Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Night falls on the prairies

Yesterday after a few meetings throughout the day, we headed into Saskatoon for a meeting that was scheduled last night. The boys and Lauralea came along.


The  guys went to my parents place and Lauralea and I attended to our appointment. It was late when we started our journey home. The sun was setting and it was cooling off a bit, finally.


It had been a very hot day, and since the air conditioning in the van didn't start when the hot weather did this spring, we rolled down the windows all the way.


And we drove home, across the prairies with the wind in our hair and the roar of it in our ears.


It surprised me how much you miss things when it's all sealed up tighter than a drum. The prairie smells, the humidity, the bugs, so much life closed out, kept out.


The smells would bring back memories of different places we'd visited and lived. The sun was setting and you felt closer to it, without seeing it through the glass. The wind, roaring through the windows messing with your hair and cooling off everything at the same time.


Lauralea who was born and bred in the mountains, always comments about the amazing beauty of the prairies. I admire her ability to love wherever she's at, but last night I had to agree with her.


It was a beautiful evening for a drive across the prairie.

9 comments:

  1. Ah, natural air con. My fave (except when it's 30+).

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  2. I agree with you.. almost 100%...



    Love a good prairie evening.. just have a real.hard.time loving the bugs :)

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  3. I love having A/C on those hot days, but there are times when the fresh air shouldn't be wasted.

    Some businesses require that their vehicles have A/C for Occupational Health and Safety reasons, because driving with the side window open results in hearing loss, and more dust and pollen enters the vehicle. Dust is especially a problem on northern logging roads.

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  4. Remember days with Mom and Dad in front seat, kids in back, bee flies in,....girl screeches, Dad stops car, everyone ditching, Dad with handkerchief, whopping bee, all pile back in, continue journey.....open window policy!

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  5. Some of my favourite road trips were in when I had a beat-up old Mercury. It had no air conditioning, but it made the experience of driving the back roads of Saskatchewan between the TransCanada and Prince Albert such an experience.

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  6. Sharon: one of my uncles rolled his car because of a wasp. Thankfully no-one was seriously hurt despite the fact that seat belts were unheard of in those days. My aunt never let him forget the incident.

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  7. Nothing beats the prairies when the sky is a certain shade of blue and the wheat is ready for harvest.

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  8. Hey - if the bugs are making it into the car alive then you're just not driving fast enough.



    :D

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  9. I have lived in the mountains of Vancouver, next to the ocean, the deserts of New Mexico and now the arrid arctic of the NWT.It never fails that when we drive back to the prairies I feel at peace, like I am truly home. People who often grow up in the mountains do not see the beauty of wide open prairie and the fact that you can see forever. For me it is always a feeling of how God has created everything beautifully unique. Each individual landscape is breathtaking to the one who see God reflected there.

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