A Walk Down Memory Lane

When I was growing up, our family did not have a lot of money, so we did not have the luxury of purchasing school pictures.  I was really excited when I discovered some elementary class pictures that I was in,  and my grade 12 graduation picture,  on facebook  the other day.  I went to Leeside Elementary School for grades 1-4 and then I went to EJ Wood School for grades 5 and 6, then I went to Cardston Junior High School for grades 7-9 and then the Cardston High School for grades 10-12.  The idea struck me this morning that all the schools I attended have since been torn down.  Leeside school was demolished and is now where the Cardston IGA and Remington Carriage Centre is.  The EJ Wood school was torn down and is now a vacant lot.  The old Cardston Junior High School was torn down and the Cardston High School was built in it's place.   A lot of the old buildings of the old Cardston High School were torn down and were replaced in the renovation of the new High School. Some of my favorite memories of Leeside school are - skipping rope, hop-scotch, Chinese jump rope, jacks, and we spent  hours playing tag (one home base was a grove of trees behind the school and the other was a grove of trees across the play ground). We used to run from one home base to the other home base without getting caught.  In the winter there was a small hill beside the school and we could hardly wait until  it was time for recess and  noon hour so that we could go sliding down the hill.

This is my grade one picture and my teacher was Mrs. Elizabeth Hackney.  I am on the top row - 6th pupil from the teacher.  I loved my grade one teacher and one of my memories of her was that she gave presents and awards at a party on the last day of school.

This is my grade three picture.  I am on the top row- 3rd pupil from our teacher who was Mrs. Melvina Jensen.

This is my grade four class picture. I am in the middle row - third from the end from where  my teacher is standing.  My teacher was Mrs. Arlene Scott.  One of my memories of grade four was - that our teacher wanted us to draw a picture of a horse in art class.  My picture of the horse looked more like a dinosaur.  I was not blessed with the talent of drawing and it seemed like that picture hung on the wall FOREVER.

Graduating Class of 1971.  I am the third person on the front row.  It was a pretty large graduating class for the small town of Cardston.

September 26, 2011 – Yesterday we had a wonderful day with Lindsey and Mar. We met Lindsey at her place of work and she gave us the grand tour and showed us all around. Wow! The building is full of lots of big machines that preform different functions and tasks. She told us how the information is programed into the machines from diagrams on paper and then the machines make all sorts of different parts. The parts are then tested and then are shipped all around the world. Lindsey showed us the two main machines that she is working on right now and the parts that she was making. I just stand in awe of how my little girl has learned and grown and how she is working with such complex instruments and the magnitude of the production at her place of work.


We then went over to Lindsey and Mar’s place for dinner. We had for dinner, steak, lobster, shrimp, potatoes and carrots and cooked tomatoes that were halved with cheese on top. It was delicious!

Lindsey and Mar;s bilingual cat.  Lindsey speaks to it in English and Mar speaks to it in French.

We then went to Cirque du Soleil. What an inspiring and spectacular performance.  I really enjoyed the performance.  It was a really fun day spent with two special people.  Thank yoy!

We are home from our trip down to the sand dunes.  We had a fun time with very little mishaps and I was able to sit and relax and read a couple of books while we were gone.  I don't know why but Rod decided to pack two flashlights on our trip and we also had one in our jeep.   When we went back to our hotel on Friday night from an afternoon out  at the dunes,  the power was out at our  hotel and the resturant next door but  we could see just fine with our flashlights that Rod brought along and was able to read in our room. The power never came on until about midnight.  So if you ever decide to go on a trip make sure you take your flashlights along.  You never know when you might need them. 

I just arrived home after working all day and spending most of the evening watching High School volleyball.  Casey made the high school junior varisity team and so it was wonderful to go and watch her play.  Their team did really well tonight winning two games out of three against Taber.  Way to go Casey!  (By the way Casey scored tons of points for their team.  I am really proud of her!)

Rod and I spent the evening up to the bush checking on our cows and calves.  We found a few of them by the creek and in the trees beside the creek.  Rod will be rounding up the cattle towards the end of the month when all the ranchers have a major round up. 

Sometime if the trail has a steep incline I prefer to get off and walk down instead of ride, especially if there are deep ruts in the trail.  This is a time that walking was better than riding.  You really can't tell by this picture how steep the incline was.

Last night we went up to Waterton to spend the evening with Dan and Ruth and their family.  Shannon and Steve and family came and also Robert and Samantha were down for a visit and they came with us. We all went to Pass Creek for a wiener roast and had a real enjoyable evening.  It was really fun to sit and visit, eat, throw rocks in the water and just hang out.  It was really nice where we were because the wind was not blowing and we were sheltered in the trees.  Good call Roger! 

All the rest of my pictures have children in them and I don't post pictures of the faces of other people's children so I will have to email them. Fun evening!

Audrey wanted me to take some pictures of her flowers in the back yard, so that Megan could see them, before fall arrives and they won't look as good.   They smell as good as they look!

I had a very busy day at work yesterday plus I took time out of my schedule  to run my mother to the hairdressers and back home again, and in the afternoon I  took  her to Helen Brown's funeral.   After work I was ready for something fun to do because it seemed like I was rushing all day.  I came home and picked up Rod, and we went out for supper and  went to the mini chuckwagon races.  It was a very nice evening.

Tonight was Leah's turn to ride the horse.  They went for a short ride down in the field and had a great time.

New Couch

Here is a picture of Audrey's new couch for Megan to see.  It looks nice but it is very uncomfortable to sit on for very long.  Her old couch was way more comfortable. 

Volkswagen Beetle

Last night Rod and I took a trip into town in our 1969 Volkswagen  Beetle.  The only problem was,  that every time we stopped the car it did not want to start again.  We shouldn't have stopped at Subway because  we ran the battery down trying to start the car and get  going again.  I walked to Steve's parents place where Steve came to our rescue.  We headed home and parked the car ending our adventure.

Rod has been training Trixie the horse.  Tonight Rod and Aidan were both riding  the horses until it started to rain outside.  If it is nice tomorrow they will go on a longer horse ride down in the field.  Trixie is turning out to be a really good horse for the kids to ride because even though she hasn't been riden very much nothing seems to excite her and she is very gentle.

Aidan has been staying with Rod and I all week while the rest of her family is away.  Yesterday, Aidan and I went to dinner with my Aunt Ruth and my cousin Colleen (Aunt Ruth's daughter) and my mother.

                                       My cousin Colleen, Aunt Ruth (my mother's sister) and my mom.

Class of 1971

It was my 40 year class reunion get together  today.  I wasn't going to go but then I decided about a week ago to  attend,  and see some of the people that I went to high school with.  It turned out to be really fun and we had some  really good laughs and fond memories.  I am really glad that I went.  I will post a group picture after I receive a copy because there were more that came  for the luncheon that  did not ride on the float.

Class of 1971

It is hard to believe it has been 40 years since I graduated from high school.  My how the time flies!

Rod wanted  to go up  to the bush this afternoon,  so that he could check on his cows and calves up there,  and asked me if I wanted to come along.  We went on the quad and drove all over the place in the field where they were supposed to be,  but we didn't find them.  They were probably in the trees somewhere out of sight and where it was cool.   We never did see them but it was fun to spend the afternoon together.

Lindsey came down on Friday night to bring down Audrey's new couch.  On Saturday we  took Audrey's old couch in to the the Bargin Barn and then we drove up to Waterton.  Lindsey treated me to pizza and then we took a short walk around Linnet Lake and then drove back home.  We had an really enjoyable day. Lindsey then drove back home to Calgary.

Linnet Lake

Yesterday, I finished staining the new boards that we put on the front of the deck, to replace the boards that were damaged last winter. I won't go into how they got damaged, but I will say, that Rod is not allowed to be within  three feet of the decks with his tractor.  I was smart in that, I wrote down the color and brand of stain when I stained the decks last year,  so that I didn't have to stain  all the decks by our house this time.  It looks 100% better.  I am also posting my patio tomato plants that I have been babying along all summer.  I bring them in every night and put them out in the morning and make sure I water them every day.  I picked the two ripe tomatoes this afternoon and we had them for dinner in our tossed salad.  There is nothing better than  vine ripe tomatoes.  Very tasty!

Surprise Produce Box

I am really excited tonight,  because my fridge is full of nice fresh produce.  I was telling Jennifer (the girl I work with at the office) about Megan's bountiful baskets that she  received last summer.  Jennifer told me that the Hutterite colonies in the area do about the same thing with the produce that they grow.  They have a box full of fresh produce that a person can buy for $25.00 and what is inside the box is a surprise.  My box contained  green onions, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, radishes, peas, new potatoes, broccoli, beets with beet greens, lettuce, cabbage, baby carrots and garlic.  For supper I had a tossed salad, cooked baby carrots with peas, cooked new potatoes and barbecued chicken.  Very delicious!

Swim Meet

Today I went and watched Leah and Aidan participate in the Cardston Swim Meet.  Teams came from Raymond, Magrath and Cardston.  Leah and Aidan were awesome and they both did really well.  I am so glad that I was able to go and watch the girls participate, even though it was extremely hot watching them in the stands.  It almost made me want to jump in the nice cool water myself.  Way to go girls!

Hike to Crandell Lake

The Stake Relief Society in the Cardston Alberta West Stake organized a hike up to Crandell Lake for today.  One of my goals for this year was to go on more hikes up to Waterton and so I asked Shannon to go  and participate with me. The weather was great, not too hot and not too cold and the wind was not blowing so  it made for a really enjoyable day.  We got to the lake in good time and then there was a group of us that wanted to hike some more,  so we hiked up the trail  to the Cameron highway and then back to Crandell Lake where we ate our lunch and then headed back to our cars.  Shannon, Judy Olsen and I  stopped in Waterton where we went  for a treat of shaved ice at Weiners. Very Good! I am glad that I had a great day with Shannon.