Vignettes of Life

My father, who was the cousin of Thomas Shingles, who designed the Canadian Victory Nickel among other things, sometimes brought home small creatures for me. A tortoise I named George. Sometimes we saw him but then he went underground somehow and was lost. Then the Hedgehog, Henry I think. Kind of cute, but spiky. He was sent back to the wilderness all curled up as usual. Then the dog Pete, although I changed his name to Ernie. I nursed him through distemper and he survived. My older brother thought he looked like a worn carpet. Some people are not nice!

Ron Shingles