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I read this quote last week and it spoke to something deep within me. It was especially true on a day I had just found a bunch of my old class pictures and report cards from high school. We grew up way too fast in my neighborhood. Our innocence died at a tragically young age, along with our childhood—and I’m seeing that it is even worse now with my own kids. Sure, we still went out but it wasn’t to play and it was all so far from a game. We traded in the games for forty ounces of booze, got part-time jobs, chose different post-secondary paths. Our brothers, sisters and friends were once everything to us, our whole world. We only knew a six block radius and that was all we needed to know as far as we were concerned. When I think back on those times, it brings a bittersweet smile to my face. Sweet because of all the fun we had doing things we shouldn’t have been doing, yet bitter because they’re over and went by way too fast. Unlike friends, you keep in touch with brothers and sisters for life, of course. But now I’m starting to reach that age where medical conditions are making me realize that one of us is going to be the last. I wonder how it will feel to outlive my parents and all of my siblings—to be the last of my immediate family.
In the 1960s, two brothers and a sister grew up in this southern Ontario farmhouse. John and Morris were very close brothers who shared an obsession for working on cars. Their sister Anna completed the trio. Life’s inevitable separation came soon enough. John moved to Hamilton. Anna married and wrote to her brothers endlessly, sending them postcards from her numerous travels that can still be found throughout the house. Morris stayed in closest proximity to Dunnville, keeping a close watch over the the old farmhouse after the death of their parents. In 2014, John “died suddenly” at home in Hamilton. One year to the day later, in August of 2015, Morris also died suddenly. He was 64. The following photoset shares a brief memorial glimpse into their lives. I was particularly moved by the class letter that Morris typed to John and could feel the strength of family bonds.
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<13> This hung on the wall during my first visit to this farmhouse in 2013….
<14> Two years later, on a return visit, the wall was bare. John died during this time and I hope that Morris or his sister came back to retrieve it.
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<19> Various old cars – a lifetime of collecting them – were strewn throughout the overgrown land behind the property. When I first visited this house, I hiked in from behind. The area was so thickly overgrown that I could not continue forward. I ended up climbing onto the roof of a car and jumping from vehicle to vehicle, leap-frogging through the foliage. I turned around and took this shot of the path that I followed.
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<24> Morris—more affectionately known in high school as “Fats” —on the top right.
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Beautiful thread and pics Ground State These are the real ghosts... The 60's seem like yesterday to me at times... I still dream dreams from back then including repeating ones. Time seems like a blur especially in Dream Time. Chew on this for a while... Einstein once commented after the death of a lifelong friend: "...for us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one." http://everythingf...r.com/einstein.htm
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in. |
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Cool spot. It stirs up a hard to describe feeling when you find a house like this with so much personal paperwork left behind.
[last edit 8/8/2019 4:26 PM by Dave Summer - edited 1 times]
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Incredible when a post can stir up and evoke nostalgia and memories of a simpler time gone by. Great find !!
"if you are not selfish enough to make yourself happy, you have nothing of value to offer the world." |
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Stuff like this makes me so sad... Great photos, great storytelling, as per usual. <3
My Blog; https://historyindecay.blogspot.com/ |
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Jesus christ this is awesome!!! so well done!!!!!!!!!!
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time. Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah |
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You smacked me right in the feels...
Into the Fray. https://www.ninjalobster.com/ |
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WOW..poweful message, you made me dwell in my own youth memories which are just dribbling away.
Is this reality or my memory getting mileage? Am I staring at the sun or blood vessels in my eyelids |
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Wow, this is such a moving piece. Thank you for posting!!
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An update on some happenings at this house: https://www.chch.c...ouse-in-dunnville/
If you're seeing this here on UER, please let me 'Follow' your work on Flickr: https://www.flickr...otos/91808861@N04/ |
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I find my self wanting to know even more about Fats and the family now. What a fantastic post and amazingly well done. I salute you!
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I really enjoyed this post. It is amazing that so many relics of the past were left intact here. That personal connection and accompanying fascination that you feel when finding things like that is why I urbex. I can also relate to recently going through s box of childhood "stuff" and being completely unprepared and floored by how much it emotionally affected me!
Best Regards |
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I'm horrified... Who drops off a cage full of cats into an abandoned house and leaves them?! Awful!
My Blog; https://historyindecay.blogspot.com/ |
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Honestly one of the more moving posts. Sad in many ways. Great pictures and information. I really like the quotes that were added. The letter, a pen pal perhaps, lotto tickets and post cards. Life not unlike ours - in this approaching 60 year old time capsule.
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