Busy days!

We have had 3 very busy days around our household. Gramma's two sisters, Esther and Helen came to visit. They had not been together for 7 years so it was so exciting for them despite the fact that Helen was very nervous about flying from Saskatchewan. Esther and her two daughters drove by car from B.C. on Sunday. They all stayed here and when you have elderly people around, everything moves in "slow mo" and being able to get to the bathroom is a huge priority! Helen is a single gal with a servant heart - she has helped all her brothers and sisters in their homes at one time or another throughout her entire life and now she still lives by herself in her little apartment. I love pampering her when she is here and she loves it too. So every morning, we would decide what she was going to wear (decision making becomes harder and harder as you get older) and then I would do her hair. She is a sweetheart. Esther has worked so hard all her life with raising 10 kids and taking in a foster child. Now she is living with her daughter and has to be helped with things although she does quite well. She knits these little dish cloths that I just love so she was busy doing that while here. And I am using the one she gave me. I love it. They both use walkers and still can get around that way. They have seen joy, sorrow, hard times, happy times and sad times in their life and I honor and appreciate them so much. God has been their strength throughout all these years and still is. It was so touching when we brought Esther up to see Gramma at the Home. I can't explain it in words but you could see the love connection of these two sisters right away. I couldn't hold back the tears. The four sisters that were in that family lost their parents when they were very young and had to be raised by the older brothers and their wives so in those years, they clung to each other and were very close all their lives. I just can't imagine what that was like to lose your parents that young. My heart hurts for them and what they missed. But their faith in their Heavenly Father has brought them through all this and they have a sweet, sweet spirit. I learn alot from them. And the best thing is they are still learning. They love to play Scrabble and had a game every day they were together. I just think that is the best!!!!!! It was a blessed time for them and for us.

I'm done!!!!

Whoohoo, I finally finished "SCRAPBOOKING" our trip to Hawaii. It was fun but I sat for many hours cause I wanted to get it done before all this company arrives and I want to take the two albums to my sister reunion in August. And every comment and picture was just reliving the whole experience. I am so glad to be done.......but much more fun doing this type of thing in a group I think! Company starts arriving Sat. and continues pretty none stop until the second week in July. Then Larry and Irene come around the first part of August and I am so looking forward to that, just visiting with them. I get so lonesome for them sometimes. Then my sister reunion and then our precious grandson from down south comes for a couple of weeks. And in between we get to have our other grandchildren that live right here in the city come to visit every once in awhile too!! What a fun-filled, busy summer!

Nice Day......

I asked my better half what he wanted to do for this Father's Day weekend. He thought he might like to go to the Car Show in Wetaskwin.....however when we got up this morning, he decided that he didn't necessarily want to do that so he said that we were going to drive out west via Bragg Creek and then do the Highway 40 circle.....so that is what we did. Took a picnic lunch and took off, of course stopping by Timmies for coffee....mmmmm, that first sip of that coffee is so good!!!!! We picked up some Homestyle Bacon and Egger's at the A and W. The day was sunny and the trees were just so green from all the rain. The mountains take your breath away. It was beautiful. Stopped at the Kananaskis Lodge, took some pictures and continued on........drove to Cat Creek, had our lunch there, took more pics and then carried on to Longview, Turner Valley, Black Diamond and Millerville. The creeks and rivers are running pretty high....Millerville Farmer's Market was cancelled due to the road into the Market being washed out!!! It isn't as bad as last year but some of the residents of these towns are a little nervous. It was a great day and now we are watching the Oilers and Carolina play hockey and having steaks for supper. My friend from Edmonton was supposed to come tonight to stay here til Tuesday but opted to stay at her sister's cause she thought we weren't going to be home until tomorrow. Anyway, tomorrow we decided to go to Okotoks for church as it is Jared's confirmation, Jarle and Judy's anniversary, Nat's 50th birthday and Father's Day so they have alot to celebrate. Judy wanted us to stop by which we might do as they are having an informal get together to celebrate everything. We haven't seen them in awhile as they have been in Saskatchewan on the farm doing some seeding, etc. The next few weeks are going to be busy at our house. We are getting company from Kelowna possibly (Aunty Esther's daughter wants to bring her out to see Gramma. They would probably be here about a week), Dave and Donna are coming the last few days of June, then the following weekend, some relatives from Saskatoon are coming out to stay with us. So it goes.......the Archies B n B is up and running........

Scrapebooking!!

Today it is raining outside and is supposed to rain all day!!! So that means that I can't work out in my garden so I have all my tools (my scrapebooking tools, that is!) laid out on the dining room table and it is warm and cozy inside and I am about to scrapebook to my heart's content. I am going to do an album on ..... guess what......yup.......Hawaii!!!! That way, instead of carrying around 4 packs of pictures, explaining them each time, a person can just pick up the album and take a little tour!!!! I have done this with reunions, weddings, etc. and it is fun, so fun. My girls did an album couple of years ago for us and gave it to us at Christmas. And the thing about the albums these days is that you can add pages and update them. What a wonderful gift and so interesting. I love it. So if you don't hear from me in awhile.........well, you will know the reason!!!!!!

I want to be there even more!!!!

They called this afternoon from Sue and Eric's and they were having a BIG BARBEQUE in their back yard with everyone including my brother, my sister-in-law, my niece and her family and then all the rest of our family. The kids were having fun in the little pool, Nanc and Wayne ran out for hamburger meat and I just wanted to be there even more!! They had just finished a photo shoot with Larry and Irene and fam and of course they were in Fergus to attend the Convention as well. So now you guys, I want to see pictures and details, O.K.? Love you all. I spent a very pleasant afternoon with Margaret out on their beautiful acreage. Guess what I brought them for dessert? A lovely, juicy, fresh pineapple of course!!!!! And we had part of ours for supper. Yummy!!! We ate so much in Hawaii. Until next post...........

I want to be there!!!

I want to be there - having coffee with my girls!!! They are all together this week just having a good time. I am so glad. The kids can play together and they can talk mommy talk now that Nanc is going to have a baby next Jan. I want to see Nanc and Wayne's house - Sue said it is so cute! I want to go shopping with them too. By the way, I gave Nanc my order from Bath and Body. I am thinking about you all right now. You are probably still sleeping. Have a great day! Love you so much. Blessings.

It's raining......it's raining!!!

I love the rain.......it makes everything smell so clean.......and especially now when I have just planted my containers and flower beds.........We made a little patio this year for our discussion bench...I refuse to call it a gossip bench.......it is under my lilac tree and the grass did not grow there so we cleaned it up a bit with sand and blocks. Looks ever so much better!!! The lilac tree is higher than the house and it is special because it came from my mother's garden many years ago. The little runners that come up every year drive me crazy but I would not get rid of it. The smell from the blossoms in the spring is just out of this world and the birds love to chatter together in the branches!!!!! And their chattering gets even louder when an enemy comes to visit......the magpie!!!! They have, of course little ones in a nest in the bird house and boy do they get mad at that particular bird!!!!! I guess it is going to continue raining tomorrow as well. It is cozy to hear the droplets hitting the house and know that the coffee is on and there is a good book sitting nearby..........and to top it all off, two little girls fast asleep in bed at Gramma's house!!! What could be better than that!!!!!!

Back to Reality!!!

It has been a week and a half since flying back from Oahu, Hawaii and I really didn't want to leave!!!! I could have stayed another two weeks easily. I can see where friends of ours go for a month at a time and still want to stay longer. I miss the mornings having breakfast on the lanai, the sound of the surf, the flowers - brilliant and beautiful, the air - balmy, the breeze that cools and the people, gracious and friendly! And yes, even Garth - our resident gecko in our cottage. He would wake us up in the morning with a sound almost like a cricket and we would see him peek his head out between the crack in the ceiling! I even was able to get a picture!!!! It freaked me out a little the first time I seen him but they told us that geckos eat pesky insects (almost like our Saskatchewan dragon flies!!!!) and are considered good luck if you have one living in your house. So he was a friend!!! (I did empty our my purse one day just to be on the safe side!!!! I didn't want to open it up and see him peeking out from there!!!) We ate shrimp, mahi mahi fish, pineapple, mangos, papayas, even tried mashed taro root called poi (yuck). It is a staple in Hawaii - they even have it at MacDonald's like apple pie!!! And of course, macadamia nuts which are just too yummy!!! Another thing that we just loved was pineapple whip which is a little like frozen yogurt and it was very refreshing and to top it off, it was low fat and not that many calories!!!! We walked and walked and walked, downtown, the beach and if we didn't walk, we rode "the Bus"!!!! Their bus system is excellant!!! And we sat in the park just watching people - families, newlyweds, grammas and grandpas. We would think of our families back home and think how fun it would be to all go to this island someday!!!! We were on the 11th floor of our condo in Waikiki and every morning (like 6:00 A.M.) we would be out on our balcony having our coffee and poor fellow that moved very slow but had his grocery cart and all his belongings would come and make a little bed under a tree and go to sleep, obviously didn't have a home to go to but considered the park as his home. The second week we had a car so we explored the island from one end to the other. It is beautiful, hiked up to some falls at Waimea Park on the North Shore, saw the surfers ride some huge waves there - they are very dedicated these surfers - they go from morning to night riding the waves!!!! Sundays, we went to a church on the beach which was so interesting and inspirational. This particular group have been there in front of the beautiful Hawaiian Hilton Hotel for 35 years singing, speaking and sharing just a simple message of faith, love and hope in Jesus. We enjoyed it so much. I could go on and on about our trip. Did we enjoy ourselves? How can you tell!!!! We would go back in a heartbeat!!!! Aloha!!!!