The Year in Review

I am thankful for the year we have had and look forward to 2009. Like everyone there have been many good times and some sad times but much to be thankful for in 2008.

In 2008 my health was better than 2007. Even though there are still some challenges my health condition has been stable.

Elaine and I have been married for 31 years and are still celebrating being alive!

I have completed 32 1/2 years at work and am thankful for my job. My job was changed to a Senior Advisor role that suits me perfectly and gives me a flexible work schedule. And I can work from home whenever I feel like it.

We were able to make several trips within the province to church camps, weddings, and a family reunion.

We had sadness this year with several friends and relatives passing away. We had a friend staying with us for a month while her husband was in hospital until he passed away. It was a real up and down time but we were glad to be able to be a support and comfort.

Of course there was much more in the last year but the words of the song Great is Thy Faithfulness seems to really sum it up. The chorus says:

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

And I like the words at the end of the last verse: "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!"

Happy New Year everyone and all the best for 2009.

A Merry Christmas to All

We have always read the Christmas story before opening our gifts. It is something I remember when I was young and we continued it with our family. When we read the Christmas story yesterday before gift opening we talked about when Grandma told the Christmas story to the kids with the flannel board. This is a picture we have up on a shelf in our living room.

We celebrated our Christmas on the 24th because that is when Mike and Nicole could come. We had the traditional turkey dinner with Elaine and I and Janny and Mike and Nicole. Then during gift opening we had Mary and Chris connected by the web cam on Janny's laptop. That was fun.

With the festivities over yesterday we are having a quiet day today. I have been mostly learning about my new GPS. (Did I mention I like maps?) We are hoping the weather cooperates because we are planning to go to Saskatoon tomorrow to be with Elaine's family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Card from the Past

This is an old Christmas card that says "With best Wishes for a happy Christmas from John and Eliza Hingston 1891" My grandfather would have been almost 7 years old when his mother received this Christmas card from his uncle and aunt. John Hingston was the younger brother of Samuel Hingston, my grandfather's father who died in 1888.

I remember my grandfather telling about his uncle John Hingston who lived near Dublin Ireland and was chief steward at Trinity College. And I found reference to John Hingston in several websites, both in reference to him at Trinity College and as an Irish musician.

In an archive of the Trinity College Academic Calendar for 1892, John Hingston is listed under officers of the college as chief steward. Other references say he was chief steward until his death in 1893.

Several websites refer to John Hingston as a well known Irish musician, quoting from the book Irish Minstrels and Musicians by Francis O'Neill in chapters XVII, XXI, and XXXII. These say that he played for the Prince of Wales who became King Edward VII, and refer to him as "the late Mr. John Hingston. T. C. D., at that time the leading authority on matters pertaining to the pipes." The instrument he played was called the union pipes or Uilleann pipes which seem to be similar to the bagpipes. Chapter XXI of the book referenced above says:
"Music was in the family -- for his brother was also a performer on the Union pipes. Born on a farm not far from Skibbereen, County Cork, Mr. Hingston was a splendid specimen of the Munster peasantry, considerably over six feet in height, and it is little wonder that his prowess as a life-saver in Phoenix Park attracted the attention of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, who, in recognition of his heroism, secured him the position of head steward in Trinity College Dublin. His experience on the St. Lawrence river, Canada, in early manhood, schooled him in the knowledge which in after years he turned to such good account."

I have had these references about John Hingston for a while now but thought this would be a good time to post the Christmas card from the past.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I was also amused to see a story about John and Samuel Hingston seeing a sea-serpent in Whitehall harbour.

Happy Anniversary

Al and Tanya celebrated their second anniversary today. This is a picture of the happy couple from their wedding. From all reports it sounds like Tanya has been doing her best to put Al to work and keep him out of trouble which is quite an accomplishment. Happy anniversary you two.

So How Cold is It?

The weather is always a main topic in Saskatchewan particularly during the current deep freeze. But since I am inherently quantitative and a thoroughly analytical fellow, I downloaded the weather data and plotted the temperatures and windchill for the last 10 days.
The graph is for December 12 when the weather started to turn cold up to yesterday December 21. The blue bars are temperature and the red bars the windchill. This shows 9 days in a row with windchill going below -35C and 6 of them going below -40C. But if you live here you don't need a graph to show you how cold it is. I have taken to hibernating until it warms up.

Birds Eye View Maps

The Windows Live Maps have recently been updated with more cities around the world having detailed Birds Eye View high resolution mapping. The Birds Eye View feature is in addition to standard mapping and aerial views. For example the cities in Saskatchewan with Birds Eye View include Regina , Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Yorkton, Estevan, and Weyburn.

This picture shows our house in Birds Eye View. The view can be rotated to look from all 4 directions. Birds Eye view is included for almost all cities in the US and many cities in Europe. You can pan and zoom and rotate the views around the cities. I have always liked maps but I find this feature amazing.

My Father in the Civilian Conservation Corps

Since December 20 was my Father's birthday I have been planning to post some history about him. In the later 1930's (after graduating from High School in 1935) my Father was in the Civilian Conservation Corps at camps in both the eastern and western US.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was part of the New Deal by US President Franklin D Roosevelt to help combat unemployment in the Great Depression. The CCC was established in 1933 and continued to 1942 (as it was phased out by the WWII war effort.) Since this is the 75th Anniversary of the CCC establishment there are a number of websites with CCC history.

The CCC planted trees, built parks, roads and bridges, etc. Many of the state parks in the US are as a result of the CCC. The pictures above are from Big Sur California, one of the places my Father worked. They built a stone retaining wall along a road up the side of a mountain. My Father loved this outdoor work in the beautiful scenery being a young man just off the farm. The problem was the young men from big cities did not like this work and caused trouble. The National Guard had to come in to break up a protest and fight among these men at the camp. As a result they were moved back to a camp in the eastern US. My Father was disappointed because he enjoyed working in California.

I do not know how long my Father stayed in the CCC. Afterward he worked at a wide variety of different jobs during the depression years before WWII. If one place laid off workers, early the next morning, as soon as the newspaper came out with job listings, he was on the bus immediately to go to apply for any type of work available. As a result he was never unemployed in these depression years.

I have started a blog label Family History and have some plans for further posts in this series.

Happy Birthday Christopher

Chris will be having a birthday on Sunday. I am posting this a little early because I know he has started celebrating his birthday all week already.

Another successful science experiment

For Chris what would science be without fires and explosions? Have a fun time on your birthday but please be careful.

Handel's Messiah

Last night I attended the annual performance of Handel's Messiah by the RSO symphony with the RPC chorus and soloists. Messiah is an oratorio ( music for orchestra, choir and soloists) composed by George Frideric Handel with libretto (the text for the music) by Charles Jennens and first performed in Dublin in 1742. All the words are from the King James Bible as selected by Charles Jennens and put to music by Handel.

I have attended the Messiah performance for several years now and really love it. It is performed in two parts with the first being the prophecies of the Messiah to the story of his birth, and then the second has his death and resurrection and his kingdom.

In the first part I specially enjoyed:

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed

For unto us a child is born and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God and the Prince of Peace

King of Kings and Lord of Lords
And He Shall Reign For Ever and Ever
Hallelujah!

The first part ends with the powerful Hallelujah chorus and everyone stands following the tradition that King George II stood for this chorus at the first performance.

In the second part I particularly enjoyed:

Since by man came death - Also by man came the resurrection

The trumpet shall sound - And the dead shall be raised incorruptible.

Blessing and Glory and Honour be unto Him
Amen

It ends with great volume with the symphony, the pipe organ and choir in the Amen chorus. The sound in the church is just incredible in these parts. I thoroughly enjoyed this year's performance.

Happy Birthday Mary

Today is Mary's birthday! Here is a picture from her first birthday, as cute as can be reaching out for her birthday cake.

Hope you are enjoying the cake Chris made for your birthday. Happy Birthday Mary.

Polio Christmas Dinner

Last night Elaine and I attended the Christmas dinner for the post polio organization we joined this year. There were over 75 people there which is relatively large considering the regular meetings would have less than 20 people. Quite a few members invited friends and family.

The dinner was in the church basement where the group treasurer and her husband attend, and the dinner was catered by the ladies from that church. One thing that impressed me was how the president prayed to blessed the meal and our fellowship.

It is a great group to visit with. In spite of many of them having dealt with physical difficulties, they are cheerful and positive-minded. After the dinner there was a music group that entertained. They sang and played guitars including Christmas songs, and country gospel. The whole event was quite enjoyable.

God on the Mountain is Still God in the Valley

Last night we heard Lynda Randle singing God on the Mountain on a Gaither TV program. This got me thinking about my cousin Lorne, who passed away three years ago, because he was the first one I heard sing that song. He could really sing it from his heart because it expressed the experiences of his life. I did not remember that yesterday would have been his 61st birthday until I saw the memories of Lorne posted by our cousin Al (The Blog Fodder).

God on the Mountain (words and music by Tracy Dart: sung by John Starnes)

Life Is Easy, When Your Up On The Mountain
And You've Got Peace Of Mind like You've Never Known
But Then Things Change And Your Down In The Valley
Don't Lose Hope For Your Never Alone

For The God On The Mountain Is Still God In The Valley
When Things Go Wrong He'll Make Them Right
And The God Of The Good Times,
Is Still God Of The Bad Times
And The God Of The Day Is Still God Of The Night

You Talk Of Faith When Your Up On The Mountain
Oh, But The Talk Comes So Easy when Life's At Its Best
But Its Down In The Valley Of Trials And Temptations
That's Where Faith Is Really Put To The Test

For The God On The Mountain Is Still God In The Valley
When Things Go Wrong He'll Make Them Right
And The God Of The Good Times, Is Still God Of The Bad Times
And The God Of The Day Is Still God Of The Night

For The God On The Mountain Is Still God In The Valley
When Things Go Wrong He'll Make Them Right
And The God Of The Good Times, Is Still God Of The Bad Times
And The God Of The Day Is Still God Of The Night
And The God Of The Day Is Still God Of The Night