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 :(