Freedom to Play: We Made Our Own Fun

VICTORIA DAY IN PONOKA

riding, which in the summer holidays could go on all day and right into the evening. And the weather always seems to be good—good and cold, good and hot, and just plain good. Seldom did days ever seem to be spoiled by rain, so there always seemed to be the freedom to do what you wished. Active seems to encapsulate one of the qualities of life. Life was always busy, usually at your own instigation or that of your friends. Time didn’t seem to hang on your hands. Love was always present. As a child you were not particularly reflective about it—you just took it for granted. Yet now as you look back, and realize how difficult the Dirty Thirties on the prairies were for our parents, we are amazed at the strength of character that they exhibited. My father was in the grain business, in the Winnipeg office of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, yet often his stories were of how much worse off were the farmers. Lee’s father began to develop serious arthritis of the spine, until as a relatively young man he was virtually doubled over. Yet we were given constant love, with little or no idea of what our parents were suffering in worry and apprehension. As we look back we thank God that we were privileged to be prairie kids. VICTORIA DAY IN PONOKA Holidays were important events because there was often a celebration or at least a break from the daily routine. Lis Schmidt Robert shares her memory of a very special event. I can’t recall full details from my 6th year of life, but that year our Victoria Day celebration went something like this: We had all received small Union Jacks at school. Then ten or so children in our neighbourhood decided it would be a good idea to put on a parade. We put our family’s cylinder record player in our wagon, put on the record “Rule Britannia” or “There’ll Always Be an England” (I don’t remember which) and turned on the player. We then marched around the block pulling the wagon, singing with the record, and waving our flags. 192 Freedom to Play I find it interesting to look back on that event. Mom and Dad were new immigrants from Denmark and I don’t think the British sentiment meant anything to them and probably not to us either. But I recall this event with both pleasure and amusement. A LOT OF STRENUOUS OUTDOOR FUN Norman St. Clair-Sulis recalls his Nova Scotia childhood. Most of our activities were seasonal and all outside. (I lived with my grandparents who raised me and my two sisters as my mother had died in childbirth.) The tides came into the basin from the Bay of Fundy. It was called a basin rather than a bay, because so much water rushed in with the incoming tide. There was a similar rush in the opposite direction when the tide fell. It was referred to as filling and emptying the basin. Spring When the leaves were just forming on the poplar and birch trees my cousin and I and other boys would climb as high as possible until the trees would bend over. The object of the game was to see who could go the greatest distance without touching the ground. When the tree bent over you had to jump or grab another tree. Sometimes you would take a nasty fall or get very scratched from striking the branches. This was always a lot of fun, but it was rather strenuous. Summer In late June the ocean was warm enough for swimming. We would walk out on the mud flats to the water’s edge, nearly a mile, and wait for the tide to turn. At this point the mud was very slippery and deep. We liked to run and slide in the mud. If you fell there was little chance of injury, just a scrape now and then. We, boys and girls, had wonderful mud fights. As the water began to come in we would wash off. The water heated up as it came in over the flats. There Was Always Something to Do 193 ...