July 6,2012 - Back in Winnipeg

Hello everyone!

Arrived back in Winnipeg Tuesday afternoon - OMG - it is soooo hottt! It's been just too hot to even think of blogging - just the heat from my laptop on my lap is even making it worse! LOL!  Oh well! Better today, although the humidity is pretty high and it is drizzling this morning.

TUESDAY ( JULY 3),  I took a fabulous sentimental journey from Gimli to Winnipeg - Back in the late 50's and early 60's (when Dan & I were dating and first married), we used to leave his parents' home to come back to Winnipeg on Sunday nights - we would stop at Great Aunty Demchuk's for a while, then go to the 'Falcon Cafe' in Gimli for french fries with gravy, ketchup, vinegar and salt, and a Coke - then we would drive on Hwy 9 (most people now use Hwy 8 as it is faster, Hwy 9 goes through a bunch of small towns) to Winnipeg Beach, go on the 'Boardwalk' - a roller coaster ride (big one), and have a hard ice cream cone! What a life! We would then continue on towards Winnipeg, stopping at a place in Lockport, called the 'Half moon' for a foot long hot dog, and then finally into Wpg. Well, Aunty Demchuk is long gone, so is the roller coaster,and the Falcon Cafe, but I  had the 'maple walnut' ice cream and the foot long dog ( I could only eat half of the foot long), and was reminiscing about 'those good old days' all the way - even a few tears!! but they were good tears! I took pictures of the Boardwalk entrance sign, the Half Moon sign and even the footlong - now if I could only figure out how to get those pictures on this blog! Back in Wpg, I visited Olga's (my best friend and matron of honor, who died in 1988) sister, Ann & her husband, stayed for dinner (perogies, yummy), and then we all went to Iris (another good friend and bridesmaid) & Henry's for a short visit - I've  already seen her twice before - she is battling cancer and just finished chemo, so our visits are often, but short so as not to tire her out too much!

Gimli - June 24 - July 3 - Wow! where to start - SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY, (JUNE 24 & 25) was mostly spent visiting and catching up with the news - went to bingo with Leona Monday night - won $40.00 - paid my way + a little. TUESDAY (JUNE 26), we went to the Berlo cemetery (Dan's Mom & Dad are buried there, and the original Matthias Marks' farm since 1903 is just across the road), stopped in to see a long time neighbor/relative, and a cousin who still lives on his ancestors' original farm, which was Dan's other grandfather, Matthias Gottfried. WEDNESDAY, (JUNE 27), spent most of the afternoon at the library, trying to get on-line, but no luck - I could read my e-mails, so at least I caught up on all the news - I could also get on Castanet, wrote on the blog, but then it wouldn't send, or save - no cell connectivity either - Telus only serves certain areas, and I really don't know what happened with the Internet - here at Margaret's I have no problem getting on wireless and she only has Dial up - so go figure!!! LOL!! We were at Dorothy's for a lovely roast beef dinner that night! THURSDAY, (JUNE 28) I helped Leona with her SD card on her Photo Screen and also helped her get pictures developed at the local drug store on the machine - had to earn my keep somehow! Was glad to help her - they treated me like royalty - barely out of bed and the coffee, juice and even breakfast was right there!! I managed to help her clean up and load/unload the dishwasher a few times, but I had to really be on my toes, or it would be done!  And she's 6 months older than I!!!! Then I went to the Municipal office to get a map of the Gimli cemetery, and off I went to that one. After dinner we went over to Cathy and Carl's home and spent a lovely evening with them. FRIDAY, (JUNE 29), I went to St. Benedict's cemetery, took more pictures of family and friends' headstones. There is a little replica of a church that was built in the early 1900's - the cross on the original church was made by Dan's grandfather, Matthias Marks who was a blacksmith for the whole village - I actually have a few of the nails and hinges that he made - Dan remembered him well. After that I went to get the pictures developed and then to the library to sit in the cool, sorted and recorded all the names from the three cemeteries in my book.Watched the BC Lions/Winnipeg Blue Bomber game till midnight - Mike & Leona went to bed! SATURDAY (JUNE 30), we went to Heritage Days at the Pavillion - Gimli is celebrating their 125th birthday on Canada Day, only 20 years behind the country - they had a lot of old pictures and had quite a few of the Berlo area as well as a book on the Berlo pioneers for $10.00 - I bought it and already have gleaned quite a bit of information from it. There were a few errors and omissions, and so everyone is saying that its up to me now to amend and write the whole story - quite a challenge - went to Larry & Natasha's cabin for a visit in the afternoon, back to the Pavillion to watch some Ukranian dancing, home for dinner, and back to Gimli for Mass at 5.30. At Mass we met another friend/relative who gave me more books to look at and copy. SUNDAY (JULY 1) HAPPY CANADA DAY! Watched a great parade with Larry, Natasha, Daniel & Dylan, and then. Mike took Leona & I out for Chinese Food. MONDAY (JULY 2), back to Berlo to see if another friend/relative could identify some old pictures that I had received from a cousin in Toronto 2 years ago. She identified some, so was happy about that, and her daughter-in-law scanned some for themselves so I was glad that I could give something back in return. Marilyn, Lorraine & Cathy (Leona's daughters) invited Leona & I out for lunch - we had a real nice 'girl' time! Finished off the day with bingo with Leona & Dorothy - no luck, but another 'girl' evening. And that brings me to Tuesday, July 3. I was up at 6.15, took another trip to the Berlo cemetery, packed up, went to the library to copy some more stuff, and another visit with Lucy (who had given me the books to copy). She was able to identify some more of those pictures, and invited me to stay for lunch, after which I left for Wpg, and that is where I started my blog!   What a wonderful 10 days - Thank you, Leona & Mike and everyone else who made my stay so great! I will be going back before I leave for home, and Dorothy has invited me to stay at her home at that time. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful bunch of family and friends! (and I haven't even been to southern Manitoba or Ontario yet). That is all for now, my next blog will be about my adventures here in Wpg this week! so stay tuned! So Long and God Bless.   Doreen