Life in Saskatchewan subject of insightful, funny essays

Page 7

Courting Saskatchewan

By David Carpenter

176 pages, Greystone

$26.95 (hc.)

We all have that one eccentric friend that we don't get to talk to very often, but when we finally get around to it, the conversation is always worth the wait. Court Saskatchewan is like having that conversation we've been aching so many long months to have.

This collection of essays is bright, insightful and funny, but most importantly, firmly rooted in truth. David Carpenter has brilliantly captured the subtle life of the prairies and carefully explains why it is one of the best places in the world to live. The very first essay, "Drinking Coffee in the Best Place in the World," is where he starts his interpretation of the regional culture of Saskatchewan and, specifically, Saskatoon.

When reading this book, you cannot be looking for the hysterically accurate facts. It should be read with the understanding it's a personal interpretation of life on the prairies. It is meant to be savored and enjoyed for the true elements of a life well-lived. This makes it more truthful and definitely more entertaining than any documentary could ever be.

"Courting Saskatchewan is an example of creative documentary." Carpenter explains, "Nothing new, really. It means that I approach this material as a writer rather than as a historian or a news reporter. It also means that I remain truthful to the facts as I've known them, so long as they serve the story. But when real life intrudes with its humdrum little tyrannies, I tend to become creative."

As Carpenter takes us through the ever-changing seasons of Saskatoon and Saskatchewan, he also takes us through the ever-changing seasons of his life.

"There's a stretch of the year when time goes by too fast to be marked." He writes, "If I could guess, I'd say that it starts about the end of April, when we dig the garden, and begins to slow down in July, when the back yard is in full bloom."

Carpenter's Saskatchewan includes a Saskatchewan feast and building a quinzhee in his back yard in the winter, watching the mating of the sharptail grouse and the smell of spring arriving on the farm in April, fly fishing during the summer months and going on a goose hunt once autumn comes around.

"Through his description of these rituals, Carpenter captures the poetry of the prairies, confronts the brevity of life and the depression brought on by the dead of a Saskatchewan winter. Carpenter takes hilarious delight in his own and other people's foibles, and reflects on the importance of his friends," reads the inside jacket.

"I have only a few fishing buddies who approach my certifiable state of obsession," Carpenter writes of his friends. "Warren Cariou is the most obsessed and the most athletic, the Wayne Gretzky of Saskatchewan fly-fishing. Bill Robertson is the very embodiment of determination. He will wrop short of nothing to get trout in the net. Bob Calder is more the Clint Eastwood character. He wars dark glasses, an ancient black flotation jacket and a wide-brimmed Tilly hat, and he casts for trout through the mystical smoke of a Ritmeester cigar, which he uses for camouflage as well as to fend off mosquitoes. You can almost hear that theme music from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the refrain that sounds like a calling loon."

Courting Saskatchewan reflects Carpenter's wise personal insights and his lighthearted sense of humor. A sense of humor is definitely needed to survive a five-month winter in Saskatchewan.

"There are usually three of four false springs in Saskatoon, running approximately from late February to late March. One kind of false arrival might be a leftover chinook blowing in from Alberta, or even a serious melt of several days. Take heed: nature is merely playing with you. Winter has not finished with you. He always has one or two blizzards in his arsenal. Three or four melts followed by three or four head numbing storms. You need to expect this sadistic game, perhaps even exult in it. Realy, it helps. Refuse to put away your winter garb. Stand before the mirror on the sunniest day in March. Recite, before the mirror, one a day, As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport. Only then can you be happy with the fifth month of winter."