He would have been 119 years old this week.

Today I added four newspaper clippings about Gray's Shows to Fairgound. There is nothing too interesting except a couple of articles about a drug bust. In my experience, this the oldest coverage of a "drug bust"; every day occurrence today. Also a wonderful little clip about Irene (click clipping to view).

As I work through the pile of newspaper clippings and properly category and file them I occasionally come across a stumper. This morning it is two obituary clippings for a WWII and Korean war RCAF fighter pilot named David Ashleigh who died in a plane crash in 1979 near Oshawa. He was an RCAF Ace. I believe that this meant that he had shot down 5 enemy aircraft. I was pretty certain that a quick Google would bring up lots of facts about David - not so. The internet was bare excepting one entry in a website Fly For Your Life that is dedicated to RCAF history. They have no photograph or other information - just that he was in the RCAF. I am in touch and will supply them with what I have. Hopefully we can track him down and make certain that the clippings find a place to survive.

I should have posted about this months ago. It is just one of the things that got dropped as I took a vacation from The VOX. Somehow back then I got myself in communication with the moderator of a Royal Canadian Navy online historical project. I do not know who found who because I have occasionally sent old RCN photos to their museum in Halifax for preservation and display and they have contacted me about these photos or I may have contacted them. Regardless the person who I was in contact with introduced me to For Posterity's Sake a website "dedicated to the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy and the ships they served in".

I was invited to contribute obituaries and summarized service records for my father and for Carol's father. I did and they are present on the site. My father had collected some group photos of his ships crew and they were also very pleased to get these.

• my Father - scroll way down.
• His service record - name mispelled.

If you have old photos of RCN ships, pictures of relatives who served, or their obituaries please let me know and I will help you get digital copies displayed in this memorial. I can also help you find war-time service records if they would be of interest. Anyways - a great tribute to those who sailed for Canada.

We are well on our way home. We stopped in Quebec City for our first night out of Moncton. Had a nice walk around the walled city including lower Quebec (walked down, but rode the lift up), found the old Anglican church founded by the Scottish troops after the battle on the Plains of Abraham (probably members of the 78th Fraser Highlanders), and took in a nice dinner.

Our hotel that evening was a bit of a surprise. When we first opened the door to our room we were hit with a blast of heat - the room was over 40 degree centigrade. The staff claim to have never seen this happen before. Fortunately they were able to find us another room.

This morning we woke up in Cornwall, ON. We stayed here so that we could visit Upper Canada Village for the first time in 40 years. I wanted to get some photographs of Louck's farm. The main farmhouse was moved from nearby and once was owned by a direct ancestor of Mary (Loucks) Lauro a good friend of ours. She has never seen the house.

Many of he 78th Frasers were Scottish survivors of the Jacobite rebellion and may have been present at the battle Culloden Moor in 1745. I believe that the 78th was recruited from the survivors of this battle and they were shipped to North America with General Wolf to ensure that they did not participate in any further rebellion against the crown, and that the regiment was disbanded in Quebec City after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham to ensure that they did not return to Scotland and take up their old ways. Further, Williams family history believes that an early member of the 78th was a Cameron ancestor of my mother. Wolf is not well thought of in Scotland for the butchering that took place at Culloden. We think pretty highly of him and he is enshrined in Westminster Abbey by the English - just different POVs

Home now . . .

Last time that we arrived at home it just did not feel right. This time when we arrived it felt very good. We were rested (actually unpacked already) and the home and community looked good - not grey and cold, but green and promising. We were hungry and thirsty so started dinner and cocktails (one should not withdraw from the travelling lifestyle too quickly; we would not want to get the tremors).

Canada Day, but nothing broadcast by CBC from Parliament Hill. I was counting on a live music broadcast from the Hill. When did this all change? CBC was showing the Dragon's Den - very patriotic - lots of flag waving and Kevin sang O'Canada, but still not the hill. I had to watch a Maple Leaf press conference explaining why Phil Kessel was traded. I did not know that he had been traded but I already knew why he was traded. Maybe the Food Channel will have a good show about how to preserve poutine (canned poutine - a great idea, not mine originally but a good idea).

We are home and that is good.