WITBy.FREEPFRESS, WEDNlEsDAY, SEPIEMBER 6,1989, PAGE 5 Summer, filled with Sun and fun and bricks and Peter Pan, bias corne and gane. There will neyer be another like it. Those who read this space with any regularity (thank you bath) may recali my references to a certain four-year-old. She is my daughter Erin. Ths summer, in place of commuting to work in Toronta during my teacher's holiday ("Twa months!' Must be nice!" "Sure is!") I-spent my vacation at home. Oh, sure, washing a few dishes, making the odd meal, washing laundry naw and then - just enougli of that sort of stuif ta keep up the pretense of being liberated. Many of us modem males are like that. I also slapped a bit of paint at abjects that someone else in this liousehold painted out. And, in my tour de force, dug a huge pit in my si deyard inta which I duniped limestene screenings and-bricks and then called a patio. I puttered, tried to keep the lawn trimmed, and nursed a modest vegetable garden. But the most important time I spent. was witli Erin. The walks ta the nearby park every eveming, sometimes twice a day. the trip ta the zoo; the visit taý the movie theatre te see Peter Pan. The interminable videos: E.T., Peter Pan (the Mary Martin version), An American Tail, The Sword in the Stone. Twice, three times a day; rainy days, sunny' days, marnings, evenings, afternoons. Patiently, while I painted, she videoed. While I dug, she videoed. While I read, she videoed. But then she would hie me off to the park. Sunny afternoans. Humid evenings. Rainy days. But neyer during thunderstornns Add in the Park,' we wauld play. She, in her imaginings, jumping ahead years, te, fly with Peter Pan, te fiee Captain Hoek, ta be one of the lost boys. (I VITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Summer 0 memories ain sure somewvhere some extreme feminist will cali for the rewriting of Peter Pan because one littie girl insists on being a 'lost boy.' She refuses, quite riglitly, tebe a 'lost girl.' And I, for the first time in many years, again pumped a swing up in the air sa blue, became Peter Pan, walked the plank of the playgraund pirate slip, becanie, for brief flashes, a kid again, thrawing away dignity for snatches of immorta]ity. But yesterday, it ail ended. School, officially, lias begun again. Let's forget the niceties. For me, teaching classes began a week ago; for Erin, the first day of junior Indergarten begins in a week or ten days. But it is Labour Day in aur niinds which changes the playground landscape, whicli brings early darkness, cool nights. Many, many, many years ago -I, too, faced the first day of school. Of the day, I canremember nothing. A jumble of kids and seats and a teacher (Mrs. Kennedy, grades 1-4). What I'can recail is the Labour Day anxiety. There, the day before schaal was te begin - this in the days b4fore kindergarten had came ta countrý4 schools - - Ilpaced up and down under.the tewerin~ maples in frônt of ourbhome, warrying. See, I didn't know any son gs ta sing. And in sehoal, My sister tald me, every day you sing sangs. My anw r? To pace, whistling, trying ta make up my own sons so I would not get strapped by Mrs. Kennedy, w '0 was known for her discipline. Sehools hiye recognized that aniety state. Erin will head for schceol only after hier teaclier lias visited lier at home. Even then, only three or four children will start the clasa ea day, so they wan't overwhelm eacli other o-r the teacher. But even without anxiety, the days cf school will chng ur lýmdscape. It is flot sehool itself, perliaps, but the proceWsof'«growing Up. Ini the chfldren's sang, ',Pufi, the Magic Dragon', one lime sticks: 'Dragons live forever, but not so littie boys.' Sure, a year from now, another suminer will begmn. And weê can share that time, toa. But it will not be the sanie time. It wull flot be tlie Thes year she learned ta clinb the mçnkey bars, ta, pump Up a sw ing, ta fiy a ldte. To this summer, then, and ta this Erin, I say goadbYe. What I can salvage I will store ini the treasur chest of my li*art. Next year Iwill hold new challenges, unleash new dragons, create new memaries. J. M. Barri said it in tlie original Peter Pan: It is the beginning oftlie end." Sweet Adelines to siing at churcli Sweet Adelines, Oshawa chap- ter, will perform at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Churcli, Whitby, on Monday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. The group, now with 21 mem- bers, performs four-part har- mony singing and is seeking mare members, "peop le who like ta ta sing accarding ta one member. T ose interested in singing can 'attend the Monday session. The Oshawa and area group is now classed as a "prospective chapter," and will be chartered within the next year. There had been an Oshawa chapter up until 1986 when the Oshawa and Mississagua chap- ters joined together ta, form the Don ValIey chapter. Sweet Adelines perform at lias- pitals, nursing homes and at v~arious functions. Sum mer is flere, and iFt's me for aur annual "Evergreen and Shrub" bonanza! So dlean out the trunk, dust off the trailer, load up the kids-and head for Brouwers. Loa up ofl Evergreens and Shrus: .... Chances are you won't be able ta resist our Adam's Needle An evergreen plant with long, broad homne-grown trees and shrubs, beaves. White beIl-shaped tlowers hang tram a taîl spike in and your kids wiIl love July and August. Adds a tropical look to any gardon. ouruckgeee, Reg. $1795 NOW 0NLY $ 9.99 swas ad nimis Red Ace Potentilla This compact flowering shrub flowers ail summer long with buttercup-type flowers. Flowers are tangerine coloured. Reg. $1295. NOW ONLY $ 9.99 Double File Viburnumn Gorgeaus flawering shrub with lors of single white flowers in June. Beautiful red fail colour. Reg. $19.95 NOW ONLY $14.95 41 Mountbatten Junipers One of the mast popular upright junipers. Dark blue -green foliage. Selected junipers, Reg. $69.95 NOW ONLY $39.95 Falrvlew Maple A variety of maple that begins with red fiae in the spring, changes ta green in the sum mer, and thon yellow in the fail. 300cm Reg. 89.95NOW ONLY $74.95 JOH BOUWER GARDEN ýAND LANDSCAPING CENTRE 650 Lakeridge Road South, Ajax, Ontarlo Li S 4S7 TELEPHONE: 686-1545 or 686-1680 OPEN: MfdatF iday:9gamT opnlait p t oe sc o nse ro mseA L Vir IN i ST D AIee , o t n Lvy S E C L SEm N D C LS REG.1O.4~4 5 /tuFe ~LfL;I L4L.kdL ~ --- - 1 à Mau