The book, 'Winds Across the Northern Prairie' is a story of a young boy and his family learning to deal with the demise of rural living on the Northern Prairies. This was a wonderful place to start off one's life. To me, there was nothing bigger than looking out across the wide-open prairies dotted with grain fields as far as the eye could see. The flat rolling hills, barren of trees, with clear fresh air making it seem as if the sky came all the way down to the horizon. I learned my core values I have today by growing up on the prairie. Life was hard but at the same time it was also a good life. The extreme weather was a major part of my life and I had to learn to enjoy all four seasons. Sure there were years when fall, winter, and spring seemed like one season. Cold was brutal and yes I seen frost in every month on the calendar. The wind would blow almost everyday from all the points on the compass. Observing the abundant wildlife, especially the birds, around our small town was an everyday learning experience. Their migrations taught me when spring and winter was about to arrive. When I was very young life was good as the small towns we grew up in were at their peaks in population and the towns businesses were thriving. Some people called these times as the good times. Times were about to change, and did change, as we grew older out on the Northern Prairie. For many different reasons people started to move off the land causing the small town businesses to close and the population started to decline rapidly. The memories I have are left to read in this book but as time goes by even these memories will be fading away for good. When you read this book maybe it will bring your own memories back to you. I hope those memories will make you smile of a time long ago.