1997 to 1998

“They said it couldn’t be done.” These words are on the back of this month’s front cover photograph. They were written by my Mom as a momento of her accomplishment. Getting her beloved piano moved from Michigan to Rosswood, BC was quite a feat since my Dad didn’t even want her to play it. He didn’t like piano music and asked that she not play whenever he was in the house. To me it seemed such a shame but Mom always found ways to make herself happy despite her circumstances. Once, when we talked about her being in the convent for her entire school life, she said, “It was the only way a girl could get an education and that was important to my Mom.” Grandma was very educated: she spoke four languages, including Russian, and rode horses as her husband was a veterinarian. In the convent, all the young […Read More]

Many thanks to all the folks who mentioned to me that they ‘love them ol’ photos.” My Mom deserves the applause — she wanted a record of homesteading and captured many moments for history. This month’s photograph is not one that she took but one that she saved. Let me introduce you to Uncle Bob, Grandad’s oldest brother, “an unclaimed treasure or a man who never married,” as Mom would say. This photograph was taken at the Edmonton Exhibition Grounds in the 1920’s. It is Fall Fair Time and the surrounding towns liked to partake in showing off their treasures. Grandad and his three brothers lived on a farm in Grimshaw, Alberta, where they trained these moose to pull their sled. They would drive them to town and to do errands around the farm. I chose this photo for this month’s front cover for the moose remind me of reindeer […Read More]