Stoney Knoll is about 2 miles west and 2 miles north of Laird, SK, and appears to be nothing more than a high point on otherwise fairly flat land, identified from a distance by a stand of trees where you wouldn’t expect them. But Stoney Knoll is also an amazing place. It is farmland owned and farmed by some lovely, gentle, thoughtful Mennonite farmers, AND it is the home of a Lutheran Cemetery and in the past a Lutheran Church, AND it is the location of the Young Chippewayan Indian Reservation, in Treaty Six Territory, the traditional home of the Nehiyawak or Plains Cree people.

Just imagine if all those parties had the chance to sit down and talk together!

THEY DID! And the story is a moving one, and hopeful. And it’s been told in a short film. If you haven’t yet seen it, you might find Reserve 107 a great way to spend a half hour. You can watch it at www.reserve107thefilm.com or if you feel unsure about just diving in, there’s a trailer on YouTube to whet your appetite.

You might even see someone you know as you watch the film. The above Sun photos were taken at Stoney Knoll when we stopped there with some friends for a few minutes last week.

After Eileen successfully preached to the masses in Prince Albert this morning we headed North and East toward Candle Lake to visit Darryl and Shauna and Kam and Jake at their cabin. Along the way we noticed patches of brilliant colour in the ditches.

In 2004 we gathered up some friends and launched some model rockets. Our children were notably younger. And then yesterday, when planning a farm fire pit supper with some of those same friends, Karen suggested we bring along those old rockets. Who would have thought those old rocket engines and igniters would all still work? First, to jog your memory, here are a few pics from the 2004 event.

As you might imagine, not everything that happens during an evening of rocket launching is about the rockets. See the captions that accompany the following pictures for more information.

And finally, here are a few videos, including a 2-stage surprise, a dud, high bucket heroics, a slo-mo launch, and a rocket catch. More details about each video below the video box.

It’s been over a week since I’ve posted something here. And suddenly today I found several things to post to instagram and/or facebook and thought “I never post that many things in one day!” So after a lovely walk out at Cranberry Flats with Eileen in the evening sun, I’ve decided to post 2 photos here. Both of them are plants. One seems to be a tree. The biology beyond that is beyond me. I simply liked the lighting and textures.

Apparently we now live in a world where one of the biggest things about getting a new phone is that you get a new, presumably better, camera on that phone. So for me that means some experimentation is in order. How close does it focus? What new things can it do? Two things are notable. 1) This phone has 2 cameras on the back (and one on the front). The second rear camera is a wide angle. 2) This camera has a “manual” mode, allowing me to do some exposure overrides just like on a real camera. Here are some of my experiments. Also, I should note that the new fence is a followup shot from the This Old House post.

We’ve been receiving more stuff from Emily, so here I am passing some of it along. I know she has her real camera there, but I don’t think she has any way to get to those pictures until her return. So I’m delighted she is sending us some bits and pieces from her phone.

I’ll add some descriptions to some of the pictures, based on her comments. Do note that you often have to scroll down a bit when viewing the pictures to see the descriptions that I’ve added. After the photo gallery are two videos. The short one of Emily chasing pigeons seems like pure Emily to me. The video of them visiting a holy site that requires the utmost in modesty, and thus the women are all wearing tunics and head coverings seems less like Emily’s natural predilections.

Emily chases pigeons. Because… Emily!

And the one below, in Emily’s words: “Being super modest in the mosque with Abraham and Sarah’s tombs.”

Forgive me while I live vicariously through Emily and just post some of her stuff. Here are some more pics from Emily. Some have added information (mostly the last few), other are just for simply enjoying.