May 6, 2007:

I’m writing this from Saskatoon , where we spent the weekend. Tomorrow, Doreen goes in to get her second eye “done”, so we spent the weekend driving around and sizing up housing. It’s pretty scary! Last fall when we were in, condos were normally going for about 95% of the asking price. Now its 110% and up! It’s amazing how little you get for $200,000 these days. One agent told us, though, that the supply is getting greater and the buyers fewer, which should result in an easing in prices over the summer. Maybe we are going to have to jack up the price on our property to be able to afford anything decent in the city.

When we got up last Monday morning, we thought the ice had gone completely. Then the wind changed, and it all blew into our corner of the lake. Wednesday morning, we thought we could see some slush ice floating around in the east part of the lake, but by evening there was no sign of it. For those of you who keep a record, the ice went out on May 2 this year. I have been keeping track for fifteen years, and the earliest was April 20 in 2000; the latest was May 24 in 1996. Normal seems to be around the end of April or early May.

The countryside is greening up dramatically! We went to Prince Albert on Wednesday and we could see it changing as we went. By the time we got home, our own trees were all budding; some even leafing out. The Red Deer River was running high and fast, but other waterways were down to a trickle, or not moving at all. We noticed one big seeder with ammonia tanks behind it sitting in a field, ready to go to work, but most of the fields looked far too wet.

No more action this weekend, either, but Saskatoon is lovely and green. We even saw some birch trees well leafed out, and they are usually later. Doreen spotted a fruit tree in bloom.

We finally met our brand-new great grandson! Two weeks old, and so advanced we kept expecting him to talk. We had a nice visit with Aimee, Al, and Taryn, too. What a great family!

There was a pot-luck supper at the Park Hall on Friday, to honor Richard Bloski and his new bride, Trudy. I was feeling poorly so we had to miss it but reports are that it was a great time. Welcome, Trudy, to the community, and we hope to see you at Coffee Row!

Which Coffee Row, by the way, is going strong. As mentioned, the Beach Café opened last Thursday, the 3. The Park maintenance crew is back at work too, so coffee drinkers fill the north tables in the café. They had their first smorg today (Sunday) but of course, we were in Saskatoon . There is another smorg on Mothers’ Day too, May 13.