DAY of the APHIDS 1982

“Canada day” . (It used to always be called “Dominion Day”, since 1867…just a bit of history there). My mother’s first day of summer in Victoria, B.C. She’d don her train engineer overalls, tie a blue kerchief on her head, grab a mason jar, a paintbrush and head out. 

She’d start with the Nasturtiums, planted in the spring mud, by the steps of the old porch. They grew like weeds. The aphids loved them. 

She'd brush quite a few into the jar, add a nasturtium, and tie the top with a white handkerchief.

We’d watch the little creepy crawlies scuttle back and forth over the flowers.

My mother cut the grass with her old electric mower, and chop wood for the winter. Then we’d pick sweet peas to stuff into her antique pitcher. 

Sweet peas tall as trees, up the side of the house, peeking into the dining room windows. Bees buzzing to and fro; dopey with the  heady scent.

I’d stuff sweet peas into my mother’s antique pitcher. I still use it to this day…

In the afternoon, my mother baked. 

Walnut slice, with chunks of nuts peeking out from sticky centers, piled high on a short bread base, orange icing melting over each piece. A gooey, sweet mess we’d eat with homemade iced tea. Real tea, floating with lemon wedges.

We’d watch the aphids in their jar. They were very organized.

  Then it was time to make Dundee Cake, one loaf for us, one to give away. 

A rich, pound cake made with butter, eggs, sugar, and  raisins with cherries, soaked in hot tea till they were plump. Like fat little aphids. 

When the cake had barely cooled, it was wrapped in a tea towel, and I’d take it next door.  

In the early evening we’d set the open mason jar out on the grass, giving the aphids their freedom. 

They probably went right back to the Nasturtiums….

In the dark, we’d hear fireworks, hidden from our view down at the waterfront. Bursts of sound, car horns blaring, over crickets chirping in the dark warmth.

This year, I will stand outside to see fireworks exploding  over the North Island. With just the crickets, singing long and low, in the deep silence of the night….

 PHOTOGRAPHS 2025  Happy Canada Day!!

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

CANADA DAY COLLAGE

 "There are few pleasures like really burrowing one's nose into sweet peas."
                               -Angela Thirkell   English / Australian Novelist  (1890-1961)

 "There are no limits to the majestic future that lies before the mighty expanse of Canada, with its aspiring, cultured and generous-hearted people." -Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Miracle beach

 "It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw,some great rugged power that you are part of." -Emily Carr   (1871-1945)  Canadian artist and writer inspired by the aboriginal people of the Pacific Northwest. 

"I always thought of this as God's country." 
                           -Jack Granatstein (1939-) , Canadian historian

Low tide at Miracle Beach

Miracle Beach trail

"Canada is like a tossed salad." -Arnold Edinborough (1922-2006)

"Canadians  are nice guys."
 -Paul Henderson (1943-) Played for the Detroit Redwings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Discovery passage

Coast mtns, discovery passage

"Hysterically funny,amazingly talented people.That's what I think of when I think of Canada. That and cold beer. Oh, and mountains." - Richard Patrick ( 1968-) American musician.

"I am deeply moved by the by the warmth and courage of the Canadian people...." -Archbishop Desmond Tutu ( 1931)

"Canada is like a bird that likes to soar freely...." (Unknown)

"More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always, always....." -Claude Monet (1840-1926) Founder of the French Impressionist mov't

Discovery passage

"The hum of the bees is the voice of the garden."
                                                    -Elizabeth Lawrence (1922-) 

"I believe the world needs more Canada...." -Bono

"Everything that happens in your life is beautiful...."
                       -Robin Sharma ( 1965-) Canadian writer

Cape Mudge lighthouse