Just Pondering: Spring is a wonderful time to reminisce

By Allyson McCaw on April 28, 2022.

Well fingers crossed that spring is finally on its way and we will get some heat in the air! I am not sure if it’s the weather being so overcast and dull that has me feeling very nostalgic, but today I am really reminiscing.

As you have probably guessed from my earlier articles I was born and raised in rural Saskatchewan (Go Riders) on a farm. Spring was always so welcomed, and things really got busy with calving, bring home the new chicks and prepping the equipment for seeding.

It also meant our yard turned into a lake, and parking vehicles on the road and walking to the house became the norm. I remember mom tying bread bags over our feet with sealer rings and stuffing our feet into rubber boots just so we could go down to the barn.

Oh, what fun we had building “rafts” and pretending to explore the “seven seas!”

Someone always got their boot stuck and hopped around until they fell into some not-so-nice muck and had to endure the laughter of their siblings. Life was good and our imaginations went wild without the interferences of computers or cell phones.

I close my eyes and I can feel the soft down of a newborn chick and the warmth and smells of the barn after a calf is born and a momma cow greets her newborn.

There was always a sense of hope and anticipation that this was going to be the year rain fell when needed and that a bumper crop was maybe just around the corner.

My sister recently sent me a picture of our barn, which my great grandfather built in 1917, and really was a feat of engineering and construction. Truly a work of art being lost now as farming has progressed and changed. However, that one picture brought back a wave of memories so strong that I had to hold back tears. The hay loft was our playhouse and hours were spent doing things that would get our parents arrested today. However, our imagination was again set free and hay bales became castles and swinging on chain hoists like Tarzan was a favourite activity.

We always managed to find the newborn kittens in the haystack, and except for a few scratches, we survived.

I truly hope your Easter celebrations were special for your family, and you too were able to build memories. So, cheers to welcoming May, and take a moment to remember the past. All too often we forget our lives our shaped by all the wonderful simple things.

Stay well.