The Greenwater Report for May 3, 2004
beautiful day	May 2nd 204: A beautiful day! The temperature got up over 20° and it was sunny for most of the day, though it did get pretty windy for awhile. Most of the south end of the lake is free of ice and what is left looks thin and wet. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was all gone tomorrow.
Prince Albert concert	My sister, Cathy, sings in a ladies’ choir called the Watsonaires in Prince Albert, and every year they put on a concert. We have been to several of them, and yesterday’s has to be by far the best. It was in the beautiful new Arts Centre and we had a seat second row center. Being so close, I believe we got the audio direct from the source rather than through the sound system. Besides the Watsonaires, there were many entertainers, including a boy soprano likely under ten years old, who did a fantastic job of playing the piano and singing Puttin’ On The Ritz! A classical soprano, Megan Fournier, whose CD we bought and are enjoying as I write this; a guitar and accordion duo; a woman who whistled bird songs; a young man, about seventeen, playing beautiful jazz saxophone, a thirteen year old girl violinist, and some wonderful accompaniment on piano, violins, and guitars. What an evening!
tea house	Today we went for a drive up to Lakeland Gallery & Tea House, just a few miles north of the Emma/Christopher/Anglin Lakes turnoff. They just opened for the season and only had about a third of their stock out, but there was some really great stuff. Add to that the fact that it was very quiet and the owners, Mr. & Mrs. Dave Messer, had time to visit, then pile on some fantastic pie and coffee, and it was a super visit. We’ll be back there, hopefully several times, this summer. (Cathy bought an owl made from various parts of an old binder and it’s fantastic!)
low water	We checked out Christopher Lake on the way back; it is down as much as Greenwater and I understand Anglin and Emma are the same. I took a picture of their marina, which has docks and a little bit of water, but no way to get out to the lake. And we think we have it tough!
lake breaking up	Tuesday was nice and warm, though windy. We got home about 5:00 pm and all the snowbanks around the cottage were gone. There were some dark streaks across the lake, and about twenty feet of open water by the south shore.
snow Wednesday	On Wednesday, though, the ground was covered with snow; the temperature had dropped to about —7° and there was a high wind, coating buildings and trees with snow. We had to go to Prince Albert; there were some icy patches from Bjorkdale to Tisdale, but otherwise the highways were good. We ran out of the snow just west of Melfort. It stayed cold and windy all day.
snow	We had to go back to Melfort on Thursday. Most of the new snow was gone, but there was a heavy snowfall while we were having lunch in Melfort, and again when we were almost home, though the temperature was 9°.
rotten ice	Thursday evening, I took a walk down the Lake Path to the beach and around the Marina. There was a great open patch off the pumphouse that narrowed and angled across to the west point. Some ice was piled up on shore, and it was very rotten. I suspect the ice will be gone before long.
animals	I saw a bunch of Western Grebes - they show up before the red-necked variety, but don’t stay long. There was a beaver, a muskrat, and several pairs of geese in the Marina, and three deer with huge white flags just the other side.
grackle	We had a grackle around a few times - something I haven’t seen for quite a few years, though they were common twenty-odd years ago. Maybe the crows drive them out.
shoot or you'll miss it	Would-be photographers take note: if you see what would make a good shot, do it now! On our way to Prince Albert, there was a tractor with an air seeder behind standing on the edge of the field, plastered with snow. We were in a bit of a hurry, so decided we would stop and take a picture on the way home - well, guess what? The tractor was gone! Coming home from Airdrie, we stopped at That’s Crafty, just west of Drumheller. There was a big sign out in front that read: Spring is sprung; our buns is riz; we wait and wonder where you iz! We thought it was cute, so after browsing the craft barn I wandered down to take a picture of the sign - to find a young woman had just dismantled it, and replaced it with one that was nowhere near as catchy! Life is full of missed opportunities!
	Soil drifting east of Rosetown
soil drifting	On our way home from Alberta we saw a lot of farm operations in progress, including some seeders. We also saw some impressive wind erosion; in some places the silt was banked in the ditches like black snow. It felt more like black sand than soil and had a bit of a chemical smell to it. No, I don’t think it would make good potting soil!
	Doreen & Jerry Crawford Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 telephone (306) 278-2249 fax (306) 278-3423 http://www.greenwaterreport.com/
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