Chapter 38
Visiting The Family

The winter of 1989 got off to an early start in November. It was freeze up soon after the eleventh which is about normal. But we had two inches of rain in October followed by ten inches of snow which all melted and soaked away before December. The weather was mild except for one week of really cold temperatures just before Christmas. In January, 1990 I was getting restless and wanted to go visit with sister Nellie. It was going on two years since we were there in May 1988. Evelyn and I talked about waiting for a change in Bette's condition. She had some difficult spells in December. We decided I may as well go as there was no way of knowing what could develop. So, early in February I started out by bus. I had a couple of interesting seat partners between Regina and Swift Current. The time seemed to go quickly and suddenly I was In Medicine Hat. My daughter Lorraine met me and we were at her home in a few minutes. Andrea was going out with friends so I saw her for a few minutes. Jason came home and had trouble with his car on an icy street and had to leave it for the night. Lorraine took him down the next morning, a Saturday and got it home without any trouble. We got in touch with Michael who was working in a Greenhouse supply store that afternoon, and Lorraine and I went down and spent some time with him. It turned out that son Robert in Calgary had only Sunday off so I wanted to get there Saturday night if possible. I left Medicine Hat at 3:00 p.m. and arrived in Calgary at 6:00 p.m.

My granddaughter Angela and her husband Keith met me and we had supper at their place. Keith got supper while Angela and I visited, I hadn't seen her for four or five years. Angela works in a Calgary office and Keith has a government telephone contract. About 11:00 a.m. Robert came for me. We had coffee and all of us talked mostly about living in the city. We had supper early at Robert's apartment and drove to the bus depot by 6:00 p.m. Robert was taking some income tax instruction preparing to work with H & R Block for the next few months. He was also selling advertising for a Calgary based magazine, and preparing to set up his own music business.

The bus was thirty minutes late out of Calgary which seemed to be the norm. It was late out of Regina, also Medicine Hat and they were all full with weekend travelers it seemed. We weren't out of the city yet when the driver suddenly pulled over and stopped where traffic was light. He walked to the back of the bus, had a talk with a passenger, picked up a parcel and went back up front and away we went. He had picked up a bottle of liquor and presumably would give it back when the passenger left the bus. The bus trip to Vancouver seemed to be fraught with passenger problems. Between Regina and Swift Current the driver had problems with smokers on two occasions. Also between Banff and Revelstoke a problem between two men and a lady at the back of the bus became very noisy and almost resulted in blows being exchanged. Apparently at one stop the driver phoned ahead to have the police meet the bus at Revelstoke. The two men were at each others throats again when we pulled into Revelstoke. The two arguing men were taken off the bus, the police arrived and took one man into custody and once again we had peace and quiet. Of all the times I have traveled by bus, I had never witnessed that level of problems with passengers.

It was a Monday morning when I arrived at Langley, SC. Brother-in-law Peter soon arrived at the bus depot and we spent the day visiting at his place, and Tuesday we surveyed his collection of antiques. I didn't see any of his family as they were all working. On Wednesday I took the bus bound for Tacoma, Washington and it was a very different kind of trip since it was snowing, sometimes heavily all the way. Between Everett and Seattle it snowed so heavily one could barely see 150 feet ahead of the bus. Yet the heavy traffic sped along at 50 to 60 miles per hour. An elderly lady got on the bus at Bellingham on her way to Seattle. She had some luggage and also used a four-footed walker, no doubt she was a long time area resident. I learned that she still drove her own car but since the weather was not good, she acknowledged it was easier to travel by bus, so I gathered that she used to drive to Seattle even on Interstate No. 5 Not bad for a lady over 70 years old. All buses stop at Seattle for servicing and it is also a dinner stop. Everybody got off. The interior of the Seattle bus depot is on two levels, involving a stairway of eight or ten steps. I helped her down the steps with her luggage and I noticed that she went outside a door onto the street on her way to see a doctor, a capable independent senior. I am almost fortunate to have pleasant personalities to sit and visit with. It makes a trip a little shorter and more pleasant, even in a snow storm.

The time at Nellie's went fast, we didn't get around a lot as the weather was cool, cloudy and either rain or snow almost every day or night. Nellie has some very good friendly neighbors. Bob and Becky Scott with four children who live next door and have been good help to her, especially since two years ago when Nellie fell on the street not far from home. She was hurt quite badly but was able to get back home. Becky saw she had been hurt and took her to the doctor. The sidewalk was not level which caused her to slip and fall. The city paid a lot of her doctor and medical costs, and they even repaired the sidewalk that caused the fall. Nellie and the Scotts are in contact every day and are a source of comfort and help. Scotts have four children ranging in age from 4 to 12, two boys and two girls. Bob is now on the Tacoma Police Force.

We spent part of one day down at the Tacoma mall, about five or six miles from Nellie's house. It took a good half hour to travel there by city bus. We looked in a man's clothing store for large size men's socks. We couldn't find any at Nordstroms, but I finally found them at the J. C. Penney store. We had lunch at the Mall, Nellie picked up some toys for her granddaughter's birthday a few days later. We attended a birthday party for Natalie Campbell, Bill and Pat Campbell's child. They also have a daughter Sheila, about two years old. She was talking a little when we were there. We went over by city bus and it took about forty minutes. Bill met us at the bus stop, it was another couple of miles to go to their place. Pat's sister, Carol Barnett, was there, she had brought a small girl with her to be company for Natalie and Sheila. A friend of Carol's arrived with another girl, pre-school age. So there were seven adults, Susan (Bill's niece), the twins, Leah and Annie and the little ones. This was the only time I was at their place this trip.

One afternoon, a friend of Nellie's, Grace Massey, took us down to Gibson's Green Houses. Both Nellie and Grace wanted new plants. It's a huge establishment, and since it wasn't long until Easter, the large part of it was filled with lilies. Grace took us home by way of "Point Defiance" Park in the northwest corner of Tacoma with salt water along the edge. The bridge across the narrows can be seen as one leaves the Park on the south edge. It was a pleasant afternoon experience. A few days before I was planning to leave for home, Nellie decided to call Carl and Marj Truman at Mount Vernon. Carl is our cousin and I try to see them when I am out there. Usually I try to stop there for a day or two on the way back to White Rock, BC. This particular time they were coming to Puyallup to a family funeral. Puyallup is a suburb of Tacoma. Nellie invited them up for dinner the day after the funeral. We had a short visit and I went home with them. Marj wanted to stop at a large wholesale-retail store just out of Tacoma for a few items that she could get at a considerable discount, so we spent a good half hour there. Marj is a very capable driver and does most or all of their highway traveling. She has lived in that area all of her adult life so has grown up with the traffic they are obliged to cope with. Mount Vernon is probably only 50 or 60 miles south of White Rock and by 11:30 or noon we were through Canadian customs. Just a few words through the open window and we were in Canada. We arrived at Peter Trueman's in a few minutes. He lives about three miles from the border.

We had told him by phone that morning that we'd be there by noon but not to prepare dinner as I would take them out to eat. Peter got in with us and we went to Langley and had dinner at a place I'd never been in before. It was a large mall, one of the stores is run by Peter's granddaughter. We spent a few minutes with her to at least say hello. We bought a few items, mainly to take home as gifts, just some toilet soap for Evelyn, Margaret, Fadiah and Carol. Marj and Carl took Peter and I back to his place and they were on their way home again. It was very pleasant to have their company and a ride to start the trip home. Some of Peter's family were on a short holiday that weekend so I didn't see much of them again. We did squeeze in a half hour with Michelle, Glen and their two boys before Michelle was on her way to work in Tereines store that day.

I left Langley at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, the bus wasn't packed as it was going out and we were running on time. It was midnight when we arrived in Calgary and had to change buses. I couldn't get anything to eat except out of a dispenser, so I decided to wait until Medicine Hat at 4:00 a.m. Not much to eat there either, even though it is considered one of the better meal stops "at the right time of day". We had breakfast in Swift Current, the new bus depot there is quite nice and a good place to eat at reasonable rates.

A lady from Earl Grey, Saskatchewan got on somewhere between Hope and Kamloops. We talked a little and I learned that she knows Verity Westman, a friend of Evelyn's from Midale. She had been visiting two sons that were doing ranch work. It was definitely cattle country for quite a few miles. The bus arrived in Regina on time. I had sat on the right side of the bus from Moose Jaw as it was in the sun, good old "Saskatchewan sun". I got drowsy and slept most of the last forty miles. I loafed in the bus depot and caught the 5:30 p.m. bus home. All our family members were well and I soon got back into the pattern of going to weekly card parties.

Evelyn had her green house plants started in March. We had Mike Ortman come up and build another 8 x 8 green house covered with plastic sheeting. By April, they were full of new plants and I mean full. We used electric heaters. The weather through April and part of May was colder than normal and it wasn't easy to keep them warm enough.

During April a brother-in-law of Evelyn's passed away following a stroke. Evelyn was unable to attend the funeral due to the care of her plants in the green houses, It was a lot of work carrying plants out in the warm sunshine every morning and putting them back in the evening. But the only proper way to provide strong plants is to get them used to outside temperatures. As they matured we built cold frames which filled with plants as well as the green houses still being full. Plant sales were slow to start with but flowers sold well and were gone before other bedding plants started to move. We took several trays of just tomatoes to the Weyburn Farmer's market in May but it was cold and rainy with not many people, so it wasn't worth it in terms of sales, but it was nice to get over an inch of steady rain. Fadiah sold the remaining tomatoes to friends, so now the green house season is over. It was hectic during the cold spring weather but was interesting and a good way to keep busy which is important for people who don't want to sit and do nothing.