I just found out that (steadfast, loyal, dependable) Caleb is going to be visiting this weekend with his parents and brother Gabriel (meaning: Hero of God). He is very excited that they will be sleeping over! So I need to gather together all of the supplies I need to make this a memorable visit for all of them - of course, the food is at the top of the list. But we also Arts and Crafts supplies so the boys can take something home with them to remind them of the visit.

There's no better place to find arts and crafts supplies than right outside the door and down the river bank. Driftwood! Rocks (smooth river rocks and chunks of rough rocks with golden and silver speckles.... could this be genuine Gold or Silver?) There are a lot of abandoned mines in these here parts and up until WW1 they were hauling tons and tons of copper from just up the road at Phoenix. Prospectors are still checking out the Boundary area for another motherlode of some precious metal or another. The sand in the river is filled with tiny gold speckles which I believe must be the real thing, but very hard to capture without gold panning skills. And then there is clay. I just happen to have a potter's wheel in my garage, so we might put that to use.

But even if we don't make something to take home, we will make memories by eating a really good cut of steak and a nice salad and fresh veggies from the farmer's market down the road.
Maybe we'll venture into Greenwood for a bowl of the best Russian Borscht you ever tasted or go over to Grand Forks and check out the crystal mine where you can take whatever you can chip off the crystal rocks. Then we'll go for a refreshing swim in the deep hole by our back door, float down to the US border and hike back.

And you can bet on the fact that I will be carrying my camera no matter what we do and will have another 200 pictures by the end of the long weekend.

Have a Grand Labour Day Weekend to everyone who might stumble across these ramblings.

Thursday, August whatever, 2008

This is my third or fourth attempt at beginning to Blog as apparently, the rest of the world has done. (At least, all of the cute, quirky and clever names were already spoken for, so I am supposing the whole world has a Blog.)

Everyone else seems to have it quite together, but I have had many, many false starts, wheel-spinning and a general disability when it comes to participating in this activity. I recently read that Blogs are going to replace the traditional website in the very near future. Being unsuccessful at website-building, I thought, "What the heck, I may as well be unsuccessful at Blogging, too."

So here it is: A Blog devoted entirely to my brand new experience of living in a tiny village on the banks of the Kettle River. Actually that's not the complete truth: it is going to be devoted to being a long-distance grandma, but all the cool names along that line, were taken by other long-distance grandmas. (Hi, to all of you out there!)

This summer, we were very fortunate to have been given the green light by 2 of the grandchildrens' parents to lend us their offspring for three weeks apiece. (For the mathematically challenged, that means we had our grandkids for six whole weeks this summer!) (This is not a slight against those who are mathematically challenged, as I fit snugly into that category myself... this was actually a test to see if I could figure out two times three.)

The eldest who is called Caleb (meaning, steadfast, loyal and dependable) came on a long road trip with us to northern Manitoba, to a place called Atikameg Lake (meaning, Clear Water, I believe... or it should mean that as the water is crystal clear, the bottom is crushed granite silica sand and the source is undergound springs). It is maybe the most beautiful place on earth, although I have heard that Tahiti is pretty nice too. As is the Kettle River Valley. The only thing wrong with Clearwater Lake is that it is so far away from where I live on the Kettle River (there: the reason for the title of this Blog.)

The other grandson who is called Jordan (meaning "to flow down".... what kind of a meaning is that?) came to our Kettle River cottage for three weeks and let me tell you, he did flow down, lots of times. You see, the Kettle River is a clean flowing river and during the months of July and August, a lot of people get on inner tubes and float past our house. If you haven't ever floated down a river, you really should try it sometime. If you are looking for a relaxing time, this is it.... you can't do anything but sit there until it's over so you are forced to do nothing and not feel the least bit guilty about doing nothing for two hours. Or more, if you go farther upstream. Who could blame you?

I'm going to try to post some pictures of these two precious grandsons and the wonderful time we had with them this summer. Long distance Grandparents, try to spend some quality vacation time with your grandchildren; it's the most fun you'll have all year.