Panda was our number one furry friend for over 15 years. We got her from a street cat rescue program when she was about six months old. She was part of a litter of long haired black cats found in an abandoned car in a back alley. She grew into a magnificent Maine Coon cat … Continue reading Memories of Panda
Stories from my life
In memory of Julia
Julia was 18 years old when I was born. We were cousins, but she seemed more like an aunt to me. She started teaching in a one room country school in the fall of that year, taught for two years, then married Ed. Their first child, Doreen, was born a year later. Ed & Julia … Continue reading In memory of Julia
Dennis to the rescue
During the time I had been away in Toronto my folks had sold the little farm at Craik and bought an older two storey house in Moose Jaw. It wasn’t hard getting used to living in Moose Jaw, it was where I was born, we had family in the city and had made frequent trips … Continue reading Dennis to the rescue
A Teenage Failure
It was good to be home again, to eat my mother’s cooking, to sleep in my own bed in my own room, to help out around the farm and to visit the old buffalo rubbing stone, my rock of refuge. I was sure that the people in town thought of me as already a failure … Continue reading A Teenage Failure
A Vagrant Without a Clue
I didn’t report the theft of the money to anyone. I never considered asking anyone for help or advice. To admit the theft would be to admit how stupid I was and face the humiliation of being publicly denounced for my stupidity. That was my state of mind at least. I don’t remember many details … Continue reading A Vagrant Without a Clue
$9.60 for a tonsillectomy
Saturday evening I was looking through some old papers and came across the following bill from when my tonsils were removed 71 years ago. Providence Hospital, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan July 10, 1946 Tonsillectomy Hospital 2 days X 1.50 3.00 Operating Room 5.00 Medicine .10 Laboratory 1.50 Total $9.60
The Day I Had to Bully My Father
Two years later we had a very dry summer. About the only things that flourished were the Russian thistles. Then they would dry up, break off at ground level and blow across the prairie landscape. Often they would collect in great masses along fence lines, becoming fire hazards. Dad liked to collect them in a … Continue reading The Day I Had to Bully My Father
Preface
Half a century ago a drunken young man announced to a couple of friends that one day he would be a Mennonite and wear a beard. His friends dismissed this as babbling inspired by the booze he had consumed. The young man himself was bewildered. The few Mennonites he had met, from his mother’s side … Continue reading Preface
An abiding church
As soon as we were married my wife and I set out on a search to find people who still believed and lived the faith once delivered to the saints. I firmly believed we would find that faith among the spiritual descendants of the Anabaptist & Mennonites of long ago. Time and again our search … Continue reading An abiding church
Looking for real Mennonites
All I learned about Mennonites while I was growing up was that my mother had been one and had left because the German language was more important than the faith and that my grandma, a dear sweet old lady, was one and wanted me to learn German so I could be a Christian. Perhaps there … Continue reading Looking for real Mennonites
Flatlander Faith 