December 2023

 Early in November, Mike, Len, Rob and I drove over to Calgary for a reunion with Lou and Marty. We had a great time, lots of good food, good music, good conversation, a lot of laughs and some tears, after all we took Tony with us. It was Carol's idea, we worried a little about getting him back to her but we worried about getting him back to her at all our other reunions so, nothing new. Our brother Lou came up with a line I am sure to use in the future. He recounted an event in Regina where we were at a hotel listening to our brother Marty perform on his keyboard, Lou was sitting with a friend who was bad mouthing some people, having had enough Lou finally stated, "Listen, I'm too old and I'm too tired too be hating anybody." He has given me permission to steal it.

Have a joyous holiday season

Loved

November 1 2023

 I have long been concerned about Deanie's hearing. Quite often in the morning it sounds like one of the planes leaving the Regina airport is buzzing the tree tops in the back yard but it is only Deanie drying her hair. For years she has been doing her hair with her favorite hair dryer, it has two rolls of electrical tape wrapped around the cord to keep it safe enough to use. It might have been designed by one of Boeing's jet propulsion engineers. You get the idea, it's not as big as a jet engine but it sounds like one.

So I talked to a hearing specialist and she told me how to test Deanie's hearing without her knowing, I didn't want to upset her, people don't like to be told they have bad hearing. The test was simple. I stood at the front door while Deanie was at the stove making lunch, this would favor her left side. I know my voice is sometimes hard to hear so I spoke in a clear voice at a normal volume, "Hey Deanie, when will lunch be ready?" Hmmm. No reaction. I would cross to the other side of the kitchen, favoring her right ear. Same volume, "Deanie, when will lunch be ready?" A slight movement of her head, did she hear? No answer. Moving to the counter across from the stove, spoken at the same volume, after all I'm quite a bit closer. "Hey Deanie, when will lunch be ready?'' My heart sank, no reply. I stepped in right behind her, how was I going to tell her she was losing her hearing, or maybe she already suspected. I spoke clearly but a little softer this time. "Hey honey, when will lunch be ready?" She spun around. Boy if looks could kill. "Don't honey me, I told you three times already, it will be ready when it's ready!" I better check this lunch for poison.

Loved

October 1 / 2023

 This is actually a pretty busy month. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees so there's a lot to do to get the yard ready for winter. We'll harvest everything from the garden in the next week or two. There's a bit of work to do on the house, I put in new front and back entry doors and have a little bit of touching up to complete them. It's a good month for thanksgiving, there's a lot to be thankful for from the first 9 months. Have a good October

Loved

September 4 / 2023

 Whoa! I dropped the ball this time. I believe it was the Rabbit who Alice heard express he was late for a very important date. I'm not only late, I missed the date completely. No excuses, other than my mind has been elsewhere.

Loved

August 1 2023

This one snuck up on me, so I haven't anything prepared. I'm very busy learning how to garden, I find the things I learn today are gone tomorrow, so I'm in a continuing learning loop. Deanie's green thumb is battling my black thumb and because we are getting some produce from our labors it looks like her thumb is greener than mine is black. All we need now is for the sun to keep shining and the rain to keep falling. The sun is quite dependable but the rain is much less so. It makes me much more appreciative of the Farmer's Market venders. Looking forward to August.

Loved

July 1 2023

 HAPPY CANADA DAY

"Another day older and deeper in debt"

We'll celebrate anyway. Carol is going forward with her trip to Scotland and Lou has received long awaited information on his condition and the steps forward. I would say 23 has been an interesting year thus far. There will be plenty of  celebrations across the country today, we can be thankful we live in one of the good ones.

 A toast to Canada!

Ed

June 1 2023

Normally this time of the year I'd be cursing the dead leaves, elm seeds all over the place, dandelions popping up as fast as you can dig them out, weeds vying for space in the garden, not to say anything about the heat. I'd be thinking about how much time it takes to get the yard cleaned up and the garden ready for planting, more hours in one week than 7 months of clearing snow and I'd almost be wishing for the first snow fall, yeah, a distant almost. Things are different this year, I remember the splendor of the landscaped hillside behind Deanie's brother's house in Lumsden and  I remember the beauty of Tony and Carols yard on Weekes Crescent, and after the funeral I can imagine people driving by Tony's place in Saskatoon wondering, "How the hell does that guy keep those stones from cluttering his driveway?"

To June

Loved