Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario

The telephone has arrived!

Gwen — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:46:08 +0000

The technology of the telephone entered Maud’s world during the years she lived at the Manse in Leaskdale. Now, over 100 years later, the LMMSO has taken the step of installing a telephone line at the Historic Leaskdale Church. We can now be reached, via telephone, at 905-862-0808!

Summer Events Schedule

Gwen — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:35:57 +0000

Maud of Leaskdale performance dates and times have been officially posted on our website! Advanced ticket purchases are now available online for the play’s duration.

Our Summer Luncheon Tea dates and themes are also confirmed. Book ahead to avoid disappointment.

Please visit our Calendar of Events page for more information.

Visiting from Scotland

Gwen — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:40:49 +0000

Reinier Holst, Heather Walton, Ingrid (Reinier’s sister) and Terence McCann, pose for a picture using the Leask farmstead as their backdrop. Heather, visiting from Scotland, was treated to a tour of the Leaskdale site in April.

Maud goes “On the Road”

Gwen — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:24:32 +0000

The Leaskdale Manse National Historic site (Home of L.M. Montgomery) directional signs are now officially posted on Highway 404 at the Bloomington Road exit. Sandwiched between two golf courses (golf being a popular sport in the Uxbridge area, as well as P.E.I.), the Home of L.M. Montgomery sign sits for all Ontarians to see!

Maud at the Mississauga Golf Club, in the Selected Journals, Volume II, Wednesday, October 8, 1919 writes: “Before dinner we went over part of the links and I played my first round of golf. Made a fearful mess of it of course, but felt the fascination of the game. I have always thought that golf is a game I’d love if I ever had a chance to learn and practise it.”

Jordie finds Emily

Gwen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:50:46 +0000

Jordie, a student from East Gwillimbury, visited the site on April 18 with her mother Andrea. Emily of New Moon, Jordie’s first encounter with a Montgomery novel, will be the subject of a book report she will be completing in the next few weeks. (I hope to get a copy!)

“I want to create a new heroine now – she is already in embryo in my mind – she has been christened for years. Her name is Emily. She has black hair and purplish gray eyes. I want to tell folks about her.”1

Jordie toured the Manse where Maud lived, and where the Emily character was created. The Emily trilogy was considered the most autobiographical of her novels, by L. M. Montgomery herself. Perhaps now that Jordie has visited the famous writer’s home, as she finishes reading Emily of New Moon, she will find hints of Maud’s life in Leaskdale, and as a writer.

1The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume 2, Edited by Mary Rubio & Elizabeth Waterston

Breanna’s Heritage Fair

Gwen — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:39:46 +0000

During March Break, I had the privilege of presenting our site to Breanna Lewis, a Grade 5 student from Kingston, who was entering an exhibit on Lucy Maud Montgomery in her Heritage Fair. Well, I just received some photographs from Breanna’s mother, Lynn, along with news that Breanna’s exhibit was selected to move on to the Regional Fair at Fort Henry. Judging by these pictures, I am sure Maud would be proud, and she would join the L.M.M.S.O. in wishing Breanna “Best of Luck” at the Regionals!

New Church Carpet

Gwen — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:19:28 +0000

On the eve of the big 2013 snowstorm, Moses and Patrick, of the Carpet Barn in Uxbridge, installed the new carpet runner in the Historic Leaskdale Church. Barb Pratt, who picked up the donated carpet from Parks Canada, smiles her approval at a job well done!

Monday, January 18, 1897

Gwen — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:57:15 +0000

Lucy Maud Montgomery, age 22

Monday, Jan. 18, 1897, Belmont, P.E.I.

“Yesterday was a dream – a poem – a symphony – a what you will so that your definition expresses the ethereal revel of colour, the thrilling glory and splendor of the wonderful day that came in roseate and golden across frost-rimmed hill and crept away at night in an elf-land of moonlight.”

The conclusion to the same journal entry…

“Today it poured rain all day and things were on a rampage of disagreeableness.”

From the Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery The P.E.I. Years, 1889-1900, Rubio & Waterston, Oxford University Press, 2012

In the book’s forword, Michael Bliss writes, “On every page the sharp twin edges of intelligence and abnormally acute senses make their impress,” “an almost unequalled account of the imagination working.”

The Garden in Winter

Gwen — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:10:06 +0000

Frosty-white and cold it lies

Underneath the fretful skies

Snowflakes flutter where the red

Banners of the poppies spread,

And the drifts are wide and deep

Where the lilies fell asleep.

But the sunsets o’er it throw

Flame-like splendor, lucent glow,

And the moonshine makes it gleam

Like a wonderland of dream,

And the sharp winds all the day

Pipe and whistle shrilly gay.

Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie

Rainbow buds of by-and-by;

In the long, sweet days of spring

Music of bluebells shall ring,

And its faintly golden cup

Many a primrose will hold up.

Though the winds are keen and chill

Roses’ hearts are beating still,

And the garden tranquility

Dreams of happy hours to be-

In the summer days of blue

All its dreamings will come true.

L.M. Montgomery

Pam’s Birthday Surprise!

Gwen — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:10:48 +0000

Pam’s December birthdate has just passed, but in November her friend Anna surprised her with a birthday party at the Leaskdale National Historic Site. Anna decorated the Historic Church with peacock feathers and peacock-blue table centrepieces, adorned with Anne of Green Gables quote cards. Pam was treated to a personal tour of the Manse and her special day ended, fittingly, with an animated reading from a chapter of Anne.

“One can’t get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.”

The kindred spirits that made Pam’s birthday extra special – on the front staircase of the Manse. Anna was the photographer.