It’s refreshing to be outdoors pulling weeds, watering plants, working in the garden and harvesting the scrumptious vegetables, but not breathing the nasty smoke from northern forest fires. Some days it just lingers in the air and that’s when we pray for a breeze to clear the air. It’s hard on the eyes and nose, which makes breathing difficult and impairs vision. Health warnings advise younger children ,pregnant women and the elderly to stay indoors. Worse yet are the staggering record breaking hot July days we have encountered. Hopefully August will bring in reasonable temperatures on a little cooler side.
Condolences to the Shein family of Alticane district on the passing of Peter at the age of 90. He moved into Battlefords District Care Centre in 2020 after actively farming with son Danny. Peter is survived by wife of 60 years Stella, children Gordon (Gail), two grandchildren, Danny and daughter Elaine.
It is also with sadness the family of Nestor Nachtegaele of Battlefords District Care Centre passed away in May. He has three surviving sisters, Lillian Nykiforuk of North Battleford, Julia Rozander (Atkinson) from Okanagan, B.C. and Eileen Punch. They are all my cousins on my mother’s side.
The Roman Catholic Church in Mayfair will have church service Sunday, Aug. 22 at 3:30 pm. rather than the usual 8:30 a.m. At times cottage owners from nearby Meeting Lake join us, so please be aware of this change. This is the last mass with Father Frederick, as he is been transferred to St. Walburg parish and district. The Mayfair parishioners are planning a farewell supper at Sharon and Peter Babiy’s farm so for more information please call Lorena Lafreniere. at 306-246-4455. Stephen Hero is the newly assigned bishop in our diocese (Prince Albert), which includes Meadow Lake and Battlefords. He was recently ordained in June.
We should acknowledge the people who so diligently take care of rural graveyards. Jim Tkachuk annually organizes the spring cleanup at Whitkow, involving many volunteers bringing lawn mowers, garden mowing tractors, clippers wheelbarrows and other equipment. The Julian Goyan family is in charge of the spring duties at another local gravesite.
Faye and Keith Liebaert’s farm yard was the setting for family reunion with much laughter and late night partying this past weekend. There was a gathering of 26 Dean (Faye’s family) members who hailed from Moose Jaw and Bonnyville and Thorston, Alta.
My friends in Alaska escaped the tsunami resulting from an 8.2 earthquake last Wednesday. It was the strongest one since 1964. Roy and Agnes from my Yuma, Ariz. trailer park said they lost a few glass dishes, which came crashing to the floor, and a mirror. Some furniture slightly moved inside their house.
From an anonymous post on social media: “Life is so ironic, it takes sadness to know what happiness is, noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence.” Have a great month in August. One thing is for certain on this farm is that harvest is really early this year.
