November 2, 1998

Norine Fidler was recently a student at the Selkirk Independent Learning Centre. She started the program in September 1995. She enjoys drawing, bead work and baseball, as well as babysitting. Norine hopes to continue with her upgrading and with her writing, especially life experience stories such as this one.
Play an audio version of this story
In Riverton, we used to walk over the train tracks, to get over the river to the other side, to visit my cousins. I was about five years old. My grandmother's house was small, she'd always decorate the front of her house with beautiful flowers. She won first prize for that. She had a dog by the name of Skamp. When we would pull up, Skamp would wag her tail like it was going out of style. She was a great dog ! Then one cold winter she went in the woods and never returned. She either froze or went to die. She was about twelve years old...bless her.
My grandmother had a woodstove. When the wood burned out it smelled great. She had an outhouse and a pail inside. She had no running water. We used to go down the road to a water pump. I never did like that water but it was good for coffee and tea. I always had tea and toast in the morning, that was my favourite. Now I live in an apartment. It has an elevator, running water, washers, and dryers. We don't pay for the washer and dryers so that saves us some money.
My grandmother lived until she was about eighty years old. She was a beautiful grandmother. She had a very big heart for everyone. We all loved her...bless her heart.