Crafty Canadians

Discovering a hobby you’re passionate about keeps you young!

Iwas born 97 years ago in a small town called Swieciany, located in the northeast corner of prewar Poland. From early childhood I was attracted to the beauty and colour you find in nature, particularly flowers, and wherever it was possible, I had my own flower garden. Even now, as a resident of Manoir Westmount retirement home, I have a small garden, which I proudly call my own, having created it from a patch of grass at the back of the residence. From spring till late fall, it is full of seasonal flowers and it gives me great pleasure that my efforts are appreciated by the residents.

Before going any further, let me explain the time gap and the geographical gap between the two gardens mentioned above. My carefree life as a teenager was interrupted by the start of the Second World War and further shattered by the brutal invasion by the Soviet Union on September 17, 1939.

In the spring of 1940, we, that is my mother and younger brother, were declared “enemies of the people” and deported in cattle cars to Siberia, where under cold and starving conditions we were forced to work in communal farms. In the most ironic twist of fate, Hitler, of all people, became our salvation when on June 21, 1941, Germany attacked Russia.

Shortly thereafter the Polish government in exile in London re-established diplomatic relations with Russia and one of the provisions was that Polish Army units would be organized on Russian soil under the command of Gen. Anders. Unfortunately, not every Gulag commander was willing to allow free labour to just leave—some remained imprisoned till the end of the war. Gen. Anders managed to form two divisions from half-starved men, poorly armed and trained. So it came as a great relief when Stalin, under pressure from Polish and

Rose (left) creates beautiful paper flowers that look like the real thing! Allied governments agreed to let 115,000 soldiers and their families leave and relocate to Iran. My whole family was lucky to be in that group.

I joined the Polish Womens’ Auxiliary Force and served for five years, moving from Iran to Iraq, Palestine, Egypt and Italy to be finally discharged in 1947 in England. Economically, it was a very bad period so with my husband’s family we immigrated to Argentina and, after eight years, having lost just about everything in a crooked deal, we were lucky to be accepted by Canada, the best country in the world.

After 34 years of happy and prosperous years, my husband died following a heart attack. A few years later, I sold my house and moved to the Manoir Westmount retirement residence. I have been living here for the past 14 years and from the very beginning I engaged in various activities, in particular, handicrafts.

I learned how to make costume jewellery, toys, greeting cards and decorations but primarily, paper flowers. Our instructors, up to the most recent one, Marthe Bernie, kept coming up with new projects. I must admit that I admired the instructors’ infinite patience, as some of us as they say were “all fingers.”

My paper flowers were very well received and popular. We discovered that some of us were quite talented and the results of our efforts were sold at Christmas bazaars raising, at times, more then $5,000 for charity.

I have developed my own style of paper flowers, using coloured wrapping paper. I have made poppies for Veteran’s Day, sunflowers and daffodils as well as exotic flowers.

Two years ago, I had an exhibition of my work and many people had difficulty recognizing that they were actually paper flowers! During the lockdown caused by COVID-19, I have made several flower arrangements, the biggest contained 40 roses!

Here is my advice—each of us should find at least one hobby of some kind that we enjoy, as in old age it will provide a useful way to pass the time! ■