Cape Breton's Magazine

wanting to go back while Mother was liv? ing. I did want to see Mum again. But I couldn't.... I wouldn't go back now if I had the chance. She was 84 when she died. (So now, with all your crafts when your children were growing up....) Oh, I was busy with my hands before they grew up. My oldest daughter never wore anything, only what 4i. ?? Aulo Parts PKix SAF-WAY AUTO PARTS LTD. Service & Satisfaction Is Our Aim Retail • Wholesale Stocking: • Dupont Paints • Starters • Alternators • Hydraulic Brake Parts • Brake Shoes • Fuel Pumps • Oil RIters • Water Pumps] • Body Supplies • Rebuilt Engines 539-9970 (539'707) 361 George Street, Sydney 862-6491 456 10th Street, New Waterford Fax 539-9741 I made. Un? less somebody'd give her some? thing- -you know, I mean, sweaters and.... And my mother sent her a cape that she had knitted for her, to baptize her in. She took it, the last time she was home; she wanted it for a remembrance of her grandmother. And my other daughter has got her grandmoth? er's ring. STRINGS ATTACHED. The crafting of fine instruments not only relies on the talent of the maker, but also the quality of the wood from which it is made. The "strings attached" to obtaining quality wood and a forest capable of providing recreation wildlife habitat and "green space" are simple. They simply mean a greater need for careful forest management. If you own forested land in Nova Scotia consider the options open to you. Options that will help ensure Nova Scotia's forests remain healthy and productive. Contact your nearest Department office. Nova bcoiia Department of Natural Resources I've been doing crafts since I was 7 years of age, actually. In school over in Eng? land, they taught us things like that. Sewing and embroidery work or knitting, or whatever you were interested in; we had a class in school. And then Mom was very good with her hands, and she taught me some of it, too. After I came here, the old lady taught me. I crocheted a blanket --I don't know if I ever showed it to you or not--when I was 16 years of age. Out of wool that I took off the sheep--washed, picked, carded, and spun. I have some of the blanket still left. Then I made a quilt when I was 16. People then, in my day. you didn't have anything --there was no radio, there were no tele? visions to take up your time. Unless you'd sit down and read, there was nothing else for you to do. And I wasn't one that could sit idle. I had to have something to do all the time. When the women would get busy and start working on quilts and that. I was going to make my own. And this year they had started on these blankets-- crocheting them. And they were making them in two pieces and sewing them in the mid? dle. But I said to myself, I'm going to be smarter than any of them--I'm going to make it in one piece. And that's what I did. And I had to have two chairs in front of me to hold it. when it was getting bigger! My gosh, it was comical. Weighed 8 pounds, I think, when I was finished with it. It was that nice and warm on a cold night--you had no fires on all night long in those days. Oh no, no, no. But there wasn't that much sickness then as there is now. Oh no, you wouldn't be barking with a cold every few minutes. You know, you could go out in the cold--you could stand it. It was so much different to what it is today. Try to go outside the door today and you're freezing to death. (Maybe it's because we keep our houses hotter.) That's what I mean. In those days, you'd have a heavy sweater on in the house all the day. Once in awhile you might be able to throw it off. You'd put Celebrating 25 Years of Good Reading TAKE A WALK ON TM EXPLORE 'BjqW Eastern Counties Kegional library 390 Murray Street, P.O. Bag 2500 Mulgrave, N.S. BOE 2G0 (902) 747-2597 FAX (902) 747-2500 Your Public Library has| to explore the natural Bird latching Animal & Marine Life Ecology Nature Tours & Hiking WILDSIM. . , NOVA SCOTIA'S WILDEMESS teverythiflg you need history ol Nova Scotia: Vild Flowers k Herbs Rocks & Minerals Trees & Woodlands ... and much more!