Category Archives: time capsule

Time Capsule #3: The Goose Bone Weather Prophet

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This week I pulled a copy of the Napanee Beaver from February 1901 out of our Time Capsule.

Napanee Beaver, 1901

The newspaper is huge (open it out and it’s 36 inches wide!), the print tiny and the articles, ads, notices crammed in.

I don’t understand how people could read it. I found it exhausting. And what about the typesetters? Imagine those thousands of teeny tiny blocks they had to put in place.

The Napanee Beaver

This week as I was searching for interesting tidbits to transcribe into this post, I realized how much I missed the creative zap from last year’s weekly Blurt-writing. Time for some creative fun! So this is a mash-up. I’ve spliced together Continue reading →

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Time Capsule #2: Names and Happiness of the World

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The years I’m very good, Santa leaves an Old Farmers Almanac in my Christmas stocking. I’ve always loved reading it. Not that I ever use the astronomical calculations or the tide tables. But I enjoy the Farmer’s Calendar. Perhaps it reminds me of my childhood in rural England.

No Almanac in my stocking this year (what did I do that Santa disapproved of?) but I did pull one out of my Time Capsule this week. Dated 1869.

Old Farmer's Almanac 1869

Robert B. Thomas is the name on the cover – and has been since 1792, the year he founded the Almanac. That’s 224 years, going on 225!

Inside the Almanac, the other extreme: a thought for someone whose name has long been forgotten:

THE INVENTOR OF THE PLOUGH
It is not known where he who invented the plough was born, or where he died. Yet he has effected more for the happiness of the world than the whole race of heroes and conquerors, who have drenched it with tears, and deluged it with blood, and whose birth, parentage, and education have been handed down to us with a precision precisely proportionate to the mischief they have done. (Colton, Old Farmer’s Almanac 1869)

Brome County Fair, QC 2015

*****

Weekly Photo Challenge: Names

Time Capsule #1: ‘Ware Placid Girls

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steamer trunk lock

First of all I have to assure you that my husband and I were not around in 1907 – so what is the January 1907 edition of a magazine doing in our 1970’s Time Capsule?

Doesn’t it seem a little spooky to you that the first item we pull out on 1 January 2017 has a January date, and was printed in a year ending in 7?

Attached to the cover is a label saying ’10p’ but I’m sure we bought it at some market or second-hand store in Ontario.

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2017: Unlocking the Time Capsule

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steamer trunk lock

When my husband and I came to Canada in January 1976 we started gathering odd bits and pieces in a Time Capsule.

I can’t now remember why! Nor do I remember when we stopped.

But this year – 41 years later and Canada’s 150th anniversary – I’ve decided it’s time for us to open the Time Capsule – an old steamer trunk we bought in Toronto – to see what’s in there.

Going by the weight, there’s a lot! If I remember right it’s mostly paper – show programmes, interesting flyers, old newspaper articles and magazines, old postcards and other written memorabilia we came across in our daily lives or in second hand stores…

Yesterday, January 1, I opened the Time Capsule. So that’s why we stopped – the steamer trunk is full to bursting!

I told my husband to close his eyes and reach in and pick one thing.

Every Wednesday during 2017, I’ll share whatever we pull out in our weekly Lucky Dip (my turn next!) into the Time Capsule. Starting this Wednesday…