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Cousin Quest 25

Cousin Quest 25

Retirement adventure number two begins today! (November 15, 2025)  A drive to Vancouver Island with stops in to see as many cousins as I can on the way.  My Mother had 7 siblings and all together, they had 16 children and those 16 beautiful people made 20 more.  And that is only my mom’s side of things…    My Dad had 7 siblings as well and just as many offspring.  We do have a large number in Ontario, but most of the others are in the west, so I have plotted a journey that sees me stopping in 17 cities and towns from here to Vancouver over the next 30 days.

First stop Sudbury.  Much of the trip along highway 69 today, carved through the Canadian Shield with black rock, washed wet with the cold mist in the air and the off and on rain.  Beautiful silent lakes, with still green forests in and around all the rock.  Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that are thousands of years old.  My mind wonders to a place before the paved roads and the thought that those who traveled anywhere around here would have wanted to quit and just go back.  Sure, glad they kept going and made the roads.  Tonight I rest, tomorrow, Thunder Bay.

I am going to post to this email list each day with my thoughts and some pictures and no pressure to read.  In fact, if you would like to remove your address from the list, please just reply with the subject line “unsubscribe”

Taking highway 17 towards Sault Ste. Marie, I traded shores of the French River with the west bound rail tracks, several times while kissing the north shore of Lake Huron.  You can really appreciate the beauty and majesty of these, our great lakes. 

Another stop for gas, and on my way out of the Soo, I spot for the first time Lake Superior.  And like a Hollywood movie, as I spot Whitefish Bay, the “The Wreck of the Edmound Fitzgerald” comes on the radio.  It made me think about a story I heard, regarding the recording of the song. 

As the story goes, they had 20 minutes left in the session, and no more songs to record, but Gordon had been working on the concept of the song.  He said to the drummer, I will nod at you when I want you to come in, and the rest of the band was just left to their own.  When they finished, the engineer said, “do you want to listen to it” and they all didn’t realize it was being recording.  Apparently, they tried several additional times to record it better but could never capture the magic of that original unplanned recording, the one we are all familiar with.  

If I kissed Lake Huron today, I think I made out with Lake Superior, as she was smiling back at me for the rest of the day through my driver’s side window with her frosty white waves.  Her colour ranged from an eerie green to foreboding darkness and so many waves capped with white.  I was on the road today for more than 12 hours and it took me 9 just to drive the more than 700 kilometers to reach the most norther part of her, here in Thunder Bay.

I passed a sign along the highway for Jerry’s new and used signs… The irony of a sign for a sign company made me smile, like a TV commercial for a TV, but what made me laugh out loud was the thought of Jerry trying to convince a restaurant to re-use the not so used sign from the auto wreckers place for their restaurant.  “we can say you’re a stomach wrecker?”

I stopped in Wawa for the stuff to make some grilled cheese, and it reminded me of the last time I was in Wawa.  As if to say, it happens all the time, I suppose, but it reminded me of the first time I was in Wawa, December of 2019, while on the 66-hour Daddy / Daughter Road trip to pick up the dog known as Teamo.  He was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan and we piled in the car to head straight there and straight back, stopping for Lunch on the way in Wawa.  The girls still laugh and bring up that lunch experience thinking it was hilarious that everyone was looking at us as if we arrived from another planet. Here is the picture that they always bring up!

Thanks to Tim for reaching out after the last email, to reference the black rocks and remind me to keep a watchful eye out for the BLACK BEARS! He said something about the smell of the food cooking from the trailer may bring on unwanted lunch guests… New Fear Unlocked!

And finally, I bumped into a guy at a Tim’s line while waiting for his order.  He turned behind him and scoffed at the neatly stacked boxes of KD on the shelf of the store in the gas station and pointed to the price tag.  He said, “$3.49 per box?  You remember when you could get 4 for a dollar?  Crazy world!”  I couldn’t agree more, crazy crazy world… I woke up in Sudbury, tonight I go to bed in Thunder Bay and tomorrow I drive to Winnipeg.

It was a beautiful drive along highway 17 this morning, with the sun shining and pushing me west.  The dew on the brush on the side of the road shimmered in the light and made it look like the Charismas elves had been busy laying tinsel everywhere.  I left Thunder Bay in the morning, and it wasn’t long before the landscape changed and looked a little like a Haliburton roadway in our neck of the woods, only with way more and taller birch trees.  Still beautiful lakes and picturesque viewpoints, but with almost 700 kilometres, I didn’t stop for any pictures.  I wish I had.

I am looking forward to Manitoba and the prairies, to see what the “watch for night danger” signs look like.  Frankly, I have been so terrified of bumping into a moose, simply because of the way they have been portrayed.  It’s a scary pose, with them “leaning” into the left side of the sign.  The Deer are leaping, almost “frolicking” towards the edge, but the moose just look angry.  I think they are getting a bad rap.

As the kilometers are ticking away, I will say that I misjudged the gas mileage by a bit.  I mean, if you look very close at the gage, you can actually see the needle move, so that is something.  I have instructed my lawyer to investigate registering my new charity, the “Keep Jimmy in Gas, tea and potato chips Club” and looking at what I am sure is a legitimate 200% tax receipt scheme that will see each donation be rewarded with a sizable right-off.  Or there is always the possibility of a spring “membership drive” campaign with an amazing 8×10 framed selfie of me in and around the $25 dollar level!

Tonight, I am settled into a Walmart parking lot in Winnipeg, tomorrow my first Cousin sightings in Minnedosa, Manatoba!

Easy going day on the road with only 2 or 3 hours to drive from Winnipeg to Minnedosa.  It means “flowing water” in Dakota and is 50 kilometers north of Brandon.  The flowing water is the little Saskatchewan River, and it weaves its way in and around the town fed by the pretty (but frozen over now) Minnedosa Lake.  The same one, I parked the trailer beside to get caught up on some computer work this afternoon.

The third youngest cousin in the 16 first cousin line is Hali, who is the oldest daughter of my mom’s youngest sister Irene.  I Have met her on a few visits to Ontario, but it was sure nice to see her in her own province and her town. 

 

Did I mention that she has like 10 cows and 2 donkeys that I also met?  They are staying at another cousin’s house and so we took a drive and got to say hey to Gerald also.  He is the youngest son of my grandmother’s sister Nelly. 

 

 

 

 

I will be meeting a few more of my mom’s cousins tomorrow and be touring my grandmothers old homestead and the church her family built and the cemetery where so many of them rest, so look for more information to follow.

 

More adventures in Minnedosa and a couple hour drive at some point tomorrow to Winnipegosis, my next stop on #cousinquest25.

 
 

Spent most of the day in Minnedosa and met more cousins, as prescribed in the quest for cousins 2025!  Today started with breakfast with Zane, Hali’s son who is the second youngest in the group of 20 children of the 16 cousins in my generation.  A delightful talk about cool things including cars, trucks and all things education.  Then to an amazing meeting of 5 cousins of my mother’s.  My grandmother had 9 siblings that lived full lives and in order they were, Anne, Margaret, Mike, Lillian, Metro, Christine, Nellie, John, Peter and Pearl.

 

So, today I met John’s children, Willy, Harry and Rosie as well as Peter’s daughter Carole at a lovely gathering arranged by Rosie.  They shared some lovely pictures of a large family reunion in 1993 and so many stories of growing up together.  I made another drive out to Gerald’s farm (son of Nellie) and he took me on an adventure that passed roads and places my grandmother spent time, while in her teenage years, including the house she was born in, the church her parents and other community members built and finally to the cemetery were so many of her family are laid to rest. Truly a humbling and emotional day.  Touching the wood on the side of the homestead I have heard about in stories from not only my Baba, but the whole family was amazing.

 

The 2-hour drive to my next destination took me through the beautiful “Riding Mountain National Park” see cool picture of birch trees.  I arrived in Winnipegosis, a town that takes its name from the lake, which takes its name from Cree, partly meaning muddy water and the suffix osis meaning “little”.  This is where my mom’s youngest sister’s, youngest daughter Amanda lives as well as her father, who is my uncle Allan.  We ate yummy pizza and had many more great conversations about family and growing up and some stories I heard and some brand new.

Bed for now and tomorrow heading to Saskatchewan.

 

Had a lovely, “Uncle Alan made breakfast”, including a banana this morning before a quick tour of Winnipegosis, please see the picture of the lake! Plus, a trip to see Amanda and Larry’s farm with horses and a whole bunch of cows.  I learned about the cows birthing cycles, saw the birthing barn and got a look at the new concrete pad, soon to be barn, that is roughly the size of my house plus a half.  It is an amazing enterprise and what seems to be an endless amount of work was humbling and awe-inspiring to take a look behind the curtain.

Today’s 570 kilometers of driving brought me to the Paris of the Prairies, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  That brings me to a little over 3000 kilometers since I started the cousin quest. The landscape is exactly what anyone describes when they talk about the Prairies.  Long flat stretches, where you can see for miles, with fields and silos fading into distances you can’t even begin to estimate.  Sprinkles of snow off and on along the road but a lovely drive nonetheless.  My animal count is up a bunch with a lovely herd of deer off the highway.

My highlight today was the “unplanned” but hoped for meeting of another of the group of 20 children of my first cousins.  Today I met for the first time the daughter of the 6th Cousin Darlene.  Shawna and her husband and two girls were able to meet me at Tim’s, and I was so happy to meet them.  Her sister is out of town and her brother was working, so they will be on the next trip for sure.

I feel as though I am playing a scratch game like those at the fast-food places, where you collect all the stamps to fill an imaginary game board.  So far, I am killing it.  I’ve found 3 of the game pieces I was searching my entire life for, and I am still not done. 

Breakfast in the morning with another cousin and then the road trip to Edmonton.

Woke up in the coldest stop yet at -7 but was comfy cozy in the trailer when my cousin Ted arrived to take me out to breakfast.  He and his wife Sonya have lived in Saskatoon since the 80’s and this is the first time I have seen them since then.  It was nice to get caught up over a meal and after a quick trip to the truck and I was back on the road heading west.

I crossed a river with “Saskatchewan” in the name three times, twice for the North Saskatchewan that runs much of the way along the Yellow Head and then once over the South Saskatchewan on a pretty bridge, just after leaving Saskatoon.  The riverbanks are wide and hint at very powerful body of water, likely in the spring but for now, gently moving water with mini-ice plates floating, making you think you could leap-frog from one side to the other.

520 kilometers and the expansive landscape started to narrow slightly and what looked like a false horizon of clouds started to focus a little and show that there really are slight changes in the elevation.  Not quite mountains yet, as I am still way too far east to see the Rockies, but it was pretty to see the change. Drawing closer to Edmonton, the cityscape emerges on the horizon, the first tall buildings I have laid eyes on in a week.

I have settled in for the night after a shopping trip and I made myself a lovely cream of potato soup, loaded style with bacon, green onions and a dollop of sour cream.  I have included a bragging picture, but I will say that the sour cream is expired so I hope to wake tomorrow to continue the quest and meet Cousin Jackie for breakfast.  Then a very short road trip to see her brother Robert in Spruce Grove, Alberta.

Started today with what I thought was going to be a big issue, a dead trailer battery.  Turns out, after a closer inspection in the parking lot of Princess Auto, the battery terminals had just come a little loose.  So, a couple of tweaks with a wrench, I was on the road to meet Jackie for breakfast.

Now I haven’t been filling in the details of many of the branches in the family tree that these cousins occupy, so let’s start with a little information.  From my Baba and Gido Shuya let’s start with their 8 Children.  Florance, Mary, Bill, Helen and Polly, Edna, John and the youngest Irene.  The other day, I had breakfast with Ted and that is Mary’s son.  Today I had breakfast with Jackie, who is 1 of Bill’s two children.  Now, in the list of 18 first Cousins, I am the fifth youngest and so that puts most of the cousins in the “older than me” category and some where full functioning adults when I came along.  For the cool factor, it was Cousin Ted because he had a motorcycle, and for the awe factor, it was Cousin Jackie because she was elegant.  She came to live with us for a bunch of months, while she was finishing university, after her parents moved to Swan River, Manitoba, so that may have also elevated Jackie to awesome status in my eyes.  So right at the top of my “must see cousins” on this quest was Jackie.

So, imagine my delight when breakfast with Jackie turned into an all-day adventure and an exploration of the place, she’s called home for much of her life.  We crisscrossed the river another few times, once on the famed iron-clad bridge called the High-Level Bridge.  We saw the Legislature building, China town and jumped on and off Jasper Avenue, in an effort to see as many of the cool places we could.  Just around the corner from the beautiful ICE district, home to the Rogers Centre and the Oilers of course, was the very cool neon sign museum.  Outdoors and free for all to see, on the sides of two buildings.  They have collected and restored neon signs that tell the story and history of Edmonton and it was lovely.  And what trip to Edmonton wouldn’t be complete without a quick walk around a little bit of the West Edmonton Mall, featuring a large pirate ship, huge water park and full-on ice rink.

Then we drove out of town a little bit to have dinner with her brother, Cousin Robert and his wife Sharron.  What a delight.  Amazing food and so many stories and laughs about growing up.  Some stories, I had never even heard about.  I had no idea that Uncle Jack and Uncle Pete, who were married to the two oldest daughters, Florance and Mary had both served in the War.  I had no idea that after the first 5 or 6 grandkids where born, it was my Baba that took care of them all during the day, while their parents worked.  Bob told a story about remembering a trip downtown Toronto to see the Christmas windows and how special he felt with the hotdog and Orange Julius in a paper triangle cup they had as a treat.  Jackie talked of a picnic to a park down the street from the house.

After some contemplating it struck me that my sisters and me, having grown up in my Baba’s house mirrored Robert and Jackie to a degree.  You see, after Baba and Gido split, Gido went to live with Robert and Jackie’s parents Bill and Olga.  So, they grew up with Gido and we grew up with baba.  In 1974, when they moved to Manitoba, Gido also moved with them.

It was a great day and a big part of the cousin quest.  Tonight, sleep outside Edmonton and wake tomorrow and make my way to Cousin Richard in Rocky Mountain House.

After a restful slumber with so many happy thoughts about the quest, I hit the road for the relatively short, 2-hour trip to Rocky Mountain House.  The history of the town dates back to the 18th century, when British and Canadian fur traders established settlements here and with the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company began trading with the local Aboriginal people.  It sits geographically just west of Red Deer where the Clearwater River meets the North Saskatchewan River.  It was about 20 minutes outside of town that I saw the edge of the Rockies, through my passenger window for the first time; all be it still from quite a distance.

The roads leaving Edmonton had some icy patches and after turning off highway 2 to make my way west, I ran into my first snow covered roads.  There were clear patches and some slush, so it was my first sign of what is to come over the next few days of travel and I did awesome.  The truck and trailer handled well and overall, my confidence level is still pretty high.  I was even able to daydream a little about the conversations and stories I have heard over the last few days and after I saw my first dear crossing the road, my mind shifted to animals and how many I’ve seen so far.  A couple of huge bald eagles fighting with two equally huge ravens over roadkill, two foxes and two coyotes, a small heard of grazing deer and this one today, joyfully jumping in the snow without a care in the world.  I was also remembering these beautiful black birds all over Edmonton with very long tails, a white patch on their wings and a striking white belly.  I had to look them up and found they are called black-billed magpies.  Beautiful.

I arrived at Cousin Richards place moments after he arrived home from a hunting trip, he was on with another cousin this past weekend.  It was great to get caught up for a bit and when his wife, birthday girl Birdena came home with her mom, we all went out for lunch in town.  We talked about the families and had a bunch of laughs.  Richard is the second child of my mom’s youngest sister Irene.  So, I have been able to see all the Kopeechuk kids as well as their father, uncle Alan on this quest.

Tonight, I go to bed thinking about this adventure I am on and how lucky I am to be part of such a wonderful family of amazingly nice people.  Tonight, and tomorrow Rocky Mountain House and at some point, tomorrow the next leg towards Banff.

Although the propane tank ran out early, under the covers I was so warm, I didn’t want to get up this morning.  I did eventually and was treated to a lovely breakfast from Richard.  He is quite the chef, and his hospitality and kindness has extended to my current location, about 260 kilometers southwest of Rocky, with a dinner care package handed to me as I walked out the door.  I am enjoying wild rice and chicken, cream of potato soup to start, the basketball game on the iPad and a blank page in front of me to share my adventures today.

After a stop to get a couple of propane takes filled, we went on an educational tour of the area.  Richard is one of the smartest guys I know, having done just about every job in the energy world plus a whole bunch of other industries.  We passed natural gas pumps after pump and it was, “I setup that one, I repaired and maintained that one” and so on.  The complexity of the process and infrastructure involved is amazing.   We made our way to the foothills of the Rockies and up a long country road, reached a gas plant that in his construction days, he excavated a huge area of the lot for their stockpiles of sulfur used in the processing of certain types of gases back in the day.  They do something different now, but the work of the past remains.

A few more turns and curves down snow covered country roads until a little sign on the side of the road triggers a sharp turn and a bend to a clearing with a pickup truck in the distance and makeshift camp that turns out to be the hunting hangout for the last bunch of days for another cousin.  My grandmother (Baba) was the second oldest of the 10 and second youngest, Peter had a son names Larry and today I met him for the first time. I met Larry’s sister, Carole the other day.  Was nice to hear about his hunting adventures with family and friends.

Tonight, I rest near Banff and tomorrow hit the most challenging part of the journey, my drive through the mountains to get to Kelowna to see a very large cousin collection… three in the 1st line, two in the 2nd’s and four in the 3rd line of cousins.

When I woke the trailer was still warm.  To tell the temperature, I have been using this meat thermometer I have in the trailer.  I wasn’t sure how accurate it would be, and I mean I am warm, so I think it’s right.  It says I am just under medium rare.  (pause for laughter).  Actually, it was 26.5 this morning when I looked and it and it was -7 outside.

I got on the road early as I didn’t know what was ahead of me.  I had about 50 kilometers to Banff and although I didn’t stop for the beautiful picture of downtown, I did grab a few pictures of the trip.  The landscape was magical.  At times, a full-on Bob Ross Christmas painting with pine and spruce trees, heavy with the weight of show on every branch.  Wind swept rock faces you have to lean forward to see, and the tops of the mountain playing peek-a-boo with the clouds.  But at other times very little snow cover anywhere.  Lakes appearing out of nowhere, some frozen and some not.

I saw the sign for Lake Louise and thought I should not give up the change to see it, and I am sure glad I did.  To use Janey’s words, when she thinks of the place, it was magical.  At times on this trip with my music playing loud, I have felt I was in a movie “travel sequence” with the shutter effect of the passing cars and birds flying timed to percussion hits and guitar licks and it has me always smiling to myself.  And today with mountains as far as the eye could see and striking rivers and bodies of water, with all the beautiful white in the distance, when “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash came on, I almost cried.  What an awesome drive and experience this quest has been so far.

I didn’t make it all the way to Kelowna, because my nephew Branden is currently living in Vernon, BC and that is about 30 minutes before Kelowna.  I wasn’t sure if I would be able to see him, but the stars aligned and as I write this, he is cooking steak.  What an adventure.

 

Tonight, I go to bed in Vernon and tomorrow I wake to head to Kelowna.

Had a great time last night hanging out with Branden.  I often smile when I think about him growing up.  I lived with my sister Deb in 1991 when he was born.  In fact, I was right outside the hospital room the day he was born and I heard his first scream.  I used to change his diaper, and now I am hanging out having adult conversations and I couldn’t be prouder.  After a lazy morning, I started to make my way to Kelowna.  The GPS said 1 hour, and what a beautiful drive. 

When I first heard the name of the big lake in Vernon, I heard “COW” lake… so when I googled it to get some info, I was surprised to see the lake is actually called Kalamalka lke, so it is affectionately called KAL lake.  All I know is that it is breathtaking.  The highway climbs high above the west shore and follows it along for a long time.  If you squint a bit, you can see the summertime fun boats and sun seekers out and about having fun.

The mountains got farther in the distance and the landscape changed to more farms with signs for fresh fruits and vegetables on every post.  It is the Okanogan, so that makes sense, but I think my favourite sign was “Farming in Progress”. I love the imagery and the message it conveys.  So proud and so beautiful.

I haven’t seen my second oldest cousin Wayne since 2006.  Marilyn his wife, daughter Ashley and husband David with their new baby Amelia came to Toronto in 2019.  And it was 25 years that I last saw Jerry, who is Wayne’s brother and the oldest of the 16 1st cousins.  So, what a great day to see them all.  And added to the list was Charlie, Ashley and David’s youngest.  Plus, Branden, who was in town taking a certification for work, joined us for dinner.  What a day on the cousin quest.

Tonight, sleep in Kelowna and wake to make my way to Vancouver to catch a ferry to the island.

Today on the quest, I traveled what seemed like 3 of the 4 Canadian seasons in 6 plus hours.  In the morning as I left Kelowna, it was overcast and raining a little like the spring.  You could see some snow in the distance on the mountains, but the temperature hovered above zero for quite a while.  It still was a beautiful drive along Okanagan Lake all the way towards Penticton.  Here is something.  Why are some lakes called “Lake so-and-so” and others are called “so-and-so lake”?  If you are curious like me, I am sure you’d love to know.  So, it’s partly due to historical naming conventions influenced by language and local customs, and in some cases, it is due to size, with larger lakes quite often having the descriptor first.  But when names come from Indigenous languages as in Okanagan Lake, the descriptor is often after.

After almost two hours of spring, I was in full on winter, while driving through mountains.  Tall trees, with their shoulders slumped to the ground, heavy under the weight of the wet snow.  Shear rock faces and pretty snow-covered lakes and creaks are scattered among the trees and the winding roads going up and down.  I took my time.  Passed a flipped pickup in the middle of the road at one point, and the purpose for going slow came into sharp focus.

At Hope I stopped for gas and kinda laughed to myself when the gangly old man I held the door for, snarled at me as he walked past. I mean maybe there is no Hope?  The weather changed to summer as I got out of the mountains, and when the Fraser Valley came into view.  Large pasturelands of crazing cattle and green topped fields that looked like they could be harvested today.  Rows and rows of cherry trees and apple orchards, among trailer parks and farms. I saw the Fraser River for the first time, the largest river in BC, so I knew my journey was close to complete.

This whole trip, one of the things I have had bouncing around in my head is the thought of my dad doing this trip himself.  I think he did it a couple of times, but the one I have been thinking about was after he and my mom separated, when I was 2. He left Toronto to go find work out west and to see his older sister and younger brother who both lived in Vancouver.  Most of the quest has been to see cousins on my mother’s side, but I knew I had a few cousins on my dad’s side who also lived in BC.  So today I met for the first time Sandra, who is the oldest daughter of my dad’s older sister Trudy.  In our short visit she told me so much about the side of the family I knew little about.  She gave me names to make clear a family tree that until now, eluded me.  I can’t wait to talk to my sisters about the names and info she shared and shed some light for all of us.

My last cousin on this quest was one I really wanted to see, but up until about 30 minutes before it happened, I didn’t think it was going to be possible.  Being the son of one of the oldest cousins, technically he is a second cousin, but he was only 12 years younger than me, so he was more like a cool little brother growing up.  They lived close and so we saw each other more regularly. I remember talking about sports and school and from a far watching him turn into this man before my eyes.  When they all moved to BC in 2006, I really did miss them all, but I missed Dwayne the most.  Now he’s a father of two, and a hardworking plumber, making his way in the crazy world and I couldn’t be prouder of him.  I sure am happy that I got to end the quest with him.

I took the ferry to the island and drove 30 minutes to my last stop, Chemainus.  Here is the circle… I grew up in my Baba’s house. All these cousins on the quest, came from her and her parents, and I am so lucky to have been able to see so many.  For most of my formidable years, the house beside my grandmother’s house, was owned by Bob.  Bob had 3 kids that often came to visit, and his oldest daughter is still a close friend today.  His impact on my life was immeasurable.  He taught me electronics and got me into photography.  He showed me how to use tools and encouraged my love of computers and in fact, had my first Commodore computer, a Vic 20, at his place for more than a week, to test it and get to know, before I was given it, just so he could help me with it.  Summer camping trips to Moon River, driving lessons, cooking lessons and just so much more.  I have always thought about “driving out to see Bob” and so now I have done it. 

Tonight, I sleep in Chemainus, BC and tomorrow I rest.  Thanks for following me along on Cousin Quest 25!

Well, I’ve had a couple of days to compile my thoughts and some data from the cousin quest and thought I’d share.  13 days and 5250 kilometers travelled, through 5 provinces and so many cities, towns and villages.  I slept in 12 different places and used 4 x 20-pound propane tanks, and the truck consumed a little over 1200 litres of gas.  I mostly focused on my mom’s side of the family and so from the 8 siblings and 8 spouses, there are only 4 aunts’ and uncles’ left.  My Aunt Edna and Uncle John and his wife Aunt Elenor are in Ontario and so my last uncle in the west is my Aunt Irene’s husband, Allan and I got to spend a night with him at his place in Manitoba.  Of my aunts’ and uncles’ 16 children – my first cousins – one has passed and seven of us, including me, live in Ontario.  So, my quest was to see 8 x 1st cousins and I did!  I saw them all.

The 161st cousins have given birth to 20 beautiful 2nd cousins, although technically 2 are my daughters and 4 are my nephews, but let’s just call them all cousins for the purposes of this count.  Of the 20, 7 live in Ontario and 1 lives in Newfoundland, so that left 11 to see out west and I got to see 5.  I think my count of 3rd cousins is off, but it is around 14 and I got to meet 4, so I must plan another trip in the future, I think.

I have been thinking a lot the last couple of days about the size of our country and the size of my family and how it all started with the church in the picture above.  You see, my grandmother or Baba met her future husband, Walter or Gido when he came from a different town to work as a carpenter on the building of the church.  When I touched the side of the church, I didn’t yet know that story, but the thought now sure grounds me.  Made me feel connected somehow.  Same as touching the side of the house Baba was born in.  It was so far from my home in Mississauga, and from the house I grew up in on Yardley and so far from all of us around the country, but we are all connected in a strange way.  Lives lead to others and time passes and here we are more than 115 years after the birth in that little house on the prairies and the puzzle of a family is almost 60 pieces strong.

Serendipitously, I found myself watching a Kevin Costner movie with Bob last night called – Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1.  It was long and not sure if I would recommend it, but the premiss is one that strikes a chord with my adventure.  It centers around the wild west and a settlement called “Horizon” that through the distribution of a flyer, over a couple of different generations, different people come from different places to try and settle there.  You see that is exactly what happened to bring my great grandparents here to Canada from the Ukraine.  “Starting in 1896, a federal program was created to settle the prairies with farmers from Eastern European farmers by promoting Canada as the Last Best West” *

I am grateful to the government of the time for allowing this journey, and to everyone who helped my great-grandparents come here. I also want to honour all those who came with them, worked the land, and helped shape the families we all belong to today.  They made it all possible that this, uncallused hands, retired professor from Ontario could get into a truck and haul a trailer more than 5000 kilometers to see his family in this magical country.  This incredible country – Canada.

Thanks for your time and have a great and safe day.

Jim