Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Friday, June 21, 2013

My Playground

My good friend Delores from The Feathered Nest issues a challenge every Wednesday.
In the form of six words.
It is a challenge.
But so much fun.
This weeks words? Feet, mud, diamonds, expensive, sharp and sliding
They brought back a memory . . .
Okay, at times, the river crept a little too near to the buildings . . .
The Stringam ranch was built on a flood plain. The south fork of the Milk River curled around the home place, promising life . . . and the occasional adventure.
The summers of my childhood were spent on that river.
Perfect memories . . .
Sun baking down from a hot, blue sky.
Puffs of cloud.
My siblings and I with our feet deep in the cool mud.
Squishing it between our toes.
Hunting frogs and snakes among the reeds.
Trapping unwary minnows in the shallows.
Sliding down the river bank and into the murky, brown water.
Racing home at sunset because Mom was sure to have something special just coming out of the oven.
Idyllic days.
Oh, we had the occasional mishap.
Little sister nearly drowning.
Our friend Joanne stepping on something sharp and cutting her foot open six ways to Sunday.
But the good times far outweighed the bad.
I see ads now, offering expensive cars.
Electronics.
Cosmetics.
Diamonds and jewelry.
All promising the ultimate in happiness.
And I would trade any of them for just one more day on the river.
With my feet in the mud.


10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful memory and great use of the words.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this!
    I remember similar summer days on the beach by the mangroves, my friends and me squishing our feet through the awful grey mud, sometimes rolling in it then running down the beach scaring little kids and their mums.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my goodness! I remember covering ourselves completely with mud and trying to scare my little sister! I had forgotten till I read this! Thank you!

      Delete
  3. You wouldn't want to be on that river today. It's beginning to shape up to another June '64. Some major flooding Calgary south. Water is up to Row 10 in the Saddledome...

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's the simple things in life that brings true happiness... :)

    ReplyDelete

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