Author: Ron Baker

In two days I will have been married 34 years.  Which is the same amount of time my wife has been married.  In fact, to the very minute!

I reflect back to October 9th, 1976.  The day had wind, rain and snow.  The morning was occupied with the ceremony, the afternoon with a reception and pictures, the evening with gift opening and a first night as husband and wife.

We had saved ourselves for the marriage bed – in other words, no sex before marriage.  Not an easy task, and now-a=days almost looked upon as dysfunctional.

Far from it!  I recommend this approach of discipline.  More than that, there is a point of faithfulness involved.  The wedding sealed our intention to remain married for our life-times.  Prior to that, sex could have been misconstrued as a point of union, but with no real commitment.

We decided for faithfulness exhibited in a marriage bed begun as virgins.  34 years later I do not regret that decision.

Cataract surgery has become commonplace these days.  If you ever sit down with the over 65 crowd you’ll find many of them have experienced this lens replacement surgery.   My father, in his eighties when he had his surgery, wondered why he hadn’t undertaken this sooner.

My surgery appears to have gone well.  This morning at 6:50 I sat in the surgeon’s office and read over those rows of letters that prove I could see quite well.  We took time this morning to also replace my usual lens on my right eye with a clear lens.  Nothing like inserting a piece of plastic to just make your glasses look “cool”.  Otherwise I could have walked around without a lens for the right eye.  But even I thought that looked “geeky”.

Another lady from Kindersley had surgery the same day.  We’ll compare our adventures in the next few weeks.  Suffice to say, we are both in better shape.

And so, thanks for your prayers and expressions of support!  God is good!!

After a morning and mid-afternoon of church work, I came home to a yard full of leaves.  The beauty of the season, suspended from trees, becomes the scourge of the homeowner bowed over in collection.

I’ve figured the way to best vacuum up the spent foliage is to use a lawnmower.  And so the process began.  I quickly found that a few passes filled up a leaf bag.  By the time the lawn was done I had around 5 or 6 bags full.  Then the back alley easement needed cleaned.  Again, another half dozen or so bags.  And the afternoon was spent.

At which point we headed off to a free BBQ put on by our town.  After a disastrous rink fire in the winter, an adjoining rink was repaired and we celebrated that fact today.

I had a weiner – one of those hot dog moments for me.  My wife attempts to keep me from these offensive refreshments.  With only one under my belt, I shouldn’t be seeing myself hanging over my belt.

And then home for an evening of rest and relaxation.

To leave or not to leave, that is the question!  The answer today was “to leave”.

We are sitting at an Annette Campagne concert.  With around 60 others from our town of Kindersley.

Annette sings our style of music.  Great jazz bass player with her.  Her own voice is strong and her personality enjoyable.

The song “Woodstock” is sung.  In a folksy style, but well done.  Jill and I quietly sing along.  Feels like the old days!!

Then refreshments happen.  One of our friends, 10 years our senior, wonders what that “stardust” song was – she hadn’t heard it before.  Another friend, 20 years our junior, also relates that he has never heard the song.

Here we are, stuck in the middle (sounds like a great chorus for a song!).