Memories of Growing Up

Ricky, Sean and I and my brother Paul, took a 10 minute drive across theVictoria Bridge to the south shore to visit St. Lambert and show Sean where I grew up.  Here's a little tour......

This is the house our family lived in when I was about 7.  I went to Ecole St. Anges, so it was grades one to three.  My brother Wayne and his twin sister were born when we lived in this house, and JFK was assasinated while living here.  My best friend Marie Claude lived across the street.  That is where I first tasted yogurt, and her father showed me how to walk without pointing my toes outwards.  John Kyle, the boy next door, threw a stone at me once (I know I was relentlessly teasing him) and it hit just above my eye.  I had to get stitches.  What funny memories!

One block over and one block down is this house.  You can't tell by the photo, but the windows are leaded, in diamond shape.  The upstairs double window was my bedroom.  The windows opened out, just like a princess' window would, living in a castle.  My mother wallpapered the room with blue and pink flowers.    The ceiling had arches in it to conform the shape of the eave over the window.  I loved that room. The window on the left was the staircase where the landing was.  The carpet was turquoise.  The large window in the front is the living room.  At Easter one year, we went to the Atwater Market and I talked my parents into buying a little grey bunny.  We named him Thumper.  I would take him out of his cage and hold him, sitting on the livingroom couch.  I could hear him nibbling on my hair.  He had big blue eyes.  He left one too many pellets on the carpet so we had to give him back. Before Christmas, my mother told us we were having a special visitor.  She wouldn't tell me who it was.  That killed me, I had to know.  I kept asking for hints.  She said he had black hair with some white, and he was very nice.  Well, the day came and I was finally going to find out who it was.  A box came to the door and my mother and father told me to open it.  It was a cute little beagle mutt and we named him Finnigan. Finnagan was never able to calm down, never!  He would run all around the house, hop on and off of everything.  I would take him for a walk, and he would walk me.  I think he had ADD.  After a while, we just couldn't take it any longer and my parents had to make the decision to take him to a farm in the country.  I cried and cried, and watched the car as it drove out of sight.  I t took me a while to get over losing Finnigan. Next door were these horrible twin boys who terrorized my father.  They would throw eggs at the house, vandalize things, make noise late at night, etc.  My best friend while we lived here was Judy Gilbert.  When Paul was born, the house was too small for us and we moved 3 blocks up and 1 block over.  I was 14 and didn't want to move.  I hated the new house.

This is our last house on St. Lambert.  I didn't want to move because I didn't like the house.  The trim on the porch and door and windows, was a sick green.  (I called it puke green when I was 14)  My mother sold this house almost 20 years ago.  A couple architect bought it, they had a baby girl at the time.  They redid it inside, completely modern, it was featured in a magazine.  There was a fire at the house 9 years ago and they redid it again.  We visited Mrs. Errington, one of our neighbors and she took us to the house and asked the baby girl who is now 20, if we could look at the house.  She only spoke French and was really nice. She let us in and the house was gorgeous.  They had torn out walls, and made a loft in the attic space.  I could seriously live there now.  All the windows are new, and when we lived there, the porch was white with black trim.  So many memories with this house.  We all graduated high school in this house, we joined the church in this house, my father passed away, brothers went on missions, we all became engaged while living at this house, and I returned to visit for quite a few summers with me children to this house.  The last time we were here, was when Vanessa was 18 months old, right after her grandmother died.  Yes, I have lots of memories living in this home.  This is the home where I grew up.

This si the view a few blocks away of  the Montreal skyline.  That's how close we are.

This is the church we attended, the United Church of Canada.

After my father died, my mother needed an income, so she opened a ladies dress boutique in St. Lambert on the main street.  This is where it was.  More memories.  When we visited in the summers, Mom would give Rebecca and Lindsay turns working with her at the boutique.  They were only about 6 and 7 years old.  They would get all dressed up and have perfect manners.  All of the patrons made a huge fuss over how polite and pretty they were!

We couldn't visit without going to Miss Italia, the best pizza in the world.  It has moved twice since I lived here, and it is good but not as good as I remember.........

Meat pizza

All dressed.........yum

This is the car we rented.  Hope you enjoyed the tour, tell me what you think.