Well I don't know if we had all four at once, but we definitely could inspire Ian Tyson out here now that spring has sprung! I left my home looking like the snow covered tundra and returned to twisting twirling winds bathed in sunshine and the sound of lawn mowers thatching and children playing outside. Oh glorious dirt filled gusts, where have you been? Swirling through the heavens no doubt. So now we brace ourselves for much dirt in the eyes, hair and ears and we all smile and be happy that there is no more snow or cold and the sun is showing its pretty little face. Yay! And I do mean it. People who have never lived in Alberta would likely wonder on a short visit what it is that we love about it. I'm not sure I even knew I loved it until I moved away and then came back. Or why. Now I could try to explain it, but it would take a long time and I can get pretty long winded at the best of times, so I will try to be brief......
We have some great big sun, and it shines so crystal white in the immense blue sky that sweeps all around us. Sometimes it is such a cutting whiteness of the sun in the summer sky that it makes my eyes weep. When the storm clouds come in the summer, they roll through that huge sky so round and filled with expression and the falling sun makes the sky glow in rich hues and patterns only seen in Alberta. The grey and brown of the rolling hills are dotted with old and new farm buildings, some cracking and falling under the weight of years of neglect, others shining and rich with prosperity. The earth holds all this promise when it lies dormant and offers gifts beyond food when it is growing and fertile. The smell of the earth when it comes alive in the spring is better appreciated by the loss of it the other six months of the year I suppose. I could say it's the people, or the giving of the earth, or the chinook winds that help us to make it through the long winters, but really it is hard to explain. I am connected to it in ways I don't even understand.
We just spent a week in a beautiful place, with massive trees and the ocean, and all the beauty of rain and sun and birds and pathways, and I felt so glad that I had left it and moved back to Alberta. Funny that. We had a great time, a whirlwind tour of many friends and family and much food and drink, and we were very relieved when the 13+ hour drive home ended on Saturday night. The kids travelled so amazingly well, they really are getting big and easier to travel with! So nice. They had a great time, and so did we. I have spent the past two days doing laundry, unpacking, cleaning up, restocking the house, and getting everyone back to normal. Sheesh, now I need a holiday from my holiday! I got my lovely sister's newest piece of musical work, and I know I am biased, but I think it is really very excellent! I am proud of her, she is very talented and has a lot of courage to continue forward as she does with her dreams intact. She just might make it to the point where she can live on her art if she keeps going as she is. The CD is called Atlantis, and her group is Tour de Fours, maybe one day they will be famous! And then she can take care of me in the manner which I wish to be accustomed, haha!
I only had one brief opportunity to get online while I was away, and I was too busy to really have much time to miss it, but I kept wondering to myself how my little buddy Chunks was doing with all her moving and painting and children and so on and so forth, and wishing I could check on her and the many others I find a couple moments here and there to read. I don't comment much, but I always read and enjoy, even when the writer thinks they have nothing to say. I have noticed that a lot of people seem to think they have nothing of interest to say lately, it must be post winter doldrums or something. Or if you're Torn, you may be still fully immersed in winter again, still, what the fuck ever. I feel for him, it has been a painfully long winter for most of Canada this year, I think. I hope the sun starts shining for everyone soon.
Well that's all for me, I'm all out of wind. I love Ian Tyson, in a little Canadian girl who listened to music with her daddy a lot kind of way. I sooo wanted to be a country singer when I was a little girl. Among other things.
Devo
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5 comments:
that song always tears me up, i don't know why. I think it has something to do with us singing it in school as a kid, but also because it is just so melancholy and breaks the heart. We had this cool hippy type music teacher in grade 4, mrs... hmmmm.... routledge? LOL, I can't remember what her name was, but she made us a music book for our ukeleles and introduced us to such cool stuff as joy to the world, 4 strong winds, the circle game, 500 miles, blowin' in the wind, the crawdad song, and so on. She also made us listen to paul horn, so she must have been stoned or something. I loved her. I'll have to look up her name since i forget it.
Anyway, I know what you mean about appreciating the seasons. And while I am always yammering on and on about B.C. being home to me, 25 years later, and miss the smells and rains and all of that, I am also very appreciative of the weather and environment here and it is also a part of me: I love the smells of cement right before it rains in the summer, that awesome smell that makes you glad to be alive, and the smell of rain when it first falls, and the smell of a field in the summer, and if i am in southern saskatchewan, I love the feel of the warm/hot wind on my face, and the skies, and the sun and the flatness. Yes, the flatness, and seeing forever, and the birds and bugs and clouds, and the feeling of just appreciating the environment. I always associate "Southern Cross" and "Wasted on the Way" by CSN and Hold On by Santana as songs that remind me of southern sask., in those types of conditions.
AS I also said before, I also love the sound of falling snow - the silence of snow, and the warm chinook feeling when it's minus 2 out on a warm winter night....
and then my favorite smell in the entire world, that earthy, dead-leaves smell in the fall/spring. It's a smell I associate with both here and Sask.
Anyway, I can't really articulate what I am trying to say, but just know I appreciate the weather and places as an integral part of who you are.
It sounds like a lovely place. As I sit here, I'm watching the snow falling outside (still! it's April 17th for christ's sake). But they're saying 19 degrees for this weekend, woo hoo!
Neil Young's version of Four Strong Winds reminds me of when we moved to Alberta. My dad used to sing that song (remember?) and when I hear it, I cry.
This post is exactly why I thought you should become a blogger. You rock the casbah, goddamnit!
Now make me a video because I miss seeing your smiling face!
I love Ian Tyson as well!! We saw him years ago on top of a mountain top resort amongst teepees and drunks and hippy wannabes(us included)...it was amazing!
Great post!!
Your description of Alberta was awesome. Almost makes me forget that we got another dump of the white shit last nite.. Soooo sick of this winter.. I want spring..
Margs
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