Let鈥檚 hope the nice warm weather stays with us. Lots of hay being cut and baled. It may have lost it鈥檚 food value a bit but it鈥檚 still hay.
Sad news
Last week was a busy one. On Saturday was a very tragic accident just 1.6 km west of the landing. A vehicle went into the lake. The road was closed to all traffic most of the day.
Another nasty accident across the lake. It seemed a lady was lifting the swather and the jack slipped out and trapped her foot. She was alone at the time and managed to get her foot out. She managed to drive her vehicle out for help, she was rushed to the Prince George Hospital for treatment. We all wish her the best of luck and she does not have any permanent damage to her foot. Carol is a very strong lady and I鈥檓 sure she will come through very well.
Nice visits
Just had such a nice visit with Herb Larsen. Herb and his wife are staying in their summer home. Herb and his family have spent many, many years visiting the lake. The rest of their family will be coming them this coming week.
His family and our family go back as very good friends for as long as I can remember. They are like family to us.
Had a nice visit today with another very old friend, Neil Ramsay from Cobble Hill. Neil and his wife Pat spent some time at Sandy鈥檚 Resort and are now at Beaver Point Resort. Neil is a distant relation of the old pioneer family, Hunter Corner. The Corner family lived at Southbank for almost a lifetime. Hunter Corner Sr. was one of the first engineers on the first ferries on Francois. Hunter Sr. lost his leg in the Boer war, but like my father he managed very well.
Ramsay鈥檚 visited the family at Francois Lake for many years. The late Bill Corners wife has been taken from the Pines and is in the hospital with a lung disorder.
It seems that every day I meet up with someone I have known before or it could be someone new to me, whoever they are they are special. I enjoy every minute.
Last week I had the pleasure to meet up with Carole James in the China Moon cafe. Although our visit was very short it was very pleasant. What a very charming lady. Carole is MLA for the NDP party.
Wolfe Fraychineaud who had his home on the east Francois Lake Road had his family from California visit him for two weeks.
They are such a lovely family and having a visit at Francois Lake is like coming home to them. I have known this family for many, many years and to me they are like family.
There is something about our Lakes District that鈥檚 so special to anyone who had lived here. They always want to come back even for a very short visit. It could be our wonderful scenery, our beautiful lakes and also the great friendly folks that live here. They just keep coming back and we love them, everyone.
St. Luke鈥檚
Yesterday I took some time off to check on St. Luke鈥檚 Church and cemetery at the hall corner. The little old building is starting to show its age. It has closed it鈥檚 doors and as it looks it may never open again, at least in my lifetime. Some very kind and caring person is keeping the grass cut around the church and in the cemetery.
Both my wife鈥檚 folks and my folks are resting there and it鈥檚 a special place for our families.
So much history lays hidden there, almost 90 years. I just wonder if the anarchy of the Anglican church in Prince Rupert realize the damage they have done to themselves by closing out this little church that has stood for so much through these many years.
Francois Lake Hall
I have just returned from a quick tour of the Francois Lake Hall. They are renovating the whole interior and it鈥檚 just spellbinding to see the interior now.
The hall will be so convenient for workers in the kitchen. The whole building will be so bright and cheerful, such a change for the better and much needed. It will be something for our whole district to be proud of. I just bet the old boys that originally built the first hall in the early 1920鈥檚 would turn in their graves if they could see the hall now.
Hay
Loads and loads of hay are going across the lake to the Southside. Big lowboys, trailers, pickups all going south. A number of the loads are coming from as far as Topley. It鈥檚 all beautiful hay and looks like good feed.
Getting older
A young person asked me how I felt about getting old and I was taken back. I do not think of myself as getting old. This was an amazing question and I am going to think on it.
Old age I decided is a gift. I would never trade my wonderful friends or my loving family for less gray hair and a flatter belly.
As I have aged I have become more kind to myself and less critical of myself. I have become my own friend. I don鈥檛 chide myself for that extra helping of mashed potatoes and gravy or for not making my bed. I did not feel guilty for going into R. J. Welsh鈥檚 western store in Edmonton three weeks ago with my lovely granddaughter, looking for a new western hat. I let her do the picking and she picked a beauty.
It was priced at over $200 and had George Straits signature on it and a sign that said you have bought the best hat in the world.
The salesman could not resist a pretty girl and lowered the price quite a bit.
This hat will no doubt outlast me but I love it. I have seen too many of good friends leave this world too soon and I feel for them and their families, before they understand the great freedom that comes with aging.
Take care on the highways, we have had too many accidents of late. Always remember and I will say it again, God always loves you and so do I.
