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Splashing around in the summer sun

Whatever activity you may choose this summer, please play safe

Even today, as a senior citizen, whenever I stroll past a splash park, a swimming pool or a busy beach, I have a sudden urge to strip down to my mellow 20th century bathing suit and get wet and wild. If I could borrow someone’s backyard for an hour, I would invite my grandchildren to join me in running through the sprinkler, or maybe organizing a fun battle with those big and powerful water guns that they have nowadays. Then, after it is all over, we could all go down to the corner and I would buy them all a glass of cool lemonade from the kid’s sidewalk stand, or maybe we might even catch up to the ice-cream man when his jingle jangle van rolls into the neighbourhood and brings a whole lot of gooey joy.

How great it is that Ponoka now a has a new, modern, and colorful splash park with all kinds of amazing squirting gizmos situated in the safety of the Lion’s Club Centennial Park, which I understand may soon have some additional really neat playground toys. There is nothing more fun and invigorating than frolicking on a sandy beach, tossing a Frisbee or football, splashing around out in the cool waves with your buddies, or even getting to go for a ride in the family boat for some slippery sliding or fishing. We are so blessed to have countless lakes that are close by and quite easy to find a spot for a few great hours of water fun, as well relaxing with your lawn chairs, blanket, cooler, a good book and lots of help to watch the kids. You might visit the beach concession stand for a treat, and then again we could fire up the portable BBQ or toss a few logs in the fire pit and cook up a batch of wieners and burgers before heading home after a super day.

Whatever activity you may choose this summer please play safe, take along the life-jackets, the beach toys, lots of sun-tan lotion and bug spray, water, a sun-hat, and always try to have  time-out in the shade. If you are planning on camping out for a few days, remember to book your favourite spot by calling 1-877-537-2757 or www.reserve.albertaparks.ca well in advance of your holiday.

All in the family

One of my favourite hobbies during my retirement has been writing this column just for fun, as well as rounding up stories for the weekly Reflections page in the Ponoka News, which highlights individuals, families, and milestones of our colorful past and into the present of our friendly community. I just received an amazing item from an old friend which really depicts the wonderful spirit and grit of our early Alberta pioneers, and I would like to pass it on to you.

Mrs. Mary Hemsing recently passed away in Brooks, Alberta at the age of 100 years. She was born November 23, 1913 in Drake Saskatchewan to Polish immigrants, who had homesteaded in Claydon, Saskatchewan when she was only six. Her unwavering devotion to her faith, and the unassuming gentleness that she had surely inherited from her parents would guide Mary throughout her fascinating life raising her family through the harsh and dry realities of the early pioneering years on the prairies.

On April 22, 1933 she married Sylvester Bernard (Syl) Hemsing. Unable to make their Saskatchewan land yield forth its riches, this young couple joined other settlers in an epic homesteading journey to the newly formed irrigation project in Rolling Hills, Alberta, where the wonders of water mixed with hard toil would provide the bounty for them to settle down and raise their family. With six young children in tow, they made this trek in the summer of 1939, Syl having planted his first crop earlier in the spring, and then began their life anew. It would be here that Mary and Syl would raise their large family of 11 girls and 11 boys, including three sets of twins, and one daughter that was stillborn. Her truly endless memories of the hardships and joys of homesteading included the arrival of electricity in 1951,  the comforts of natural gas at the age of 48, and on and on throughout their busy lives.

Mary Hemsing was predeceased by her beloved husband Syl in 1995 and one son Peter in 2005, and is survived by 21 children, 87 grandchildren, 145 great grandchildren, and eleven great-great-grandchildren through five amazing generations of life on the Alberta prairies.

My sincere appreciation to so many of you who have provided me with the great ideas and photos over the years to enable me to continue writing these stories and to meet some wonderful and amazing residents of our community and surrounding districts.  I would love to keep it all going for another few years, but I cannot do it without your help, so please give me a call at 403-341-5750 or email: jrainone@telus.net. In the meantime, just go ahead and have a great week, all of you.

HAMMERTIME