Aunt Ethel &Uncle Norton Myrah - 65th Anniversary

Ethel & Norton Myrah

		ANNIVERSARY Norton & Ethel Myrah 65th Anniversary August 6, 2009 Celebrated with family August 1 including Five Generations Published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on 8/8/2009. The five generations is from their daughter Marilyn.

Gator Show at Ex 2009

We didn't actually get to see the Gator Show, but I did have a chance to snap a picture with my phone camera after the crowd had dispersed after the show.

P.A. Exhibition Parade July 27, 2009

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone camera of the P.A. Exhibition Parade

Evening Boat Ride on Anglin Lake

The day described in the earlier post about our adventure to Anglin Lake. This is a picture I took with my phone camera during our evening boat ride to the south part of Anglin Lake. Not bad for a phone camera!

P.A. Profile July 20th - Guy Shannon

My friend Guy Shannon was featured in the P.A. Profile feature of the July 20th issue of the Prince Albert Daily Herald. I tried doing a search for theURL Link, but couldn't easily find it. Another friend of both Guy and I, Jim Pattison gave this jpg file from the newspaper which is now the first thing you see on Guy's business computer at his shoe shop.

A WEEK OF HOLIDAYS

We decided to give the new Jeep and GPS a good test run.

MONDAY: Drove to Humbolt. We went shopping and especially enjoyed The Bargain Shop. Nicest one we have seen so far. Had lunch at the Dairy Queen and headed back home.

TUESDAY: Drove to North Battleford. We went shopping in the 2 shopping malls. Thought the Frontier Mall with the CO-OP Stores was the better of the 2. We ate at the CO-OP Cafeteria in the Frontier Mall, then went through the Western Development Museum. We spent 2 hours going through all the exhibits. We learned we could use the admission receipt in North Battleford to get into the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon for half price.

WEDNESDAY: Drove to Waskesiu via the scenic route. Definitely a lot less hectic than Canada Day. We had lunch at the Golf Course Restaurant. We went through the Interpretive Centre on Lakeshore Drive. I picked up a historical book of Waskesiu Lake, P.A.N.P. and area. - a good souvenir for me for the earlier years of my life I spent growing up at Waskesiu.

THURSDAY: Drove to Saskatoon. Ran into construction on Hwy 11 between MacDowell and Duck Lake. Very poor operation of Pilot Vehicles with long delays because of long area of Construction. We immediately planned to go home via Hwy 41 and Wakaw.

We went shopping in the Midtown Plaza and ate at the food court. At 1:00 pm we met up with Garry and Karen Connolly (Diane's sister) at the Western Development Museum - 1910 Boomtown. We spent 3 hrs. touring those exhibits. Garry and I eventually went ahead while Karen and Diane went at their own pace. We then went to the Asian Buffet on 8th St. After a good visit over supper, we parted company from the Connollys and went to McNally Robinson Bookstore. I bought a Discipleship magazine. We went to the Market Mall and then went home via Hwy 41 and Hwy 2.

FRIDAY: After I completed my meals-on-wheels route, we drove to Anglin Lake. We spent the afternoon and evening with Twyla and Michael and kids. I went out for a kayak ride in the channel and William joined me in a second kayak for one trip around the channel. We spent a fair amount of time bumping into each other. Rebecca and Diane went for a paddle boat ride. The Ganges over several tries between them all never caught enough fish to feed everyone, so Twyla opted for Speghetti and salad. We had the chocolate cake Diane had brought for dessert.

Howard and Shirley came over to visit in the evening.

I learned how to program the GPS much better and am thoroughly enjoying the Sirius Radio while travelling. The Jeep does get the mileage it advertised and it is convenient to have an instant readout of the mileage even if I do have to convert it from l/100km to mpg (imp).

Summer Jam 2009

Sunday, July 5th, I attended St. Alban's 8:00 am Service, so that I could help Walter Pope set up the equipment for the Victory 100 CIAM Live Cast of Summer Jam 2009 in Kinsmen Park sponsored by First Baptist Church. The Lord blessed the event with beautiful weather. The Live Cast was very successful with various volunteers (including me) making cut-in announcements promoting the event over the radio. There was a wide variety of music from Geoff Green's Band from the Alliance Church, Jeremy Doerten's group from First Baptist to the Last Mountain Boys Trio, Carried Away from Toronto and the Teen Challenge Team of Men from Saskatoon. The personal highlights for me were the Last Mountan Boys and the Testimonies of the men (students) of the Teen Challenge Team.

Cake on Fire

This afternoon, I rushed home from work, climbed out of my work clothes, rearranged the back of the Jeep to make room for extra passengers. Diane loaded up the car with the cake, ice cream and strawberries and we proceeded to Twyla's house. We unloaded the desserts into the house and loaded Twyla & Rebecca and William into my new Jeep and proceeded to the Venice House to celebrate Twyla's Birthday. After the meal was completed we proceeded back to Twyla's house for dessert; but we decided to wait, since we were too full. Eventually, Rebecca decided she would put the candles on the cake (with Diane's help). A careful count and recount and recount resulted in the removal of one candle before lighting the remaining 39. I quickly took this picture with my cell phone camera, then we all quickly blew to extinguish the blaze before any serious damage was done. After the candles and melted wax were removed from the somewhat softened icing, the cake was served with the ice cream and strawberries. Happy Birthday, Twyla.

Drive to Shellbrook

This afternoon we drove to Shellbrook to see if we could find the Shellbrook Cemetery and the grave of Eunice Wood. After driving around Shellbrook for a while, we angle parked on the main drag. I got out of the car and walked across the street. I asked the people in front of the market store and they said to follow them because they were on their way to the cemetery. That has to be more than a coincidence. We followed the Silver Toyota Camry West of Shellbrook and turned north at the Cemetery Road. We searched the cemetery for Eunice's grave, but we were unsuccessful. We did however find the grave sites of Joe Balzer (formerly in our Men's Chorus) and Herb and Alida Jacobs. Herb was a former Ham Radio Operator and Lay Reader. I introduced Herb to the Amateur Radio Missionary Service Net and I used to regularly stop in for a refresher break on my way back from Big River the year that I conducted Anglican Services there. I guess we shall have to ask Fred Payton for directions to Eunice's grave site.

On Tuesday, June 30th, I took possession of my new (485km) 2008 Jeep Patriot 4cyl 4x4. I am discovering more features than I had even known were included such as Sirius XM Satellite Radio built into the Radio. It also displays average fuel consumption in l/100km (which means nothing to me). We took it for a test drive to Waskesiu Lake as part of our Canada Day activities. Sure do enjoy Satellite Radio. Lots of choices. Tried to sign up online later this afternoon, but it did not like the ESL number I gave, so will try the 800 number tomorrow morning. Plan to drive Harry Hancock to the Birch Hills Golf Course tomorrow morning.

Peaches - At Rest after 15 years :(

Our beloved cat, Peaches has been battling Diabetes for four years and more recently developed cancer in her mouth/jaw. She continued to have spunk and courage, but she was having great difficulty eating. She never complained, but we knew we had to give her the peace and relief she deserved. Thursday afternoon, I took her to our Vet and with the help of her assistant, Feng euthanized her. I had given her something to calm her about 1/2 hour before. Peaches growled when Feng clipped the hair on her leg and again when inserting the needle. I was able to pet her as she quickly passed on. Feng told me to make sure I told Diane that Peaches remained spunky to the very end.

I brought her home laying in familiar baby blankets curled up looking very comfortable in a box. We miss her. We were very accustomed to having to get up at 5:00 am every morning to test and feed her. At this time it seems only a small blessing that we can sleep in longer especially on weekends.

Busy Days

There has been a lot happening since my last entry of May 25th. Hopefully, I will still be able to post a summary of the events, but for now I will just make an entry about Peaches

Michael's 40th Birthday Celebration - May 24th

Sunday evening, we joined the Ganges at the Star House Restaurant to celebrate Michael's 40th Birthday.  We all chose the Chinese Buffet, which was followed by a delicious Birthday cake provided by Shirley.   Howard and Shirley presented Michael with a history photo book created by submissions to Apple online who published the book.

Twyla and Michael gave me a belated birthday card along with a Sudoku Book and a Golf Trivia Book.  I had to leave early to get ready for my concert.

Without A Song Concert Sunday Evening May 24th

The Weather was perfect.  There was a good turnout of our faithful patrons and many new ones.

This Train, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, Brighten My Soul with Sunshine, Keep in the Middle of the Road.

Guest Artist: Gabrielle Paul-McKenzie - Piano

Beat Mortui, Make Me An Instrument of Thy Peace, Bless the Lord O my Soul, Steal Away.

Guest Artists: Emily Davis -  Tenor Trombone, Gabrielle Paul-McKenzie - Horn, Kathy Davis - Accompanist

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Frobisher Bay, The Two Roses, Summertime.

Guest Artist: Kathy Davis - piano.

The Policeman's Song, Java Jive, Bye Bye Blackbird, Without a Song.

The concert from our perspective went very well.  I have chatted with several people at the CO-OP Store today that said they really enjoyed it.

The Male Chorus performs a variety of musical styles from classical to contemporary.  The members of the Chorus boast a wide variety of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds and all share the love of music.  Chorus director Bob Gibson provides a wide variety of musical styles and levels of vocal challenges that accentuates the unique quality of blended male voice harmony.

Although Charles Dent has been struggling with health issues recently, we still included his name on the program and we were pleased to see that he and Irene were able to sit at the entrance table and receive the free will donations.  We wish him a speedy recovery.

May 19th - More Winter

It started to snow in the afternoon.  I noticed it when I went to crush boxes at the CO-OP.  When I got off work it was a steady rain and still about +3c.  Sometime before 6:00pm it was snowing big flakes, wet ice pellets.  Downright depressing.  I shot this picture with my phone from the back step.   The one good thing is there should be lots of moisture for the fertilizer I sprinkled on the lawn.  

Sunday, May 17th - Supper at Ed's Inn

We phoned my brother Arnold just after 3:30 pm to see if he had any supper plans.  He said he had a large lunch at Johnny Boy's after church, but could eat again.  We picked him up just before 4:00 pm and headed out to Ed' Inn.  Call it a belated birthday gathering for both of us.  The weather was unsuitable on the 13th & 14th  to consider a golf game and we were both committed to other projects.  Golf will have to wait, but having a good meal is easy to accommodate.

May 14th, 2009 - Now 61 years old

I spent so much time last evening thanking everyone for wishing me a Happy Birthday that I had no time to write anything on my blog.
Most of the day was spent running around doing errands, such as delivering Posters for the PA Men's Chorus Concert. I did drop off my dress shoes for heel repairs to the Shoe Guy - Guy Shannon's new business venture. I had a short visit and checked out his accessories. Good choice, good prices. As I said elsewhere. I will be a regular patron of his new business.
My day took a turn for the worst when I went to Roberta's to look after her dogs. I let her dogs out and then went to work checking the light on her stove. I found a burnt out bulb. I went to the CO-OP to and found a replacement, went back and replaced it. Then I went to chat with her birds. I found them both dead in the bottom of their filthy cage, obviously deprived of water for sometime. The water container was bone-dry.
Diane treated me to supper at Johnny Boy Restaurant, but we could not talk about anything else but Roberta and her dead birds.
Roberta phoned me later before she had even walked through the house and I had to tell her about her birds. After I told her she had not left them water, and that she could never have anymore birds, I hung up on her.
Not a great way to end a birthday :(

Prince Albert Men's Chorus Spring Concert

Without a Song

W ithout a song, the day would never end.

Without a song the road would never bend.

When things go wrong, a man ain't got a friend - without a song.

Prince Albert Men's Chorus

Spring Concert

24th May 2009 7:30 PM

Calvary United Church

114 25th Street East, Prince Albert

Free Will Offering

In Concert! Anna Bekolay, Riane LaPaire, Diane Bestvater

Tonight I attended this Concert featuring Anna Bekolay, soprano, violin

                                                                         Riane LaPaire, soprano, violin

                                                                         Diane Bestvater, piano

The Benefit concert for the Honey Bee Music and Dance Camp was held at Mahon Auditorium, John M. Cuelenaere library, Prince Albert, Sk.

I have known Anna for many years and her mother for many more than that.  I went to hear her play her violin, but was also treated to her superb soprano singing as well.  Normally, I am not an opera fan, but listening to her mature, clear, voice with an incredible range of dynamics was refreshing.  I also enjoyed listening and watching her play her violin.    

I purchased her CD (Bare Bones) of mostly her own compositions and one song composed by her mother on the mandolin.  I will be listening to the CD in my Jimmy for quite some time.  I have fond memories of playing my baritone ukelele and singing in a Praise Group many years ago with her mother Diane floating around with her flute in what ever key we were playing in.  

It was not a large crowd, but definitely an appreciative crowd for all 3 musicians.  I am sure that whatever moneys were raised will be put to good use at the Music/Dance Camp this summer.

Thank you, Anna for coming and performing for us in Prince Albert.  I will continue to follow your music career with special interest.

Turned out to be a nice day

I took advantage of the nice weather to spend the morning and afternoon to finish the raking of the yard.  I tossed all the bags including Sylvia's (next door) bags into my utility trailer and tied a tarp over them to haul off later next week to the dump.

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I worked at the till at CO-OP Hardware on Wednesday.  It was raining when I came on at 10:00 am.  Before noon, all the customers going past me or making purchases were commenting about the snowfall.  When I got off work, I drove home to -1c and wet pavement (Thank God!) with a layer of white stuff covering everything else.  I had planned to finish raking the yard Wednesday evening, but that was impossible.  The picture of our house and front yard was taken soon after I came home after work.  Depressing :(

OSL Information Meeting in St. Stephen's,MacDowall

Wednesday evening, April 29th, an information fellowship meeting was held at St. Stephen's Anglican Church in MacDowall.  Mel Melashenko and 3 ladies from the Saskatoon Chapter, Kathleen Stewart, Andrea Martinson, Mary Essel and myself from Prince Albert and a good turnout of ladies from MacDowall were in attendance.  We spent the first part of the meeting with a time of sharing.  It was most exciting to realize that after a passage of a good number of years with people in attendance at various conferences, that, in fact, some in attendance had prayed for one another and learned just at this meeting the results of their prayers.  Mel and the ladies gave a teaching on Mike Endicott's Kingdom Healing, Kingdom Living.  We adjourned for a short coffee break and then naturally started to gather and pray for one another.  It was a wonderful time of prayer evidenced by both tears and laughter.  The prayer theme throughout is a remembrance of what Jesus did on the cross for us, shedding His own blood for our salvation and healing.  Thank you Lord.  We said our goodbyes just after 10:00 pm and headed our separate ways.  I served as Chauffeur in Andrea's car both ways.  Thanks again for the ladies of St. Stephen's for being wonderful hosts.

John Diefenbaker School Talent Show

Grandson William Gange - John Diefenbaker School Talent Show

Imperial March - William Gange - Piano Solo.

Medallian Calls - William Gange - Saxophone Solo.

Great job William.

Granddaughter Rebecca Gange at John Diefenbaker School Talent Show

Fiddler on the Roof - Rebecca & her mother Twyla Gange - Piano duet.

Balance Beam Routine - Rebecca Gange.

Great job, Rebecca. (in spite of a bad headache.)

Messiah Lutheran celebrates 75 Yrs of the Lutheran Hour Radio Broadcast

The Men of the Way were invited guests to present a concert to celebrate 75 yrs of the Lutheran Hour Radio Broadcast on CKBI Radio.  Our guests were Gillian Lyons and my daughter Twyla played the flute part for Your Only Son. The concert was well received and I had a good visit with Angie and Morris Hesje at the Coffee Fellowship after the concert.

Lay Readers Licencing Service 4:00 pm

The Diocesan Lay Readers Licencing Service was held at St. Alban's Cathedral followed by a catered supper.  John Hareuther and I had to eat and run to go over to Messiah Lutheran for our Men of the Way Concert.

Order of St. Luke Healing Service, James Smith Reserve - Saturday, April 25th

I am using this picture of the Primate and me taken earlier in 2008 because St. Stephen's Anglican Church, James Smith Reserve is in the background.  The gentleman in the smaller right hand picture is Rev. Wilfred Sanderson, pastor St. Stephen's Anglican Church.

Four members of our Order of St. Luke P.A. Chapter left for James Smith Reserve from St. George's at 4:30 pm, with the assumption that the Healing Service was scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm.   We were travelling in Stella's minivan and we all decided that we would go on the pavement past Kinistino rather than travelling on the Coxby Road.  We guessed at what road to turn north on to go to James Smith, but the ladies thought we needed to turn east a few kms up the road.  That proved to be the wrong decision and we became hopelessly lost.  After asking directions a couple of times and having to alter course according to their instructions we finally made it to the main community of James Smith.  Kathleen and I went into the Service Station to ask how to proceed to the church.  We followed the latest instructions and soon after arrived at St. Stephen's Church assuming we were late, only to meet with Rev. Wilfred & Theresa Sanderson only to learn that he has arranged for the Service to begin at 7:00 pm.  So we had lots of time to set up the Service.

A good crowd showed up by the time the Service was to begin.  The Communion Service was a normal BCP Service using the readings to commemorate St. Mark the Evangelist.  Wilfred celebrated with Theresa assisting.  I read an introduction to Kingdom Healing by Rev. Mike Endicott which appeared in the March 2008 issue of the Sharing Magazine.  I was really impressed with the last hymn Bill had selected for us to sing.  I had not heard it before.  It was hymn in the evening section of the blue hymnal with a strong theme of salvation and healing.  The words of the hymn confirmed the words I had read from Mike Endicott's article.  

At the conclusion of the Communion Service, I decided that we would have 2 prayer stations with Andrea, Stella & Kathleen in the upper section at the front of the church and Wilfred and I would at the station in front of the pews.  Everything went well with a good response of people coming forward for prayer for themselves a family member.  There was even a young girl who came forward to ask pray for her Dad.  The last person was a young man with a troubled past.  The ladies had finished ministering at their station and Andrea asked if she could join us.  The Holy Spirit was speaking clearly to Andrea and she asked if she could ask the young man a question.  I, of course, said Yes.  She asked him if he remember anything happening to him when he was 4 years old.  He said to me - Yes, his brother had pushed him down a set of stairs.  Andrea had clearly received a word of knowledge.  Thank God for her boldness and obedience to present that word.  It changed the direction of prayer for this young man and definitely left an impression with Rev. Wilfred Sanderson. 

I made a special point to exhort Bill, another Lay Reader, who played the organ during the Service and the Prayer Session.  I told him he had a special ministry as organist and it played an important part in the Service.

After the Healing Prayer Session, we were treated to a feast of food before going home.  We were given clear directions on how to proceed home.  Just stay on the road heading south until we came to the Highway.  We eventually found the highway just as they promised and realized it was the same road that we had started off on when we had left the highway on our way to the Reserve.  We should have kept going North instead of turning east.  We will not make the same mistake twice.  We arrived at St.  George's at 11:30 pm and Stella still had to drive home to MacDowell area.

Delivering Posters for Victory Radio Fundraiser Concert next Week.

Well, I spent most of the day delivering posters for the upcoming Victory FM Radio Fundraiser Concert.  Had a nice visit with the Ukrainian Orthodox Priest.  He sounded very supportive of the Radio Station, especially when I said he could put promos on air and offer us sermons in Ukrainian.

I also visited with Lyle Locke and Pastor Ivan Brewer from the Apostolic Church.  I also visited with Pastor Ches Jacobs at Crossroads Pentecostal where the Concert will be held.

Other Activities

I met with Debby at Cornerstone Insurance to discuss proposed policy for Prince Albert Christian Radio.  I met Grace at the bank with hopes of setting up automatic debit for donors, but only managed to make an appointment for next week.  I walked Roberta's dogs around the block because I can't release them in the back yard with Albert's guard dog back there.  Diane & I went for supper at Arby's then shopped at Mark's Work Wearhouse and I stopped at Rona's for a socket plug-in while Diane went to Value Village.  We came home early and have been relaxing since.  I have been watching golf and NHL Playoffs on TV.

Coffee with Harry

I met up with Harry for coffee this afternoon.  I was confused as to where the Bison Cafe and the Chandeliers Restaurant were, but we did find each other.  I opted for Hazelnut flavored coffee.  Nice comfy atmosphere in the Bison.  We stayed in the first section, but there is the option of going into the second part where Harry assures me is just as comfortable and also serves as an Art Gallery promoting local artists.  We will go in there next time.  Esther Hay came in and I chatted with her for a few minutes.  She is incredibly upbeat considering she is going to have her Mastectomy Surgery Monday afternoon.  Rev. Tracey Smith also made an appearance.

http://bisoncafe.ca/

Anglican Men's Coffee Fellowship

This morning we had a good group of guys for coffee.  Unfortunately, Rev. Ken Lyons was conspicuous by his absence and we missed him. (But he was the centre of a large part of the conversation.  There was Joe, Fred, Doug, Dennis, Roger and myself there this morning.

Victory FM

Today I made the deposit from the Good Friday Offering - just under $3,400.  Thank you, Lord.  I learned a few things needed for making the next large deposit.  I also visited George to talk over a few things and he said he had mailed a package to me.  When I got home, the package was in my mail box.  I spent the rest of the afternoon removing my old stereo system and installing the new one.  Nothing fancy like the last one that quit working.  But this one does tune in 100.1 albeit not in stereo.  I have to learn all the features, especially how to copy LP Records to digital storage.

Been a few days

I am still meeting people who are mentioning the Way of the Cross Newspaper picture.  They all think it is a great picture.  A customer at work noted I had obviously "risen".  Another person commented that I was smiling even with the weight of the cross.

Wednesday morning I read my emails before going to work.  There were 2 disturbing ones.  Rev. Ken Lyons had fallen Tuesday night after setting the alarm at the Cathedral after our Men of the Way practice and had somehow driven home, but was taken by ambulance to the hospital and stayed overnight.  The second email was from Eloise Varga telling me that Esther Hay had surgery to remove cancer in her breast and would be going back for masectomy.

Prince Albert Daily Herald Front Page Photo Saturday April 11, 2009

Good Friday Way of the Cross Newspaper Photo

I made the front page of the Prince Albert Daily Herald with the photo of me carrying the cross for the beginning of the Way of the Cross.  I have saved the picture and caption from the online newspaper as a pdf file, but it is quite a large file at about 2.5 megs.  I haven't figured out how to display it on my blog so until I do you can see me at the url link:  http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx

Under the Viewer search, type in Prince Albert Daily Herald under the April 11th date.

Roberta's Emergency - Part 2

Roberta phoned later after I got home and said that they were going to be sending Albert by ambulance to Saskatoon.  I told Roberta I would come out again to be with her until Albert was on his way in the ambulance.  I corrected the information on the admittance sheet to show that the word commonlaw was removed as there is nothing commonlaw in their relationship.  I did go in with Roberta to see Albert a couple of times, but mostly waited outside.  I thought the medical staff was very good to Roberta.  Of course, things moved very slow from her perspective.  Arrangements were made to transfer Albert to St. Paul's ICU in Saskatoon.  Roberta took Albert's cell phone and everything else was loaded in bags to be transported with Albert.  The ambulance pulled away from the Victoria Hospital about 2:45 am and we drove to Albert's house to check on his dog, then I drove Roberta home.  I was home shortly after 3:00 am.

Happy 80th Birthday Bert

We were invited to an early 80th Birthday Celebration for our neighbour, Bert Hanson, pictured on the left with his wife Doreen and on the right with one of his daughters.  It was held in a meeting room in the Best Western.  There were a few people we knew but mostly Bert's or Doreen's family.  Fellowship was good, food was good and so was the cake.  It appeared Bert had a great day.  I guess Doreen plans to hold another party for Bert's neighbours on his actual 80th Birthday next weekend.