Monday, December 30, 2002

Crawford (Memorial) Park





As kids, we thought we lived on an island, or even better,
at the end of the world.  We were
surrounded by the Douglas (then Verdun Protestant) Hospital, the aquaduct, the
St.
Lawrence River

First Ave. in the Bronx (LaSalle).  Our world was an amazing, endless expanse of
rabbits, snakes, tadpoles, frogs, skunks, raccoons and, if you were exceptionally
lucky, the odd scruffy urban fox. 


 



In the fall and winter, my father was prone to dragging us
out of our beds into the back yard to witness the northern lights.  Why he was so excited was beyond the
comprehension of my brother and myself.  At
the time, we did not know that we were witnessing what would become an elusive
vision as the lights of the city expanded and flooded our small world and the
night skies. 



 



Winter is the memory which I wish to share today.  Crawford Park.   
At that time, I do not know if it has been named.  However, there was a small skating rink,
complete with a wood fuelled stove in a small shack.  We always felt somewhat intimidated by the
older kids and sought to find our own place to skate.  The hospital grounds were the answer to our
prayers. 
 
However, I am off the track as this in itself is a whole other
story. 



 



  
School finished at
3:00 p.m.  Enough time to walk home, have a snack, grab
your skates and meet your friends at the skating pond.  Now, daylight ended quickly in
December/January.  In fact, it could be
very dark by
4:15 p.m.  You had no intention of returning home until
you were expected for dinner and, as you had no watch or were too young to
actually tell the time, you did not particularly care what time it was
anyway.  Your hands and feet were not yet
completely frozen and the wet snow had not penetrated your snow pants and
soaked your underwear.  That tended to
happen about
5:45 or so and
left you still another 15 minutes to get your skates off and treck back to your
house.  So, what is the memory you
say?  Well, it be this!  It was already getting dark when I arrived
with my brother and friends.  We put on
our skates and made several tours of the pond. 
All was going extremely well and laughter filled the darkening air.  All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the tip of
my right skate snubbed against something in the ice and I took a sickening fall
on my stomach, knocking the wind out of myself as I hit the ice.  Not wanting to be the cry baby of the group,
I pulled myself together and felt behind me with my hands to see what had
caused this accident.  OH MY GOD!  There, in the fast fading light of day, was a
curled up tabby cat, dead, hard as a rock and and frozen into the pond!  Loud screams filled the air as I raced to the
place where I had left my boots, my brother and friends following quick behind
as they were sure I had found a body!  I
had!  To this day, I cannot look at a
tabby cat without that terrible memory flooding my mind.  The feeling is still at my right toe today,
much like the time I, in my bare feet, stepped on the dead mouse the cat had
left in the dinning room!  Can still hear
the squish and sense the dead lump under my left arch.



 



Beryl



 





9 comments:

bob macdonald MSN said...

Hi Beryl It is a nice feeling isn't it, to go back there in our memories.  It is hard to understand the feeling, until you do it.  I know for myself, I don't recall every detail of any particular event but I find that as soon as I begin writing one down,  the details seem to come flooding back.  It's an amazing feeling don't you agree?  I find this medium a wonderful way to communicate too.  Just think, we can talk to any Montrealer in the world, no matter where they live, as long as they have a pc or access to one.  I believe that I am not living in the past when I reminess; I am learning about where I came from.  The charm of growing up in Verdun, right on the river is an amazingly beautiful thing.  Even though we had rules and responsibilities as children, I recall feeling totally free wandering around the reed banks or hopping about on  the summer boat floats down by the boardwalk.  We had the best of both worlds.  We had the country and city to grow up in.   My experience skating was entirely centered around Melrose park.  There was the traditional Hockey rink and beside that was the public skating rink.  I was almost always one of the volunteers who helped scrape the snow from the ice.  There would be huge snow banks by mid winter and we would form human chains and do what we called  "The Whip". Fifteen or twenty of us would hook arms or hold hands, skate along at full speed and get the line turning so that the last person in line would be rocketed along at an amazing speed and flung up into the snow bank.  We lived one long block from home,  so often we would not bother removing our skates and just ski home on the hard packed laneway.  I remember arriving at home and removing our skates in the kitchen while mom made us hot chocolates.  I can still feel the cold burns on my nose and cheeks and we'd always warm our frozen feet up in front of the open gas oven.  I'd love to hear more of those memories.  Check out my Web site. called Montreal suite.  You can go to the discussion board and leave a few words there.  The discussion board is called "Les Bon Mots".  http://rjmont_real.tripod.com Bob..........Robert MacDonald

bob macdonald MSN said...

This is a PS to my last letter.  I noticed that the underscore didn't show on my URL. Here it is again http://rjmont_real.tripod.com You can't see the underscore between (rjmont_real) but it must be typed in as part of the address. Bob...........Robert MacDonald 

i12cyrbvr MSN said...

Howdy Cuz:        I understand my folks visited with you and you were trying to organize a family reunion. I figure they may have told you that I am now in Toronto so if I can be of any help in assissting you with organizing this event please let me know! Ah civilization, I'd forgotten what it is like to live in a town with so many people. Imagine moving from a population of 17 to 3,000,000.Some adapting to do. Anyways Beryl look forward to seeing you and please keep in touch!    Jim Jennings Jr.  

winnie3ave MSN said...

What wonderful memories we have. I think all of the people of Verdun were poor. At least all the people I grew up with. But I look back on my childhood and where I lived(835 3rd ave) and to this day could not imagine a more wonderful place to be a child. I am grateful to each and every person who touched my life. It seems to me that all the neighbors looked out for each other and each others children. I tell my own kids about growing up in Verdun every chance I get, so they will maybe feel just a little of those wonderful times.

gord MSN said...

Winnie:   I se you are the same age as my brother - Richard Gibbons. If you went to Verdun Hign, you may have known him. Any recollection?   Gord

winnie3ave MSN said...

The name sounds familiar, but I don't recall him. I am hoping, as others are to hear from some of the people we grew up with. s/Winston Allison


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unadornedtaylor MSN said...

Does the name George Nichol ring a bell with anyone?George grew up in
Crawford Park,and graduated with the class of 1969.If someone knows of his
whereabouts..I would be interested.
Thank-you,Ken





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beryl MSN said...

I believe his father still lives on Ouimet Street and could still be in the Montreal telephone book if anyone cares to call him to find his kids

Les F said...

Beryl ,I was just going through the messages and this is the exact type of message that would inspire others (frrom that area or era) to maybe jump in & post a reply,....
Imagine Dec 30th, 2002...............Thanks for getting strated early........hahahahah HF&RV
.....for those interested,when signing on to today's new Multiply site,if you go to the Messages Blog,and 'click' View All,....then scroll to the bottom of the page & 'click' on the 'last' page,..it will bring you to the earliest of messages that started on the old MSN site,.......Unfortunatley we did go through some growing pains in those days & lost several months worth of Verdun Connections History,.but a lot of the principal posters are still in there somewhere,and along with many of the old messages,...
So if you are so inclined to revisit history & hare some of the old stories or find some of your old friends,then have at 'er........I hope it inspires some to jump into posting new topics and hopefully spark our memories , Have Fun & Remember Verdun