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Mother’s Day
Tisdale - Friday, May 18, 2012

This year’s mother’s day fit the occasion perfectly, it was sunny and warm, not hot, but warm, there was a gentle breeze and flawless sky. Just the way it should be to have a day set aside to pay homage to our mothers and the mothers who have created the families of which we are apart.

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We left Tisdale around eleven and drove the pleasant scenic trip out to Greenwater Lake Provincial Park. It was a joy to see the green grass and the trees budding out. The highway was nearly without traffic as this agricultural area was very busy getting this year’s crop in the ground.

We had the option of brunch at Fisherman’s Cover or the Beach Cafe. Both had a special Mother’s Day event planned and it was a hard choice but a chubby guy wearing shorts, no shirt and with white suspenders entering the Beach Cafe pretty much settle the decision as we saw him enter and figured that was not the outing we had in mind and we had a breakfast brunch with decaf at the Fisherman’s Cove.

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There is no question the marina and beach at Greenwater Lake Provincial Park is one of Saskatchewan’s best and I was surprised to see the lake quite high. Greenwater is a magnet to the people of this part of Saskatchewan and this Mother’s Day ßunday there were lots of people not only enjoy brunch as we had done but there were many families out on the beach and in the trees by the beach having their own Mother’s Day picnic brunch.

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The Provincial government seems to be pretty enthusiastic about reducing spending this year. Last year at this time most of Saskatchewan’s provincial parks were a bit of a mess because of flooding and the high water table turned park roadways into obstacle courses. This winter was much more kind but there is no sign that any money is being spent on the park streets and roads as they are as bad, perhaps even worse than what we call streets here in Tisdale.

We drove out of the park and headed south on the highway toward Kelvington, a highway that was truly wreck last spring and we decided not to chance fate and we turned off and headed west to Archerwill. Half of that highway has devolved into a gravel trail. As we worked our way west we decided that the motorhome would not been challenged by this road this year. The image above is a pond just west of the highway junction.
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As we carefully worked our west we took it easy, after all I was driving my son’s mother’s car and she was finding the gravel pretty unsettling to have to ride along on washboard.

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It is remarkable how farmers handle old equipment and vehicles. All along almost every Saskatchewan road and highway we pass by farms, both abandoned and working farms and each has its share of waste. In the trees above stands a separator from the days of horse farming that ended more than fifty years ago and sitting in the trees is what’s left of a 1953 Chevy.

The sloping countryside is all downhill from the park as you go west and we saw several nice herds of cattle and a surprising number of horses in some pastures.

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In the farm yard above there appears to be a car from the 1970s and other retired equipment with many outbuildings that appear no longer to be useable. There is a certain rustic charm to old stuff but it seems to me that worn out farm equipment and vehicles take up a lot of space that could be much better used for producing income.

Speaking of income, though it would have been nice to been able to get the crop in just a week or two earlier the planting and growing conditions are nearly perfect. The showers have been moderate and all we need is just a little more warmth to get the seeds germinated.

As this is Victoria Day weekend we like many other families in Tisdale got our garden planted this week. Well it wasn’t exactly “we” my son’s mother accomplished the garden planting and I supervised from a strategically placed chair as I read the news of the day.

Have a nice weekend, the temperature is expect to climb considerably and we hope to visit a Regional park (their roads are better).

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