The picture was taken at MaGrath Mansion in Edmonton, where we went for our formal photographs. It was kind of a roll of the dice what weather we would get, having our wedding at the end of September, but we took a chance and got about 50/50! It was a little on the cool side in the morning and afternoon, but we had a 3pm start to our ceremony and it started going a little cooler around that time. One vivid memory I have of our actual ceremony is that Randy was such a combination of nervous and cold, that his nose started to run really badly, and as we were standing opposite each other saying our vows, he had a little dewdrop hanging off the end of his nose! Our wedding party was shivering by about half way through getting our photos taken, we were glad to get to the meal and the reception, where it snowed to top of the day later on that night!
That has also reminded me of one thing Randy hated-being cold! I have many, many, memories of him watching TV on the floor, his usual position, with a heater-(which 20-30 years ago they were real fire-hazards) going full blast for hours! He'd fall asleep with it on and I'd wake up and turn it off and scold him for potentially burning the house down. He didn't want to be under a ton of blankets though to keep warm, just that darn heater! And you know what, Kristen is exactly the same! It can be a warm summer day and she will have jeans on and a shirt with a hoodie over top, and probably a NorthFace jacket on top of that! And, guess what you'll find in her bedroom? That's right, a heater! And most mornings, it's on full blast when I go down to get her up for school and I walk into an oven, no joke. I don't know what's happened to her Canadian blood, but it doesn't keep her warm-she absolutely would not survive in a Canadian winter anymore!
Haha, that's so funny that Kristen loves little space heaters too.
ReplyDeleteHeat in our house was often an issue, dad would turn down the thermostat, one or a few of the boys, me , randy, and david, would sneak down from our bedroom early in the morning, and crank it up, then sit huddled around the warm air vent in the living room, hiding behind a big chair, dad would wake up, come to the living room, saying, "who turned up the damn heat"?, turn it down, and go back to bed. THEN, we would come out of hiding and turn it back up....so on and so on.
Opps, i meant to say, dad would turn down the heat at nighttime, to save money. He was always very conscious of not wasting resources, and money. Turn out the lights when you leave the room, use high wattage stuff less often..and so on. I guess you would call that GREEN now.
ReplyDeleteOne thing he always allowed though, was, when deb moved out, and randy got her room, he would sleep with a little car heater beside him, 1500watts, all night long, on full blast, and dad said nothing about it. He knew randy's poor circulation kept him cold most of the time, so that was one extravagance that was allowed.
He was always very close to, and protective of randy.
I was raised like you and your siblings, Jeff, where I have it embedded into me that you turn lights off when you don't need them and when you leave a room, and turn the heat either down or off at night!
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect person to give such a highlight of Randy. Thankyou Jackie for taking the time, I so enjoyed it. Your lucky, we have "memories" but you get to look in the eyes of his girls everyday and see him. You know what I mean. The genetics, the expressions,the cuteness and the quirks. The girls are so beautiful and you and russell have done an amazing job. They are so busy with sports and friends and church. Were proud and Randys proud. Thank you again
ReplyDeleteWe all second that motion of Debbie's, Jackie.And then there's Russell! the guy you picked to continue on as great husband and father. We all appreciate him so much, he's a good man, you couldn't have picked a better one to carry on in Randy's place. And may I say I'm so glad you've joined BLOG, you've already contributed so much to our family history. In my view, that's what this blog is all about, memories of times gone by and of those people we love.
ReplyDeleteawwwww thank you so much, Mom and Debbi... you're making me tear up! I'll pass your kind word onto Russell too, thank you again.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jeff, BTW, now I realize why that heater vent behind the chair in the front room, was always so ridiculously soiled. The other walls weren't too bad, even in the hallways, but that little niche was always grubby and I was constantly having to take soap and water and various other spray cleansers to it. From those three sets of little hands, sometimes all three of you boys would be intertwined in there soaking up the heat!
ReplyDeleteYah, well, in winter, the big bedroom upstairs was friggin cold. We had to warm up some for the trudge to school, through a foot or two of snow.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of us three boys, Em, do you remember what "WHICKETS", were?
ReplyDeleteRandy was particularly adept at the morning "whickets!" game with mommy.
No memory of WHICKETS whatsoever, what on earth was it? Sounds like something your fat little head dreamed up, to pay tricks on Mum.
ReplyDelete'whickets' are when r and d would be around the table with u and i, in early morning, before school, they would practice at intentionally loosening their ring finger, shake it about, and twack you in the head with it, and say, whickets!
ReplyDeletei can't believe you don't remember that. "whickets", to the head?
it's called the rubber finger.
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT, Kristy knows what i'm talkin bout. Randy and Dave alway's said "whickets" while they twacked granny on the head, i didn't know it was also called "the rubber finger".
ReplyDeleteKristy, how could that impossibly stupid "game" be passed on to your generation? If you kids abused your poor mother like that, then I am completely disillusioned with the perfection of my grandchildren, and I am hereby condemning you to another fall on the rocks. Tell me you just played it on each other....
ReplyDelete(see how she takes stuff she read on facebook onto blog? the convo tween kristy and ry, about her having fallen on the sidewalk?
ReplyDeleteis that legal, to "borrow" from facebook?)
;-)
winkyface
Whoever said it's illegal to borrow from facebook? If it is, then both Camille and I will have to be chucked in the slammer. She does it all the time, shamelessly referring to www.aool! She gets away with it, why can't I???
ReplyDeleteouch shorty! condemning me to fall on rocks, what a nice granny i have :p no i never played that game, you just see all in junior high.
ReplyDeleteKristy, you're off the hook. I'm being just too cruel....and I do accept your story that you never played that silly game. I know you never lie to me, being blunt and plain speaking just like your granny, right, dear? I want you to take very good care of yourself until all the owies go away, tell Lee to do all the work and bring gourmet meals to you
ReplyDeleteas you relax in bed. Three or four days should do it.
I was reminded of Randy's expertise at fixing things by something Jackie said. I can't beging to list all the things he did around her house, not only FIXING THE BROKEN, bu installing things. He put in our musical door bell, that played a dozen different tunes, it was a constant source of amazement to anybody that came to our door! He installed the overhead ceiling fan in our bedroom, which saved my life many a time when the heat waves hit Edmonton. He fashioned the big wind chimes at the back of the house out of piping, they were so loud and clear you could hear them all over the neighborhood, he used a painted lid off an ice cream bucket for the clapper. He painted the stairway (which was "way up there"), he was absolutely unafraid of heights. He shingled the entire garage, and it was done every bit as well as the professional job on the house. Untrained, really, but he just had the uncanny knack of being able to figure out how things worked, and persistent! he'd keep at it until he found a way to do what had to be done. He was truly remarkable...and so willing! Always there johnny-on-the-spot when help was needed.And seems to me, he helped Phil all the time with things around their house. They were very close, Jackie's dad and his prize son-in-law.
ReplyDeleteI don't get on the computer much on the weekends, so here it is, Monday morning and I'm catching up... I have never heard of the "whickets" game! I'm surprised since you remember playing it with Randy and Dave so well, Jeff. You'd think with Randy's sense of humour that would have been something he would have enjoyed teaching his girls! That will be something else I intend to ask him about some day!
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right Mom, about him being absolutely unafraid of heights-maybe Debbi or Kristy will remember this, but once when we were at Debbi & Steve's visiting with them, Debbi remarked on one very high beam in the house that never got dusted because nobody would go up there to dust it. Well, next thing you know, Randy's up there with polish and a cloth, dusting away! I know I have a photo of him doing it, too!
And you're absolutely right, Mom, about how he fixed things not only for you, but for me and my family too-my parents were always soliciting his help for something that needed doing, and Randy always did it willingly and with enthusiasm. He helped both my Dad and my brother with the cars, if he wasn't fixing something he was changing the oil, early on in our dating relationship, he cut down about half a dozen very tall trees for my Dad, as they were obstructing light from our house. I have pictures of that too! My parents and my brother Colin were as close to Randy as you could get without being blood related. They truly loved him as their own and Colin had a brother. No in-laws required! They all still miss him dearly and remember him with love.
I don't steal from Facebook!
ReplyDeleteThis is true, Mither, Camille only, and rarely, MENTIONS archives, on the fbook. It's called cross promotion.
ReplyDeleteI was saying, you took "information" from fbook, and brought it to BLOG.
It's all fun and games 'til someone get's sued.
But we don't do that in Canada. Much.
And BLOG is a penniless target.
And "whickets" was harmless, and adorable. And i never whicketed you once, that was R +D's shtick.
Heheh, shticky whickets.
ReplyDelete