Every spring before I retired, on one of those first windy days, I would tell my co-worker that I disliked the wind. Then I would regale her with my annual story about how I had read that the wind was so bad out on the open prairie back in the day that the pioneer settler women said it made them go insane.
It must have been hard for those men and women who settled on the prairies to live in the middle of nowhere. The wind incessantly howling and blasting them with dust every time they stepped outside would have made a difficult life more challenging.
People seem to become more fidgety and snappier on windy days. I think the wind changes the way we behave, and children seem most affected. So, the next time you rip a strip off someone and are grappling for an excuse to redeem yourself, you better hope it was a windy day.
I, of course, thought we had it rough in the spring growing up on the farm in the sixties. I had to wear rubber boots that had holes in them. Dad had a patch kit in a little metal box, but the patches never seemed to keep the water from creeping in. We put plastic bread bags over our socks in the boots to keep them dry when we walked down the lane to catch the school bus. I felt very uncool doing this as a teenage girl and tried to get to the end of the lane before the bus so I could change into my shoes and hide my boots in the tall grass by the fence post.
Every spring my parents had to pull one of us kids out of the mud after we got stuck in the low spot at the back of the garden. We got plucked from the mud, but our boots remained suctioned in place, waiting to be retrieved. We all knew it would not end well, but we just could not resist taking that last fateful step before we sank. Myself and my siblings all got marooned in the garden mud at some point and my kids did it too. I think that mud had magical powers that drew kids to it.
There is usually so much to look forward to in the spring: Saskatoon’s Gardenscape Show, plant shopping and visits to the ice cream shack at Botchy’s Campground, RV Park and Greenhouse near Leask, longer days, beautiful sunsets and the return of the geese. Nature comes to life as baby animals of all descriptions come into the world in the springtime. The farmers are anxious to get out and scratch around in their fields and the gardeners are excited to be able to run free in their yards.
Plant shopping and ice cream at Botchy’s
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Spring Sunset over the village – Leask, SK April 2019
My favourite time of year is late spring when the snow is gone, and the spring rains have washed all traces of winter away. There are no mosquitoes yet and the days are longer. People feel united, renewed and hopeful after surviving a long, difficult winter together.
Every single year I feel a flutter of excitement at the sight of tulips and crocuses poking out of the earth and blossoms busting forth on our old lilac bush. It never gets old.
There will be weeds and maple seedlings to pull, grass to cut and plants to water. The guessing game as to when the last frost hits will continue for another year and I will haul my flowerpots in and out to protect them. My arch nemesis the dandelion will pop up in my lawn, the slugs and ants will return to go another round with me. Bring it on, I can't wait!
Thank
It must have been hard for those men and women who settled on the prairies to live in the middle of nowhere. The wind incessantly howling and blasting them with dust every time they stepped outside would have made a difficult life more challenging.
People seem to become more fidgety and snappier on windy days. I think the wind changes the way we behave, and children seem most affected. So, the next time you rip a strip off someone and are grappling for an excuse to redeem yourself, you better hope it was a windy day.
I, of course, thought we had it rough in the spring growing up on the farm in the sixties. I had to wear rubber boots that had holes in them. Dad had a patch kit in a little metal box, but the patches never seemed to keep the water from creeping in. We put plastic bread bags over our socks in the boots to keep them dry when we walked down the lane to catch the school bus. I felt very uncool doing this as a teenage girl and tried to get to the end of the lane before the bus so I could change into my shoes and hide my boots in the tall grass by the fence post.
Every spring my parents had to pull one of us kids out of the mud after we got stuck in the low spot at the back of the garden. We got plucked from the mud, but our boots remained suctioned in place, waiting to be retrieved. We all knew it would not end well, but we just could not resist taking that last fateful step before we sank. Myself and my siblings all got marooned in the garden mud at some point and my kids did it too. I think that mud had magical powers that drew kids to it.
There is usually so much to look forward to in the spring: Saskatoon’s Gardenscape Show, plant shopping and visits to the ice cream shack at Botchy’s Campground, RV Park and Greenhouse near Leask, longer days, beautiful sunsets and the return of the geese. Nature comes to life as baby animals of all descriptions come into the world in the springtime. The farmers are anxious to get out and scratch around in their fields and the gardeners are excited to be able to run free in their yards.
Gardenscape in Saskatoon 2019
Return of the geese Leask, SK 2019
Plant shopping and ice cream at Botchy’s
Spring Sunset over the village – Leask, SK April 2019
My favourite time of year is late spring when the snow is gone, and the spring rains have washed all traces of winter away. There are no mosquitoes yet and the days are longer. People feel united, renewed and hopeful after surviving a long, difficult winter together.
Every single year I feel a flutter of excitement at the sight of tulips and crocuses poking out of the earth and blossoms busting forth on our old lilac bush. It never gets old.
There will be weeds and maple seedlings to pull, grass to cut and plants to water. The guessing game as to when the last frost hits will continue for another year and I will haul my flowerpots in and out to protect them. My arch nemesis the dandelion will pop up in my lawn, the slugs and ants will return to go another round with me. Bring it on, I can't wait!
June 2019
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©️Copyright 2020 Norma Galambos
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