Miggie's Victory Party

The  Sept. 15th LAWN PARTY

Mig's Victory Party for winning the first prize garden in Ward 2 was originally set for Sept. 7, but there was a conflict with another family shindig, which was our daughter's baby shower. Yes folks, my 7th grandchild is on the way and if she arrives ahead of her ETA ( estimated time of arrival ) she might become a third September 28th b-day celebrant. with Miggie being the first, and Emma being the second...

So we diligently planned the Victory Party inviting just a few people, mainly neighbours and friends along Dixon Road, the street where we live since 1983.

It was only then that we invited to our home the residents of certain Dixon Road houses. Such is the situation in some neighbourhoods here in America ( yes, Canada is part of the North American continent ), some people wants to be CLOSED to their neighbours instead of being friendly with them. In fact, we never talked with our neighbour in 15 Dixon Road for  years already and I do not think we will ever talk again. Why? It's a long story so we will just go back to the original topic.

Thus we had that friendly meeting with some people from our street. We invited occupants of houses number 5, 9, 13, 20, 23, .

I was the babysitter for an Indian family in no. 5. They are from India. They are such good people. I brought their  young girl to the school bus pick up point everyday for the past 4 years. I did that routine for the last time on the final school day of this school year. This year she can already go to school by herself.

The occupants of no. 9 are Caucasians. The lady is a very friendly character who loves gardening too. Her husband is a quiet bearded man who looks like Richard Attenborough.Their two kids are almost my children's age. They stayed in Dixon Road much longer than us. I have been wanting to invite them to our house for the past 20 years because the couple  very friendly and we just talk on the street or in public events ( Farmer's market in Weston, etc. ).

My daughter and their daughter were members of the same Brownie team decades ago. It was only yesterday that I learned the man ( his name is Wilf )  is working for a big digital  laboratory processing company here in Toronto. The company ( to use exactly his technical jargon) converts "daily film rushes from film to digital format " Unlike the old days, film editing now a days are done digitally. He helps convert the original shots are still in celluloid form into digital format. Very technical and exacting job. The monitor they use for viewing the finished digital format of film shots to go back to the editing consoles in the US is around 80, 000 $.. Of course, we did some shop talk on the state of the movie industry here in Toronto which in his words is suffering financially for the past 2 years..

He said Toronto used to be called Hollywood of the North because US companies used to shoot their movies here. Cheaper production costs. Then US started wooing back their own film makers with almost 50% tax rebates. Thus there are no more major film shoots in our city. The last one was CINDERELLA MAN directed by Ron Howard.

Occupants of No. 13 are just recent arrivals to our block. They are from Viet Nam. The lady works seven times a week. The husband has just lost his job. I befriended them one Saturday when I dropped by their yard to check out their garage sale. The couple have a 10 year old daughter who befriended Emma only this week end. The two kids from number 9 and 15 lingered in the house playing in the basement with my old PC until the party broke up at 8:00 pm. This was long after their parents left for home. The kids did not like to go home, which is not surprising.

The occupants of no. 23 are from Shri Lanka. My wife always see the Shri Lankan lady at the bus stop and as such they became good friends. Again we got more acquainted with them through their garage sales.

The occupant of no. 20 is a Korean guy and he runs the Convenience store across the street. That is the store which Emma frequents  each time she visits us. I accompany her in crossing the street ( Dixon Road goes to the Airport so it gets busy all the time ) and to pay for her snacks when we check them out.

When the Korean guy arrived, his first remark to my guests was: "Hey, I know all of you!" All the guests have visited his store at one time or another to buy something.

 

The weather man predicted rain for Toronto yesterday Sept. 14. The party was supposed to start at 12:30 pm. Rain clouds were arriving and leaving the whole morning threatening a downpour any minute.But nothing happened.

At 12:00 noon, the rain clouds dissapeared and the blessed sun came out in full regalia. I almost broke into the song:

"Never saw the sun, shining so bright, never saw things going so right" (Blue Skies, Cole Porter )

It stayed with us until 6:00 pm. By that time, all guests left the house after enjoying Mig's egg rolls, half of a roasted pig and some pleasant chats. Men on one side of our deck, the women on the other. I did not invite any Filipino guests this time.

At about 6:30 pm, rain started to pour and it never let up until early morning.

Coincidence? I call it providence. God still answers prayers even just a small one like a few hours of good weather on what is predicted to be a blustery day.---#

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