HAPPY NEW YEAR

I have taken a holiday from blogging!  We spent New Years Day in Estevan and took in the Bruins versus Weyburn Redwings hockey game.   We were happy to see the Bruins win and went for supper at Boston Pizza to celebrate.

I intended to stay home tonight and work on my blog while Alan went to the Bruins game in Estevan with Gerry.  But when I found out that Abbey was curling in an 18 and under bonspiel in Estevan, I decided to go along and watch that along with Clare and Jodi.  It was tight game and ended up with a draw to the button tie breaker and Abbey's team won!  It didn't start until 8:30 and was an eight end game so we just got home not long before midnight.  I will finish this blog tomorrow but publish what I have tonight.  See you in the morning.

These pictures are from the Senior Dinner at Frontier that Alan and I were able to take part in on Wednesday before heading home after our trip out to Calgary.

A "mens table"

The other "mens table"

One of two "ladies tables"

Sandra joined us for dessert

Visiting with Brian Winters and Helga Svee

The crew of volunteers who served that day

It's time to hit the road!

It's Saturday afternoon so I better keep my promise and finish up this post.  We slept in this morning after our late night out.  It was our first night under our new electric blanket and we both had a great sleep.  I like warm covers. Alan doesn't. This way we can have the temperatures that we want with dual controls.  Perfect!

Now to catch up.  We left home on January 6 and went as far as Gull Lake, SK where Alan's sister, Donna and Cam Lock live.  We spent two nights with them, a very relaxing visit.  They usually spend the first three months of the year in Palm Springs, but due to health issues for Cam their plans changed this year.  With the low value of our Canadian dollar, it made the decision easier!

On January 8 we drove to Calgary, a foggy trip that ended in sunshine as we got closer to the city.  We spent that night at Nancy and Trevor's.  On Saturday we were off to Ben's hockey game, coached by Alan's son Derek.  We spent the night with Derek, Jackie, JJ and Ben.  We were up early the next morning to watch JJ's game at 7:45!  It was minor hockey week in Calgary with  teams from Calgary and area taking place in a tournament that is advertised as the largest in the world!  Next we went to watch Ben's team play but had to leave after the second period in order to get to Cochrane to watch Bram play Soccer at 1:30.  He has been playing soccer since he was three years old!  In February his team will be travelling to Phoenix to take part in a tournament there.  We spent a second night with Nancy, Trevor, Bram and Holly and headed to Frontier on Monday morning.

We came past Cypress Park and on to the Sanford farm where we spent that night.  Sandra had left her Christmas decorations up so it seemed like Christmas all over again.  (Alan was glad that she didn't serve lutefisk!) We relaxed in their new Lazy Boy furniture.  Here's a picture of three of their grandsons enjoying it over the holidays.

 On Tuesday Sandra went to work in the afternoon and Merle had a council meeting.  We enjoyed a visit with Caroline and Reed Miller and then in Frontier with Ronnie Bakken.  His wife Linda was also at work.  We went to the Inn for supper, then off to Alan and Judy's for the night.  We also got to visit with their grandson Draven who is taking grade 12 at Frontier School.

After breakfast on Wednesday morning we visited Clifford Thoring, whose wife Edna was a favourite cousin of Alan's.  The three of us went for dinner to the Senior's Centre where groups of volunteers serve dinner for seniors who are 70 and over most Wednesdays from October to March. This all started several years ago when two local women talked about what they could do for seniors in their town. Several groups each serve three times during those months.  The Home Ec class from Frontier School takes four turns as they learn food handling, preparation and serving.  They introduce themselves so the seniors know who they are and "who they belong to".   We qualified to join the seniors and knew most of the people there!  It's the younger generation who are strangers to us "old folks".

We headed for home around one o'clock.  We ran into rain around Ogema but it let up shortly after we crossed highway #6.  We got groceries at the Co-op and then met with Clare and Abbey for supper at Joey's Only.  It was snowing when we came out but roads were good and before long we were back to "home sweet home". It's great to have a holiday but it's also great to get back home again!

Now and update on our greatnephew, Rhett Sanford.  He had more surgery on Monday, January 11 to fuse vertabraes 2,3 and 4 after his accident on April 24.  The surgery went well with bone taken from his hip as well as metal pins put in.  He is back wearing  a halo and is walking a bit but can't bend his head forward so can't look down.  He will be discharged from hospital in Saskatoon on Monday but is to stay in the city for another week.  Fortunately, Ronald MacDonald House is just across the street with minimal cost for a large hotel like room.  Here's a picture of Rhett and sister Katie.  She was in Frontier last week so they are happy to be together again.

Tomorrow is Sunday so we'll be back to worship at Trinity at 9:00.  It's our turn to bring a snack for our coffee fellowship so Alan made cookies yesterday, a first for him.  Grandson Bram was selling cookie dough as a fundraiser for his soccer team so Grandpa bought a pail of Chocolate Chunk.  They turned out great but they are a bit sweet for Alan so he'll share them tomorrow.

Tomorrow after coffee fellowship we will go to Estevan as Dawson is playing hockey there at 2:30.  Kirk's will be there to watch the game too.  The grandkids got to watch a Pats Game in Regina over the holidays so I'll end with a picture of them at that game.

Enjoying the game from a box!