Sadly, Marilyn’s father passed away on Wednesday August 29th. He had started to become quite weak in the weeks before but each visit to a Doctor focused on his heart and ultimately each one missed the real problem which was cancer. Just two weeks before his death, he was finally diagnosed with cancer in his lungs, kidney, and liver. For the last two weeks of his life, Marg and Marilyn and Margie did a super job of caring for him in his home. His funeral will be held on Wednesday Sept 5, in Hanley. We are certainly going to miss all the activities we’ve been doing together but Marilyn and I are extremely pleased that we decided to move to Hanley last year.
Doug’s grave stone
It was only a few weeks previous that the family installed a new head stone at Doug’s grave. Marilyn’s brother Bill carved it out of a large rock showing Doug’s love of horses. It took a team of people to drop the heavy grave stone into place but Ed did it with ease as he manipulated the tractor.
We also went to a dedication of a new polo field near Saskatoon which has been named in honour of Doug. Doug trained polo horses and played polo for many years.
Ed and Marg and the family were the guests of honour and Ed and Marg tossed out the first ball to get a game underway between Saskatoon and Winnipeg.
Everyone was very proud, the game ended in a 6-6 tie, and a meal was served following the game.
Ed, Marilyn and Marg at the polo game
We were also happy that Ryan, Sally, and Evan got a chance to visit with Ed and Marg prior to his death. They came out to Hanley on the 22nd of August and we had a great time showing them our new home and some of the Prairie sights. This has been a good year for seeing our grandchildren. We were in Japan in May with Sean, Makiko, and Julian….then we went to Ontario in July and spent time at Ryan and Sally’s when Sean and Julian were there and finally a the time spent here in Hanley.
Evan and Marilyn in Ontario in July
A family outing in Elora
Ryan and Sally visited us in Hanley in August and we got to show off our ‘amazing’ little grandchild.
At the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon
Grampa and Evan at Section 10
Marilyn and I also had a busy summer in Saskatchewan. I’ve been doing a lot of renovations to the house we moved to Section 10, Marilyn put in some beautiful flowerbeds, and our vegetable garden has really produced a lot of great meals.
Drilling for water at Section 10
One of Marilyn’s flower beds at our home in Hanley
Our vegetable garden
Marilyn and I also traveled north to the Ness Creek Music festival which is in the middle of a large forested area. While we were there, we met a group from Mozambique called Wazimbo and ended up spending a lot of time with them. There was a lot of great music and it certainly had a friendly ’60’s’ kind of feel to it.
Ness Creek Main Stage
Hanging out with Wazimbo band members
One group we really liked is from Vancouver called Hey Ocean. Check out their music if you are looking for some interesting sound and lyrics.
Ness Creek Small Stage
Ness Creek Drum Circle
On our way home from Ness Creek we stopped in Prince Albert and toured John Diefenbaker’s home and later we stopped in Duck Lake which is a small prairie town with many large murals painted on the buildings.
John Diefenbaker’s home when he was a lawyer in Prince Albert
Main Street of Duck Lake
One of the many murals in Duck Lake
