Wednesday 20 July 2016

VANCOUVER VISIT - TRIP TO SALMON ARM IN CHERRY SEASON

The eleven of us traveled from Vancouver to Kamloops and then on the next day on to Salmon Arm to meet up with all the (Booth) family in the children's park opposite the Fire Hall.

Here we are in the rock band van that Alastair hired for our week in British Columbia.

Bascially each day we traveled from play park to play park until our (respective) destination ... except for when we had a pit stop for a nappy change.  Here we are at the side of the road near Chase. Nessie is having a quick break for a comfort stop plus a slurp of water.



Gathered were Don and Carol Booth, their daughter Kim with baby Hugh Zachary Allen Booth (and is called Zach), my mother's sister, Mary (nee Sansum) Harrington and her daughter Pat plus all of our gang.

Later:  This is John's photo which has a proper line-up:

[Back row] John (Albiston) with Harriet Albiston (3) on his shoulders, Pat Phipps (Mary's daughter), Iain MacLeod (my husband), Don Booth (my brother), Alastair MacLeod (our son), Dawn (Alastair's wife, nee Brooks) holding  their son Iain David MacLeod, aka Indy (nearly 5), Kim Booth and son Zak Hugh Allen Booth and Kim's mum and Don's wife, Carol (nee Brown).

[Front row] Me (Barbara MacLeod nee Booth), Margaret and Allen Booth's daughter, Mairi (Albiston, our daughter nee MacLeod,) with baby Ellie Albiston (1) on her lap, my mother's sister Mary Harrington (nee Sansum, formerly wife of Bob Phipps (deceased) and wife of David Harrington (deceased), Ishel Albiston (9) and Alastair Albiston (8).  Missing are Don and Carol's 2 other daughters: Heather Osachoff (husband Kyle and daughter Kalyleigh, aged 8) and Deborah Churko, husband Scott and daughters Alison (13) and Lauren (11).


 Kim and Zach (1.5 years old)

 Auntie Mary (Harrington)

Don and Mairi

And finally .... Glenna who also comes from Salmon Arm and I (a couple of days earlier enjoying some lovely Okanagan wine and cherries.


Good heavens! .... was there some talk of cherries?  This photo was taken by me in July 1973.  It is Kim in her baby seat inside the fruit stand where we sold cherries on the highway.    Yes, it was the Trans-Canada highway and was roughly opposite Ruth's Fruit Stand, South Broadview, which is where we lived (and my father had his trucking/haulage business).

I have many memories of (picking and) selling cherries every July - not all of them happy.  However one image that still sticks in my mind was how cars came from the east (namely, the prairies), and just past South Broadview cross-road  the driver's eye suddenly caught sight of the cherry trees at the edge of the orchard which was next to the highway.  They were absolutely loaded with fruit. There would be a screeching of brakes, great clouds of dust billowed everywhere as they pulled over and all the family tumbled out exclaiming "Wow!  Cherries!"  

.... and often there were more exclamations when they caught site of my mother's glorious display of roses along from the fruit stand.  There was a long row in straight line (all planting was done in straight lines!) which ran along the edge of the lawn right back to the edge of the house.

Price of the cherries?   25 cents a pound!


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