Book excerpt: Mary Mathieson has had an eventful life spanning almost a century. She has lived in small town Ontario, in Northern Ontario including the James Bay area where she was an itinerant nurse, and in cosmopolitan cities. She has spent time in some of the most interesting cities in Europe and the United States and she has been witness to the most momentous events of the 20th Century. Told in bite-size vignettes and longer tales, this is her recollection of a lifetime.