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John A. Carlstrom at the Prairie Reunion
20 August 2006
Living Prairie Museum, St. James, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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Prairie. Large expanse. Ah, a large expanse, ah, with a diversity of grasses. Ah, I think too in terms of historically. Well, I read in books and, and, you know, in the movies and stuff like that, the buffalo. The herds of buffalo. There used to be fifty million buffalo on on on the North American continent. And then the ruddy westerners, when their railroads came through, for sport, they just shot them. But, anyway. What conjures up, ah, lots of birds, you know? You felt you were in tune with nature. Like, I'm going to describe a moment that I felt. It was winter time. I was north of Saskatchewan [Avenue] in the bush, trapping. And, ah it was around nine o'clock and the moon was brilliant. Full moon. And it cast shadows. And it cast shadows of the trees in the forest onto the snow. And ah, however I was dressed, I never felt the extreme cold. It must have been about 20 below Celsius. But I don't, I felt I was at one with nature. At one with nature. And that's a great feeling, you know? And when I used to trap on the creek bank, for muskrats, I'd take repose and lie on my back on bank and just look up in the sky and at the clouds and you know? What a wonderful life.