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The weather this past month will be memorable – torrential rain and hail, gusting winds, tornadoes touching down, frightening thunder and lightning. Weather warnings are what keep people’s ears close to the Internet, radio and TV. Will this ever come to an end? Perhaps people who think summer is their favourite season will think again and change to welcoming spring and beautiful autumn. Also, the bugs are not so rampant in those two seasons. Let’s not think about those nasty winter blizzards and -40 C temperatures!

There are posters galore hanging on bulletin boards and ads in the media advertising many fun events. I like the events that are educational, like Those Were The Days, an annual event at the North Battleford Western Development Museum. The dates are Aug. 6 and 7 from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. and the event includes many pioneer activities. It is nice to go back in time. A parade of old transportation, threshing demonstrations, wagon and fire truck rides, butter churning, petting zoo, musical entertainment and more round out the day. It is great for children to partake in these activities. The museum does not charge extra for these two days, just the regular price of $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and students and free for children 12 years and under. The very reasonable price of $35 for a family is wonderful. Again, one hopes the weather will co-operate.

My aunt Madeleine Gregoire recently passed away at the age of 91 years. Her funeral was held at St. Joseph’s Calasanctius Church on July 11 with a large crowd in attendance. The oldest son, Nestor, is a priest and presided at the mass. Uncle Paul is still alive and resides at Harwood Manor, North Battleford. They raised a family of eight children, but son Leonard was killed in a car accident at 17 years of age. Auntie was a twin and her twin sister Esther Chapman resides in Valley View Tower I. A funeral is never a happy occasion, but it is interesting to see relatives who live a great distance away. All of us remember Auntie Madeleine wearing an apron baking her famous scrumptious chocolate cake. The secret to her cake was using fresh farm buttermilk instead of ordinary milk. The store-bought buttermilk does not give the same results, so many of us cling onto the memory of delicious chocolate cake that will never be forgotten.

The community of Spiritwood will never forget the terrible summer 10 years ago when Constables Mare Bourdages and Robin Cameron were gunned down by Curt Dagenais. This was practically worldwide news and the sad thing is that more and more individuals do not have respect for the law. Within these past 10 years, dozens of officers have been slain trying to keep peace and order in Canada. When you hear of all of the tragic events in the United States with police interacting brutally with the black people, I am glad we do not have this level of discrimination here. Sometimes things do get out of hand and the law has to step in, but are guns always the best way to deal with these issues?