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EPISODE 529 THE GREAT FIRES OF ‘NEW ONTARIO” 1911, 1916, 1922

EPISODE 529 THE GREAT FIRES OF ‘NEW ONTARIO’ — 1911, 1916, 1922

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February 10, 2022
Fwd: Final: EPISODE 529 HIGH PARK CURLING CLUB – while Covid 19 rages Feb.7, 2022

Note to Peter Bryden and Stephen Low. Could either one of you send this story

out to all our members. I have sent it to Kristy at the club already.

Note to Kristy…Do what you wish with this , Alan.

EPISODE 529 HIGH PARK CURLING CLUB: COVID 19 PANDEMIC RAGES… DOCUMENTED… FEB. 7, 2022

alan skeoch

Feb. 7, 2022

FIVE years from now the pandemic will only be a memory. So I thought documentation seemed necessary. Our league, the so called

Teachers League has been a fixture at the High Park Curling Club for as long as I can remember. Before that, several teachers were

part of the founding group deep in the past. Even before the great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 – 1919. We survived one pandemic

and will likely survive this one as well. If we are careful!

Today, Feb. 7, 2022 we are trying to curl in the midst of the worst epidemic in Canadian history. What is it like to curl when that minisucle

virus is hanging in the air? It is hell!

Alan Skeoch

The High Park Curling Club…oldest curling club in Toronto

The High Park Curling Club front deck. Leisure and good times.

There were better times deep in the past. One winter we even curled on the ice of Grenadier Pond.

SEE THAT RED STAR ON MY HAT…SYMBOL OF THE TIMES

History: Big events were happening when we celebrated the Grand Match on Grenadier Pond. The Berlin Wall was coming down as

the Soviet Union imploded. My son, Kevin, was working in Slovakia and sent me this Russian Field Officers hat from their fiasco

in Afghanistan. Costume. Also I was able to buy an old buffalo skin coat made from the skins of the buffalo slaughter in the Canadian West.

The Grenadier Ice was thick enough for curlers. If it failed we would go down to join the Grenadier soldiers who supposedly drowned

here in the war of 1912. That same summer we rented a rowboat and recorded a CBC radio story on our tongue in cheek search for

the heavy cannons left by the unfortunate Grenadiers. The Grenadier story was a myth. One of our sons, a diver,

got to the bottom of the pond and reported ,

“Dad, there is nothing down there but muck, I rammed my arm in up to my shoulder and found nothing.” If our Grand Match of curling

went through the ice future generations would find our curling stones and maybe, just maybe, they would find that Soviet Red Star on my hat.

And a story would be written about the Soviet agent who drowned at Grenadier pond. A story, Not the truth. A story just like the

story of the British Grenadier retreating in the War of 1812.

And that is why we need this photo essay about the terrible years of 2020 to 2022 when a virus put us all in a state of fear. A true story.

Other years we had grand celebrations at the High Park Curling Club

Costume varied.

This curler would be denied entrance to the High Park Curling Club on this day, Feb. 7, 2022…Why?

We are fearful of contamination. If one of just comes down with Covid 19, then all bets are off. Shutdown

will happen. Our club executive fear that disaster could destroy the club so some stringent rules are being

applied.

Either pass the test or stay home. Most of us are triple vaccinated…all are double vaccinated

Club Manager

Kristy Rawluck

kristy@highparkclub.com

Kristy is expected to make sure anyone curling here has documents to prove it.

Ken Jinkinson

This document is needed each time I enter the High Park Curling Club.

Kristy Rawluk – checking documentation of each member’s vaccination

Ken Jinkinson…signing in at checkpoint one

There was a time when curling did not require policing and the trophies were all we worried about

Bob Murray…checking in

Ellen Freedman….writer of plays, perhaps the great play about curling to come in the future

Peter Morris…lead curler, Skeoch team. (We have three leads…Shaymus and Joe are waiting in the wings)

Peter Brydan, Chairman of our League

Peter Brydan and Bill McKay

There was a time when we could actually talk to each other.

Stephen Low…executive member

Glen Grey, vice…takeout specialist.

Dave Dingwall

Monica Gemeinhardt, our team second, threw a perfect rock….RIGHT ON THE NOSE!

MONICA got him RIGHT ON THE NOSE

TEAM SKEOCH: Monica Gemeinhardt, Glen Grey, Peter Morris

and Alan Skeoch (red coat)

February 8, 2022
EISODE 528 BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRCKS, ARMY TRUCKS

EPISODE 428 BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRACKS, ARMY TRUCKS

alan skeoch

Feb. 6, 2022

courtesy Toronto Star DR. BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTON AT ROCKWOOD, ONTARIO (BEFORE DISPERSAL)

“a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s kicked collecting into high gear. Jeeps were cheap, sometimes selling for as little as $50, which helped many people get into collecting.”

Brian Asbury

PHOTO COURTESY TORONTO STAR: A TRIBUTE TO DR. BILL GREGG, COLLECTOR EXTRORDINAIRE

Ah, yes, the winter Olympics are on right now in Beijing, China. Super

athletes from all around the world.

That brought to mind Dr.Bill Greg who was, to my mind, a potential gold medal winner in the

Olympics of collecting. Bill was a few years older than me which meant he must

have been a 10 year old kid in 1945 when the Toronto waterfront was filled with military machines

being returned from Europe. All I remember was seemingly endless numbers of jeeps

but Bill Greg seems to have seen more. Something triggered him … when he became

an adult he began buying the machines of World War II…big things…like tanks and half tracks.

Later we both met as directors of the ill fated Ontario Agricultural Museum (Milton) which got

all tied up in a logistical nightmare. I remember a private conversation we shared dealing

with the failure of the Museum to be viable. We were both collectors. Bill was big time. I was small time.

But both of us gave artifacts to the OAM. Some of mine are still there…I hope. Mothballed forever it

seems.

Meanwhile Bill was into a much larger kind of collecting. Military vehicles including tanks, half tracks, artillery

and lots of jeeps. Yes, he collected tanks. Hard to imagine but he had the space and buying a tank

was not expensive. Most buyers only wanted the engines…the rest was scrap. Eventually Bill had

about 40 or more of these weapons of war. Eventually Bill had to face the problem of what to do with

his collection when he was gone. At that moment it is a shock to discover often that no one gives

a sweet goddamn.

I was not there when the collection was dispersed. Did not even know that flat bed trucks were

busy getting the tanks on board for a trip westward. I did know much later that Bill was

depressed that his weapons of war had to be shipped to the west because there was only

limited space for these machines in Ontario (War Museum).

Note: I was lucky enough to visit the war museum in Korea a couple of years ago. Shocked.

In the heart of Seoul is an incredible museum that even includes a full size B52 nuclear

bomber and also the names of Canadians killed in the Korean War. Koreans remember

just as the Dutch remember but Canadians prefer to get on with their lives and push museums

into the background. How often have you been to a Canadian museum? Tell the truth!

Never or nearly never, I suspect.

DISCOVERY IN A JUNK SHOP

In a junk, sorry, wrong term. In a collectibles shop in Rockwood Ontario I discovered

a brown filing folder with photos of Dr. Bill Gregg’s collection. How these pictures

had such a sad end escapes me. So I put together this Episode in memory of Dr.

Bill Gregg. If there ever was a collectors Olympics, Dr. Bill Gregg would be one of the

medal winners in my opinion.

QUESTION FOR MARRIED READERS MALE OR FEMALE:

Try this question on your other half. “Dear, I was able to buy a

Sherman dtank from Dr. Bill Gregg, could we renovate the garage?”

Courtesy Toronto Star Archives BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTION

COLLECTION OF PICTURES FOUND FOR SALE IN ROCKWOOD SHOP

MILITARY VEHICLE COLLECTOR BRIAN ASBURY WROTE

“For the 11 million people who were alive in Canada then, the production of military vehicles in Canada approached 800,000 vehicles. Canada produced an incredible number of standardized vehicles designed for military use.

“Initially Britain requested it, and we were to be the production ground for British ideas, which is why all our Canadian trucks in World War II are right-hand drive. The big automakers made the chassis and drivelines, and subletted the bodies to smaller companies.”

In much the same way Ford and Willys co-operated in the U.S., Ford of Canada and GM of Canada simultaneously built a Canadian-specific series of heavy trucks, called the 15 CWT (spoken “15-hundred-weight”), 30 CWT and 60 CWT, depending on their size.

Asbury owns about 45 vehicles, ranging from a small Welbike folding paratrooper scooter made in England, to a huge, six-wheeled amphibious DUKW, which he describes as “basically a six-wheel-drive truck with a boat all around it.”

Like most collectors, he started with a Jeep. “That’s what most people can handle and afford, and it’s a well-known brand; even a 2-year-old kid on the street can recognize a Jeep. But then it’s usually a progression from a Jeep to a three-quarter-ton truck, then to a 2- 1/2 ton, and then something that’s armoured or maybe even armed, like a Ferret scout car.”

Jeeps became plentiful in the mid-1950s, Simundson says, when the army got rid of most of its World War II vehicles, ranging from trucks to tanks. But back then, the vehicles were bought to be used, not collected.

“They went to service stations or were used as snow plows,” he says. “The really nice armoured cars and tanks were bought for their engines and parts.

According to Simundson, a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s kicked collecting into high gear. Jeeps were cheap, sometimes selling for as little as $50, which helped many people get into collecting.” (quote from Brian Asbury

alan skeoch

Post Script: My biggest rescue was this small Etobicoke barn doomed on the farm where J.Shaver Woodsworth was born (founder of the CCF now the NDP}, Fortunately

for me the building was filled with scrap aluminum which netted me $1,000 nearly the

cost of moving and reconstructing on our farm. I could have put down a better cement pad if I only

knew that Qjick drying cement is really quick. Marjorie supported the project once she knew the cost

would not come out of or housekeeping funds which were very limited. Looking at the building today

I was suddenly aware that it could hide a tank or a half track.

February 5, 2022

EPISODE 527 THE MAIDENS BLUSH APPLE TREE

Peek in this knot hole…Damn red squirrel has filled the apple tree knot hole with walnuts.

EPISODE 527 THE ‘MAIDENS BLUSH’ APPLE TREE.

alan skeoch

Jan. 31, 2022

Maiden’s Blush^[59]^[28]^[266]^[267]		Burlington, New Jersey, US	<1817	W 86, H 69. Stalk 19 mm. A thin-skinned, flattened apple. Pale yellow-green skin has a telltale crimson blush on the side that faced the sun. Flesh white, crisp, very juicy, subacid, good. Susceptible to scab. Heavy annual bearer. Good cooker. Excellent variety for drying because the flesh remains white and bright. Use September – November.	Cooking, (Eating)

The Maiden Blush apple tree is one of the oldest American apples. Coxe wrote in 1817 that Maiden’s Blush apples were popular in the Philadelphia markets of his day. Beautiful apple of pale thin skinned, lemon-yellow color with crimson blush. Flesh is white, sprightly, crisp and tender with a sharp, acid flavor that mellows when fully ripe. Maiden Blush apple tree is an excellent grower, comes into bearing young. Dependable producer, long harvest period, and displays resistance to fireblight.

Maiden Blush organic heirloom apple tree

Is it still alive? There is (was) a lonely apple tree standing between the

farm house and the red barn. I remember that farm auction as it it was yesterday

even though it was some 40 or even 50 years ago.

The farm is located north of Grand Valley, right at the second bridge over the Grand River…east side of

the road. It was a very tidy farm on auction day. A small farm selling mostly obsolete farm

equipment that reflected on time when most farms in Ontario were 100 acres in size.

Farm sales always seem to have a tragic aspect…a feeling that something will be gone and

never seen again.

Farm auctions now, in the second decade of the 21st century are rare. So many were put

up for sale between the years 1960 and 2000 that observers could not fail to notice

a great change was happening to rural Ontario. Surviing farms got larger and larger

using machines that cost $200,000 upwards. If the old barns were not pulled down then

they slowly fell apart with their carcases dotting the landscape like a war zone. Now, in 2022

even the carcasses are mostly gone.

So many lost farmsteads that most are lost in the confusion of my memory cells.

But this one remains. Why? Because of one lone apple tree loaded with fruit

ripe and ready for picking. The owner was present as were his neighbours.

“Apple tree is loaded,” I said, testing to see if he was open to conversation. Many owners

of auction farms are not. I can tell by the fire pits in the field where all their family documents

have been burned wiping out memories…or trying to do so.

“Pick what you want, just going to waste.”

“Taste nice…sweet .” As I Remember the apples were green with a bit of yellow, small

by super market standards…some, however, the size of tennis balls. And remarkable due

to the absence of worm holes or apple scab. This was one nice apple tree. All with the

distinctive red ‘blush’…made the apple rather intimate.

“What kind of apples?”

“ Maidens Blush”

“What kind?” I asked again…not sure of his response.

“Maidens Blush, old tree.”

At that Grand Valle auction I bid and won a small box of copper stencils. Never used. Must have been a winter plan for

an orhard that never happened. Gardeners and farmers do that kind of dreaming in February. I bought some copper nails

and mounted many of these stencils on an old baseboard as a gift for Marjorie. Selfish kind of gift, I know that.

Most prominent on the board is the Maidens Blush apple variety which I believed was a lost kind of apple. Here is the

list from the stencil board;

Ontario

Alexander

G. Russet (golden?)

Baldwin

Maidens Blush (*several other names, same apple)

Snow

Wealthy

R. Russet (red?)

Duchess

Belflower

Str. Streaks

Ribston

B.Orange (b?)

Wagener

Spitz

Mann

King

N.Spy (northern)

Can.Red (canadian?}

Culvert

Greenings

Talman Sweet

Seek

APPLE VARIETIES BOGGLE THE MIND

IN 1905, American pomologist W.H.Ragan published a 400 page book

titled ’Nomenclature of the Apple’. a compendium of Known apple

varieties between 1804 and 1904. The list is enormous….17,000 apple

varieties? SEVENTEEN THOUSAND! All with distinctive names.

Later the list was pared down to 14,000 when the overlapping names

were catalogued. FOURTEEN THOUSAND !

The 19th century was a period of ‘unparalleled interest in apples.’

What kind of apples? Many were cider apples. But lots were also

eating apples…and cooking apples. Cooking apples … apple pie

apples in other words. What variety comes to mind immediately?

The best cooking apple stencil is on my board…NORTHERN SPY. Discovered

almost by accident and rejected initially because colour was not prominent.

(see source Tom Hensley, June 2,2005)

MAIDENS BLUSH…RECONSIDERED

My snap judgment that I had found a lost apple variety of apple on

that single tree north of Grand Valley was dashed when I punched the

name into my computer. Turns out that Maidens Blush was (and remains)

one of the top ancient apple varieties still grown by heritage apple tree planters.

A year or so later I found another Maiden’s Blush tree on a doomed orchard

near Ravenna, Ontario. Once sold all the field apple trees were uprooted…killed

so diseases from an uncared for orchard would not contaminate other orchards.

But the killers missed one tree that grew near the house…a Maiden’s Blush

survivor I was told. Truth? I rely on the former owner for that.

Damned if there isn’t even a winery in the Napa Valley of California that

markets an apple wine under the name ‘Maiden’s Blush’. See Nashoba

Valley Winery. 49% percent Maidens Blush., 49% pears, 2% elder berries.

Wouldn’t it be nice to buy a bottle…cost about $20 Canadian. Doubt

carried in Canadian Liquor Stores.

It is even possible to buy a Maiden’s Blush Cultivar for $44.90…were

they not sold out. Sold out means apple fanciers are still planting Maiden Blush

apple trees in 2022…in the 21st century.

Maiden Blush Apple

$44.90

An award winning rose made from 49% Apples – 49% Pears – 2% Elderberries. Subtly perfumed, with an alluring flavor of apples, pears and elderberries. Similar in style to White Zinfandel. Named after the Maiden’s Blush apple, one of over 80 “antique” apple varieties grown in our orchard.

CONCLUSION

ART AND THE APPLE:

I HAVE already written 3 Episodes on apples. Probably overkill for most readers.

Let me leave some fine art as a conclusion. Apple artists have left all of us a legacy

of artistic treasures…apple varieties with romantic names.

STURMER PIPPIN 1831 SUFFOLK, ENGLAND

Sturmer Pippin^[370]^[6]^[8]^[21]		Sturmer,Haverhill, Suffolk, England	<1831	A bright greenish-yellow apple with a reddish-brown blush, often on one face only. W 69, H 62. Stak 12–25 mm. Flesh white, crisp, juicy, subacid, aromatic. One of the best English keeping apples, with proper storage Sturmer Pippin lasts 4 to 5 months. Flavour is sprightly, more sharp than sweet when first picked, but improves dramatically in storage, becoming sweeter and richer, while maintaining its crisp texture. This keeping ability made it ideal for long journeys, as such, it was brought to Australia where it is still widely grown. Parent of Granny Smith. Pick mid October. Use January – April.

WHITE PIPPIN CANADA USA

White Pippin(syn. Canada Pippin)^[3]^[392]		US or Canada		A yellow apple. W 80, H 65-70. Stalk 12-18 mm. Flesh white, crisp, juicy, subacid, very good to best. Use January – March.

WINTER MAIDEN’S BLUSH 1850 USA

RED ASTRACHAN 1800

Red Astrachan^[6]^[325]^[326]^[327]		Russia or Sweden	c. 1800	Extremely resistant to frost. H 76, W 82. Flesh white, fine, crisp, tender, juicy, subacid, aromatic, good to very good. The tree does not attain a large size. Pick and use in August.	Cooking

February 3, 2022

EPISODE 526 THE LONELY APPLE TREE (last survivor in Edward Freeman’s orchard)

EPISODE 426 THE LONELY APPLE TREE.

alan skeoch

Jan. 31, 2022

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February 2, 2022