Well it has been a month since our last blog post and a lot has happened, so I will start chronologically with one post each day for the next few days so as not to overwhelm you all.
Our trip to the small south-western town of Virden Manitoba to visit the Kilford clan was a lot of
fun. We spent most of our time at a cottage on picturesque Oak Lake. The weather didn't cooperate with us the first night, but as the rain poured down it did not dampen our spirits.
The next day the weather improved somewhat and I was introduced to the game golf. But this game had no clubs and the golf balls were tethered together with rope. It is similar to the game of horse shoes and despite being a noob, I actually one a game or two. They told me Oak Lake was shallow but I figured it couldn't be too shallow for a swim. I was wrong. At the deepest part of the designated swimming area, about 30 metres out or so, the water was not even waist high. But it was still quite refreshing.
The next day I was introduced to several dozen Kilford decendants who showed up for grandpa Harry and Grandma Hazel's 60th anniversary. Luckiily Jennifer had made me a family tree beforehand so I wasn't entirely bewildered. The number of gophers at the park almost outnumbered the guests. I had never seen so many in one place. But best of all was the enormous array of delicious food as it was a potluck.
The following morning Jenn and I contributed to breakfast with a very large fruit pizza. I wish we had taken a picture of it as it was a work of art. After breakfast, cousin Carla and her husband Jesse, both arborists, gave us a demonstraion of ascending a tree. Then we all took turns getting in the gear and attempting, albeit poorly, to pull ourselves up using rope leveraging techniques that are not designed for sandals. After that it was off to the golf course where we played a game of
best ball and Jennifer, never having actually played a game of ball before actually had the best ball on numerous occasions. That evening I had deep fried turkey for the first time.
Virden itself was a quaint small town. It has a new fancy restaurant that we went for appetizers for and then it was off to the horse races! Rhoda had given us 2 dollars that she instructed to place a bet with on horse number 3. The horse's name: "Roadhouse Rhonda". Thinking it had to be a sign from the horse gambling gods we made a semi-sizeable bet for us (5$) and that lame horse came in second last!. Oh well.
From what I saw of Manitoba it was a beautiful province and I had a great time. So perhaps we'll have to make an appearance for the 61st anniversary too.
salsa that Dr. Lee got from a military biomedical research company (?). It had hints of honey and cocoa. Then came my cake which was adorned with sparklers. It was delicious (we also had a cranberry cheesecake later around the fire). And I got a 8 GB memory stick which I think they knew I needed because my last one died. I had brought my dead one into the lab to look under the microscope to determine if it was a damaged circuit. Anyway the rest of the evening was spent around the fire.
