My blog

A little bit about me and a lot about the things we do.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Mixed Emotions

I received a phone call from my Dad tonight to tell me that my uncle had passed away...one of his brothers.  It was so hard to hear and harder knowing that once again my family will join together at a difficult time and I won't be there.

This seems to be the week of emotion...
  • nerves over exams (one down and one to go)
  • excitement about flying to see Stephen in the Yukon
  • grief over the lost of another uncle and family time
I guess that is life....

Sunday 27 October 2013

Happy Birthday to Two Special Ladies!

October 28th ... is a special day!  Two amazing ladies were born on this day and on the same year!

Howard and "Ha" with Jenn & Stephen


Howard and Hilda with Sarah (our granddaughter)
Hilda is a wonderful friend.  She came into my life 24 years ago when Ron was the assistant pastor in the church that her and her family attended.  Our daughter, Jenn immediately took to Hilda as a special friend and constantly wanted to be with "Ha."  A year and half later she was with Ron and I in a delivery room coaching Stephen into the world.  Hilda was a nurse and she had the best bedside manner.  Stephen gave Hilda a new name...she was known as "Big Girl."  Hilda is tall and I think he thought of her as a girl because she brought so much fun with her.  She loved to play with the kids.

Hilda has been a faithful friend through the years.  She is so special to me and she is not only loved by our children but now our grandchildren.


Mom & Dad



My mom was also born on this day...same year as Hilda!  I cannot say enough about my mom.  When I was young I loved our shopping or baking days.  She loved to read to us and has continued that tradition to my children and grandchildren.
Mom & Dad with my two sisters
and two oldest grandsons

Mom & Dad in Bon Echo
Later after I was married one of my favourite times with my mom was to go away for a weekend to shop and eat.  It was always a relaxing time and fun to spend time with just mom.

Mom and our middle grandchild
I wish I had more time to sit and have tea with my mom!




Hilda and Mom have some things in common:
  • both great moms
  • both are loved by their grandchildren
  • both are women of faith
  • both are eager and willing to help people
  • both are very special to me.
Happy Birthday Hilda and Mom!  You are loved!

Friday 18 October 2013

Hibernatation

The forecast for the next couple of days:
Today woke up to a dusting of snow

Saturday - 75% of rain or SNOW
Sunday - high of 0 degrees Celsius
Monday - SNOW
 
 
 
 
 
 
Definition for Hibernation according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
 
1.  to pass the winter in a torpid or resting state
2.  to be or become inactive or dormant
 
I am thinking that hibernation sounds pretty good.  I bought a little partner from a local carver to help me with the process.  Bears seem to have the winter months figured out perfectly.
I also decided that the best thing to do on a dark, dismal day is to make some homemade soup, grab an extra sweater and turn up the heat....sounds like hibernation to me.
 
 
And for the rest of the winter months:
 
 
 I've got yarn!



 
 

Saturday 12 October 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a tradition.  It was a must.  For many years Thanksgiving was about going to my Dad's Hunting camp with my family.  It wasn't much of a building to go to but it was surrounded by the most amazing colours.

It wasn't about the turkey dinners because many times we had hamburgers.

It wasn't about the fancy place setting because the setting was pretty rustic.

But it was about family and friends getting together and enjoying the beauty around us.





For some of us it was about walking miles through the trails.  There is nothing like feeling the fall leaves crunch under your feet or running to try and catch one of the many falling leaves.  I loved walking with my mom and visiting with her and then getting back to the camp to enjoy a cup of tea made on the old wood stove.

Of course not everyone liked to walk.

Over the years there were different 4 wheelers, different dirt bikes, different friends that came with us but we always enjoyed lots of fresh air and fun.


The last time we went to the hunting camp was in 2008 and then we moved two provinces away and haven't been back over Thanksgiving since.  This year my dad and his brothers-in-laws sold the hunting camp.  Now it is just a wonderful memory of many happy times.

This year my mom will be hosting Thanksgiving at her house.  I won't be there.  Ron's mom will be hosting at her apartment as well and we will miss that too.  We will be having 7 around our table, no family, but we will still enjoy some laughs and hopefully some good food.

It's times like these that I do miss home!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody and especially to Mom and Dad, my mother-in-law, Donna and to Jenn and her family and Stephen.

We love you and miss you!



Thursday 10 October 2013

Culture Days

Ron and I went for a bear-free walk this morning and found out the schools were hosting culture days.

We thought we would check it out and I also thought that it would be interesting if I could research a little bit about where we live. 

We currently live on a Cree Reserve.  The Cree are one of the largest First Nations People in North America with over 200,000 members living in Canada.  There are 7 very large Cree Communities throughout Canada and the United States with many bands in each area.  We live in the Woodland Cree Community.

Their history is based on being hunters/gatherers.  This group of young people were experiencing the after effects of hunting.  They were busy plucking feathers off of ducks for a feast that they would enjoy later.
From Wikipedia:

The basic unit of organization for Cree peoples were the lodge, a group of perhaps eight or a dozen people, usually the families of two separate but related married couples, who lived together in the same wigwam (domed tent) or teepee (conical tent), and the band, a group of lodges who moved and hunted together. In the case of disagreement lodges could leave bands, and bands could be formed and dissolved with relative ease, but as there is safety in numbers, all families would want to be part of some band, and banishment was considered a very serious punishment. Bands would usually have strong ties to their neighbours through intermarriage and would assemble together at different parts of the year to hunt and socialize together.

Inside the high school the culture of the people is portrayed on the walls and for this day it was in every classroom with paddle making, jigging, bead making and other stations to reinforce their culture.
Super quiet in this classroom as they concentrated
on the art of bead making.
 From Wikipedia:
Given the traditional Cree opening to mixed marriages,...bands are ultimately of mixed heritage and multilingualism and multiculturalism was the norm.  In recent years, as indigenous languages have declined across western Canada where there were once three languages spoken on a given reserve, there may now only be one. This has led to a simplification of identity, and it has become "fashionable" for bands in many parts of Saskatchewan to identify as "Plains Cree" at the expense of a mixed Cree-Salteaux history. There is also a tendency for bands to recategorize themselves as "Plains Cree" instead of Woods Cree or Swampy Cree.
 
So there you have your history and geography lesson for the day.

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Grocery Day!


 Yesterday was grocery day.  For most people (and we use to be like most people) getting groceries is an hour trip or perhaps even an after work quick run in, pick up and run home.  Not so anymore for us.  First we pack our coolers, plastic bins and grocery bags AND don't forget the grocery list!  We left right after lunch yesterday and drove for 1 1/2 hours to the nearest grocery store.  The drive was still pretty with lots of different shades of green and yellow along the way.  It is interesting seeing the pine trees turn yellow.
We arrived in Flin Flon, Manitoba and made our first stop at the coffee shop.  Coffee to keep Ron awake and a blueberry steamed tea to keep me warm.  Oh, so tasty!  Flin Flon has a Walmart, 2 grocery stores, a Canadian Tire and a Home Hardware and a downtown with a variety of different stores but sadly, no Tim Horton's.
Flin Flon (pop. 5,592 in 2011 census; 5,363 in Manitoba and 229 in Saskatchewan) is a Canadian mining city, named after a science fiction literary character, located on the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within Manitoba.
Taken from Wikipedia

Flowers of the provinces and territories.  This
would have been helpful for the Amazing Race
Canada finalists.

Canadian Shield Geography

After loading up with groceries from Walmart, Coop and the Bulk Store plus a trip to the Post Office we started on our way home.  Flin Flon is a community that has a Saskatchewan and Manitoba side and we have never been able to tell when we cross the border.  We know that when we hit Creighton we are definitely in Saskatchewan.  It is another community that runs very close to Flin Flon.
We arrived back home around 7:30 p.m.  Groceries were put away and a new list is started for our next grocery day which could be as soon as next week.  The winter time may slow our groceries down depending on the weather so I will be a little squirrel now and store things away.