Vinyl Cafe Story Exchange

"Pollock's Hardware"
by Rhian Brynjolson from Winnipeg, MB

Last night we gathered together as many neighbours as we could fit into our local community centre, set up tables for a potluck and said goodbye to a community institution in Winnipeg's north end.

Pollock Hardware has been in the neighbourhood for as long as any of us can remember. The original owner bequeathed it to his stockboy. The current owners tried hard to find a buyer, but the time has come for them to retire out to the cottage, so the doors are now closed.

We have all appreciated the variety of things we could find at Pollock Hardware. We live in an older neighbourhood with older houses that require ongoing repair. It feels like something always needs plumbing, patching,glazing, hanging, grouting, plastering, unlocking or fastening. In our neighbourhood renovation is thought of as a leisure activity. We work our way through kitchens, bathrooms, windows, hallways, living areas, decks, fences… and then start all over again.

Pollocks always seemed to have what we needed.

It is a mystery to me how all of that inventory fit into that store.

And the staff all seemed to know what we were talking about when we asked vaguely for ‘the thing that fits inside the tap’. And not only that…but that they seemed to know exactly where to find it inside the store – even though no one had ordered the part since 1953.

If they didn’t have the part, they’d improvise one out of baling wire and charge you 14 cents. Once I was told “No, we don’t carrythat, but I’ve got some in my basement at home I’m not using. I’ll bring it in for you tomorrow.”

There were also, of course, the gagets. They had a wonderful stock of beautiful, practical, simple machines that don’t blink and beep. Machines that don’t require electricity and counter space. Friendly, low maintenance machines that sit quietly and obediently in bottom drawers until they’re needed.

We enjoyed the cider and cookies they served at Christmas. All of these things made Pollock Hardware feel more like a small town general store – or maybe even a community centre. It was common to stay and chat for a while, trying to postpone the renovation work waiting for at home.

So last night was difficult. It was a sad but special night last night. A number of people took turns thanking Wayne and Lois for their work; for helping to establish part of Main street as a business zone and improving the neighbourhood, for helping with the gardening projects at Luxton School.

Our local MP, Judy Wasylicia-Leis presented them with a letter from parliament. Sharon Corey, a local artist, presented them with a painting of the store. Everyone had pitched in to have the painting framed. There were hugs and toasts and a cake wishes for a happy retirement.

I'm still getting used to the boarded up windows and the padlock on the door. I don't know where I'm going to find the washers for the antique plumbing in my house. I'm going to miss the cider and cookies at Christmas. So I'm buying a share in the co-op that a group of people have started to try to keep the store open. More than 50 people showed up at the first meeting and we're hoping that the credit union will give us a mortgage. And that this story might have a happy ending yet…

Welcome to" Jude Alan Arsenault"

Jude Alan Arsenault was born on March 26th at 2314hr. weighing 6lbs. 13.6 oz.

Proud parents are Kerri (Alan and Andrees daughter) and Joel.

He was born in Perth-Andover.

Maple Syrup Time

A co-worker takes orders every year for maple syrup. I would say it's a 1 litre bottle and she charges $13.50. She usually gets swamped with orders every year, so she limited our department to 25 bottles.

Certainly a sign of spring!!!!!

Lights out at 8:30pm local time tonight

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.

Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet.

That Time of Year Again

Some of Tools of the Trade!

Yesterday I started to "Spring Clean", defined as

"A thorough cleaning, especially of a residence when winter is over."

My spring cleaning consists of:

washing windows, walls, baseboards, door casings, pictures, furniture, doors

vacuuming sofas, chairs, floors, heaters, lamp shades

applying murphys oil to hutch, kitchen cupboards

washing draperies, blankets, throws.

So far I have the livingroom and family room done as well as the kitchen minus the cupboards.

I would like to have it done by easter weekend but working Mon.-Fri. only leaves me the weekends and I REALLY don't want to spend all my weekends working. Maybe I'm toooo ambitious considering easter is only 2 weekends away.

By the way HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!!!

(in my opinion yesterday felt more like spring :-)

Stupendous Saturday

My crocus' are all in bloom, the tulips are coming up, I spotted my peonies peeking through the ground and as I walk around the gardens other perennials are emerging. I want to rake all the dead leaves away but in the back of my mind I say "NO it's too early", but in reality we are a whole month ahead. It's now 1100hr. and already it's 8 degrees .

When you look outside it is soooooo beautiful that if it wasn't for the fact that there is no leaves on the trees and the grass isn't green you would think it is going to be a hot summer day.

This is all the snow we have left in the tard.


WELCOME SPRING!!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

IF YOU ARE LUCKY TO BE IRISH

YOU ARE LUCKY!

Gary Mittelholtz

Long-time CBC radio personality Gary Mittelholtz died of a heart attack Saturday while cross-country skiing near Sussex, N.B. He was 55.

Mittelholtz, an outdoors enthusiast, was skiing with a friend.

He started his radio career at the CBC in Toronto in the summer of 1976, working as a technician. A decade later he moved to Saint John, where he worked the remainder of his 32-year career.

Mittelholtz hosted a number of New Brunswick programs, including, The Rolling Home Show and Mainstreet.

In 1987, he received the Atlantic Journalism Awards' gold prize for enterprising radio reporting.

Harvey MacLeod worked with Mittelholtz in the 1980s on The Rolling Home Show.

Bright and cheerful

"My first impression was that he was a very bright and cheerful guy," MacLeod said. "And Saint John was a pretty down-to-earth sort of town and Gary was a very down-to-earth kind of guy."

MacLeod said part of Mittelholtz's success in journalism was tied to that personality.

"He always knew a story when he saw one. When Gary would leave the studio in the morning he'd go out with a tape recorder and he'd come back at the end of the day with six different stories," he said.

"He kind of had a nose for it because he just had this way of people opening up to him and they'd just start to talk. It was wonderful."

Mittelholtz retired from the CBC in December 2008. Since retiring, he worked as publisher-editor of the River Valley News, a community newspaper in southern New Brunswick.

Liberal MLA Jack Keir, who represents Fundy-River Valley in the legislature, said he met Mittelholtz when his family moved to Grand Bay-Westfield in the 1980s.

"Everybody in Grand Bay-Westfield knows Gary Mittelholtz and are going to be impacted by this, all the organizations he's been involved with. And when he retired from CBC he didn't retire, he changed careers," Keir said.

"He took over the River Valley News, our local community newspaper, and did a super job on that. It's going to be awful for our whole community."

I first met Gary through church and then became involved with his wife through religious education. What a great guy, what a great lose to his family and the community.

Water Problems

Our water has had an offensive rotten egg smell. It is something rather common in this area; the water has a high content of hydrogen sulfide in it. So we had a water filtration system put in and at the same time replaced our 27 year old hot water tank. In the spring we had put in a submersible pump and replaced our 26 year old cold water tank.

Spring has Sprung

These little flowers have sprung in my back yard. The yard faces south, there is no snow so the ground is toasty warm and my bulbs and perennials are springing to life!

Emma's Back from Windsor

Emma returned home today from a week in Windsor with Jack. She left Windsor yesterday at 0550hr. and arrived in Moncton at 1158 today. She was a tired girl.

She had a great week and talked the whole drive home. There was no worry that I would fall asleep at the wheel for the drive home. :-)

Via Station Moncton

Tunnel from Windsor to Detroit

The Renaissance Center in Detroit

She saw a NHL game in Windsor

She has lots of stories and interesting experiences (my favorite so far is her adventure crossing the border into Detroit and the people (American) at the hockey game)

New Great Niece

Abigail Miriam Therese Andrews

born Feb. 25, 2010

to Katie and Ben.

She missed my birthday by less then 2 hours :-(

Vinyl Cafe Story Exchange

"Shoveling Snow"
by Ben Broderick from Duncan, BC

Last winter, like most of the country, we got a lot of snow.

Having spent a great deal of time in the Prairies and in the north, I am fond of this weather and everything that comes with it – including shoveling snow.

One night after work, in the middle of one of our large snowfalls, I went to work on my driveway. When I shovel our driveway, I usually do our neighbour’s across the street and sometimes the folks beside us too as our neighbours are older than us and not as keen on snow shovelling as I am.

But this year after the first big dump my enthusiasm for the second one was a little below standard. As I was looking, forlornly, at the snow deep on the driveways across the street and beside me, along came a couple of young men keen for an opportunity to earn some money. I knew I had one more driveway in me after my own was done, but not two. So I hired the young men to shovel my next door neighbour’s driveway, on the condition they not tell my neighbours I had paid them to do so.

The kids did a pretty good job, the younger a little whiney, but the older guy was a great worker.

As I knew he would, my neighbour came out to find out what was going on on his property. At first his approach was rather challenging. They told him, as per our agreement, that they were doing the work as a free community service.

When I was done my own driveway I moved across the street and found the going a little heavy there so when they were done I gave them some more money to help out again on the same understanding that they were just a couple of young people doing good things.

We parted company with three driveways done, and with me feeling very righteous over both paying the kids and refusing all credit.

A few days later, my neighbour, who is less than enthusiastic about the quality of modern youth, displayed a heart-warming change of attitude when he saw me in the street. He told me that two of today's wonderful young people had come and shovelled his walk without being asked and without asking for a thing. It was a wonderful testimonial to today's young folks he said, something I had never heard him say before. I felt doubly righteous. This feeling of smug comfort lasted a couple more days until my neighbour’s wife mentioned to me that her husband was so pleased with these young men that he gave them $20 for their work. The little buggers never said a word about that to me!

That pretty well put an end to my righteousness!

Too Early

Look what I found the last weekend of February peeking up through the ground......toooooo early. The winter has been so mild and the snow is going quickly. I can walk throuigh some of my perennials gardens which is unusual for this time of year and I suspect they think it is spring and will start growing.....time to wake up....but it's toooo early.

Time for a Change

The bet is on. I have decided to go my natural hair color.....which at my age is "GRAY". I went for a hair cut yesterday and my hairdressers eyes almost fell out onto her cheeks. She said "Are you sure you want to do this?" And as she was cutting my hair she commented, "We'll see how long this lasts!" Funny. Paul has made the same comment, "I'll see how long it is before you change your mind or you'll go gray and then out of the blue you'll start coloring again." Yes I know I did this ten or more years ago and yes I went back to coloring my hair and yes history may repeat itself but only time will tell.