My cousin Peter and I headed out to Claresholm yesterday, stopping in to Nanton’s antique shops for some browsing, along the way. It was a beautiful day to spend time with my ‘boy-cousin’ and especially when he opened up about my Auntie’s meeting up with my Uncle for RCAF dances in Claresholm. As we made our way along some back roads, he spoke and I felt transported back to a different time when his parents were young and so in love. Pete’s father was another military man…a pilot…and it was in Claresholm where he learned his wings. There was a mysterious sense of everything as I explored the old hangars through barbed wire fences. It was a blessing-time…but also melancholic. Being children of military families, perhaps we can only understand. The photographs will say more than words, perhaps.
Hello, I found your blog by accident when looking for photographs of the Claresholm air training base. You might want to take a peek at my blog post (I’m new at this) called Growing up with air force ghosts, http://www.elinorflorence.com/blog/117400.
Fantastic stuff, Elinor!! Surprising also because I’m such an ancestry geek…my grandmother’s name being Florence Elliott…my great grandmother, Mary Eleanor..in fact, my family is filled to the brim with women named both Florence and Eleanor. Your name is a unique spelling. I’ve written several bits about my life and memory, growing up a BRAT. Sending you another link. I will watch your writing with interest…absolutely loved your piece. http://shepaintsred.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/the-pinetree-line-my-rhyolite-nevada-ghost-town-of-the-mojave-desert/ and http://shepaintsred.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/rcaf-family-life/