DREAM

In January of 1959 Robert Chapman, 19 years old, was convicted of murdering his older brother John on a farm a few miles from us.  He was sentenced to hang.His parents went to work to have his sentence commuted.  I recall that one Sunday in church our minister, Rev. McNair, announced that the mother of…

“Where’s Mom? was my first question to my Dad when I came downstairs for breakfast. I was puzzled that my hard-working Mom, who at this time was running a Boarding-House just so we could get by, was absent. He looked up with deep concern. “In the hospital, I hope.” “What?! What happened?” “She got a…

Books can be powerful influencers. I am very grateful that the books I was exposed to growing up created such vast historical, geographical and imaginative worlds for me. To this day, my only real material wealth is in books. Most of my books do not have much trade-in value, though, so I keep some of…

Inspired by Anne’s account of her family.First my Uncle Pete and Aunt Helen and family.  My Uncle Pete was born in 1915 in Kazakhstan (According to his obituary. This is the first I heard that)He arrived in Canada with his family.His son Bob told me that once as a young boy he travelled to Moose…

The next part of our adventure was starting, but it looks like I was not too impressed (or maybe not happy?). On a postcard to my Aunt Jackie I wrote: Bonjour! We were at Versailles but weren’t too impressed… We have a real weird lady in our room who keeps on making statements such as…

In Ontario in 1970/71 they still had Grade 13. I had an additional year in high school compared to BC students. It was the year I only took four classes  — French, History, Enhanced English and one other class (maybe math?). I had dropped out of music where I played the clarinet because I was…

According to the teachings of our church, the earth was a few thousand years old, not millions or billions.  So it was an unpleasant surprise for them when an archeological dig in the Fraser Canyon suggested that there were people living in the canyon about 7,000 years ago.  (My recollection suggested that the figure was…

Howard’s account of his travels in Ontario reminded me of another story. When Dad was about 16 he and a friend left Saskatchewan and travelled to Ontario, looking for work. This could have been 1937, so maybe thirty years before Howard’s trip. They made it to Fort William and Port Arthur, today Thunder Bay. There…

I can’t remember the year. I know I was younger than I am now, by quite a few years. Probably somewhere around 50 years younger. I was hitchhiking in Ontario. No money, not much of anything else, only a desire to make it to Toronto, which didn’t happen, but that’s another story. It was late…

I met up with the family in Banff. I was waiting as arranged on Banff Ave, just over the bridge when Dad pulled up with George, Agnes and Sandy, and I jumped into the car with them. We were off on our trip across the country. Destination: Ripley, Ontario.  Dad had told us that if…