Remembering the Farm: Starting School in Leipzig

Fifty years ago this week, I started Gr. 8 at Leipzig, as small town about 7 miles from our farm.  I was one month short of 13.

That June the Wilkie School Unit closed all the remaining one room schools, including Cavell.  Six schools in the Leipzig District were closed and we were bussed to Leipzig where a new school had been built.  From one room with 16 kids in 8 grades to four rooms (Gr. 5 to 12) with 25 to 30 kids in each grade.  Two more rooms were added the next summer and Gr. 1-4 who had been temporarily taught in the convent joined us.

Leipzig was on the eastern edge of St Joseph's Colony, a settlement of German Catholics, established in 1905.  The school was staffed primarily by School Sisters of Notre Dame, the Saskatchewan Motherhouse of which was located in Leipzig.  Leipzig was a Catholic School in a Public School District because the vast majority of the students were Catholic.  The few of us heathens left at 3:00 while the remainder had 30 minutes of Religious Studies.  We were ably babysat by Sister Martina over at the Convent where we pretended to do homework.

My teachers included:

• Sister Raymond (Grade 8) - she despaired with me but survived the ordeal.
• Sister Marie LeClaire (Grades 9 and 10) - a wonderful teacher, much humour and a long yardstick to keep order. Worth a blog on her own someday. 
• Sister Annella (Grades 11 and 12) - loved literature, especially poetry; we kept in touch over the years; recently deceased, age 88.

My dad, who was going on 39, drove the new 36 passenger GMC school bus.  A real job, bringing about $125 in real cash money on a monthly basis to our family.  We could stop milking cows and shipping cream.  Freedom is no more cows to milk.

We left every morning at precisely 8:10 and arrived at the school at about 8:45 to 8:50.  Picked up at 3:30 we were home by 4:00.  No waiting for late risers on the return trip. Families in order of pickup in the morning:

• Hingston
• Huber
• Frey
• Frey
• Watt
• Frey
• Ulrich
• Herle
• Schmidt
• Kolonosky
• Miller
• Delainey
• Gaertner

Rode the bus for six years until graduation in 1965.  Went back in 2005 to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the parish and saw many of my classmates whom I hadn't seen in 40 years.

Expect some of my readers, including my brother and sister, to fill in some memory gaps here.

Shushenskoye Museum

Sushenskoye is the village in the Sayan mountains just on the edge of Khakasia where Lenin was exiled from 1897 to 1900. He received an allowance and spent his time hunting and writing seditious literature at which he was never caught. Though his bookshelf was raided by the police, they got bored after the first few shelves and did not look at the remaining two shelves which contained enough illegal books to have warranted very severe punishment.

The village was declared a museum in 1940 and every self respecting Russian visited it.  Even today, it gets a few thousand visitors a year, especially with a new ethnic music festival.  The mountains around it are beautiful and the Sayano-Shushenkaya Dam and Hydro-Electric Station is not far from it.

Tanya took me to visit the village in 2006 when these pictures were taken.

House where Lenin lived

Typical late 19th century Siberian village

Woodworking shop

Hand cranked wood lathe

Wagon typical of those in use in rural villages

Lenin's desk and bookshelves

Lenin and his wife had separate beds which was normal for upper class Russians.

Dry goods shop in the village

Another shot of the dry goods shop

Tavern.  The keg was filled with vodka

Oven/cook stove in a poor cobbler's home

Cobbler's bench with wooden lasts

The biggest house in town: merchant, landowner, gentry of some sort

Hang Them All (You'll Get the Guilty)

Written and sung by Tom T Hall

There's a murderer in your town Mister
There were seven unsolved last year
There's a murderer in your town Mister
How long has he been living here?

If they hang 'em all they get the guilty
If they hang 'em all they cannot miss
If they hang 'em all they get the guilty
Been a lot of problem solved like this

There's a thief in your town Mister
This morning my milk was gone
There's a thief in your town Mister
How long has this been going on

If they hang 'em all they get the guilty…

There's a cheater in your town Mister
Last night I saw him in a bar
There's a cheater in your town Mister
Is that the kind of people you are?

If they hang 'em all they get the guilty…

There's a hypocrite in your town Mister
I think I caught him in a lie
There's a hypocrite in your town Mister
Are you gonna let that go by?

If they hang 'em all they get the guilty…

There’s a terrorist in your town, Mister*.
Today at noon, I saw his wife.
There’s a terrorist in your town, Mister.
He should pay for 9/11 with his life.

If they hang 'em all they get the guilty
That's what you say we ought to do
If they hang 'em all they get the guilty
But remember they're gonna hang you too.

*verse added to bring the song 40 years forward.

Beautiful Khakasia

Our friend Sergei Glukhov from Abakan in Khakasia sent us some pictures that are worth sharing.  When I first went to Abakan with Tanya back in June 2006, we contracted with Sergei to drive us around, translate for me at meetings and organize some sightseeing.  Sergei is a wonderful young entrepreneur, Boston educated and a very capable translator.  He is also an outdoors-man, with a thorough knowledge of his homeland and an interest in a wide variety of areas.  If you want a holiday out of the norm in a unique and beautiful part of the world, ask me for Sergei's contact information.  Khakasia has rugged mountains, endless steppes, and thousands of years of history. Abakan is a 5 hour flight from Moscow. You'll need a visa.

Church in Abakan City

Yennessee river and Cyan Mountains

Yennessee river

Khakasian Steppes

Tree growing on one of thousands of Kurgans

Good fishing

Sergei is a wonderful cook

Freshwater prawns

Desert

Evening campfire

A real charmer

They walk among you. They breathe. They Breed

While 1 in 5 Americans believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim, Huffington Post reports that they are in good company.  Here is a list of things done or believed by 1 in 5 Americans (details in the link above).

1. Can't identify the USA on a map;
2. Are unaware from whom the USA declared independence;
3. Think George W bush was a great president;
4. Believe witches are real;
5. Believe the sun revolves around the earth;
6. Do not use the internet;
7. Do urinate in the swimming pool;
8. Believe the Apocalypse will happen in their lifetime;
9. Believe marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol;
10. Believe the lottery is a good financial investment;
11. Believe in alien abductions.

Wonder how Canadians would fare in a similar set of questions about their own country.  Rick Mercer had us in stitches with his "Talking to Americans".  They even made a movie.  Fair is fair.  Americans should try it on Canadians.

Colin Mochrie with an apology from Canada to America.

Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Fans Take Note

My good friends, Alf and Sveta Zumpano, at Free Lens Photographic, are circulating the following regarding activities the day before the annual Roughrider-Blue Bomber game on Labour Day Weekend.

We would like you to know about the Rider Fan Exhibit that is opening at the Legislature on September 4th.  It is a fantastic project celebrating the fans of the greatest team in the CFL.

There will be a parade from Mosaic Stadium to the Legislature at 2:30pm and the opening ceremony of the exhibit will commence around 3:30pm.

We will be photographing all of the fans dressed in Rider Gear and we'll be placing their individual photos in the windows of the buildings of the poster Rider Green - Immortal Nation

Be sure you are included in this photo creation which will printed 8'x 12' and displayed around town and perhaps in places around the province.  Be immortalized by joining in and having your photo taken at the Legislature.  Please go to the link below to see more information and click on Rider Green - Immortal Nation in the top right corner to see the poster.

Please tell you friends and please pass this on to as many people as you can.

We hope to see you there on Saturday September 4th.

http://www.freelensephoto.com/rider-fan-parade.html

NOTE: if you click on the Free Lens Photographic website and go to galleries/weddings, you will find a beautiful B&W picture of May-B and the Guy walking towards  the Legislature. Building

I was wrong

I am ashamed and I apologize for my initial reaction to the construction of a community centre several blocks from Ground Zero by the local Muslim community.  Some days I wonder what goes on inside my head.  I had read enough to change my mind by the time I closed comments on Of Mosque and Men but ran into these two articles today which really clinched it for me.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082004795.html?waporef=obinsite

http://www.slate.com/id/2264754/?from=rss