“The RoseBouquet”

Yes, thanks! We did have a good weekend at the Reunion of Dad’s Friesen Cousins. It was an 8.5 hour trip there to the Southern Alberta Baptist Bible Camp, which had been rented for our reunion. For us it was the third time there, so we felt like we knew our way around the Lodge and camp grounds.

We did a lot of one-on-one visiting, and I feel like I made a new friend in a second cousin of mine that I had not known before. Wayne and Hilda came to me and said that his sister Joanne wanted to know who the “Ruth” they kept talking about was. She was at their table, so after our first supper there, I went over and got introduced. By the end of the evening we were friends. The next day we spent even more time together over my genealogy computer which I’d set up in the corner of the dining room, and she gave me the data for all her children and grandchildren.

Oh yes, right. Dad did buy that camera last week Wednesday. The one that came with a photo printer. I tried it out on my morning walk before breakfast the next day, and Dad tried it on his walk after breakfast. When I hooked it up to the computer that evening I could see that we were getting excellent quality photos. At the reunion, Dad stuck to trying to fill his instamatic camera, and I got the use of the new digital. The little screen at the back showed how many pictures I had taken out of 100.

Uncle Bill from Toronto was taken with some fragile old sketches of his Dad (my grandpa) and some thin but elegantly covered Christmas poems in German, in that spidery Gothic script. He wanted to scan them but there was no scanner there. I said, “Let me try with this new digital!.” By the time I had finished snapping each page I had used up over 80 of my 100 shots. I had to go a bit more frugally on the rest to make sure I had room for the family and whole clan group shots.

I did get some of people being hoisted up high (about 2-3 stories high!) between 3 tall poles down by the lake, then with the pull of a rip-cord they were left hanging by one strong rope and swung back and forth until they wanted down and the attendants eased them to the ground.

However, I missed it when Edwin, a 73-year old truly authentic cowboy (tho’ now retired) went up on that swing. His wife was amazed, but Edwin said he wants to do that again at the next reunion in three years!

Anyway, I haven’t had time yet to put together any photo story, but you can watch for it. It’s likely to happen.