A Student of Weather

Travel Guide

‘The wide plain of southwestern Saskatchewan rolls away to the east forever and away to the west, but no so far, before rising into a cold dry Scotland’

The Saskatchewan Dust Bowl of the 1930s is a harsh and raw environment and so for a child to grow up there must have been especially tough. As two sisters grow up and work on the farm, understandably their minds wander since there is not that much to do. their father is of the old school and says little so when a man comes on the scene, eyelids are raised.
Life before they meet him is plain and simple, boring even to two young growing girls. They avidly collect objects and make things, clean the home and look after their father.

The man who comes into their world is the student of weather in the title and  when he comes on the scene the prairie life of the outside and the flora and fauna really come to life.

The land is described as ‘the sort of land that you can run your finger over” and is very exact and expected – Frosts in June, tornadoes in July, hailstones in August….and drought al year long”

Inside their Christmas stocking – ..ooh wait… a plague of sawflies And the taste of an apple? Ontario has them – that must be heaven out there.

Grande Prairie tourism association located in Alberta has the best starting point for exploration of the prairie regions both in Alberta and Saskatchewan.