Hello! What a busy weekend. As you may have heard, the north half of our province has been plagued by
wildfires and no rain. It's never been this dry here ever. The north half of the province is predominantly forests. The south half (where I live) is predominantly farmland. The latest numbers I've heard were 12,000+ people being displaced from their homes because the fires are out of control, threatening so many northern communities. The evacuees are taking refuge in the cities and towns that are in the half of the province where I live. It's very sad and scary for them as all we have to complain about is the heavy smoke in the air. The photos of the outrageous fires are all over facebook. I can't make the fires go out, but I knew we could help. I'm writing to say we did, and it was so effortless. I encourage you too to pitch in if you are nearby any evacuees. There's always money that can be donated. We are short of that right now, so here's what we did. My kids and I packed up a huge bag of clothing for all ages & genders, boxes of toys, colouring books & buckets of crayons, rackets and balls, puppets, playing cards, swimsuits, toy trucks, cross stitch supplies for the elders, and pads & tampons too. Some items we gathered at home, and then we headed to the dollar store and topped up with a few requested items we saw people talking about on facebook. My kids were so happy to pitch in. We drove to a local hotel, and sure enough, there were dozens of families standing outside, eating, getting some fresh air, and well... waiting. There are still new evacuations, but the place we stopped at had folks there for over a week already! Waiting. Waiting to head back home to their communities. There are folks all over - staying temporarily in North Battleford, Prince Albert, Regina, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, etc etc... 7,000 or so just evacuated to Cold Lake, Alberta this past weekend. If you are able, please give. They need food, toiletries, snacks and drinks, clothing, bedding, and the kids need things to occupy them. They get 3 meals a day but many are still hungry and the kids and pregnant mamas need more in-between food. Check in with your local Red Cross or Salvation Army. Most places I've been told have Red Cross volunteers on site to help with donation distribution. There are also family pets in need of care. The animal shelters are extremely busy. It's very distressing. It's so ridiculously easy to help, in fact, that we'll likely do it again tomorrow. (hint hint) Please join in!
On our way home over the Circle Drive bridge, my 2 youngest hollered, 'sand!'. Really, it should have been 'river' but the darn thing is so dry this year. So we continued home, picked up our pooch, I grabbed my camera, and we headed back to the river to play. We stayed for hours.
The river is so shallow. The sand extends about a third of the way into where the river usually is.
Someone couldn't stay out of the water!
The kids hauled rocks to the shore and tried building a sundial. I love when they chose a very hardworking task. The rocks were big and very heavy. They love to work! Later, the sun came out and she joined the dog for a swim.
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Isn't this unreal? This is what we tip-toed over to get to the sand.
Don't get me wrong - there's still flowing water and deeper parts. But what fun we made out of it - right in the city too. We played until the sun sunk behind the trees.
I hope you enjoyed my late Sunday Snapshots! It was a really fun ending to a good day. Be safe,
