Living in Canada-the first time!

One of the first things we noticed was that for all merchandise that had a label, the information was in both French and English.  This was very strange! I think it was made law in response to the need in Quebec.  French was still the primary language of that province.Or maybe the law in Quebec insisted on both languages and it was cheaper to make things the same all over.

When we started school, there were shelves outside the main entrance for snow boots and/or shoes.  We were not expected to wear snow boots all day in the classrooms.  Sure makes sense! I believe there was a sheltered place outside the school...the shelves were not out in the weather!

All the Sanderson boys were in school.  I believe Murray was a Senior, Al was in my class and Aaron and Babe were on either side of Roy in age, that would probably be 11 or 12. We walked to school.  It was probably 10 or 15 minutes to walk. School was not fun for me.  I was in over my head! When students graduated from a Canadian High School at that time, they had equivalent to a year of college in the states. In high school, they had 4 years of French, 4 years of math, 2 years of Chem, 2 years of Physics and anything else they had time for! In Home Ec, (which I did take) we learned not only to make cakes, but the chemistry of why too much sugar would cause a cake to fall.  We learned to sew, but also learned how rayon was made...something to do with trees, I think!

Mom and Daddy had to go back to Fruita to get the things that were left there.  When Mom and the kids came, they just had what they could pack in the car. So-o-o, I stayed out of school for about a week to take care of the house and kids. Remember, Becky was a little over 2 and Jan was just a few weeks old.  Anyway, I was comfortable with it.  An older lady came to call after the folks left.  I think she was one of the
"Fish" wives.  She sat at the kitchen table and visited with me as I sterilized bottles and made formula for Jan. I just kept working while she was there.  I learned later that she told Mom that I sure knew what I was doing!  Well, of course I did.  Otherwise they would not have left me in charge!

The night that Mom and Dad got back, it was late and we were all sitting on the kitchen floor (All being the Perry and Sanderson kids) playing a  hockey board game! Hockey was really big...and if the rink was not frozen, it was played anywhere else, even a board game! We pretended that we were waiting up for Mom and Dad...and when they went upstairs and saw Becky and Jan freshly bathed and sound asleep, they were OK with it!

Ruby and Henry Taylor were two of our favorites of the "Fish Crew."  They were a little older than Mom and Dad and had one son, who also worked for Fish. Their son married Mr. McAllister's daughter, Laurella (named after two grandmothers) and we had a charivary.  He pushed her in a wheelbarrow down main street and she was offering to sell toilet paper for a penny a square. Cars followed honking..it was quite festive for us....but the Canadians thought we were balmy!!! ( Later that year, in Texas, I wrote an English paper about it and got an "a!")

When the weather got cold, all the school kids would to to the skating rink to see if it was frozen.  Skating was a big thing.  Kids our age were performing an ice show. Hockey was for boys like football is here. When it got cold enough to freeze, the town parking lots were flooded and little kids who could just barely walk were skating! We left Kindersley before the end  of the year and headed for Texas.

 (Note: most of the "Fish" families spent the summer where ever the job was, but the wife and kids went back to Oklahoma or Texas during the school year. Mom and Dad did not see that as an arrangement they could live with!)