detail from: KRK Art dizajn

WASKESIU LAKE

Simo Jelača, Ph.D.

We organized a family trip to Canada in Novi Sad, we planned several visits and set off with our girls, who were then, Stasha 13, and Maja 9 years old. The economic crisis in Yugoslavia was already beginning to be felt, although we were still relatively well at the time. We bought tickets to Toronto, and planned our first visit to Leslie Paly, with whom I had been collaborating professionally for many years. We were surprised to learn that Leslie, meanwhile, had a stroke and became immobile, and since his wife Lela had left him before that, he met his first wife Maria and they lived in an apartment. They lost the house they had, everything went wrong for them.

Immediately after our arrival, I helped Leslie make some expert visits. I drove him in their car, but it all became quite a nightmare for us.

After two days, we contacted acquaintances with whom we had previously maintained contacts, Stoyana and Lidija Stoyanović, who took us to their new house. Stoyan then worked at a nuclear power plant in Pickering, not far from Toronto. We had a nice time with them, we relaxed, and the girls found fun with their daughters, who were their peers. In the early evening we went out every day to the nearby parks, above Lake Ontario. From there we had a nice view of the whole area, and in nice and clear weather, we could see the coast of America, on the opposite side of Lake Ontario.

On July 19, the day of my official birthday, we traveled from Toronto to Winnipeg, in visit to Dr. Walter Bushuk. And since he and his wife were at the weekend house, we stopped by Dr. Isidore Hlynka, my doctoral mentor, and he then put us in a hotel and called Bushuk telling him where we were. The next day, at some time of the day, the Bushuks arrived from the cottage and picked us up from the hotel. We had comfortable accommodation in their house, and Walter Bushuk then worked, on a volunteer basis, as the Vice-Rector of the University of Manitoba. He was officially retired before that, so he worked only for how many hours he needed. He gave me his car, by which I took him to work and returned, and in the meantime I drove my family on a tour of Winnipeg. As our older daughter Anastasia (abbreviated as Stasha) was born in Winnipeg, we wanted to show them both Winnipeg, Stasha's hometown, where I spent two years. We visited the famous park around the river Assiniboia, the pier there and visited our friends, from the period of my study work, and visited the General Hospital, where Stasha was born in Winnipeg. We spent a total of twelve days with Bushuk, and we all really felt comfortable, hanging out with good old friends.

Of the associates I worked with while doing my doctoral dissertation experiments, we visited Dr. Keith Tipples, at home, who at the time was director of the Grain Research Laboratories Institute, took us to lunch, and then visited my technician Fred Kuzina. who, meanwhile, was completely blind. During our stay at Fred's house, Fred couldn't see us, but he recognized each of us by voice.

The same day, after visiting Fred, Tipples took us to a nearby place to visit my technician Bob McLeod, who had a new house, lived alone, never married, had a plane and a sports car. Bob took me by plane, and Bosa and the girls didn't want to, since Bob's plane had only two seats. The girls were afraid to fly alone with Bob.

From Winnipeg we traveled to Saskatoon, by Greyhound bus, to our college colleague Miljana Janković and her husband Stojan. We left Winnipeg in the evening, just when the street lights were on, which left a pleasant impression, and we arrived in Saskatoon in the morning, when the lights there were just going out. We were greeted at the station by Stojan, who worked as a taxi driver in those years, although he was an agronomist, but did not find a suitable job in the profession. After spending three days with them and their children, Zoran and Lidija, Stojan rented a van, with which all eight of us traveled north, to Lake Waskesiu, about 300 km away. On the way, we passed through the town of Prince Albert, the birthplace of the Canadian Prime Minister John Dieffenbecker.

Lake Waskesiu is surrounded by vast, dense forests, and the water in the lake is clear as a tear and very cold. The water from the lake can be drunk, but it is not very pleasant for swimming. There are Indian houses around the lake, the ambience is real, like the one we used to hear in the book "Treasure of the Silver Lake''. The camp on the lake is well organized, prepared for bear visits during the night, with all the warnings and instructions for tourists on how to behave and what to stay away from. We were warned not to leave food outside the tent, and if we hear bears at night, not to react. They come, look for food and leave. And indeed, we heard one walking and overturning some containers. In the morning, the camp officials clean it all up and life goes on. Very pleasant memories.

On the way back from Lake Waskesiu to Saskatoon, we stopped by Miljana and Stojan's friend Bob, who lived on a ranch and worked as an independent agronomist on his property, on about 350 hectares of land. Bob is from Kragujevac by the way, he bought that ranch and processed everything himself, he sowed mostly wheat and had three metal silo cells for its storage. He also had about 40 cows on the ranch, and he raised all the necessary vegetables around the house for his own food. In addition, he still had time to teach biology at a local school. We were thrilled by all that, how is it possible that only one person does it all, we thought that one OOUR would do it here. Bob had all the necessary machines to complete the processing of his estate. Bob's wife Francis, originally from the Czech Republic, worked in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at the city library, and during the weekend she spent time with Bob. During the winter, they both lived in the city, and Bob had a system of self-feeding cows, which he did not milk from the beginning.

Returning from Bob, in the evening, we saw the aurora borealis and we really enjoyed it. That evening, Bob returned to the city, and the next day he drove us, the guests, to visit the Indian Reservation, which was about 20 km away from Saskatoon. There we met with one of the reserve managers, who answered all our questions. He explained to us that the reserve is fenced with wire, there is a forest on the upper side, and a swamp on the lower side. About forty families lived in the reserve, they had a kindergarten and a school until the sixth grade. According to their instinct, the Indians lacked hunting and fishing, they felt like in prison in the reserve. The white man introduced them to electricity, telephone and democracy. They elected their chief for three years each and he was entitled to another re-election. And while we were talking to the chief, an officer was napping at the computer. Everyone, those in the reserve have become lazy, they mostly lie down in the summer and wait for the postman to bring them checks for Welfare. They left me with a sad impression.

Our colleague Miljana worked in the laboratory of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and we visited her at work one day. And when we were returning to Yugoslavia and while we were waiting for our flight at the airport in Toronto, the American actor Eddie Sullivan came next to us, when I recognized and greeted him.

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