the fellows

My dad moved to Bloor and Dovercourt in 1945 and attended Bloor Collegiate from then until 1950.

Carl Mollins on the BCI Student Council

There were two gangs my dad had to contend with.

The Beanery Boys hung out at Dovercourt and College near the West End YMCA. My dad and his friends had to run fast to avoid the Beanery Boys when they went to the Y.

The other gang was the Junction Boys.

When my dad met my friend who has lived in the Junction for about 25 years, he told her about his encounters with the Junction Boys - about how his high school shop teacher carried a sawed off baseball bat up his sleeve at school dances so he could chase away the trouble-makers. He also told us of the time his younger brother came running into a local coffee shop to tell my dad and his friends that the Junction Boys had ventured down to Dufferin and Bloor and were ready to rumble. My dad and his pals were happy to respond to the challenge.

My friend and I often think about the Junction Boys as we genteely sip a hot or cold beverage in one of the neighbourhood joints.

Just after I joined my friend as a Junction resident, I was looking through my dad's old photo album and found an article from the February 5, 1949 edition of the Toronto Star about my dad and his friends and it mentions both gangs!

A gang of more than 75 'teen-aged boys, wearing a variety of outfits, stormed into Parkdale United Church last night. No one was hurt. There were no zoot-suiters. No rowdyism anywhere. It wasn't that kind of an attack.It was a conference of boys from 15 to 21, belonging to different religious organizations [my grandfather moved to Toronto to become the minister of College Street Baptist Church], and sponsored by the Toronto members of the 28th Ontario Older Boys' parliament. The sessions continue today and Sunday.

The boys came to church, they said, "because it gives me a good feeling to be with good guys." Coming in sweaters sporting school crests, slacks and suits, the boys were members of Scout groups, Trail Rangers, Boys' Brigade, and Community "Y" groups. Some belonged to no groups at all.

John Chapple, leader of the boys, set forth the position of his group in relation to gangs. "This organization started before the gangs. While it helps keep fellows out of gangs, it seldom attracts gang members."

No "smart aleck" members of the Beanery or Junction gangs were in the group. "They probably think we're sissy or white collar boys. Anyway, we have a good time and they are welcome to come," said Chapple. His boys played football and hockey and were primarily interested in the church "or they wouldn't be here at all," said Chapple.

Rev. Neil Crawford of Hillcrest United church gave a sermon warning the youths on the dangers of communism, "Christianity is no less radical than communism," he said. "Christianity intends to redeem human souls while communism has a narrower range and only intends to remodel society."

The 28th Ontario Older Boys' parliament has three objectives: "To stimulate interest in their churches, to exchange ideas and fellowship, and to apply Christianity to their daily living."

Here's a photo of some of the fellows. My dad is second from the left. Carl Mollins, George Leek, Harold Chapman and George Shaw are still friends and have the occasional rendezvous.

I am not sure if my dad attended the sermon but if he did, it didn't seem to have the intended effect; while probably not a communist, he has been a resolute social democrat ever since I can remember.

The Gangs of Toronto, 1949
My grandfather, Harry W. Mollins, was the minister at College Street Baptist church.
(the blue squares are places I have lived my gang-free life).

More on Junction life in the 1940s and 50s: George Chuvalo reminisces about growing up on Hook Avenue.

ellen

I got this photo from here.

This is Ellen. Ellen died, very suddenly, very shockingly, on the weekend, on her birthday.

We met in junior high. I don't remember our first meeting but I do remember being in metalwork class with her. I did metalwork in Grade 7 and 8 and Ellen joined in Grade 8. We had a lesson on welding and most of us set about whatever welding project had been assigned - I can't remember what it was. There is a food warmer in my parent's basement so it might have been that. When it was time to have our projects evaluated, Ellen had made a fantastic art piece - a set of square tubes of different heights welded together. I remember thinking "WOW!" and "WTF!" at the same time. I was amazed that someone even had the idea to go off script let alone the nerve, impressed that my friend had such art in her and a little chagrined that she had surpassed my year-long training in a matter of weeks.

A lot of days with Ellen were like that one. She always seemed a little bit cooler, a little bit more self-assured and quite a bit more innovative than the rest of us.

Some of my best memories from high school are times Ellen took me to the Ruptash cottage. I loved it all - trekking to the cottage, swimming and rowing, picking blueberries, cooking on the wood stove, washing dishes outside by the well - but the part I loved best were the evenings when we would light one of the oil lamps, roll up some Drum tobacco, pour a drink, and talk long into the night.

I haven't spent a day or evening with Ellen for a long time now but when I see someone doing something in a way that surprises and delights everybody in the room, I think about her.

Another person I met at about the same time once said, "I still love pretty much everybody I used to love." That is true for me too. Ellen is one of a precious cohort and it hurts like hell that she had to leave us behind once more.

auntie lily

Auntie Lily died tonight at 11:30ish GMT.

She was a truly beloved aunt to me, my sister and all the children who found comfort and laughter in her home and in her garden.

Jill, Mum, Auntie Lily and me.

If we are lucky in this life we get two kinds of family members, both equally dear. We have the family we are born to and the people who become family through love and years and constancy.






My mum and Lily met as youngsters when they were working in London.

Mum

Auntie Lily

They remained the very best of friends through wind and rain

and all the things grand and trivial, wonderful and awful, that this life brings us.

They became sisters through love and years and constancy.

They loved each other deeply and we all got to be a part of it.

Auntie Lily, Uncle Joe,
Grandad and me.

Grandad, Uncle Joe,
Mum and me.

Thank you Mum for finding us this good aunt.

Thank you Auntie Lily for being my aunt.

I keep trying to write all the ways I am going to miss you but they are countless. Endless. Boundless.

I am the luckiest of nieces.

parkents

Scanner time again. Inspired by this.

Remember this?

Here is another picture of the lovely couple in Hyde Park. I took this one. I think they look even happier. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that when this picture was taken, they had been my Mum and Dad for six glorious years!

on a boat (ship) to england

mevagissey

spain

I just got the scanner up and running after a year without it and used these pics from a family holiday in Spain to test it out.

In these pictures we are hanging out with our Mum and Dad in Nerja. It was a small town in those olden days and we spent our days on the beach paddling about and leaving messages on the sand with the smooth white pebbles while our dad made us a bamboo hut to shade us from the sun. There was a river behind our apartment and sometimes we got to explore along the dried up riverbed and watch the farmers taking donkeys laden with sugar cane to market. We spent afternoons on the Balcón de Europa eating teeny, tiny ice creams for una peseta or drinking La Casera. Once I watched a bit of a bull fight on t.v. in the bar but my dad made me leave before the gross bit.

Julie had her birthday here. You can see her at her party on the bottom right. We both got donkeys. Hers was grey a straw hat. Later Grandad gave her a cart to go with the donkey. Mine was white and the most beautiful donkey ever. The big rose was given to Julie by the owner of Pepe Rico (the restaurant - which seems to be there still).

Our other favourite restaurant was El Molina (a good place for a gaggle of Mollinses to hang out) which also seems to be still in operation.

thank you mr. layton

elves

Last week we cleaned, raked and weeded the garden space and put down some fertilizer - regular, odourless fertilizer that is usually used by urban gardeners, not the smelly poo that [redacted because of this request] favours :)

We found a new sprig of the Sophie Setnyk Memorial Onion. Last year this onion grew to glorious heights and graced a very special pizza in a very special way so I decided to protect it with a tomato cage until it could grow big enough to fend for itself.

Another thing about Mrs. Setnyk was her love of flowers - a love so profound that she decorated the garden with silk and plastic flowers in places and at times where flowers could not thrive.

This morning I went out to let Callum out for a romp ... and look!


The Sophie Setnyk Memorial Onion has been decorated in true Mrs. Setnyk style. Much of her beautiful legacy garden has been covered over by the new management ... ironically(?) her beautiful border of lilies and phlox has been replaced with rows and rows of onions.

Thank you garden elves for bringing this little touch of whimsy back to the garden. It is as if a long lost friend has dropped by for a visit.

happy anniversary j and c

London 1955

Paris (Ontario) 2009

for kiley

rover at pooh corner.
toys by julie mollins.

goodbye adela

Adela and I worked at the school board together. We are both literacy workers but our work together was mostly at the union: first at CUPE Local 3452 and then, after amalgamation, at CUPE Local 4400.

Adela was chief steward at 3452 when I started working at the school board. I became a steward and she was my chief. Later, when Adela was elected Vice President, I became chief steward and she was still my chief. And what a chief she was—a funny, feisty warrior who led us and mentored us through good times and hard times with grace, humour and smarts.

This picture is from the Toronto Day of Action on October 26, 1996. Adela was a marshal for the parade. I always remember how beautiful and uplifting it was to come around the corner and see her standing there in the sunshine smiling and clapping for us. It was an amazing day and Adela was an amazing woman. The whole universe will miss her but especially those of us who knew her.

park walk - hyde park

Most of the park walk was unbelievably quiet. It is often hard to believe that you are in the middle of a city of 8 - 12 million people (depending on what you count as London). The rose gardens at Hyde park corner were a little noisier.



I left Hyde Park and continued the park walk in Green Park and St. James Park. It is fantastic that you can walk across this great swath of London through this pristine green space. I was pretty late for my dinner date so did not stop to take many more pictures -- just this quick snap of the palace.