When I think of Alice, also known as mom and Grandma in our family, I think of the penultimate wise woman who stepped so easily into a role of coach and mentor for me as a young woman in my 20s. As ‘back to the landers’ oh so many years ago, Jim and I moved from urban city Toronto to a little shack on the west coast of BC living off grid through our early years raising a family – living our dream! Though the fact that we chose this lifestyle confounded her, having left that far behind after the war, Alice willingly became a fountain of knowledge in the practical arts for me. Once each year, she and Tony would visit for 2 weeks to a month and she and I would spend countless hours with her teaching me her magic in the kitchen and with thread and needle. The perogies, holopchi, sauerkraut sweet buns, cinnamon rolls, ginger cookies not to mention the countless fruit pies were the highlight of her visits for everyone in the family. She took me on so many berry picking adventures marvelling at the ‘free’ wild blackberries abounding on the roadways around us….so much so that aside from the jams and jellies we could store away in our home, we had to invest in a freezer to store at a friend’s house a few kilometers away for our weekly trip out to stock up on treats she stored away for us.
But gardening, preserving, and baking were but the half of it. As the ultimate recycler, she taught me the true pioneer quilting approach where quilts were magically created with scraps from clothing she made for the family and her customers and the left overs no longer salvageable for other things were plaited into rag rugs which we worked on at night in the light of our kerosene lamps. She secretly loved my treadle sewing machine though stood by her trusty Singer – her workhorse at home.
Memories, I have so many that keep popping to mind, I could go on forever. Truly a remarkable woman who gifted us with her incredible generosity, skill, wisdom, and love throughout the years. Though we continue to live in BC and had less contact over the years, we knew she was enjoying her final years in Consecon with Linda, Emily and Jen and their families with great grandchildren to liven her days. Love that she was part of our family’s life. Her teachings and the many gifts she gave us live on in all of us! A game of Spades anyone?