The thing is, when you cross the prairies, you can see the cities and large towns sometimes one hundred kilometers before you reach them. They announce their presence by emitting a wide, peach glow into the night sky. There’s nothing to block the light, even when your vehicle rolls across gently undulating plains. The city glow remains, gently beckoning all road weary travelers. When I was young, my family took long trips out to BC and Alberta. The driving distances were eternal. I remember my dad sipping on endless cups of Tim Horton’s coffee while the car played CBC radio late into the night. I remember wishing for the glow of Saskatoon to play on the horizon. Oh how I prayed for the eventual twinkle of that prairie city slowly spreading out across the great plains, sprouting forth out of the night under great green bands of aurora borealis like the wheat, flax and canola spring out of the furrowed earth. I remember my back aching from sitting in the car for so long, my sisters and I drowsy and all chattered out, my fingertips cold from scratching messages and pictures in the frost on the inside of the windows that the car defrost could never quite eliminate.
This time, when crossing Saskatchewan, I found myself feeling all these things again. Our windows in the truck weren’t frosted over and I pressed my forehead against the glass to look out at the sky, star watching and night gawking. We had Tim Horton’s coffee cups in our hands that we had picked up in Swift Current before we turned North onto highway 4. Rosetown came and went. I found myself straining to see that pale city glow spread against the sky, the glow that has always told me that home isn’t far. I found myself looking, in earnest, for the glow of the City of Bridges. When I finally saw Saskatoon pooling against the black of the prairies, I sat back in my seat and let a sense of home wash over my heart and soul.
We crossed the city slowly, I didn’t take the fast route down Circle Drive, but made my way downtown, across 2nd Avenue, past the Bessborough Hotel, and took the scenic route along the riverbank, beneath the elm trees that embrace the road down by the train bridge, around the slow curves that bend with the Mewassin, alongside my prairie river and its poplar laced banks until I found myself in the North end of the city and pulling the truck to a stop in front of my parents’ house.
Christmas was wonderful. Homecoming was sweet. My nephew is the cutest thing ever. My sisters are beautiful and bright. The skating was fine, so fine. The horses breathed white. The owls were gifts.
I’d have loved to stay in Canada for another week but duty called in Idaho so we made our way home. We rolled across Saskatchewan and then Montana. There were owls, eagles, mule deer, antelope, a meeting with a friend in Big Sky, heinous sheet ice through greater West Yellowstone and past the Idaho border and then the sudden emergence onto the upper Snake River Plain. When we coasted into Pocatello, I had that sense of homecoming. Again. And it was good — good to be home and in the arms of the Rockies again.
<3
it’s all so magically beautiful:
the frost on the wire
the reflection in the horse’s eye
the amazing goat coat
the serious babe with slightly furrowed brow
the owl with its head on backwards
and best of all, “My sisters are beautiful and bright.”
i love that.
O my goodness…though I have never lived on flat land I have always enjoyed it…the ability to see sky kiss the earth unobstructed…magical indeed! Thanks for the inCREDIBLE photos…the icicle and the owl …wow
…ice necklaces, flying feet, abandoned homes, wise old eyes, Billy’s wonderful silky ‘gruff’…simply beautiful.
…my sister’s heart would have stopped at the sight of all those snowy owls.
xxx
I love the way you tell a story, this one was especially lovely…Welcome home, and happy New Year!
Lovely, lovely. The goat reminds me of your wooliest sweater. xoxo
The hoary ice reminds me of a displaced sea anemone. Gorgeous photos and matching words. Welcome home sweet bird.
your words and photos melted the heavy hoarfrost coating on my cloudy heart:
now i am shedding salty tears of homesickness, even though i am home.
xx
Baby, I have homes all over the world — homes are where the heart is. xx
that last picture of the owl, wow. It’s stunning.
Oh Jillian, you took me back to the year 2000 when my boyfriend and I were travelling from Ontario to BC to pick apples in the Orchards. He had done the drive numerous times but it was a first for me and one of my favorite memories was night driving across the prairies while sipping Tim Horton’s coffee and listening to the CBC. Magical! And oh that peachy glow, the illusion of its distance. Thanks for reminding me of such a special time; you have a gift with words Ms Jillian.
That cold pierces my heart. Thank god I you’re here to share it.
LOVES,- K
Your description of driving across the prairies actually gave me a lump in my throat. My brother played rep hockey so we did many a road trip across Alberta and Saskatchewan. The part that really got me (aside from the Tim Horton’s sipping dad) was this: “my fingertips cold from scratching messages and pictures in the frost on the inside of the windows…” Oh! What a vivid memory that evoked! My brother and I always got in trouble for doing it. My mom said it made the windows look dirty! Ha!
Your story and pictures made me gasp, just a bit. Lovely-
ps– in the horse’s eye, I can see the reflection of you in your blue hat and another horse. Simply love it.
it sounds and looks like you had a wonderful time. i can’t say i’m familiar with that glow, solid BC girl that am, but i’d love to experience the flatlands sometime. those i know from that area all speak very fondly of it.
so awesome!!!
that baby looks like you!
I love those memories that never leave and as soon as you are in that place you are snatched back in to the smells, the feeling of you “traveling clothes”, pigtailed hair and a brother or two pestering you….
Love and Light
Tim Hortons!…..
sigh!…
such lovely photos….and what Cat said…..the little one shares your deep tide pool eyes and questioning brow!
Happy New Year homecoming to you both! xo
great words EH? You should read this on CBC radio.. vinyl radio. something! You capture the tangible details of our homeland so well… and my goodness – you must have some raw animal attraction to score all those gorgeous shots!!
muah
Mel
needle and nest
Agreed here, as well, the babe definitely shares familial, beautiful features. And hoar frost, ohhhh, hoar frost. It sends sparks into my being.
Happy new year.
Happy homecoming (twice)
Just happiness to you.
pure. goodness. xox
Your nephew looks like you 🙂 How precious!
Gorgeous photos, and beautiful words. I’m a New Englander, but I’ve been west. My parents and I camped cross-country when I was in my early twenties. I’ll never forget the wide open spaces, and how on the return, when it all closed in, I felt that I couldn’t breathe for a bit as we drove along. And I felt such a loss.
I yearn to return someday.
I’m glad you were granted your Christmas wish of going home. As always, the prairies radiate on your face and leave a trail of glitter throughout your ensuing work.
What Candace said, so eloquently.
…and you with horses on a snow-washed plain, the one horse’s eye, the owl, the billy goat!
x
Oh…These photos are majical!! I just found your blog, by way of the beautiful “Fog and Swell”…it is a real joy to see your images and read your words…VERY entertaining! Thank you for sharing..Happy New Year! I will surely be back to visit!
Thank you all for these kind comments, for your thoughts on my writing, for sharing your OWN experiences and memories of crossing great plains….and yes, Eli and I do look quite alike:)
Love to you all!
x
Breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking. Your writing, your photos, your memories, the animals (the owl being my fave of course). It is a gift to be able to see the beauty of the land and my heart yearns for an open road like this. I am happy to say my chance is coming very soon. Not in Canada, though I have a dream to explore Canada one day, but across southern US to Texas, through Austin to Santa Fe New Mexico and ending in Colorado. I hope I get to see the wonders as you have :).
xo