I've got a bit of a confession...I miss the "Prairies"--the sunsets, the blue skies, the yellow/golden fields & even the thunderstorms.
You see, I'm a Manitoba girl. I grew up in a small French town just outside of Winnipeg. I was bussed into Winnipeg from grade 7 through to grade 12. I was lucky to have the peace & quiet of the country & the convenience of a city on my door step.
It's given me a bit of a split personality I think....I'm a country girl & a city girl all wrapped into one. Even
now, at
35 30 years old, my family & I live in a small Mennonite village just outside of Kitchener-Waterloo---I have horses and buggies park outside my drive, and have a Wal-Mart & Home Depot 5 minutes up the road.
One part of me loves to get dirty and dig in the garden, I think I could spend all day outside--the other part of me (the part Hubbz appreciates afterwards but his wallet doesn't!) can spend hundreds of dollars on an afternoon at the Spa and an evening of yummies and drinks afterwards *note: Drinks to me usually means a PLAIN iced tea or some kinda of frappacinio thingy full of whipped cream*
ANNNyway...There's something romantic and mysterious about old barns and abandoned
farmhouses/homesteads. The historian/archaeologist in me longs to dig into the past and remember those who lived there---what was their story? Where did they go? What happened to them all? How did it come to this? I remember sitting in the backseat of the old family station wagon, passing these places on our drive "into the city"--inventing stories of the families that once lived there. No matter how the story began, it always had the same outcome---because of struggle & hardship the family was forced to leave their hopes & dreams--which now lay, figuratively & metaphorically, in ruin.
In my own way I hope to honour those homesteaders that came "out West" with a dollar and a dream (if that) and use our new home to reflect my love of the Prairie. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve this using photographs, trinkets, paintings, folk art what have you--all kinds of mediums--a mishmash of all things Prairie--bringing the outside in! (Minus the bison---they can stay outside! Too much mess for me!) Most importantly, I'm hoping it'll help me feel more "at home"--*sigh* and who could want more than that? :)
