Photo taken at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

Time capsules can be pretty boring. But time capsule nerds like me live for those rare capsules with something really cool is found inside. I am supposed to have a time capsule in my home and this year I was going to do something about it– but I didn’t. The reason is that I am afraid. What am I afraid of?

Maybe having Mr. Mahoney pull out those cornerstones and finding nothing, to be precise, and have my anticipation shattered. My anxiety stems back to a former owner who owned this home for about a year, and when he lost it to the bank he stripped the house down to a mere light bulb. When we bought this home in 1981 even the brass push button light plates had been stripped. A home should be a treausure chest to the living–maybe it’s still there, and maybe it’s not– but we don’t know what we are missing until we find it. What if I don’t find it?

Photo taken at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

A few weeks ago Michael Rikley-Lancaster from the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte showed me what was in a time capsule a masonry crew had discovered encased in the stone wall of the condo building, which once housed the Rosamond Woollen Mill.

The items in the time capsule included: newspapers, coins and a photograph of the mill’s founder James Rosamond. The newspapers: an Ottawa Daily Citizen, Almonte Gazette and Industrial World were dated August 17, 1880. The oldest objects were assorted coins, which date back to 1858. The time capsule’s note explained that the coins were removed from an earlier time capsule before being placed into the 1880 time capsule.

Photo taken at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

So what is in mine if it is still there? The Morphys were one of the founders of the town– so one wonders what they have put in there. They seemed to be frugal people, as when my home was gutted in a fire in 1995- the only thing found in all the exposed walls was a note from a child and a playing card.

Photo taken at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

So should I just leave it there- or see what’s in there next year? This year I finally found out what the hidden room in the basement was– so is that enough excitement for one year? The trouble is you think you have time- time is not measured by clocks it’s measured by moments….

Why am I so apprehensive about this moment in time?