MOM : A LIFE OF HARDSHIP

      On Mother's Day I thought back to my Mom and all she did so I saw that a blog post was necessary.

    My grandparents were born in the southern part if Britain in a rural area. My grandfather was a farm worker. He went around to farms and was a butcher. If a farmer wanted an animal butchered , my Grandpa was called to do the job. It was not a high paying occupation.

    There was a series of recessions in Britain in the early 1900's. A church group in Canada sponsored my grandparents and two children to come to Canada. They were set up in a house and expected to make a living with a market garden.

    My mother was born after they came to Canada. Mom dropped out of school at the end of gr nine. She got a part time job baby sitting and house work. The family she worked for were very good to her.

   Mom met my Dad about 1937 and they were married in Feb 1938. They Took the train to the small farm. Friends picked them up from the train station. Dad went over to the shack and started fires in the stoves. The next day they moved into the house with a few meagre belongings.

   Dad had a small farm which had  very dilapidated house. The house was cold and small with no conveniences. Water was hauled by pail from a well. The house was heated by wood. There was no electricity. There was not enough income from the farm to make  a living. The odd job got them enough to live on.

    Mom had not lived on a farm so she had to quickly learn some farming. She milked cows when Dad was busy with field work. She learned to drive horses as they had no car. She did not like staying alone and fortunately that seldom happened.

   Mom had four babies by 1944 in this small house. It was bedlam in the small house with four kids. Three of us slept in one bed. One of us had epilepsy. We took our clothes out to the big room and dressed  buy the heater.

   By 1948 they were able to build a house so conditions were  better. They were still missing some conveniences but the house was much warmer and had some conveniences. There was more space for kids and did I say it was warmer!

    As little kids were  very active so there was lots of noise in the house

    Growing up in the new house was pleasant. 

   Tragedy happened when her eleven year old daughter passed away.

   Things moved quickly some kids moved out and other started farming. Their farming was much more lucrative from the forties to seventies.

    They retired in the early seventies. In 1973 Mom passed away from Cancer They enjoyed about three years of retirement.

   In spite of all the hardships Mom was cheerful and loving. She looked after us as best she could. Everyone else lived with the same hardships so we didn't know any different. 

MOM

         The other day I was listening to my favorite radio station. They had a section on that was the most outstanding thing about your Mom. People , phoned or emailed in.

         So I thought what would I say was the best of my Mom. I couldn't think of anything. First, I was  a little embarrassed and then quite ashamed that I couldn't come up  with something.

        I let it go.

        But that got me thinking about  few things about Mom. Mom died in 1973 at age 59. I'm not using that as an excuse for not being able to come up with what I think is the most important thing Mom gave us. It got me thinking about a post about Mom .

      And then while thinking about a post it hit me. Why did it take so long to think about it.

     Mom read  to us almost every night. She had a wide variety. Sometimes it was the Bible. Others a  series called the Sugar Creek Gang. And then some childrens' stories.

    She had a  number of good settings. Sometimes it was around the kitchen table. Other times on the couch in the living room . Sometimes on the floor. And the one I liked best was when the four of us got ready  for bed and we all went into the big bed under the covers. Usually somebody went to sleep.

     She could use her voice to emphasize the mood.

     Three of us became great readers. We have been readers all our lives.

    I read  to my kids. they are much better readers than I am.

PHOTOS OF PRAIRIE BOYS

      Yesterday I forgot to put in the photos of the prairie boys. The old guy is getting old.

      So here's the photo that should have been in yesterday's post.

     My apologies for the poor quality.

EIGHT PRAIRIE BOYS

           I ran across this photo a few days ago and it made me think of some family history

          You see eight very solid prairie boys in this photo.

           We were all born and raised on the Canadian prairie in  prairie in Saskatchewan. When I lived there in the forties and fifties ,it was not all developed and was a very pleasant land. 

           The eight males in the photo were neighbors and relatives. My mother , Dorothy and their mother Margaret, were cousins so that makes these boys some kind of cousin.

          There were four boys in each family. In this photo the ages would be about three to twenty four. The two families did many things together. For example, we shared Christmas. Our Dad's worked together on many farming activities. We lived  a mile apart so as kids we played together and went from one farm to the other.

        Now this photo was  taken about sixty seven years  ago. Two of these boys farmed. One was a teacher and one was a nurse. Two of them made their living as musicians. One was a piano technician. One was an engineer who spent time at NASA as a tool maker. 

     My cousins all moved to California. My family stayed in Canada. I live 400 miles away from my three brothers.

     In the one family all are deceased and in my family all are still living.

 

ORANGE JUICE

     I think we've been buying frozen orange juice since it was first sold. So it was with some concern that we learned frozen orange juice was to be taken off the market. I guess the supply lasted about 6 months.

    So the juice became unavailable at my usual grocery store. Walmart always had frozen orange juice for  better price.

    So I'll  try Walmart. I looked in the usual place for frozen juice but found nothing. No frozen juice of any kind. It was just gone.

    There was a fellow filling shelves so I thought I'd ask him if there was any frozen orange juice. Now this fellow is quite handicapped. He went up and down the aisle. He knew what he was looking for  and he came back to me and said there was no more frozen orange juice.

   Then he got  big twinkle in his eye and said you could take home some orange juice and freeze it.

    He knew his comment was a zinger and we both had a good laugh. Other customers looked around to see what we were laughing about.

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

     I have always heard the term the "Merry Month of May". I've never thought much about it. To me it seemed like just an expression. The expression didn't apply to my world. Why should I consider it? In many years here, May is not a merry month. We still get some cold and nasty weather. There are few flowers that bloom. Right now the only flower I have is the blue bell.

    So finally after 86 times with Merry Month of May I decided to look into it. Is there some deeper meaning than just a catchy phrase.?

    Well I was surprised to see that there are many famous references to the Merry Month of May. There are poems. Thomas Dekker's poem is well known. There are popular songs by Stephen Foster and Nelson Eddy.

    I was looking for a special celebration of the day. The only thing I can find is the making and exchange of home made baskets that are exchanged with friends. 

    Oh yes,  there  are merry month of M cross  word puzzles.

    However, I do like the term and the pleasant thoughts that go with it. I'm glad I looked it up.

   

and IT SNOWED AGAIN

      We've had some nasty spring weather for the last three days. It's been very windy with snow flurries which have been enough for snow to accumulate on the ground.

     We had wind gusts reaching 80 Km per hour. If you were in parking lots the wind blew the dust around enough to put dust in your eye.

    Roads and traffic were in poor shape. In some areas people had to remain in their vehicles for 20 hours.

   In my yard an old wooden tool shed blew over . The shed was very old and should have been replaced so now it will be replaced.