Shopping With Lily

Bismillah!

Walking this week with window-shopping in mind, Lily hovered in, lightly.  Looking here and there, sharing weightless chit-chat, resonances of shopping with Lily resurface.  So, I say "O.K.!" and enjoy the visit, springing myself from the frugality of cash conservancy, if only in spirit.
The Bay (Hudson's Bay Company originally) Vancouver flagship store at Georgia and Granville, was often our destination.  I'd collect Lily in my "Grand Dame", Ramona, the 1991 Buick Le Sabre.  Driving to 3rd and Balsam's Carriage House, and later, Tapestry at The O'Keefe, Ramona and I happily anticipated Lily's company.

As often as possible, I'd stop the car, turn off the ignition key, and tep outside to open doors for Dear Lily, who was nearly always "Down Front" as she'd promised.

Lovely wool Jacket-coat, of the style that could've been from the '60's store, "Sandra"(formerly at Broadway near MacDonald) , but in current mode, adorned Cleo's cousin Lil.
Some shade of purple or deep blue, with smart grey slacks, and an absolutely spot-on accent scarf, was Lily's stylish browsing choice.  The only Internet browsing Lily & I engaged in was at Tapesty, in the Computer room, looking up Theatre World somebodies, or, Lily herself, or Janis, or Lyn, her daughters.  The browsing the Buick facilitated was most definitely not of the world wide web variety.

We were bound for The Bay!  We'd all been there with our Mothers.  We'd park in the Parkade, walk over Seymour St. through the Skywalk, and stay together for a quarter of an hour or so.
Upon agreeing to meet in 3 or so more quarter hours, we'd set off separately, within the store.  When re-connecting, frequently at The Cafe by the Flowers Concession on Floor 3, we'd lunch or coffee contentedly commenting one another's anecdotes. Then, afterwards, we'd take one another back to some item we may've pondered, to get familial feedback, or a yay or nay.  

Sometimes, she said, in her School Teaching Days, she'd come to the Traditional Bay during her "tweensies" time - a time of deceleration between work and home, just to chill out.

So, when Lily "came by" this past Thursday, those Bay Days re-lived themselves in my consciousness.
Over noshing in the Cafe, I'd hear her tell of Hanne, her Mother, my Great-Aunt, coming with a younger Lil to the Mirror Room.  My own Mom, Lil's cousin Catherine called Cleo, had been there many times as well, with or without me, and we'd handled & tried on dresses, coats, gowns, and sleepwear.  Cleo, pictured above with her cousin Lily A. Harper, nee Mussallem, on my 4th August, 1987 Birthday at Lil's Locarno Crescent home, passed away 8 October, 1987.

Shopping with Lily, in the late 1990's & into the new Millennium, gave each of us a chance to share.  What was fun was her brightly-toned encouragement when "a find" was found!  You knew you had to buy the piece, when Lil's voice sang approval.
Last week's sense of accompaniment was a sweet one. Indeed, after having gone home for my own tweensies, my daughter Hadani rang me, wanting my company to view and advise on colour for a coat she'd found.  I bused downtown, close to The Bay, ( which now has not the feeling some elders knew), and joined her underground at Pacific Centre Mall.  Sitting as correctly as I could, in the small shop, GEOX, I exchanged with Hadani the merits & de-merits of the Blue or the Black, the 10 or the 12, and then observed the Regal Blue with its luminescence, size ten being bought.  We strolled away happily, and I so very grateful to be able to feel, and be here now.  
My Advent Gift:  "Shopping and Sharing is permitted".

Mussallem Family Reunion, 2012. Camp Richardson, South Lake Tahoe.

South Lake Tahoe's Historic Camp Richardson was the setting for the 23-27 August, 2012 Mussallem Family Reunion.

The every five years event brought even more family members together with the welcoming of a bumper crop of new brides and babies since our last one in Westbank, Kelowna, in 2007.

A highlight was the attendance at this year's Reunion by Uncle Craig Costello, shown above seated near the centre of the front row, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday 28 September, 2012!

(See the mid-January, 2012, post on his story of his first visit to Historic Camp Richardson).  A print-out of his story sits in the Great Room of the Hotel Lobby at Camp Richardson, in the camp's binder of pictures & memories from days gone by.

Mussallem Family Reunion, McMinnville, Oregon, U.S.A. 1982

Mussallems Mid-Sofa: Freda (Costello), Cleo (Bryant), Wadeai (Trotter), and Adele (Schreiber) Living Descendant Daughters of Najeeb & Masadi (sister to Solomon) Mussallem. From 1982 Every-Five-Years Mussallem Family Reunion.
The original of this photo is in colour. Taken 1982 in McMinnville, Oregon, U.S.A.

Will Rogers, Ice Cream, And The Mussallem Family Reunions~

Happy New Year to you for the Year 2012. One week from today in Vancouver, The Chinese Year of The Dragon will also be celebrated, in banks, parades, & with firecrackers in the snow. In March, the Persian Population here will observe their New Year.
So, in between the New Years, I called Uncle Craig today, to "belatedly" wish him a happy one. We had a good chat.

Here below, is some of what came from our conversation today. It had to do with Craig's Dad, George P. Costello, Movie Sound Engineer, taking Craig and Jeep up to Camp Richardson, where some of us will meet at August's end, 2012.

I said to Craig, "We're coming to the time when not all of us will be able to attend the reunions..", and he replied "I feel I may be one of those folks, as traveling is difficult these days for me". He then spoke of Camp Richardson.
Craig recalled being on set with his Dad, George P. Costello, and his brother "Jeep", when Will Rogers was filming "Lightin' at Camp Richardson.
In Hermosa Beach, Craig said he saw the film a while back, and watched the credits roll showing his father's name as the Recording Engineer, or "Sound Engineer" as Craig recalled. But the "keen thing was", Craig told me, that he was hanging about with his brother Jeep and Will Rogers spoke with them. He invited them for an ice cream cone and off they went to the local source of such ageless pleasures.

So in one simple New Year's call, I am richly rewarded by having heard this story from our Uncle Craig Costello.

I had the idea of somehow hiring a driver and a big home on wheels, stopping after 2 or 3 hours each day, driving up to Camp Richardson with Uncle Craig inside, without "pushing it", so that each day before, during, and after, could be comfortable for him, and so that we could have him with us for the Mussallem Family Reunion 2012. A tall order, perhaps, but, meanwhile, whether he makes it or not this August, his memorable story has been there before any of us gather together.

http://www.willrogers.com/wr_filmography/filmography.html

Above is the filmography page which shows the text below ~ if you scroll down to this text. (George P. Costello, Sound Engineer.)

LIGHTNIN’. A Fox Movietone Production, Copyright, October 31, 1930; b&w, sound; final shooting script at USC. World Premiere, November 28, 1930, Roxy Theatre, New York City. Location shots, Cal-Neva, near border between California and Nevada, also at Tahoe Tavern, California and at Camp Richardson, California. Presented by William Fox; a Henry King Production; Director, Henry King; Assistant Director, Frank Dettman; Cameraman, Chester Lyons; based on the play by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon, produced by John Golden; Opened August 26, 1918 at Gaiety Theatre, New York City; screenplay by S.N Behrman and Sonya Levien; music and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and James F. Hanley; song “Reno Blues” sung by Goodee Montgomery; editor, Louis Loeffler; recording engineer, George P. Costello; Harry Oliver, art director; costumes by Sophie Wachner.