Moose Jaw, I am learning, has a fine collection of spray parks and playground assemblies.
Hanging out at a spray park is not something our household members would normally do on a sunny summer afternoon. We might sit at a picnic table in the shade to read a book or to watch the birds and listen to their chatter. But with my aversion to water and Housemate’s disinterest in moving with any speed in recent hot temperatures, there has been no reason to check out what the spray parks have to offer.
But a recent week-long visitation from the Great-great-niece enticed us to head to the spray parks and playgrounds to watch her in action. She’s inching closer to her fourth birthday and she has put on considerable vertical growth since her visit at Christmas.
She is fearless and thus had no hesitation in getting her ginger curls soaking wet as she raced through different water-spraying stations, giggling and squealing as she went. Then it was to the swing to be pushed by Grandma and then Uncle, who she confided, pushed her a bit too hard so he was excused from that duty.
Today’s playground equipment bears no resemblance to what I enjoyed as a youngster. Our tiny relative immediately ventured to the highest slide and figured out how to get to the point where she could slide down. The wall-climbing structure was no obstacle, although when invited to climb too, Grandma declined the invitation.
I was happy to sit in some shade to watch her interaction with other children, most of them older, as she attempted to duplicate their actions.
The closest I got to the action was a soggy hug as we planned to depart from the tiring activities to head home for a rest.
Hopefully, she will remember the week she spent with her doting family and all the fun she had getting soaked in Moose Jaw.
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We should be counting our blessings here in this part of the country. Sure we’ve had some smoke from wildfires clouding our sky, but imagine what it would be like to be told to evacuate because those fires on coming closer and closer.
While the closest I’ve ever been to Jasper was to drive by the directional sign on the nearby highway. I had always wanted to stop there because as a youngster I had heard my Alberta cousins talking about their family vacations spent there.
Some of those cousins spent their honeymoons at Jasper so as a kid, I figured that must be the place of romance and the beginning of married life. By the time I got old enough for a honeymoon, Jasper did not figure in our plans, nor did it later for anniversaries and other celebrations.
But I felt distressed when residents and tourists had to evacuate the park and townsite, and at the later news of the loss of important structures in the park because of the out-of-control fires. I cannot imagine dealing with such devastation. I imagine my cousins are looking with fond memories at their holiday photographs of years ago.
And how about the danger to Barkerville, B.C., that special tourist destination where history comes alive in the best possible way? We spent two days there in 2015 and just recently I looked at the photographs we took of the buildings, the entertainers, the panning for gold and one showing me trying to get into the bakery without being noticed.
We stayed at a motel in Wells where the owner greeted all her guests with homebaked cookies and lots of friendly conversation.
We can only hope those communities will survive and continue to thrive, sharing the many stories to be told about the 125 heritage buildings and early life in the national historic site.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
