, too. (So quick, that at one point while swimming to retrieve T4, I was unable to keep up!) I took some video of T4 sailing that looks quite cool in slow motion. When I get a moment I’ll post that and other videos of the kids singing, diving and generally having fun at Fintry… no nightmares.
Even though I am now on the other side of the world, it is still cottage season in Canada and I’ll continue to visit my sister’s blog at Cottage Life Magazine while dreaming about Fintry!
Buy or restore?
I love boats, can you tell? I have been around boats most, if not all, of my life. A typical vacation involves me making a model sailboat that I always fantasize could be life size! I made a trimaran this week out of bottles. Named "T4" it has a hard time going to windward but does nicely on a close to broad reach. A life size version of T4 would do well in the Vendee Globe race… needs a good blow to get moving. Each year I make one of these boats and each year I think of "Lastcall."
Back in Toronto I have a beat-up, 14 foot 1963 Cutter motor boat. The Cutter is somewhat of a little brother design to the Bertrams with deep V bows and flat hulls at the stern. I found it in 1982 while racing on the 8 metre yacht Quest in Crescent Bay, New York, on the south west corner of Lake Ontario. The generous owner/skipper of Quest, Joe Balogh, arranged for us to stay at a gorgeous old resort. The property was occasionally rented out by the proprietor (a big fan of Molson Golden beer, unavailable at the time in the US) to vacationers but for the most part inactive. Shame, as it had a huge "club/boat house" where people could arive and moor their boats on the first floor while the top floor was a gigantic dance hall that opened up to view the lake and sunset. Despite being very much run down one could see shades of Gatsby-type parties gone by. Point is, one night while walking around this property time capsule I found the 1963 Cutter – complete with wings like an old Cadillac – sporting a 1953 Evinrude motor. I joked with the proprietor "how much?"
"$300 US," he replied.
I returned the following May to close the deal with the required cash and a case of Molson Golden. Friends and I lugged the treasure back to Toronto. We spent some time sprucing it up after which I named it Lastcall. (Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures but did find the one at left of a restored 1958 Cutter… same colours, too!) The boat was the tender for my boat service from 1983 to circa 1991 when I pulled it up to my parent’s farm in Omemee, Ontario for safe keeping. By then my life was re-routing elsewhere.
Today Lastcall sits behind a log cabin, with bushes and grass growing in, around and out of it. I always regret not flipping the boat in 1991 to provide some protection but there were only two of us at the time and the vessel is quite heavy. A modest lump of cash would restore "Lastcall" to original condition but doing so would still bring with it a host of other problems, such as where to keep the boat and when would I ever enjoy it other than 1 – 2 weeks each summer? (At left, the kids enjoy some ice cream from a visiting Mr. Cool truck; Auntie Pammie and Sebastian.)
I mentioned to my sister, Penny, my idea to restore Lastcall. She did the math in under ten seconds… "You could buy another 1963 Cutter in decent condition for a fraction of what it would cost to restore Lastcall."
"Like on Ebay," I thought silently, "probably with shipping included." But Penny would know – also around boats most of her life, she and her family have a similar genre (but larger, younger with no wings) motor boat for their cottage. It’s a very pretty pale blue they’ve named "Robin’s Egg." Plus, Penny’s husband, Dave Harris, is a leading authority on pleasure craft, both sail and motor. Are Cutters still available? Yes, if I hunted for one. Believe it or not, in 2000 when Tess and I stayed at the Furama Beach Resort on China Beach, Danang, Vietnam we saw a 1963 Cutter. Crossing a bridge in bicycle rick shaws the exact model and colour (red deck, white hull) could be seen at a distance down one of the lagoons. Someone probably brought it from the US during the Vietnam War where the boat has remained since. "Amazing," I thought. (At left, Fintry kids enjoy a morning story.)
All these streams of thoughts rambled through my head this week while we drove to Kelowna via Vernon one day for a grocery run. As we cruised down the highway, without warning at 90 km/hr but almost in slow motion, the pinnacle of classic motorboats floated past my peripheral vision: an old wooden Chris Craft. I was ecstatic, telling everyone that a Chris Craft was for sale in Kelowna!
Defiantly I returned the next day to investigate the discovery: a 1962 Chris Craft Holiday. On sale via well known antique boat restorers Bruce & Peter Middleton of Absolute Classics Marine. Bruce also manages the Okanagan Antique Classic Boat Society. The wooden motorboat is in very good condition with a 300 horsepower engine… that’s about 2.5 X the power of the cars we’re all driving. Tess asked later, "That would go very, very, very fast on this lake, wouldn’t it?"
Bruce and I had a good chat and I told him about Lastcall. Wood is their specialty but they would undertake a fibreglass restoration for something like a ’63 vintage. I learned that Bruce had been in business about 25 years and his first client was the immediate neighbour of the place where we stay at Fintry… talk about a small world! He also spent his young summers directly across Lake Okanagan from our current locale – just around the corner from where Seb & I touched down for a snack during our kayak lake crossing a few days ago.
I left without buying the boat but a few steps closer to a summer boat in the coming years. Bruce did have some beautiful classic boat shirts and of course I bought one. I love it but I don’t expect most people to like the shirt… probably requires an enthusiast’s taste! Tess was apalled at the cost but it was easy to justify, "Tess, I didn’t buy the Chris Craft but the shirt instead. Think of the thousands of dollars we’ve saved!"
Later I returned to Bruce’s web site and it occured to me he probably KNOWS my sister Penny and B-I-L Dave. I looked enviously at the stunning, restored craft. What should I do… buy a Chris Craft at some point in the future? Restore Lastcall or find a Lastcall replacement?
Regardless of where you are in the world, it is still cottage season in Canada… please visit my sister’s blog at Cottage Life Magazine! Try the corn with lime & pepper suggestion… quite tasty!
