I try to make it back to the homeland twice a year - once at Christmas, when I pretty much stick to my Mom's house, lazing beside a fire and drinking wine, and once in the summer, when I try to spend as little time indoors as possible.
I was granted two weeks of the most beautifully sunny weather Saskatchewan had experienced all summer, and so outdoors I was, driving through the prairies, biking through the streets, and running along the river.
My Mom, Stepfather and I took a drive through the country before I came back, stopping at the village of Perdue. Saskatchewan is full of surprises, and this town did not disappoint. Feast your eyes on the most interesting bookstore I've seen in a long time:
This place was PACKED. Floor to ceiling books, with seemingly no organization whatsoever.
It was owned by this gentleman:
Who, not unlike his bookstore, was easily one of the most interesting people I've ever laid eyes on (I was too shy to ask him for a proper photo, so stole one as we drove away). Apparently, he moved to Saskatchewan from Newfoundland, where he owned a second-hand bookshop. According to him, "once a book collector, always a book collector".
As you can see, he appears to have a bit of a passion (obsession?) for it. If you're interested in stopping by, the bookshop is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. I can't imagine why, considering that the population of Perdue is 364, according to the 2006 Canada Census.
I did purchase something from him - a set of craft cards from the 1970's, the English match to the French set I already own. When asked the price, he turned the set delicately over and over in his hands, assessing it's value. Eventually, he decided on $5.00, "a true bargain", and the purchase was made. I left with the hope that I at least contributed to keeping his shop and his passion alive for a little while longer.
When people think about Saskatchewan, they think about the flat, hot prairies. They think about being able to see the highway for miles ahead of you, moving into the distance beneath the sun-bleached sky. They also probably think about wheat fields - a characteristic of Saskatchewan that can't be denied.
My love for the beauty of this province and the people in it: salt-of-the-earth, hardworking, earnest people, has grown incrementally in the years I've spent away from home. And the truth is that a big part of me still considers it "home".
I'm not ready to move back yet - The vibrancy of Montreal has me locked-in for a few more years, I can tell. But I could see myself eventually going back there, to the place where the sky meets the road, uninterrupted.
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