Our gathering of HR friends was great; the weather could have been a little more cooperative though. Friday Vicky (HR handle doog3) and her husband (Rob) arrived first, travelling from the British Columbia coast area, then Andrew (HR handle) Elkhunter with his wonderful dog (Rascal) from Leduc, Alberta and last but not least Fred (HR handle Redgreen) from Medicine Hat, Alberta.
We spent the weekend relaxing renewing friendships with Andrew and Fred and meeting Vicky and hubby in person for the first time. After chatting in the HR Chat room it is so cool to meet face to face, share stories, tease one another, and become closer friends overall. Friday evening was cool but we did barbeque some of the delicious deer sausage Fred brought, shared some brews and stories,
Fred presented everyone with a very nice wall plaque, thanks Fred that was very thoughtful! Each plaque had a different animal, we choose the Bear.
We gathered around the fire pit after dinner, thankfully Rob and Vicky had bellows to help get the fire going as the wood was wet. We retired just before the huge rain storm began.
It rained pretty much all night but no one allowed the damp grey morning to spoil the day. Andrew and Fred had gotten up early and bought a few dozen donuts to go with morning coffee before Patsy (HR handle QueenNorth) was even out of bed! When the Queen finally got her butt out of bed and after walking the dogs, we set up the big BBQ in the shelter and transported food, dishes, etc., to the shelter and enjoyed a huge brunch of blueberry pancakes with real Maple Syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon prepared and cooked by our appointed chef Woody! Wow that was super bacon supplied by Andrew and Vicky. Woody almost burnt his beard when the BBQ had a grease flare up and no one caught it on film! We had food left over which we shared with a family staying at the park in a tent and Patsy loaned a couple of jackets to a couple of their children as their clothes had gotten wet the night before in their tent. Oh how we do not miss those days of tenting in the rain! We sat about visiting for awhile then Rob and Vicky went on a drive around the country side.
When they arrived back the weather was looking better, there was some talk of going fishing (it never happened though), somehow visiting just seemed more important. Rob and Vicky had bought more food and some special items for each one of us, thank you guys that was very special. We missed another good picture of Fred toasting a marshmallow on a toothpick with his lighter, dang we didn’t see him roasting it and popped it in his mouth just too quickly! It was roasted to perfection.
Our dinner Saturday evening consisted of tender savoury, super size 4H steaks from Andrew, huge tasty venison burgers from Vicky, corn on the cob from Fred, potato salad and chilli from Woody and Patsy, deserts by Vicky and us. We all had our cameras ready but no flare up fire tonight.
The sun was finally shinning as we sat around the fire pit enjoying the camaraderie of friends, warmth of the fire and admired the big yellow ball in the sky! Woody and Andrew got involved playing catch with a young fellow and his Grandma; Andrew lasted longer than Woody LOL. Rob and Vicky presented us with the bellows that we used again this evening, they had not used it in years but we were so happy they gifted it to us. We will make good use of it and thanks so much Rob and Vicky.
Sunday’s brunch of hash browns, sausage and scrambled eggs was again prepared by Chef Woody; Patsy was on KP duty for the weekend which worked well. Needless to say we had lots of left over food; everyone took home some deer sausage and some of the food they brought. The weekend passed very quickly and a unanimous decision was made to do it again next year and hopefully add a couple more days on to the weekend.
Don't you just love the look that Rascal is giving Andrew, "I love you aren't you going to share?"
Woody, Fred, Rob and Vicky, Friday evening enjoying some BBQed sasauge that Fred brought.,
Woody cooking Saturday brunch!
Fred, Andrew, Patsy, Vicky and Rob. You can tell it is a little cool we all have jackets on!
Saturday dinner, mushrooms, steak, venison burgers, corn on the cob and there was also, potato salad, chili and deserts. Sure glad we had the big BBQ
We invited Lloyd, one of the campers as we had so much food, for Saturday dinner. He and Fred spent some time visitng.
Hanging out in the shelter, Patsy, Fred and Vicky.
Woody caught Fred off guard and gave him his signature greeting!
Woody, Fred, Vicky, Andrew and Rascal, you can just see Cookie by Vicky's feet. Vicky arrived with dog treats for all the fur friends.
Rob and Andrew Saturday evening.
Until next year guys, thanks for coming and making it such a special time!
