Sgt Walter A Dixon

Sgt Walter A. Dixon

Today, Remembrance Day 2021, I was looking through old photos and remembering my uncle Walter Alexander Dixon (1919-1943, older brother to my mother Margaret Ellen Dixon 1920-1997) who served and died in England during World War II. That was long before I was even born. 

In amongst my parents collection of photos is a clipping from the "Formby Times", dated 8th April, 1993:

Veterans in tribute

Pilot is remembered

A group of RAF veterans gathered in a Formby churchyard yesterday to pay their respects to an unknown comrade who died fifty years ago.

The simple ceremony, organized by members of the Southport and District Aircrew Association, took place in the cemetery of St Peter's Church, in Green Lane, where a young Canadian pilot, Sergeant Walter A. Dixon, was laid to rest after his death on April 9th, 1943.

Sgt Dixon, a member of the 195 Squadron stationed at Woodvale during World War Two, was killed when the engine of his Typhoon aircraft cut out on take off.

He was buried a few days later with full military honours.

Spokesman Mr. Brian Marshall explained that the association had decided to mark the anniversary of the pilot's death after a colleague had come across the tombstone quite by chance.

The grave, which had clearly not being visited for a number of years, contains a poignant epitaph which reads, "A young Airman from far from home."

Presiding over the 15 minute service where the veterans' own chaplain, Ron Charlton, and the vicar of St Peter's, Reverend Mark Boyling. The Association standard bearer was present and chairman Bill Armstrong came forward to lay a wreath.

Mr. Marshall commented: "We thought this would be a fitting testimonial for a comrade who died fifty years ago."

And he added: "No-one had been to see the grave and I suppose there was a degree of nostalgia. 

"I would like to think that if any of ours had been killed in some distant land, there would at least be somebody to remember us."

Mr. Marshall also revealed that the association's secretary had written to his counterpart in Toronto to see if he could help trace any surviving relatives of Canadian pilot. 

He said: "If we can get in contact with the next of kin, it would make this tribute even more worthwhile."

It's a lovely romantic little story, even a little sad — the "forgotten sacrifice". We certainly appreciate the comrades from the RAF honoring our uncle and it's nice to have the story written up so that Walter is not forgotten. However, the story needs some work.

Formby is a small English town on the coast just a short bike road north of Liverpool. The "Formby Times" is/was a local newspaper. At my mother's urging, she never forgot her brother, I had visited Walter's grave in May of 1979 on my first visit to the country — I had taken a train to Liverpool and bicycled out to Formby. 

So my first issue is the romantic notion that the grave site had never been visited. I have photos of my parents visiting in the summer of 1988 (after their 50th anniversary) with my brother David and his wife Gail. My brother Larry visited, two years before he died in 2018, and I know that many others in the Dixon family have visited the grave as well. So, although these RAF veterans may have believed that the grave had never been visited, it surely had. And Walter had not been forgotten by any of his kin.

The epitaph on Walter's grave stone reads "He sleeps so far from Canada his native land" and not "A young Airman from far from home." That's easily verified, check the photo album. But perhaps there's something on the other side.

The last issue is his manner of death. The newspaper article says ".. the engine of his Typhoon aircraft cut out on take off." In other places I've read that he died returning from battle. My understanding of military records is that neither is correct.  

My brother Dale Quinton writes (Nov 19, 2019):

I have acquired Uncle Walter's “relevant documents” from his Military Service Records. The documents include the Investigative Report on the Flying Accident, Records of Service, Attestation Paper, Airman's Record Sheet (Active Service), Nature of Casualty Document, Courses of Instruction Results and Percentage of Marks, and Royal Air Force Officer or Airman Report on Accidental or Self-Inflicted Injuries or Immediate Death Therefrom Report.

The documents show:

Pilot: DIXON, Walter Alexander DOB: 14 January1919, No. R109932, Flight Sergeant, Fighter Command, 195 Sqn. Group 9.

Aircraft: Typhoon Sabre, RAF No. 424, Engine Serial No.S1288/A257770.

Date of Incident: 9-4-43 at 10:45hrs.

Location of Incident: New Lane Station, Burscough, Lancashire.

Mission: Training – Quote from Report, “Aircraft Involved – Typhoon DT 424 Piloted by R.109932 Sgt/Pilot Dixon, W.A. On 9th April, 1943, who was killed through coming in contact with Railway Signal Arm while carrying out cine camera gun exercises on ground targets in low flying area.”

Report by Appropriate Specialist Officers : “Inspection of engine gave no indication that engine failure had occurred. The large area over which the wreckage was scattered indicated that the aircraft was flying at considerable speed when collision with the signal took place, the engine being found approx. 500 yards from the remainder of the fuselage. Testimonies of eye witnesses verify that the engine was functioning normally at the time of the collision.”

Remarks by Unit Commander: “The pilot was carrying out very low flying along a railway line immediately prior to the accident. He was too low to have been carrying out cine gun attacks on ground targets. The railway signal was up, otherwise the aircraft might not have hit it.”

Remarks by Station Commander: “This is a clear case of a pilot killing himself as a result of unauthorized low flying. An investigation has been held.”

Description of Injuries: Multiple fractures and lacerations causing instantaneous death.

Investigator: F/L. Griffiths

It would appear that Uncle Walter was still in training when he was killed. Cine Camera gun exercises involve cameras where the guns would be mounted. They are used for targeting training and are reviewed afterward to improve accuracy for live fire. The documents have a considerable amount of other information, such as where and when he was posted, the training and courses he took and his results. 

No matter how he died, it was a family tragedy with lasting impact on his parents and siblings who have kept his memory alive in those, like me, who never met the man. On this day we remember those who have fallen no matter how they may have fallen.

See also

• Government of Canada War Service Records: Dixon, Walter Alexander R109932
• The Typhoon Project: Walter Alexander Dixon
• This Blog: William (Mac) Dixon

Mom's Dill Pickles

On Friday we made some dill pickles from a half bushel of pickling sized cukes bought fresh at McCully's Farm. Most years I make dill pickles inspired by my memories of my mom making them when I was a child. I like them a lot as do a lot of friends and family. My version is sort of a Polski Olgorki (lots of garlic which my mom would never use) with jalapeno (again mother would never use) for a bit of a kick. Many times people have asked for my recipe, I'll share what I do here:

My Dill Pickle Recipe

There’s no secret to my pickles. They’re pretty much the same as what my mother made but spiced up a bit. I like lots of garlic and a bit of heat from jalapenos. These are what they call cold pack pickles — the other style (which Kate prefers and which I do not make) is fermented. It basically calls for packing a jar with cucumbers, dill, etc.; pouring a hot brine over that; then canning in a boiling water bath. Fresh ingredients are important, don’t skimp.

A half bushel of cukes makes about 21 quart jars of dill pickles.

Pickling Brine

The basic ratio is 3 cups water, 3 cups white vinegar, and 1/3 cup pickling salt. Double that, smash a head of garlic into it and bring to a boil. Any brine you don’t use can be put in a jar and stored in the fridge to be used the next time (bring to boil). You can use this to pickle jalapenos, beans, etc. 

A quart jar packed will require 2 cups of brine.

Sterilizing Jars and Lids

Use the 1 quart or larger canning jars that take the tin snap lids. I’ve had bad luck with the old style "Mason" jars from my mom’s era. Use new snap lids (you can reuse the outer ring but not the snap lid)! Wash jars and lids thoroughly with soap and water (you could use your dish washer but that takes too long) then sterilize them for several minutes in or over boiling water. You’ll need a “canner” for this — basically a big pot, with a lid and a wire lift out base so the jars don’t touch the bottom (you can use the wire racks you have for cooling your pastry). This has got to be big enough that your jars fit comfortably and can be covered by the lid.

Cold Packing the Jars

Add a half tsp or so of pepper corns, a smashed garlic clove or two or three, one half a jalapeno (or half tsp or so of chili flakes), a grape leaf (find some wild grapes or raid a neighbor), a dill stalk and stuff the jar with as many well scrubbed pickling cukes as will fit. Feel free to cut some to make small bits to fill the top and to halve some to fill the voids. Feel free to add some jalapeno slices, more dill, more garlic, more chili flakes, or dill seeds to top it up and pretty it up for when it’s opened.

Note: People use alum instead of grape leaf to add some pucker. Try ¼ tsp per jar (I haven’t done that in years as wild grapes are common and we have a grape arbor). A tbsp or so of dill seed could be used if you can’t get dill weed. Chili flakes or other hot peppers will work.

A friend suggested I add a teaspoon of sugar to each quart jar. I've tried that and didn't see an appreciable difference.

Canning/Cooking

In your canner you should have enough boiling water to come up ½ way on the jars when they’re filled and put into the water. I don’t want to immerse the jars in boiling water and I want to do more than just steam them. Make sure you have a wire rack on the bottom so the jars aren't in direct contact with the heat source else the jars may crack.

Fill jars with hot brine leaving some space (say ½ inch or so); don’t over fill. Add lids and tighten snuggly; but don’t crank them down! If the lids are too tight the jar can break from the internal pressure. Add filled jars to your canner and let them cook in a boiling water bath until the fresh green disappears. That’s likely to be around 20 minutes for a quart jar. You don’t want to over cook, that would make them mushy. You don’t want to under cook, that might be dangerous. Lift out the hot jars when done and now you can tighten the lids down. Leave them on the counter to cool.

Lids will pop as they cool. Any that don’t (that would be extremely rare) should be put in the fridge to eat right away. Store away now to use over the coming year. Makes perfect Xmas presents.

See also "The Joy of Cooking".

 

Safe as houses

Oppenheim, Germany

The picture at left is from 2016 (see photo album) and was taken in Oppenheim, Germany. That's my long time friend Martin with Kate in the background; we're at the Oppenheim Cathedral. The photo would have been taken by Martin's partner Tina who recently shared the photo with us and asked when we'd be back to see them in Europe. It's been a long time since we've been able to travel — damn you COVID-19!

However, there is good news: Kate and I are now fully vaccinated! We received our first shots of the Pfizer vaccine during the week of April 12 and got our second shots yesterday at our local Your Independent Grocer. In a couple of weeks, when the antibodies develop, we'll be, as the English say, "Safe as houses". We are most greatful for this and do hope that others get their shot as well. We're all in this together.

We've been pretty much in some stage of lock down since March of 2020 with very little contact with others. The vaccination means we can start to think about friends and travel again. First, it's just to be able to see friends in town and share a drink in the backyard will be wonderful. Then to visit family and friends farther afield in Ontario. We're even starting to think that perhaps this winter we'll be able to return to Austin, TX. But god knows when we'll see Martin and Tina again. Hopefully, someday and soon.

But borders are still closed and vaccination rates vary wildly in the first world (and are zip in many parts of the world). It will be a while before we can confidently get on a crowded plane and fly again.

Nevertheless, we can see sunshine ahead and we are keeping our finger crossed.

Christmas for Kate

Click image for playlist ..

Every year for the past many years I've prepared a CD "mix-tape" compilation for Kate of songs we like (or I think she should like) and that have some special significance to us — places we've been, bands we've seen, or important events of the year. I burn these CD's from iTunes playlists I've created of tunes from CD's and iTunes songs we've purchased and from YouTube videos I've cribbed into my iTunes library. For special friends, I sometimes burn a CD for them as well.

These days CD's are becoming more and more of an anachronism — our new car doesn't even have a CD player and finding CD-R's to burn is getting hard. And old burned CD's fade and then are no longer playable.

I've always wanted to share these playlists more widely. Doing so with physical CD's won't work. And, while I already share my iTunes playlists, that doesn't work for people who aren't on iTunes and even then doesn't work for tunes I've found elsewhere that are in my library but aren't public in iTunes.

My solution this year has been to publish these as YouTube playlists which you can find on my YouTube channel. Look for the the playlists "Xmas for Kate" with various versions from 2006 until today. It's an interesting study in the evolution of our musical tastes. If you happen to have similar tastes you might enjoy some of them.

While most of the songs I have on these CD's are also available on YouTube, some are not. E.g., there was a lovely version of "Crazy as a Loon" by Kurt Vile and friends (2020) that was only briefly available on YouTube after the John Prine tribute last year (see the trailer for "Picture Show: A Tribute to John Prine").

Unfortunately, there are some songs I just can't share with you.

Margaret Quinton - Grandmother's Album

Click image for more photos ...

In 1994 my mother, Margaret Ellen Quinton (nee Dixon), worked to document some of her memories in a "Grandmother's Album" which we have — memorabilia from her estate. This was a small pre-printed book with pages on various topics, with questions and answers to fill in, which would be of interest to others. It was a somewhat directed project; Kate and I may have given her the book. Her work on it was never completed. 

I've tried to capture the book and her notes here. I have transcribed her writing (which was in pen) with only minor edits for readability. The following are her notes from that book.

My Family Tree.

I am Margaret Ellen Quinton (born Feb 5, 1920). My parents were Ellen Jane McKay (1894-1975) and Thomas Russell Dixon (1892-1965). 

On the maternal side: my grandmother was Ellen Jane Taylor and my grandfather was Robert McKay (1862-1941); my great grandmother was Elizabeth Glenn (1866-1905) and my great grandfather was John Taylor McKay (1839-1905) a native of Ireland. 

On the paternal side: my grandmother was Eliza Seabrook (died 1925) and my grandfather was William Dixon; my great grandmother was Jan Harper and my great grandfather was George Dixon a native of England. 

Memories of my grandparents.

Grandmother Eliza Dixon lived in Walter's Falls after leaving their Holland township farm. I was 5 years old when she died. I remember standing on a stool to comb her hair which she loved me to do. 

My grandmother Ellen McKay died when my mother was born, so the new baby, my mother, went to live with her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. John Taylor and her Aunt Esther and uncle Alex Taylor who raised her when their parents passed away. So uncle Alex Taylor was more like a grandparent to me, he remembered me and my brothers and sisters in his will when we were children and the money left to us was kept in trust until we became of age.

When I was small.

I was born on February 5,1920 in Holland township on the Alex Taylor farm near Massey. I have blue eyes and I was a fair haired child. 

My full name is Margaret Ellen Dixon. My nickname was "Margot" or "Maggie". Maurice often called me "Maggie" or "Nellie" (which was my mom's nickname).

My mother's maiden name is Ellen Jane McKay, her nickname which she usually went by was "Nellie". My father's full name Thomas Russell Dixon, he went by "Russ". They both lived in the Massey Strathaven area and I'm sure they met at the football games. Dad, Russell Dixon, was a team player.

What I remember most about them when I was a child —  Mostly I remember a happy family of two brothers Walter and Mac (William) and our sisters Edna, Grace and Iva. We always a table full of good food. I remember helping to get fruit ready for Christmas cakes and puddings. Our first radio was battery operated and I remember the first electric radio when the hydro came to Walter's Falls in November of 1931. I remember attending United Church Sunday school and singing in the church choir when my mother was the organist. 

My first home was in Walter's Falls the house with insulbrick. My friends or Jean Menary, Jean Walter, Jessie Wales, Jean Lourie, Marjorie Marshall, Mary Lemon, and Lulua Jerry. 

When we were young we made doll clothes at the Menary's. We went holidaying with Jean Lourie and Jean Menary. I spent time at Sam Caswell's farm with Mary Lemon. We gathered wildflowers with Lulua Jerry and I remember Sunday School with Marjorie Marshall. 

I remember swimming in the mill pond in September and packing shingles at the Olmstead Mill in the summer. We played house in the vacant house in our back lot. We gathered beach and butternuts in the fall.

Special things my parents did for me — they took us on picnics at the beach in Meaford and swimming at Wasaga Beach. I remember July 12th parades and picnics for the Orange Mene. I remember them taking us to our first moving picture show. We visited with our aunts and uncles and had a lot of company at our home. My mother taught me to sew, quilt, knit, and cook and clean, to do the laundry and iron. They taught us right from wrong, the gave us a fear of guns and of poison. They taught us to help others as they did.

Going to school.

My first and only school was U.S.S. No. 1 Walters Falls Holland and Euphrasia. A brick one room grade school just a short distance out of the village.

I studied reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history and grammar.  My worst subject was spelling. I still remember these teachers: Miss Curry, Miss Morgan, Miss Scott and Mr. Neelands. 

At recess I liked playing house in the rocks, and playing softball with the other kids. We played "Blind Man's Bluff " — I walked into the brick wall and broke my two front teeth! In winter we would be sledding on the hill and playing indoor games. 

I remember a day at school one Friday on May 1st. We cleaned up the school yard, had a bonfire and toasted marshmallows — a teacher's treat for the children. I walked off the schoolyard and down to the river.

We wore navy skirts and white midis with sailor collars to school. We wore pleated skirts and sweaters in the winter with coats, scarves, toques and wool leggings. We wore over shoes or rubbers boots. We had mitts and long underwear to keep warm.

What I liked most about school — the school Christmas concerts, marching at fall fairs, playing and making friends. I disliked the boys fighting at recess, homework and exam time. 

Special memories of my early school years. When Miss Scott was leaving she made us candy on the big old wood stove. Jean Lourie helped me a lot and did my work for me (a mistake I found out). I recall playing "Auntie over the Shanty" and planting a wildflower bed on the north side of the school (the bed never did well). Walter, my older brother, and I worked to clean the school. I swept the floors and Walter walked to school early on winter mornings to put the fire on and get fire wood in for the day. I bought my first skates with my money I had earned.

As I grew up.

My brothers and sisters were Edna (1916-1959), Grace (1917-2012), Walter (1919-1943), Margaret (1920-1997), William (Mac) (1922-1999), and Iva (1925-1997).  Walter died during in England training as a pilot during the war. Mac drove tanks and similar equipment during the war, he landed at D-day and returned home safely.

My family lived all my days in Walter's Falls. In the war years, 1944, my mother and dad sold and moved to Markdale to manage the seniors home; I was married at the time. 

Our neighborhood had good sharing families. There was a post office across the street. The postmaster was Walter Lemon who had a family of eight. There was the Laycock family of six. Mrs. McQuaker was a great gardener and had an apple orchard. I remember Del Rey the blacksmith and Lucy the Sunday School teacher. 

My favorite hobby was swimming. I received a life saving certificate and so did my brother Walter (we saved someone from drowning in the mill pond). I recall gathering spring wildflowers and morels. On weekends I learned my memory work for Sunday School and my lessons. We would often have a girlfriend home for Sunday supper or I would visit a girlfriend's home for Sunday dinner. 

My chores included washing up after meals, taking my turn at doing Saturday baking. I would wash and wax the kitchen floor. And clean the soot from lamp glasses. 

I always shared my bedroom with my sisters. We kept it clean and tidy. We would hang up our clothes neatly and change from our good Sunday dresses to play clothes. 

My best friends and I went to ball games and hockey games. We would go skating at the local rink in Walter's Falls; and sometimes, on a Saturday night, we would go skating to music in nearby Rocklyn. 

Things my parents told me that help me the most — be truthful and fair; give a helping hand; always be respectful to older people; and always use Mrs. and Mrs. when you address them.

My first dates were Mac Robb and Morris Laycock. What I remember most about my teenage years was dancing at the Walter's Falls Community Hall. We were forbidden to go dancing in nearby Bognor.

 I remember my haircut in a boyish bob and the treatment on my front teeth when I was 12 years old.

Meeting my husband. 

Maurice Quinton and I came from the same area, Walter's Falls, and probably would have met first at the ballpark. On our first date we took a car drive after a ball game. He picked up Jean Menary and me on our way home from the game. He dropped Jean off and we went for a drive over Massey way. 

What attracted me to him — he was good looking and had nice hair. He came from a good home and drove his father's car. He was rather shy and no show off. He was nicely dressed and had good manners.

 I think my parents thought he came around too often. 

Things we like to do together. Mostly dancing and going to shows. We visited his sisters often: Beatrice in nearby Massey and Melba in Brantford.

Getting married. 

Our wedding was on June 11th, 1938 at the United Church parsonage in Walter's Falls. Our best man was Carson Wheildon and our bridesmaid was my sister Grace Dixon.

Before the ceremony I remember feeling I'm older now and I'm a married woman tomorrow. 

Our reception was held at our family home in Walter's Falls. Edna was a big help; she and Olive served the meal. Mother and we girls had prepared the food for the reception.

On our honeymoon we left by car for Northern Ontario and were away for a week. We left with $55 in cash. We stayed in cabins and one night with friends in North Bay. We had to buy a tire on the trip and came back with $10. It was very hot weather in the Midland cabin.

Starting a life together. 

We first lived on the Quinton family farm home in Euphrasia township, just outside of Walter's Falls, with Maurice and his father Richard.

The farm home was a beautiful brick home with bathrooms, four bedrooms, living room, dining room, den, kitchen, pantry, and a washroom on the first floor. 

My daily life involved cooking meals for four men and myself. You must have potatoes to warm up for the breakfast and I made my first porridge out of oatmeal. We had running water, electricity and a washing machine. 

We had milk cows and I remember washing up the cream separator and putting it outside in the sun to sterilize on summer days. I learned to milk cows and we had our first chickens. 

The elder Mr. Richard Quinton and I got along very well. He talked to me a lot about the Walter family. 

We made ice cream in the summer evenings from our milk and cream and used ice from Emerson Quinton's Ice House. A very nice treat. We read the daily papers and would listen to radio programs. 

Some funny things that happened that first year. I recall cleaning stove pipes and washing up the soot on the floors. Ellen came in November, our first baby at the Quinton home. Grandad Richard Quinton was thrilled as well as Maurice, the dad. She was a great joy to us all, a fair and happy baby. But it was a cold winter bedroom for the new baby. 

Holidays didn't come that often. But when we could, we would go to see Hilda and Reg Puddicombe in Haysville. They gave a good welcome and we always had a nice visit. 

Our favorite movies were "Wuthering Heights" and "Gone with the Wind". Our favorite books were "Black Beauty", "Uncle Tom's Cabin", the holy Bible and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. 

Our favorite hobbies were country drives through the township; day trips to the Winter Fair, or the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Later in life, we enjoyed our trip to England with David and Gail and also our time in Florida with Larry and Jean. 

Some of the styles of those days — women would not wear slacks or jeans. We wore long dresses for the wedding, church, school and every day. Woolen or cotton jersey swimsuits are much different from today's.

Starting a family. 

Our children were:

1. Ellen Alberta. November 19, 1938. Alice Sowsd Maternity Home, Meaford. 
2. Larry Russell. December 4, 1940. Mary Adams Maternity Home, Meaford. 
3. Anthony Walter. July 12, 1945. Mary Adams Maternity Home, Meaford (12 lb.) 
4. David Maurice. September 17, 1947. Meaford Cottage Hospital. 
5. Reginald Emerson. February 19, 1952. Meaford Cottage Hospital.  
6. Dale Dixon. June 21, 1954. Meaford General Hospital. 
7. Paul Finley. May 8, 1958. Meaford General Hospital.

Things I remember of each child: Ellen was a happy fair-haired child, a storyteller who loved to read. Larry,  his nickname was John boy, would follow his grandfather to Walter's Falls for the mail and loved to sing for the company. Tony rebuilt a motorcycle in our woodshed; he had a lot of friends, girls and boys. David walked to meet his dad; he was a good student; he played hockey; had friends Gary Seabrook and John Hallman. Reg was "Rambling Reg"; a teenager sick with mono. Dale was always a policeman; he played hockey and went fishing. Paul was my baby who said, "You won't cry when I go off to school will you?"

One of the funniest things that happened with our children was when I chased Paul and caught him for swearing. I surprised them all too when I got my driving license.

I recall these special moments we had with our children. On the 24th of May we would have firecrackers. I recall picnicking with all Olive and Beier Pitts, their children Susan and Tom and our family. Beier had gas camp cooker. I recall taking the children to the Toronto Santa Claus parade and the circus in Owen Sound. Following the Rocklyn team hockey team where David played. Dad did a lot of driving for that team. There was not much winter work for Dad, he did snow plowing for the township.

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The notebook ends here with several pages of question/answers yet to be completed. My mother passed away with heart attack on December 11, 1997 in her 78th year.

These notes transcribed during April 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digitizing Photos

Digitizing Photos

Over the long months of the COVID-19 pandemic I've spent a lot of time at my computer working to digitize and blog old photos, albums and slides. Some photos are ours, some are family photos we've inherited. You can see this work in my blog with lots of stories and photo albums recovered and back filled from years gone by. It's an ongoing project and I doubt I'll ever catch up.

We went digital in 2004 for a 5-month sabbatical trip of Kate's to Australia and New Zealand (see blog entries for that year). The year before we had been in Australia for a month and had came back with 60 rolls of 35mm slide film — Kate convinced me that we weren't going to cart around a suit case full of film on the much longer 2004 trip. As you can imagine we have a lot of photos from before and after that digital divide.

Some friends have asked for my advice on how best to digitize their collection of old photos. For example, here's what Leslie asked:

"I need some advice from someone who has experience digitizing old photo negatives. Can I use my regular printer/scanner for this task or is a special scanner required? What is the software that you use to create a photo from the negative? This is a task I should have started months, or years, ago, but better to get at it sooner rather than later."

Some of what follows is my advice to Leslie or anyone else who is interested. It's an attempt to summarize my experience and guide yours. If my context and goals are nothing like yours then this advice isn't relevant. So, before I start, here's a bit of background.

Background: before you start
You need to understand where my advice comes from. I am an "advanced" amateur photographer and have been taking pictures for the last 50 or so years. Most of my pre-digital work has been with 35mm SLR cameras — mostly advanced amateur Canon equipment. During that period I took a lot of slides, especially on trips and vacations. We also have a collection of black and white as well as color negatives. For a time Kate and I did some dark room work at our home, e.g., we developed our wedding photos in the kitchen of our apartment (35mm E-6 color slides which we had wound onto cassettes). Our friend, my classmate, Neil Farnsworth was the wedding photographer. But we were never very good or comfortable in the darkroom.

As mentioned we went digital in 2004. But taking digital photos is one thing, working with them is quite another. Some may have treated digital photography as just another means of getting prints from their local lab. And, while we still print physical albums, my goal has always been to show and share my photos in computer albums. I.e., to make digital "slide shows" that could be presented to and shared with others. As such I've been finding the tools I need to organize, edit and display photos for others to see. Having photos squirreled away on your computer isn't much different from having photo albums in the basement — they're not readily shareable. And, they're not readily searchable. That's a virtue of on-line photo albums.

These days I use Corel Paintshop Pro to edit my photos on my computer. Others recommend Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom — I've not used either of those. I sometimes use the photo editing tools that come with Windows 10. They're good and work well but are limited in what they can do. I believe, for example, that the Windows 10 Photos editor cannot convert negatives (from black and white or color film) to positive images. If you do much work with digitizing old photos you'll soon discover that you'll need an good photo editor to deal with scratches, dust and other photo flaws. But on the other hand photo editors like Paintshop Pro can be overly complex and burdensome to learn.

All of my photos are uploaded into the Google cloud where they're tagged, sorted and organized into albums with Google Photos. Some of the tagging and organizing is my work, some is done automatically by Google. I can access my Google Photos from pretty much any device. And I can do minor photo edits there as well. Google Photos will archive photos at 16MP for free (and down size your photos automatically to that size if needed) and that's adequate for most of my needs (they're changing the policy on that come June of 2021).

I also archive my photos locally on a 2TB hard disk and, as a backup to that, I also save them on SD cards (the same cards I use in my cameras). These days you can buy very large SD cards at a reasonable price. I used to archive onto CD and DVD but these days they're too small and, I fear, not very permanent.

If you're going to be working with digital photos you're going to need a photo editor and a photo filing system. I'd recommend you start with the native Windows tools and progress to the professional editors as needs become apparent — e.g. for me one of the pressing needs was to be able to fix perspective problems on photos of artwork, buildings, etc.

I really like storing my photos with Google. Others use Amazon Prime, still others use the Apple iCloud, and no doubt there are many more. All of these cloud services are good places to archive your photos and provide good tools to tag, search and organize your photos.

My Advice
Given that background, here's a summary of what I have done and continue to do to digitize old photos. It's very much a rabbit hole of technologies and software but here goes...

1. If you've only got a few photos, slides or negatives pay the money and take them to a photography shop and have them digitize the photos for you. I have done this, with mixed results. Alternatively, if you have a friend who digitizes their work perhaps you can persuade them to scan your photos. I have done this for friends, but I'm not looking to make more friends. So don't ask me unless you are already a very good friend and only have a very few pictures to digitize!


2. If you want to digitize old photos you can take pictures of them with your camera or cell phone ... but watch out for reflections, light source and camera shake. You'll need some device, a tripod or copy stand, to hold the camera steady. This is the poor man's solution and produces poor man results. I've done this early on and was happy with the results at the time.

   

   Flat Bed Scanner

   
   


3. However, I recommend a flat bed scanner for old photos. I'm currently using an Epson V600 scanner which will also scan slides and negatives. We also have an "all in one printer/scanner" which we travel with (we won it on a draw at the supermarket). You don't need an expensive scanner for old photos. There are lots, new and used, available at very modest prices.


4. But Beware: the perennial problem with scanners, any device which attaches to your computer, is the software drivers. There's lots of old scanners which worked very well but are no longer supported on current computer systems. You'll find that there is only one solution for that: I use Vuescan from Hamrick as my scanning software — I have the professional edition which works with all of my scanners and I can use my Epson V600 flat bed scanner for slides and negatives. But also beware: I have a very old Dimage II slide/film scanner which I purchased used in 2005 when I scanned our wedding photos. I can no longer get it to work even with Vuescan! Sadly, all technology becomes an obsolete door stop at some point so if you shop on the used market by careful about what you buy.


5. Not all flat bed scanners are capable of scanning slides and negatives. Scanners work by reflecting light off the image under the lid. For slides and negatives you need to project light through the slide or negative. My Epson V600 scanner does that (there's a light source in the lid), my "all in one scanner" does not. I have tried, and have had no luck, to project a light source through slides and negatives on a flatbed scanner that doesn't have a light source in the lid.


6. My Epson V600 flat bed scanner will scan slides and negatives at an incredible density (at 6400dpi scan rate you get an image over 60MP!) should you have an image worth preserving at that detail. I usually scan at 3200dpi which produces an image of about 15MP which is more than enough for my needs. However, the big problem with flat bed scanners is they are incredibly slow, especially if you're trying for higher resolution. If you have a handful of negatives they're great; but, if you've got boxes and boxes of slides and negatives, they're prohibitively slow. I have two solutions for quickly scanning slides and negatives.

   

   Stand Alone Scanner

   
   
   
7. Quick Solution No. 1: After much research I bought a Kodak Slide N Scan stand alone film and slide scanner on Amazon. There are a few stand alone device available to scan film and slides but the market seems to be drying up. The virtue of these devices is you don't have to worry about drivers as you needn't connect them to your computer. Instead, I scan onto a memory card (the same cards that fit my cameras) and "sneaker net" the pictures to my computer. I.e., I take the card out of the scanner and plug it into my computer! This scanner advertises that it scans at 22MP but really it scans at 14MP and interpolates to get the higher resolution. Watch out for scanners that only scan at 5MP (that's very low resolution). One virtue of this device is the large screen; you can see what you're going to get. Another is the ability to adjust exposure by several f-stops. The feeder mechanism is pretty slick which makes it easy to load images and scan quickly. One limitation of this device is that it only scans JPEGS. If you want raw format images this isn't for you. But it's good enough for me. I use this device to scan the majority of my images and they are good enough for viewing on a computer screen. If I need a better quality scan I use my flat bed scanner.

   

   Macro Photography

   
   


8. Quick Solution No. 2: Before biting the bullet for the stand alone scanner I did a lot of scans using macro photography with my Canon SLR cameras. I have an old photographic enlarger which I use as a copy stand to hold my camera steady. Canon has some tethering software which connects the camera to my computer with a USB cable: so I can focus, adjust exposure, etc. without touching the camera and have the pictures automatically transferred to my computer. I bought a cheap tracing light table on Amazon as the light source (you can use your tablet or phone as a light source but you'll need to diffuse the light or have your film some distance from the light). You'll need to be able to do close up "macro" photography: I use extension tubes (very cheap), I have friends who have macro photography lenses (these tend to be expensive even on the used market). And you'll need to rig up something to position your slides/film over the light source and properly framed to fill your camera view finder. Once you've got that figured out you can quickly scan film/slides at the camera resolution (24MP on my Canon T6i) and in the image format your camera supports (e.g., Canon Raw Format). Beware: getting your film positioned at exactly the right distance for macro photography is awfully fussy. For me it worked best with my prime 50mm lens stopped down to f11 or more.

Some thing I've not tried but looks interesting

If your cell phone will do close focus/Macro that can work. But you need a copy stand and light source (a tablet or another phone will do but you need to defuse the light). There's YouTube build your own examples (e.g., DIY Cardboard Smartphone Film Scanner (v2)) and a little cardboard device you'll find on Amazon. Our cell phones won't get close enough for 35mm film so I've not done that.

An observation: buying a flat bed or film scanner that attaches to your computer can take you down the rabbit hole to software and photo editor hell... which can get very complicated and pricey. We bought a scanner device, scanner software to run the device (Vuescan) and a photo editor (Paintshop Pro) to clean up the images. Avoid that path unless you want to become a digital photo geek.

Finally. All of these old photos are interesting to see again and some of them are quite good photos. But many are out of focus, poor exposure, poor composition, etc. But then I've always said that if you want to take a lot of good pictures, you have to take a lot of bad ones to get there. Sharing these old photos with friends has been a great joy for us.

P.s. Of course you're going to need a good computer. I'm using a laptop but last year, at Christmas, upgraded to a larger screen, topped out the memory to 16GB and replaced the hard disk with a 1TB SSD (solid state device). Work flows go much quicker now. That's another path in the rabbit hole.

Maurice Quinton & Sons Transport

Click image for more photos ....

My father had a trucking company — Maurice Quinton & Sons Transport, Walter's Falls. They had a slogan: "Big enough to handle your job, small enough to appreciate it." For more photos, click on the image.

He and mom had seven children, six boys and the eldest daughter Ellen. At the left that's a picture of his sons with his newly purchased International Harvester cab over diesel. The sons are Larry, Tony, David, Reg, Dale and Paul in a row from oldest to youngest. I don't recall the date but my guess is it's sometime around 1964. I do recall the occasion, it was a big deal when he brought this newly purchased cab over sleeper rig home. It was a big investment and a big risk on borrowed money.

In the background is the modest home I was raised in. During my university years, when my brother Tony returned to work with Dad, they moved to a larger home in the village with an attached work shed and large yard for the trucks. That was during their expansion years and would be the home Kate remembers.

Before this diesel he had gasoline powered trucks which spent a lot of time at Miller's garage on 8th Street in Owen Sound getting valves replaced. Gasoline engines run hot, they spin faster at higher RPM and the valves burn out. Buying a diesel was a leap of faith which worked out well. Diesel engine spin slower and are much more reliable on long haul jobs. Much of Dad's business was long haul — trucking loads of calcium chloride from Allied Chemical in Amherstburg to the far north for road construction. A sleeper cab gave you a "Hilton on four wheels"; no need for expensive motels. I understand this was the first diesel truck in the area. In the album there's old photos which predate this vehicle. Tony recalls the snow plow and has a story which I'll come to in a moment.

Dad had "Maurice Quinton & Sons" painted on his vehicles. It was a bit of wishful thinking. At the time of this photo Larry was off on his own career. Tony and David both worked summers with Dad while at school and both drove this truck — it was a bit of a bone shaker with solid blocks of rubber for the rear suspension. I worked summers for them when I was at university but never really learned to drive the big rigs. Tony was the only son who returned and went into business with Dad. Dad's grandson Ken (Ellen's son, our nephew) drove many years for Dad as well. There's a good picture of them mugging together in the album.

The first equipment Tony remembers is the snowplow.  He recalls being in it with Dad who was trying to break through the drifts on the church hill in the village. He got motion sickness and vomited in the cab — he was not a very popular boy that day! 

When Tony graduated from the Haileybury School of Mines he worked in the mines of Northern Ontario and BC and then on the Churchill Falls Dam project in Labrador. He had saved some money, came home, bought his first truck (a blue Ford Louisville) in 1971 and went into business with Dad. I recall riding with Tony on jobs during my summers from university. Dad and Tony formed a corporation and for the next 25 years ran the business together. They had some very good years and had expanded to a fair sized fleet but ultimately started to lose money by the early 1990's. I recall the deregulation of the Mike Harris years contributed to their ultimate failure; there became too many guys chasing not enough jobs for too little money.

Dad was getting on in years and it was left to Tony to decide what they should do. In 1993 he decided to sellout and move on. Everything went to an auction outfit on airport road in Mississauga. They had quite a bit of quality equipment at the time: there were three Kenworth cabovers (No.s 6, 9 and 12), two Kenworth conventionals (No.s 14 and 15) and there would have been several trailers as well. The auction house had offered a guarantee of $130K but they decided to take what the sale would get and ended with only $125K. They had lost again! When all the bills were paid Tony got only what he had started with back in 1971; he had worked 25 years for no return (he was remembered in Dad's will). Mom and Dad retired and moved into the city of Owen Sound. Tony moved west and worked in the oil and gas industry in Alberta and BC until he was 65 then co-drove a truck from Edmonton, AB to Houston, TX for a year and a half. They'd drive down and back in 6 days loaded both ways.

Tony asked, as an aside, if I remember the tire exploding on you at the  Allied plant? It was scary. 

I do indeed remember the tire exploding at Allied Chemical. This was early on after Tony had come back to go into business with Dad. They were in the plant together and I was riding along with Tony; two trucks were loading up 25 tons or so of calcium chloride for road construction. After the trailers were loaded and we were preparing to go a final walk around revealed that Tony had a flat on his trailer. Dad was pissed about the flat on a fully loaded trailer — lifting the axle to change the tire would be difficult given the weight of the trailer. Tony was pissed because Dad was being nasty ("You should have known!"; "How the hell would I have known that!"). Dad had the expectation that everyone should know what he knew without ever communicating it.  Tony was learning his way with a terrible teacher. Dad was not a good communicator.

Anyways, I was trying to help them (and stay out of the fray) and was under the trailer getting out the spare tire. I had pushed it out of the cage, it fell to the ground and promptly exploded with some force. Truck tires are under tremendous pressure and these had a metal retaining ring around them that held the tire in place. The explosion was the retaining ring slipping out of it's place and the air pressure letting go. The ring dented the metal of the trailer under carriage — had I been in the way it would have cut me in two. When the tire blew my first thought was I had screwed up and now Dad is going to be pissed at me as well! Instead he and Tony both recognized that I might have been killed and blown to bits. Dad was almost in tears and held me close. He would let you know that he loved you, but he was often a bear. Tony, working with Dad, got a lot of the bear.

There are other stories about the various sons and the trucking company, but that's enough for now. I'm sure more will be added later as I continue conversations with family. Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Ps. a few years ago a hobbyist, Robert Fitzsimmons, got hold of me for pictures of Dad's trucks. He was building a model and wanted to get the painting scheme right. He also shared with me a picture of one of Dad's trucks that is now in the possession of a collector. You'll find pictures of both in the album. The model he produced is a bit misleading — it's not the right truck and, while over the years they did haul a lot of lumber for Hallman Lumber of Walter's Falls, they never produced shrink wrapped kiln dried lumber.

After sharing these stories and photos Leslie wrote "Thanks for sharing! I have memories of both houses and even of sitting in the sleeping cab - always secretly hoped I could hide away in there on a trip. " I replied that I recall sleeping with Dad in the truck on long trips but it's not that cozy!

Alison wrote "I have some memories of Grandpa’s trucks. I remember riding in them at times, a bumpy ride and feeling so high in the sky in the cab. I remember Apple loads and watching the process of having them washed on some kind of device."

69th Birthday

Click image for more photos ...

Most years it seems we're out of the country for my birthday. And most years Kate, as designated driver, takes me on a tour of local wineries where ever we might be travelling. This year, like everyone else, we're not travelling. But that doesn't mean we can't continue the tradition.

Kate arranged a wine tasting for my birthday at Fielding Estates near Grimbsby (it's on the Beamsville Bench in the Niagara wine country). Fielding Estates is one of the "F'ing Wineries" — Featherstone and Flat Rock being the others. She had booked this back in the fall. Since the COVID-19 crisis, which began last year just as we returned from Texas, this winery has had these neat little geodesic domes set up outside where you can socially distance but still enjoy the sun, something to nosh on and some fine wine. Unfortunately, back in February, when it was my birthday the wine area was completely locked down because of the virus. She rebooked and we went over on Saturday. This was our first adventure out of the house in a very long time. We put gas in Kate's car on the way — the first fill up this year!

It's a little over two hours from here to the winery and we got there in good time having planned an extra half hour. Since it was my birthday Kate insisted on being the designated driver; I was the designated drinker, she limited her tastings. We got there early and were advised that we'd have to wait until our 1:00pm appointment — they have to wipe things down and let the dome air out for a half hour between customers to keep things safe. Some domes had comfy chairs and sofas in a lounging setup. Ours was a table with 6 chairs in a dining style. We could have brought some friends with us but we're not comfortable with doing so yet. All our friends agreed that going to this event would be safe enough, some even encouraged us to visit a few of the other wineries. We'll do that another day.

We had our reserved dome (you need to book ahead and it costs $20) from 1:00pm until 2:30pm. We ordered a cheese tray with several extras and sampled all of their white wines (that included a Rose). That was a flight of 7 wines, 2oz each that we shared. I was particularly impressed by their two Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend they call White Conception (the name doesn't do justice and doesn't tell you enough about what to expect). From our Australian adventures we've had a lot of "Sem/Sauv"; it's a pretty much a "go to" blend there; it's also a common Bordeaux blend. All of these wines are well worth enjoying; however they do command a wine boutique price. We ended up buying several of their Rose which were more in my price range. 

We shared two cheeses (Gunn's Hill Handeck and Cows XO Aged Cheddar — both impressive and presented as huge blocks) with some crostini (we ordered extra), some Greaves Marmalade, Garlic & Red Pepper Olives (a whole jar!) and some crackers. There was more than enough for us to munch on as we enjoyed our wines for our allotted one hour and a half. After the white tasting we ordered a glass of their 2016 Syrah and their 2017 Rock Pile Chardonnay. Again Kate only tasted, while I finished them off. Kate encouraged me to sample a flight of their 6 reds but instead I just tried a glass of the one. We added a bottle of their Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay to our take home bag — that's six wines we took home.

The experience in the dome is pretty slick. As you can see from the photos they're clear vinyl and quite large. You're zippered in and given instructions to help manage the virus. E.g. we were required to wear a mask when ever a server entered and we had a paging device to summon the server when needed. It was a sunny day and quite warm within the dome. There was an electric space heater but it wasn't needed when the sun was out. Mind you it cooled very quickly when the sun went behind the clouds. There are zippered windows and a door to keep out the cold. It was quite comfy, we actually looked them up on the web thinking that we might enjoy having a dome on our deck.

It was a lovely day spent together. An especially nice gift for my birthday from my Sweet Baboo. We enjoy Niagara wines and miss our adventures in the wine country. When things return to normal later this year (touch wood) we'll be back.

Kate remarked that it's been a year with us at home every night (modulo a couple of hospital visits for each of us).