The Greenwater Report for June 8, 2009

I am pretty well jaded with garage sales, but we did run into a good one on Thursday. Not that there was anything for me to buy, but the first people I ran into were Wilf and Grace Walsh, in conversation with the man running the sale. They introduced me to him - his name was Stahl and I’m sorry I didn’t get his first name. Originally from Kelvington, he now lives in Langham and was helping his daughter with the sale. I’m sorry I didn’t get her name, either. I also met Stahl’s wife, who was Phil Patenaude’s daughter. All are faithful followers of this column, which always warms the cockles of my heart. (Okay, I don’t know what cockles are, either – it’s just a figure of speech, okay?)

Stahl’s mother was a Knudson, a sister to Hardy Knudson who did a lot of carpenter work around Greenwater – in fact, I believe he built our, Davidson’s, and Floyd Thompson’s cottages. All were built about the same time, and likely using the same floor plan. He also did a lot of work on the old Park store and café. We used to have a photo of the store and café with a man walking past in front of it – that man was Hardy Knudson. I believe that photo is presently somewhere in the Park office, about 16 x 20, on a masonite backing. It is in the Greenwater history book, Ripples to Waves, too.

Stahl’s father did a lot of work with Hardy, so likely had a hand in the cottage building and the work on the Park store. I get talking so fast I forget to ask the important questions; an hour later I’m kicking myself and wondering “Why didn’t I get their names?”

I guess I had better send this out Saturday night. On Sunday, we are going to Tisdale to attend our great-grandson’s birthday party. Logan will be one year old. We may go down to Greenwater for a day or two with the motor home, then to Nipawin for an outing with the Good Sams from all over. My sister, Cathy, is going to be there too, so will have a chance to visit with her and Freckles.

Driving around on Saturday, we realized it was cold and miserable but suddenly it looked like snowflakes flying around. Surely not! Snow in Saskatchewan in June? On closer inspection, though, it turned out to be fluff from some kind of tree. Lots of them are in full blossom now.

We have been over to the motor home so often lately that they are apt to charge us undue wear and tear on their electric gate. Something is haywire with the coach electrical system – the batteries will go flat overnight, which means that in between campsites where we can plug in, we have no power. I have been messing around trying different fuses and doing a little re-wiring, but nothing seems to work. I can kind of understand an old-fashioned fuse panel where the juice goes in the top, through the fuses, and into the different applications, but in the motor home, they just disappear into a hole in the floor or wall. Also, there is a very expensive brand new converter that I had installed last fall, and it is a total mystery to me. I will just hope that everything works when we are plugged in to 120 volts, and take it to the repairman when we get back from Nipawin.

At the invitation of James Davis, a Saskatoon photographer we met at a home show, we attended a photography and art show and sale. There were three photographers there, and one girl also did painting; some of her work combined painting and photography to good effect. It was a very good show, and I was able to spend quite a bit of time chatting with Jim and the other photographers. They had had experience photographing weddings and portraits, too, so we had lots of anecdotes to swap. Jim does beautiful work, but he also has the energy to display and market it, something I have always lacked. He sells framed and unframed enlargements, but also greeting cards and postcards graced with his photos.