Oktoberfest in Lloydminster

Last nite mein frau and I enjoyed Lloydminster's Oktoberfest for the first time.
Here are a few of the delightful new friends we met last nite. Everyone seemed so friendly and happy, we decided we must go back again next year!

Although not quite as famous as the Munich Oktoberfest, I thought you might like to knows some of the essential facts concerning the two celebrations.

First Oktoberfest celebration .... 1810 in Munich (1992 in Lloydminster)
Length of Festival .... 16-17 days (5 1/2 hours)
Record attendance .... 7.1 million (458)
Record beer consumption .... 6.7 million litres (9.5 kegs)
Record # of chickens consumed .... 807,710 (0)
Record # of bratwurst consumed .... 721,468 (480)
Number of oxen consumed .... 104 (0)
Number of times cancelled .... 24 (NEVER!!)

Finally, a useful phrase should you ever find yourself amongst the crowd pictured above - "Hol mir ein Bier, bitte!" (get me a beer, please!).

Secrets of the Crooked Bush

A few months ago, Mom showed us an article on the famous "crooked bush" of Hafford. Since we were passing nearby on our recent trip to P.A. we decided to give it a look. You follow a gravel road 16 km. north of Hwy 40, near Speers and then 2.5 km. east. Keep a keen eye out as it is not well marked.

After a couple of diversions, we finally come upon the "crooked bush". This poplar bluff is perhaps 75 meters long by 50 meters wide, right beside the grid road and with another small road circling it. And it is exactly as advertised. Poplar trees of all ages twist and bend along all sorts of angles and shapes. They are a bit smaller than normal poplar trees, some perhaps 25 feet tall, but normal in every other way except for the way their trunks meander from the normal. Other trees not 50 meters away look completely normal. Young poplars on the edge of the bluff also exhibit the twisting growth of the larger ones, but no other ones that we saw that day were anything but normal.

Mom on the boardwalk

A community group has built a short boardwalk to minimize damage from the curious. There is a sign with a brief history, stating that it is one of the "54 wonders of Canada" as selected by the CBC program 'Morningside". Here is a link to some much better photographs, taken on a cloudy day: http://www.pbase.com/sjvucko/crooked

Evidently, cattle avoid the place, even without a fence around it, and some people have reported dizziness and light-headedness while walking amongst the trees.

Many theories abound as to what would cause such a prominent distortion in such tiny confines. They include radioactive soil, a genetic cause, a former landing spot of a UFO, a lightning strike that changed the soil chemistry, and others. The truth, however, is even more fantastic.

Apparently a UFO was observed hovering over the area. Since that time, men have reported problems with, how shall I put this, ..... the Man Downstairs, ... the old bush-whacker,.... that one-eyed trouser snake, .... Dr. Wang,.... Uncle Throbby,.... the bald avenger. I'm sure you get the idea. Of great significance however, is that these problems occur not with the men that visit the crooked bush, but with their siblings! Isn't that amazing?

So, Lenore and Colleen, if your man is experiencing any signs of "E.D.", you should get in touch with me as the cure was posted on a sign there as well. I'll be happy to pass along that information. Just send me an email briefly describing the problem and circumstances and I'll get you fixed up right smartly.

A Visit to Birch Hills

Yesterday Roni, Grandma Clara and I drove from N.B. to Birch Hills, via Crooked Bush, Blaine Lake and Prince Albert (more on Crooked Bush at another time). We visited Aunt Caroline, one of the world's nicest people. She received us in the Sr. Citizens Home at Birch Hills, and treated us to tea and a cookie, and a wonderful visit. She recently celebrated her 90th birthday and is looking great. Here's a photo of us in the dining/visiting room in Birch Hills.

Its "Name That Tune" Time!

One of the great things about traveling is the opportunity to experience different cultures and participate in local customs. Faithful readers of this blog will recall my experiences with little old ladies in Mississippi, our adventures with alligators, my dancing with snakes at Sanibel Island, and our revelry on Bourbon Street, among others. Here are a couple of our recent activities for you to name that may challenge your skills.

Photo Number 1. If you look carefully, you can just barely make out Ray and Roni on the left side, about three rows back. What is the occasion?

Photo Number 2. Not many people can make me feel small. Who is Ray's new found friend? Hint - he was born in Kinshasa.

Louisiana to Lloydminster

Natchez was delightful. Lots of antebellum mansions to view and a magnificent view of the Mississippi from the elevated eastern bank, all in a small-town atmosphere. For those literary types, Natchez boasts an excellent fiction author - Greg Isles. I've read a couple of his novels and am on my third. Contemporary mysteries, mostly set in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Across the wide Mississippi we go and northward through Louisiana cotton country and into the rich soils of southern and eastern Arkansas. We tried to look up Bill and Hillary in Little Rock but it seems they are elsewhere occupied. We carried on nevertheless, through the Ozarks and into Missouri. Somewhat surprisingly, we ended up in Branson, Missouri. Surprisingly, I say, because it seems everyone else on the planet has heard of Branson except us. Think Las Vegas for country folk, and without the casinos. There's a four mile long "strip" loaded with concert halls featuring all the country music stars you hoped you'd forgotten about years ago! Apparently this is where they all end up. So we take in a show, and guess what - it was fun!

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Center

A scene from "A Country Jamboree"

Carrying on northward and westward, we pass Kansas City, Nebraska, Sioux City, and Iowa ending up headed west across South Dakota. Wonderful grasslands and big skies. We even pass Laura Ingalls Wilder's hometown (remember "Little House on the Prairie")? We visit the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. see four presidents at Mt. Rushmore, and end up in Deadwood, S.D. Deadwood - think Las Vegas in the mountains with gunfights on the street each day...... and sometimes snowstorms overnight.

An overnight snowstorm in Deadwood

We make it back into Montana and finally cross the border into Canada. For no apparent reason other than only 2 guys on duty (out of the six booths) we waited 90 minutes to cross. Reunited with our daughter, cat, brother's family, friends, and the Bailey NHL Hockey Pool trophy, things feel good. Even the two-day blizzard fails to dampen our spirits as we make quick stops in Innisfail and Edmonton.

The QE2 Highway welcomes us home.

Finally, it is back to our Lloydminster home after two months away. Nothing much has changed - I shovel the driveway the next morning. But it is good to be home!

From Alvin to Elvis

Upon arriving at Tupelo, Mississippi from Birmingham, Alabama we found that Elvis' birthplace was much better marked than Alvin's. It's a good thing too, as I'd hate to think of all those thousands of Elvis fans blindly swarming around the neighbourhood trying to find His birthplace!

The two room "shotgun" house
where Elvis was born in 1935.

It's called a "shotgun house" because the front and back doors are aligned to improve ventilation. A side benefit is that, if you-all are lucky, a shotgun blast can pass right through both doors without hitting anything. I suspect that the house where Alvin was born was an earlier model of this.

After all this genealogical research we were ready for some relaxation time so we drove the Natchez Trace. This is a 50 mph scenic road from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi. It parallels the original wagon train route (trace) between the same two settlements in the 1700's and 1800's, and is the definition of "taking the scenic route" - no trucks, no billboards, no hurry. We picked it up in Tupelo and headed south.

Overhanging branches along the Natchez Trace

We saw this "crimson clover"....
over and over......

Arriving in Natchez, a Mississippi River town in southern Mississippi, we toured a few of the antebellum (pre-civil war) homes. They've still got a lot of them there. It was good to be rich in those days. Not so good to be poor, and especially poor and black. Most of the owners of these homes had several hundred, or even several thousand slaves to tend their cotton plantations across the river in Louisiana. At one count, there were 250 millionaires in Natchez pre-war. Post war there were probably none.

Longwood Plantation House

Now I know why bus drivers have that plexiglass behind them....

After an afternoon of antebellum viewing, it was off to the Riverboat Casino, conveniently located down the hill from our hotel. We took the hotel shuttle, one of those 30 or 40 passenger buses. At one of the stops, an elegant-looking woman got on. She was, oh, in her 70's or so, alone, and dressed rather formally in a full-length black skirt and using a walking cane. She had to put her purse on the first step of the bus to make it up the three or four stairs with her cane, but managed OK after a bit of a struggle on the first step. She even politely said "hello" to a woman in front who, in actuality, was saying "hello" to someone else on her cellphone. No matter. She sat down in the first row, right behind the driver.

When we reached the casino, yours truly, being a good boy-scout, figured that if I got off first, I could offer her my assistance as she disembarked. I waited at the foot of the stairs with my hand ready. She dropped her cane,but it was thoughtfully picked up by the cellphone woman and returned to her with a smile. She seemed to be having a bit of difficulty getting to her feet. The remaining passengers waited patiently. She got a couple of inches off the seat and then dropped back down. This was followed almost immediately by horizontal projectile vomit. Not once, but twice.

I chose the discrete part of valour and went off to alert security.

Now I know why bus drivers have that plexiglass screen thing behind their seats.

(Sorry, no photo)

Following in Grandpa Al's footsteps.

For the past two days, we have been following up the available facts we have regarding Dad's childhood in Birmingham and Montgomery. I'm very pleased to say that we have found out quite a bit! I can't wait to share it with Doug, Ted, and the rest of the family.

For the time being, here are a few photos.

From the age of 9, dad lived in the Masonic Home of Alabama (an orphanage) in Montgomery, Alabama. Although the original building has been removed and a nursing home constructed, now even the nursing home has been demolished. Some of the land had been sold to a school, and some to a church, but the majority of the land is an open field, with a couple of workshops. Beside the workshops are a few of the original cornerstones of the Masonic Home of Alabama. There were a few other relevant items as well that I photographed.

Dad attended the Cloverdale High School after finishing his elementary school at the Masonic Home. We found the original Cloverdale School about a half mile west of the Masonic Home. Surprisingly, it is still in much the same condition as it would have been in the 1930's when dad attended. It is now owned by Huntington College and is used as a sports extension of the college. You can still see the "Cloverdale School" above the door, as well as in several other places.

Prior to the move to Montgomery, dad lived in Birmingham. He states on a document that he was born on "Cottage Hill Road, Cottage Hill, Jefferson County, Alabama". As I suspected, Cottage Hill has been renamed Pleasant Grove, and Cottage Hill Road is now Pleasant Grove Road. We have no address for his original home, nor could I locate one in the Pleasant Grove archives, however we can say that we drove up his street!

This church "may" be where he attended school in grades 1to 3. The church's exterior has been redone in brick in the 1970's, but it did host a one room school in the early 1900's, and was the original "Frog Pond" church. Dad states that he attended Frog Pond School from grade 1 to 3.

In other news, today we visited Tupelo, Mississippi and the home where Elvis was born.