Don's Birthday

Don's birthday was full of random fun. Started out on the driving range. Always fun to hit balls!

Don played with the Grand Kitty Baby at Aaron's apartment. Then to Yvonne's new deck to be a horny Viking. Whose to know what 55 will hold?

Ended up with supper in the deck at Santa Lucia Pizzeria. Yummy food. Enough for two meals!

Happy freedom 55 birthday Don!!

Drive away those frustrations.  Live long!

Baby intrigued with Don's shoelaces.

Baby in her house that Aaron built.

You just never know where and when you might see a viking!

Rhayne and Aaron toast Don's birthday.

Panorama shot of Don and his girls.

Meechelle and Ron's Wedding

A beautiful day for an outdoor wedding greeted us all in Warren. Couldn't have been a better day to unite two wonderful families!!

Meechelle coming down the aisle with her mother, Vyra, and father, Waind.

The wedding party in front of the Sixties 'Stang.

Meechelle and Ron with Mee's granddaughter Shayen

Jessica and Ryan (Ron's kids) and Kelley and Michael (Mee's kids)

Ron and Meechelle outstanding in their (neighbours) field!

Preparations for the big day?!

The ceremony held on the deck.

The three siblings and their spouses.

Connie and Marvin, Wanda and George, and Waind and Vyra.

Which sibling is this?  Waind?!  Wanda??  Connie!!

Framed! - Marvin and George.

Reminiscing over the original sale of this Chrysler.

Sold in '68 by George to Ferris, then Waind restored it.

The wedding photographer, enjoying a break in the vintage area.

Gorgeous vintage cars were the backdrop for guest photos.

A Great Lake Day

The weather has been a little cool. We waited until after lunch then went for a ride on the pontoon boat. We drove along the shore to Lobstick Bay. Then through Reed Narrows to Regina Bay and then back home under the Sioux Narrows Bridge. A great trip.

Brekkie at the lake.

Wonderful hostess and cook, Donna.

Getting that fabulous snap on the lake!

"Best investment I ever made," states Donna of her pontoon boat.

Water-lilies in bloom.

Large patch of water-lilies in the reeds.

Under the bridge at Reed Narrows.

A little cool, but still enjoying the boat ride.

Gorgeous island - one of many on the Lake of the Woods.

Coming up to the bridge at Sioux Narrows.

Craig relaxing and reading in front of the cottage.

View of the 'cabbage' (cabin/cottage) and boat house from the lake.

Sioux Narrows

Drove to Donna and Craig's cabin in the Lake of the Woods. We love coming here. So peaceful!

Saw a doe and her fawn right near the cottage. You could see the fawn's spots very clearly. Later Don saw the two of them drinking in the lake right beside the boat dock. Nature right on your doorstep.

We went for a drive and stopped at Dryberry Creek and Dam. The road in has been blocked off, now you have to walk in over large hummocks to get to view the lake.

For a snack Donna made hot pepper pleasers (aka poppers). I had bought the hot peppers from Hutterite ladies at the Cypress farmers market. They were very hot!!

Check out the spots on this cutie.

Doe and fawn lunching around the cabins.

Checking us out before high tailing it into the bush.

The traditional trip down to Dryberry Creek.

Donna and Craig reminiscing.

Hot pepper pleasers and spicy salsa heat up the boys!  

(Notice there are no peppers left on the plate!)

Aaron's new addition

Here is a photo of my Grand Kitty. Aaron got himself a pet. A real cutie. Perhaps she is a Tonkinese as she has blue eyes and grey tips on ends of ears and paws. A real cutie!!

My grand kitty - Baby!

Carding the New Fleece

If people today understood how time consuming making a woollen garment was they would never throw clothes out!!

I began the process of carding and spinning the new fleeces that we cleaned at Lisa's last week. There are a lot of seeds and small pieces of straw in the fleece that have to come out. I pick through the fleece by hand and then I card it on carding brushes, roll it into rolags, and then spin it.

Each small rolag chunk of fleece takes about 15 minutes to clean, card and spin. That doesn't even count knitting the yarn into a garment. Phew! I love doing it, but I'm glad I don't have to depend on this process to clothe my family!!

A pile of cleaned white fleece.

(About half of a full sheep's fleece.)

Loading the carder brush with fleece locks.

Carding to remove straw, seeds, etc. and to align the fibres.

Rolling the fibres into a rolag to get them off the carders.

One rolag ready to spin.

Leah and Aaron both moved

Don's flat deck one-ton truck has been getting a real workout this last month. Both the kids moved to new apartments in July. Aaron to the Osborne area and Leah to Wolsley.

Thanks to British helper, Gary, we got all Leah's items moved in one day. Later in the week we got her old apartment thoroughly cleaned.

Monkey likes Leah's new apartment because there are lots of windows to look out of.

British helper (friend of Lisa's), Gary, lends a hand to move Leah.

Gary and Leah moving furniture down 4 stories out the back door.

Hot, sweaty work!

Going into the new location, only up two stories.

Guess what this was, in its day?  

Relaxing in her new digs!

Rhayne and Aaron help celebrate the move.