Trudeau Bin

This is what was once called a Trudeau Bin and I helped my dad build several of them 

circa 1968. 

Big yields combined with no quota resulted in a glut of grain on the prairies 

and therefore many farmers were searching for a storage solution for all the grain that c

could not be sold.

 Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister at the time...so Trudeau Bin was aptly named as was the

 Bennet Buggy in the 1930's. 

Bennet Buggies were cars that were drawn by horses because of the lack of money to buy

gas. R.B. Bennet was the then Prime Minister.

September in Saskatchewan

Dots of moisture make polka dot splashes on quiet combines.
Thermoses half filled with coffee lay cold on the seats of stilled grain trucks. Dusty jackets smelling of barley and diesel tossed on the back entrance beside the boots that have carried in the evidence of one more round before it got tough. Farmers gathering in a warm and dry cafe warily watching and listening for the quietness of bright sunshine so they may again hear the whirring and rustle of harvest .

September in Saskatchewan

Big City Attitude--Melville, Saskatchewan

 In the early evening of  January 17, 2015 a friend of mine, a woman  who is of obvious Native Ancestry walked into a Melville establishment where there are Video Lottery Terminals.  She went straight to  the VLT machines and sat with her back to the rest of the room. She was aware  that there was a  table of other people sitting not far from her but she paid no attention to the group and focused on playing the VLT machines as she had done in the past to pass a quiet January evening. She was the only one at the machines.






After a few minutes she heard one of the males at the table behind her say " What ? They let Indians in here now?"




My friend felt her face turn red with shame and embarrassment.  She told me that she just kept staring at the VLT  as she relived those moments years ago when she sat in an all white school hearing the teacher read from the Social Studies text about savage wild Indians living in North America.


My friend wanted to leave but felt that perhaps if she just ignored the comment she would avoid any further barbs thrown her way.  She said she didn't even want to move or draw any more attention to herself.  She said that fear was the biggest emotion she felt while she was sitting there.  She was worried that if she left maybe she would be followed.  She was worried that if she confronted the racist speaker he would find out where she lived, find out what kind of vehicle she drove,  or harass her even more in some other unknown way. So she just sat at the VLT and pretended that she hadn't heard the slur, although she did text her partner in the next town telling him what she was experiencing.




 A few moments later another comment came in the form  of  " First time I've been in here that there aren't any Squaws." from the same voice behind her.   My friend said she heard some  whispered 'Shs shs' coming from other people at the table  and  someone whispering  "She's right there....."


It was about this time that my friend's partner arrived as a result of the text he had received.  They left  the bar together immediately without further incident or comment from anyone at the other table.


One may think that the incident ended there.  The victim left the building.  The main bully and his counterparts continued their evening at the bar.   There was no confrontation.  Just a few little harmless comments for laughs.  No big deal.




Wrong!




  An innocent person was made to feel uncomfortable and fearful due to the mere fact that they walked into a public place alone. An innocent person felt so  trapped and vulnerable in a public place  that they had to call for support  outside of  the building not sensing that anyone in the building could be counted on for support.  An innocent person has to now take the memory of this attack and  process it enough to ensure that if will not affect other choices she makes when it comes to her freely choosing to go out in public alone  for fear of something like this will happen again.


 
This incident was a racially motivated attack  with a victim and  perpetrators.  I use the plural here as the people who were sitting at the same table are every bit as responsible for the situation as the one who was actually making the comments for  "If you aren't part  of the solution you are part of the problem."






I always used to think that Melville was just a small city with not much to make it stand out from any other small city.  But in light of the above incident and the recent labeling of Winnipeg as the most racist city in Canada I guess Melville has more Big City Ideas than I first thought.

Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Hoffman

Good evening everyone. Let me first of all introduce myself and my husband...I am Penny Hoffman and this is my husband Irwin...we are the proud parents of Alexander and the proud new in laws of our most beautiful bride Mel.


And before I go any further I would like to congratulate Shirley and Kevin on their anniversary and to acknowledge Mel's grandma as being the first bride in the group on this date.

 Best Wishes to you all.I wanted to say a few words tonight to tell the world just how pleased we both are with Alexander's choice for life partner

. It was about 6 years ago when I FINALLY received that phone call that all parent's wait for...that phone call that announces that their child is bringing someone special home for them to meet.

 My first impression?
 What a beauty! Red hair! Wonderful smile!

My second impression? What a nice little girl.

 My third impression later on in the weekend?
 'Yep. This could be the ONE."Followed later by the thought: "That would be a good thing."

Shortly after their arrival to our rural home near Yorkton, Alexander went off exploring 'home' and left Mel sitting in the kitchen with me while I prepared lunch. I remember visiting with her and her talking about her mom and dad, her sister, her grandma, and her aunts and uncles...all in this first conversation and I thought to myself, "This young woman really loves her family and is well loved by her family. How nice! How refreshing!"

Over the years that we have known Mel our own love for her has steadily grown ...her ready smile and wonderful laugh, her down to earth practicality in knowing what in life is important..(proven when she bought Alexander blue jeans for Christmas one year), and her genuine goodness and compassion has never ceased to impress us.

 I also want to mention that she is a GREAT co-camper--a true test of character.

Just a little story...Mel's first experience camping in a tent was with us during a very cold and snowy May long weekend. Our camping experience, being a bit more primitive than most, consists of a small camper with the private facilities being located in a little tent outside of the camper. In the middle of the cold wet night I happened to look out and saw the 'facility' tent wiggling and wiggling and I thought that it must have been particularly windy out. It wasn't until the next morning that Mel shared that she had been out and about in the middle of the night and that the zipper on that particular shelter had gotten stuck and that the wiggling that I had seen in the night was her trying to escape until she finally crawled on her hands and knees to get outside and free. What is even more incredible is that she even went camping again after that experience. She has an open invitation from Irwin to go camping anytime

.I would now like to give a few words of advice from someone who has been married for over 30 years...some of this knowledge will be well entrenched in any long married couple's relationship so it wouldn't be new to many in the crowd.

1st of all I would like to forewarn Mel and Alexander that there are indeed going to be moments when you just will "have to love them anyway'. I am talking about those times when you will have to grit your teeth, bite your lip, leave the room and go for a walk." Such moments may come when, from pure just plain lack of judgment and bad luck salt instead of the sugar will be used to top off the rhubarb crisp . A walk might be in order following an incident let's say of the use of a blow torch on a family heirloom crystal candle stick used to dislodge old wax. A good lip biting might be the best choice in terms of response when for example, 'someone' drives long long long long after the gauge shows HOT on the dash of a little treasured Mazda quarter ton truck and consequently melts the whole of the engine block. ( like who knew that could actually happen?)

Other times these methods of home preservation may be used would be after 'someone' forgets to close the deep freeze door for the weekend, or when one of you takes the car off to work with the other's purse in the passenger seat beside them in plain sight...and an even BIGGER LIP BITE might be in order when one partner drives off through the mud for three miles before realizing that the 'other' is indeed not in the back seat and is in actuality still standing outside-- in the field-- in the rain.

My second piece of advice to both Alexander and Mel as they embark on their life together is to make sure they always remember that the other one has been greatly loved and cherished by their own parents . Parents, who only want the very best for them. I ask that during the dark times , the times when they are the most angry, the times when they do not want to forgive and forget, the times when they most want to lash out, that they remember that deep down inside the other one is still the little child that was loved and cuddled by their parents and that they try to use that image to be compassionate, forgiving and loving once again.

Finally I would like to thank all of Mel's relatives along with Grandma, Shirley and Kevin, with a special thanks also to sister Kerry, for welcoming Alexander aka "Slick" so nicely into their family fold.

 There is nothing that makes a parent happier than to know that their child is loved and safe and I believe that to be true today.

May God Bless you Alexander and Mel with many wonderful years together. We wish you prosperity, good health, and much happiness but along with all those things I wish you the doubled joy and half the grief that is possible by a life being shared.

May He give you each wisdom and patience and the capacity to forgive as you travel onward through this special life's journey. May all the marriages in this building be blessed by your example and, also, as today is the anniversary of other weddings, may it serve as a reminder to us all that one does not simply 'get' married...but rather one 'does' marriage...over and over and over again.

I'll Write a Letter to My Love

  I always like to see what types of writing paper I can find  in the Big City Thrift Store to spice up my letters to my pen pal. As the packages are wrapped in sealed plastic bags one has to sort of just 'guessamate' at what might be inside.  Once I thought I was buying numerous cards when in actuality I was only buying pieces of scrap booking cards...many, many, many pieces.   Another consequence of not knowing exactly what is inside each bag is that I do now have a grand array of Christmas Cards which will soon be sent out with every letter written from now until the 7th of January.

It was not until we got home this afternoon  did I have a chance to open the two bags of  cards that I had purchased on yet another stationery quest from the Thrift Shop and found that one contained  an eclectic collection of  unused

POST CARDS!

Now a Post Card to those of you who rarely get anything more than a 3rd Class piece of mail delivered along with various flyers from hardware stores, announcing that you  may have won or  have won already several thousands of dollars, if not millions, just as soon as you return an order form and credit card number for a magazine  subscription you never knew you wanted or a trip to a destination where previously you didn't know  existed; is a sort of short little 'text message' from the olden days when the written word was created by hand, without benefit of spell checkers or word completion or whatever that method is where the machine finishes the word for the writer.  

 The Post Card was primarily used by the writer to tell the receiver, "See.  This is where I am and You are NOT."   Little short notes of "Having a Wonderful Time."  "Weather is Great" and "Hope all is well this January in the far North" could be scrawled across the back with the obligatory "Ha! Ha! Ha!" at the bottom.   My mother even sent my dad a post card from her trip to California with a picture of Alcatraz with the caption "Wish You Were Here".   I did receive a lovely  post card from Paris this year and the picture of the Eiffel Tower was great.

There were upwards of fifty unused Post Cards in this collection.

There are about 20 cards from the Corporate Art Collection from the Reader's Digest of Canada.  Here are three.

Places I have actually been to.  These are all 'vintage' cards.

Saskatchewan Natural History Museum

The above are of Greenwater Provincial Park circa 1960 perhaps?

Melfort, Saskatchewan is cited on this card--obviously vintage.





 Obligatory Canadian Mountain Post Card.

 Two Vintage Cards from San Fransisco.

All of these could have been pictures taken in my back yard sometime over the last 30 years.

And now the most unusual postcards that I have ever come across.

Photographs with plastic overlaid to mime movement whenever one moves the card.

   I can understand the idea that movement would enhance these cards, but I have a bit more difficulty  understanding what would compel the designer to choose these for a 'moving' post card.

And the height of 'kitsch' I think is this--

What would one actually write on the back of this plastic card?  "Hello there. I am the one 6th from the left.  In spite of a serious discussion and one guy getting huffy and leaving(something to do with money apparantly), the meal was great. In fact it has been said that it is Everlasting--if you  can believe that!  Bread and wine seemed to be the dessert.

You should have been here to see the strange stuff  they do here involving feet and basins of water--at the table no less. 

And finally this one will be for my friend who is going to Hawaii this month.  It will be waiting in her post box upon her return home.

"Hi there. Wish I were there. I would have had a great time!"   p.

 Anyone want any of these mailed to you?  Just let me know.