In these old photos of Omemee and Winnipeg, the Pidgeon and Red Rivers still swirl around the old bridge pilings where “a boy fished the morning away.” Every time I drive through Omemee I am so relieved that that old bridge is still standing and that old river is still flowing and the fish are still swimming. In the fifties, we could also drink from every lake and stream.
In this long-ago painting I did in Omemee of the Pigeon River and bridge, I considered adding the engine and passenger cars as the train rolled into the station. The Omemee train station was really something in its day.
This photo is a sketch I did in Omemee. I was thinking of doing this as a Christmas card one year.
This photo was taken of an old postcard of Winnipeg and the bend in the Red River where the trains rumble overhead (circa 1962). The station is the building with a central dome on the right. Out west, where the outward bounds pick up speed on the straight prairie rails, the old grain elevators still moan and creak to the wayward wind. It’s a dream, it’s only a dream. Just a sweet memory… a very tender song swirls it all back.
