Freedom to Play: We Made Our Own Fun

CONTENTS

CONTENTS List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY Betty Bell: The Fair Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Anna V.M. Robinson: Happy Mountaineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Fanny Heeks: Good Times at Oakville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Don Clay: The Absolute Freedom We Had . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Helga Erlindson: A Trip on a Steamer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Wild Rose: Wild Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Eileen Scott Campbell: We Were Free to Roam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 A Farmer Boy: (untitled) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 R.B. Green: We Always Found Something to Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Earl Sherman: I Was Into Everything When It Came to Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Peggy Sherman: Songs to Sing, Games to Play, and Places to Explore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Rex G. Krepps: When Our Parents Were Away. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Dick Saunders: Growing Up in North-Central British Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Gary L. Saunders: Rattles and Steadies: Memoirs of a Gander River Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Judy Wells: I Can’t Remember a Dull Moment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Paul Barker: The Effects of a Distant War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Kim Gosse Hilliard: My Games Parallel My Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 vii PLAYING IS PLAYING WHEN SHARED Ethel Swan: Maple Leaf Club Picnic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Chick: Strange Bedfellows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 The Kay Children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Scouts and Smoking: (untitled) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Barry Broadfoot: The Very Best Time for Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Janet McNab: School Field Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Byron Kingsbury: Sports Were Fine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Ellsworth V. Griffin: Went to Picnic in an Ox Cart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Margaret Muskett: Going to Make a Playhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Reggie Meeks: Boys’ Farming Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Ann Thrasher Rogers: From Small Town to Big City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Hattie Morrill: Camp Fire Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Iola Crouse: A Charivari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Ivy Moulton: How I Had Fun as a Kid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Dawn McKim: We Had Freedom Galore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Wilhemena Rosin: More Praise for the Red Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Bill Wells: Being Youngest Had Its Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Janet Reid: Growing Up in the Ottawa Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Janet Marshall: Cut Outs and Other Games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Olga Kudurudz: Dauphin Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Mary Kett: (Untitled) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Nellie Mailie: Camping with the Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Pathfinder-in-Chief: Boy Scout Week. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Jean Wilson: A Very Busy Childhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Tony Plomp: Through the Eyes of a Newcomer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Polly King: Paper Doll Poems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 PLAYING IS PLAYING GAMES Henry Barone: We Knew How to Have Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Hal C. Sisson: Lefty Wilson and the Naked Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Mariposa Lily: A Fine Coasting Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Clarence Orser: Made a Pair of Skis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Anemone: Tennis and Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Ina Trudgeon: The Games Kids (Used to) Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Laura Whitelaw: A Game of War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Ruth Pinder: A Skating Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Theodore Holden: Making a Rink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 viii Freedom to Play Freda Mallory: We Organized Ourselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Margaret Walker: Every Season Had Its Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Gwyneth Davies: A Skating Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Fred Greaves: Games of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Walter Kenyon: Scotch Games at Banff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Helen Porter: Playing Marbles the St. John’s Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Hugh and Jim McCullum: Childhood Games in the Yukon in the 1930s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Margaret Nichols: Growing Up in Quebec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Lis Schmidt Robert: There Were Lots of Playmates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Twilight: Spring Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Helen Hansen: Seems Like Old Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Olive Kastaskuk: A “Muligan” Roast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 CREATING THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT Evan Shute: Insect Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Simon Gaudet: A Mechanical Leaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Danny Goosen: Enjoys Doing Fretwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 E.H. Harris: Building Boats Along the Skeena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Margaret Dwyer: Birds Returning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Carl Victor Friesen: Whoopie Ti Yi Yo! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Rolland Lewis: Infected by a Radio Bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 John Fedoruk: A Radio Made from a Razor Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Marilyn Barker: Alone but Not Lonely. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Audrey Kendall: It Was a Magical Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Hollyhock: Try Crab-apple Pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Glen Sullivan: I Made My Own Toys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Shirley Sterling: Seepeetza Gets a Doll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 ANIMALS: FRIEND, FOE, OR FOOD Harold Zwick: Hunting Gophers in Saskatchewan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Ken Strong: Very Special Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Fred J. Bicknell: A Young Sportsman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Arthur Kay: Fond of Hunting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Lloyd Essex: Our Duck Hunt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Everett Sharpe: Bunny for a Playmate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Hazel M. Buckler: A Wonderful Pony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Richard Asher: Feeding the Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Laurena Saunders: Jottings for My Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Contents ix THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO Johnstone Willett: A Picnic Excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Ernest Q. Herne: A Bob Sled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Gladys M. Davidson: A School Picnic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Shizuye Takashima: Christmas in a Prison Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Sing Lim: Celebrating Chinese New Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Andy MacDonald: Oh! My Poor Duck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Ian and Lee Rennie: Space, Freedom, Active, Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Lis Schmidt...