by Elaine Thomas | Sep 3, 2021 | Old Times, Rural Life, Western Canada
Peter Macklin, a recent arrival to Western Canada back in September 1960, and I share fond memories of our first day of school. Peter was beginning his job as a full-time bus driver and I was finally old enough to start grade one. Although I couldn’t wait to climb...
by Elaine Thomas | Jul 2, 2021 | Family, Rural Life, Western Canada
If vintage farm tractors could talk, they’d tell great tales, according to Bob Taylor of Black Diamond, Alberta. He prizes every one of the 140 models he has collected and can recite some of their stories from memories. Bob, my oldest brother, has been interested in...
by Elaine Thomas | Apr 16, 2021 | Family, Rural Life, Saving Stories, Western Canada
“Pretty postage stamps? Oh yes, this sheet of ‘Birds of Prey’ is especially nice,” the helpful postal office worker told me. “No birds,” I murmured. Glancing up, she did not comment, but I think she was wondering, “Who doesn’t like birds?” That would be me. Before I...
by Elaine Thomas | Mar 5, 2021 | Old Times, Rural Life, Western Canada
When I was a child, Daddy would occasionally load up and haul a few weaner pigs or several skim milk calves to MacLean’s Auction Mart on a Saturday morning. I was always thrilled when he invited me to tag along as he transacted business at that time-honored...
by Elaine Thomas | Feb 19, 2021 | Family, Old Times, Rural Life, Saving Stories, Western Canada
I was in the second grade that long-ago February morning in the Alberta foothills when Old Man Winter had such a fierce grip. To walk the quarter-mile uphill from our farmhouse to the main road where we’d catch the school bus, Mom had wrapped me in multiple layers...
