Rhonda had entered second grade
and Rod fourth grade. They were well settled into the Regina culture. Both were
taking French (if your are a Canadian in is helpful to know your countries
second language.). Rhonda’s best friend was Gigi, the daughter of French
Canadian good friends and neighbors. She got a little practice with her French.
Rod’s best bud were brothers from down the street and were full-blooded North
American Indians. We loved having them at Connaught where the tremendous mix of
cultures. In addition to Indians, there were Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodians,
and East Indians. It was a melting pot.
Della taught both the kids how to
skate on the pond created each winter in Leslie Park across Victoria Street.
She tried to teach me. I could never skate on ice, inline skates or any single
blade boot. My left ankle turned sideways every time I tried and then I had a
hard time walking on it for more than a week. I blame it all on the basketball
“field” at Webster, my elementary school. The canyon caused by rain created a
hazard that tripped me up more times than I can remember. Felt like my left
ankle was swollen most of my youth. I did better on roller skates (four
wheels), but put me on a single blade I was doomed.
Rhonda helped her mother with Avon
deliveries in the neighborhood. My favorite story is when Della asked her to
run a delivery down to the corner to Mrs. Hamm. No problem! She took it down,
knocked on the door and handed it to her saying, “This is for you, Mrs. Bacon.”
She was on the right track. She remembered that name had something to do with
pork.
Rod was also getting terrific encouragement
with geography from Charlie Cook. Charlie was an MK from South America who,
with his family, attended West Side church and took an interest in Rod. It was
obvious that Rod was very bright and responded well to intellectual
stimulation. Charlie promised Rod a world map for his wall if he memorized all
the countries of the world and their capitals. He accomplished that in third
grade. He did it and was very proud of his world map. We had to put it in his
wall immediately.
Charlie was also one of my more
regular racquetball partners. It was so nice to have two teenage boys at our
small church that interacted so well with all the children and adults. He and
Tim were amazing young men.
Summers were wonderful times for
our family. You had to be there in the summer to appreciate how beautiful
Regain was at that time of year. We were a big biking family. There was a bike
trail we could take two blocks from our house down to Wascana at the Parliament
grounds. We took that ride often.
Rod went through a hockey stage
when he was six-seven. We gathered that massive amount of equipment (all used,
of course) and hustled him off to the rink at the fairgrounds and sat in the
freezing cold building while he attempted to play. It was very clear we started
him way to late in the program. So many of the midgets could skate very well
and Rod was never allowed in a game. He lost interest before the season was
over. We were just glad we bought to little equipment. We returned it all and
closed the door to that phase of life.
Della took Rhonda to Lawson
Aquatic Center for swimming lessons and often took the kids there just to swim
and play. It helped that the pool was only about six blocks away. I believe
that was the beginning of their great interest in swimming that really took
hold when we got to Oregon. They both held swim records in their club for a
time.
I tried to get Della to go to
Saskatchewan Roughrider games with me, but never hooked her on football. I held
season tickets. Man it was cold. I never could figure out why that was an
outdoor stadium. I see by the satellite of Taylor Flied that they built a new
stadium and it is still not closed in. That’s crazy to me. I often missed the
last game of two of the season because I could not take the cold.
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