November 23, 2008:
Not
a bad day; sunny, above zero for the most part, but a chilly wind later in
the afternoon.
Jenny stayed with us for a few days last week, then
we stayed at her place in Kelvington on Monday and Tuesday. That gave us a
chance to go to Greenwater for coffee Monday morning and Tuesday
afternoon. That was a good time, both times! We saw a lot of the faithfuls
including some of the Park staff. What a great bunch of people!
The
Marina
has been frozen over for a long time, and there was a lot of ice on the
south part of the lake, but the main body is wide open. I asked Millers to
e-mail me when it froze over completely so I can keep my chart up to date.
In 1999 it didn’t freeze until the 30 of November; in 2001 it was Nov.
25, but otherwise it was always frozen on or before November 16. My dates
go back to 1992.
Gordon
Davidson, of Bjorkdale, is one of those Ever-Ready bunnies that just
won’t quit. When Evelyn and Don Naylor were married, on November 7,
1958, Gordon and his band played at their dance. When they celebrated
their 25 anniversary, again Gordon played for the dance. They celebrated
their 50 anniversary on November 8 this year, and guess who played for the
dance? Yep, it was Gordon again. I learned this at coffee on Tuesday from
Don’s sister, Shirley Miller, but wish I had asked who the other members
of the band were.
There wasn’t much ice or snow in Saskatoon when we
left here Sunday afternoon, but when we got to Grimson’s, the ground was
covered with snow and the country roads were sheer ice, including
Grimson’s driveway. When we got to Kelvington, it was the same, lots of
snow and ice, and again at Greenwater. We gave our new winter tires a real
test, and they came through just fine.
When we got back to
Saskatoon
Tuesday evening, there wasn’t’ much snow, but it started early
Wednesday and kept it up most of the day. Lots of ice, but the City was
salting and sanding the important intersections and traffic moved pretty
well. By Thursday afternoon much of it had melted away.
Did you see that tribute to Wendel Clark at
Toronto
Friday evening? Pretty nice! They retired his jersey, Number 17, and
hoisted a banner with his picture on it up to the rafters along with other
super heroes of the game. Some clips from Wendel’s games were shown,
including goals, fights, and heading for the dressing rooms. Wendel’s
wife and three kids were there with him; we looked for Alma and Les, but
didn’t see them. I’ll bet they were there somewhere. Altogether, a
very nice tribute to a tremendously popular and successful hockey player.
Our
fourth great-grandchild was born at about two AM Thursday, November 20.
Atticus Ren Kopchuk-Swan, a beautiful, healthy and alert-looking little
guy was born to Randonn Swan and Sean Kopchuk, our grandson (and first
grandchild). They live in
Moose Jaw
. Sean’s mother, Sandy, was visiting at our place and got the word about
three AM. We managed to restrain her until Friday morning, but she left
before lunch.
This morning, she e-mailed us some pictures. We
picked up Lucille and dashed down to
Moose Jaw
to see him for ourselves. He looked even better than his pictures! Of
course, dozens of pictures were taken of the baby with his parents,
grandmother, great-grand aunt, and great-grand parents. He slept
peacefully through it all, so shouldn’t have been blinded by the
flashes.
Since Aaron’s baby,
Logan
, had outgrown the family cradle, we had brought it to
Saskatoon
and
Sandy
took it to
Moose Jaw
. More pictures! Taryn Braxton, Logan and Ren (easier to say than Atticus)
are the sixth generation to be rocked in that cradle.