Near Madison

Was on my way home after being on the road for a few days.

Fall was here but it was warm, there was no wind, the sun was painting the sky and all that was ahead of me was the open prairie...a lovely place to be.

Photographed near Madison, Saskatchewan on October 25, 2018.

Kingsley Church, Cemetery and School

An early-afternoon stop at Kingsley, Manitoba where I discovered a red brick school next door to a small country church and cemetery.

Brick schoolhouses are always a little special here in the prairie provinces...there aren't many of them.  This one was built in 1907 and operated until 1968.

And as luck would have it, the school is being renovated to its former glory.

Near the school is the unassuming Kingsley United Church which dates back to 1882.

The interior is frugal...

...but the pews are rich in colour (and history).

One must have to stoop pretty low to "remove" a bible from a church.

Just a little north of the wood-frame church is the cemetery that is bordered with a post and chain fence.

There are well over one hundred burials here.

Information courtesy of the Manitoba Historical Society and Find A Grave.

Photographed on August 17, 2022.

Boule Creek S.D. No. 3314

A handsome little schoolhouse near Cadillac, Saskatchewan.  

Kids in the area went to school here for fifty years from 1914-1963.  

An old swing set near the hedge.

The grass in the schoolyard was thick and dense.

And the flagpole still straight as an arrow.

This is the front door where the kids would enter the school every week day.  

The white acrylic sign is looking pretty washed out but the taller black metal sign is holding its own.

The road past the little school on the Saskatchewan prairie...a road which goes ever on.

Photographed on June 17, 2023.

Mister Brocke

Mister Brocke died too young but his headstone is unusually handsome.  

Looks like the stone was originally part of something that was much, much older.

Photographed at North Park Pioneer Cemetery near Lea Park, Alberta on July 17, 2023.

Viking Park

Viking Park has been developed only over the past couple of years and I have to say that those manning the ship are doing a marvellous job.  Much of the planting has been done just this past year.  

(Hmmm...would you mess with this guy?!  I thought not.)

Stop by for a visit next time you're in Gimli, Manitoba.

Photographed on September 21, 2023.