The Lansdowne Letters: Wishing for a Christmas Miracle

I remember only too well 
the first time I had to be apart from Terry
for any amount of time.

It was the summer of 1993.
Terry had to work in Seattle for several months,
and I went out with him for the first month. 
It was great while it lasted,
but then the time came when I had 
to return to teaching in Aurora, Colorado.

We said goodbye, and I watched him walk to work 
from the window in his apartment kitchen.
A dreary, chill rain had just stopped,
and he dodged puddles on the sidewalk as he hurried off.

The lump in my throat was so big, I could barely breathe, 
and I didn't know my heart could ache so much.
I couldn't fathom how we could be apart for six long weeks.

So when I read my father's words
in a letter he wrote at the end of freeze-up,
I can begin to understand the loneliness he was feeling.
By then, my parents had been separated 
over twice as long as Terry and I had,
and they still faced unknown months apart.

   Reading Letters from My Father

Honolulu, Hawaii

March 2016

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

    

Freeze-up ended in Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario,

when the first plane in arrived on December 8, 1960.

I can imagine my father's delight at the sound of the bush plane
approaching from the south over winter-bound Lake Attawapiskat
and his excitement as he collected his letters and packages;
but it was a painful moment
when he set his mail aside and loneliness closed in again. 


On Thursday, December 8, 1960 
My father wrote his mother, Myrtle MacBeath:

Dear Mother:
The box arrived safely today.  
Everything was in fine shape.  
It made me awful lonesome though 
to get my first Christmas presents.  

It really brought home with a bang 
the fact that I am not going to be with my family for Christmas.
Gosh, but it is going to be so lonely.

My Parent's First Christmas Together

Wolfville, Nova Scotia

December 1948

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

It is a real rip snorter of a night out tonight  - 
25 below zero with a 30 mph wind in from the northwest.

I have not been writing the Lansdowne Letter since freeze-up
because Uno’s typewriter is on the bum, 
and mine hasn’t arrived yet.  
As soon as either mine arrives, 
or the part for Uno’s arrives, 
then we will be publishing regular editions again.

I have been dreadfully discouraged, disheartened, and homesick lately,
and I have not been able to concentrate on doing anything except my job
and have been having a hard enough time concentrating on it.

Christmas in Charlottetown

Me (Louise), Roy, Donnie, and Mom (very pregnant with Barbie)

Prince Edward Island, December 1955

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I weigh an even 200 pounds now.  
Only 10 more pounds to lose to reach 190 which is my goal.  
Hope I don’t gain too much eating those cookies that you sent up to me.

I am so lonely up here.  
I do so wish that some miracle would happen 
so that I could get home for Christmas, 
but I know that’s impossible.  
I don’t care what happens, 
I am never going to stay away from my family
for another Christmas for all the money in the world.

Christmas in Alymer

Barbie, Donnie, Roy, and Me with Mom

Ontario, 1957

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I could have gone out for Christmas to Nipigon with Uno, 
but it would have cost me about $100.00 all told,
and if I spent $100 to go to Nipigon, 
I think I would spend another $50.00 and come home.  

Anyway, what am I talking about?  
It will be a long time before I am able to spend $150.00
without worrying about it.

Christmas in Margaretsville

Roy, Barbie, Me, and Donnie

Nova Scotia, 1958

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I still have not received my traveling expenses,
and they still aren’t paying me my proper salary,
but it will all sort itself out before spring.

That’s one good thing about working for the government.
It may take you considerable time 
to get all the money coming to you,
but eventually you do get it all.
(I hope so, for they still own me some from the air force.)

I think I am going to have to get a pair of snowshoes.
It is no fun tramping through two or three feet of deep snow
for over two miles each day as I tramp back and forth to school.

Well, I must sign off now 
and get some official correspondence done.

I was disappointed that there were no stamped envelopes in the box.
Perhaps you can send me some soon, eh?
Thanks so much for the lovely box.  

Bye now,
Love,
Don

Give my love to Aunt Maude.
Tell her I’ll be writing to her soon.
I’ll drop you another line soon.
Don


Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

Grand Passage Between Long island
and Brier Island in the Bay of Fundy,
Nova Scotia
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Links to Earlier Posts:

TLL: Anyone for ... Kokosh Wiass?

TLL: Unlikely Friends


Notes:

1.  Uno:  Dad's roommate and teacher at the Catholic school

2.  Wind Conversion:
      30 miles per hour = 48 kilometers per hour

3.   Temperature Conversion:  
     -25º F  = -31.6º C

4.  Weight Conversions:
      200 pounds = 90.7 kilograms
        10 pounds =   4.5 kilograms
      190 pounds = 86.1 kilograms
 
5.  Depth Conversion:  
     2 or 3 feet =  .6 or .9 meters

6.  Distance Conversion:  
     2 miles =  3.2 kilometers


For Map Lovers Like Me:

Lansdowne House, Ontario, Canada

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