I am sure that many of you reading this story have spent time visiting the Farbers at their country house up north in Ste. Agathe (turn left at the Calex station!) and you have very special memories of your time spent there. I wanted to share some of mine with the family.
Everyone was (and is) always welcome up north at the Farber country house. For as long as I can remember, my parents, sisters and I would drive up to the Farbers to stay for a few days. During the winter, we downhill skied and sometimes cross country, had massive snow ball fights, sledded, and occasionally skated on the lake. In the summer we water-skied, boated, swam and suntanned. And all year round, we laughed, played, joked, sang, played cards and games, watched movies and sports games, and ate lots and lots of delicious food. No one could entertain like the Farbers can. It was perfect for us because my parents had Issie and Sandra to play with--no one could make my father laugh harder than Issie could, and Tammy, Lisa and I had Robin, Tracey, David and Jonathan and all their friends to hang out with.
The first time my sisters and I learned to snow ski was at the Farbers' country house. In the old house, we would all be sleeping upstairs and on ski mornings, Issie would be at the bottom of the stairs banging on the wall to wake us up. He would bang and shout, "Wake up! First car is leaving in twenty minutes!" We would all scramble to get on our ski clothes and rush downstairs to put on our ski boots and grab our equipment. Issie always helped us with the boot clips, which were so hard to do! And if I'm not mistaken, Issie also made the sandwiches for lunch!
All the Farber children were excellent skiers and my sisters and I would just try to keep up. Of course we took lessons, but I think the best teacher I had was Issie, even though he had never been on skis before. He knew so much about skiing technique because of all the time he spent in the chalet watching his amazing children and wife fly down the mountain. Skiing at Mont Castor, we felt like we owned the mountain as it was the tiniest hill with only one t-bar.
I still love skiing through trees, which I learned to do at Mont Castor, veering off the main trail and skiing in and out of the snow covered trees. All the kids, the Frieds, the Farbers and their friends, would try to ski in one line through narrow trails within in the trees, but of course we were the least experienced and would be falling and holding everyone up. (My sister Tammy, who has long since recovered, had one of the most spectacular falls one day on Mont Castor, Farbers--remember? She had to get taken down in the sled.) Back at the house, we sometimes skied cross country over the lake. I remember my feet freezing so much that it took hours to defrost them in front of the fire. To help warm up, Sandra would make hot chocolate and best of all, her chocolate fondue!
At night, I remember all the kids dressing up in snowsuits for massive snowball fights and sliding down the hill behind the house to the lake on garbage can covers. Even when we were pretty old to be playing in the snow (umm…high school?), we still had snowball fights, wearing ill-fitting snow suits we found in the house, laughing and joking until we were all soaked. I distinctly remember seeing David dressed in a kinda snug (and way colorful!) snowsuit whose prime had passed, whipping snowballs at others. On those winter weekends, we would hope that there would be a snowstorm Sunday, so that we would have to stay over and miss school on Monday.
In the summer, there were so many waterfront activities available at the Farber country house. They had equipment to outfit an entire summer camp. You could windsurf, rowboat, paddleboat, swim, motorboat and of course, water-ski. Again, Sandra, Robin, Tracey, Jonathan and David were amazing swimmers and water-skiers. If you thought Issie was a great snow ski teacher, he excelled as a water-ski instructor. He drove his motor boat named Nic and took us all around Petit Lac Long as many times as we wanted. His constant encouragement was uplifting and never wavered. To this day, when I attempt to get up on one ski, I still try to think of what Issie would say to me.
I also wind surfed for the first time at the Farbers. I hopped on the board not knowing what I was doing, miraculously had the wind at my back, and surfed across the lake. Of course, once there, I was stuck and had no idea how to get back. Who else came to my rescue but Issie. From his chair under the big tree by the lake (I can still see him sitting there), Issie saw that I was not moving, so he had Tracey come get me by motor boat and tow me back. I think he teased me that whole night about being stuck out in the middle of the lake - what would I have done without him saving me?
Another big summer event was the volleyball game in the front yard. Everyone was invited to play, even those of us kids who could barely tap the ball. Issie would coach us and say "Use your fingertips! Fingertips!" Issie was a great player who knew how to spike the ball across the net. In later years, we moved over to the tennis court, where you couldn't go on the court with black-soled sneakers. I can still see Sandra peaking out the kitchen window to make sure everyone's sneakers were o.k..
How can we talk about the Farbers without mentioning the food! Sandra, with her daughters' help, made gourmet dishes at every meal time and to this day actually continues to be a tireless hostess. There was pretty much everything you could ever want to eat at the Farbers. Special mention goes to her rib roast, swiss roll ice cream cake (an old favourite!), marble cheese cake and banana chocolate chip cake. Issie certainly pitched in with cooking too - who can forget Issie taking out the grilling machine and making Wilenski specials? My mouth is watering for the taste of one now. Lunch and dinner time was when all the laughing, joking and teasing took place. Issie held court from the far end of the table, Sandra was at the other end closest to the kitchen, and everyone else in between trying to get a line in between Issie's zingers. I seem to remember Jonathan able to match his father's wit. Issie told great stories and within minutes always had everyone laughing out loud. A lot of his teasing centered on his family, but it was with love and a twinkle in his eye.
For added entertainment, as if more was ever necessary, every Saturday night was movie and dessert night at Beverly and Harvey Greenberg's country house 5 minutes up the road. Like the Farbers', the Greenbergs' opened their home to everyone, no matter how many guests the Farbers brought along with them.
A lot has been written on this site about the closeness of the second generation of cousins growing up. I truly believe that a lot of the closeness among the third generation, the second cousins, developed at the Farbers' house. So many cousins from all over the U.S., Israel and Montreal spent time together at the Farbers and reinforced the strong family ties. Dalfens from all over, Hutmans, Litwins, Messers, Sands from Israel and Florida, Telios, Welts, and of course, Uncle Julius and Aunty Regina, the kindest, warmest and most gentle people. In addition to family, we got to know Robin, Tracey, David and Jonathan's friends. Way before Robin and Sandy married, we knew Sandy as one of Robin's best friends from spending time at the Farbers.
The warmth and generosity of each member of the Farber family is unparalleled. They always made one feel special to be a part of their family, sitting around the kitchen table, laughing, telling stories, mugging for the camera and later video recordings. My childhood and teen-aged years have been captured on Farber cameras. The house was always loud, busy and full of warmth, laughter and love - definitely full of life. You never had more fun than at the Farber country house.
