I received an email last night from a friend who wondered what I looked like under my Easter hat. I was thirteen and looked like this. This was my Gidget phase. Although my French teacher called me Gigi.
My Grandfather Jinks took this photo on the Ferry. We were on our way to Toronto Island for a picnic. You can see the basket beside me. I spent many happy days on the Island with him and Grandmother.
The gardens on the Island could make me believe in fairies. The flower petals, perfect and glowing with jeweled color, were definitely the fine cloth used to fashion the fairy garments I saw in old family tomes.
I was particularly charmed by the lovely little stone bridges that crossed the canals. White swans would float across the mirrored surfaces of the waterways. I would ache with the loveliness of it all. This brought to me in real life the ancient lands of lords and ladies that I read about in my mother's childhood books.
Grandad convinced me that if I looked carefully I could see Buffalo on the other side of Lake Ontario but I don't remember being able to site that distant shore.
To catch a glimpse of the Island as it is today go to http://www.toronto.ca/parks/island/index.htm
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