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‘Porky’ shared his home with me

By Harold Thom – Nakusp, B.C. I spent the winter of 1948-49 working in a logging camp near The Pas, Man. It must have been the coldest darn place on earth, but I was 17 [more…]

Her mother helped launch her ‘career’

By Carol (Swain) Crane – Medicine Hat, Alta. This morning I was standing in front of my adjustable ironing board with my heat-regulated steam iron. Pressing the few articles of clothing that aren’t perma-press, I thought [more…]

Youngsters took a sleeping Titan for a ride

By Cy Lawrence – Melville, Sask. I was around 13 years old when World War II broke out. Being a farm boy, I was soon pressed into driving a stook team for our area. A [more…]

Voyage remembered through eyes of a child

By Steve Sipos – Thunder Bay, Ont. Amid copious tears from relatives and friends, my mother, older brother, Joe, and I, boarded the coach at the railroad station in Velky Berezny, Czechoslovakia in November 1937. [more…]

‘Drain the pool! My engagement ring fell into the water!’

By Betty Rugg – Elstow, Sask. It was in about 1971 or 1972 that my husband Barry and I took our two youngest girls, Carol (10) and Lois (8) for a dip in the Chalet [more…]

First time on their own was summertime adventure

By Mary Guenther – Warman, Sask. Two of my friends, Justina and Annie, and I decided to go to Waskesiu, Sask., in Prince Albert National Park for a holiday in 1956. It was a first for [more…]

‘I pawed great handfuls of packed gumbo mud’

By J. Alvin Speers – Calgary, Alta. During the summer of 1959, my dad accompanied me on a holiday trip return to the West. Single at the time, I was living at my parents’ home [more…]

Mother didn’t know he was all ‘thumbs’

By John Martens – Oliver, B.C. The stubble fields in the farming area between Winnipegosis and Fork River, Man., were a sea of mud the spring of 1937. Dirty remnants of snowbanks remained in the [more…]

‘I heard a long, drawn out me-o-o-o-w’

By Ruth Towill – Fort MacLeod, Alta. It was going to be a busy morning as I planned my day: vacuum the house, do the laundry, make lunch for my family, as well as getting [more…]

Lost chick found in most unbelievable place

By Mary Brown – Gull Lake, Sask. Springtime on the farm back in the ‘50s and ‘60s was a busy time for everyone. One day, my husband needed a hand to move some machinery from one [more…]

Mother baked bread in an outdoor oven

By Syl Kulyk – Saskatoon, Sask. Growing up on a farm 10 miles west of Wakaw, Sask., in the district of Sokal had advantages and disadvantages. We learned to adapt and make things work. Baking [more…]

Big horses seemed to enjoy the break from tedium

By Peter Wall – Sicamous, B.C. We lived on a homestead near Macdowall, 30 km southwest of Prince Albert, Sask. My dad and his siblings were spread about the district and cooperated with one another over [more…]

‘Round and ’round, the clothes were swished

By Kathleen Smart – Wetaskiwin, Alta. As I tossed the second load of wet clothes into my electric clothes dryer on a cold winter morning, I remembered helping mother with her washing all those years ago. Washdays [more…]

Heavy horse team had father fixing a lot of harnesses

By Myrtle (Orsen) Matthews – Sedgewick, Alta. Growing up on our farm in Sunny Valley district in Saskatchewan, farm horses were a big part of our lives. Bing and Bang were our dad’s pride and [more…]

Foreclosed-on farmers refused to leave

By Scotty Wells – Scarborough, Ont. I was born on a rented farm six miles southeast of Rapid City, Man., in 1930. In April 1937, dad managed to buy a bank-foreclosed farm two miles southeast of [more…]

Teacher’s first flight was on the ‘meat plane’

By Anne Cott – Winnipeg, Man. I boarded the train in the small community of Eldersley, Sask. in late August, 1947 and headed for Dawson City, YT., to teach Grades 5 and 6. The train would [more…]

Family forced off farm by government at war

By Fred Tarnasky – Medicine Hat, Alta. I was born in a farmhouse in Bessarabia, Russia in 1939. My father was born in 1908 and my mother in 1914. I was the firstborn to my parents [more…]

A quick turn on skates and I heard a crack

By Dorothy (Corey) Nichol-Hack – Oliver, B.C. I will remember my 13th birthday forever. It was the year mom bought me a pair of secondhand figure skates. The three neighbour boys, my brother, and I [more…]

Pysanky were not for eating

By Naden Hewko – Macklin, Sask. When my parents immigrated to Canada from Western Ukraine, they brought their traditions with them, including their observance of religious holidays like Christmas and Easter. I remember Easter was the [more…]

Seeing home was like being transported back in time

By Kay Parley – Regina, Sask. We moved to Regina in 1938 and I entered Grade 10. As a newcomer, my mother advised me to look for someone who seemed to be alone and talk to [more…]