Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Friday May 29, 2015 Mom's 99th

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Friday May 29, 2015

Well the big day of Mom’s 99^th birthday has finally arrived and the family all gathered in the visiting room at Bonavista, right across from Mom’s suite. Myself, Yvette and Leonie all arrived a little early and we were joking that Mom would likely peek out soon, and the words were barely out of our mouths when she did indeed peek and then came to join us.

I was not privy to the organization of the gathering so I was pleasantly surprised to see all of the wonderful folks who joined us. I expected to see all of us 7 children there and was thankful that all of us made it, Fern from Parksville, BC, Laurent (+Cathy) from Redcliff, AB, Leonie from High River, AB, Yvette from Vineland, Myself from Cuenca, Ecuador, Germain (+Billie) from Saskatoon, SK, and Norm from Radville, SK. Nieces Deanna, Courtney, Kristina, Karen, Leslie, Nicole and Bryna were also on hand with 6 great-nieces and one great-nephew.

One heartwarming surprise was to see Mom’s step-son Brian and his partner BJ to join us. Several other folks from the facility dropped in to give their best wishes and to oooh n aaah

over the babies, newly-born Elliott and the 11-month-old triplets, Kenna, Drew and Marley. One visitor who I missed seeing was a gentleman that Mom reportedly has her eye on!! Even at age 99, and she is still trying to rob the cradle… lol.

And yet, poor Mom was having problems remembering a lot of people. That was so sad to see because she has always had such a sharp mind until last year.

A bunch of us went to a nearby Ricky’s Restaurant for supper and to mingle a little more because a lot of the family are returning home tomorrow, sadly.

Then Yvette and I accompanied our niece Deanna (another budding photographer) to the Deerfoot Casino. I just wandered around and watched the hockey game while Yvette lost $20 and Deanna won $46.

It was still way too early to go back to our boring room so Yvette and I went to the cheap theatres at Canyon Meadows but it was still too early for the next movies. I decided that I needed a beer so we took a chance on getting into the country bar, Ranchman’s, before the cover charge started. They don’t need a cover charge when it is $11 for a Smirnoff Ice and a Budweiser! It was fun to watch some of the more accomplished country dancers doing their thing but it was getting warm in there already and it didn’t take long to down the beer so off we went again.

We stopped at a bank for a cash infusion and I was hungry so we stopped for a couple of DQ’s $1.29 burgers, always a treat for me…. Inflation has really hit DQ over the last 3 years. The burgers used to be 99c. Heck, even the cheapest cone is around $4 now…

Anyway, it was a great day overall and we will enjoy the rental car while we have it.

I apologize if the photos are not the greatest quality. I am forced to batch edit them in PhotoScape to one set configuration that normally works for me. Luckily most of the photos are very similar in focus, etc so the results are pretty uniform. I find it somewhat difficult to work on a laptop when the clarity and darkness is dictated by the tilt of the screen.

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al