family

My dad sent me this photograph.
I noticed it in the family history book that he recently wrote,
and I wanted a copy of my own.
A picture of my Grandmother,
or as we were accustomed to calling her..."Großmama" (say Geh ros -ma ma)
in 1942.
My mother's mother.

She and my Großpapa were immigrants from Prussia (now ukraine).
This was their 1st farm in Canada.
The Alberta prairie.
They came into this new country with one baby (my aunt Margaret).
And then had 10 more:
David, Dorothy, Bernard, Erwin, Helen, Edward, Rudolf, Rae, Eric and Gertrude.
My uncle Dave was 18 years old when my mom was born.

It looks like there is snow on the ground in the photograph.
No time for Grandma to put on a jacket I guess...
I wonder what she is hanging on the wash line.
nightgowns? shirts?

I remember my Großmama's hair.
Her long white braid, pinned up into a bun.
(Just like she wore it back in 1942.)
I remember her dresses. She liked to wear brooches.
I remember her calling my mom, "Trud-dah".
I remember her baking buns.
I remember Klassen Christmas gatherings with a house full of people
and always lots of singing.
In German.

I know that my beautiful Großmama worked very hard and put up with a lot....
I know that she did her best.