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Don't feel much like updating today, so I'll cheat and post a pic.


This is Ajax's southern waterfront, (at the south end of Harwood Ave, which should really be classified as a boulevard....)

When I was but a wee lad, my family lived a five to 10 minute walk from the shore. It was much more under-developed back in the day. If memory serves correct, it was nothing but an empty piece of grass up top, and several ditches leading to the rocky waterfront. There was no beach to speak of.

Memories of my youthful summers are still potent in my mind. How glorious was that feeling when our family's first kite struggled to soar above our heads on a cloudy but not particularily windy day. How proud I felt when my rock would skip more than 5 times over the choppy waters. I can still smell the lake breeze and feel the sun beating down my happy face.

Of course, living so close to the shores had its share of misery. Summers often brought waves of dead fish washed up onto the shore, and the stench would cover the lands like a much too wet and stinky blanket. Seagulls would circle over our houses like a Hitchcock-ian horror flick, squawking over their morsels, and pooped as they pleased. No, it wasn't always good.

There were terrifying moments in the winter too. Residing by the lake is a particular hill, who's height and face would be perfect for tobogganning, if not for the fact it bottoms out to a cliff. But kids being kids, how could we have known danger? Besides, our over-loving parents could not deny their children such simple wintery pleasures as flying down a plastic sled.

On that particular day, our family had trekked out to this hill. Already gathered were a good bunch of thrill seekers, sliding down on various contraptions. Some could be steered, while others could not. We had a "not".

My brother, being only age six, also had the disadvantage of being light. With a plastic toboggan disc that only had grab handles and no steering mechanism or brakes, shaken with a healthy dose of gravity, add snow, and it was a recipe for disaster.

As my brother began to pick up speeds, both my Mom and I realized to our horror there was a real chance he could fly off that said cliff. Normally, an adult would stand at the bottom, ready to stop their kids from going over. This day, there wasn't one.

My Mom, with her built-in "protect-the-offspring" alarm blaring off, began to run. Now my mother, bless her (Hi Mommy!), is not an athletic person by nature. Let me assure you however, that day she could have bested Ben Johnson after two cycles of steroids. Seeing my precious brother in imminent danger, she sprinted, without thought for anything else but "Save my kid!"

Unfortunately, running down a snow covered hill isn't the easiest of task for anyone, so she fell, face first. I still remember my Mom falling, in her yellowish-orange jacket and brown/beige-striped toque. Her thick, stylish brown rimmed glasses flying off her face, as if foreshadowing worse things to come. I can still see in my mind's eye that as she fell, snow puffs poofed from underneath her.

I wish I could write a heroic tale of how yours truely sprinted down the face of the cliff and snatched my brother from the brink of death. Alas, I did no such thing. I could only stand there stiff-legged, frozen at the side of the hill, watching as my brother continued to slide, knowing full well he wasn't smart enough to roll off the toboggan to save himself.

But then, something miraculous occured. Something truely so wonderful that it should only occur in special-effect movies. However, it was happening, in front of my eyes.

He stopped. Not cold turkey like, but at the bottom of the hill, where by all accounts his speeds should have carried him over the edge, it didn't. He just slowed, nonchalantly, and stopped.

I think our family had a real scare that day, and I can still recall perfectly every angle, every facet of that scene. I can tell you how cold it was, how the skies were a washed out grey, and how it gently snowed afterwards. All this I remember because it's hard to forget after witnessing a near true-miracle.

Safe to say, we weren't allowed back onto that hill though.

....Hmm, and I didn't have a thing to write before this picture. posted by losir at 4:23 PM