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Mike and me standing in front of our house in Chateauguay, Quebec

Mike and me standing in front of our house in Chateauguay, Quebec

WAY BACK WHEN our family lived at 111 Edgewood Drive in Chateauguay Quebec – before it became Chateauguay Centre, before Canada issued  postal codes and switched to the metric system, Dad used to say this thing that kinda drove Mom a bit crazy.

When Mike and I were knee-high to a grasshopper – ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration – but we were little (see photo above), our family moved into the home we would grow up in.

It was a duplex. Dad sold part of his stamp collection for the down payment. The room that we spent most of our time all-together in was the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen from the hallway, one would notice the fridge to the right. It was a BIG one and the refrigerator (top) and freezer (bottom) were equal in size.

The kitchen table was on the left with bench seating that also doubled as storage areas by lifting the seats, ran along two walls and two chairs were placed across from the benches .

I sat on the bench on the short wall immediately to the left. Mike sat around the corner along the long wall. Dad sat across from me in a chair with his back to the patio door. And Mom sat across from Mike with her back to the stove.

On the long wall, where Mike sat, was the telephone. Remember when phones were on the wall and they had actual dialing? The phone was black and had a super long cord so you could walk to the sink or around the corner into the dining room for privacy – as if one actually had privacy whilst on the phone.

On the other side of the fridge, on the floor, is where Mom kept the penny jar, an old milk bottle, the kind that was delivered to one’s house and yes, we had milk delivered back then! Mom and Dad threw all their pennies into that bottle and by the end of each year, they’d saved $300 or more that was used toward Christmas shopping.

Along the adjoining wall is where our stove sat, cupboards  were above and on either side of the stove.

The next wall was home to the kitchen sink below a window that was covered with white lacy sheer curtains that were gathered and secured to each edge of the window frame with pretty ribbons. Beside the sink, one more cupboard and then the garbage can – you know the kind that you step on the foot petal thingy and the lid comes up?

Anyway beside that was the patio door and if you walked further, past the phone on the wall, you’d be in the dining room.

It was at that patio door, when it was raining,  that Dad would stand up, look outside and say that thing that drove Mom nuts.

“You know…if it was colder out, it would be snowing…”

I think he did it on purpose, because when Mom became frustrated by his comment because she’d heard it hundreds of times before, I saw the corners of his mouth curl into a smile in the reflection of the patio door.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~