The Lansdowne Letters: An Ever-present Concern

This will be a quick and dirty northern post
because I am leaving to fly to Canada in four hours.
Terry will be manning the home front while I'm gone.

I don't know how much I will get to use my computer while I am away,
because internet access is a challenge in Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia.

April 1961 was racing by in Lansdowne House,
and my family was settling into a northern routine.
But even ordinary events are not always routine
in the isolation of a northern village.

On Thursday, April 20, 1961
My mother wrote to her mother-in-law
Myrtle MacBeath:

Dear Mother:
Nothing very much
has happened this week.

Poor Mike had quite a time
last Friday.

Milt's teeth were bothering
him so much,
he had to get Mike
to pull five of them out.

Sara Margaret (MacDonald) MacBeath

Acadia University, Wolfville, Circa 1950
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved






Mike froze his teeth and pulled them,
and then Milt went over to visit Duncan and then home.
When he got home he passed out.

He had a bad reaction to the needle.
It happens in one case in a million I guess.
He was unconscious for half an hour.

Poor Mike, at one point he thought he couldn't save him.
Milt went into shock, his blood pressure shot up, 
and I guess his heart missed a beat.
However Mike saved him.

The Causeway to the Father's Island and the Ice-Bound Lake

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

Painting by Don MacBeath, March 1961

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Don received a letter about the position in Sioux Lookout,
but won't know until spring whether he will get it or not.

Maureen and Duncan were over for bridge last weekend.
Maureen and I beat Dunc and Don by thousands.
I never had such beautiful hands,
especially when my partner had the same luck.

We went over to Maureen's and Dunc's Monday night
to listen to the Academy Awards.

Best Picture 1960

April 17, 1961, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

in Santa Monica, California.

Wikipedia

Don has been painting pictures like mad and doing a wonderful job of them.

He paints lovely snow scenes and just painted a beautiful one

of the island across the way from our living room window.

Out Our Living Room Window 

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada

Painting by Don MacBeath, March 1961

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I wish you could see Roberta now.

She is putting on weight now,

eats like a horse,

her cheeks are rosy,

and she is tanned.

She is outside every day,

almost the whole day.

It's a fight to get her in to eat.

Louise (Me) and Bertie

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

I imagine you will soon be planting your gardens and getting the cottages open.
It seems hard to believe up here with all this snow.
The weather has been beautiful, mostly sunshine.
I keep wondering if the daffodils I planted in the Cove will bloom.

I guess that you have had a very bad winter,
and you will be glad to see the spring.

Barbie is learning to read.

She is so proud!
Whenever she is home,
she insists on reading
out of her book to me. 

Barbara MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Little Daisy, who is in
the same class as Barbie
and about the same age,
insists on taking
her reader home too, like Barbie,
so she can read to her mother.
Her mother can't understand
a word of English.

Little Daisy, on the left

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

The children are all outside all the time playing witch,
and Don got them a ball.
They all love going to school to Don.
They find him much more interesting
than any teacher they ever had.

The days seem to be long here.
There is so much to do,
but we are really enjoying ourselves.

There doesn't seem to be much to write about,
for this last week was quite uneventful,
so I will close for now.

With love,
Sara

P.S.
Don says you won't have to open the cottages this spring.
It must be a relief.
They were so much work.

Love,
Sara.

The MacBeath Cottages 

Brighton, Outside Charlottetown, 

Prince Edward Island, Canada

Painting by Don MacBeath, March 1961,

as remembered from his childhood

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Milt's tooth-pulling issue highlights an ever-present concern
in remote communities throughout northern Canada.
No one ever knew when they might be hit by a dental or a medical emergency,
and the adults were always aware that they might not be able
to get to a hospital or other emergency location Outside.
Lansdowne House was fortunate in that it did have a nurse and nursing station.
Northern nurses had to handle all kinds of emergencies.

Planes were still flying in and out of Lansdowne House
prior to the spring break-up when no one could get in or out,
but for whatever reason, probably extreme pain,
Milt couldn't wait for a plane to come and take him out to a dentist.
So Mike did the best he could filling in for an emergency dentist.

From Lansdowne House 

to Charlottetown

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue


Bay of Fundy out of Westport, Brier Island
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Notes:  

1.  Mike O'Flaherty was the nurse at the Nursing Station.

  

2.  Milt MacMahon:
     Milt was one of the two Department of Transport employees in Lansdowne House,
     and his duties included running the weather station.

3.  Duncan and Maureen McRae:

     Duncan was the other Department of Transport employee.
     He and his wife Maureen were good friends with my parents.

4.  The 33rd Academy Awards were held on April 17, 1961, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa

     Monica, California.  Bob Hope was the MC.  This was the first Academy Award ceremony to be aired on 

     ABC television.  "The Apartment" was the last black and white film to win the Best Picture Oscar during a

     time when black and white movies were common.  Wikipedia

  

5.  Painting:

     Both of my parents were painters.  My father preferred oils and my mother watercolors.  Unfortunately 

     the responsibilities of working and raising and educating five children made it difficult for my parents to 

     pursue their passions.  I am humbled by the sacrifices they made for my brother, sisters, and me.  

6.  Cottages:

     My grandmother MacBeath owned several cottages in what once was Brighton outside of Charlottetown.  

     Charlottetown grew into the Brighton area, and the cottages are long gone.  My brother Roy and I had spent

     the summer of 1960 there.  The cottages were right in the middle of the outlined area below.  

     This morning  (7/21/17) in Calgary, I found a pile of family paintings, and low and behold, there was one
     my father had painted of the cottages in Brighton.  The memory was from his childhood, and the small trees
     along the dirt lane grew up into beautiful lime trees that my brother and I loved to climb in.

Brighton, Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Google Maps

7.  Personal Note:

     This post was a rush job, and I've only scanned the preview.  I apologize for any mistakes in advance.
     I don't know if I'll be able to get any more northern posts done until I return home.  We shall see ...

For Map Lovers Like Me:

Route Map for Austin Airways, 1985

with Lansdowne House West of James Bay

Nakina is near Geraldton.

Wikipedia

Location of Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia

Wikimedia

Canada   Wikimedia