It’s been a magnificent month in the High Country, our home in paradise, out here on the edge of the prairie somewhere west of Calgary. I’ve never used that adjective before in these columns, but no other word more accurately describes this past month, particularly during this holiday season. Here is why.
For some, Christmas means extra work, unruly crowds, traffic jams, too much commercialism, no time for quiet meditation about life or about New Year resolutions. On the other hand, for many, particularly children, it is one of the happiest times of their lives. For children, the spirit of Christmas means receiving gifts and having fun with family and friends. For adults, it often means generosity, kindness and benevolence. We can see those aspects in our own to community.
1. For several years, the High Country Rural Crime Watch Association has been able to offer free memberships and signs to persons in the Foothills area, thanks to a grant from Legacy Oil andGas.InMay,2015,CrescentPoint Energy acquired Legacy.
H.C.R.C.W.A. expenses remained minimal, so we could carry on for four more years without other financial support, but at the end of this year our funding was about to run out. We thought we would have to charge new members a ten dollar fee to join our association so we could continue our work. Then last month TC Energy, a major North-American energy company in Calgary, generously gave us an early Christmas present: funding for at least two more years. If you live in Foothills but are not yet a member of this Rural Crime Watch, you should join your neighbours. As in the past, the benefits are many while the cost is still free. To join, phone 403.931.2407.
2. Over the past few months, we have reported on multiple break-ins to restaurants in Priddis (Water’s Edge) and Bragg Creek (Rockies & Powderhorn). In an act of unprecedented generosity, the owners of Rockies, Ben and Emma Pirija, opened their restaurant to the general public as usual on a Saturday afternoon but then, instead of charging clients the prices listed on the menu, they asked them to give whatever they thought would be appropriate for their meal to help the owners of Water’s Edge repair their restaurant from the theft and vandalism they had endured. At the end of the afternoon, the Pirijas took the funds thus raised, matched it dollar for dollar themselves, and then, along with several of their customers, drove to the Water’s Edge to surprise the owners with the gift.
3. Paying it forward, Jane and Cory Morgan, owners of the Water’s Edge, decided to give a generous share of those funds, $975, to the H.C.R.C.W.A. We are so grateful. It reminded me of something that happened in Bragg Creek a few years ago. The then- owners of the Creekers restaurant saw they were to face some competition from a new restaurant, Bragg’s Korner Kitchen, about to open just in front of them. What happened? On opening day, Creekers sent the Korner Kitchen a bouquet of flowers to welcome them to the neighborhood. A beautiful gesture.
4. On a personal note, one morning last month after a large snowstorm, I was driving with our huge rescue dog, “Dallas,” very slowly west on Route 22 about four kilometers from Priddis. The road was unplowed and virtually invisible under about seventy centimeters of snow. Unfortunately, I drove off the road and could not get back on it. A car with three ladies returning to Calgary from a hiking expedition in Bragg Creek, passed by and saw me stranded. They welcomed me into their car (where I called CAA) and then rescued Dallas. While this was going on, approximately ten other cars also stopped to ask if they could help. That is one of the finest aspects of our paradise on earth. I was able to tell each person that I was already being helped.
After it was evident that CAA would be a while, the ladies drove us home a few kilometers further west, where we could recover. It took CAA twenty-six hours to rescue my car. I will never forget the kindness of the ladies who helped a stranger and his dog in our time of need. If any reader knows who they were, I would appreciate being able to let them know how grateful we were.
Does the Christmas season exist here? To paraphrase one of the most famous editorials ever written, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause spirit right here in our paradise. It abounds here as certainly as do love, generosity, and devotion. They give life its highest beauty and joy.
So that’s the news from our High Country, where the spirit of Christmas lasts throughout the year.
John Robin (‘J.R.’) Allen
H.C.R.C.W.A.
jrapriddis@gmail.com
