May 17

The family reunion is in the books.  The reunion commenced with my mother arriving on Wednesday at noon.  First order of business was to bake a batch of buns.  On Thursday, she baked two batches of buns...96 buns in total...89 years old...no problem.  On Thursday evening, my youngest sister from Fort Lauderdale, Twyla, arrived.  She hasn't been back to Canada in 17 years.  My brother Vince and his wife, Loretta arrived on Friday morning.  We made a Costco run because we had to feed about 20 people for supper.  My brother, Wayne, and sister ,Paulette, arrived on Friday evening then a whole host of nieces, cousins, aunts and uncles started to arrive.  Because of the cool weather, my garage was transformed into a dining and party room.  After a barbecue supper, we had a sing song in the garage after a ukulele lesson, of course.  Nearly 20 people stayed at my house on Friday and Saturday evening.  On Saturday, there were 54 relatives assembled.  Thank you, Lord, for providing a mostly sunny afternoon on Saturday. People visited in the house or on the deck.  Many people played bocce on the back lawn.  We took over 400 pictures.  I have looked at the pictures several times since the weekend.  The pictures captured the reason why we had a family reunion in the first place.  The pictures captured smiling faces, children on grandma's knee, hugs, laughter, tomfoolery, singing, playing, conversation, joy, joking, heckling, lots of love, families united, cousins connecting, reminiscing, remembering, and most importantly, my mom taking it all in.  She was so happy she cried.  Saturday evening, over 50 people enjoyed beef on a bun(buns compliments of Mom), salads, and a variety of desserts.  Uncle Clarence and I led a sing song after another ukulele lesson.  Hearing Uncle Clarence sing the familiar old songs brought back wonderful memories of the many times over the years that our family has gathered for sing songs.  Most people departed on Sunday morning.  Many people pitched in to get my house back in order.  The food was stored, sheets/towels were washed, beds were made, floors were vacuumed, and rentals returned.  Everyone left with grateful hearts and fond memories of the weekend that was.

May 4

Whoa!  I haven't blogged in nearly a month.  April must have been a busy month. My biggest project was to tile Haley's old room in the basement. One of the highlights of the month was going to Tisdale on April 22 to celebrate my mom's 89th birthday.  She is an amazing woman.  She knits, she sews, she bakes buns, and still cleans her own apartment.  I forgot to mention that Mom has an older brother who will be turning 91 in just a few days.  He lives in Edmonton.  One of Mom's greatest wishes has been to visit him at least one more time; therefore, I took Mom to Edmonton on April 10-11 to visit Uncle Ted.  We almost had to cancel the visit because Ted took a spill in the nursing home that resulted in major injuries including fractured vertebrae in his neck.  Seeing Mom and Ted reunited was certainly touching.  Who knows?  Maybe this won't be their last visit.  Whatever the case, Mom is content in having had the opportunity to see Ted one more time.

On May 13, our family is going to honor Mom by having a family reunion at my house.  I am expecting close to 60 family members to attend.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we won't have to "shoe horn" everyone into the house.  My sister, Twyla, who hasn't been home in 15 years will be coming.  Nearly everyone of my siblings children will also be attending along with a brother and sister of my mom.  Of course, all four of my siblings will be present.  I have been busy putting the house in order.  I have created space for 12 people to sleep.  Should be cozy.

May also marks the beginning of slow pitch season.  I am no longer playing in the 50 plus league in the evenings.  I play in the 60 plus league every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  I also plan to fill my summer days with biking, kayaking, hiking, and golfing.

Haley has begun her course work for her Masters in Educational Administration.  She is a busy girl with her teaching position at Delisle Composite School, coaching, writing papers, being a wife, attending fitness classes, and keeping her house in order.  Haley is without a doubt, the new matriarch in the family.

Mary and Morgan went to Greece for their honeymoon from April 13-24.  They completely overjoyed and content with their Greek getaway.  Mary is busy like Haley.  She is also teaching musical theatre with a local dance company.  Mary and Morgan are having fun landscaping the yard around their home in Warman.

I should mention that on April 7 we had a small family ceremony at Woodlawn Cemetery to inter Judy's urn in the Columbarium.  After the ceremony, we went to Judy's favorite coffee spot, City Perk, to reminisce.