Renhai Studio Archives

A Collection of Renhai by members of The Renhai Studio

Spanning Years

A Renhai by Ron Seward (rs) & Vaughn Seward (vs)

The boys' feet
in the old copper tub —
log shack. /rs

A twenty-eight Wippet — /rs
the first family car. /vs

Last farmstead —
finding years later
just a calendar. /vs

Archive Id: 136
Ron Seward: Canada
Vaughn Seward: Canada
Written:: February 21 - March 31, 2009

Theme: Family Possessions
Season: All Season
Kigo: n/a
Verse Form: 2-3-2, 3-3, 2-3-2 (Rhythm)
Process: Forward

Links 1/2: The boys / Family.
Links 2/3: First / Last.
Links 3/1: Farmstead / Shack.

Notes: Each verse in this Renhai depicts an image related to early family possessions of the Sydney Seward family (Sydney, the father of Ron, grandfather of Vaughn). Sydney came to Canada in the early 1900's, married Hannah in the 1910's, and took the young family of four boys to a farmstead West of Edmonton Alberta in the 1920's / 1930's.

Verse 1, 1927: In the spring of 1927 the family briefly moved to Bearberry in Southern Albera. The operation there was part of a venture to raise horses for the Brewster Transporation company for use in their Calgary/Banff routes. The family stayed in a rustic shack. Ron was two years old and this image of his brothers having thier feet washed in an old copper boiler is one of his earliest memories.

Verse 2, 1943: The family's first car, a 1928 Wippet, was purchased from a grain elevator man at Carvel for about $150. Its wheels had wooden spokes and nothing on the car worked including the lights. It needed a lot of repair which kept the boys busy and challenged their creativity and resourcefulness.

Verse 3, 1960: After the war the boys moved out one by one and so in 1955 Sydney and Hannah decided it was time to move back to the big city and so they sold the farmstead. It had been the last of three farms they have lived in. Around 1960, when Vaughn was a youngster, his family was in the area visiting friends and they came across the remains of this last farmstead. Not much remained except an old calendar on the wall. Today the whole area is a series of gravel pits.