Today was all about reminiscing.

This morning, I visited my mom at her farm near Ferguson Falls. We spent the first hour sharing genealogical records we had each gathered—Olivette, a decade ago, me, within the last few weeks. It is so enjoyable to share a passion for discovering, documenting and remembering where our ancestors—and, by extension, we—came from.

We then walked across the fields to my mom's sugar bush. My brother Tim and sister-in-law Seana were already there, boiling sap in the sugar shack. We had a lively conversation about a number of subjects, including poetry. I set myself the challenge of finding a poem Tim would like (suggestions welcomed).

Then it was back to my mom's for a quick lunch before heading to the Ferguson Falls Community Hall for another edition of the By the Falls Musical Social. St. Patrick's Day was the theme for this month's free event of music, anchored by the group Memory Lane, plus coffee, tea and sweets. Like last month, the Hall was full. It brought to mind an expression I often encountered in old-timey descriptions of such events: "And a good time was had by all."

Once again this month, Archives Lanark had brought archival materials to share with guests at the Musical Social. Today, the focus was on school books. I spent a lovely half hour in conversation with Frances Rathwell, chair of the organization's Board of Directors, and Wendy Roberts, a volunteer with the non-profit charity, who talked about the books. Frances led the creation of the series of books documenting rural schools in Lanark County. Organized by original township, the school books provide the history of the many rural schools in the County, lists of teachers and students, photos, and interesting facts and stories.

I immediately reached for the Lanark Township book, which includes a section on the Ferguson Falls School (Lanark Township S.S. #8). My interest in this particular school wasn't just because of its proximity to the farm where I grew up, but also the fact that my oldest siblings—Tim, Kathleen and Greg—had attended the school between 1964 and 1968. Imagine, living in the middle of farm country in the early 1960s and walking a quarter mile to a one-room school house for instruction.

According to the Lanark Township Rural Schools book, Ferguson Falls' first school was built in 1825—a log building with a large porch. By 1885, a contract was put in place to construct a one-storey brick building, at a cost of $625. The old school would be used as a woodshed and eventually dismantled and rebuilt on land in Ferguson Falls village. Other interesting tidbits in the school's history:

The school was closed in 1968. In its final three years, enrollment had varied between 14 and 20 students. My siblings transferred to Sacred Heart Catholic School in Lanark, where the rest of us would go as well. Enrollment at that school was about 60 students per year—still tiny by today's standards.

This afternoon, when the band took a musical break, many of the guests visited the room where the school books were on display, poring over the photos, searching for themselves, siblings, friends or neighbours. When my mom popped in, I showed her the section for the Ferguson Falls School. Just looking at names brought back memories for my mom and elicited stories that I had never heard before.

A neighbour who has been in the area since 1954 told me that he had gone to Boyd's School (Lanark Township S.S. #11), just a few miles down the road from Ferguson Falls. As I had done with Frances and Wendy, I spent a half hour talking to Robbie Henderson, as he recalled the school he attended from the age of 10. I found that section of the book and located his name on the class list for 1955. He enjoyed looking at the names and photos of the children he had gone to school with, now 70 years ago. We talked about his parents and siblings, as we reminisced about the people and activities of our community. He recalled that his parents would meet a group of neighbours every Tuesday night at the Dickinson home in Ferguson Falls for a card party. As we chatted, we found a photo of the card party in a scrapbook put together by Margaret Dickinson. It's always reassuring to find evidence, such as a photo or newspaper article, that confirms the accuracy of our memories.

In conversation with Robbie, I talked about the value of history, stories and photos. I said that since experiencing ovarian cancer, I've become much more appreciative of legacy. That's part of the reason I started this blog in the first place: to leave a legacy for my children in case my treatment wasn't successful. Now, 3½ years later, I have more than 1,300 posts documenting not just my journey but also interesting stories like ones that I heard today. I hope to keep documenting and sharing stories for many years to come.