MORE ON THE RING THAT BINDS US

   Seven years later the fall season showed a good wheat harvest and we began gathering the root crops of carrots and potatoes to roll through a basement window for winter’s storage in our new home.  Until then we had lived in two large rooms since banks refused to loan money to people in dry areas known for hailstorms.  Our three brothers had been helping build dikes with gates to aid in the upcoming spring runoff from the Cyprus Hills that would irrigate the land.  Rain had left the soil moist and the digging was easy.  Our brothers were nearing six feet in height and sharing the farm work building the wooden gates to control the spring flood that would be rushing from the Cyprus Hills in the spring.  As soon as these waters reached near the top of the dikes in one field the wooden gates were opened and the water rushed on to flood the next field until it reached Pakowki Lake.  Swans, geese and ducks could then be seen landing on its surface to feed on its bounties, and start coupling up to build nests among the grasses.

    One fall day we were digging up the root crops when one of us held up a carrot that glinted in the setting sun. Was this a new kind of vegetable?  With her daughters Mother viewed her long lost wedding ring.  A tiny carrot seed had brought it back to her with the help of that summer’s generous sun and rain.  The carrot showed a large top, and a solid gold waist with about a 9 inch long root, possibly the most valuable carrot ever produced.

    Our parents had another daughter, Esther, in 1927and a son, Harold, in 1931.  In Europe distant drums were sounding as their nations bickered amongst each other.  A man from Austria with evil intent declared war on England.  In l939 members of the royal family were sent to Canada to plead for assistance.  Our mother had worked from dawn to dusk for nearly two decades to have a modern home.  Now her wish was to help her daughters get an education that would qualify them for a less stressful life than hers had been.  We had to go to Medicine Hat for a high school education.  The Keyes family from a church there agreed to give Helen board and room for $30.00 a month.  It was so reasonable our parents brought extras like eggs, butter and other farm produce.  Mrs. Keyes deducted that from the original $30.00.  Helen completed high school there, then graduated from Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, took a course in dentistry in Toronto and sailed to Ivory Coast to help the people hear about the Christian life that promised an afterlife after accepting and then living out the Golden Rule of kindness and love that Jesus demonstrated while living on Earth.