The Lansdowne Letters: Ready to Go!

Neither my father or mother had much time for writing letters

as our departure for Lansdowne House approached in February, 1961.

My Parents at Acadia University

Pre-Five Children

Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, Circa 1948

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Dad was busy teaching and preparing for our move

into the forestry department shack on the mainland,

and he had discontinued The Lansdowne Letter again

because Uno’s typewriter was not working well,

and he disliked using it too much.

He dashed off a long, hastilly-written letter to his mother

a little over a week before we were due to arrive up North.

Another Thursday, Another Deadline

Letters, Calendars, Tools of the Blogger's Trade

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Nana had decided to sell her apartment building

at the corner of Fitzroy and Edward streets

where she had lived for many years

in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.  

Her plan was to move to southern Ontario and rent a place

in senior housing while my family lived in the remote North.

I'm not including the first part of the letter

which addresses my grandmother selling her house,

but I am sharing the latter part about our family.

My Grandmother MacBeath's Apartment Building

(We lived in the two-story apartment with the red and white door in the mid-1950s.)

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Map Data:  Google

On Saturday, February 11, 1961

My Father wrote to his mother, Myrtle:

Dear Mother:

Well, the trip up here is all settled.

Sara is leaving Tuesday or Wednesday

and is arriving in Nakina on Monday, February 20, 

and will be flown directly in by Austin Airways.

She is laying over in Montreal for several days with her brother John.

I am quite excited and happy about being reunited once again with my family.

I am winning my battle of the bulge.

I am now down to 187 pounds, and my waist is 37 inches.

Some difference from 239 pounds and 41 inches, eh?

My problem now is that nothing fits me, except my shoes and hat.

Everything else just hangs on me.

Oh well, at least when Sara comes up,

she will be able to take in my pants for me.

Clothes Falling Off

My Father Standing Outside His Two-Room Shack

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I don't know what I will be able to do about my coats.

Guess I'll just have to wear them big till I get outside

to a tailor and have them altered.

Perhaps it is just as well if I don't rush into altering all my clothes,

because this loss in weight may be temporary.

However, I am going to make a real effort to never let

my weight go above 190 pounds again.

I have revised my goal downwards.

At first I was going to be satisfied if I could get down to 200 pounds.

Then I thought 190 pounds would be good.

Then I set my goal for 185.

My ultimate goal is going to be 180 pounds.

At this weight I will actually be underweight,

but it would be nice to have a 10 pound margin to come and go on.

It is really amazing, Mother ~

even my shirt collars are too large for me now.

I could wear a size 14 1/2 shirt, certainly a 15,

instead of the 16 that I have been wearing for so long.

I am enclosing some pictures of myself,

and of Maureen, Duncan, and Duncan Junior.

The pictures of me on snowshoes were taken the day

I went with Duncan and Mike to take water samples around the peninsula.

I believe I wrote you about this adventure.

We walked between 4 and 6 miles ~ 

one mile through heavy bush when we crossed the peninsula.

Collecting Water Samples

Around the Peninsula

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

That picture of me coming out of the woods is very good.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the camera was unable to record the language

which just about then was eloquent to say the least.

Though you can't see it, I am towing a sleigh and am on snowshoes.

That cotton pickin' sleigh seemed to get stuck or hung up on every bush I passed.

Also, I lost my snowshoes once or twice.

You are really helpless without them,

because the snow in the woods is just about waist deep.

Maureen McRae Hauling Groceries

Roman Catholic Church and Dad and Uno's Shack

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

The temperature that day was just about 20-25 below, but I sweated gallons.

I happened to weigh myself before starting out,

and, out of curiosity, I decided to weigh myself when I got back.

I was three pounds lighter.

However, this weight loss was temporary,

and I gained back two pounds as soon as

I satisfied my thirst which was monumental.

The other pictures of me are taken at the door of the shack where I am,

(or by the time you receive this, was) living with Uno

and on the steps of the church.

Dad and Duncan McRae

Outside the Roman Catholic Church

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I still can't see why you can't come up and visit us at Lansdowne,

especially if we helped out with the costs.

I really think you would enjoy the place,

and the flight in would be an interesting adventure.

However, we won't settle this point now.

I wish though, that you didn't sound so discouraged or down in the lip

over the prospect of the children coming up here.

After all, it is not going to be forever, and, if it is at all possible,

I'll try to at least get Louise, and possibly Roy,

down to the Island for a while this summer;

and, I am almost certain that I will be down myself for a while,

unless my plans misfire dreadfully.

Well, I must sign off now.

I have a lot of work to do today.

It is wash day again

I want to have as few of my clothes as possible dirty when Sara arrives.

Beside it is at least three weeks since I have washed.

Bye now,

Love, Don

Duncan McRae on the Ice

Between the Father's Island and the Mainland (Peninsula)

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

P.S.  The Lansdowne Letter is again out of print due to typewriter difficulties.

Uno's machine is on the fritz again, and mine hasn't arrived yet.

Also, when Louise, Roy, and Donnie are with me,

I will initiate them into the good Lansdowne House custom

of Thursday night letter writing.

I'll make sure that they all write a letter to Nana on Thursday nights.

This has been quite a year for Charlottetown, hasn't it?

What with Prowse Brothers going out of business, S.A. also,

Henderson and Cudmore's expansion, and the Kennedy Affair.

I wouldn't be too surprised if I read the Bishop of Charlottetown turned Protestant.

I surely appreciate The Guardian.

It is the only newspaper I get,

and I read it from front to back ~ even the Classified ads.

Prowse Brothers

(Between Electrical Poles, Center)

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Source:  City of Charlottetown

Well, bye now,

Love, Don.

My Father Traveling in Snowshoes

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

Winter, 1961

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Monday, February 20, 1961, 
a lot of people were waiting on that date!

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

Crossing Petite Passage
Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
Photo Copy by Roy MacBeath 
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Notes:
1.  Charlottetown's The Guardian newspaper 

2.  Duncan and Maureen McRae:
          Duncan, married to Maureen, worked for the Department of Transport,
          and his duties included running the DOT Weather Station.
          They were the parents of young Duncan.

3.  Weight Conversions:  
        1  pounds =     4.5 kilograms
     187 pounds =   84.8 kilograms
     239 pounds = 108.4 kilograms

4.   Temperature Conversion:
     -20º F  = -28.8º C
     -25º F  = -31.6º C

5.  Distance Conversions:
     37 inches =   93.9 centimeters
     41 inches = 104.1 centimeters
     
     4 miles =  6.4 kilometers
     6 miles =  9.6 kilometers



For Map Lovers Like Me:

Location of Canada's Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island   
Wikimedia

Location of Smith's Cove

where Mom and We Five Were Living

 Harbourview Inn

Location of Lansdowne House

Where My Father Was Living

Northern Ontario, Canada

Wikimedia