75 random memories of great times with my dad.
June 17, 2012; revised May 5, 2019
I first posted this on Father’s Day, 2012. That’s almost 7 years ago, so I decided to revise it a bit and make it 84 random memories, on the occasion of my father’s 84th birthday.
1. Going to Expo 67. Riding a ferris wheel with my dad, or maybe checking out some multi-channel film installations. My first memory in life, I think.
2. Driving around downtown taking a look at my father's old neighbourhoods - Palmerston, Fallis and Landsdowne - and developing a fantasy about living in neighbourhoods like that (which I ended up doing for the past 35 years).
3. Climbing granite rocks in Killbear Park.
4. Going to the dump in Killbear Park.
5. Washing ourselves with mud in Killbear Park.
6. Getting fake tattoos with magic markers in Killbear Park, modelled on my father's own that he acquired in his navy years in the 1950s.
7. Fishing in Grundy.
8. Pinery.
9. Serpent's Mound.
10. A road trip to Florida in 1968, involving camping in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, many welcome rest stops (complimentary OJ in Florida, but Coca-Cola in Georgia of course).
11. Riding shotgun in the various parades in his Model A Ford pick-up.
12. Going downtown to the University Theatre to watch Apocalypse Now when it came out.
13. Playing a trivia game in our little white (rental) cottage in Eastham, Cape Cod.
14. Arriving in hippy dippy, and very gay, Provincetown for our first time in the early 70s.
15. Going to the army/navy surplus store in Provincetown. Having my dad explain what all the stuff was.
16. Various decks, tool sheds, saunas, swimming pools, walkways, gardens, fireplaces, shelving units, and other household features that would seem to just show up.
17. An odd assortment of part-time jobs and businesses that, though different from anything I would ever do, helped ensure I had a driven work ethic, and an entrepreneurial sensibility.
18. Climbing the waterfalls in Ocho Rios.
19. Eating crepes in Yorkville, when it was still just barely a counter-culture destination.
20. Going to Sam's and A&A's on Yonge St., approximately annually. Buying a serious stack of 45s there once to populate our new jukebox, a big old, German beast of a machine.
21. Converting said jukebox from one designed for 78s to one that would play 45s. Imperfect but charming results.
22. Minis, MGAs, MGBs, BSAs.
23. A Falcon, replaced by a big black Chevy (a retired OPP car), and then our first ever new car, a Datsun (before it became the generic, anemic "Nissan") station wagon, considered a compact car at the time. Replacing that with a gigantic Plymouth Satellite Sebring, our first new car ever, and then replacing that with a Dodge Omni, my parents' worst car ever.
24. Driving to Halifax in that Datsun when my mother's aunt (her primary caregiver) died. An earlier family trip to Halifax on the train occurred earlier but I don't remember it.
25. Staying home with my dad while my mother and sisters went off to church and Catechism (sadly, the party was over for me when I turned six, when I too had to be saved).
26. Watching Red Skelton.
27. Watching Ed Sullivan.
28. Watching The Birds.
29. Going to Evita. Not my favourite musical by a long shot, but it was still a fun experience.
30. Seeing Sinatra at the CNE. It was a wretched evening, and I think my dad hated it, but still...
31. Open face, broiled Kraft slices on Wonder bread.
32. Tobogganing.
33. Arriving home one day to one of those newfangled "coloured TV" sets, complete with UHF, so that we could watch all those reruns on channel 29, of mostly black-and-white 50s shows).
34. Coming home one day to a fabulous, vintage jukebox (Tommy-style), thus making it impossible for me to like anything even vaguely electronic or digital in the games realm.
35. Picking up the Christmas trees (once we stopped using the artificial one).
36. Feeding massive amounts of catnip to our cat Walter, as well as our neighbor's, Tiger.
37. Going downtown to check out this insanely-OCD model railroad (HO) installation, and not being entirely bummed that we weren't going to turn our basement into such a thing.
38. Getting my first gun, one my dad crafted out of a spare piece of plywood and a broom handle. Just because I loved this gun, and the cowboy revolvers that I got a year or two later, doesn't mean I would ever give a kid a gun though.
39. His raccoon coat.
40. Taking the family to Earthquake (in Sensurround!) at the Fairlawn theatre the first New Year's of his sobriety. Great night. Terrible film.
41. Taking us to see Chinatown at a drive-in in Welfleet, Cape Cod, when I was 10 or 11. This masterpiece was preceded by The Big Bus, perhaps inspiring me to become a film programmer so that no one would ever have to suffer such insanity. My first ever drive-in and a life-changer it was.
42. Same drive-in two or three years later to see Star Wars, another life-changing moment, the only difference being that Chinatown still has huge power over me. I assume dad didn't know how important those trips to the drive-in would be though. (PS: the second film on the Star Wars bill was Carry On, On the Bus or something like that - bizarre.)
43. Fudganas and Banana Supremes at HoJos, especially the night where we just ended up in Niagara Falls, on a whim, for said treats.
44. Hanging out on Roy Brown's boat.
45. Chilling in Bill Furness's "bunker", hearing his authentic, WW II banter, and checking out the fascinating, spooky paraphernalia.
46. Model A picnics.
47. Learning how to use the Gestetner 26 and 66 printers in our basement, so that I could produce fanzines and help my dad with the Model A newsletter.
48. The Model A expedition to Dearborn (50 years of the Model A), Ford's headquarters, and then to Arlington, Virginia and Washington, D.C. A tough trip in a 1928 sedan at times, but a great experience.
49. Popcorn.
50. Making our own peppermint taffy.
51. Playboy playmate centrefolds, and stacks of Playboys that I honestly did enjoy for the interviews and other articles. Which doesn't mean I didn't like the airbrushed breasts.
52. The antique phones.
52. The light fixtures made from Lily cups.
53. A love of cats, shared with the rest of the family, sometimes to the point of insanity.
54. The back-to-school, George Brown College days.
55. Paint by numbers.
56. Making tables out of industrial wire spools, featuring varnished, vintage ads.
57. Vintage signage and other hardware.
58. Solar heating experiments and composting decades before anyone else seemed to care (and he's not a hippy).
59. St. Marie-among-the-Hurons.
60. Waffles at the old Eaton's Annex.
61. Converting our 1960s German stereo console into components that I could use instead, integrating my fabulous Fisher double cassette deck into the mix.
62. Making stilts.
63. Making clackers.
64. Sam, our dog (ever so briefly).
65. Making 8mm films, and borrowing a projector from the public library so we could occasionally watch them (they jumped, as the film sat precariously in the gate, but that was part of the charm).
66. Having the cleanest swimming pool in Scarborough, I think.
67. A day trip to Cambridge during our last trip together to Cape Cod, in order to indulge me at the height of my bookwormish days (1988?).
68. Fish and chips.
69. Flying kites on the beach in Cape Cod.
70. Making kites.
71. Short wave radios.
72. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
73. Black licorice.
74. La-Z-Boy chairs.
75. The Whizzer
76. Refridgerated Solarcaine
77. Stacking firewood
78. Tobogganing at behind Ceaderbrea
79. Christmas Shopping at Scarborough Town Centre on December 24th
80. The biggest bon fires in the provincial park
81. Singing Weavers songs on long car trips
82. Ernie, the cat, R.I.P.
83. Doodle Art, particularly “Progress” and “Jungle.”
84. Spending time with, quite regularly, with Bill and friends of that other Bill.