Sunday Evening April 22

Homespun Harmonies at Midtown Manor, Estevan

I like to start my blog with a picture.  This one was taken on Friday afternoon when our group played for the residents at Midtown Manor in Estevan.  It was my first visit there and I was happy to see three residents that I knew. One was Bella (nee Weisgerber) Girard, who grew up in Torquay. She will be 90 this year, the first of her family to reach this milestone.  After our hour of playing, we were treated to coffee and donuts with the residents.  I met Stan Sjodin at our table.  I had heard Howard talk about him as Stan bought Tenold School back in 1947. The school was just south of our farm, was moved to Midale and became a family home.

I had supper with Howard on Friday, then we watched part of the Flyers vs Penguins hockey game and visited with Aunt Viola before I headed for home.  It was pouring rain, especially when I got closer to Torquay.  We didn't get as much at the farm.  Clare, Jodi, Abbey and her friend Chaylene arrived about ten as Clare couldn't leave Weyburn until the hockey game was over!  It didn't end the way that he was hoping as the Penguins were the winners.

We had a busy day on Saturday.  Jodi and the girls had the job of cleaning out the drill boxes.  I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture of them in action with their coveralls and even skidoo suits as it was quite chilly in the morning.  Clare was making sure all the machinery is ready to go, charged some batteries and smoothed out some cuts in the fields with his big dozer blade.  He got the roto-tiller going for me so I could work up some ground for a garden and flower beds.  Michael was busy cleaning up dead branches  and leaves around the yard and burning them.  He put some logs in the firepit and fixed t-bone steak and baked potatoes the good old fashioned way over the coals. We were treated to quite a supper with a fresh salad, stir fried veggies and garlic toast (made with lots of butter mixed with freshly chopped garlic) to go with the steak and potatoes.  It's great to have a chef in the house!

Abbey and Chaylene went to morning worship with me.  They really enjoyed Pastor Bob's message and the choruses that he accompanied on his guitar.  Abbey was pleased that she could take part in the snacks that followed as she is allergic to nuts.  Vickie assured her that there were no nuts in her banana bread.  A package of cookies was labelled "Nut Free" so she enjoyed those as well.  She has learned not to eat anything if there's any chance it could contain nuts.  Jodi cut the lawn this morning.  She's used to that mower as it's the one that her mom had at the farm.  It didn't want to start yesterday but Clare got it going to day.  The grass was getting long in spots and she had to make a couple passes over some of it.

We came home and had leftover pizza that the girls helped make for noon lunch on Saturday. Wiener pizza is their favourite but we also made hamburger plus ham and pineapple.  Years ago I bought three glass pizza pans at the Co-op so we always make three at a time.  After lunch we headed for Estevan to take in the concert by pianist Audrey Andrist, who is originally from Estevan.  There is a family connection as she is a niece of Vivian and the late Glenn Vinge, who was Howard's cousin.  Audrey's mother, Shirley, is Vivian's sister.  We got to chat a bit with Vivian and joined them in the balcony for the last half of the concert.  It was a great place to be as we could see Audrey's hands as they performed so capably.  The second part was about 25 minutes long with no breaks and all memorized.  Audrey made it look so easy but we can only imagine the hours that went into the preparation and memorizing.  It's wonderful to be able to enjoy such talent as close as Estevan, thanks to the Estevan Arts Council.

We headed for Halbrite after the concert and met Clare and Jodi there.  Then I continued home, heated leftovers from our steak supper last night and now I am working on my blog.  Tomorrow I'll go to Crosby to pick up a tire for Clare and stop in Ambrose for the mail.  We've heard rumours that Torquay Port is one slated for closure so I'll find out if or when that is scheduled to happen.  We have been spoiled having a custom office just four miles from our farm and have made good use of it through the years.  Oungre Port is just fifteen miles away so that isn't too bad either.

We have three happy sons today after their favourite teams, Flyers and Bruins, won their games today.  The Flyers move on to the next round while the Bruins are in game seven.

I started with a picture so I'll end with two of the girls playing with the cats on the deck this morning.  Have a good week!  See you on Wednesday (or Thursday?)  The forecast for tomorrow is for plus 26 but then it'll cool off for the rest of the week.  Enjoy your warm Monday!

Abbey and a calico cat

Chaylene with "Tom"