What a Week!

Laurel, Todd, Clare, Kirk
Howard, Elaine
March 29, 2012

Fun times with Uncle Todd

Last Sunday's blog never did get completed after part of it disappeared!  So I'll go back to last Sunday, our first full day with Todd.  He drove my Escape home from Weyburn on Saturday and it was great to be in the passenger seat for a change.  Howard was dozing when we got to St. Joe's but certainly woke up when he realized Todd was his visitor.

We had an early bedtime as Todd was still catching up on jet lag with the seven hour  time difference and lost sleep.  He was on the treadmill in the morning as it was on the cool side for an outdoor run.  After breakfast we were off to Torquay for the 10:30 service at Trinity. Todd was able to sit with his godparents, Bob and Phyllis Hurren as I was playing the organ.  Pastor Bob was the speaker. Todd got a copy of his message and enjoyed visiting with him and other Torquay friends over the coffee fellowship that followed.

Clare, Jodi and Abbey arrived shortly after we got back to Estevan. We had lunch together before going to visit Howard and Aunt Viola.  I stayed home to have supper ready for them after the visit.

Kirk's came in on Monday afternoon.  I don't think the kids minded missing some school to spend time with Uncle Todd!  Kirk had some cake left over from his 40th birthday on Friday so they brought that up to St. Joe's after our meatball supper at the house.  There was one problem, St. Joe's was on a brief lockdown and each resident was allowed only one visitor at a time.  We ended up going to the activity room to have our cake and visited Howard one at a time before it was time to leave.

On Tuesday Todd headed out to Torquay after visiting Howard in the morning.  He met with Daniel Daee and did a bit of recording of some of the songs that he is working on.  He and Clare also took some  videos in the area and made a quick trip to the farm.  Todd found his aluminum lunch kit and took it back with him to take to work at Swire's.

 I have a box of letters that my mother had saved over the years so we read some of those.  I gave Todd his birth announcement and the letter that I wrote to Mom and Dad after Todd was born.  There was a Norwegian letter from Karie, a cousin of Mom's.  The date on it was March 29, 1982 and we were looking at it forty years later.  That evening we had a lutefisk and lefse supper.  I had bought a package of fish in Crosby before Christmas but hadn't used it so this was the perfect occasion.

On Wednesday I roasted a turkey to have ready for the family gathering on Thursday.  It was good to get all the mess out of the way and the gravy made the day before.  Wednesday was a sad day as the funeral for twenty-eight year old Megan Fonstad was held in Oxbow.  The overflow crowd for the sevice at Oxbow School was estimated to be around 800 people.  Megan had chosen the songs and scripture passages to be read and had requested that root beer floats be served at the lunch that followed.

 Todd ordered the Smile Van to take Howard to the Mall.  They enjoyed coffee and visiting at the Homestead and Howard was treated to a "summer haircut".  He wore a brushcut for many years so didn't mind going back to short hair.  Todd and I enjoyed supper at Houston Pizza with Phyllis and Bob that evening.

Local churches take turns having a service at St. Joe's every Thursday morning at 11:00.  This week St. Peter's Lutheran Church was there.  We were glad to see Leo and Irene Freitag helping out with the music.  After the service, Todd shared two songs accompanied on the guitar.  One was "South East of Sixteen", the song that he wrote and sang for the 100th anniversary of the Johnson Farm.  Then he sang a special one for Aunt Viola who will be 95 in June.  It was a tribute to the pioneers with the phrase "They blazed, we followed" as part of the chorus. I think that should be the title of the song too.  Those words are the title of the Frontier history book.  Aunt Ruth had submitted that title when the book was being written and hers was chosen by the committee.

  Thursday evening was very special as our four children (plus three out of four spouses)  and seven grandchildren were all here for a fun evening.  Howard made his first visit to "my winter home" thanks to the Smile Van.  Kirk's were at St. Joe's when the van arrived to pick up Grandpa so Carter, Lindsay and Jamie rode along with Todd and Grandpa.  The others gathered on the steps to welcome Grandpa .  The nurses had Howard dressed up with shirt and tie for the occasion.

A welcoming hug from Jamie

Grandpa arriving for supper

Todd had brought gifts for each of the nieces and nephews from their good friends, Ruth and Rolf.  They enjoyed the Norsk chocolate bars and the key chains with moose sporting Norsk flags.  The kids all gathered around as Todd did some singing. Some of them have "Kelly Bob Rain" on their ipods so they surprised Todd by singing right along with him.  Then he did one in honour of my 70th birthday that he called "The Girl from the West" with music and lyrics by "Howardson", his recording name.

Opening gifts from Norway

Todd introducing "The Girl from the West"

Todd had an early Easter egg hunt for the seven nieces and nephews.  He brought the special decorated eggs filled with Norwegian candy and hid them upstairs.  Ashley thought it was so funny that she found hers in the bathroom.  I hope they still have some candy left by next Sunday!

Playing catch in the backyard

Ashley and Jamie with their special Easter eggs

Time for supper

All too quickly the evening drew to a close.  This time Howard and "my three sons" went back to St. Joe's together and the boys came back to the house in the Escape.  Todd went to Weyburn with Clare's for the night.  He and Clare went to the Regina airport in the morning and Todd flew to Calgary. The Ledene's met him there and they were off to Cochrane for Jenny and Troy's wedding on Saturday. By all reports it was a lovely wedding.  I hope to post some pictures when Todd and Kristy have a chance to send then once they are back in Norway.  They are flying to New York City on Tuesday to spend a few days there before heading home to Kristiansund.

It would have been dreadfully quiet on Friday when everyone left but I had Ashley to keep me company for the weekend.  Eric had a hockey tournament in Bismarck, ND so the Diekragers left early Friday morning for his first game at 2:00.

Ashley was my guest at our Ladies Luncheon in Torquay on Saturday.  Here she is in her pretty pink and white lace dress and gold shoes.  We had 75 ladies out on a beautiful spring afternoon.  March went out like a lamb!

When we got back, we visited at St. Joe's.  Ashley is a very popular visitor.  Here she is visiting Pearl Marcotte in her cosy room.

With that, I better end this blog while it is still Sunday.  I'd love to watch the Men's World Curling game on Monday morning as Norway is playing Canada.  But with the eight hour time difference, I think the game starts at 1:00 am so I think I'll pass on that game and hope that they meet again in the playoffs.  Good-night all, or good-morning or evening, whenever you are catching up on my blog.