We all reminisced and caught up on life in general. Two of the mothers were there with four offspring and their partners, and even some of their grown up children! But for those who had lived her, this was the first and only time they had all had had tea here in this house and in this room. Long overdue in my opinion! We toasted Granny and each other, smiling at what her reaction would have been. 
I was interested to know the stories of the older generation, as both women had been young landed immigrants from different countries, cultures and languages. Life here with husbands who worked in the mill and children to raise must have been hard for them. Were they able to offer support to each other? Was their personal history and journey here open to view or put away in a personal box of emotions? Lisa Ziggiotti was from the northern part of Italy, and not from a family well off. She married another Italian, a real Italian man, who had competed in the Olympic Games held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952 as a javelin thrower. They came to Canada in the 50s, when a wave of Italians and others came to find a better life. They had virtually nothing, lived off the land, and raised 5 children. The eldest was exactly one month younger than I was, and I felt a real connection to her, but I think she had a tough time as she entered puberty and I saw less and less of her in my teenaged years. Still, I vividly remember her leading me through trails behind the mill to the far shore where we sat and talked, and I saw the Cove from a completely different perspective. I also remember she once gave me a glass carafe of bath salts for my birthday. The family never felt they had enough, but they always gave everything they had, including their friendship and Frank's homemade wine strong enough to intoxicate an elephant! It must have been particularly hard on Lisa to have had four girls and the only son mentally and physically challenged. Nevertheless she kept them all close by and dealt with everything that came her way with a strong heart and practical energy.
The other, Eva, had just as sympathetic a past. She was born in Berlin before the second world war, and escaped with part of her family, a gripping story in itself . She married a Dane, a real Danish man, and no doubt lost some of her identity as a German at a time when being German would have excluded her from many societies. One of my fondest memories is egging her on, along with her children, to talk about a popular movie at the time, because with her accent it sounded like "Shitty Shitty Bang Bang", which made us all giggle to hear an adult saying such a dirty word. Eva knew their world was small and ensured her three children got out when they could and they took advantage of the opportunities they did have close to hand: skiing, scuba diving, boating and fishing. I was always jealous of their boat, named with the first letters of the three children: PAL. One day we sat around the Rumoli board and worked out the same treatment with the Italian family (VALLI) which was lovely, and with my own family (JRMS), which sounded like 'germs' - less than lovely!
Eva and Lisa and the rest of the women of the Cove I think did support each other in many ways, watching over their children and helping when they could, although they all lived their separate, difficult lives in a new and challenging landscape and language. Not much time to lean over the proverbial fence to enjoy chatting.
None of us younger folk really knew both stories, and we sat drinking tea and listening enraptured, empathising as we pictured what life must have been like for these women who were in their twenties, and having to live in a world so different from the ones we grew up in, but which was provided for us by their decisions, hard work and sacrifices. They seemed happy to open up to us over tea in that room in that place, perhaps it was somewhat cathartic to do so. I repect and honour both, and love them all the more.
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| Eva and Lisa - two heroic women |
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