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Out in the Back Shed making the soap to do the Dishes!..Back in Awhile.





Wilf Monnell (my father), his sister Olly, and their mother Miriam Ivimey Monnell
Believed taken on Mothers Day 1942, in the backyard of their home on Gilbert Street, Toronto.
Tradition used to be that women wore corsages to denote if their mothers were still alive or not. White meant the mother was deceased, a dark flower meant she was still alive.
Miriam died October 20, 1942. This is the last known photo of her and her children together.


When my brother and I were little, and came down with a cold, one of the old remedies our mother used to do was get a saucepan about half filled with water and bring it to a boil, shutting it off once it reached boiling point. She then took the ever present bottle of Camphorated Oil from the medicine chest and placed it in this pan of hot water for about 5 minutes. Every minute or so, Mom would check the temperature of the oil by dabbing some on the underside of her wrist. Once Mom thought it was sufficiently warmed, she would bring it into our bedrooms and carefully rub it all over our throats and chest, usually making sure we then popped on an undershirt with our flannel PJs on top of that. The final touch was the infamous Woolen Sock! Mom would put one of Dad's old woolen work socks around our throats, keeping it together with a safety pin. We would then have the covers tucked up to our chins and expected to sleep comfortably all night long like this, waking the next day all bright eyed and busy tailed! Strange thing is...it usually worked!! And within day or so, much to our chagrin, we'd be fine and back to school!




My aunts - Peg Davies and Olly Stuart, Grandpa Monnell and Grandma Vi Monnell
Taken in Norwich Ontario, cSeptember 1965
The family always gathered at Grandpa's on the weekend closest to September 16, to celebrate his birthday.
Grandpa died on April 9, 1968.


If you ever had a bad cough around my mother, look out! Her most favourite thing for a cough was the old Mustard Plasters! Yuck! Mom had kept some of the old flannel cloth diapers from when we were babies, and these had been cut up, bleached to death, and then appropriately stored in the linen closet. When one of us came down with a cough, out came the flannel pieces and the mustard! In those days, there wasn't the mixed mustard like today, it was powdered and you mixed it with water. Mom would mix the mustard into a thick, thick paste and slather it all over the centre of one of these pieces of flannel. As she would approach our rooms, you could smell her coming, but there was no getting away from it! This "plaster" flannel piece was then laid on our chests and covered with our flannel PJs, and the sheets tucked up tight to our chins again. Mom would sit on the bed beside us and talk to us a few minutes, or sing us a song, anything to distract us from this uncomfortably HOT and SMELLY remedy!! After what seemed eternity, she would remove the "plaster", tuck us back in and off to sleep we would go - probably with dreams of hot dogs and picnics for some strange reason! ha ha ha! Again, it worked and our coughs would be gone in no time!

Grandpa Monnell with my cousin Greg Stuart taken at Gilbert Street, Toronto c1951


Me! (Nanook-I'm the short kid ha ha!) with a couple neighbourhood buddies
Taken c1954 in my backyard at Homewood Avenue, Newtonbrook (now Willowdale) Ontario


This page will be for our Home Remedies, Family Traditions - Past, Present & Future!, Favourite Family Recipes (You make that fantastic Macaroni and Meat Dish everyone raves about - Tell us here all about it!) How about your Jam is raved about in 3 counties! Well then toot your horn right here!
In the Meantime...
Little Nancy and her friends would like you to check out the next page



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