Happy New Year for 2016.
We had such a wonderful fall of decent temperatures and now we face the reality of winter on the prairies, but will cope as we always seem to do.
Contract bridge was cancelled Dec. 17.
聽Canasta was played Dec.18 at the Do Drop In with a good turnout. All players had exceptionally high scores, with the top at 52,500 and none below 41,000. Top couple was Cora Christiansen and Bev McCrimmon, second high were Barbara Soloninko and Charles Walker and third were Shirley Tebay and Pat Chapman.
聽The next meeting of seniors will Friday, Jan. 8, at 10:30 a.m.
Duplicate bridge was played at the Do Drop In Dec.22 with high score by Maureen Campbell and David Sharpe, second high by Margaret Dyck and Dave Creegan and tied for third were Eric Callbeck and Gerry Fernandes with Glen and Julie Moore. A great evening at the card tables.
Christmas Eve service was held at the United Church in Meota with a nice turnout. Fortunately they were able to get the furnace working in time to hold the event, as it was very cold. Kun Kim did the main service and several people gave readings, telling the Christmas story with the lighting of the candles. After the service, Kim drove to Edmonton to join his family after having held three services that day.
聽Sal and Norm Bouvier from Carstairs drove out to North Battleford to visit Vic Tomanek, an old friend from La Ronge days, who has been ill, then drove to Meota and stayed overnight with her mother. She joined them on their trip home to spend Christmas with family. Her first added bonus was to spend a few days with her granddaughter, Sonya, in Calgary, Ata.. We visited Laura Cave and her nephew Corey Sviestrup and my niece Alison and Stephen James and one daughter Courtenay. Another day was spent with Helen and Walter Matzner, who live just north of Spruce Meadows, Alta.. They send greetings to everyone back home at Chitek Lake that they know. I was back near Carstairs, Alta. for Christmas with Brad and Sally and their families.
What changes continue to take place in Calgary. It has grown enormously in the last few years with a new road around the east side taking some pressure off the Deerfoot Trail. The big mall north of the city, Cross Iron Mills, has more than 600 parking places and there wasn't enough room some days for people to park. Another surprise was that Calgary no longer prints a phone book and haven't for a few years. It was nice to see the city buses running the words 鈥淢erry Christmas'鈥� across the front of their buses.
聽The Meota library held open house Dec. 23, from 2 to 4 p.m. and was open from 5 to 8:30 p.m.
聽New tidbits from down under in New Zealand is the fact very little seafood is ever on the menus and never mutton. In the house Joyce is staying at, she helped the owner with some renovations, such as sanding trim boards for around the doors and windows. The base boards are called skirting boards and the door trim is called architraves. One day she helped at the church from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. serving sausage sandwiches or bacon or bacon and egger. It was a flea market type of setup and she really enjoyed the work and meeting the people.
