More memories from childhood home

As I was telling you in yesterday's post about my childhood home that was just torn down, my sisters and I, and our friends, spent a lot of time playing outside when we were growing up, and the memories abound. Here's my twin (left) and I with our childhood cat, Cleo (who followed us home when we were 13 and lived for 20 years!), on the day we were confirmed in the United church, age 14. Our backyard was so lovely. My sis was married ten years after this photo was taken, near the trees you see behind us.(Please forgive picture quality; I don't have a scanner so I've taken pictures of pictures for this and yesterday's post!).

Another fun memory when we were in our early 20s, after we had moved away to school etc: the annual Easter boat race in the creek across the house. We'd bring the boyfriends home for Easter weekend, and in the afternoon, we'd craft boats out of newspaper and race them in the rushing waters of the creek. There was always beer involved, as you can see. We did this for only a few years but it's still a great memory.

Lots of memories from inside the tiny house too. The white wall-mounted phone by the back door and kitchen table (which used to be black in the really old days). The Captain's chair was at the end of the table and at mealtime, Dad always sat there. But when it wasn't meal time and the phone rang, that chair was where we sat and gabbed.

In fact the kitchen table was the place we'd congregate, after mealtime and at different parts of the day - doing homework when teens; playing Trivia Pursuit with the fam after dinner; or just having tea and talking. Here I am (middle) with my sisters, celebrating our birthdays in the early 1990s.

We'd also hang a lot as a family in the tiny family room, which housed a large and very beautiful Persian rug, a big sectional on which we all lounged, teak bookcases filled with books, and artifacts from my Dad's travels to South Africa, China and Australia. Here are the three sisters in their early 20s, all home for Christmas, wearing our new robes given to us by a close family friend.

A silly yet intimate photo of my Dad (me, looking scary in the middle) and twin, again in the early 1990s after we had left home. Can you see the black wire running up to my lap? I'm pretty sure that was a remote control for our VCR! RETRO!!