Recollections as near as I recall to the truth.
The world is changing, there was snow in Saudi Arabia before Toronto. Let’s do our bit for the planet. If you have not already seen it I urge you to watch “A Life On Our Planet” on Netflix. It examines where we will go in a few years if climate change is not brought under control.
Not a decidedly exciting year for Diane and I so we will have to concentrate on others to bring some enlightenment.
Sean and Nicole’s family in Barrie have been busy. Bradyn graduated and moved into high school. His graduation gift was a trip to New York to see the Braves play the Yankees and a Broadway play. He is a good artist as exhibited by his New York inspired work.
Liam has moved into playing volleyball which he seems to enjoy, as I did when I was in Junior College eons ago. He also has artistic talent.
Chloe is in a dance troop and performed at halftime at a Toronto Argonauts game during the summer.
Chloe is in the back row on the right hand side.
The Thompson end of the family is thinning out as only Rachel and Ryan reside in our old home.
Athena continues to live in Winnipeg and puts her efforts into renovating the house that she bought a stone’s throw from the Red River. She continues to drink at work! She still works for the MLCC and has to be familiar with the various tastes of alcohol to assist customers in making wise choices. Other than that she doesn’t drink!
Below are Echo and Athena who came out to Grandview to visit when we went to see Diane’s brothers Jack and Raymond as well as Dorothy.
Big news for Zoe as she is in her final year of her R.N. degree through the University of the North in Thompson. When not studying in Thompson, she works in the Gillam Hospital.
Oh, and she got engaged to longtime boyfriend Rowan Czuchry. The Wedding is being planned for 2026.
Ryan continues his bowling in the Western Canada Bowling Tour. He made it to the semifinal round of the Autumn Open in Calgary, then followed that with a second-place finish at the Manitoba Open in Winnipeg. He is expecting to play in the Red Deer event in May, which may score him enough points to make the top 12 on the tour giving him entry into the season ending championship.
Rachel went to Italy two summers ago and she and Ryan are likely heading to Hawaii for a holiday in 2025.
Diane and I finished up our subscription to Broadway Across Canada this past spring. We stayed in the university residence which is only a one-minute walk from the theatre. Our last show was when it hit minus 40, but the university has plugins for guests. The one thing we didn’t expect was that the bank of plugs that we used failed overnight, so we had a frozen popsicle in the morning. And AMA said our wait for service would be five days. Good thing brother Brendan came to the rescue. He took our battery, thawed it, made sure it had a good charge and reinstalled it for us…also gave a great chance for an extra visit.
Brendan and Valerie are also overhauling a cabin west of Edmonton, which has magnificent views. We visited for Brendan’s birthday.
I continue to be active in umpiring, which is still fun, and filled with great comraderie. Unfortunately, one of my umpiring friends succumbed to old age, and I had the privilege of speaking on behalf of our group at his service. RIP Ken Walmsley.
The Red Deer Ladies league hosted the Canadian Ladies Fastball Championships, which I had a chance to work at as one of the Umpire Liaisons, (read gofer and chauffeur.)
The championship will return here in 2026.
Our UIC (red jacket on the left) had worked the Tokyo Olympics, and several of the other umpires had worked internationally, so it was a good learning opportunity. Three of our local umpires also worked the tournament and aquitted themselves well.
The other trouble I got into this year was to be elected to the board of directors in our condo. I was nominated by another inmate (sorry, resident) and apparently told better lies than some of the other candidates, meaning that I am now on the board along with six other people, and fortunately we get along fairly well.
We’ve had a lot of meetings thus far as we had to work on the Reserve Fund which ensures we are collecting enough money each month to enable us to make repairs or replacement of various pieces of the building and equipment over the next 40 years. The project is mandated every five years by the provincial government and was put together with a specialist firm from Calgary.
Reasons I Think I’m Getting Old
- Cut my hand moving some wooden furniture in our unit on the same day that I was working on justifying a first aid kit for the woodshop in the condo.
- Grabbed my shoes in the twilight to go bowling and when I arrived at the lanes found I was wearing one blue and one black Skecher.
- Getting up in the middle of the night, I managed to walk into a wall leading with my head.
- Not returning to sing carols at the psychiatric hospital after having sung a rousing chorus of “Do you hear what I hear!” That was a joke, as anyone who has heard me sing already probably thinks I should be committed for crimes against humanity.
Sad Things
- My father came to Canada in 1959 to turn the Red Deer Advocate into a daily paper, moving from it’s twice a week format. This month, due to the journalistic economy, the Red Deer Advocate has become a twice a week paper again.
- The Thompson Citizen opened in 1960 is shutting down, again the change in the news world.