THE BOY who WENT to WAR....

"A soldier fights, because he loves what is behind him...." -Gilbert K. Chesterton

Stuart ( with Jesse the dog),Isabella, Robert, Bill

                                     May 29th, 1940  Bethune, Saskatchewan homestead

Regarding: DIEPPE AUG 19, 1942

FROM Signaller S.S. Shiels HQ Company   South Saskatchewan Regiment  DATE: 23/9/42

 Dear Sis (Nessie, my mother):

     Received your airgraph re Sept 5. I am OK. Excuse writing as I am in a cast from hips to neck and out to fingers of right hand. Had one bullet just miss back bone, and go through seat about 5 inches deep. Another hit centre of right back but glanced up smashing shoulder and have a neat hole through     “humorous”. 

     I took a prisoner and fetched him back, after being shot up, so you can judge from that the injuries are slight. When we evacuated amid a hail of bullets, ,shrapnel and dive bombing we could see green waves of Jerry pouring in for miles back. The official score was 5000 dead and wounded for them, and 3350 dead and wounded and prisoners from us. Believe you me, they have a healthy respect for Canadians. Will write as soon as right wing is working.

                                                                Love, Stuart.

1930's Bethune farm

"A boy doesn't have to go to war, to be a hero..." -E.W. Howe

Mar 21 , 1934

Robert, Nessie, Stuart, Bill 1930's

"Courage isn't having the strength to go on. It is going on when you have strength..." 

-N. Bonaparte

Hunting gophers, 1930's Stuart /Bill

 

farmhands 1930's

Stuart, Isobel, Nessie, Bill (back)

Isabella (Jesse) Robert (front)

"Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle..." 

                                  - Psalm 144::1 (Psalm of David)

Mar 21 1934 Stuart , ready to ride

Home on the range

"When you go to war as a boy, you have great illusion of immortality...."

-Ernest Hemingway

At rest after a long day's work...

May 29th, 1940

                   Stuart, Bill, Stuart's buddy with Jesse .....

"Courage is not the absence of fear.....it is something else mor important...."

- F.D. Roosevelt

Hitchin' a ride ......

.The long road to somewhere....

1941 Buddies. Not sure if any of the others came back from Dieppe......

Aldershot Barracks 1940...Ongoing poker game  24/7 while they waited to go overseas...

Bren gun carrier

       "The brave die never, though they sleep in dust....." -Minot Judson Savage

In Portobello Pub 1941.....

the Compound....

"Be strong of heart, and of good courage, nor be afraid of them...."- Deut 31:6

Stuart, as Signaler, with South Saskatchewan regiment..... 

From 1940's 

  written by E. Hilton Young (1879-1960)

My mother saved this from the Times Colonist (Victoria). 

Dec 31, 1911 (Bethune, Saskatchewan)-Feb 27, 1975 (Vancouver, B.C. Mt. View Cemetary)

Vintage family Photos, 2024

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy..." -Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

BRAVE BIRDS.....

"God is in the small details: in the simplicity of a bird's song, in the serene dawn, or in the first autumn leaf falling..." - Animal wised

                                    "Hold onto dreams......." - Langston Hughes

Stellar Jays, hogging the birdbath...

"More beautiful than the song of birds are their flights. Not every song is of joy, but every flight is of freedom...." -Mario Quintana

      Finch sinking his head into his feathers, being brave against the rain...

(Brave Hum  Hum in the twilight)

"Better than the sound of silence, only the singing of birds....."

-Aerton Guimares

"Faith is the bird that feels the light and SINGS  when the dawn is still dark.." - R. Tagore

Juncos.... buried in the Katura Tree leaves, hiding from  the rain.............

Flicker pauses in a rat- a- tat- tat moment...

"My wish is to stay like this forever...to live peacefully in a corner of nature...." -Claude Monet

     "Look at the birds of the air..." - Matthew 6:26

Flicker eats and eats and eats eats....while a Towhee ( minus its tail) gets away ( and lives to tell the tale!) from the clutches  of  neighbourhood  cats. Towhee hops and flies and swings around the trees, giggling at the cats below...very brave...

"Soar on wings like eagles. Run and not grow weary....." -Isaiah 40:31

"Nature always wears the colour of the spirit...." -Emerson

"Birds were not designed just to be beautiful jewels of the sky, but to serve as the eyes of heaven." -Suzy Kassem

Stellar Jays gobbling as many 

seeds as they can......they do NOT like sharing...

"Be as the bird perched on a frail branch, she feels bending beneath her. Still she sings all the same, knowing she has wings...." -Victor Hugo

 "I wake up every morning, FREE as a bird.." - Ashley Cole

"Tomorrow the birds will sing.  Be brave. face LIFE.." - Charlie Chaplin

                                 (Another Towhee with its tail intact.......happy and brave.... )

Photographs 2024

HALLOWEEN COSTUME 2024--Marie Antoinette

MORGAN's 2024 HALLOWEEN Costume.................

                                 Marie Antoinette

                                                        French Rococo style.

All sewn with fabric from the sewing room, champagne and silver grey satin, with over 200 feet of lace trim..............

50 feet of pearl trim, fabric flowers, ribbons found online and in storage....some  were in boxes downstairs for over two years.........

                         "We had a beautiful dream....." - Marie Antoinette

..... ruffles, ruffles, ruffles......two days to make the actual ruffles  out of satin and lace. The pattern for this costume,  was  from Simplicity  purchased online, a few years ago.

"I have seen all, I have heard all, I have forgotten all......" -Marie Antonette

"There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.." -Marie Antonette

Comfortable and stylish, for any chore on the palace grounds.

The hat is  made from a cereal box, not usually readily available in Rococo times.  This one is glued with flowers, pearls, trims, feathers .....held on with a wide satin ribbon.

"It is true I am rather taken up with dress; but as to feathers, every one wears them, and it would seem extraordinary if I did not....." - Marie Antoinette

The train has a few snaps that can bustle up while working....fashionable, lightweight....suitable  for a walk in a garden...or feeding the birds.

"

"I wish you good morning.....I shall never say goodbye..." 

                                                                            - Marie Antoinette

 Photographs 2024