Go to the Water

On Thursday I attended a Celebration of Life for my dad's brother. My Uncle's family did an amazing job of putting together a loving tribute for a man that had led an interesting life for 92 years. He knew he was dying of leukemia for several weeks before his death. He took that time to get his affairs in order, say his good-byes and tell his stories. He was an incredible storyteller, and he was blessed to have a sound mind to recall every detail.   The service was held in the community hall. Often when you get to be 92 the attendance at your funeral is small. Not on Thursday, the hall was full to the brim, and the overflow was in the basement. Clearly, he had an impact on so many, and they wanted to say their good-byes.   The funeral was led by a lay minister. She announced that it was her 129th service and never before had this been done at one of her services. My uncle wrote a song several years ago and he wanted it played at his funeral. The slideshow began with ...

May and I just had a blaze of glory "Summer Bakesale". To say we threw it together would be an accurate description of how it came to be. We are not new to making a Bakesale happen, and this time we only offered six choices. The Bakesale favorites are our signature brownies, Grandma Dempsey's gingersnaps, Kay's Puffed wheat cake, Monster cookies, pumpkin muffins and carrot muffins with cream cheese icing.  We baked everything within 24 hours of the sale. The muffins and puffed wheat cake were made the day before. The day of the sale we did the brownies and cookies. It is unpredictable as to what people's favorite would be. We threw in the carrot cake muffins as the last-minute item, and they became a popular request. I realized I only had this one picture to share, and it was at the end of the sale.  My business partner is now 13 and is very capable in the kitchen. Her mother is the business manager; we describe ourselves as non-profit. In other words, we work tow...

On August 16th, I celebrated 50 years since I started my nursing career. I can't even believe I am writing that. Fifty years is an exceptionally long time. When I started my career 50 years ago, I thought I would work for a couple of years, have kids and be a stay-at-home mom. Well, I did start my family, but I was never a stay-at-home mom. I paid my nursing registration for 43 consecutive years. Nursing at that time, was a highly respected career. It was a career that made a difference. You could physically and emotionally touch people. Everyone believed that a nurse knew best and never questioned her decisions. No google search, or AI at that time to question your knowledge.  My career has served me well. It is the one thing that has always been there in the highs and lows of my life. When I moved to Brandon and started my new life, I woke up every day and said thanks to my career. It has served many purposes. It has been a distraction; it has always been a way for me to make ext...

I have always felt that if you listen to your body, it will tell you what food and nutrients it needs. A message will be sent in the form of a craving. Let's start off with coffee in the morning. The very first thing I do every morning is turn the coffee pot on. It has been fueled up the night before with water and coffee and it is locked and loaded, ready to go. There is no doubt drinking coffee the first thing in the morning is a huge habit. I also think the reason we need/want coffee the minute we get out of bed, is we crave the taste of coffee and the effect it has on us. It makes us feel more awake and ready for the day. I am one of those people that can eat the minute I wake up. I usually wake up hungry and eat very soon after getting up. It is a well-known fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and in my world, it is my favorite meal of the day.    Do you ever get a craving for something? Have you ever considered that is your body telling you that it...

I love to read stories about people that have made it to "100" years old. The young at heart, vibrant, no one would have a clue they are 100, kind of person. Canada has 12,281 people that are centenarians. (29.5 people per 100,000). It is now the fastest growing age group in the country, having more than tripled since 2000. Women are the vast majority of centenarians having 81% of the population.  I recently read an article about a woman that just turned 100. She lives with her grandson, and he posts comedic things that she does on her Instagram "Gangster Granny". She has seen it all, WW2, the great depression and at 96 she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She had treatment and is healthy again.  Here is a recap of her list of 6 things that she attributes to her long and healthy life.  1 Keep Busy : She maintains that she keeps her mental acuity through "faith and hard work". During WW II she built bomb shelters, she then worked at General Motors, General ...

I recently joined a friend on the "Brandon Garden Tour". I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the little adventure; it was a little like the Amazing Race for us. It is incredible to see the work and dedication people have put into their yards and gardens. I noticed at many of the places that vegetables were planted among the flowers. It seemed any little spot was used to grow a vegetable. One young couple had a very eclectic front yard with nothing but raised vegetable gardens in it. They lived in a very old historic home and clearly, they lived off of their garden. It was evident that planting a garden in a perfectly straight row is a thing of the past. It is now replaced with raised garden beds, a zucchini plant in the flower bed and all sorts of creativity.   The first place that we went was to a home at Lake Clemente. I visit that lake often and I have admired the home and the beauty in this one particular yard for a very long time. I was excited to have the opportunity ...

In the middle of June, Swan River and surrounding communities received an unbelievable amount of rain which led to severe overland and river flooding. Two weeks later an even wider spread area received another large amount of rain. Swan River was hit once again, along with many other surrounding communities. This led to the City of Brandon along with fifty municipalities and six First Nations declaring a local state of emergency. The damages are inconceivable as 30,000 vehicles, hundreds of homes, businesses and agricultural fields were destroyed sending insurance claims soaring to $925 million. For Manitoba this was just on the heels of the 2025 summer wildfires which killed two people, displaced 33,000 others, burned 4% of the province's land mass and cost the province hundreds of millions of dollars.    The cause of flooding is usually a result of heavy snow fall and the spring runoff from the thaw. The heavy rainfall came without warning; the people didn't stand a chance. ...

I just spent last weekend surrounded by 28 Breast Cancer survivors and a small but mighty group of supporters. A high-performance coach from Vancouver joined the team for a training session like none other. What an impressive resume she has as a World Champion Coach and paddler and a two-time Kayak Olympian. Clearly, she was in the business to improve our performance. Some team members had already attended one of her clinics, and we all anticipated what we were about to learn.  This weekend was a year in the making, and a s the time got closer so did the flood waters in Minnedosa. The town was working very hard to be prepared for the high level of water that was anticipated. Those in charge of the clinic were well aware of what was  happening in Minnedosa and started to make a Plan B for an alternate lake. It could not have been an easy task as the  water in Manitoba was out of control. Minnedosa  won the water battle and the water crested on the Tuesday just before ...

I believe that every woman should have a little black dress and every man should have a white shirt. You must have something to wear for a dress up event, and you must have something to wear to a funeral. A black dress and white shirt cover both of those events.  In June, Facebook was filled with grad pictures. The young men looked dashing in their suits. No tuxedos anymore nor should there be. The color profile was massive; my great nephew wore salmon. What a great gift for a young man to start his adult life with a new suit. Especially, if they are on a sports team, looking for a job or just to have. I don't know who tied their ties, hopefully they did, because they looked great. No doubt, for some a google search was involved or Chat gpt. There is nothing that looks better than a well-tied tie. I used to watch my dad tie his tie in awe. He wanted it to be perfect, and he did it many times before it was just right. Nothing less than perfection was accepted. Because of my dad, I f...