Saying Good bye

Yesterday my sister and I traveled north to Esterhazy. We helped lay our Aunt Irene to rest. Uncle Albert (my Dad's brother) had journeyed on a few years ago and according to her children Auntie Irene seemed to loose interest in anything.

My sister, Joanne and I were the only relatives from the Koch side to attend. Considering some live only 30 minutes away both of us felt very bad.

Aunt Irene and Uncle Albert had 10 children. They also raised one grand daughter. Bradley, one of their sons passed away in an accident in 1976 (the year I got married). I was right between Bradley and his older brother Robert in age so both were my playmates when we would visit.

I managed to get a picture of the remaining children, guess I should say grown ups now.

They are not often all in one place and it was wonderful to get to see all of them again and reconnect.

Saskatchewan is under an advisory for the next few days. There are many fires in the north of the province and the wind is sending the smoke every where.

Driving home from the funeral yesterday was terrible. There were times I could only see about 1/4 mile ahead, visibility was so reduced from the smoke.

About one half hour after we got home this is what it looked like.

I could not see the other side of the valley and at times the rather large condos below us were obscured as well.

Today is a bit better, but that could be due to the rain we have gotten today, and the wind changing direction slightly.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

It was extremely hot in church today. So warm in fact that it was very hard to concentrate on Father Brian's sermon. I did get bits and pieces however and that is much better than nothing at all.

The gist of his sermon was that God has his hand in everything. Every decision we make can be traced back after all we are given free will. I am sure there was more but the heat (we are sitting at almost 100 F right now and it is after 7 pm so you can just imagine what it was like earlier) is melting my brain and I can't think.

Our youngest son, Kris, relaxing after a hard days work on the fence.

This is Ray. Kris's rather large cat, that actually looks a pretty normal size here. He isn't though, mind you Harvey and I both noticed that he has lost weight over the past 6 months.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

"My" Kids

Back many moons ago, like 6, I started being the assistant in a classroom at another school from the one I had been working at. I never thought that I would be working with the same group of students for three years. That just does not happen in our system very often.

These students all have a piece of my heart (all my students do, but this group has a bigger piece). I grew to know their likes and dislikes, the problems that some of them faced in their home lives, laughed and cried with all of them, and watched them grow and develop into students heading off to their high school lives. 

This same group graduated this year and one of the girls (Shaina) got me a ticket to attend their Grade 12 graduation.

I had mentioned that I would love to see them all before the ceremony and a rather large group came back to the elementary school on the last day. I was fortunate to be subbing and so got to see them dressed for the formal after Grad.

Here is the group that arrived at the school (a couple came a bit late and a couple did not show up).

I even got thrown into the mix at one point.

I am the very short, slightly round person (can not for the life of me believe how tall the boys...guess I should say young men....have gotten) stuck in the middle. There were lots of hugs, some tears on my part, and best wishes for whatever they decide to do in the future.

"My" kids, all grown up and ready to start the next step on their journey. Love them all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Quick Update

Thought I would update all of you on the new fence project.

Day one, Harvey got the old wooden fence down in readiness for Kris to get home.

Day two, post holes dug and the posts cemented in.

Day three, the fence is about 3/4's done. Just a few sheets more.

Sunset tonight as a storm comes in from the north.

Tomorrow I hope to share with all of you some pictures of the students I spent 3 years with graduating. They even came to the school I was subbing at to get a picture with me.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Disappearing Act

I did actually have a post in mind for last night. I had it all composed in my mind, and then Kris arrived home.

Hmmmm, we visited and then I went down and visited the Grandcat (Kris brought his cat home with him). Gave Ray (the cat) a few loving pats, food and water, came back upstairs, got Kris to fix a few problems on the computer and just plain lost track of what I had planned. Then I went to sleep and woke up this morning with absolutely no idea of what I was going to say!!!

Whoa, I forgot to say why Kris came home. Well it is to help Harvey with the fence building and to his mind this fence will be done in two days (I don't think so) as he wants to go fishing on Saturday. We will see how that goes.

I will keep you updated on the progress of our new fence over the next while.

The next few days will see me working the afternoon at one of the schools. I can't believe I will be there on the students final two days of the year. The assistant I will be subbing for has a daughter graduating from the high school and has asked for and gotten the days off. Not complaining as it gives me time away from the fence building, and some pocket money coming in.

 I will be trying to put a post up in the morning for the next little bit, which is a big change from my usual (except on Menu Monday's) evening post. That way Kris can do the fixing of various bugs on the computer, and everyone will be happy. Especially me!!

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

Today was very thrifty. Stayed home, worked around the house, and just enjoyed a day where I could get things done. Love days like this.

Blogger is giving me a few problems, as I have tried to post and save this numerous times and gotten funny messages. Let's hope this goes through.

I worked on the prayer cloth for the school today and have managed to get most of the dove hand sewn onto the cloth. I am going to use some gold embroidery thread to make it stand out a bit more. Hopefully I will finish it off tomorrow. One more project done!!

I also finished up the little purple baby sweater I was knitting for our new family arrival.

This along with a pink and white baby blanket will make up my gift. I used yarn that I had in my stash so no money out of pocket.

The front door step flowers are coming along nicely.

Two of these hanging baskets beside the door. One on each side.

And one corner of the small deck holding yellow mini roses, yellow petunias, a mini bell petunia, and a chrysanthemum. Flowering items are taking off with this lovely weather we are having.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

Almost the end of the month, I will need to plan next months menus very soon!!

Monday

Clean out the fridge night. Lots of leftovers from the weekend that need to be gone.

Tuesday

Spaghetti and meat sauce. Serving this with a salad.

Wednesday

Soup and sandwiches. Harvey and I need a lighter meal this week.

Thursday

Baked Spaghetti, and salad.

Friday

Cod, served with rice and peas. Probably another salad as our lettuce is starting to grow.

Saturday

Chicken Breasts, rice, and a veggie. Hoping to make a dessert as Kurt and Kris will both be home.

Sunday

Pork Roast, roasted potatoes, carrots, and a relish tray.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.