Freedom to Play: We Made Our Own Fun

A LOT OF STRENUOUS OUTDOOR FUN

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 Occasionally we dug clams with our fingers. When the tide was coming in the clams were near the surface and squirted water. We would run to the spot were the clam squirted and quickly dig. We washed off the clams and cooked them later on an old oven grate placed on a circle of rocks. The clams were covered with seaweed and steamed over the fire. When the clams were cooked the shells popped open. In the late 1940s we were not concerned with pollution. Now I understand no one can eat the clams. Fall My grandfather died when I was 10 in 1949. He gave me his father’s shotgun. He and my father taught me how to use it. I fell on my butt the first time I fired it. It was a double barrel shotgun. It had a very long barrel and it was not easy for me to carry it around. My cousin and I used to hunt grouse and pheasants. I was not the best of shots and the gun was heavy. Shells were rationed, so we often just scared out the birds and tried to see who could find the most in the short daylight hours after school. My grandmother did not want me to have the gun; however, grandfather prevailed as he was very ill with cancer. Winter How can I forget Sunset Hill. Those high hills passed for mountains where I grew up. We had an ancient but well-built toboggan and wooden bobsled. Neighbours used oxen or horses. The bobsled was not easy to steer and there were many accidents. More than one boy or girl ended up with a broken arm. The summit of Sunset hill was reached via a winding gravel road, which in winter was not used by motor cars. The road became covered with ice because the snow often melted and froze again. The bobsled on its descent seemed to us to reach a great speed. Sometimes we had to run it up on the snow bank in order to slow down. It was a challenge to make the bends in the road without crashing into someone coming up the hill or going down in a regular sled. I enjoyed recalling these happy times. If you had not asked, they would have remained tucked away. Thank you! 194 Freedom to Play ...