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January 30, 2006

HISTORY TIME!

Well. Roy was invited by the Dryden Historical Society to give a talk about the beginning of the cable TV system in Dryden. He did a super job and the people who attended, anout 30 in all, gave him a big hand after! He, together with his partner, Phil Johnson, started the system in 1954. It was one of the very first ones in Canada!. He went into details about how the system was built--running miles of cable in all weather conditions and also against a lot of opposition from government bodies at times. Later when the satellites started broadcasting signals for TV, again Dryden Cable was definitely a pioneer. Roy and 3 other Canadians and 9 American satellite dealers went to Sri Lanka in 1983 and installed 1 dish at the University of Colombo and 1 at the home of Arthur C. Clarke. He is a very famous scientist and author.He wrote 2001, A Space Odyssey. I went on that trip too as did Shelby and Guin who were 11 and 8 yrs. old at the time. We had to stop off in India and the girls were horrified at the utter poverty in that country. It was a case of total culture shock.
Arthur C. Clarke wrote a paper in 1945 describing how satellites could be launched into space and used to broadcast signals for communications. He is known as the "Father of Satellite TV". The geo-
stationary orbit around the Earth is known as the Clarke belt.
What an experience that trip was! They had an enormous banquet in Colombo, Sri Lanka and also
some typical Sri Lankan dancing by men and women. We even saw some whirling dirvishes! The men dance and spin around so quickly that their feet eventually come off the ground!! At the banquet Arthur C.Clarke was following Dad around and saying, "Now try some of that, don't eat that!"
I made a big photo album and wrote all bout our trip--this was in the days of old cameras e.g. non digital!!
When Phil retired in 1985, I took over as the office manager and one of our biggest tasks was to put all our old book ledgers on to computer. It took weeks and weeks of long hours!

What else has been going on since my last post?
Last week we had Josh, Steph, Jeremy and also Megan over for a sleepover. Brad and Margot had gone down to Lac Milles Lacs in Minnesota for a kiting competition. The weather was good--a bit on the cold side.
The kids Roy and I had pizza on Friday and rented some movies. On Saturday I cooked them some chicken drumsticks, baked spuds and salad! They all staked their claims to the various beds and pro-
crastinated until bedtime! We all had pancakes the next morning--this is a sleepover tradition! Then we had a game of dominoes! This was a new experience for Steph and Jeremy!

Jeremy found a pair of my old glasses and said that he was "Grandpa Woody"!! He looked so funny wandering around the house squinting his nose and trying to see! He said the furniture was all moving!

Other pics from the last week!

Two pics of Garra's birthday! We were all invited for cake on Saturday--yum! She loved the top we bought her.


Well, now Roy has had the last word that is the last pic of him!!

If you look at the pic of Dominic on the group that Alan has sent everyone, Callum is standing with a red towel around his waisr (He is Gawain's son). Dominic's two boys are called Lynley and Theo. His wife's name is Jude. I met them all on my last quick trip to England when Ian died.
Gawain's wife's name is Becky--she's so beautiful! Tasha looks as though she is taking after her mother!
Callum resembles Josh quite a bit--amazing! Gawain still looks the same except he has now lost all his hair! It was getting very sparse when I saw him but now I think he has shaved it all off--just like Roy (Dad) !!
I've lost touch with Moya since Sally died. Her two daughters are called Lara (15 when last seen) and Zoe (12). Lara had a tongue stud and a diamond tooth! She was in a hairdressing school. Zoe still has her very gruff voice! She went out with Guin once when she was over in England. They got in the store--Zoe was about 5 or 6 and she said in a loud voice to Guin--"Auntie Ginny--I've got no knickers on!!!" Guin said, "That's nice!"

Well, now our Federal Election is over we can see what new messes the new government can get the country into!! Who'd want to be a politician anyway!! Enuff'said!!

Went to my exercise classs last Tuesday and pulled my outside quad muscle--some heat and rest seems to have settled it down so it should be OK for tomorrow's class!

We had Alan and the girls for supper yesterday so today we have leftovers!!

This coming Sunday Shelby and I leave for Winnipeg for our venous specialist check up. He's the one that is keeping an eye on the ulcers! I'm fed up with being sore!! last summer was just gorgeous and I couldn't swim in the lake at all because of my stupid legs!! grrrrr!!

Quit complaining you old doddery fool!! Ha! Ha!

One has to keep one's sense of humour!!

Here's a recipe that Gawain requested for:

MICROWAVE BROWNIES.

You can cook them in a regular oven, they just take longer.

Grease an 8" glass square baking pan and set aside.

3/4 cup unsifted flour
1 cup of sugar
7 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup butter of margerine at room temperature
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of dark corn syrup
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Sift together dry ingreds and add remaining ingreds. Beat until smooth
Pour batter into the prepared baking dish
Heat uncovered in microwave oven for 6 to 8 minutes. (6 mins. is usually OK)
Test for doneness with a toothpick, but don't overcook or it will harden as it cools.
Allow to cool slightly and cut into squares for serving.
Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on each serving.
Yummy and easy!

I had mentioned that we had gone to Denise Andersen's funeral. Denny was the mother of "Bubba" an old friend of Brad's. They used to work in the bush togetjer and Bubba's Dad had a herd of buffalo which Brad used to help feed when he was young. Check with Brad for info! Also, Mrs. Andersen's husband, Ernie, used to work at the Lands and Forests with Algie when we first came to Dryden.
There were some nice words on Denny's little funeral programme which stated:
"Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest serice, love, sacrifice and courage."
St. Francis of Assisi

Well. my nurse just came to change the dressings on my legs. so now time is fleeing!
I want to do a little bit of my Swedish embroidery which I'm ;earning at the Go Getters centre, so I'll close for now!
There are a lot of pine and evening grosbeaks on our bird feeder right now! They are quite big birds and eat lots of bird seed--the black niger variety. The pine grosbeaks look like little parrots and are a lovely red-breasted bird with black and white markings on their wings. Free entertainment for our cat Molly and ourselves!
Take care everyone until the next post!
love Mom xoxoxo Grandma xoxoxo Carol xoxoxox Yorkshire Lass xoxoxo cas xoxoxo G.G. etc. xo!!

Posted by Cas at 11:55 AM | Comments (4)

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January 17, 2006

ODDS AND ENDS!

I did my blog yesterday and found a few extra pics missed along with the ones posted, so here goes !\
A few are from Thomas's birthday, and other different pics in other categories.

what a cake!

a new hat for me to match my suit!

Proud grandparents of Cary Jr. --High School grad day!

A Red Hat Momma --off to one of our lunches!!

Roy, Alf, Garra and Margot on our deck-Father's Day 2005

buffet for Roy on April 11th, birthday boy!

Guin getting tattooed on Canada Day!

Three Woodies May 2005!

Two great cakes for Thomas!

"Wanna beer?" Al at home in his bar!!

An appropriate photo to end the blog pics with, as it is now only a few days ro the Federal Election!
This was taken in the Legion Hall when Trudeau was passing through Dryden on the train. His wife, Margaret and two of his boys came too. It was at the height of "Trudeaumania"!! I asked him if I could get a photo of him for my kids and was surprised when he graciously agreed! A moment of history!

Here is a recipe I tried last night. A great muffin recipe!

ORANGE MUFFINS

i orange with peel, cut up into 8 pieces.
orange juice 1/2 cup
remove seeds from orange and combine orange and juice in blender. I would imagine a food processor would work too.

Add 1/2 cup chopped dates
1 egg
1/2 cup butter or margerine

Blend. Pour into medium size bowl

Mix:
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tspn. baking powder
1 tspn. baking soda

Pour over top of orange mixture. Stir to combine.
Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full.
Bake at 400 C for 20 minutes
Remove from pans after 5 mins. standing time.
Makes 12 large or 16 medium muffins.

Very tasty!

Posted by Cas at 7:24 PM | Comments (5)

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January 16, 2006

MORE 2005 IN RETROSPECT!

Well, here goes a second post for 2005! It was a very eventful year, lots of happy things and some sad things too. In other words, a typical life pattern.
After Guin and Allen left for Toronto, we had to get back to our usual lives! Check out Brad's blog for all his windsurfing activities--what a busy guy he was last year! Alan started remodelling his place in the fall and it's just awesome now! He's going to do the girls' rooms next and will probably keep you all up to date on his blog. Young Cary went to university in September--the Iniversity of Ontario in Oshawa. he also has a blog site too. He's studying I.T. information technology.
Shelby saved up for almost a year and in September she flew down to Montreal. Sally met her and then she spent the month of September in Gaspe visiting Sally, Sarah, David and also saw Jean-Luc again. She also went whale watching--saw a pod of blue whales in the bay and one of them breached--its flukes were very plain. I'll try and borrow Shelby's pics and scan some of them for my blog.
May 4th we had our opening golf banquet
Dragon boat race practices started getting ready for the July 1st finals.
May 22nd was C.J.'s birthday--now he is 18 yrs. old! When he was born he weighed 7lb.11oz. and was 20" long! Cary and Cheryl had a BarBQ for him plus cake!!
Here's a few pics for that period.

It was Steph's birthday in April and we all enjoyed Margot's special German cheesecake! She was as proud as punch on her special day!

It was also Roy's birthday in April so we had a nice BarBQ for him even though it was a cold day!





The pics above were from May!
On June 16, it was Thomas's 15th birthday! Another BarBQ with yummy cakes!!
The Ham Radio Soc. had a pot luck supper at Barclay Hall on June 11th which was well attended!

June brought a very special day! Cary graduated from High School--everyone was so proud. It was a long ceremony at the Arena and then all the students had grad celebrations!

I forget to post this on the blog!

Now for July!
July 1st was our holiday of course, Canada Day! Guin came up from Toronto both for it and also for my birthday on July 6th. We had the party on the 4th as Guin had to go back to TO.This year I was 70!!
Seven decades of adventures! Time to write a book!We had a lovely BarBq and also cake galore--Shelby made her cake and Roy got one too! On July 7th it was Alf's birthday so another BarBQ!
Steph did an introductory scuba course on July 19th and passed with flying colours--she's a real water baby!

Sadly, in July, Frank Harrison died--my friend Margie's husband. He had fought a valiant battle with cancer. Bob Mitchell also died. Wanda amd Bob were a wonderful couple. Bob used to teach at the High School.
On July 25th group golf lessons started, so I signed up for them. We all learned that we would never be the next female Tiger Woods--darn it!! The lessons were great and I can hardly wait until next year to try out the new stuff! Also to try out my new driver!!

On August 4th Ed, Jiana and little Braeden came for a visit so we went over to Garra's for lunch.
On Aug.13 there was a BarBQ over at Alan's for C..J. and Cary as they were leaving for Toronto to settle Cary in for university. They were all able to stay at Guin's and Allen's--our new Toronto place of residence if we go for a visit!!
On Aug. 27th I went with a group of women to Winnipeg to see the musical Mamma Mia! It was a short and sweet trip--great loud music--Abba tunes!

Sept. -fish fry at Alf's
4th supper at Cary and Chery's--very nice!
Sept. 17th was Margot's birthday--yummy cake!
** During this period my computer monitor had gone on the fritz so I was unable to do any blogs!!
Boo! Hoo! All I could do were emails!! It was so frustrating!!
Anyway, on Christmas Day 2005, I got a wonderful new monitor so now I am catching up on my stuff!
We had our golf wind up banquet on Sept. 22st and then our fall fitness classes started.
Shelby went down to Gaspe this month as I had mentioned.
On Sept. 27th Sally was 47 yrs. old!!
We had the Handrafters Market this month--lots of lovely crafts.
Oct. 1st we had the Luncheon of Hope, our Breast Cancer support Group's annual lunch.
On Oct. 3rd Matt Dusk performed at the Auditorium--he was a crooner in the style of Frank Sinatra.
We have been using the library a lot since we retired. We used to spend a lot on books and magazines and when we started to track it we both said "Whoah! This is too much" so our library cards now work overtime!
On Oct 8th a new Shoppers Drug Mart opened in Dryden. It is where the old Saan store used to be.
On Oct. 22nd Jeremy had his 6th birthday!! His Spiderman presents ruled or also anything with flames!
On Oct. 26th I started Spanish classes and these went on until December. Our teacher, Dermel is from Honduras and rattles off Spanish to the class who sit with open mouths and blank brains!!
Oct. 9th was Thanksgiving Day and we had a wonderful turkey supper!There were 15 of us pigging our around the table! sorry there are no pics.
A sad day on Oct. 28th as Garra;s father, Sherwood, died. It's been a very rough time for Alfred and Garra for the last few years.
November came in with a couple of cold weeks and then it turned mild again.
Swedish Embroidery classes started at the Go Getters seniors centre, so I now go every Wednesday and try my hand at a new skill!
On Nov. 6th Olive Moline invited me to a very nice lunch. Stu and Blanche were there too and a couple of other friends.
Nov. 8th saw "Lucien" a comedien at the auditoriu-he was quite funny and played a French Canadian guy on holiday in Florida meeting up with his old buddies!
Nov. 12th of course, is big Al's birthday! We all went for cake to Cheryl's on Nov. 11th as Alan had to work on the 12th.
On Nov. 20th we all had cake at Margot's as Josh's birthday--his 15th--had arrived! How time flies!
Nov. 25th was the Santa Claus parads--a very cold night1 We all went over ro Cary and Cheryl's on Duke St.--a good vantage point!
On Dec. 2nd we went to the Mexican buffet at Penny's for Lunch. Good Mexican food! Dermel and Penny put on a good spread!
Dec. 8th was Shelby's 34th birthday!!We all had cake at Alan's as he wanted us to see all his great work decorating!! Moya--in England--also has a birthday on the same day!
From now on the pics are from Christmas 2005 so we are all caught up!!
On Dec. 12th Shelby and I had to go to Winnioeg for a check up with the venous specialist and we arranged to pick up Melly and go shopping in Polo Park Mall. We now met our dear little Great Granddaughter, Ava Michelle, for the first time! She's a real sweety and has captured all our hearts!

Here are some pics from spring on up to summer of last year.

Captain Jeremy was at the wheel that afternoon!




We had supper at the Lodge for a birthday on July 6th as our BarBq was on July 4th.












Molly, our cat, is really laid back! She also likes to lie on our bed with her paws covering her eyes if the light is too bright!

Guin entered a windsurfing contest when she was up from Toronto in July and won a trophy!

That was one hot day! Humidex was in the 40's!!!

A sad day when David, our nephew died. He was only 50yrs. old. His wife, Marilyn and his two boys,, Skye and Shane will really miss him.

We had so many hot days this summer that the lake was a welcome relief for the kids! I will be glad when my leg ulcers have healed and our swim dock is fixed!!
Molly and Kitsu our stuffed cat, hanging out! Kitsu means comfortable in Japanese!


This mural, made of metal, is on the library north wall. amazing!

This shows the actual temp on that very hot day!






This was the very last pic from my camera before my monitor went on the fritz!
I hope these turn out and that you have enjoyed my reminiscing!
Please send comments!
love Mom xoxoxoxo

Posted by Cas at 11:18 AM | Comments (3)

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January 14, 2006

2005 REMINISCING!

Hello everyone! Here are some blog entries and pics from last year. I'll start with the first quarter up until about April for starters! On Jan.1 we had a LAN party at our house and Allen made a pile of his famous pizzas! Delicious! On Jan.16th we had some belated cake at Alan's at 2pm. We again took part in the annual bird count.
I went to one of the Red Hat Ladies' lunches and also the Retired Teachers' Assocn. have a monthly lunch meeting.
On Jan. 23rd there was a Manitoba Theatre Centre play at the auditorium which was well attended. We anjoy the plays more than some of the musical selections!
On Feb.7th the Thunder Bay Symphony came to Dryden but there was also some other music which was not orchestral so we were a bit disappointed.
There was a day trip to Winnipeg to see "Miss Saigon" and it was very well done! I had already seen it in London so was able to make a comparison. The music is awesome!
On Mar. 8th Lennie Gallant was at the Dryden auditorium.
Our winter viewing of LOST and Survivor continues!!
On Mar. 13th we had cake at Alan's for Madi's birthday--how she is growing!
Mar. 27th we celebrated Easter Sunday with a family dinner --yum!
Sun. april 10th we had a big family BarBQ for Roy, his birthday is on the 11th--77yrs. old this year!!
Another big birthday on April 29th for Guin who was 30 yrs. old this year!!
Let's see if the pics turn out so far!














As you can see. the spring sunshine entered our lives again as the days grew longer; but then our two little sunshines left us for Toronto! Boo! Hoo! Guin and allen have moved back to the city and after a few weeks of job hunting and camping out at Allen's paremts, they found great jobs and moved into their own condo--yeah!
Chapter Two of last year will continue tomorrow as I am tired.
Love and hugs to all

Posted by Cas at 7:58 PM | Comments (2)

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January 7, 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

This was taken on our anniversary, so we are on our way out! View image
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The bear hug!
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Another family group!
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Great Grandpa Bob and Great Grandma Daisy get to play with Ava!
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Now it's my turn!
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It's been a while since brother and sister got to play together!!
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Those bad grandkids! ha! ha!
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A lovely present from Tina for the Dec. 23rd buffet!
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She's so cuddly! Daw!
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My best Mommy! and my best helper daughter for the party!
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Santa's little helper!
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A long distance life saving call to Allen!
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Josh has decided it's his turn for an Ava cuddle!
Lilly says it's his turn!!
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"Lilly is just one big cuddle bag, Mom!"
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The pride of the party!
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What a corny picture!!
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Roy all dressed up ready for our 35th wedding anniversary supper--Dec. 19th 2005!
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Roy in a more informal mood on Christmas morning, scoffing pancakes!!Guin was the cook!
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Shelby and Mom at Christmas!
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All babies have to learn to be "Superbabies"!! Ava takes flying lessons with Grandpa Cary at the helm!
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Is this an ad for Sears or what?!! The boys ham it up on Dec. 23rd.
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The Woodies on Dec. 23rd--how the kids are growing!
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Alan should be in the professional decorating business, together with Cary and Cheryl who came up with such wonderful ideas!
The new kitchen just glows and is so warm, you can feel the love that has gone into its creation!
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Amanda just looks lovely on her 17th birthday--Dec. 31st 2005. How time has flown! We all wish her happiness as this year draws to a close and hope that all her dreams come true!

May everyone be blessed with health, happiness and love of family for now and for always.
Althought Dad and I are getting older it doesn't stop us caring and loving you all and wishing for the best in your futures. Don't believe in lotteries, believe in yourselves! Hope and love and kindness to you all, our New Year's message to you all our lovely family!

LOVE AND HUGS FROM MOM.


P.S. Guin and Allen's head! it accidentally got mixed up with the first pic so here goes again!

Posted by Cas at 12:38 PM | Comments (5)

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