Summer 2010

It looks like I must have been too busy to blog at the end of our last MDS tour, as there were none past the middle of February… I was still sending articles to the newspaper and it was too much.

We arrived home on March 11th, stopping in Brandon on the way. We were delighted to see John's brother Jake hale and healthy as when we last saw him.

I was excited to get back home to enjoy my new sun room, see the kids and grandchildren and Abby and Gizmo.

The end of April, we made a trip to Edmonton to see our old friend, Charlie Dixon, and his family. His wife, Joan had passed away suddenly from ovarian cancer in January and we had not been able to attend her funeral. My Mom agreed to travel with us, as we were also going to visit some of my relatives in Edmonton, and there was a new great grandchild she hadn’t met yet. We had a great trip! Also visited with relatives from Mom’s side of the family in Sylvan Lake where John’s sister Anne lives.

Unfortunately, John ended up in hospital at Red Deer with internal bleeding and Mom and I got to do most of the visiting! Thankfully, he was released in 2 days with the diagnosis of bleeding caused by taking Alleve for his arthritis. It may be that it was because he doesn’t eat breakfast and you can’t take Alleve on an empty stomach. It certainly did work for the arthritis pain though!!! More pills and he was on the mend.

We enjoyed having Jake and Rita spend a week with us in May. We joined Grace Mennonite Church in Prince Albert in May. We have enjoyed attending church there and decided we may as well become an official part of their congregation.

On May 19th, we were distraught to have our cat disappear. He had not been feeling that well, and because we know after 9 years, if he was alive, that little black face would be peering in our door in the morning, we did not make any efforts to find him. He was certainly an enjoyable addition to our family for that 9 years. Probably the nicest cat we ever had.

We made another trip to Manitoba in June for Jake and Rita’s anniversary and had a little visit with MDS friends Bert and Doreen in Winkler. Then when we got home, we enjoyed a visit from Andre and Suzette from St. Jerome, Quebec, for three days. It was interesting to see how well our two older grandchildren, who are in French Immersion, could converse with “real” French people!!

Jeanie’s Mom was hospitalized with cancer in mid June and passed away on June 24th. That same week, we learned that John’s brother Hank’s wife, May Braun, had passed away in Didsbury, so we attended her funeral along with Jake and Rita. It was nice to see some of the rest of the family for a change.

In between all this traveling, John was working on finishing the outside of the house and sundeck. I was very happy to see the original plan for the deck changed to accommodate the gazebo and lawn swing. What a lot of work though. The whole back of the house looks like a brand new gorgeous home, while the front and sides are still the old house.

We built a new fence on the west side of our property and revamped the back yard and I planted a small garden. The end of July was slated for holidays at Langenburg including my cousin Ken’s mission of having 10 antique threshing machines going at one time in 2010. Mission accomplished, and he was proud to have a full page dedicated to the event in the Western Producer!! Then there was Laff‘Linger Daze to stay for. We took our three grandchildren, as their babysitter was having surgery. John came back home for the week to get some things done and I stayed at my Mom’s with the kids. My goal was to make them some wonderful memories, and I think that goal was accomplished as well. We had a great time. Shari had holidays as well, so we got to take Abby too. Participating in the Mack family float in the Parade was a highlight for us all. We helped decorate the float, and it won first prize in the Heritage category. All three children were right “into” the whole process in their heritage costumes! John and I had made a yard sign for my cousin, Ken and his wife, and it was just perfect to put on the back of the float.


We certainly had our share of inclement weather and rain this summer, but thankfully there were enough hot sunny days to still get a nice sun tan,. The garden “took off” while we were in Langenburg and I have lots of peas, beans and cucumbers, and raspberries. The tomatoes are just coming now. And the Lavatera are gorgeous!! The grass seems to need cutting every third day…

So, that’s a catch up from the Brauns. I will send the pictures in the next post.