Now I sound like an oldster, which I guess I am, because I'm using the title of another year almost over! I hope everyone reading this had a good year and is looking forward to 2023. 

It's been a busy one for us. Doug and I are still managing the acreage although with all the yard work, a bumper crop of saskatoons and raspberries and weeds that never seem to end, it does keep us busy! But, the mountain views and the mule deer literally strolling across our front walk remind us how fortunate we are to live in the Alberta foothills. 

On my drive west of Millarville yesterday to visit a friend, the light on the mountains was so striking that I almost forgot to watch where I was going. 

We're home for Christmas this year and looking forward to visits from our families. I think I went overboard on gifts for the grandchildren, but at least I managed a few 'educational' gifts with child-size binoculars that really work, paint sets and, of course, books. The nature organizations had some wonderful gifts offered this year so each child also has now officially adopted an Alberta mammal. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a skunk to adopt as that is our grandson's current favorite animal. We do have the 'real' thing in the back yard though, but we try to avoid them! 

I'm hoping to get back to the family history work after things settle in the new year. I've been able to trace my Great Grandmother Ida Greenfield Racher/Rachar's family back to the early 1400s. Our branch of the family had done a great deal of work on the paternal Racher/Rachar side, but not much on the Greenfield side. Fortunately, much work had been done on Ancestry although not all of it seems accurate. (Really, I don't think people can have children before they themselves are born.) So, I've been wading through all that information trying to figure it out. I was able to able to add a few photos that I found in my Grandmother Eva's albums. 

I've had a few queries from people on Ancestry and online as to other branches of the family. I have much more information than I've had time to post so I hope to get to that soon. The good part about doing family history as a hobby is the work never ends; the bad part about family history is the work never ends. 

Along with volunteering for three organizations in the Millarville, Diamond Valley and Okotoks areas and trying to make it to aqua fit a couple times a week, my life is busy. Doug continues to golf once or twice a week in the summer and curls twice a week in the winter. He also continues with his car hobby. Along with all the time required for health maintenance and our regular Sunday dinners with family, there is always something to keep us busy. 

We attended our grandchildren's school concert on Tuesday evening, and it was so nice to be able to enjoy such an event again. Although it was bitterly cold even for someone like me who doesn't mind cold weather, the auditorium was sold out. The concert had to be held on two evenings to accommodate all the parents and grandparents. I was absolutely amazed that the music and classroom teachers could get grade ones to do complicated actions and beats together, the grade fours strummed their ukuleles in time and even changed chords accurately, the grade fives did a stunning rendition of Pachelbel's Canon in D Major on xylophones and the grade sixes topped it all off with Carol of the Bells. Of course, the other classes did extremely well too, and the kindergarten children 'stole the show' as they always do. Our granddaughter is so very proud to finally be able to sing in the choir. I was impressed with the obvious hours that went into getting a large number of children to enunciate so the audience could understand every word. 

That concert meant Christmas to me and although I can be a bit of a scrooge about all the work involved in putting together Christmas year after year, the music is what means the most to me. 

I hope you find what is meaningful to you during the Christmas season. Best wishes for health and happiness in 2023. 

​

​Thank goodness September, my favorite month of the year, is here! I dislike hot weather immensely so the cool weather this morning on our walk to pick up the newspaper from the box by the highway was most welcome. It’s been a very hot summer with too many days in the 30 Celsius plus high temperatures.

My lumbar discectomy surgery in March was a success, and I was able to garden and clean bathrooms again (much to my husband’s pleasure) after a six week recovery. During that recovery, I started work on the family history for David Racher/Rachar and Rhoda Toland/Tolland’s three daughters and their families. The three daughters were my Grandma Eva - Mary Evelyn Racher Collins’ -- half-sisters.

We’ve had a busy summer, but we did enjoy all the company because we were able to reconnect with many relatives and friends. We had a family gathering with 24 people from the Cathro clan attending in June. In July, we had a family gathering of 35 people including members from the White side (Doug’s mom’s family) and several members of my family. Thanks to everyone who attended. We also had some friends visit during July and August, and it was great to see those people in-person.

Doug continued working on cars and added another car project: a 1955 Chev which he and a friend drove to Spokane to pick up and bring home. The car had been in storage for almost 40 years so you can imagine the clean-up needed. Doug used an extended pole—the type you trim tall trees with—to stand back far enough to rip out the headliner in order to clean the interior. I told him not to bring any rats or mice home in the interior of the car! After many days cleaning with a mask on, the car was deemed clean enough on the inside to go in the garage.

The two of us continue to spend a great deal of time in the yard. Work never ends as those of you who live on an acreage know, but we are still enjoying living here. So, the work gets done albeit with some complaining on my part! Advil as needed for both of us does help. 

As well as pulling weeds and mowing grass, we had a bumper crop of saskatoons. I put forty-750 ml containers of saskatoons in the freezer for our winter breakfasts. I’m still picking raspberries although we never have as many raspberries as saskatoons. We let the raspberries expand into part of the garden area so we’ll have a few more in the future. We just planted potatoes and carrots in the garden as everything else gets eaten in these parts unless you construct a 7-8 foot fence around the entire area which we aren’t going to do.

The bats are still here so my job cleaning up bat poop every morning continues as they love to hang-out by the front door and by one garage door. I talked with a bat expert at the Millarville Fair, and she was delighted that I could report so many bats. We are delighted too in that they eat huge quantities of mosquitoes. But, cleaning up by the front door every day gets a bit tedious as you can imagine!

They are the little brown bats and usually leave by mid-September. I asked the ‘bat lady’ whether the bats we have here hibernate or migrate, and she said they do both. As far as they can determine, the bats in this area probably migrate to the mountains and hibernate in small caves. They’ll be back here though as regular as clock-work on the May long weekend in 2023!

I’m looking forward to reducing my volunteer hours—which sometimes exceeded 60 hours a month—with the Okotoks Library. The treasurer’s role has been taken over by someone else, and I have greatly reduced my fundraising hours. The Okotoks Library Board has raised just over $175,000 as we were, and continue to be, responsible for outfitting the interior of the library with furniture and equipment. It’s been a long haul, but the basics have been supplied. I’m greatly appreciative to all the donors and sponsors. I enjoyed getting to know many generous people in Foothills County and Okotoks.

My library board term ends October 31st so I’m looking forward to being able to re-direct my energy and time to doing family history. My other volunteer work with a couple of Millarville area organizations takes just a few hours a month so I’ll continue with that as I really enjoy getting to know and working with more people in the area. 

If anyone reading this is doing family history, or interested in doing so, I’m researching and entering information on the following families:

Lorraine’s side of the family:
Racher/Rachar and Greenfield
Collins/Collings and Legg/Legge
North and Beatty
Lohr and Hein

Doug’s side of the family:
White and Killaby
Germyn and Clements
Taylor and Reid
Cathro and McGibbon

For more information, please see my public tree: Lohr Cathro Family Tree on Ancestry. Thanks also to several relatives on different branches of the family tree who have contributed information. My tree is far from complete although I do have more information than I’ve had time to enter so far. Last winter I did some work on the Collins/Collings and Legg/Legge sides, and I’ve restarted working on the Racher/Rachar and Greenfield sides. Eventually, I’ll move on to the other family branches noted above.
​
Happy Fall to all! 

I can't believe that it's been so long since I've posted a musing. I also can't believe that I still have people who check my website--what persistence on your part! Thank you. 

It's been an interesting and busy time. COVID certainly impacted all our lives, but that's not an excuse for neglecting my website. I've 'over-volunteered' in the past 18 months so I'm hoping now for more time to look after my own website and pursue my own interests. In other words, back to family history soon. 

I'm scheduled for micro lumbar discectomy surgery next week, and the goal is to get rid of at least most of the pain in my left leg. My Lumbar 4 and 5 have become too close for comfort and my sciatic nerve is being pinched as a result. 

So, I'm busy with last minute 'to-dos' before that surgery. I do promise I will be back. In the meantime, it's starting to look a lot like spring as I sit at the desk in our den and look out toward the Rocky Mountains. There's just one patch of snow on the north side of the spruce trees left. 

Is it too soon to say Happy Spring? We definitely need the moisture, but I'm hoping for spring rains rather than late winter snow. 

Best wishes to everyone reading this musing. 

​No one will soon forget 2020 and a pandemic that we hope is the only one in our lifetimes! I remember my Granny Lohr talking about the Spanish Flu (1918-1920) and how so many families were affected and some even decimated. At least now one hundred years later we know more about viruses in general and, as time passes, more about this one in particular. Everyone’s wish is that 2021 will bring new and effective vaccines.

This past year started with the Wakaw Lake cabin selling in early January. The cabin was sold furnished except for the antique furniture and personal effects that we wanted to keep. Possession date was May 1st, and it was difficult to say goodbye after 39 years to a place of much enjoyment and lots of hard work. Well, maybe not so hard to say goodbye to the work, and we’ll keep the memories of all the good times.

We’re very glad that we went to California for Christmas 2019 and spent time with our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter as we haven’t seen them since. Phone visits are fine but not a substitute for face-to-face visits. COVID-19 certainly ‘clipped everyone’s wings’ in terms of travelling. Our granddaughter’s school is closed with no projected opening date so she attends a childcare facility for children of essential workers and does some online school work.

We are fortunate to have our Calgary family close. We had resumed Sunday dinners but starting last week we went back to an outdoor gathering because regulations for no indoor family gatherings went into effect. The outdoor socially-distanced visit gave the grandchildren a chance to go tobogganing on the hill into the ravine although they had to start half way down because the chinook winds and sun had melted most of the snow at the top. There was lots of snow at the bottom of the hill still so they had soft landings.

Our Calgary granddaughter is back at school in grade 3. Fortunately the elementary level students were allowed to stay in school although grades 7-12 students must now do online schooling. She loves school but will have an extended Christmas holiday as Alberta schools will be closed from December 19th – January 11th.  

Our Calgary grandson was spending most Thursdays with us and loves to make ginger cookies cut into various shapes. When I try to expand the cookie repertoire, he says Grandpa likes ginger cookies the best. I reply: “Your Grandpa has never met a cookie he doesn’t like,” but still every week: ginger cookies. Of course, for the next few weeks while the restrictions last, there won’t be any ginger cookies made.

Doug put together an old car in the playground area for the kids to play on. It even has a steering wheel and a key. Sometimes the car turns into a rocket ship or submarine so we have lots of adventures without leaving the yard.

​Like many people, we spent numerous hours in 2020 working on the yard. With help from the owner of a nearby tree farm on his bobcat, the caraganas on the south berm were removed and replaced with spruce trees. We also did a lot of extra trimming—who would have thought there were 40 potentillas as well as numerous spireas in this yard? With all the rain in the spring, grass cutting was a regular job for Doug. The Saskatoon shrubs were prolific again this year and along with a good crop of raspberries, there wasn’t much room for anything else in the freezer. Those berries will last until spring and sure taste good every morning!

Doug enjoyed some golfing this past summer and was curling twice a week before the curling rink was closed due to COVID. Also this past summer and fall, he and two friends enjoyed several hikes in the Kananaskis area. 
               
Doug also purchased a 1935 Ford Cabriolet with a rumble seat from a couple in Cranbrook. So, our ‘summer holiday’ was three trips to Cranbrook to look at, buy, and bring back the car in pieces. Locating parts and putting the car together is his winter project.

Lorraine continued volunteer work with the Okotoks Library working on their history committee and now locating and assessing applicable grants. The Library will be moving into the new building in June 2021. She also joined the Millarville Horticultural Club and is enjoying the guest speakers at the meetings—sometimes in person, now on Zoom. She did get some work done on family history focusing on the Collins side of the family. Of course, family history is never finished so that’s an ongoing project.

​Our plans are to be home, of course, for Christmas. Our Calgary family will be joining us for dinner if the restrictions are lifted on social gatherings. If not, we’ll still put up a Christmas tree and have our turkey and trimmings.
Our best wishes to all of you. Take care and please keep in touch.

​As you can see by the photo on my home page, the Saskatoon berries are as numerous as last summer and about to ripen. We still have two cartons of saskatoons in the freezer left from last year, and we eat berries most mornings for breakfast. That’s a lot of berries to last for a year!
 
We had pea-sized and some marble-sized hail last week; however, the berries were fortunately too green to be destroyed. I’m afraid that some farmers’ crops weren’t as fortunate.
 
It’s been a wild summer weather-wise here with high humidity, ominous clouds, abrupt thunderstorms and even tornado warnings. Maybe the weather is trying to stay more newsworthy than the ongoing COVID pandemic.
 
We’ve been doing yard work for a few hours each day. We went on a mission to try to get rid of the Caragana—that was a challenge. I’m sure there will be more shoots erupting next year, but at least the bushes are gone. (Where was my head when the nursery man recommended some Caragana as a ‘quick growth’ solution when we moved to the acreage 15 years ago?) We even cleared out some of the Calgary Carpet by the front walk which didn’t have room to expand and replaced it with feather grasses and sages. I look at every area of the acreage now and ask how we can cut maintenance. So far, it’s not working.
 
The burrs and thistles in the garden patch are especially challenging, and I’ve engaged in regular tugging contests with the thistles. My goal is to be able to get to all the berries, and anything that gets in my way or pokes me as I’m trying to get there is going to be yanked out—hopefully by the roots. Once the berries are ready to pick, it’s a few hours a day in the berry patches which will be a welcome respite from pulling weeds.  
 
I’m not the only one anticipating the berries. Small flocks of cedar waxwings, the red-winged blackbird family from by the pond and other fruit-eating birds are also lurking in the trees by the garden waiting to peck. The blackbirds are already screeching at me when I go to the patches.
 
There is fresh bear scat on the avenue which tells us that the black bear is back—if it ever left—and it, too, will be waiting for the berries to ripen. So, once again it will be a race to the berry patch and singing loudly while I’m down there. I read somewhere that bears don’t like singing. Probably the neighbours don’t enjoy it much either.
 
Speaking of projects in the yard, we decided to try to get our hot tub working again. It’s been sitting unused for about 12 years.  Since the arthritis in my hands has gotten more painful this summer so that all my fingers except two now have bony knobs on the finger joints, we decided to try and see if the hot tub would help the arthritis and relieve other joint and muscle pain after gardening.
 
This rejuvenation of the hot tub has been quite the adventure, but I’ll tell you first that it’s operational and being enjoyed. The warm water also relieves arthritic symptoms, at least for a couple hours.
 
We had a contact who maintains pools for a living so he gave us advice by text and phone as we went through the steps. He was amazed that the pump still worked and that there were no leaks given the time. We figured that if it worked, it worked; if not, well, at least we found out that much.
 
The main job was cleaning, and you wouldn’t believe the ‘stuff’ that came out of the jets. We vacuumed, scrubbed, filled the tub and ran it, netted out all the ‘stuff’ and cleaned it some more and on and on. Nothing like another project for the summer!
 
I haven’t read as many books this summer as I thought I would. It just seems like the more I’m at home, the more jobs I see that need to be done. I think everyone is feeling that way so many people are involved in projects. We do manage to sit on either the front porch or back deck for an hour or so in the late afternoon.
 
We also have mosquitos this year which is unusual in this area. I’d almost forgotten that loud whine around my ears and head. We are fortunate to have many bats around—and I try to remind myself of that fact when I clean up bat poop every morning off the front porch as they do love to hang there. We also have swallows nesting in most of the bluebird boxes—only one bluebird family this year out of the dozen boxes—and also the large dragon flies have mercifully come in recently to help eat mosquitos too. Still, mosquitos in the Foothills are not as common as in other areas, and I know Central Alberta for example has been plagued with swarms of them.
 
Like everyone else, we’ve been sticking close to home. We have been taking more drives out into the foothills. Those of us who live so close to the mountains sometimes forget that people come from all over the world to this area—well, not this year, but usually—and we have the stupendous views and activities right from, or near, our doorstep.
 
Now if I can just get to the berries before the birds and the bear, we’ll have berries in the freezer for another year!
 
I hope everyone is well. “See you in September” – if I’m out of the berry patch by then.
 
 
 
 
 
 

I hope everyone has kept well since my last posted musing. As the isolation rules start to relax and businesses reopen, most of us can start to enjoy some of the activities that we had to stop. I do so miss the hugs with the grandchildren. I know this is a petty thing compared to what many people endured, but I also missed my regular massages. I will be celebrating later this week by having a massage and a pedicure!

Our family said goodbye to cabin life after 39 years of owning a cabin at Wakaw Lake, Saskatchewan. We simply couldn’t look after it and the acreage too, particularly given the 8-hour trip each way from home to the cabin. It was the right decision to make, and I certainly don’t miss the long truck trip or the maintenance required when we got there. We fondly remember all the good times we had.

So, instead of working at home and then working at the cabin, we have expanded working at home. The more I’m at home, the more projects I see that need to be done! I decided that it was time to trim the potentilla shrubs. Most mornings I was out trimming. I discovered all kinds of things under the long-neglected shrubs! Finally I counted the shrubs as it seemed never-ending: 40. The good news is that those shrubs should be okay now for a couple years.

Next I decided that all the thyme except that up in the crevices of the rock garden had to go. I recall planting exactly three thyme plants about 15 years ago which morphed into a solid mass of thyme. Although I like the looks and the smell of thyme, hours are needed each week just to dig/pick the grass out of the plants. So, I dug the thyme out by the roots and planted larger perennials such as daylilies and Autumn Joy sedums which I hope will cut down future maintenance.

Just when I thought I had the rock garden the way I wanted it, I looked out last evening from the basement walk-out to see a young mule deer contentedly chewing its cud and dozing in the evening sun laying right on parts of those new plants!

The joys of gardening never end, and I do know better than to plant anything that isn’t deer-proof. But, I still do plant some delectables! A doe loves nibbling on the petunias at the gate. My neighbour saw her delicately biting off each petunia! Later, I caught her--the doe, not my neighbour--with a white petunia hanging out the side of her mouth from the large pot on the laneway. When I shouted at her to leave my plants alone, she just turned and looked at me with her big doe-eyes.

Gardening has certainly become the rage, and many of us struggled to find seeds in the spring as many stores and garden centers were totally sold out. I hope that people continue to garden even after all this COVID stuff is over—if it’s ever over and not just replaced with a mutation or another virus. Although I grump and complain about all those hours weeding, trimming and digging, I do love to play in the dirt and I know gardening is good for me in so many ways.

Although I miss hugs with the grandchildren, massages and having lunch with friends, I have found the time at home the past three months rewarding in many ways. I even managed to get three photo albums completed and some family history work done. Needless to say, I still have bins and bins of treasures to sort and put in albums and online from family history, but at least I got some sorting done. The rest may have to wait for this coming winter as the weeds grow faster than I move these days.

Best wishes everyone—please give me a call or send an email if I haven’t had a chance to talk with you recently. Until we get a chance to meet again either in-person or online, keep trimming and weeding. 

I’ve resurfaced again and seem no longer able to keep up to a regular entry on my website. I’ve decided to stop promising that I will try to do more regular entries and post when I can. Thanks to everyone who has been checking my website and who is now reading this post.
 
I also hope everyone reading this entry is keeping well during this unprecedented time of our lives.
 
My Granny, Beula North Lohr, used to talk about the frightening so-called “Spanish Flu”—the pandemic that was brought to Canada by soldiers returning home from World War I. In 1918, my Granny was attending Normal School in Camrose, Alberta, training to be a teacher. My Grandfather, Lester Lohr, was one of the few people in the area who owned a car, so my Great-Grandparents North asked him if he would bring Beula home—which he did. Although she never returned to complete Normal School, she was given a teaching certificate. That trip also started the romance between my grandparents.
 
Granny told me many times about the pandemic and how neighbors would leave supplies at the end of farm lanes for families who were ill. No one wanted to go near the contaminated houses. Entire families were wiped out. My Granny’s family members were fortunate in that none of them became seriously ill. She always maintained it was because their relatives in the Anaheim area of California had an orchard and sent them oranges on a regular basis. Beula maintained it was the oranges they ate that kept her family healthy. She believed in oranges!
 
My Grandfather Lester was not as fortunate. He was homesteading at the time and ‘batching’ as he used to call it. When he started to feel very ill, he began to walk to his parents’ home, a distance of around a mile. He made it although it must have been a shock when Lester staggered in, barely able to walk by that point. Fortunately, no one else in his family became seriously ill. He recovered, but he also talked about the severity of the “Spanish Flu.”
 
Now, just over a hundred years later, we’re in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Once again, people are isolating and neighbours or extended family members are leaving groceries at the end of the lane or on the porch. I don’t know if eating oranges will help as my Granny maintained they helped her family; however, I do know that this too shall pass and we’ll be telling our grandchildren and great-grandchildren about COVID-19 for years to come. The biggest difference is that we are fortunate to have access to a very good healthcare system that our ancestors didn’t have.
 
The time in isolation has meant that I can finally get back to my family history work. I’ve started working again on the Collins/Collings side of my maternal grandfather, Moses Herman Collins. One of the two remaining cousins on that branch has sent me all his information and newspaper clippings—a real treasure trove. As well, in 1992, he completed and distributed an extensive family history document that has been invaluable. I’m now working to get that information on Ancestry and am delighted that several extended family members are also working on fleshing out that branch of our family tree. Once you’ve done your DNA spit test through Ancestry, you too will have cousins—my extended cousin count as of today is 860—yes, you read that right!
 
We have several challenges in our pursuit of adding to this family tree: Firstly, the surname appears to have been changed from Collings to Collins and/or used interchangeably. Secondly, some of the information is online, but some isn’t, so someone needs to get into the Larkin County archives located just west of Ottawa to try and trace the Collings/Collins back to England. We know that our Great-Grandfather Henry Collings came from England as a young boy and was probably born in London or area, but much more needs to be developed. If anyone reading this can help, please send me a message on this website. Thanks.
 
If there is anyone out there who needs a project during this pandemic, do family history as you are never done—contacting 860 cousins takes a long time! Best wishes to all for health.
 
 
 
 

Each passing year seems to go faster, and it’s hard to believe it will soon be 2020.

It has been a year of some changes for us. Our golden retriever, Hayley, passed away on October 17th. The day before her death she walked to the highway and back with us to pick up the newspaper. Although she had gradually been slowing down, she was still eating and drinking normally. On the morning of the 17th, she got up and made it down the back stairs and then collapsed and was unable to stand again. Doug carried her outside, and we were fortunate that it was a nice day and we were able to be outside with her in one of her favorite spots. The Vet came and told us that her vitals were low, and Hayley died peacefully. She would have been 14 in December so she lived a long life for a large breed dog. We miss her as she was a great companion.
           
Our family made the decision to put the Wakaw Lake cabin up for sale. This was a difficult choice given that we’ve owned the property for 39 years. We have happy memories of our time at the lake. Many of you reading this letter will also remember spending time at Wakaw Lake, waterskiing and being taken on exuberant tube-rides, followed by beer and wine on the deck along with meals. There were also many special, quieter moments searching and finding the eagles’ nest and listening to the call of the loons on the lake. We listed the cabin in September, and, so far, it hasn’t sold. So, we’ll see what the spring and summer brings.
       
Doug finished his 40 Ford Convertible and was able to take it to the Okotoks Show & Shine. Lorraine drove the 40 Ford Deluxe Coupe in as part of the Library display. In the fall, Doug sold his 56 Corvette Race Car to a man who lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Given the variability of the weather and the distance to a race track, Doug found that he wasn’t able to drive the race car much. After that sale, he bought a 67 Ford Fairlane. For his winter project, Doug is working on the 38 Ford.
       
Working on cars, golfing in the summer and curling twice a week in the winter keeps Doug busy. He spends a great deal of time on yard work—mowing in the summer and plowing/shovelling in the winter. We had snow in September this year, and the snow/thaw/freeze/snow cycle seems to be firmly in place.
       
Lorraine is still on the Okotoks Public Library Board, and a new, expanded library has just been approved as part of a Learning Campus. Construction is slated to start in April 2020; occupancy in the summer of 2021. The fundraising will become even busier now, and it is a challenge in these tough economic times.
       
Lorraine enjoyed an eight-day trip to Southern Italy in November with some members of her online writing group. She visited Rome, Pompei, Naples, Cabri and the group was based in the lovely small city of Sorrento. It’s a beautiful area, and the pasta and pizza were good too! We also did some writing in between touring and eating. 
       
​We hope you and your family are well. If you’re in the Calgary or Foothills area, please call or come and visit.

I hope everyone had a great summer. I said I’d be back after berry season was over. I picked the last of the raspberries on Thursday, September 26th.

We had some excitement in the neighborhood earlier this month. I was down in the garden picking raspberries when there was a commotion in the trees in the ravine. I started to sing loudly and continued picking. I thought it was probably deer because we have one that likes to sleep in the garden in the summer—the moose take over the garden in the winter. I had often felt like something was watching me when I was down in the garden this summer but told myself it was imagination. We had noticed the pin cherry bushes and Schubert chokecherry tree had been stripped of berries. There had also been some scat on the road that looked suspiciously like bear-scat.

About three hours after the garden commotion, our neighbor sent me a photo of a black bear in a tree. Apparently, it had also been seen strolling down 206 Avenue.

We were cautious when the grandchildren were here and kept them in the yard. We weren’t able to go and see how the pumpkins in the garden were coming along because I didn’t want them to be that close to the ravine. But, I had to keep picking those raspberries. There was only one day that some of the raspberries seemed to be missing so I thought the bear had either moved on or didn’t like the thorns. Someone told me that they don’t like music so I played some music on my iPhone when I was in the garden.

We heard that a black bear was captured on the Spruce Meadow grounds and relocated. I thought maybe that was our black bear. But, the scat was back on the road a few days later so I think we might have a permanent resident. They do hibernate though--right? 

​Now, it’s September 29th and we’ve had about eight inches of snow since last evening and more to come overnight. The unripe raspberries, all the annuals and probably all the perennials will be finished for the season. I trimmed most of the perennial beds leaving the ones that were still blooming, but didn’t get to the rock garden. It will wait for me as the forecast is for above zero weather in a few days. In the meantime, heavy, wet snow is blanketing the area. It’s pretty—as long as I’m sitting in the den looking out the window. 

I'm inundated with saskatoons--huge clumps of almost blueberry-sized saskatoons. Now the raspberries are ripening. You probably won't hear from me for several weeks. I'll be in the berry patch.