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John Carter's Diary, Summer of 1965 -- the first three days.

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About a month ago, on one of those -32c mornings that are exhilarating to those who love The Valley and perhaps too effing cold for those who don’t, I asked my 6 year old grandson Max if he thought that Spring would ever arrive.   His response was terribly cogent in today’s crisis and uttered in a sweetly derisive tone of voice that small children reserve for their obviously daft grandparents. “Of course, Spring always comes after Winter.”   The words “you idiot” were clearly implied but left unspoken. And, of course, as Max predicted Spring is following winter and has arrived. The snow in The Valley is running away surely. The 10 feet piles of snow along the roadsides have melted away and the flocks of redwing blackbirds and grackles have returned to Dead Horse Pond across the street. The ice-huts have been pulled in off the lake – more than a week early. Spring is springing – although we’re a long way from seeing any tulips at least the snow is off my two newly planted...
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We're just a little over half way through the physical diary at this point. I believe based on the note that precedes the entry for July 13th that he was mailing the diary home in sections.  So when he picked up letters in Madrid on that day he would have mailed what I'm guessing is the 2nd installment of the diary to Aity.  The storm today is pushing lots of mist and fog off the lake despite the frequent wind gusts. I'm guessing this might be the last day for ice or maybe tomorrow it seems to be at the breaking point.   Another dull day in isolation -- one of our days off from grandparenting -- makes a great opportunity to provide more of JC's diary. -------------- (insert after page 71) Tuesday, July 13/65   Today we left for Madrid. Rod isn't feeling well and has some stomach trouble. Got to Madrid and went to the Cdn. Embassy where I got four letters. I'm so happy that Lillian and Tom now have a boy and that everything is fine.    We found ...
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JC Diary 1965: July 8-12, JC's curious obsession with bullfighting

For me, life continues pretty dull.  I'm fortunate not to to know anyone personally yet who has been confirmed with the Corona Virus.   Maybe, and I reiterate it's a bit of long shot, maybe Ted has had it -- cough and 2-3 days of fever and nothing else -- he isolated for a couple of weeks and is back at work.  The grandkids were here overnight and we had the Easter Bunny here at the house this morning a day early; Max and Bobby worked together really well; Max may complain about Bobby getting his way or being a "baby" but they really are good friends and this is so important in these days of isolation.   Spring has returned after a couple of lightly snowy days -- Sunny and Cool here with a little more warmth in the forecast. I'm betting the ice comes of the lake on Tuesday about 10 days ahead of normal.  We join JC and his friends basking in the Spanish late-spring Sun in Pamplona.  This is also the very famous Piedra Monastery that was cle...
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Good Friday And JC's Coaster Collection from 1965

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Good Friday, 2020 Winter returned to The Valley this morning -- shocking my little dogs and causing my heart to drop a little.  I'd expected the skiff of snow we got yesterday, but hadn't anticipated the two inches that was in the yard this morning.  The poor Robin looked a little lost and the grackles and red-winged blackbirds just perched in the pin-cherries with their feathers fluffed out looking disgruntled.  Kitty took one look outside and decided she didn't need to pee after all; Baby loves the snow but still seemed surprised to see it return as well.  Appropriate for a Good Friday I suppose; normally the church lot and my side street to the lake would be full of cars this morning but all is quiet with the new fallen snow and pandemic restrictions. By noon it's all but gone and the heavy rain expected tomorrow and Sunday and Monday will knock the snow down in the bush in readiness for turkey hunting season which opens in two weeks -- same day as the trout s...
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JC Diary: July 6-7 Spain Part 1

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Tuesday, July 6/65  I felt much better this morning after a good night's sleep. I just hope that I won't peel and I think I'm safe as I've got a pretty good tan. I want to see some of Biarritz today and it looks like a good day for doing that.  We walked around here for a few hours. The main shore in Biarritz was crowded with people. It is a large curved arc of white sand and at the end end we visited it is punctuated with large natural rocks against which the surf breaks. Some people would swim out a ways and let the surf, about 4'-5' high at the crest, carry them back. On our walking tour we stopped at a small peninsula which is almost an island and probably is during high tide. This used to be a leper colony and some hollows in the rocks bear evidence as they were carved out as a place for the leper to escape the elements.  About 1:00 pm we started for San Sebastian and the Spanish part of our trip. We landed in near the harbour and parked the bus...
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Saturday at the dump and JC Diary July 1st through 5th.

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I'm posting this on a Saturday.  Saturday is a big grandparenting day for us -- I pick the boys up on Friday and they stay until dinner on Saturday. Max and I do the garbage together on Saturday mornings. This is a normal routine and we've done this most Saturday's when we're around and have for the last couple of years.  Max likes to do it although some days he works harder than others.   At the dump he usually carries one of the blue-bins to the appropriate dumping box and then he climbs into the bed of the pickup to gather the cardboard boxes to go into the crusher.  Our buddy Darrel who works at the dump takes our money under normal circumstances and helps the old people with their garbage is barricaded with a laptop behind a double row of big blue garbage bins dictating the minimum distance he can be from us. I double respect that and stand a good 15 feet away as we exchange pleasantries and I ask if he ever imagined this would ever have become a deskjob...
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JC Diary: June 26 to June 30

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It's a rainy day in this paradise of the near north.  This is a time stuck between fishing seasons -- basically no fishing until Trout open at the end of the month. By then the ice will have come off the lakes.  No hunting until Turkey season opens in early May -- although quite a few hunters worry the season will be cancelled at this point.  Our "weekends" tend to start on Friday these days. The grandkids, Bobby and Max, come for the day and stay overnight. Too rainy and cool for much outdoor play so we were stuck inside making Quadruple Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti -- a good intro to baking for the kids; bad for my diet ( I'm down pretty much 30 pounds since the beginning of the year; 58 pounds to go. With luck I'll be done with the diet until Christmas.  This week we lost access to our Camp in Quebec due to the Coronavirus restrictions -- all traffic across the bridge from Pembroke towards Waltham is stopped and nonessential travellers returned. This d...
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JC's Diary: Saturday June 19th to June 25

Now well into the centre of France where  JC experiences motor sports first hand.  At this point the next 7 pieces of paper are stained with water and ink-blotted. This is partial obscurity for 14 pages from the top and then 5 pages are stained on the bottom left and right corner with mostly lower obscurity. I've substituted words where I can reasonably guess the missing content without annotation otherwise I have noted where things are obscured.  I get a little lost on the route here due to the obscurations -- JC mentions heading towards Normandy but the town they mention is in the opposite direction. If I'm a little slow posting this it's because I'm really pushing to understand the route stuck between grandparenting duties and spring cleaning -- you all should see my office!  Nice weather as well means the boys and I are getting outside a little more.  Hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I did editing it.  Ken -----------------------...
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