September 2

11C Part Cloudy.

Confusion rears its head again. M mother is back in hospital and we aren't sure if we should be there or not.

The attending nurse says the night went well so we will give it another day.

Moe yard work yesterday but in an effort to be bird friendly, I sort of created a bush land and it is difficult to make it look tidy.

point only the two eldest had ever attended a movie and that was in the community hall.

 The next morning they had breakfast then gathered up their suitcases and walked the few blocks to the train station. They were almost two hours before boarding time and they all impatiently waited for the conductor to call the “all aboard”.

  Finally the time arrived and, all their suitcases but two small ones were loaded into the baggage car, they were directed to the appropriate car and found their seats.

As the train slowly puffed out of the station, John again fell into a state of remorse. With each turn of the steel wheels, each clickity clack on the tracks and each toot of the train’s whistle he acutely felt the ever expanding distance from his friends and the place he called home.

  Even the girls were subdued and his mother did not repeat her oft said phrase; “look ahead, look ahead, the future lies that way.”

  But as the train left the city environs and proceeded through the green farmlands of the Fraser Valley, all their moods started to lighten and soon all were enjoying the scenery. Further on they entered the area known as the Fraser Canyon, the vying for the window seats came to an abrupt halt as Jean and Mary found the steep inclines down to the river and the towering fog shrouded cliffs above them to be not to their liking. The train slowly wended its way through tunnels and torturous bends then after several hours almost suddenly was traveling past prairie like rolling hills and scattered patches of pine and poplar. The younger girls both dozed off and were moved onto one seat by themselves. The remaining four family members were content to watch quietly or occasionally to read.

  As the afternoon waned the country became more hilly then suddenly they were in the mountains. As dusk fell a porter came through their car and announced the first seating for dinner. When they all rose to go back to the dining car the train entered the first of many long tunnels. Dinner was a marvelous affair, very similar to the dining on the Union Steamship; a steward waited on them at their table; the meal consisted of three courses and a choice of several deserts. Used to the plain fare that was normally cooked by Mrs. Pearce, all four children ate far more than usual and when they went back to their seats were quite happy to have them converted into beds.

  John was the first to awake the next morning, he pulled open the heavy curtain and was amazed to see that the mountains had disappeared and rolling prairie went on and on as far as the eye could see.

  All that day the train steamed across the prairies on to the great grass lands of Saskatchewan and as the second night came they were well into the plains and brush land of southern Manitoba.

  The second morning they crossed into the province of Ontario and swung northward into the black spruce forests and then on around Lake Superior. That night they arrived at the Toronto Rail Station and their car was moved to a different track and left overnight. The following morning at daylight, they were shunted with much banging and jolting onto still another track and hitched to a different train that would continue on to Montreal. The train backed into the station and more passengers were loaded aboard and they finally left just before noon on the final leg of their rail trip.