Edward had so many hobbies. He was busy every minute of his waking day working at something that he enjoyed doing which included gardening. He was sad when he could no longer garden like he used to. I did try to do the gardening and continue doing that but I was never that good at it. Fortunately I am slow at pulling out weeds so managed to not destroy very many plants. The Black Walnut was, in a way, a godsend because it limited his gardening and switched him to hosta under that tree which manages itself mostly. Today I finished one side of the brickwork along the side of the laneway. The other side to do and I need to get two kinds of sand - play sand and hardening sand - to fill in the cracks between. Probably I need to have the lane way repaved one of these days. I am wondering about doing big squares of brick in perhaps a good colour to fit beside the bricks - might not work will have to see.
Working on his Ham Radio equipment these days as he wanted that to be donated back to the Ham Radio Club here so that someone who wanted equipment but couldn't afford it would have his equipment. I never could gather interest in Ham Radio (talking to people is an effort on my part at the best of times and actually going out of my way is not a likely event). However, I did learn morse code which I found quite fascinating when I was a teenager. It is such an organized tool for transmission. I liked semaphore as well. Anything that was organized and needed to be memorized was my kind of interest. At eight I could recite all of the names and dates of the Kings and Queens of England from Alfred the Great on. My grandfather felt that was a necessary tool for every child to know but then he still thought of Canada as the colony! But that was way back in the early 50s; a long long time ago now.
The next item to work on is his Camera Equipment. He wanted me to call a Camera Club but I have no idea on that. He belonged to the Amateur Radio Club but not a camera club here in Ottawa. After consulting with my children we are going to donate what he hasn't already given to the Princeton Museum to the Salvation Army. They do such good work and if they can make any money off of his equipment more power to them. Edward owned several hundred cameras from quite ancient to modern. He bought his first digital camera for about $1500. He was keen to own one but thought the price was rather huge so I said you can afford it and you want it so why not have it. He bought it and we still have that one although now an antique in the digital world.
When he was a little boy there wasn't any spare money as his mother was widowed from the time that he was two years of age. They did not have a car until his older brother bought one when he was sixteen (he was eight years older than Ed). The only way they went anywhere was with a relative driving a car or by bus into Brantford to go to the dentist. The doctor was just around the corner from his house in Princeton. His mother used to take them on holiday to Port Dover but again by bus once a year for a week. His desire to travel anywhere that he could drive was perhaps driven by that early lack of going anywhere perhaps. We spent hours and hours driving hither and yon to see a particular plaque or building or arboretum or historic site or historic Church of his ancestors - this was a particular joy and we spent a lot of time in graveyards all over Eastern and Central Canada as well as the Maritimes and some in Quebec as well and that doesn't include all of the graveyards that we visited in the Eastern United States. .
His mother had a postcard binder which he carried on with and there are now four postcard binders which we will give to his niece since his mother started it and she is the eldest grand daughter.
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