Our Retirement Days: St. Jacobs Farmers Market

Wednesday 4 September 2013

St. Jacobs Farmers Market

My Royal Doulton Doll

Today, a found memory of mine burnt to the ground. And, only two and a half months before I was going to visit it again.

http://storify.com/theglobeandmail/st-jacobs-market-fire

As a child, my Mom made sure that us kids got to fly to visit our grandma (known on this blog as Emma and Rylee's great grandma) in Ontario at least every other year. We looked forward to these visits with Grandma. One of our favorite things to do when visiting grandma, was to go to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market. It was such a fun place with lots of things to see and do, and of course enjoy the delicious food it had to offer. Grandma knew how much we loved it and made sure we stopped by every time we were in Ontario. I will be visit Grandma in November and was hoping we could go to the market - I guess it will have to be a found memory as we build new traditions to look forward to with each visit.

As an adult, I don't get to see my Grandma as much. And, while I miss her, I feel like she is here with me often. You see, Grandma is good and doing special things to make sure I feel close when I am so far away. When visiting grandma as a kid, I always enjoyed looking in her glass cabinet at "her ladies." Grandma collected Royal Doulton porcelain figurines. Each lady had a name and a different look and feel. Of course, grandma made sure that in her collection was a lady that shared the same name as each of her granddaughters.

http://www.royal-doulton.com/

I enjoyed looking at these ladies and trying to pinpoint similarities between the figurines and each of my cousins. Believe it or not, it seemed that the dolls really did represent each of us girls. As I got older, grandma would even let me hold my lady to look at it up close. It was really special that she trusted me. And, I liked that idea that when I came home to Saskatchewan that grandma would still have my figurine.

In 2010, I got married. And, Grandma made the trip out west for my wedding. She took part in the morning-of activities, having breakfast and champagne while we got ready for my big day. My cousin Katrina was also there. As I was waiting to have my hair done, my Grandma came out of the spare bedroom with two gift bags. She told me she had something for Katrina and I that she was saving until we were old enough. I couldn't guess what was in that bag, but when I opened it brought a tear to my eye. It was my "lady" - the Charlotte figurine from Grandma's collection. It was such a perfect gift and really made the morning of my wedding special. Katrina and I were so pleased with these moving gifts. My lady sits in my china-cabinet with all of my valuables, where I can see it often and smile at the fond memories I have of my Grandma Audrey.