Fishing in Detroit

 Earlier this month I wrote about double cousins, mentioning that there were Mauderly-Ridnour double cousins. Pictured here are two of them with their spouses (and a nice stringer of fish). On the left is Murl Kendrick and next to him his wife, Martha Mauderly Kendrick. Next to Martha is my grandmother, Delphia Means Ridnour and my grandfather, Joseph Rufus Ridnour.
Martha's parents were Joseph Mauderly and Ida Ridnour. Grandpa Joe's parents were Kathryn Mauderly and Rufus Ridnour. Joseph and Kathryn Mauderly were brother and sister as were Rufus and Ida Ridnour. Therefore, Martha and Grandpa Joe were double cousins.

 The four of them were visiting Murl and Martha's son-in-law and daughter, Dates and Cleo Lessner - the two extras in the middle of this picture - at their home in Detroit, Michigan. I don't know if they caught the fish in the Detroit River or elsewhere.

What I do remember hearing about were the trips they made into Canada while they were in Detroit. To me, it meant they traveled "way up North" when in reality they actually went South to get to Windsor, Ontario, Canada from Detroit. (Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada.)

Knowing my Grandfather Joe's fear of crossing bridges, I'm sure he didn't relish going over to Windsor on the Ambassador Bridge. At the time of its completion in 1929, the two-mile long bridge had the longest suspended central span in the world. The style of the bridge is a combination of Art Deco, Streamline Moderne with some Gothic architecture thrown in.
Grandpa might have appreciated the beauty and engineering marvel of the bridge but he probably preferred going to and coming from Windsor via the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel under the Detroit River.

I'm not sure of their reasons for visiting Windsor, but with their interest in gardening and especially Grandma's passion for flowers, it might have been to visit some of the many large parks and gardens located along the waterfront. Known as The City of Roses, the Liebeszauber (Love's Magic) pictured above was designated as the City of Windsor Rose. It wouldn't surprise me if this was one of the many roses Grandma once grew.

As a youngster, I always enjoyed being around Grandpa's double cousin and her husband. They were fun loving people. Murl tried to teach us how to climb through a broom handle - a trick I don't think any of us ever accomplished. And if we ever came home and found a pile of junk in front of the door, we knew they had stopped by and found us gone. We'd say, "Murl and Marthie were here." It was Murl's way of letting us know we'd missed out on seeing them.