November 23

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers
who observe Thanksgiving Day this Thursday.

Sunday marked the end of the church year.  Next Sunday begins the Advent season leading up to Christmas.  This year has flown by!

Last week was a busy one with Alan's dentist appointment on Monday and our medicals on Tuesday.  We both have ongoing problems that call for healthy diets.  Alan has had type II diabetes for several years and I have chronic kidney disease.  I have no symptoms yet but the blood tests confirm this diagnosis.  It's a progressive disease but hopefully following a good diet will slow its progress.  I need to drink more water and cut down on red meat so we are eating more poultry and fish.  We both were taking statin drugs for high cholesterol but with Dr. Katie's permission we are going off them, watching our diets more closely and will have our blood checked in two months to see if we can do without them.

We have had colder weather this past week with below zero temperatures but no snow on the ground yet.  It will shorten the winter to have a snow free November.

We drove to Crosby, ND on Saturday.  It's not near as much fun to shop there with the Canadian dollar so much lower than theirs.  We have to add about 1/3 to the price.  We like the holiday pretzels so I picked up a bag for Laurel too and some cream cheese at 3 for $5. Their turkeys were on for $1.29 a pound but we aren't allowed to bring poultry into Canada because of a disease in some states.  I still have a post office box in Ambrose, ND and I will keep that even if the rent has gone up to $50 a year.

My Advent letter just needs one more edit. It started out as a 3 pager but I have shortened it to two.   I decided to order Christmas cards so they should arrive later this week.  Then I can get the mail off!

Abbey was in a Tim Hortons 14 and under curling bonspiel in Saskatoon this past weekend. The highlight was curling twice against the two sons of Clare's good friend, Orlo Drewitz.  Each team won a game so they are still friends!  

 Five of our grandsons play hockey and the sixth one plays indoor soccer so their weekends are busy with games.  So far we've just made it to one of Carter's games in Estevan.  Eric will play there on Saturday so we should make that one.  Laurel, Ashley and Eric may come for a sleepover after the game.

I went to Creighton Lodge on Sunday afternoon to play for their Sunday worship service at 2:45 led by Pastor Danny.  The big addition there is almost ready for use.  A new piano was being delivered today.  I heard that there is a seven year waiting list of people wanting to move there, over a hundred waiting for forty spots.  I visited with a resident, Kay Johnson.  She said that the meals are excellent, such a big factor in a seniors place.  They are prepared right there and not sent from a central kitchen in the city.

We delivered five Christmas Child boxes to Estevan last week.  This year some are going to the Ukraine (with special labels to mark those boxes) so we could add items for cold weather such as socks, mittens and toques.

I have some orders for flatbread so I better get at that soon.  I mix up four batches of the dry ingredients.  Once that is done it just takes an hour to make a batch and another hour to crisp it in the oven. 

I will sign off for now and be in touch again next week.  Have a good one.