POTD: Off topic

Yesterday morning, we received the call that, for the last couple of days, we had come to accept was inevitably coming. Bob's grandma, Josie Gandzalas, had flown away to be in her garden. It seems she was determined to go--tired of not being able to make her perogies or run after her grandsons with their coats. I think that is how Bob will remember her. Always trying to get him to put a coat on. She cared for him often, when his parents were working, and I'm sure that he and his brother, Ryan, were quite the handful. She was always on to them--finding them setting their little fires and running out to ride their quads when there was work to be done. Her stern look remained even when we visited her a month ago(when this photo was taken), but it was quick to disappear and be replaced with a twinkle in her eye at the sight of now her great grandchildren.

She was the definition of a pioneer woman. Travelling to Canada by boat with her parents from the Ukraine and breaking the ground in Saskatchewan so that a living could be had. From this she learned to never shy away from hard work. I think we looked at her quite differently after Keith(Bob's dad) took the time to document her journey from a child in the Ukraine to a young wife and mother in rural Saskatchewan. I can recount the stories of her getting her head stuck in the porthole of the boat on their long journey. Or how her sister died before they set out because she got pneumonia after leaving her coat behind while fetching water from the distant well. I remember the stories of her strict in-laws with whom she went to live after her father handed her to her future husband at the tender age of 15(is that right, Ruth?). Mostly, of course, we will all remember the story of the song she made up to pass the time while working in the fields. It is playing now. Ryan recorded it with his band. And, yes, that is Ukranian he is singing. She was quite popular at the home the day the band came and performed it.

Music is central to our family and she was surrounded by it in her final days as Ryan visited and sang with Ruth(I'm sure everyone joined in--especially Dennis). We could not be there, but heard "I'll Fly Away" on the radio by Allison Krauss and Gillian Welch. The announcer commented how the banjo leant a celebratory tone while the pure voices struck a more sombre tone...perfect for the celebration of a life well lived and the passing on to a land where joys will never end. I've put both on my blog's player. I hope you enjoy them. Safe flight Josie.