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Excerpt: Winter 2009

Honey on the Rails

Tim Bowling

My first clear memory of the bee and me was during our trip across Canada in August, 1906. Father had come to Edmonton in 1905 to get established before we came. He was now doing his painting and decorating for what is now the Canadian National Railway.

Before we left Ontario Mother had managed to get a swarm of bees into a hive and Grandfather, a cabinetmaker by trade, built a case for them which looked just like a suitcase, but with wire sides for plenty of ventilation to keep the contents from smothering. For five days we carried this potentially dangerous cargo with our other luggage, while our unsuspecting travelling companions serenely watched the country fly by (If anything HAD gone wrong the buzz of panic in that railway car would probably have put the biggest, angriest swarm of bees to shame)...

[from "The Bee and Me," by Gladys Muttart]

I hear something, summer breezes
of the stillborn's unlived life, whispered
answers to those questions never posed
to parents before it was too late...

[from "1906," by Tim Bowling]

To read the rest of this piece, order your own copy of Legacy!

Winter 2009
Complete Contents of Current Issue

After 14 years, Winter 2009 is our 56th issue of Legacy and our last.

As Legacy's publisher/editor/owner, I have been fortunate to work with remarkable people. My sincere thanks to our thoughtful associate publisher Gurston Dacks and encouraging business psychiatrist/music columnist Ron Chalmers. To talented, remarkable designer Mark Dutton. To patient general managers Mary Oakwell, Liz Grieve, and Yoko Sekiya; and determined ad sales manager Andrea Kopylech. And to two of the best, most sensitive associate editors, Eva Radford and Naomi Lewis. Thank you, also, to the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation for supporting school subscriptions and to Enbridge, Elly de Jongh, and Melcor Developments for public library subscriptions. To the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for editorial support. And to our committed advertisers and many loyal readers.

I have looked forward each issue to wonderfully written columns by Paula Simons, Sid Marty, Ron Chalmers, Laurie Greenwood, Johanne Yakula, Dorothy Field, Gordon Morash, and Patricia Myers. And to beautifully crafted prose and poetry by well-known and emerging writers alike.

But I have decided that Legacy's own story will conclude now. Indeed, it has been fun. Thank you all beyond words.

Barb Dacks, Publisher