We lived in a lovely home (built in 1940) on a wide street lined with towering elms on the boulevards. Sadly those elms were ravaged by Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s but the City of Winnipeg has worked diligently to save and manage those that survive.

Our house was 2 storeys high with its side staircase making a broad turn at the main floor by the front door. It was not what you’d call a grand home, but it had all its components on a small scale. The dining room housed a dining suite with hutch plus our piano along one wall. The living room… well my only solid memory of it is the TV! Of course it was black-and-white but that detail doesn’t register in my mind. Brother Mark and sister Tracy were born while here.

Most of my recollections centre around the second floor where Mark’s and my bedrooms were located, with a bathroom between and a sunny playroom in the front. The bedrooms had short squat entrance doors to the kneewall areas along their lengths but these were much too creepy to spend time in. The entire level was our own separate space.

There was a full basement but I remember little of it except for the wringer washer and wash tub, even helping feed clothes through the ringer. Mom tells me it was replaced with an electric one after Tracy’s birth.

The back yard housed the garage, a grassy area with Dad’s pretty flower beds, crabapple tree, swing set, and sandbox. The walkway arch at the front was a focal point for me and featured prominently in my “art”. Lillies-of-the-valley grew along the entire length of the wall facing the expanse of grass and the corner store beside us, owned by Mrs. Dunsmore (We called her “Nanny Dunsmore”)and her daughter Leith.

Oh… and our phone number was Spruce 2-6965! The first two numbers were supplied by the SP in Spruce.

As I write this today. I am struck about how much I love old homes now (our own has reached 160 years) and how much I Iove brick, stone, beautiful woodwork, and asymmetry… all aspects of Ingersoll.