By Pamela Stephens
A mere ten blocks from the southern edge of Centretown lies “Tranquility Base,” a yard-turned animal haven where squirrels, stray cats, birds, toads, turtles, raccoons and the Chymczuk family relax and enjoy a trickling waterfall, a luxurious hot tub and hundreds of lawn ornaments.
Yes, lawn ornaments. They come in every shape, size, season and character and adorn the lawn, garden and literally every square inch of 211 Holmwood Ave.
“I hate driving with a passion and I could never see myself going to a cottage, so I decided to bring the cottage to me,” says Vic Chymczuk of his home in the Glebe
Ornaments peer from behind bushes, rest on window ledges and congregate around every corner and patch of grass in the front and back yard of “Tranquility Base,” the moniker Chymczuk has mounted in wooden letters on the back fence.
Chymczuk, 52, may be a carpenter by trade but he’s a lawn ornament enthusiast at heart.
He has been making lawn ornaments for over eight years now and despite numerous requests from passing admirers, Chymczuk insists his hobby is not for sale.
Painting is the biggest part of the job, he says, adding it took close to 40 hours to paint his two Santa Claus figures, beginning with primer, several layers of acrylic paint and a weather protecting seal over high-density particle board.
“I’ve had quite a few people ask me if I’d sell them but I say no, it takes too much time for me to make them and I don’t really want to make money at this anyways,” he says with a broad smile. “But if one of my neighbours asked me, I’d make one for them!”
Easter and Christmas-themed ornaments round out the largest part of Chymczuk’s collection, numbering around 200 pieces.
There are reindeer, elves and dozens of snowmen, including one crashing into a tree on skis.
But if you were to walk by 211 Holmwood this Oct. 31, you wouldn’t see ghouls or goblins peeping from behind thick
bushes.
“The only [season] I won’t do is Halloween ‘cause you’re pretty much asking for trouble then,” he says. “I’ve had a few go missing but since most people know they’re mine, if they find them tossed on their lawn a few blocks over, they’ll just come by and leave it on the doorstep or something.”
Seven years ago, Chymczuk was asked to have pictures taken of his Easter
ornaments for a newspaper and they were printed across Canada.
“I started hearing from people I hadn’t heard from in 10 or 14 years, calling up from Edmonton and Calgary, saying that they saw the picture in the paper,” he says. “It was really nice.”
Michelle Eagen, 16, has lived on Holmwood Avenue her entire life and says she used to love going to the Chymczuk house on Halloween because she “got to take a closer look at [the ornaments] instead of just driving by and saying ‘I wonder what’s up there today?’ It’s fun and they’re really cute!”
Currently, turkeys brandishing placards reading ‘No Turkey’ and pigs tied to a post with a sign overhead that reads ‘FREE HAM’ decorate the front yard, comically reminding people that turkeys are not the only option for Thanksgiving dinner.
Before the snow flies in early November, Chymczuk can be seen hanging up his Christmas ornaments.
“A lot of the things I put up I need a ladder to put stuff in the windows,” he says. “I try to get them out every year at the same time, usually around the tenth of November or the week before the Santa Claus parade.”
Chymczuk says his ornaments attract attention from neighbours all the time, especially children.
“They will come by and will say ‘Oh, Santa Claus is coming because he’s got his ornaments out,” he says. “They’re a few people who try not to come by so much because the kids always gotta’ stop and look at them.”
“Tranquility Base” isn’t just for kids, either.
Blue jays, cardinals and a family of raccoons currently live in and around the flourishing gardens and vine-covered fences of Chymczuk’s backyard.
“We have five raccoons that live under the garage and they’re very entertaining,” says Chymczuk, eyes twinkling. “Their names are Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Hamburglar and Zorro. I see them as pets, in a way.”
In fact, so many animals loiter around the Chymczuk house that some have decided to move right in!
“We have [a grey squirrel] here that’s gotten so cheeky it comes into the house,” joked Kay, Chymczuk’s mother, who lives with her son at 211 Holmwood. “It’s quite funny, so now we have to watch and keep the door shut!”
Kay, a small, silver-haired woman who uses a walker to get around, moved in with her son a few years ago and says their backyard is an authentic healing garden where she can relax and escape.
Yvette Hazzard has lived next door to the Chymczuks for many years.
She says the raccoon family has a route around the neighbourhood and has been known to visit.
“Actually, this summer they made a hole in our screen door, came in and they ripped open a bag of cat food all over the place,” says Hazzard, adding she’s recently stopped feeding the birds in her backyard because the raccoons started coming around too frequently.
In the backyard, Chymczuk has built an elaborate waterfall which holds over 25 goldfish and koi.
As winter descends, he leaves the fountain running but scoops out as many fish as he can and puts them in a bathtub in his basement.
The ones that escape are left to their own devices in the frigid waters of the pond.
The flat rock, three-foot deep fountain is also home to hundreds of frogs in the spring, both live and ornamental.
“It can get really loud with them all back there,” he laughs. “One time the pond was just covered in eggs so I had to take a net and take some of them away because there were just too many in there with the fish in there already.”
One time, a turtle dropped in to join the menagerie, explains Ms. Chymczuk.
It made its way from the pond down the street, though it only joined its scaled and slippery friends for a while.
“I caught him walking down the driveway one day so I turned him around, but eventually he went back down to the pond,” she says, and then adds, peering from behind glasses, “I tried to make him stay though.”
The Chymczuks refuge wasn’t always so picturesque. It has taken Chymczuk close to six years to transform their grassless, rough patch of space into the blooming and blossoming Eden it is today.
“I can’t get around too much anymore but it’s so relaxing just sitting back here,” says Ms. Chymczuk. “I like Christmas time the best because of the effect the snow makes and all the lights he puts up.”
As a cat with a garter belt around its neck strolls by, Chymczuk jokes that his house is just like the one in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
“When I turn all the lights on, around the fence, around the house, around the garage, everywhere there are lights, at night time, the airport is five kilometres from my house and you could probably use my house as a beacon for the planes,” he says with a chuckle.
One thing is for sure, the Chymczuk house always attracts attention.
“I’m just glad I don’t live next door,” said a woman who stopped outside the Chymczuk residence to survey the ornaments. “It reminds me of a cartoon in the New Yorker I saw that had a picture of a house covered in lawn decorations with a sign out front that said ‘There’s More Inside.’”
But those who do live next door say they are glad to be the Chymczuks’ neighbours.
“They are wonderful neighbours,” says Hazzard. “He is always willing to help whenever you ask him to do anything…they are extremely nice people.”