Another day...

So, today we're off to have lunch at the mall and do a bit of "looking" around. We're planning for an early supper of waffles and various berries and whipped cream!!! (Last night she had homemade chicken pie with mashed spuds, yams and banana cream or flapper pie. I just sit and wonder why I'm gaining weight)............Oh, back to today......and then we gals will go to the show while husband watches his hockey game.

Perhaps we'll get a chance to have another game of Yahtzee.

How one gets 5 Yahtzees in one game is beyond me......just ask Shannon.

One nice thing about Shannon and Todd's place....we open the bedroom window at night in February! Otherwise....she's hotter than Hades.....

It's good to once again hear the strains of popular music blaring from Brittney's room as she gets ready for the day......and hear Shannon's voice while I'm typing......it is good to be with ones children, if even for a short time. It rejuvenates me!

I hope the Lord's blessings will fall on you today as you go about your "weekend stuff".

We're off to see the lions...

Yes. IMAX theatre it will be in 10 minutes. They're showing The Lions of the Kalahari.

AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Thinking of it makes me miss my cats.....

And it's just as windy in Regina as it was the last time we were here!! Hang on to your undies!

Have a good nite...

29th Street West...

Enjoying a handful of dirt in the cabbage patch - 2yrs.
Mom and I at the front door....4 yrs.

Standing by dad's new Hilman....3 yrs.

Showing off new doll....4 1/2 yrs.

Same house today......nearly 60 years later....

The 100 block of 29th Street West was a good place to live. My dear "Auntie" lived next door with my Uncle Jock and cousin Eddie. He was their only child.....making ME their "next door daughter". With the pictures above, my Aunt was the designated photographer most of the time.

I remember more things at their house than my own I think, because I was spoiled, and there, I could do whatever I wanted. It was nothing to find me out in the garden with a handful of dirt, eating away. I can still feel the grit in my mouth when I think of it now and I remember thinking how good it tasted.

Mornings would find me entering their back door where Uncle Jock was making toast over the open wood stove. I would sit and have wonderful burnt toast with him....which I love to this day.... and maybe a dish of Auntie's canned peaches/pears/cherries, etc. Then off he would go to his work at the P.A. Jail as a guard just a half a block away

Uncle Jock smoked a pipe! Off I'd go to the living room where I'd check out all the ash trays for burned match sticks....which I would gobble whenever possible.....the blackened ends...not the whole stick. I'd try and get them into my mouth before Auntie would come and take them from me and wash my face!!

I'd make my way to my cousin's bedroom (if he wasn't there at the moment) and I'd look for the "View Master" in the bottom drawer and gaze into the wonderful three dimensional pictures of animals and flowers and "Mickey Mouse" and "Pluto". There was one picture though, that scared me to death....a huge Grizzly Bear standing on his hind legs with his teeth bared. I wanted to look at it, but every time I did, I remember screaming and dropping the whole viewing gadget and running like mad....every time. I was deathly afraid of that picture and yet, I was drawn to it like a moth to the flame....with the same consequences. Strange.

Auntie had a porcelain cat with a huge red bow sitting on the floor by the front window. It would get my full attention every visit. When I finished with the cat, I'd sit on the piano stool and call for Auntie to come and play and we'd both sing. She enjoyed playing Nat King Cole songs the most and we would sit and sing together........ "Mona Lisa", "Unforgettable", "Answer Me, My Love", "Stardust", good songs.........Both she and my mom sang all the time, all day long. Guess that's how I got to know all the old songs and learned to love singing.

One night in late fall we had a huge bonfire out back....those were the days when you could! Like the desire to view the bear in the View Master, I saw all those beautiful red coals and was drawn to them. They glowed so beautifully. I grabbed one. All I remember is my throbbing fingers and crying while mother attempted to put something on them....can't remember what but I can still feel the pain of that too. Strange.

Sundays I was taken (dragged) by cousin Eddie and brother Garry down the back alley to the Free Methodist Church where I was met by the pastor who helped me with my coat and mitts and boots. I recall telling him that I couldn't open my hand because my pennies for the offering were in there and I didn't want to drop them. Into the sanctuary we'd go, where people would be singing and clapping. I remember standing on the pew between cousin and brother and when we started clapping, I got so wrapped up in the rhythm that I forgot my pennies were still clamped shut by my fingers. So, while we sang, marched and clapped to "Onward Christian Soldiers". my several pennies rolled to the floor in time to the music. Such fun.

When I was 5 we moved again. This time to 25th Street West, same block. I was about to have a younger brother and we needed more room.

Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about "The Shack"....and I don't mean the book I've been reading either!!!

These tales are most likely boring you to tears...but I've never really written anything down about my childhood. Perhaps this will be the place to do that.....for a time, at least.

Have a good night.

F.I.F.T.E.E.N.

It's runners....
and heels.......
and make-up.....

and clothes.....

and her own creativity in art......

it's all expressions of herself......

A little girl........

Who has become a beautiful, young woman....

Today completes 15 years of living, of growing, of learning and becoming, for our dear granddaughter Brittney Elizabeth.

She's a wonderful girl. She's talented and smart. She's sensitive and caring. She's always thinking of others, and not herself. She's an "A" student and has her own summer job. She thinks for herself and is independent. She has her own bank account and debit card. She plays a sweet flute and slam-dunks a mean basketball. She swims and runs, she skiis and shops. She loves movies and watches old ones with her Grammy. She wears hip runners and elegant heels, fluffy sweaters and odd shaped T's, skinny jeans and hipster shorts, funky earrings and classy hair clips....she's a style all her own.

In my own not-so-humble opinion, she is a great source of pride for husband and I. We remember well, the day she was born and were so happy to be a part of that whole event.

What a total and complete blessing she has been to us for fifteen wonderful years.

May God watch over her and keep her safe and lead her life and give her hope. I pray her 16th year will be a special one for her where she will get a learner's license, and she doesn't get into an accident!!!

I love you my little "Sweetie-Weetie".....Happy Birthday from a Grammy who loves you soooooooooooo much...........oh, and don't slip in the shower!!!

I'm a pure bred Prince Albertan....

It was a cold December 11th in 1947 that I was born, right here in Prince Albert. Not too many folks my age can say that they've lived right here in P.A. all their lives. Many leave for various reasons - school, job, health, etc. But I have stayed right here, comfortably and happy.

Born in the old Victoria Hospital (where the present day YWCA stands), a week or so later I was brought to this home (above) on 20th Street East to live out my infancy. The house didn't have the little front porch that it has now, (I was told by my mother several years ago), and the yard was kept immaculately when mom and dad and my older brother and I lived there, (I was told by my father many years ago). The fence used to be a lovely white with cement steps up to the front door and dad had flowers and shrubs everywhere .

We lived beside some really great folks on that street too - Jack and Amy Hadley (the house to the right). The Hadley name is a well-known one in this city, as we are reminded when we dine at "Amy's on 2nd". THAT Amy is a niece of the Amy that lived beside us. Jack and Amy were great friends with my parents for many, many years.

I, of course, don't remember any of that house. I have no memories of it other than the ones mom and dad told me about. After dad returned from the war, there were very few houses anywhere to be had, so they felt fortunate to get that one, as tiny as it was. But dad could ride his bike to work or walk, as he was employed at "(Pat) Burns and Company", a meat packing plant, (later renamed to Burns Foods Ltd. and later still a business that "burn"ed to the ground and then rebuilt). It was situated at the bottom of 6th avenue - where Superstore now resides.

We had lived there on 20th Street, I think for maybe close to two years, when we moved to 29th Street West, right next door to my mom's sister and her family.

Maybe tomorrow, I shall tell you tales of my life on 29th Street West. I remember a great deal living on that street. Wonderful memories......and I was only around 2 years old.

Some people would think me weird, strange or even odd to admit that I have lived in Prince Albert all my 61 years. I feel quite fine about it, actually. Proud too. I think you make choices to live life right where you are and to enjoy yourself.

Yes. That is what I have done.

Tomorrow...."Tales of a Two-year Old"...

The summer of '76...

Don Frisk ~ Professor, Author and Fisherman

Little Miss Snodgrass....Waskesiu 76

Earl Dahlstrom, Ken Kent, Klyne Snodgrass

with 'The Catch of 76'

In 1976 Coveannt Bible College here in Prince Albert had an intensive learning session intended for Covenant pastors. They came from all over North America to be taught by some of the most learned people in our denomination. Among the elite of the Covenant Professors were Don Frisk, Earl Dahlstrom and Klyne Snodgrass (whose daughter is pictured above enjoying a day at Waskesiu Lake with her mom and dad).

Here we are, 33 years later. As I was looking at the agenda for the Mid-winter Conference for Covenant Pastors in Chicago, which has now begun just this evening, I saw a familiar name on the weekly schedule....Klyne Snodgrass. He will be the leader of three of the morning sessions at that Conference. He's very well known and respected in theological circles. Author of various books, professor at our Seminary in Chicago, and as indicated in the above picture, he also is a fisherman par excellence. Here's a little recent blurb regarding one of his many accomplishments since his Waskesiu fishing days:

"CHICAGO, IL (January 29, 2009) – Christianity Today has named Klyne Snodgrass’s book, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus, as the 2009 Book of the Year..."

The other fisherman in the picture with husband is Earl Dahlstrom - "Earl Dahlstrom (C’36, S’40) was professor of pastoral studies and theology from 1954 to 1979. He also served as the director of field education."

And the fellow in the top photo - Don Frisk. "Donald C. Frisk, Covenant Affirmations: This We Believe (1981)." Covenant Affirmations is the "required reading" book for new pastors in the denomination as well as those seeking membership into the Covenannt Church.

There are some days I just forget I have been in the presence of some very gifted and great men.....and husband is right in there with them!

Here's to great 1976 memories of learning, of fun and of fishing....in the rain!!!.....good times.

February...

It's a new month. The lovely, unpredictable month of February.

Minus 30C one day and plus 10C the next. Melting. Freezing. Slush. Ice. And wind.

This is the month of birthdays too, in our family. Brittney's on the 4th...Shannon's the 19th.

Wished we could be with them on their special days. Life is just too busy to visit them, with exams and things happening down there.

I pray for these two young women. I want the very best for them...just like God does. I can't imagine where life would be without them.:-)

So, ya, that's what February holds for us in our family. That and Valentine's Day.

Happy Love Month! I trust real, honest, true love will show itself to you in these next 28 days.