Saturday April 18, 2026 Funerals

 

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog:  https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/ 

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

 http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Saturday April 18, 2026

 Friday, I left Edmonton at 9:30am and was early at the park memorial funeral home for the service for my eldest brother, Fern.  The only one to beat me there was his daughter, Leslie.

Slowly, family and friends arrived, most of the people being the Irish friends and family of Fern's wife Eileen.  It was a very good turnout but I was frankly very disappointed in the turnout of our family.  For all the people that were touched by the warmth of my brother that live in the area, and who were contacted, I really expected a lot more there.

But the service was one of the best I have ever attended, with a nephew, stepson and co-worker supplying many great stories that made us chuckle.  RIP dear brother Fern...

I had booked a cheap hotel near the airport for the night, The Divya Sutra Plaza, formerly The Regency, to avoid Friday evening weekend traffic.  

I had booked and paid online for the room but these weirdos still asked for another $50 deposit on my credit card or I would not be given the passkey...  I was immediately NOT impressed... 

While it offered very basic amenities, and I took my Quetiapine, I got zero sleep at all..  I ALWAYS sleep well in hotels, but not in this place, with noisy people in neighbouring rooms and stiff sheets on the bed.

So, I just got up before 5 am and fired up the Keurig-style coffee maker while I had a quick shower.  Something malfunctioned and I had coffee grounds everywhere....  

By 5:30am I was on my way, stopping for coffe, then gas, then breakfast, and was home by 8:45am.  On the way I should have stopped to take photos but it always involves backing up on a highway to get the beautiful shot, like a horse on a hill grazing, backlit by a pink sunrise...  Then there was either a wolf or a huge coyote, and several Canada Geese along the way...

There is such comfort in being back in our own surroundings again.

Now, I am so bagged that I don't dare attempt another 4 hours driving to Whitecourt and back.....  Too dangerous..   RIP Martha's Dad....

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission.  

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE  that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

 

RIP Fern

Some of our relatives

 

 

Thursday April 16, 2026 Trip Prep

 

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog:  https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/ 

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

 http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Thursday April 16, 2026

Monday was Dawn's Birthday so we celebrated with a steak supper and red wine at her apartment.

For some reason my internet banking was down most of the morning.  Hope they haven't been hacked like Booking.com was supposedly..

Don came down to watch the Oilers gas yet another game, even though they played reasonably better, so they don't finish first in the division.  This is a time for bearing down to win but they don't have a good enough system.  They are being outcoached by almost everyone.

Tuesday morning, I received a call from the Manager, Roch, asking me if I would volunteer for Sunday or Monday to work a casino to benefit the buildings' social fund.  I agreed to be the "banker" Monday afternoon until early Tuesday morning. 

And a quid-pro-quo, I asked if he had made a decision about our outside parking stalls...  The fellow in stall # 2 passed away, and Marie wanted to move down 1 from #3.  Since she looks after my car for me when I am gone, I wanted to move with her down 1 from #4...  And the next parker, Tomi, wanted to move from #5 to #4, replacing me...  then Dawn would move down into #5 to be closer...  This was all agreed amongst us without any fighting and Roch finally agreed...  Within 2 hours we had all moved spots and everyone is happy.

I booked a hotel near the airport in Calgary for Friday night so I would not have to fight weekend traffic.

And dear Dawn loves baking, and needed to use us some apples, so she made me another apple crisp from Mom's recipe!!   That was warming, because the snow had begun anew outside...

Wednesday morning, I had to take the LRT to the Library for 4 James Patterson books in the "Private" series.  Don kindly gave me an ARC card with some money on it to go downtown.  I did not use the Gio because of the cold, wind, and snow.

Wednesday night, I must have forgotten to take my Quetiapine pill to sleep.  Once I realized that, I had already tossed and turned 1.5 hours.  I did not get to sleep until after 3am, when I took the picture below.

Today, I have been organizing my rolling laptop backpack for my trip tomorrow to Calgary (3 hour drive), then Saturday to Whitecourt (4.5 hour drive) followed by a return to Edmonton (another 2+ hour drive).  I hope this old body can take all that punishment.  It is important to me to make both funerals if I can.

Dawn had passed me another large steak because she expected to be away for a few days, but that fell through, so the steak is now marinating for supper here for us both. 

I hope you enjoy the picture.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission.  

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE  that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

 

 

3am and still snowing.. We are all in our new parking stalls..

 

Sunday April 12, 2026 Sadness

 

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog:  https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/ 

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

 http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Sunday April 12, 2026

 I got a call late last night informing me that my oldest brother, Fernand (Fern) had passed away mercifully.  

He was 87 years old and deeply touched the lives of his family, his siblings, and everyone who met him, with his empathy and kindness and strength.

He will be sorely missed as the stable sounding board that he always was to us younger ones.  Rest In Peace dearest Brother.

 

 Al, Cristina and family

******

©