Today was the kind of day we like to brag about to people from other climes. Warm, - up to 28º, - sunny, and a light wind. Helen and Vern Randall from Tisdale came over; we packed up a picnic lunch, and along with grandson Aaron spent the next three hours on the water. We pulled up to shore just this side of the old picnic table site in the shade of some birch trees, ate our lunch, and then just toured the lake. Heavenly!

There were lots of tourists, of course, lots of people on the beach, and boats in the water. Plenty of room for both, though.

Most people don't come to the beach until later in the morning, and aren't aware of the work that goes into keeping the beach nice. Before they get there, the Park staff runs over the sand with a harrow to freshen it, and once a week or so they will roto-till it to bring trash to the surface and keep it loose. I grabbed a photo of Pete on the harrows, but he kept his head down.

We have been checking our Saskatoon berry trees; what looked like a good set a couple of weeks ago doesn't look quite as good now, but there should be enough for a pie or two. We have some black currant bushes that looked promising, but then aphids got into them, and most of the berries are on the ground. Our gooseberries look good and will be ready to pick before long. We will be checking out the pincherries, chokecherries, and cranberries soon.

If berries have edible seeds and cherries have inedible pits, why aren't our cranberries called crancherries? Doreen says the commercial ones have edible seeds - are ours mis-named?

We were surprised that the saskatoons looked so good; we seem to get a real good crop about one year in seven. Last year was a good year so we put up lots, and now it looks as if we will be able to stock up again.

We had some surprise visitors from Wynyard. Lil and Marcel Fontaine, and Olga and Gordon Peterson stopped in for a quick visit. I don't think we have seen any of them since we left Wynyard twenty-two years ago. Very pleasant, but next time, stay longer!

Natural gas is coming closer and closer! Crews have been working from the Park to Chelan, digging in bright yellow pipe. I stopped and asked what size the pipe was, and was told it is three inches in inside diameter. That should carry enough gas! There is a large cat that carries a roll of pipe on the front and feeds it underground at the back, and there is another cat with a bulldozer blade to smooth out the ground behind the pipe layer, and to help it through tough spots. Then there is another crew with a directional drilling rig, and it punches a hole under the road when the pipe has to cross over. It doesn't look as if it will take long to get the big pipe in, but they said they wouldn't start the local distribution lines until after the summer season.

Finally, a few mosquitoes are showing up. They aren't very big, though, and are easily controlled with a baseball bat. Some of the old timers used to set out a tray of roofing tar. The tar would soften in the heat, a mosquito would step into the tar and get stuck, and the old timer would dispatch it with either a shotgun or a big stick. Of course, mosquitoes were bigger in those days.

At Fisherman's Cove, the swimming pool area is complete, the pool re-lined, and open for the hot July 1st weekend. Also open are the Tavern with off-sale. And on July 3rd, Elwood Prybylski and his crew finished laying sod in front of the new entrance. That really dressed the place up and took away the temporariness of a construction site. (How do you like that word? I just dreamed it up!)

Don't forget about Saskatchewan Express coming here on July 18th. They set up on the beach just south of the fringe of trees, and people sit on the gentle hill between them and the Beach Café. Most bring lawn chairs, but some sit on the grass. It's a great evening!