The day's photo assignment was "a sign". I immediately thought of the time when I was driving from Calgary to Jasper to Edmonton and back with my cousin Lalainia and we weren't absolutely certain of the road. (no maps in the car and first time taking this trip). I had figured it would be fairly simple. Go west, go north, go east, go south. How hard is that? On day one, we had managed to miss the turn off to the Icefields Parkway completely and only realized as we neared Golden in B.C. that something was wrong. We shouldn't have been leaving the mountains, should we? So after correcting that, we were finally on our way to Jasper. The next morning we headed out to Edmonton. Without a map. We had been driving for a good amount of time and hadn't had any confirmation that we were on the right road. We began to feel less confident as time passed. Had we made another error in our navigation? Was this road going to get us to Edmonton? As we discussed our concerns, we called upon the heavens, please send us a sign! Around the very next bend, our sign appeared. "Jesus Saves!"
The sign in my picture was a Christmas present a few years back. A very happy present. It lives in my upstairs hallway. If you have not seen the television show "Coronation Street", do not suppose it has much of any resemblance to American soap operas. Well, sure, it has the extreme elements of the occasional murder or the revolving door on relationships on the cobbles, but in 51 years of storylines, a television program rsometimes falls back on these types of events once in a while. Mostly though, it is that you become a part of the neighbourhood on the street. Ask any Corrie fan which family they would most like to join, and they can probably tell you who they most identify with. Who they would be friends with. Who causes them "aggro". Corrie fans are fiercely loyal to the show. I have been watching since I was a little girl (so a few years then). Whenever I spent my summer vacation on the family farm, all work in the fields stopped so that lunch could be eaten during that afternoon broadcast of Corrie. When I lived in Lethbridge with Lalainia (the cousin in my story above), we would settle in on Sunday nights to watch the omnibus episode for the week. And one of my favourite conversations with my Uncle David would be to talk ahead of the Canadian schedule about what was happening on the British episodes. (Aunt Myrna would always cover her ears - she never wanted to hear what was coming up next!)
I have family roots in the US since the Mayflower, in Ireland, Scotland and Sweden. But my English heritage is the most profound influence on my life. Most of my introduction to English television happened when I visited the farm. And my first big trip away from home was to England with Lalainia and included a visit with the Gillhams, family friends from England who spent some time in Calgary and were back home in Weston-Super-Mare. I've made it back there a couple of times now and wish I could spend more time there. Especially to do more family research!
My love of this country comes from early inculcation which is even documented in film. The pictures below are of me talking onto a tape recorder making a tape to send to my Uncle David while he served his mission in Great Britain. I know - I had not much hair for the longest time! The second is of me with my Uncle before he left. (Don't you just love the barn in the background!) Indoctrinated early!
