I have been away from my writing but now I’m back—in 1948. I was too young to have any personal memories but I don’t have to stretch my imagination to know it was a busy time for my parents.  My mother’s sister and brother-in-law, Hetty and Oscar, had lived with them during the previous fall and winter but in the spring of 1948 they moved to St. Stephen with their daughter who had been born in December.

Then in August of that year my mother’s brother Albert brought his family from Holland to Upper Mills to stay in the upstairs apartment of our home while he looked for business opportunities in Central Canada and the USA.

This picture is undated but I believe it was taken in the fall of 1948.  There are no leaves on the trees beside the house and there is a large pile of wood ready for winter.  The summery clothes and sitting on the ground without a blanket suggests a nice fall day.  Unfortunately, my mother is not in the picture; she must have taken it.

Cousins, from the left: Rose-Marie (me) and my brother Ronnie;  Mary-Louise with her mother Hetty; Helen, Robbie and Sylvia with their mother Elizabeth

When that picture was taken there were five children under that age of five in the Baxter House. I had turned one on July, Ronnie was two in August, Helen would not be five until November, Robbie was two in August and Sylvia was three. It was likely a Sunday afternoon when Hetty and Mary-Lou had been brought to Upper Mills for a visit. My father had a car but they did not.

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