ESTEVAN - This is the first Creighton Lodge report since April, how time flies when you are having fun. It seemed all there was to talk about was the pandemic, so we decided to take a step back, relax and just enjoy life for the summer. And that is exactly what we did.
A few staff members have joined our team: Colleen Stefiuk, Murray Ludtke and Raylena Walker have all been great assets to our staff. Kaitlynn Ricard was here for the summer but has now returned to university.
We welcomed a few new residents: Gail and Richie Mack, Mary Price, Edith Pierrard, Rose Dowhaniuk, Margaret Elash, Shirley Peters, John and Jane Mckelkie. We are enjoying getting to know everyone and they are all settling into life at the lodge.
We spent a lot of our summer lounging outside as we watched the flowers grow, and visited with our families and neighbours. Our flowers were definitely beautiful this year, but our vegetable garden didn’t produce a bountiful selection, so we will try again next year.
Luckily we have some great people in our community who took care of us and ensured we had lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, beans and zucchini. Thank you to all who thought of us and to our ladies in the kitchen that can turn all our fresh vegetables into tasty dishes like borscht, salads and stews.
We celebrated our monthly birthdays: Joan McDavid, Elsie Ludtke, Olive Aspinall and Mary Fedyk in April; Betty Eagles, Gail Mack and Berth Chicoine in May; Virginia Schopf, Josephine Longney, June Fuhr, Richie Mack, Leo Gress, Marie Ritchie, Alma McGill, Rose Dowhaniuk and Lois Matt in June; Jeri Smith, Marie Bill, Denyse Hygard, Sylvia Oszust, Sarah Harder, Irma Lesiuk, Jean Broadhead and Raymond Mack in August; Shirley Peters, Jane Mckelkie, Rosalia McClement, John Mckelkie, Lila Forseth, Valerie Granberg and Al Piche in September; and Joyce Beggs and Ted Fai in October.
The ice cream truck came each month this summer and ensured we all had our favourite flavours to choose from. Sometimes we splurged and took an extra scoop. F&L Concrete was here this summer and replaced our sidewalks. We are all walking safely outside.
Affinity Credit Union gave us a grant to help with the renovation of our shower room and we are pleased with the results. Our shower room is bigger, safer and so much brighter. Thank you to B&S Construction for completing our project for us. Joan Fingler ensured that Catholic church services continued. Thank you Joan for always being there for the residents.
MNP Chartered Accounts in Estevan purchased a 4-H steer this year, and donated half of the meat to Creighton Lodge and the other half to participants Estevan Diversified Services. We are grateful for the support, and the meat has been great.
We participated in collecting donations for the United Way Estevan Telethon and what a successful telethon it was. Some of us had a hard time sleeping because we didn’t want to turn off all the great entertainment. The cooking show was a favourite of many but so was all the great singers and performers.
Thank you to all of Estevan and surrounding areas that made the telethon so great. We enjoy watching the telethon on our local Access Now channel 7.
A big thank you to Pharmasave for bringing the flu shots to us again this year. With your help we were able to get our shots here at the lodge without having to go to a clinic.
The Olson’s, Del and Kelly, and the Homespun Harmonies are back performing for us. Trinity Lutheran Church is back with monthly communion, Joy Beahm is providing beautiful manicures each Monday, the library brings us not only books but also tech training for seniors and the reminiscing reading hour.
We had a Halloween party on Oct. 29. So much fun was had by everyone who attended. Bev Holinaty brought treat bags for all the party goers, Shelley Hygard carved pumpkins, created delicious, spooky cupcakes and volunteered to help out with the costumes. Marcia Schmidt decorated for the party. We had so many costumes it was hard to pick the best one. Blanche Keating, who is 103 won the prize as the shortest Santa.
We are staying safe and doing everything to stay that way. We are smiling as we live our best life at the lodge each day. We hope you are all doing the same.
