Meeting Miriam

Yesterday ...

Yesterday Kerry and I went out in the morning to see an old farmhouse ... it was lovely ... 200 years old ... great lot ... two really nice outbuildings for a playhouse and a workshop-studio ... and a house that had strength of character and a quirky personality ... it gave Kerry the same kind of feeling we both got from the school house ... it had imperfections of course ... everything that ages does ... but it felt like Kerry’s house.

We stopped at the Saturday market on the way home ... ate samosas ... I saw a wonderful felted tea cozy for $65 ... not sure whether I want to spend $65 right now though.

When we got home I curled up and read The Way the Crow Flies for a while and then had a nap with Kenya.

Kerry suggested curried fish for dinner and my stomach involuntarily revolted at the thought of yellow fish. She showed me the recipe and it looked yummy. I did the peas and rice and she prepared the fish. Maurice worked on his taxes.

While the rice was cooking I went out with Sam in the stroller and Kenya on the leash ... and took the upper route because it was less hilly and easier with both of them.

Lo and behold ... Mrs. Langley’s garage door was open! Seated in the entrance were an old lady wearing dark glasses and a younger woman. I called in, “Mrs. Langley. You won’t remember me but I am Barbara Scott from Halifax ... Miriam’s friend.” The younger woman got up and came and gave me a hug. It was Miriam. We hadn’t seen each other in 53 years!

She looked great. Very dark hair with some salt mixed in. Slim. Attractive. Looked to be in her fifties, not her late sixties. She is living in Halifax in an apartment on Spring Garden Road. Was in her sister Diane’s cottage in east Chezzacook but got tired of the wood stove etc. and she doesn’t drive so wanted to be within walking distance of everything. Donna has settled around the corner ... come from St. John’s. Wayne is still in Toronto. Abner died at 77, 22 years ago. We are going to get together again next week. She has company coming to stay with her at the cottage for a week but will be back next Saturday. I am anxious to have a really good chin wag without a baby and a dog ... even though both were well behaved and gave Mrs. Langley something to play with. She is now 97 ... imagine.

I told her how important she had been in my life. Miriam understood, but Mrs. Langley said she couldn’t remember any of that.

I realized later that I have written over and over again about Miriam and her family ... in Explosion of Fire and Ice ... in a short piece on Best Friends ... on my blog the other day ... I would like to share those things with Miriam.