VALENTINES DAY 2020

I started this blog shortly after my 68th birthday, now ten years ago!  In 2010 I published 93 blog posts, last year just 13!!  That's been about one a month.  So far I'm a big ZERO for 2020 so it's time to remedy that and put out the first one for this year, albeit in February.  I'll start with a picture taken on my birthday this year. We save our Valentine and Anniversary cards in a special box that Marilyn and Ray gave us on our wedding day.  I decided to decorate the wall behind our kitchen table with those cards. The flowers came from Kirk's and the vase is a pink Royal Lace pitcher that was my Grandma Erickson's.  The Happy Birthday bag came from the Salvation Army when I bought some sheets to use for backing in our quilts at Trinity.

I have wanted to visit Watrous, SK where there is a spa with water that is advertised as "Canada's dead sea".  The mineral content of the water is such that it is easier to float on it than to walk in it. Alan was agreeable to go and booked a two-night stay, Feb.12-13, at Manitou Resort and Mineral Spa with 102 hotel rooms, dining room overlooking Little Manitou Lake, a poolside cafe and a gift shop that includes clothing (winter wear went on sale at 40%off on Feb. 14!)  It was an ideal place to go for a little winter break when the temperature was -24º C on our drive up. We do things differently - going north for a winter break, not south! On a positive note, the sun was shining and the roads were clear.

The spa area has three pools labeled hot, warm and cold.  We were advised to spend only ten minutes in the hot pool, then ten in a cooler one in order to avoid health problems. Seniors like us were in abundance and soaking was more common than swimming or even floating.

We left there on Friday afternoon and went to Regina for a "dinner date" at 7:00 pm with Marilyn and Ray Scheske, who were the attendants and hosts of our wedding five years ago.  We had an anniversary dinner at The Lakeshore where we also had our wedding dinner on February 14, 2015.  It was also a birthday celebration as I turned 78 on February 10, Marilyn on February 16, and Ray turned 80 on February 20.  (Alan has to wait until May 21 for his next birthday!) It was also Valentines Day, so a great day to get together.

Marilyn, Elaine, Alan and Ray on February 14, 2015

It was a great "getaway" but it's always great to be back home after having a relaxing few days away with safe travels.

Now I need to go back and update events since my last blog post!
The end of December saw us in Saskatoon where we attended the Junior Provincial Curling playdowns where granddaughter Abbey Johnson competed with Team Ackerman.  They made it to the final game which came down to a last rock decision as to which team won the right to represent SK at Nationals in Langley, BC. Team Ackerman lost out, but Abbey will have a second chance to represent SK, this time in the U18 provincial playoffs at the Granite Club in Saskatoon on March 25-29.  (We might be there too!)  She will also be in U18 Provincial Mixed Doubles at Humboldt on the Feb. 28th weekend.

Abbey is next to coach Kleiter

We also watched Jamie Johnson curl in Junior High and Lindsay in Senior High events in Estevan.  Jamie won two gold medals, one on a mixed team and one in mixed doubles.  Congratulations!

Jamie with proud Dad, Kirk

On Wednesday, February 26 we are meeting Lindsay and other family members for lunch in honor of her 16th birthday.  She goes for her driver's license road test at 10:30 that morning so we wish her well in that experience!  She has been doing lots of practice driving in cities so I think she'll do just fine.  (I'm just glad it isn't Grandma that's having to do the test!!  I took my test in Climax, SK back in 1958, no parallel parking back then.)  Carter will join us on his lunch break from work at Nelson Motors with John Deere.

Eric is involved in hockey playoffs and provincials.  He scored four goals in one game, even better than in the two games that we watched when he scored a hat trick in each! He'll be 17 on March 8.

Ashley is busy preparing for dance recitals in the spring.  We missed seeing her concerts last spring so we will be sure to make it to some of them this year.  She will be 12 on March 2.

Dawson had his 19th birthday on January 22.  He celebrated at his hockey game in Assiniboia where he wears #19!  Here are a couple pictures.  He has this week off from classes in carpentry at Moose Jaw Tech.

Well, I have caught up a bit on my blog and will leave the rest until next month.  Thanks for your patience!  If you haven't already done so, add your email address at the top of this page in the space provided.  That way you will get a notice when there's a new blog post and won't have to keep checking or give up!

Tuesday is quilting day at Trinity.  Tomorrow is also Shrove Tuesday so I'm making pancakes for lunch, Vickie is supplying whipped cream and berries and Rose has a yummy dessert lined up.  Don't you wish you could join us?