An Afternoon at the Farm with Jeffrey Straker

Dreading what turn the weather might take, I was very pleasantly surprised. The afternoon was bright and warm with just a cool breeze throughout the afternoon. A modest gathering sat in lawn chairs at a farm just north of Southey where we were entertained by Jeffrey Straker, a Canadian folk/roots singer-songwriter-pianist backed by an instrumentalist on a base cello. His music was lively and covered his Saskatchewan roots from the prairie skies to the demise of the tall grain elevators! He included the song he wrote for King Charles’ coronation, which did reach King Charles, who sent a gracious reply. Jeffrey is quite a story teller as well! 

I attempted to take photos, but the sun was too bright and I was too moved by his music. These lilies were in my photo files that fit the bill. 

“Folk music is the original melody of man; 

it is the musical mirror of the world.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Prairie Flowers

 

In late afternoon 

summer heat 

tough prairie flowers 

cheered my walk.

“Flowers are for our souls to enjoy.”

~ Sioux proverb

Strong Winds

The chaos in and around 

  city 

   town or 

     country 

like strong prairie winds 

 that push aside 

  all the growing things 

   uprooting some, but 

have no purchase on roots 

  reaching deep,

   growing strong 

     to nourish us tomorrow.

“Chaos is the score upon which reality is written”

~ Henry Miller, writer

A Prairie Storm

Low, distant grumbling thunder wakened 

from a troubled sleep. 

Heard long before the wind 

raced through the trees 

flogging them with no regard

to the stately green giants.

Flashes of lightning flicker.

Rain flung at the world.

streets ran with icy water 

sloshed from the heavens.

Tiny hailstones raced

ahead of raindrops.

In an hour, 

exhaustion is all that’s left. 

The calm after the storm 

drips in the evening chill. 

“Nature makes no noise. The howling storm, 

the rustling leaves, the pattering rain are no disturbance, 

there is an essential and unexplored harmony in them.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

(Journal, 18 November 1837)

Our Town

Spread out before us, 

sharing the prairie with grasshoppers, sunshine, 

steady wind and cloud 

sculptures in the sky.

Spread out before us 

was our childhood ~ 

parents, aunts, uncles, 

cousins and neighbours, storekeepers, school teachers

Nostalgia ~ a sweet soft ache.

“Family matters because I love my roots and traditions, and 

I carry them with me. I respect my ancestors, and I know who I am.”

~ Belén Gallardo, memoirist, biographer

More than One Legend

The great buffal sculpture 

at the head of the Scarth St. Mall ~ I pass by this majestic 

part of Regina history 

and read the legends of

‘Pile ‘o bones’ 

 

“For I am the Resistance, and as always, I will return.”

~ John Trudell, Native author, poet, activist, actor, musician

(1946 ~ 2015)

One Prairie Storm (Sort of)

Rain threatened

And then it poured

Thunder pretended

And then clouds packed up

Then it was over….

Didn’t bother the pelicans one bit!

“If you think it’s going to rain, it will.”

~ Clint Eastwood

Moving Forward

Horizons fascinate me. 

Raised on a prairie farm, 

horizon stretched all around ~ 

no trees or mountains to block

that beautiful distant view. 

‘what view?’ some say

But it is possibility with 

nothing standing in 

the way of moving forward. 

“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. 

We are never tired so long as we can see far enough.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Prairie Spring Day

 

Sunlight drifts from the sky 

sparrows and prairie gulls, 

settle and grow quiet ~

cheered by the warm spring.

Caught up in such openness, 

with doors wide; pottering and puttering inside and out made a minute out of 12 hours. 

Leaves and flowers have yet to make their entrance, yet it is the drying puddles, the disappointed and 

shrunken snowbanks that signal a prairie spring. Until now, 

sleepy and content, I am penning 

these few words before days end.

“Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! 

I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.”

~ Gustav Mahler

Prairie Spring

Walking dusty streets where

left over snow banks and 

puddles shrink, rivulets 

of winter water drain

down opened drains

steadies my pace so 

I stay in the sun, loving 

the swing in my step.

All signs of spring on 

the prairies; fresh faced 

flowers and greening trees 

will take centre stage soon.

“The prairie is.”

~ W.O.Mitchell,

Who Has Seen the Wind

Book Review: Adeline's DREAM by Linda Aksomitis

Adeline Mueller, big sister to her 5 year old brother, Konrad, only ever wanted to sing like her Tante Karoline in Berlin. Now, she didn’t know if she ever would. Her mother, Konrad and Adeline had come to this new land to be with their Papa. After a three week long ocean voyage, going through customs and then a long train trip to this new strange town, 12 year old Adeline was tired and disappointed. This empty new land and sky a was completely different from her beautiful Germany. That wasn’t all. She didn’t recognize her Papa, who had been a banker in Germany, but now worked hard in a mill. He had promised her a house, but they would live in what was called a ‘soddie’. She made friends, went to school, learned English, survived a tornado, lived through a winter, and picked saskatoon berries. She does get an opportunity to sing on stage - but that’s towards the end of the story.

Told in the voice of young Adeline, the family lives the life of the pioneers in the early 1900’s. Part of a German settlement of families living in whitewashed sod houses in Qu'Apelle, they were labeled squatters, and were not always favoured. Linda Aksomitis has penned a lovely story of historical fiction set here on the Saskatchewan prairie in the pioneer town of Qu’Appelle. The author includes an Afterword for historical details.

"Today she could see the wonders of the prairie, 

so maybe if she tried harder she would like it here."

~ Linda Aksomitis, Adeline's Dream

Title: Adeline’s DREAM

Author: Linda Aksomitis

Copyright: 2005: 

Publisher: Coteau Books

Format: Novel (for young readers)

Series: From Many Peoples

Type: Paperback

ISBN: 1-55050-323-5

Prairie Florals

Just a walk down any street 

and I want a paint brush to dip 

in all the colours of autumn to 

bring them home with me. It 

seems indelicate to make an 

image that can be so easily 

deleted. When the crumpled 

tissue paper flowers have been 

put to bed, summer colours have become tidy mounds of black; 

replaced by fluttering reds and 

golds, prairie florals in bloom.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

~ Albert Camus