Today I woke up early in a reflective mood, so this Blog is a sombre one. I re-ran in my mind our last 5 1/2 years in this house and all the memories we would take with us.
I clearly remember our first visit here on a snowy winter afternoon and as my husband and I climbed across 2 foot snow banks on the drive we both said, 'Can you hear that? Nothing!' We looked out over the fields and could see for miles, no noise, no traffic, nothing. It was bliss. Snowflakes fell like sparkling crystals from the sky and it was magical.
This place has given us so much, we have breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. We have an endless stream of wild animals in our yard that entertain us. We have seen incredible double rainbows, the Northern lights, shooting stars and an eclipse.
Our first experience with Canadian wildlife was a chipmunk. We thought it was a baby squirrel, my Mother thought it was a rat! They busily gnaw away at the bird bells, stuffing their pouches and run frantically away tail high like a flagpole!
We have seen black bears, including an abandoned young cub we named Winnie, Deer have feasted on our acorns. Coyotes jog steadily and foxes sprint over the fields as quick as lightning. Huge white jack rabbits fight and play together in the spring.
Bright orange orioles with a beautiful song visit for hummingbird nectar and clumsily hang on to the feeders, we have 'wild canaries', Prairie chickens, skunks, raccoons, eagles, owls and this year we saw a 13 stripe ground squirrel!
This place is where we have loved and lost some best friends and still feeling the emptiness they left behind.
Our home has taught all of us new skills. We have painted, fixed, mended and tamed. During the almost 6 years, we have planted over 200 trees and lovingly watered them throughout the hot dry summers. Family and friends have travelled across the miles to visit us and experience living in the country, down a dirt road, miles from anywhere.
We have just 3 weeks left here before we move. I'm sad to leave the peace, solitude and beauty of the country with all its secrets and hidden pleasures. Will we ever own over 100 oak trees on 10 acres again? I doubt it. What a privilege it's been to live here with all its challenges and surprises. Everything has been captured forever in photographs, videos and most importantly memories.
I'll miss this place and no doubt will cry a few more tears before we go. My daughter will put her arm around me and say something comforting like, 'Oh Mummy, not again!' and my husband will give me a reassuring hug.
I want to leave a letter for the new owners to ask them not to forget to feed the chickadees and squirrels throughout the cold winters or they'll starve. Do they know how to make hummingbird nectar for the 6 regular little visitors that come to the same window every spring? Can I ask them not to shoot and kill the mother deer and her 2 fawns, or the black bear and her cubs? Will the Prairie chickens end up on their barbecue? Will they have an outdoor dog that will chase away the chipmunks forever? There's simply nothing we can do once we leave here but hope that nature will continue to amaze and that all our little friends forgive us for leaving them.
Perhaps our next yard will have a chipmunk in?
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