JUST DOWN THE GLENELLA ROAD - PART 1

This is the Glenella Road - well actually it is PTH 261, but to folks in this neck of the woods is it known as the Glenella Rd.

It starts at HWY 5 and runs east.  I took this picture after turning east off Hwy 5 and driving over a mile or so down the gentle decline from  Hwy 5.   Behind me is the Riding Mountains...

  From the first picture on, the road flattens out and travels through farmlands rich in both grazing cattle and fields of crops of many kinds.

Glenella is a small town, about 20 minutes down that long road that seems to end nowhere.  It is a typical prairie town, just like the town I now live in.  In it, live hard working people of many origins.  It is the community close to where many of my extended family settled when they immigrated to Canada in the last century.

The day I took these pictures I wasn't going to Glenella - I was actually heading to Waldersee, where my Mother's family homesteaded.

Waldersee was not a town - but it was always a community, and to some extent still is today.


                                         At one time a one room schoolhouse held classes for the children.

A general store provided all the residents ever needed:

Except the word of God - which the Church gladly fulfilled:

Pretty much all that remains is the church.  Services are still held every Sunday, parishioners come from towns and farms all around to attend services at this church that has been part of their community for over a 100 years.

It was this Waldersee that I was coming to visit that day.  The church, and the cemetery behind it.

My Great Grandfather rests here:

As do my Maternal Grandparents:

As well as cousins, and many Beloved Aunts and Uncles.

I came to say hi,  I came to celebrate my past, my present, my heritage -  and I came to imagine my future, perhaps here in this gentle of places.

It's been quite a few years since I really spent time here - it was a good thing to do and I came away feeling connected to my past.  I am fortunate to have this place that reminds me of who I am, where I come from, the people who were a major part of my early life.  Each of them in their own way helped shape the person I became - and I am grateful for their influence in my life.

Tomorrow I will share some special images I took away we me that beautiful day!