A WEEK OF TRAVELING

It's been a month since my last update so I must let you know what we have been up to lately.

We decided to join the Bergum cousins at their annual get together at the Rosebud dinner theatre on November 10.  We met Joyce and Adrian, Carol and Larry, Sheila and Joel at the Newcastle Inn in Drumheller that afternoon.  We had driven to Donna and Cam's in Gull Lake the day before and had a good visit with them and their granddaughter Lisa, who had come from Saskatoon to help her Grandma with Christmas baking. The weather was iffy that morning with packed snow and icy spots in places.  We saw three semis in the ditch close to Medicine Hat but we were okay and made it to Drumheller by 3:00 that afternoon.  

We carpooled to Rosebud, about half an hour away.  We did some shopping (or looking) and then had a delicious meal served by students at the school.  It was hard to choose from the wonderful variety of desserts!  The play,"Caribou Magi", began at eight with an intermission and was over by ten. It was very will acted but it wasn't my favourite Rosebud production.  We headed back to our bed and breakfast and enjoyed an early 80th birthday party for Joel who was born on Dec. 13 and Adrian on Jan.1, just 18 days apart.

The next morning after a hearty breakfast we headed for Calgary and arrived at Nancy and Trevor's around noon.  After some tasty homemade clam chowder we headed out with Nancy to see where grandson Bram is working at Rec Room.  It's in the former Sears store at the Deerfoot Mall and what a place - two floors full of electronic video games.  Being a Saturday and a holiday it was full of youngsters trying their hand at all kinds of games.  We seniors didn't stay long!  Trevor had stayed home and had roast beef ready for supper and Holly joined us too.

Trevor and Nancy left the next morning to go skiing with his cousins and we made our way to the Max Bell arena where grandson Ben had a hockey game that morning.  It was about half an hour from their house. I don't envy the hockey parents aways contending with busy traffic!  Ben's team worked hard and ended with a 3 all game.  They play 75 minute games with no breaks off the ice and 15 minute periods.

We went back to Derek's, had pizza and the boys had studying to do - no holiday for them on the weekend as Nov. 11 was on a Sat.  Then we were off to a closer rink at 6:15 for JJ's game. They were the winning team, JJ scored his first goal of the season and had two assists earning him Player of the Game.  He picked a good night to do that as Grandpa Alan and I were there from Torquay as well as Grandma Elaine and Horst from Calgary, besides his parents and brother.  Way to go, JJ.

The roads and weather had improved so we decided to go home by Frontier.  We visited Sandra and Merle on Monday and Alan and Judy on Tuesday, after a stop at the Rec Centre for visits there. Alan sent Alan home with a box of books to read so he was happy with that.

 Jason and Marion joined us for Sandra's fresh cinnamon rolls on Wed. morning and then we headed to the Senior Centre for their senior dinner, which is served for all those 70 and over on Wednesdays in the winter, for a price of $7, delivered to your home in town if you need it.  Thanks for the pictures, Sandra.

Filling the coffee cups

Two lone men at this table!

Sandra was allowed to be a "senior" for the day!

Five more men here

The serving crew for the day

Carmen with the desserts!

What a wonderful service those groups provide for seniors, a lift in their week and a chance to share a meal with friends.  Alan and I enjoy getting in on these meals as we know most of the people there. Now we have joined the people who we once thought were old!  Perspective changes over the years.

After dinner we were on the road again and didn't need to stop and eat until we were back home by 7:00 (unless you count the kingsize  Eatmore bar we shared in Assiniboia.  It's good we have the same favorite!)

On Thursday I volunteer at the Torquay Library during playschool, then we were off to Estevan as I needed a haircut. I intended to catch up on my blog on Friday but I woke up that morning feeling tired and cold so I crawled under the electric blanket and spent most of the day there, coughing somewhat too.  I took it easy on Sat. too but felt up to going to service at Trinity this morning but we didn't stay for coffee fellowship that followed.

This afternoon Alan was busy switching channels to watch semi finals for the Grey Cup and curling on TSN.  Saskatchewan really came on in the second half but Toronto and Calgary won the Grey Cup spots for next weekends game in Ottawa.

This sums up the last week for us, a fun trip to connect with family and friends.  Alan is a long way from his family.  We plan to go out in January again when JJ and Ben take part in a city wide hockey tournament in Calgary.

It's time to do some cleaning and baking for Christmas so that will keep us busy for the next while!