When we came to Canada we lived upin northern Ontario by the Quebec border close to Rolfton Ontario which is not longer there.  We had a few acres and my Dad had chickens, pigs, and worked for the Ontario Hydro.
 
I remember Ivan riding the pigs, pretending his was a cowboy.   I was more of a nuisance to him as I was 8 years younger and he had to babysit me much of the time.  He was very creative and industrious.  I remember him and his buddies making up oil rigs and trying to drill for oil on our property.
 
Ivan and his friends used to canoe through the lakes and rivers up north.  One time he found human skeletal remains which the police investigated.  We all loved living in the country and found it hard when we moved to Hamilton, and Ivan had to give up our family dog.
 
In Hamilton, going to Catholic schools, with Ivan's blonde hair, blue eyes, and comical quick wit  made the nuns laugh.  They doted on him and he was one of their favourites.  I was even sometimes favoured by them and the senior girls,  because 'Ivan' was my brother.  There were girls coming around when he was a teenager asking 'Is your brother home?'
 
When he was a teenager he joined the Air Cadets, then later joined the Air Force. In the Air Force with his guitar playing and singing, he had his own band.   
 
We were very close and if he couldn't be home for the holidays he always sent home Christmas gifts.
 
He furthered my already blooming interest in reading when he went to Ryerson for Journalism. He'd bring home stacks of books that were on his reading lists. As the books came in I would readily read a lot of them, adding to my own education. 
 
Those were the good old days. May he rest in peace.