When it was Canada Day..

 When it was Canada day.......

 Many, many moons ago......

 When it was Canada day....or actually , it used to be Called "Dominion Day"....my mother could never get her head around that one. She would set  her mind to it that we should have company on that day. 

 Outside in the garden, on the old round table. My job was to scrub it down and cover it with a starched white table cloth. My mother thought starched white cloths were  good inside the house and outside the house.

 That was the day she would have my violin teacher over.  I don't think I wanted my teacher to come. I saw her enough as it was. But it was "Canada" ...sorry "Dominion Day", as mother would correct me,  and  there was tea to be made.

 So Frona , sorry,Miss Colquhoun,  would dutifully come over. Tea. With my mother. It was never to be disputed. And tea time was always good. 

 I dreaded that I would have to play something. Then it might turn into a lesson. But Frona always waved away the suggestion. She loved holding her teacup to her nose. Breathing in the Red Pekoe. None of that herbal stuff for her. And a large crystal goblet of some  prize sherry my mother had been saving.

 One time, on Canada Day, my mother decided they should sit outside. Under the trees. Since it was nice out.That was rather a disaster. There were green wormy things hanging off the maple tree. They plopped onto the starched white tablecloth. Into tea cups.Empty tea cups. You could see them writhing around.

 My mother shrieked in horror.Little green worms scuttled across the plate of scones. 

 Frona took it all in stride. We gathered up the tea things and scurried inside.  Frona found it quite funny.My mother tossed out the scones. She wanted to make a new batch, then and there. 

 From then on, it was the dining room table. No green worms. Or bees. Or Crows to drop in uninvited. Once  a crow tried to steal a shortbread.Frona found that funny too.That surprised me. I never thought she found things amusing.

 My  mother set a tea as if the queen was coming. 

 Thin sandwiches of liverwurst, turkey and egg, scones ( minus green worms) with whip cream and strawberries, walnut slice, slathered in orange frosting, and so sweet your teeth rattled, snickerdoodles and shortbread. Hot plain tea, and that ever present glass of sherry ( Canada Day and Christmas). 

 Snickerdoodles.We laughed at the name, and Frona, aka "Miss Colquhoun", would relax and chat. I had no idea that teachers could just talk. They talked about the prairies, since they both came from Saskatchewan, and I would listen and sneak extra dollops of whip cream for the leftover strawberries.

Afterwards, Frona would talk about life in general. How she had learned to be less demanding as a teacher, and to change her negatives into positives. She said she was a work in progress. But it was progress. I'll say. Over the years, she became a good friend. And many Canada Days she sat in my mother's dining room and toasted the day with sherry and tea. And it was good. So Happy Canada Day!

 “It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw, not because she is Canada but because she’s something sublime that you were born into, some great rugged power that you are a part of.” - Emily Carr

 Photographs 2018