Getting off the ship!(About 1955)
(I'm sure we were getting off the ship in Liberia in this picture, not on it, because I was younger than this when we left for our one-year visit to Canada.)
My mother is holding Gord's hand, and Esther Monus (another missionary) is holding me.
(Carol-Ann was not born yet.)
Our family traveled back and forth between Canada and Liberia on freighter ships, a trip that took about 10 days. We did not do this very often. The next time we crossed the ocean, I was 8 years old and ready for the 3rd grade.
6 comments:
I love to see these old pix that I can not remember ever viewing! The amazing thing about this pic is that everyone looks cool and crisp and clean and WE know that the humidity is enough to be-spot yer undergarments with mildew on the bedpost overnight!
Big guffaw from me, C-A! You have SUCH a way with words! No truer word was ever spoken, either!
I love these pictures! What a life you have had. What a life your mother had!
I don't even want to know about Carol-Ann's comment . . .
;-)
No matter how careful we were, so much of our clothing got covered with little black mildew spots that would not come out (especially nylon). Blazing sun, bleach, knuckles rubbed raw by scrubbing with lye soap -- nothing worked. Oh, the color of the fabric would disappear just fine, but not those black spots!
We had heard about static electricity and studied it in our science books, but it was a mystery to us, because none of the experiments to produce it worked! Just too much humidity -- all the time!
During the rainy season it would pour rain for days. How does one dry cloth diapers in weather like that? My father built a fireplace in our house, and then they built a roaring fire and used a tall wooden framework sitting in front of it to try to dry out the baby clothes and diapers. As a little kid, this never seemed hot to me, but when I look back on it...how could they stand it?? 100 percent humidity, temperatures in the 80s (at best), and a roaring fire in the fireplace?!
Man! And I complain about having to do laundry with a washer and dryer . . . shows how spoiled we have become.
I want your mother's autograph. I know she surely is a big star in heaven . . .
She would not call herself a big star, which probably helps to make her one in heaven! In fact, when we mention the book idea she just gets a look that makes me know she is feeling a bit uncomfortable about making a fuss over her or anything she has done.
By the way, her autograph is beautiful!
(PS: I am just as spoiled as anyone and have less excuse. This was actually on the top of my mind yesterday, as Barry was pointing out items in an old-fashioned catalog and showed me the stuff for hanging laundry outside to dry. Into my mind popped: "I'm not going to lug my wet laundry upstairs and outside to hang it out to dry! Not at my age!" I should have been thankful I have a washer, thankful we can afford to use it, thankful we have water to fill it, thankful we can buy soap, thankful the clothes would even dry if I did hang them outside! And even more thankful that I could actually carry the wet clothes upstairs and outside if I wanted to...)
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