END OF HARVEST 2013!

I found the above picture on Pintrest and like the quote from Anne of Green Gables.  October is a good month, even though this year's has been on the cool side.  It's a transition month to enjoy before the winter season is upon us.  It's sad to see that most of the leaves have now fallen but it has certainly opened up the view from my log house on the prairie.  I am rather closed in during the summer as the leaves on the trees surround the house and keep it well shaded and quite secluded from view.  My view is also restricted and I am enjoying the views from my windows again - the lights of neigbouring farms and oil sites, the traffic on the roads during the day, geese flying overhead as they begin their migration, a big owl screeching from his perch on a bare tree limb just south of the office window.  I am glad that I live in a country with four seasons and don't even mind the upcoming winter.  There's an end to work in the fields and yard which means more time to enjoy the comforts of indoors.  I'm looking forward to getting back to sewing quilt tops for Lutheran World Relief, and hopefully one for myself and for some of the grandchildren.

It was a great feeling to have the last of the crop gathered in on Saturday.  Some soybeans and late patches of flax were cleaned up and the combines parked for another year.  We likely won't see a crop as bountiful as this one for many years.  We have so much for which to be thankful.  "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow."

When we bought the Escape we traded in our pickup but kept the 1994 Mercury.  I have used it very little these past two years.  Last week I took it to a mechanic in Estevan to get it checked over and any maintenance done on it.  I'll pick it up on Wednesday with new tires, a new windshield and everything in good running order.  Ardis' car is in need or replacement so we'll take this one out to her early next month.  It will have to pass inspection to be licensed in Alberta so I hope there's nothing major to be done on it.  We bought the car from Gerhard and Bernice Grimsrud and it served us well.  It's now 20 years old so will soon be  an antique!

On Friday I enjoyed wishing a very special couple a happy 50th anniversary via the telephone.  It's strange how couples celebrating their golden anniversary now seem so much younger than my grandparents did when they had their fiftieth!  Perspective certainly changes with age, especially when a bride of fifty years is the same age as I am, five days younger in fact.  Myrna (Gilchrist) and Ernie Damm were married in Shelby, Montana on October 25, 1963.  I was attending university in Saskatoon at that time and wasn't able to attend, but Mom, Dad and Sandra made the trip from Frontier on a very windy day.  It was so windy that the windshield of Dad's car was pitted from sand after the trip.

Myrna and I are third cousins since my grandma Sophie (Stenson) Erickson and Myrna's grandma Helen (Munter) Welin were first cousins.  Now I don't even know most of my third cousins, or even second cousins but Myrna and I spent a lot of time together from the time we met at the age of ten.  My dad's great uncle David Munter was the one who brought us together.  He brought the Gilchrist's from Lohman, Montana (between Chinook and Havre) up to Frontier one Sunday on his search for relatives on the Munter side of the family.  He wasn't even sure of my dad's name but spotted him right away when they stopped to inquire at the Chinese cafe in town. That began a friendship that has lasted for over sixty years.  Ron and Lois, Myrna and her brother Eldon became true family.

 We did a lot of our shopping through the catalogue as that worked so well for Mom in her wheelchair.  Every spring and fall she would send orders for clothes for the six of us from Penneys or Montgomery Ward.  The orders would come to Havre, Montana and we would go on a "48" to pick them up.  (A stay of 48 hours in the US enabled us to each bring a certain dollar amount across the border without paying duty.)  We would stay those two nights at the Gilchrist's home in Lohman.  Ron worked for the railroad and they lived right by the tracks in a "station house".  Lois was a wonderful cook and we felt right at home with them.  There was ice cream in abundance along with homemade pies, cookies and other goodies.  Ron enjoyed entertaining the kids with homemade toys that he made to dance a jig.

Two "young couples" at Mainprize Park
Ernie, Myrna, Elaine, Howard

Mark, Craig, Ernie and Myrna
A visit with the Johnsons

Two "older couples" meeting in Williston
with our granddaughter Ashley

We have enjoyed staying in touch over the years.  Ernie grew up on a farm near Culbertson, MT so on their trips to visit family in that area, we would sometimes meet in Williston or they would come up to Torquay.

  Last winter I spent two weeks with them in Yuma. Last  summer I met them in Plentywood and we had lunch at Cousins Cafe.  On their 50th anniversary they met Eldon in Las Vegas and arrived back at their condo in Yuma on Oct. 25.

I Facetimed with Nora this morning and talked to Todd on the phone this afternoon.  They are excited to have Kristy's folks arriving from Brooks, AB tomorrow.  Their basement suite isn't rented out so the Ledenes will have their own space during the visit.  Nora gets her leg checked in two weeks so hopefully it will be healed and the heavy cast can come off.  It must be hard to keep her from standing on that leg.  Even the children at Barnehage are quick to let staff know if Nora is trying to stand!

Now the day is over and the Red Sox won their ball game so I'm sure that Kirk is happy that his team is back on even ground at 2 wins, 2 losses.

Enjoy this last week of October!