The Jacksons – for Jul. 2, 2009

Spring in Manitoba is like childbirth.” Rose Jackson leaned back in her lounge chair, closed her eyes, and let the bright afternoon sun beat down on her as she spoke. “The longer it takes the more it hurts and after awhile you begin to think it’s never going to end, and then suddenly it’s over.

The Jacksons – for May. 21, 2009

Are Brady and Amanda coming for dinner?” Jennifer Jackson set the salad bowl on the table and turned back to the kitchen counter where her mother Rose was busy mashing a large pot of potatoes. “Yes, they are,” Rose answered without pausing in her work. “They should be here any time.” Jennifer reached over to


The Jacksons – for Apr. 16, 2009

Rose Jackson stood in the kitchen looking out the window as the rain pattered lightly against the Jacksons’ house. Three days earlier the entire countryside had been blanketed in fresh snow, but two days of 9 temperatures and a little rain had left only a few patches here and there not yet melted. Once again,

The Jacksons – for Apr. 2, 2009

Acold March wind howled around the eaves of the Jackson farmhouse. Inside, Andrew and Rose Jackson sat at the dining room table with their morning coffee, their breakfast dishes still on the table in front of them. Andrew cleared his throat. “I haven’t got all morning,” he said. “We’ll have to get her down here

The Jacksons – for Mar. 5, 2009

The sun shone brightly in through the windows of the shop on the Jackson’s yard, inside which Andrew and Randy stood together, staring at the old Case 5240 tractor that stood somewhat forlornly in the middle of the floor. A small oil smudge on the ground underneath the engine indicated that the tractor might need


The Jacksons – for Feb. 19, 2009

The rain didn’t come till Monday, fortunately. Sunday night was family dinner night at the Jacksons, and if the roads on Sunday had been anything like what the roads had become by Monday night Brady would have had to stay in Winnipeg, which would have made it a partial-family dinner and that’s just not the

The Jacksons – for Nov. 20, 2008

Darkness had fallen several hours earlier and a cold wind howled through the branches of the giant elm tree in the front yard of the Jackson house. Inside however, all was warm and cosy, the dining room light shining brightly on the four people sitting around the table. Andrew and Rose were there, of course,