Terry Groves
B.R.A.T.S. Climbing Mount Everest
Some challenges seem so much bigger when they are right in front of you.
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Terry Groves
- Jun 28, 2020
- 4 min
B.R.A.T.S. Non-Brat Friends
Not only did I learn to build relationships with other brats, I learned about non-brats too
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Terry Groves
- Jun 20, 2020
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. Pets - Part of the Family
When we first moved to Clinton, we brought our cat, whom we had named Cotton because she was all white, with us from Winnipeg. Unfortunately, she did not survive our time at the farm. We found her dead, by the edge of the highway. There were no discernible injuries so we don't think she was struck by a car. We buried her in a stand of trees that bordered the farm's front lawn. After we moved into the base PMQs, my grandparents, Dad's parents, came for a visit. They brought a
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Terry Groves
- Apr 16, 2020
- 4 min
B.R.A.T. Tomatoes
What sort of stuff grows in a dump?
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Terry Groves
- Apr 8, 2020
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. Building Memories and Knowledge
Even when I was really young I had a passion for plastic models. For me, it was the assembly, fitting the parts together to make something, that held my fascination, more so than the final model. I recall watching my older brothers, Mark and Robin, assemble cars, planes, boats, tanks, and even monsters. This was before I had enough manual dexterity to manipulate the small parts myself. I watched as Dad showed them how to remove the parts from the frames that held them, trim o
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Terry Groves
- Apr 1, 2020
- 6 min
B.R.A.T.S. Fight, Fight, Fight
So, you wanna do something about it? Fighting as a kid.
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Terry Groves
- Mar 25, 2020
- 4 min
B.R.A.T.S. Working Times Square
Moving always meant another opportunity to meet good people.
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Terry Groves
- Mar 18, 2020
- 4 min
B.R.A.T.S. Winter Adventures
Winter can be so magical when you are a kid.
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Terry Groves
- Mar 11, 2020
- 4 min
B.R.A.T.S. The Old Oak Tree
Legends abound when you are a young brat. Read about my adventure in the arms of a fateful tree.
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Terry Groves
- Feb 26, 2020
- 2 min
B.R.A.T.S. Ka-bala and the Spirit World
When we lived in Clinton, I learned about a board-type game called Ka-bala. TV said it could predict the future, that it knew all my secrets. Check it out on Mr. Google, search for 'Ka-bala game'. It was sort of like a Ouija board, but toned down for kids. It had a huge eye on a pedestal above the playing board. I don't recall just how the game played but, like a Ouija board, you asked it questions and it gave you answers by turning that disembodied eye over cards arranged ar
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Terry Groves
- Feb 19, 2020
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. The Slap Heard Around The World
Sometimes simple gestures carry the weight of the world.
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Terry Groves
- Feb 6, 2020
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. Playing in the Park
I know it seems so ordinary, but there was always something special to me, just playing in the park. The park was in the middle of Leicester Square in the Winnipeg PMQs. The equipment was spread out, leaving vast amounts of grass for whatever the play of the day was. There were teeter totters in the northeast corner, moving west was the sandbox that was refilled each spring, leaving a huge mound of granular fun. Past that were the swings where, if you went so high that you s
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Terry Groves
- Jan 29, 2020
- 2 min
B.R.A.T.S. Haunted Places
Every place I lived had local legends. In this post I talk about the Harvey House in CFB Kingston.
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Terry Groves
- Jan 22, 2020
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. Clean, Shiny Floors
As you can imagine, keeping the home of six boys (we were all within eight years of age), was a big job for our mom. Of course, we were a huge help, all our little hands so eager to pitch in and do our share (tongue-in-cheek). We were too busy dirtying things up. However, there were some things that piqued my interest enough to make me willing to pitch in every once in a while. That something wasn't always the 18 inch wooden ruler that Mom used when she needed to fully captur
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Terry Groves
- Dec 25, 2019
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. Walking On Water
Winter in Kingston was magical. Even though it was pretty cold, there was so much to do in the snow, so many activities that it left me with many precious memories. Whether we were tobogganing at Fort Henry or skating at the outdoor rink on Queenston Heights or hiking in the fields behind Assoro Cres/Sicily Dr and the rock cuts there, the cold didn't seem to bother us much. By far though, the most fun we would have was walking on the frozen water of Deadman's Bay and hiking o
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Terry Groves
- Dec 19, 2019
- 2 min
B.R.A.T.S. Clean Windows
It is peculiar how some memories remain so vivid while others fade. Perhaps that is just the course of your life. I know this one shows the course of mine. Every spring and fall Dad would switch the windows around. In the spring, take down the storm windows and put up the screens. In the fall it was the opposite. Whichever way the windows were going, they had to be cleaned. When I got older and had to do some of the cleaning, the job wasn't so much fun but, while I was too yo
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Terry Groves
- Dec 11, 2019
- 2 min
B.R.A.T.S. Down the Up Stairs
When you're a kid, nothing has to be what it was designed to be. A youthful imagination can turn just about anything, into just about anything else. A hockey stick can be a rifle, a sword, a pole vault. A stick can be a gun, a ray gun, even a snake. Well, for my brothers and me, a set of stairs could be, and often were, an entire playground. When we moved into the PMQ in CFB Clinton, the beds had to be carried up the stairs. There was a sudden turn at the bottom that made it
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Terry Groves
- Dec 5, 2019
- 3 min
B.R.A.T.S. Eating Out Before Fast Food
As you can imagine, money was tight in our family of eight. Us boys were growing fast and our furnaces needed constant stoking. Eating out was a rare treat. When I was about nine, we went to a restaurant in Clinton. This was a special treat as we typically only ate out when we were travelling and picnicking wasn't available. Mom and Dad had to pinch pennies where they could. To be eating out just a short drive from home was rare. We were allowed to choose what we wanted from
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Terry Groves
- Nov 28, 2019
- 2 min
B.R.A.T.S. Dippity Do
Did you ever do things just to annoy your parents? My brothers and I came up with a few things along that track. I remember, back in the early 1960s, while we were living in the PMQs on the Winnipeg airbase... It was common for my two older brothers and I to lay on the living room floor, in front of the TV. Our heads would be propped on our hands, side by side. Sometimes we would stay in the same position so long that our hands would fall asleep. There were not a lot of choic
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