Back to Pickerel April 2007

I went up to Pickerel River for the second time on April 23/07 and took Allison's dog Wellie with me. On April 24th we went for a walk out back and saw a very large deer not to far from the cottage. On April 26th we went out and saw a mother bear with 3 cubs on the west side of the ravine about a half mile out back.
I repositioned the water intake for the pump in advance of getting the new cat walk for the dock when we would have had to do that anyway. Lyman came over for lunch and helped me do it. After getting the pipes repositioned we set up the pump and found 2 burst pipes and one bad connection that happened over the winter. We never blew out the pipes as good as we should have. We got 2 of the pipes fixed but the one break directly under the kitchen I tried to fix but could not get all the water out of the system for proper soldering, so I will have to repair that next time.
We had already been up for a week around the 12th of April when the ice was still in and when I was there I met a guy with an aluminum boat for sale, it was a 16ft boat with a 5 ft beam, but a tree had fallen on one side and there was a big dent in it. I bought the boat and would have to fix the dent. This time I took the gunwale of the boat to fix it and will bang out the dent next time up and replace the gunwale.
The guy at the Marina boosted the prices up to $500.00 per year from around $400.00 last year, which is a substantial increase but did build all new slips for the boats. What can you do, when you are a captured cottager.
When we bought the land in 1961 there was a small Park at the highway with launching and parking facilities but they were torn up when the new bridge was put in and the dock was sold off, so now we have to pay a toll to go to the cottage. I had already wrote the Ministry about this but nothing has come of it yet, I guess I will have to do it again.

Nicholas Miloff Jr.

A couple of years after we were all married and my mother and father's death Anne and I and the kids decided to go down to Kitchener to the Market and check and see if my fathers name was engraved on the stone in the Cemetery. We went to the market first and were on the top floor and I was carrying Amanda who was an infant at the time, and was preparing to go down the dark steps to the first floor when I noticed that no one was on the stairs and there seemed to be a phalanx of cops surrounding someone on the stairs heading up. I noticed it was John Deifenbaker who was born in the area, and knew that he would be swamped with onlookers as he reached the top of the stairs. I moved back into a corner so I would be out of the way because I was carrying Amanda, and Mr Deifenbaker noticed me backing out of the way so he came right over to me an shakes my hand just as Anne's mum appears and I tell her to get her picture taken with him which she does, but the picture doesn't turn out. I was impressed by Mr. Deifenbaker even if I was a Socialist, he reminded me of an elf, very friendly and mischievous.
After finishing at the market we went to the Cemetery to check on the head stone, and were surprised to see that the name hadn't been engraved on the stone so we went home and contacted the Funeral Director to see what had happened, and got assurances that it would be done. A couple years after my fathers death my mother dies and as we thought everything was left to George my stepfather, and life went on, but a year after mother's death we find out the George has Cancer of the esophagus and that he won't last for more than a year. Within the year George dies and then a new ball of wax develops. We find out that the entire estate is left to Anne, what a mess. The only good thing was that when we made out the deed for the cottage it was supposed to be made out so if George dies it gos to me and if I die it goes to George but that was not how George did it, he went behind my back and changed it so If I died first my share would go to my estate and if he died it would go to his estate. The problem being that Anne my alleged half sister inherited his entire estate, no one else got anything. The second good thing was that Anne told the Lawyer to turn her share of the cottage over to me as that was supposed to be the way it was done in the first place. The lawyer Mr. Hermant calls me one day to say that he has the papers turning the cottage over to me and that I should go to his office to collect them. I went down the next day and as an afterthought I say how much do I owe you and to my surprise he says $230.00 which was all that I had in the bank what with Anne not working at the time taking care of Allison and Amanda at home. I wrote him a cheque and ask for a receipt at which time he tears off a flap of an envelope and writes me a receipt on it, was I pissed off. I proceed to Parry Sound the next day after taking the day off work in order to file the papers with my name alone on the will. All the while after getting this bill which I thought was overcharging me I'm wondering to myself what can I do. When I get to Parry Sound I go to the Government Office to file the papers and find that Mr Hermant the Lawyer omitted something and I had to find another Lawyer to straighten things out, which I did, down the street, was charged another $10.00 which I did not object to, returned to the office and filed the papers. I ask the clerk how long it would take and he said that I would have the papers in my hands in a couple of weeks. On my way home from Parry Sound I am giving this cottage deal a lot of thought and come to the conclusion that I will tax Mr Hermant when the cottage is properly registered in my name because as far as I was concerned the bill was far to high, and because he was working for the estate and that was part of it, there in all likely hood shouldn't have been a bill at all.
I knew and felt that this Lawyer Mr Hermant was a real asshole and as soon and as soon as he found out I was taxing him he would be calling me on the phone with threats about taking the cottage back, so I went to Radio Shack and got a devise the goes on the phone, and hooks into a tape recorder which we had at home, and told Anne to start taping any calls that come in and if it isn't Mr Hermant shut the machine off. The next day I go to work and get caught up a little early and when lunch time comes I rush down to the court building on York St. in Toronto to file the papers required in taxing a lawyer. At the time of filing the clerk tells me that if my plea is not successful I will be required to pay the lawyer, Mr Hermant for his time before the Judge, or Taxing Officer, I nod ok, thinking I hope I just didn't double my bill. When finished with the papers the clerk advises me that I will now have to serve the papers on Mr Hermant, and I wasn't ready for that, because I felt very angry and was afraid of what I might do or say when I saw him, but what the hell, in for a penny, I head off to Mr Hermants Office to serve him the papers, loaded for bear. Mr Hermant wasn't there so I gave the papers to his secretary, who was very upset when I did, and she wouldn't sign a receipt that she had gotten the papers. I go back to work and call the Court and tell them that I couldn't get a signature for the papers, that Mr Hermant's secretary wouldn't sign the receipt. The Clerk at the court tells me I will have to visit another Lawyer and swear out an affidavit that I had served the papers, and I'm thinking oh no another charge. I no sooner get it straightened out what I have to do and Anne calls me on the phone. Mr Hermant has called home cursing and swearing threatening to cancel the whole deal and carrying on something aw full. I ask Anne if she had thought to record the call because this was a little early for the call I knew would be coming. Anne said that she had and if we got it it should be pretty good, because of the way that he carried on. I told Anne not to do anything with it until I got home and we would rewind it and listen to to it. After getting off the phone from Anne I called Hermant's office and when he heard it was me let out a string of invective that made my ears burn, but as soon as he finished, or maybe before I started on him calling him everything I could think of under the sun at the top of my voice and everyone in the office, which was a large office with perhaps 25 people stopped talking and started to listen to me thinking that I had gotten into a fight with someone. When I am finished yelling Wayne Jackson comes over to me all concerned, and not knowing who I was talking to and asks me just that, who was I talking to and when I tell him, my Lawyer he turns white, I guess worrying what will be the outcome of this monumental outburst, by me. I tell him not to worry that everything was under control, and a brief explanation of what just happened. After finishing work for the day I head home and find that Anne has taped Mr Hermant and gotten the entire litany of threats on tape. I tell her that I was going to have to visit with a Lawyer and swear out an affidavit that I had served Mr Hermant, thinking out loud who would I use as I never actually had a Lawyer. I'm thinking that when we bought our house, Mr Norman Todd was the Lawyer for the vendor and that when we closed out our second mortgage he seemed nice enough, so I would call him. It was still early so I called him, and he said that he would be around for a while to come over. I went to his office on Yonge St and he notarized the papers for me and asked me what it was all about. I told him at the same time as wondering what he is going to think about me taxing another lawyer, and he never seemed upset about it at all, and because of his reaction or lack of, I tell him the charges and that I think they were to high for that job, and what he thinks of it. Mr Todd thinks about it and tells me that if he really wanted to screw me he could run the bill up to $75.00 or $80.00 dollars. I tell Mr Todd about the tape recording of all the threats, and he tells me to take it to court, and offer to play it to the judge, but if the judge doesn't want to hear it just forget about it. Mr Todd then asks me what I do for a living, and when I tell him that I work for the railway, the CNR he perks up a little and proceeds to tell me that his father was a conductor for the CNR working out of Mimico on the SOD and was actually the General Chairman for the Union. When he found out I worked for the railway he wouldn't let me out of his office regaling me with his stories and wanting to hear my stories, and all the while I'm worrying I hope he isn't going to bill me for his time.
He didn't bill me for the time we spent talking about the railroad , in fact I think he only billed me for the affidavit that he did for me. Mr Todd did tell me one funny railroad story though, and it bares telling here. It seems that he worked for the railway at Mimico in the summer while school was out and he was working filling up the Steam Engines with water as they came in for water, but that entailed filling the tower as well and as the gauge on the tower was not working he would have to watch that the tower never got to full or it might collapse, under the weight of to much water. Mr Todd told me he got talking with someone and forgot to watch how much water was going into the tower, which was like a large wooden barrel on legs and the legs collapsed and the whole thing came down. This was the end of his railway career, we had a good laugh about that, and I went on my way to prepare for the Taxing event. For some reason or another I thought it would be necessary to get a copy of Mother and George's will so I went to the Courthouse the day before the case and got a copy. When I read it for the first time I was totally surprised to read what it said, and began to think if we could have challenged it. Essentially it said if Mom or George died the other would receive the estate, but if they died in concert Anne my half sister would be the sole beneficiary, if Mom George and Anne died in concert then Heather my other half sister would be the sole beneficiary, and if they all died in concert Rosemary Max and myself would inherit the estate, which on the face of it might seem OK, if you didn't realize that when this will was made out Rosemary would have been about 14 years old and Max maybe 16 years old, and it was my mother and George, mostly mother who coaxed me to go and bring them from the orphanage to Toronto, in other words Rosemary would have ended up back in the orphanage with Anne or Heather inheriting and estate probably with the insurance valued at $500,000 dollars with Mr Hermant as the administrator.
It gives one pause for thought, believing as I did that Mr Hermant was a crook. If we Rosemary Max and myself had not been mentioned in the Will I could see this but as soon as we were mentioned would it not que Mr Hermant to ask who are these three kids anyway, and what relation to you are they, and as soon as finding out for Mr Hermant to remind them that they had a certain responsibility for them.
Well the big day comes and as Annes mom and dad were over from England for a visit Anne's dad decides to come with Rosemary and myself to court to see what was going to happen and for a little morale support. Rosemary came along as a wittiness in case there was something that she knew that could back me up. The Taxiing Officer "Judge'' ask me to relate my side of the story, which I did and advised him that Mr Hermant had called my home and released a load of invective and bile which we had taped if the Judge would like to hear. The Judge never picked up on it so I never belaboured the subject. Right after starting the Judge stopped me and asked me to slow down as the Court Reported had to take down everything I was saying, and being quite mad and a little excited I was going quite fast. Every now and then after that I would look at the reporter to see if he was getting it down OK and he would nod OK to me, and OK would carry on.
When I finished the Judge asked Mr Hermant to say his part which he did, saying how ungratefully I was, for questioning his fees after all the trouble he had to go to to convince Anne to turn her share of the cottage over to me, and that I had bombarded his office with many phone calls over this case, and bugged Anne over the phone with this case which I didn't. Anne called my house a short time after Georges death without me ever calling her once, and in fact I have only seen and talked to Anne once since this episode and that was a Davids wedding. I never talked to the Lawyer after he called me to his office to get the papers for the new registration, and only once before, yet when he turned up at the taxing he had added about 10 phone calls to his bill and stretched it to $550.00 from the $230.00 that he had originally charged me in spite of the receipt he gave me on the flap on the envelope which said paid in full. When Hermant was saying his part I occasionally looked at the Court Reported who looked at me and nodded no, no, as if even at that time he knew Hermant was full of shit.

When the Judge asked me if I wanted to rebut, I said that if it was Anne's wish as his client not to turn her part of the deed over to me, wasn't his duty as her representative to go along with her wishes. Mr Hermant was visibly upset because I suspect he didn't know he had a tiger by the tail, and when we were both finished the Judge proceeded to chew him out asking why he even did the transfer the way he did, it wasn't a complected job. The Judge ordered him to repay me $130.00 and cancel the further charges with in 30 days, and after that I was so angry I asked the Judge to excuse me so I could go into the hall and cool down, as it was all I could do to refrain from reaching over the table and punching him which would have done me no good.
A few minutes later Rosemary comes into the hall with Leonard Anne's dad and tells me the Judge asked her what I did for a living, and when she told him I was a clerk on the CNR he told her that I should be a Lawyer. The next day I was still very angry and called the Court Reporter to ask how much it would cost me for a transcript, at which time he wanted to know why I wanted it. I told him that Mr Hermant had lied repeatedly during his presentation and that I could prove it and would love to have him disbarred. The Reporter told me that he could do it but that it would be expensive, that in his view that Hermant had been given a good chew out by the Judge, and that I should leave it lie. As I said at this time my check for 230 dollars to Mr Hermant had cleared out my bank account, and that perhaps discretion was the better part of valor so I decided to leave it go and go on from there. I got my refund from Hermant and that was the last time I ever heard from him. Anne went on to go through two or three hundred thousand dollars insurance money and the three hundred thousand dollars she got for the house and within a couple of years was back on welfare which she was on when she got the estate.
A couple years later when we had gone to Kitchener Market one Saturday we decided to go to the Cemetery to check and see if our fathers name had been engraved on the stone as it was supposed to have been, and when we couldn't find the site again so we went to the Office for instructions. We sent Allison into the office to get a map or something and when she came out she dropped a bomb shell on me. Allison said when she asked as to the site for Nicholas Miloff the woman in the office checked and there were two Nicholas Miloffs, one was in the infant section and had died at 3 days old and one in the regular section. Allison was then given the date of internment for the one in the infant section and it was in 1942 about a year after Rosemary's birth. As I have said I never gave it any thought, or to much when mother said about having triplets and them all dieing because she lied a lot of the time about personal stuff like this, and now that I saw some actuall paper work, I began to think about this situation more in depth, and it seemed to make a little sense about why she would take on two kids that weren't even hers. A short time after we got home I confronted Aunt Shirley with the information. Aunt Shirley was Uncle Johns wife who wasn't on the scene when this thing happened, if it did. Aunt Shirley told me that mother had told her that she had the triplets and that on e of them died, and the Doctor told her that she couldn't take care of the ones she had now, that he would find a good home for the remaining two children. Doctors at this time were looked on as from on high and people mostly just agreed with what they said. If this were the case it would explain why mother had taken two kids that weren't even hers, it was to make up for the two that she had given up, and probably at that point couldn't even find.
It was around this time that all the negative fuss about orphanages across the county was beginning to reach a cacophony and I was beginning to pay attention, thinking I was in an orphanage and it wasn't so bad to me. As I have said when I was in the home I was best friends with Irvin Beare who also had two siblings with him Ray and William both older than him. I had been trying to find him for years I had found out that he had been in the Navy RCN and that eventually I would contact the Navy for his possible address.
When up at the cottage hunting one year Emile my brother in law came up a couple days later and said that Aunt Ruth had died in Toronto, and that he had met my second cousin Dennis who told Emile that any time we were in Waterloo to visit him and gave Emile his phone number and address. I had gone to school with Dennis in Waterloo for a couple years before I found out that we were related by marriage, and had completely forgot about him in the back of my mind, but it all came rushing back.
One day when we were in Waterloo we called him and went to his house for a cup of tea, and had a good chat but he did seem a little aloof and disinterested. I asked about all the old school chums, some of which he knew about saying that he would bump into them from time to time. I asked him about Irvin Beare and he said that he hadn't seen him in many years, but if he did see him he would get a phone number and tell Irvin that I was trying to get him.
A year or so later I got a call from Dennis saying that Irvin's mother had died in Kitchener and Irvin had come down for the funeral and he got Irvin's phone number for me that he now lived in Ottawa. I gave Irvin a call and we made an arrangement to get together at my place in Richmond Hill. A couple weeks later Irvin came to Richmond Hill with his wife and we had a very nice weekend chatting about old time and reminiscing about the orphanage. I asked Irvin what his thoughts about the place were and his were very much like mine, that it was a good place and that we were well taken care of. Irvins mother Agnes actually worked at the orphanage while he was there, and had to leave when Ray his oldest brother reached 16 years old because that was the rule, when you reached 16 you had to leave. Irvin said that he was interested in looking back and particularly if we could find some pictures from those times and I said that the archives of the Kitchener Waterloo Record were in the University of Waterloo and that we could go down one day and have a look at what they had and maybe find some. Irvin said he did have a grade three picture of Miss Uffleman's class which I was in and that he would get a copy of it for me. One day subsequent to this We were in Waterloo after going to the markets and I began to think about this situation again and thought that if any one had school pictures it would be Michael Putnam, who came from a relatively wealthy family, our familys couldn't afford them if there were any. I thought I would look up Michael's name in the phone book and sure enough there it was M Putnam so I called and it was an answering machine so I left a message saying who I was what I was looking for and that if he remembered me would he give me a call when he got a chance. When we got home Anne's mom who never went with us this time said that we had gotten a call from Michael and that he would call back a little later.
Michael did call and asked me what did I mean if he remembered me, at which time I said Michael it has been forty or so years, and there has been a lot of water under the bridge. Michael told me that he had been to the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth Ziegler School and the booklet given out had our class picture on the front page, and that he had gotten an extra booklet and if I wanted it he would give it to me. I told Michael that I would like to meet him for a couple of hours if he wouldn't mind and I could get it then. A few weeks later Anne was recouperating from an opereation and I called Michael and asked it it were possible to see him then. Michael who now lived in Port Dover gave us his address saying that he had a couple hours to spare, the subtext of which was if it didn't go well there would be a good reason to cut the meeting short. I said that was fine because I had another friend who lived in Port Dover at the time, and he was overdue for a visit. We got on just fine and were asked to lunch and never did get a chance to see Jim Hunter down there that day. Michael and I agreed we would have to meet again. I had told Michael that I had been in touch with Irvin and he was quite interested so I said that we would meet in Kitchener for lunch one day.

Amerigo Vespucci

May 10th Marian Dot James Anne and I went to Perth by bus for a ride back to Fremantle on a boat up the Swan River. The Skyline shot is a picture of Perth from the boat on the Swan River. It is a very nice ride very picturesque with lovely homes all along the river to Fremantle. On our way approaching the docks in Fremantle the Captain comes on the loudspeaker and says to watch out for another ship at the docks, the tall ship Amerigo Vespucci which he has a hard time saying. I ask the others witch me if they know what Amerigo Vespucci was famous for and no one knows. So I tell them a little trivia. Amerigo Vespucci was Christopher Columbus's navigator, and that is who the Americas are named after. We were advised by the Captain that Amerigo Vespucci was an actual Italian Navy Ship built in 1939 and was on a goodwill tour around the world, and that it would be open for people to go on it and look around, and check it out.

We did go to see the ship and go on board, and it was a beautiful sailing ship with all the sailors dressed up as they would have been in 1939 when the ship was built. After boarding the ship and looking around we went by train from Fremantle to the Subrisco Market on the edge of Perth. Later that night we went to a Piano Recital at the Town Concert Hall of Medina the neighboring town to Rockingham where Marian lives. I never kept track of or wrote the Pianist's name down and don't remember it but he was the spitting image of and sounded like a young Arlo Guthrie, when Guthrie was wearing and Afro.

May 15th Marian got her car back repaired after the collision when Sandra was using it. This is the end of my diary while there so it was within a few days that we were to try and return home, and I use the term try, because we didn't know if they would let us back in the country because SARS was raging wildly in Hong Kong and we had to to through Hong Kong to get home.

We did make it home OK with little aggravation and because of the problems going to Australia a room was provided for our overnight stay in the hotel attached to the airport, with breakfast provided in the morning.

As this information was taken from a diary I wrote while in Australia it is pretty dry and next year during the winter I will revisit it and edit it properly, but I am glad to be finished with it for now. Australia is a great place to visit but to do all the things I would have liked to do I would have had to either buy or rent a car which was my plan until I found out how much that would cost, and now back to my life story, as I saw it.

The Pinnicles

Wednesday April 2/03 we got up early Marian, Anne, and myself and drove to downtown Perth and got on the bus for a day trip to the Pinnicles. The last time we were in Australia we wanted to see them on our way to Monkey Mia on Shark Bay but never had the chance. The bus was a very interesting 4 wheel drive model that seemed to be built on the chassis of a large truck. There were about twenty people on the bus which seemed to be at capacity. The driver asked us Anne and I to sit up front with him on the bench seat, and we had a very good commentary and conversation with him on the trip. On our way there we stopped at a gas station about a mile up the road from where we stopped on our way to Monkey Mia. I got talking to the driver who seemed very interested in getting a piece of property abroad and he looked into Spain and England but thought they were out of the question, and began to talk about Canada. We talked to him about the cottage, which interested him and told him that we would send him some brochures. We went to the Pinnicles, very interesting Rock formations left there when the ocean receded and on the way saw a Blue Tailed Skink, some wild Emus, and a couple of Kangaroos jumped in front of the bus, which we just missed. We went on to Cervantes a small town near there where we had a nice lunch, then back to our second stop where the driver let some air out of the tires so that we could go off roading in the dessert.We went to a place which had large sand dunes where a few kids with 4 wheeler ATCs were running up and down the dunes which we thought funny until the driver started doing the same thing with the bus. I thought that Anne was going to die, and most of the people on the bus were screaming. When he got tired of that the driver got out some snow boards and asked the people if they would like to try them on the hill, and most took him up on it. I would like to have tried but could not make it up the hill because of my bad leg, resulting from the sciatic nerve problem before we went. All in all it was a great trip. We got back to Perth about 6:15 pm and on the way home stopped at the Chicken place where we got some chicken for supper.

April 11 it has been raining for 2 days now. We went to York on April 8Th with Wendy. There is a nice Antique Auto Museum there which we went in. Marian finished work now an is officially on vacation. Marian and Anne will go to pick up dot tomorrow who will be arriving from England by way of Singapore. There is quite a blow going on outside right now at 8 pm. Anne is sewing on the borrowed machine and we installed a couple of curtain brackets in the bedroom early today. We had to borrow a hammer drill from Chris which he seemed happy to lend us. A Touch of Frost is coming on the TV at 8:30 and we will be watching it. I wrote out a few post cards today and got them ready to send.

April 12th it's still raining and has been for three days. We went to one garage sale in Rockingham today but not much there because of the rain I guess. Anne and Marian have gone to Pearth Airport to pick up Dot. It's 3:45 just me and the dog Xena around now I guess I will go and turn on the TV for a while.

April 13 We went to the Markets today and I saw a saw with an Australian scene painted on it for $50.00 fifty dollars which I think I will by if we get back there. We cleaned out the pool today and put some more chlorine in it.

April 19th, I had a funny dream last night, not unusual but remembered it so I wrote it down.

I was driving up the road it seems with someone from work in the car between Barrie and Midland, when we see a car coming at us all over the road I told the other guy to give me my camera from the bag which I carried and took some pictures of him, the tiger as we went up the stairs on to the porch of a small church. Just then the door opened and a woman stepped out and never saw the tiger. I told the woman to step back in the church, which she did after looking down and seeing the tiger. A few seconds later all the people from the church came out past the tiger and I asked one guy what the name of the town was and he said Del Patterson. I then asked the name of the church and he said Wesley United. I then got out the cell phone and tried to report the tiger but was having trouble getting through, then I woke up. As Ron Mitchel says dreams are all about frustration.

April 25th One month to go. I went to the Burswood auto show today with Chris and his brother Peter. We picked up a few brochures. On the way home we stopped at Peter's house for coffee. He has a great looking house an has done a great deal with it and it's garden.

Sandra was rear ended in Marian's car on the 24th. It wasn't to bad and the other driver is going to have to be responsible. As Marian Anne and Dot have gone to Surfers World it was decided not to tell them until they got back from Sydney. James, Dots son who came from England as well went to Fremantle Jail for a scary night tonight.

April 26th, I walked up to see Rod at his apartment this morning, his leg is not looking good, evidently thrombosis but it also looks like some sort of infection as well. I walked back and was picked up at 6.30PM by Dallas Toole, Toole's mom along with Wendy and Toole's grandmother and taken to the car races at Kwinnana. . The pace was quite fast but the track was very muddy and the cars slipped quite at bit and were very hard to control. I got some good pictures of a couple collisions and some good driving. In the demolition derby Toole did OK until his reverse gear gave out when he was in the last 15 cars of forty that started out. We got home about 11.30PM and it surprised me that Toole's grandmother had a good time. She seems like a good soul.

April 27 th, Wendy came to pick me up to go see an Australian Rules Football game with Damien playing. We watched the game and when the game had just finished Carl came along with a Friend and as he walked by he said hello and that he was going to have a drink with his friend. That was the last I saw of Carl that day and for a while Damien came over and Wendy told him to tell me the rules of the game which he did and that was that. When we left I could not think of a time I was more pissed off. I had just come thousands of miles and the most I got from Carl was a nod. I didn't expect him to jump up and down with joy to see me but `I did expect a few minutes of conversation,but I guess the beer was so much more inviting. I thought you would think that they thought I had brought SARS with me. By the way that is why Anne Marian and Dot went to surfers World and Sydney. The trip they had booked for Singapore was cancelled due to SARS and they had to re schedule a last minute change and it was Surfers World. After the game I had Wendy drop me off at the Mall where I walked through to the other end and Went to McDonald's for chicken and fries. On the way home I saw Terry going the other way we waved and I continued home. Sandra's kids came over and took James out to some fun fare at a park and he stayed over Saturday night. They came back Sunday night about

6PM and wanted to know if I wanted some KFC I said no because I had already had chicken . James doesn't seem to eat regularly and I don't want to cater to his weird appetite. I can be happy with a sandwich, and I didn't want to open a 2 kilo bag of meat for just myself.

April 29 Wendy and I went a visited with Rod for a while and Terry took James out along the beachfront. Prior to going to Rods I was dropped of at Tooles parents place. Dallas was baby sitting Jeremy while Wendy did her home work. Dallas told me that they had a mouse problem and I told Brian, about Lyman's mouse trap. Brian was very enthusiastic about trying it. Terry invited us for supper tonight so we went over and I got up to date with emails on their computer.

During the day we went to the Mall and there were firemen selling tickets for a car and I thought one of them looked familiar. I gave him shit because I told him that I had bought a ticket from him five years ago in Fremantle and never did win the car then. At the time five years ago I was wearing a hat with many pins on it and he asked me about it. I told him I collected pins and he said that he lived in the area and would drop me off some, which he did. He said he remembered it well because when he knocked on the door a guy answered it with two nipple rings, Malcolm, he remembered Malcolm. The fireman's name was Derek Langley. I told him that the nipple ring guy was my brother in law and we had a good laugh.

May 5th. We all drove to Yallingup today to Cannal Rocks Campground with a stop in Bussleton where we noticed a Rummage sale going through. We bought a few items and went on to the Campground which was right on the Indian Ocean. Ron and his family came up and met us a little later. Ron was a little late because he was waiting for supplies for his buisness that never came. We had three separate cabins at the Campground and they had a communal BBQ which we used for supper. That night after dark the Kangaroos came out of the woodwork and were everywhere, startling a few people who just about bumped into them. The next day we went on a wine tasting tour and wound up at Margaret River where we had lunch in a nice Cafe. Margaret River is a nice town where the Indian and Pacific Ocean Meet. After the tour we went back and Ron James and the boys went Surf Fishing for Salmon and caught a few real nice ones.

That night we had a little party in the dinning room as it was Jame's birthday. On Monday we headed home and stopped at Bussleton again where there was an Archery Range that Jame's and the girls wanted to try. After that we continued on to just past Bunberry when going around a corner we saw what appeared to be smoke or a cloud of dust up ahead. As we went around the corner I saw a Toyota Land Cruiser had just co me to a rest on its roof of the side of the roof. I told Marian to stop as we went by in case anyone needed help. As we walked back to the scene two kids and an old man had gotten out of the car pretty dazed. They must have been coming from or going to a cottage because of the material that was spread ed all over the boulevard on the side of the road. As we got back other people had stopped to see if they could help as well.

A doctor who was going by stopped and was checking on the boy about 7 years old, and Anne went to the girl about 8 years old who was pretty shook up and was trying to comfort her while I went to the old man in his seventies I guess, and who was also pretty shook up, and tried to get him to sit down. In a while an ambulance that was going by on the other side of the road stopped and the attendants came over to see if they could help and told everyone that and ambulance was on the way. A couple of police cars came and the media with TV cameras. They took a lot of footage with Anne and the girl, who by that time was clinging to Anne for all her life. When the ambulance came the girl didn't want to let Anne go and clung to her for all her life, she wanted Anne to go with her to the hospital. Anne was willing to go but the Ambulance Attendants wouldn't let her because there was not enough room with the three victims and the attendants. All the while the TV cameras are taping all of this but one of them almost never left Anne and the girl. After answering a few questions we all got on our way again, with the police guarding the scene and all joked that Anne was going to be on the six o'clock news that day.

Australia 2003 2nd leg

Mar 6/03 took the bus to Alice Springs Airport and got the Avro RJ to Perth. We arrived on time and Marian was waiting for us to take us back to her place in Hilman just outside Rockingham about 35 miles from Perth. On the way back we stopped at Sandra and Ron's house in Jandicot but they were not home, so we continued on to Marian's house and took it easy for a couple days.
Monday March 10Th it was 44c the hottest on that day since 1929. It has started to cool down a little and it is supposed to be 36c today Tuesday. Wendy is coming over today to take us to the Hub in Kwinana which is a few miles from Rockingham.
Thursday March 13th we went with Marian to visit with one of her clients in the Hillcrest Nursing Home, in Fremantle, Walter Smart, a Canadian guy who has been in Australia, since the second war. Marian had asked us to bring him a Blue Jay Shirt which we did, and we gave it to him. Walter had had a stroke and could not speak, but he had a portable computer which he could form words on. Walter could hear and comprehend though, and when I told him I actually came from Kitchener he just beamed and got very excited, so much so he could not use his computer properly trying to tell us where he was originally from. It was Anne who figured out he was trying to tell us he was from St.Jacobs a suburb of Kitchener Waterloo and we go there to the Market every once in a while. After giving Walter the shirt we brought for him we went to look around in downtown Fremantle a very nice town, had a meat pie for lunch and came back to Rockingham the old slow way.
After that we went looking in some of the bargain shops, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, who incidentally runs the home where Marian works, and went back to Rod's place, Marian's ex husband for supper.
March 16/03 Wendy and Toole and the baby came over and took us to Mandarah a town about 20 Miles from Rockingham to the Crab Festival for a few hours then went back for lunch.
Terry and Steve came over and took us for a look around Bunnings which is like, or is Home Depot by another name.
Marinan's stove went on the bum and she will have to get a technician in to have a look at it.
March 18th
Wendy came and picked us up and took us to the Maripana Wild Life Resort where we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
We got a call from Don Bowyer today, the train enthusiast who I had been conversing with on the computer, and agreed to meet him outside the train station in downtown Fremantle at 10.30am Tuesday March 25th. Anne and Marian went over to Wendy's house which is just a couple blocks away for a chin wag and took Xena the dog with them so she could visit with Rupert, Wendy's dog a Blue Heeler. I didn't bother going with them because a program was coming on TV that I was interested in.
March 22/03
We got a call from Amanda at 1:30am to tell us that Carter our dog was very sick and would probably have to be put down as she had a bad tumor. Amanda was very upset, and we told her that nothing could be done about it as it was the vets recommendation, and we would have had to do it had we been home. Carter has been a beautiful friend and companion, and in fact family member, and we were very sorry to hear it. We will all miss her very much. I'm sorry I wont get to see her reaction when we finally get back home as she would have been very excited to see us after being away so long. Allison said she is getting along fine and feeling well except for the situation with Carter.
We went to Fremantle yesterday and got talking with an American from Alabama who had been in Australia for 35 years. He said he had been in Korea during the war and when he got home, Viet Nam broke out, and that he was not going there to kill people he didn't know. He was very interesting to talk to, and seemed desperate to talk with someone from our part of the world.
He said that Australian's were very cliquish and difficult to get to know, that he had been in a couple of relationships but that they didn't last. He was not happy with Australians on a personal level.
The ravens are back in the pine trees behind Marian's house in the bush making a terrible noise clearing the trees of there cones. Anne is sending Rosemary's birthday present today when Wendy comes over to take us to the mall.
March 24/03
We got a call from Allison and Amanda last night and they said that Carter had been put down, that they were with her and she went quietly. We were extremely sorry about that but she had a large tumor and couldn't walk and if it burst it would put her in a great deal of pain. Even as I write this I get a tear in my eye because a better dog doesn't live. Allison had to go to the hospital for and operation and she was now out getting home care. They let Allison out of the hospital early because something just started developing in the hospital called SARS, what a pain in the ass that was going to be and have some far reaching consequences for us, most particularly Anne, Marian, and Dot Specketer who was still to come from England with James her son. Marian, Dot and Anne had a cruise booked up from Sydney to Singapore, and James and I would have been in the house alone for the time they were gone. I could have gone but the cruise didn't interest me at all.
March 25Th
Anne and I went in to Fremantle today and met Don Bowyer and his friend Ed Brown both railway enthusiasts and they took us around and showed us some sights we hadn't seen or known about. We wound up at the Hilary Yacht basin where we had a nice lunch. Hilary is about 20 miles from downtown Fremantle. Don says that he and his wife go for 2000 KM treks in the dessert with their SUV called a Pajero, which seems very well equipped for dessert trekking. It looks like a Land Rover. They take a small generator with a 200 ft extension cord so the noise of the generator doesn't bother then to much. He says they have a pre set plan for where some guy will leave a 45Gal drum of fuel for them in the dessert so they don't run out.
Don and Ed took us back to Fremantle where we met Marian after work for a ride home.
March 26th
Wendy came over and picked us up this morning and took us to Mandrah about 20 Miles from Hillman where we got on a boat for a tour of the basin and a 1 hour ride up the river, the name of which, I can't remember and didn't write down. We saw dolphins and at the end of the ride up the river they let us off at a restaurant where we had a nice lunch, and after lunch got back on the boat for the ride back to Mandrah. I seemed to be coming down with something, a cold I guess because I am stuffed up with a sore throat, coughed all night. Marian and Anne are changing the baby, Jeremy at present. Jeremy seems to be growing before our eyes.
March 31
We went into Perth today by bus, from the station at Rockingham had a look around for the morning, had a nice lunch and had a little trouble finding the station for the return to Rockingham. We also had to find the departure area for the Pinicles tour bus and look for a good parking area for Marian when we go down for the tour on April 2nd. We bought a few post cards and saw a few souvenirs that we might look for the next time we get down. Tomorrow we will take it easy and write a few post cards.

Australia 2003 1st Leg

Australia Trip 2003 Feb 24 2003 arrived at the Airport for the start of our flight to Perth West Australia which Anne had booked up with stop offs at Hong Kong, Cairns, on the Great Barrier Reef for a few days, then on to Alice Springs, and then to Ayr's Rock, or as they now call it Uluru, back to Alice Springs then on to Perth. The trouble was that on the way to the airport it starts to snow heavy and was quite cold about minus 20 F , when we got there and lined up for the tickets a guy walks over to me and wants to inspect the bags before we even get to the ticket counter, I say OK and he starts to do so right in the lineup. Its difficult to get the stuff back in the bad under those condition's, and seems to be an omen of things to come. We check our bags in and the guy at the counter tells us that the flight has been delayed until 2.30AM, at which we begin to bide our time, bide out time until the next announcement a hour later when the announcement comes that the flight is delayed until the same time next day, but that they will pay for a taxi to get us home and back the next day. When we get home, quite late, after midnight, with no keys, we have to ring the bell to get in which causes Carter, the dog to howl, and scare Amanda who is now in the house by herself wondering who wants in now. Amanda lets us in at which time we explain the situation and go to bed. We are picked up at 3.00 PM next day for our flight which will take off at 10.00PM bound for Anchorage Alaska for our first refuel on our way, which is a 6.30 minute flight. Jetting through the starlit skies Little dipper in view all the way Listening to the snores and sighs, Children murmuring,babies cries What a bum breaking ride, and, Not because it's bumpy, just so long to sit in one position, tends to make one grumpy. We get to Anchorage more or less on time and expect to be off the plane for 45 minutes, at which time we send a post card home to the girls, and get back on the plane, and have to wait another 45 minutes because of a security risk, until they find out what was the matter, that Omen feeling is starting to creep in again. Got to Hong Kong 7AM local time what a long flight and got a hotel room to rest up for the next leg of the journey. We went to the room and find out that someone is still in it so we have to go back and explain that to them at which time they give us another. When we finally get in the room we find that the key will not work the lights properly so we had to have a guy come and fix the problem. After a relaxing shower and rest we go back to the terminal for the next lap and check in and ask about our flight to Cairns and are told we are not going to Cairns, but to Sydney, but we have one hour to make connections to Cairns, which is from a different section of the Airport, at which we told them we didn't think we could make it in time, what with having to go through Customs, and they said that the plane would be held for us if there was a slight problem. This is a real piss off because to get to Sydney we have to fly right over Cairns and on 2000 miles, then we have to get on another plane and fly back, not only this we have hotels booked up at Cairns, Alice Spring's and Ayrs Rock, and will lose a day along the way. It seems because of the original delay we couldn't stop off at Cairns because the plane only flys there every other day. We get to Sydney and meet an obnoxious Customs Officer who was worried about the food we were smuggling in, and when he asked us for the keys so that he could open the bags, wed couldn't find them right away, and thinking the delay would cause us to miss the next flight we told him to break the locks. They brought a pair of bolt cutters and they wouldn't work on the Mickey Mouse lock that we had put on the bags, and had to send for another pair, which finally allowed them to open the bag. He kept asking us about the food we were bringing in to Australia, and we told him we weren't bringing any food to Australia, and when he asked us why we were not bringing food to Australia I told him we were hoping, above hope that they had enough. The Customs man only opened the one bag and went through it but couldn't find any food. I was glad he never opened the other bag which was full of Egg Salad Sandwiches, and peanut butter sandwiches we had brought for the starving teeming thousands,of Australia, and I was worried the Egg Salad ones would go off in the Australian heat, and can you imagine egg salad sandwiches going off on the plane over Queensland somewhere, The Humanity. Needless to say we missed the next flight they never held it for us and the next flight after that was filled up so we couldn't get on that either, so we were given the OK to use the VIP lounge until the flight we could take would go a few hours later. Needless to say by this time I'm completely pissed off so I just sat and sulked, while Anne had a shower and a meal from the great buffet they provided. We got to Cairns a day late and had to rejig the whole schedule because of that, and as I said I was totally pissed of promises had been made and not kept so we lost a second day of our vacation if not needlessly, at least because the Airline never kept their promise. After getting to Cairns everything went along swimmingly, we enjoyed our stay there and at Alice Springs, and Ayr's Rock, back to Alice Springs and on to Perth, the remotest big city in the world. Talk about Murphy's Law it broke out with a vengeance.
We finally got on our way to Cairns and when we got there and got to the hotel we had a relaxing the rest of the day just wandering around. Cairns is a nice small town and easy to fi nd things.
The next day we took a city snf surrounding area tour by bus and stopped for a tea break at a small cafe where they gave us each 2 large tea biscuits and heavy cream butter and jam, everything they give you to eat in Australia is large. When we returned to the hotel we didn't do much jet lag had set in i guess.
Sunday Mar 2nd we took a half day boat trip up the tidal estuary and saw some birds cormorants, sea eagles etc. We had a relaxing morning on the boat. It rained on and off but it didn't matter because we were under cover, and when we got back to the hotel Anne went to get a few things we needed at Woolworth's which wasn't to far away, and I sat down and wrote some post cards.
Evidently the town of Cairns has doubled in size over the previous five years, it seems much more happening than the previous time we were there a few years ago, lots of cruise ships coming in and lots of hustle and bustle.
Mar 3/03
took a plane AVRO RJ to Alice Springs on time went to the hotel and took a cab to the town centre, a ten dollar ride and looked around for a while. The town had two small Malls and a few souvenir shops, stores and restaurants, but they roll up the sidewalks after 5 PM. We went to Pizza Hut for supper and back to the hotel. Because we were waiting for the bus to take us to Ayr's Rock Uluru, I just had a piece of toast and a coffee I made myself and it cost $15.00 I just about shit, it was considered breakfast and I could have had a whole breakfast from the buffet, but because I only took toast I was charged the same as having an entire breakfast, Live and learn, that was the most expensive breakfast I ever had.
We went on a four hour bus ride to Ayr's rock and the Olgas which was another sort of rock outcroppings, and checked in to the Outback Pioneer, and were took on a tour of Ayr's Rock, and the Olgas. We were taken to the site a few times so the we could see it under different conditions, with the varying light conditions, once at dawn with the sun rising, and once in the evening with the sun setting, when they provided wine for everyone who wished, and once they actually drove around the whole thing. It was very interesting but we then had to get ready for the next leg of the journey to Perth West Australia, which is considered to be the most remote big city in the world.

Nicholas Miloff (Choleff)

The top picture is at a Macedonian Easter service Circa 1939 in back Row from left Ivan {Choleff] Miloff, Coochy {Choleff, unknown, and Nicholas [Choleff] Miloff holding me, Allan.

The second picture centre of front row with white shirt and arms folded holding a cigarette Nicholas {Choleff} Miloff taken 1943 at Canadian Blower and Forge, where war work was likely going on.

My father came to Canada from Bansco Bulgaria with his two brothers Ivan, and Coochy in I believe the late 1920s, to early thirties, The name Coochy is the way he told us and it is my spelling until I hear different. I don't know much about him except that he had the two older brothers that came with him, or brought him with them because of some turmoil at home. They had left sisters back in Bulgaria. All I know about his brothers is what my father told me. I met them perhaps each maybe ten times. John [Ivan] seemed to run a chicken farm outside Kitchener on about 10 acres beside the Dare Cookie Factory, where they had a barn full of chickens. Coochy was a gambler and had a private club for Gamblers in Kitchener, which was illegal at the time, but I was told the Mayor of Kitchener attended. The brothers had owned
and run a restaurant on Queen St outside the Kitchener Arena, where and when my father got to really love Hockey. While they owned the restaurant, and until the arena burnt down, the hockey players would come to the restaurant after the games, and my father got to know the players of that time and place quite well. Most famous of the players at the time for The Kitchener Waterloo Flying Dutchmen, was the Kraut Line, Milt Schmidt, Porky Dumart, and Bobby Bauer. The Kraut line went to the Boston Bruins en masse and my father was forever until his death a Bruins fan. My father would occasionally take me to games at Galt or Preston, and we would have to go on the Electric Train that ran down the middle of what is now highway 8 . It was very exciting just the ride on the train. The Kitchener Arena burnt down, and the games had to be held in the Waterloo Arena, until a new arena could be built, and it would be a the site of the old Army Base at the top of Borden Ave. near where we used to live with the Korbelases. Father when he attended the games would get carried away with himself hurling epithets at the opposing players, yelling and screaming at them, and all the while I am trying to pretend I'm not with him, even at a very young age. One time he was yelling and screaming at a Guelph player, so much calling him a Wop, and Dago to player came over the boards, and went for my father. I actually liked the player quite a lot. He never got very far his team mates held onto him, and I don't know what would have happened, the player, whose name escapes me for the minute was a tough one, but my father although small was quite tough himself. Anyway suffice it to say my father got carried away at hockey games. The player that came over the boards was playing for the Guelph Biltmores, and made it to the NHL, and was there until he tangled with Gordie Howe's elbow, and the blow was fatal to his hockey career. Father was a life long Boston Bruins and Kitchener Rangers fan and died in January of the year the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, so he never saw them get it, although he would have been very pleased. Thank you Bobby Orr. I was a Detroit fan and loved Gordie Howe, until Bobby Hull came along, and although I was always a Detroit fan, I became a Bobby Hull fan, I thought he did what he did effortlessly, and was poetry in motion. I had to always feel sorry for Bobby Hull because he never won a Stanley Cup, but I guess he did alright for himself. Father loved going to the show and would take me from time to time to see Tarzan, The Bowery Boys, and other kids movies, as well as grown up films as well. I remember him taking me to see Paul Muni in "I was a fugitive of the Chain Gang" among others. Father's brother Coochy was quite wealthy, or at least well off, that is until he got cancer, and then his sickness began to clean him out. He would have to come to Toronto by ambulance for treatment, not to mention the cost of treatment. He would die a couple years after being diagnosed. John went to the doctor one day and was diagnosed with cancer, and died about 4 weeks after. Father told me to visit him in the hospital, which I did and had to walk around the public ward several times, and finally asked a nurse which one he was because, he had lost about 200 lbs, in a very short time, like only a few weeks.
John died and there was only my father left over here. Shortly after John died father took us to the farm to check out the farm house to see what was there. Max, Rosemary, and myself were living in the orphanage at the time, and while going through the drawers we found a bunch of silver dollars, which we pocketed without saying anything, perhaps ten of fifteen. When we got back to the home we treated everyone at Beesy's Dairy until the money ran out. In the orphanage to a very great extent if anyone had something everyone did. It's a good thing Father never found out he would have been totally pissed off and when he got pissed off he would use his fist feet, and everything he had. Father was probably an alcoholic, but to be sure not a drunk, and to make that distinction, I never saw him stagger or falling down, or slurring his speech. He never missed work, and always handled himself in a sober fashion. Father could hold his liquor, even if he could not do without it. Father died in his sleep on New Years day 1971, or thereabouts.
All that was left of the Estates of the three of them was a run down house on the edge of Victoria Park in Kitchener. The house looked over the Baseball Park from Centre Field, and they had kind of a bleacher seat built out there so they could watch the games for free. After fathers death we had to contact a lawyer to take us through the legalities in connection with the estate, and as he already had one, which we discovered going through his papers, we contacted the one he had been using. The Lawyer told us that he wasn't fathers lawyer, that his father was and that he was just ending his fathers practice because, he had just died recently. The lawyer told us that we would have to pick and executor, and go down to Kitchener and see him there. When he called to make and appointment, it was to be during the week and I said that, that would be inconvenient because we all worked, and could we make it on a Saturday some time. He said that he had a golf date for a Saturday coming up and if we could be there early, that would be alright. We made it for the Saturday in question and got his address, on King St in Kitchener. We went down on the Saturday and when we got to the address it was on the top floor of the biggest building in Kitchener at the time, and we all looked at each other thinking there won't be much left of the estate when this firm completes probate, in this estate. We were told that our father owned the house on Victoria Park which wasn't worth much, perhaps about $8000.00 dollars, and a small bank account, which had just covered the funeral costs, with perhaps a couple hundred dollars left. He told us that we could sell the house and that the proceeds less his fee would be what we would get from the estate of my father. The Lawyer said that he had the house appraised and that it was in such bad shape that the appraisal was for about $8000.00 which seemed quite low, but on going to inspect the house ourselves we could see why. The house was old to start with, but the people who lived there had just pissed and crapped in the closet from time to time instead of going to the toilet, the wallpaper was just hanging, there were holes in the plaster, it was in rough shape. We decided that we couldn't put in on the market that way so decided to go down, on the weekends and clean it up a bit before we could sell it. We went down several Saturdays painting cleaning, disinfecting, anything we could do to make it a little more acceptable so people could have a look at it. We worked our asses off that summer. On our way back to Toronto one day when it was about 95 deg. f. Emile and I were racing along the 401 in my 1967 Pontiac with about 150000 miles on it and he had a newer Oldsmobile at the time, we went to his place for a dip in their pool. After having a swim we went home and when I pulled in the driveway the rad on the car collapsed, and the coolant went all over the road. I had to pull the rad out of the car, while thinking I hope this house is sold fast so we could perhaps buy a new car. The following Monday I had to get a ride to work, probably from Allan Howe who lived nearbye, and called the radiator shop to see how much it was going to cost the have the rad rebuilt. They said about $150.00. That same day I was asked by the boss to go somewhere near home to pick up a check, as I was from time to time. As I was near home in the CNR vehicle, I picked up the rad and took it to the shop, and when they saw the rad coming out of a CNR vehicle they said that it would be $50.00 off because it was for the CNR and I never argued with them. The next weekend we went back to Kitchener, and it was very hot again, very bright sun and we painted the outside of the stucco house white, and I thought I was going to to blind painting the white on white in that bright sun. All the while while painting and kind of thinking and talking amongst ourselves, I think I wonder if the town would be interested in the house to further extend Victoria Park, and suggest that we phone the town, and ask them. We all agreed, and because we were told that the most we could hope to get was $8000.00, we would ask for $12,000.00. I told Anne to call them, to ask if they were interested, which she did the following Monday. Anne called me at work to say that they were I told her to tell them $12,000.00 . She called them and told them, and they said sold, it was so easy I was left wondering if we should have said more, but that's what we said so that was it. We sold the house to the City of Kitchener for $12,000.00 dollars and they promptly tore it down, after all the work we had put into it. I was very surprised when we got the check from the Lawyer less $200.00 for his fees, I thought it would be much more considering it took about 14 months to close the file. As we had about 150,000 miles on my 1967 Pontiac we ordered a new car which we would pay cash for a 1973 Chevrolet Suburban, which took about 4 months to get.
I'm not sure what Max and Rosemary did with their share but I imagine it went to good use.
Father was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Kitchener with his two brothers and his name was to be put on the monument. About a year later we went down to Kitchener as we would from time to time to go to the Market, and went to check to see if the name was on the monument, which it wasn't. We called up the cemetery who said they would check on it and get back to us. They got back to us and said it was an oversight and would be done shortly. A few years later we went back to the Cemetery and this time couldn't find the plot so went to the office for guidance. They asked us for the name, which we gave them and they said that they had 2 Nicholas Miloffs, one in the infant section, and another which they gave us the number of and direction to. The infant had died at birth in 1942, and this was the first real inkling of another sibling. We spoke to Aunt Shirley and she said that mother had told her that she had triplets, one of which had died, and the other two had been given away at birth. The story was that the doctor said that mother couldn't take care of the children she had, and that he knew where the children would be well placed, and did that. I began to wonder if the reason mother took the two kids that weren't hers was that she was trying to replace the two she had given up. What a mystery.