Radically Retired

Tag: Saskatchewan

  • Late Greens

    Late Greens

    My Sept 09 post featured a bridge photo framed by foreground shrubs in their autumn colours.

    The scene in that photo is the exception this year, and you’ll notice that beyond the bridge, the trees are still quite green.

    I caught today’s feature photo about 20 minutes before the one of the bridge.

    Today’s photo demonstrates how the late August and early September rains in this area, along with mild temperatures, have largely delayed the turning of the leaves.

    Usually, by this time of year, autumn is in its full show regalia of yellows, golds, reds, and oranges.

    I love the green because it gives the feeling of extended summer and possibly delayed frost.

    An unfortunate thing about the extended summer appearance is that our farmers are struggling to get the crops in and the fields that were swathed but not yet combined are losing quality by the day.

    What looked to be an upcoming bumper crop (our way of saying a huge and high grade yield), in many cases will be lucky if it meets feed grade.

    Agriculture is one of the main drivers of our economy, so if our farmers suffer, so do we all.

    We also have many friends and family members who farm. It’s their livelihood, so we truly feel for them in a year such as this.

  • Happiness Is … A Tomato Festival

    Happiness Is … A Tomato Festival

    On the August (Saskatchewan Day) long weekend, two of my sisters (the third one was feeling unwell, so unable to join us) and I attended the third annual Tomato Festival, sponsored by the Regina Farmers Market group.

    A pit stop before the event. We wore matching shirts decorated with tomatoes

    This was the first time any of us had attended the event and we decided it won’t be the last.

    There were over seventy vendors, most selling freshly picked garden produce. There were others with everything from jewelry made from silver spoons, to honey, to baking – if it was home made or hand made, it was there.

    One of many vendors selling the stars of the show
    My sis next in age to me
    My baby sis
    Moi – The eldest and the shortest

    One vendor had some cute signs for his produce:

    They were plump and sweet
    Some of his beans were in a crock pot

    The event was held in the stunning Queen Mary II Flower Gardens, adjacent to our province’s legislative building. Although I’ve been there many times, I’ve never had a photo of myself there. Now I do.

    The day was forecast to be extremely hot, so we were there when the festival opened and finished our shopping by the end of the morning.

    I purchased all of the ingredients I needed for the borscht (beet soup) that I make every summer for our mom. It’s her favourite soup, and we arrived home early enough for me to get the borscht made in my Instant Pot.

    A healthy haul
    Everything is washed and ready
    Chopped just the right size
    Borscht, accompanied by whole wheat sourdough bread that I also bought at Tomato Fest

    It was a “perfect in every way” kind of day.

  • There’s Dirt in the Air!

    There’s Dirt in the Air!

    Starting on Thursday this past week, an extreme low pressure system arrived here from the west.

    With it came winds with sustained velocity of 75 Km/h (46.6 mph) and gusts to over 100 Km/h (62.14 mph)

    We had mistakenly left our windows open after the night, and within a couple of hours of the wind starting, hubs mopped up enough dust from the floor, that it looked like the floor hadn’t been mopped in years.

    Winds aren’t uncommon here on the Canadian prairies and we’ve had tornadoes in Saskatchewan almost every summer for as long as I can remember, but this wasn’t that.

    It put me to mind of what it must have been like in the “dust bowl” of the “dirty thirties”. I can’t imagine dealing with something like this for a decade. Two days was plenty long enough.

    Hubs and I had to go out (to purchase a fan of all things) and I could feel and taste the dirt in my mouth long after returning home.

    My feature photo was sent to me by a dear friend. This was their farm yard on Thursday and that’s their topsoil in the air in the distance. They had just finished seeding that field.

  • Happiest Places

    Happiest Places

    After walking the same six streets over and over again in our south Texas park for the past six months, I’m loving being back to our walking/biking/hiking trails here at home in Sask, Canada.

    There’s just something about the trees getting ready to leaf out, the fresh air, the river, the variety of trails, and the familiarity of home that makes my morning walks here at home so peaceful, meaningful, enjoyable, and special.

    The winding trails are always inviting
    Bridges over the Souris River are plentiful and varied in design
    Our city does a great job of path management and maintenance
    The river views from the many bridges are always peaceful and grounding
    One of the many bridges on this trail – one day I’ll make a post about all of them
    You always wonder what’s around the next bend

    Do you have a place that’s your happiest?

  • Positives for the Win

    Positives for the Win

    Yesterday morning, I looked out my balcony door and saw that the snowfall from the previous day was completely gone. I donned my winter coat and enjoyed my first outdoor walk since we arrived back home.

    At just above freezing, it was a chilly morning. In spite of that, the air was clean and fresh, and after a couple of city blocks to get to the river boardwalk, I realized that I had bundled up a bit too warm. Now I know what to wear when I head out for my walk today.

    After walking up and down the same streets of a south Texas RV Park all winter, the riverside walk was most welcome, and even though the water will be muddy for a while yet, the ice is completely gone.

    On my way to the boardwalk, I ran into two gals from my hometown who I’ve known all of my life. Yes, it slowed my average power walk pace, but our 30+ minute visit catching up was fun and enjoyable.

    Each and every negative had a positive side that was stronger. Don’t you love it when that happens?

  • More Pros than Cons

    More Pros than Cons

    I said to hubs the other day, that although I love the winter weather in South Texas, pretty much everything else is better here at home.

    We got a little skiff of snow yesterday (feature photo), but temps are going to be above freezing from now until the end of the month, so it’ll all be melted in a couple of days.

    Things are easier here.

    I can walk across the street and through a parking lot to get to a familiar, large and newly renovated supermarket. It’s a Co-op store that I’ve shopped at since I was old enough to drive here from our home town (18 miles/28 km away).

    It’s a 2-block walk from our condo building to the downtown area, and I can be guaranteed that on any walk to the grocery store or the downtown area, I’ll run into someone I’ve known all of my life.

    Family is here. My mom lives less than two blocks away. I have two sisters who also live here, and another sister and my brother live in our home town (20 minute drive away). My dad’s youngest sister is more like a big sister than an aunt to me. She and her husband live across the street from us.

    Our walking trails are beckoning already. In Texas, my walking route is around our RV park … over and over again for 6 months.

    Here, I can walk on a different path every day for weeks on end and always see something new. In addition, many of the groomed trails are on the city outskirts (which I also walk to) and are beautiful nature trails among wildlife habitats.

    I like our Canadian bread, beef, eggs, flour, and poultry better. It’s all in what you get used to.

    We have many restaurants in walking distance and there’s a new movie theatre nearing completion two blocks from here.

    The ice hockey rink is nearby and the junior team hubs played with many years ago is in playoffs now. We’ll definitely be attending some games and he’ll no doubt touch base with friends from “back in the day”.

    There’s so much more, but I think by now, that you get the picture.

    As Dorothy Gale’s famous final line says, “There’s no place like home”.

  • Road Trip Home 2026 – Day 5

    Road Trip Home 2026 – Day 5

    Our hotel in Bismarck, ND was near the state Capitol. Once again, we’ve been to and through Bismarck many times and have never stopped by the Capitol building.

    It was a cold and windy day, but the stop was worthwhile.

    I was quite surprised to see that the building is modern.

    The main building
    To the left of the tall office building
    Statue of John Burke, 10th Governor of ND 1907-1913
    Plaque at base of statue
    I have a new bucket list idea
    Liberty Memorial Building and State Library
    Fire escape at back of Liberty Memorial building caught my eye
    The name plaques are underneath

    As we drove farther north, the snow dissipated until it was completely gone! This was a new, unexpected, and most welcome experience for us.

    Falkirk Coal Mine, Underwood, ND
    Near Gardiner Dam ND
    Lewis and Clark Interprative Center Washburn ND. We didn’t stop this time. This is an old photo of a previous stop
    Approaching the land border at Portal ND
    North Portal, Canada Border
    Our home province
    Southeast Sask is a part of the Bakken Play. Our area is home to the second largest oil field in Canada
    We made a quick stop to pick up my traditional Easter treat
    Estevan, Sk coal mining museum
    Lignite Louie is Estevan’s coal mining mascot
    The first drag line in the Estevan area – now retired and tiny compared to the massive lines that work now
    The old power plant, now a museum, welcomes us home to Weyburn, SK

    It was a good road trip home. I hope you enjoyed traveling with us via these posts.

    Now, a lot of this for a few days …

  • Home Grown

    Home Grown

    This mural, on the side of a roadside service station in Saskatchewan, Canada – although weathered, depicts some history of the pioneers and farming in our province.

  • Murals at Home

    Murals at Home

    Sticking with my Monday Murals theme, I decided to feature a few from where we live.

    This mural was completed in panels by the community. The artist who created it, made it a paint by number, so that anyone who wanted to, could paint a part of it.

    That artist/designer won a $1,000 award for her idea and for including community involvement.

    Each hand is holding something that defines our community, and the tiger lilies scattered throughout the painting are our provincial flower.

    The sunset in the background gives a shoutout to our province’s motto “The Land of Living Skies” (our sunrises and sunsets are nothing short of spectacular).

  • Artsy and Fun

    Artsy and Fun

    The Cathedral Area in our province’s capital city is an artsy-fartsy district that a person could spend an entire day exploring.

    From little clothing boutiques to sidewalk cafes, to a variety of bookstores, and to art installations on the walls of both businesses and homes, the Cathedral Area holds an “old meets new” sort of charm.

    In a previous post, I featured a photo of a mural that I was disappointed in because I was too close, so cut off the end of it.

    I returned last week and used the 0.5 lens on my camera and voila!