What are you doing on Labour Day??
I am going to the "Homecoming" at North Buxton, which is a tiny little village in southwestern Ontario, Canada. North Buxton was one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad in Ontario. Hundreds of African American slaves came here to escape slavery and begin new lives. Many ancestors return here every September. Since I teach sociology and love history, I make it a point to spend my Labour Day in North Buxton.
After slaves were freed in the US, many went back home to be with their families, but many stayed on in the North Buxton and Chatham, Ontario area.
Every Labour Day, thousands of people travel to North Buxton from the US and Canada to celebrate, find relatives, play baseball, converse with others and eat good food. There are huge busloads of people from Chicago, Detroit and many other cities in the US. Chatham, Ontario is part of the African Canadian Heritage Tour - we also have Uncle Tom's Cabin here!
I am looking forward to spending Monday in North Buxton and running into many friends who I haven't seen for a while.
So.. what are you doing?
Margaret
Margaret, all that history sounds so fascinating. I love hearing about things like that. I would love to see some of that...maybe someday.
We are going to a cook out at our nephews house tomorrow. Nothing much just some of the family....not like the one yesterday. Then I am guessing once we are home it is just vegging for us until bedtime.
I was going to accomplish some things today and I accomplished absolutely nothing at all...story of my life sometimes...well...most times. ha ha
I hope that you have a great Labor Day and enjoy yourself.
It's not what you gather, but what you scatter
that tells what kind of life you have lived.
your day sounds interesting! i have relatives who were part of the kentucky raid in michigan -some of the "railroaders" were hidden on a farm of my ancestors in Cass County...
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White
We are going on a picnic with some friends and grilling steaks then mostly home> hubby is building our garage and is working 7 days a week so he wants to put in some hrs here when hes not exhausted and I will pretend to do some housework. House is driving me nuts and I cant do much yet!!!
Have a wonderful day everyone
Hi Margaret:
When I was a little girl, growing up in St Catharines, my parents were close friends to a black family...Dad worked with the father...their son, Ricky, played with us as kids..like we were cousins only different colours so I grew up never having the racial issues that some do. Ricky's parents were very much like my aunt and uncle as my parents were to Rick. They actually were the only black people I knew until I grew up. Anyway, I digress.
Every summer, what seemed like thousands of black families came to the Lakeside park in Port Dalhousie to celebrate Emancipation Day. They came from Toronto and from New York state on cars and buses. Often, my sister and I were invited to join Rick and his parents..what glorious fun we had...the picnics, all the amusement park rides, the fish pond, the cotton candy, the swimming at the beautiful and very safe beach and, of course, the famous merry-go-round that still charges only a nickel to ride!
Ironically, I had my father's blue eyes and white blonde hair and my mother's white Irish skin so I guess I really stood out in the crowds....lol..but I never noticed nor was I ever treated different.
Sadly, that tradition seems to have faded away but it leaves wonderful memories of happy children, no matter what colour they were.
I.m sorry..I got so caught up in old memories that I forgot to post about what I'm doing for Labour Day!
We will be staying home...I will be stripping more summer savoury bushes of their fragrant leaves and filling up glass quart jars of the leaves to use during the winter. My office is still in the middle of re-organzing and cleaning..I hate that job and will use ANY excuse to divert my attention to something else. I also have to finish reading The Energy Experiment and maybe visiting Mother before my Minds for Success Monday evening meeting at 7 pm.
Derek is working tonight as Bouncer, as he does every weekend and working on rebuilding his two dumptrucks for the winter snow plowing season.
And, of course, after dark, fireworks!
Friday we had a family dinner for my son's homecoming from Iraq a few weeks ago. I made my
"famous" lasagna and Huckleberry Slump. We had a fun night joking and kidding around.
Saturday I was to go to the farmers market... too cold/rainy and I had a cold. Head cold so bad, I couldn't tell what was running more, my nose or my eyes. Really stuffed up
Sunday, I stayed home even though I felt better. My son had a homecoming party for all his friends and family... he roasted a pig. He loves to BBQ and does a great job. I was feeling better but not enough to wander around out in the cold wind. Rain was really heavy today. Actually storms.
today I will get up at 5:00 to babysit upstairs for the day, I don't have anything planned but might find something fun to do..... inside, not going out in the rain.... sigh
Wi**** would be nice weather for "princess" to take her new birthday bike to the park.
Whatever you do..... have fun and smile
Millie
I had a split weekend ... off Saturday, work Sunday, off today ... the paycheck will be worth it all.
So today, I'm doing absolutely nothing ... watching baseball and reading. The only work around the house will be dumping a litter box completely (really stinky ... needs it!). Otherwise, I'm not getting out of my nightshirt. I'm just hanging around and enjoying the day off. Gonna be lazy.
