Philgrim’s Blogress

If you see my lovely wife today, wish her a happy birthday.

And wish me success with putting together an edible birthday supper.

UPDATE:  Luke’s all over the supper, so I’m off the hook.

OLSON, RUTH OLIVE Ruth Olive Olson, of Camrose, Alberta, passed away on November 5, 2008 at the age of 91 years. She is survived by one son, Roger (Carol); four grandchildren, Kaele (Shawn) Rogers, Erin, Rachel and Michael; five stepgrandchildren, Dolores (Ken), Joe (Marg), Terry (Jean), Elise (Ernie), Dale (Sally); numerous step-grandchildren and step-greatgrandchildren; one brother, Phil (Gladie) Sollid; one sister, Esther (Alan) Danielson; five sisters-in-law, Arna Sollid, Ruth Sollid, Helen Olson, Esther Tjosvold, Irene Archibald; numerous nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. She was predeceased by her first husband, Benjamin Olson; second husband, Maynard Olson; five brothers, Conrad, Lawrence, Orvid, Ken and Art. A Funeral Service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, November 9, 2008 at the Rock of Ages Lutheran Brethren Church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. …

… etc. (full obituary can be found here for a limited time.)

I’ve only seen Auntie Ruth a couple of times in the last ten or so years as she’s lived in Camrose, but I’ve got good memories of time spent with my cousin Roger at their house in Saskatoon when I was in my teens and 20s.

This picture was taken in the summer of 2007 when we dropped in for a half-hour visit on our way to Pigeon Lake.

Auntie Ruth was a truly saintly woman.

Peace to her memory.

It’s been over a week since we returned to P.A. from our vacation, and I’ve just not been motivated to blog about anything.

I plan to put together a picture gallery from our week at the lake, and will link to it when done.

Meanwhile, for now I’ll just say that it was hard to give up the cabin and return to work.

Here is a pic from the front (lakeside) deck of the cabin.

Once again we have the use of a friend’s lakeside cabin at Pigeon Lake for a week. We’ll depart early tomorrow, returning a week later.

Luke and Gerard need to work, so they’ll be keeping the house in tip-top shape while Janet, the girls and I are away.

I won’t be blogging while away, so things will be quiet around this space for the next week and a bit.

Janet, the girls, Gerard and I took advantage of the holiday Monday, combined with the fact that it’s the start of two weeks of vacation leave for me, to drive to Saskatoon. A few hours wandering down Broadway Avenue, taking in some of the sights and sounds of the Fringe Theatre Festival – no paid admission events, but some street performers, buskers, and cool stuff for sale.

(click the above photo for a handful of photos – Gerard didn’t make it into any of them)

We had a fine supper at Earls, then hit the road back to P.A.

A nice relaxing day.

I took the day off work to spend it at Shell Lake. Glenn and Gloria and kids, the folks who co-own “The Quarter” with us, were spending a couple of days visiting with my brother and family. They were very gracious about having me, accompanied by Jennifer, Fiona and Gerard, crash their party.

We spent about three hours clearing trail, then knocked off for a couple of hours fishing on Little Shell Lake. I came back with six small pike, which we’ll fry up tomorrow. An excellent supper and a bit of visiting, then the 1-hour drive back to P.A.

Some people love city life, but I would gladly leave the city to move out to our land. Going to Shell Lake still seems like going home to me, even though I only spent the first 13 years of my life on that bush farm. If it weren’t for the hour-long drive to work each day, and the fact our kids wouldn’t have the French Immersion option available, I would seriously consider the move.

Ecole Vickers School held its annual awards night for kids in Grades 7 & 8 last week. We knew that Jennifer was on the honour roll and would be getting an “A pin”, and considering the solid marks she earns, we wondered if she might receive another award. However I must admit that I was a bit surprised that the award she received was for math. With our houseful of artists, I didn’t think that any of my kids had inherited my left-brain analytical gene.

~ Credit: Photo by Charlotte

(click on above photo for more)