Family Time

I am currently enjoying some Family Time in the West. Though I live in Toronto, I spent my youth equally divided between Saskatchewan and the wilds of northern British Columbia. My family is still anchored over those provinces and has stock in Saskatchewan going back over one-hundred years, and spent time in the Dakotas even earlier than that. They homesteaded on the banks of Turtle Lake and in the area of Livelong, on land broken by oxes and spaded by hand. In those days, one had to stay on the same land for six weeks and have it completely fenced in to "prove up" the homestead as their legal land. I am thankful that much of the family's history has been dutifully recorded. Living in mud brick and log homes during a Saskatchewan winter is not something I hold much romance for, but that history reflects an endurance, a closeness, and an entrepreneurial spirit I am happy to have in my blood.

Pictured above are my uncle's forearms. It's how we do.