Dear Winnipeg Marilyn:
Sometimes, on Tuesday, I address my column to my Grand Forks friend, Sandy Mason, in Arizona. Other times, I write to the McFarlanes who moved to Florida.
The other day I got thinking I should write to you in Winnipeg. After all, I haven’t seen you since coronavirus took over our lives. Now more or less, we all are quarantined.
And there is no end in sight.
I miss having you come down to Grand Forks now and then. I keep some tea in the cupboard for you.
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Usually when you come to Grand Forks, we go over to the CanadInn for lunch. You like to do a little shopping. And I know how you and Derek enjoyed Whitey’s in East Grand Forks. But I guess you know it is now just a memory. You have found the Texas Roadhouse.
UND football
You know that football at UND is on hold this year? That’s where we met years ago, when your son, Donavan, played for UND.
Now he’s married and a dad and teaching school in Winnipeg. Time doesn’t stand still. In spite of this coronavirus, it keeps on moving.
So we have no football at UND. No volleyball. I’m just hoping there will be basketball. And hockey.
The high schools are having football games. Life goes on. The kids are back in school – practicing self distancing. Which isn’t easy for children! UND seems to be alive and well with the guidance of its new president, Andrew Armacost.
Trash pickup
This week we are cleaning up Grand Forks. Since we didn’t have a pickup in the spring, the crews are doing it now. City trucks will make a free pickup of trash on berms and alleys on the regular pickup days. Well, they won’t take big stuff – such as you get with a remodeling.
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Do they do big pickups in Winnipeg?
Around here, it always has been kind of fun for many to drive around and see what shows up on the berms. As they say, one person’s pain can be another’s pleasure.
Autumn sets in
Yep, the handwriting is on the wall. Summer is over. The birds in my backyard are checking their flights south. The apples are getting ripe for pies and apple crisp. I know where my jackets are lurking.
Surely, you are feeling the touches of cool mornings in Winnipeg. Just know I miss seeing you down here in Grand Forks. I’ll bet this is the first summer you can remember not coming down.
Give my best regards to Derek.
Your friend, also named Marilyn, sending best regards from the banks of the Red River of the North
Reach Marilyn Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or by telephone at (701) 772-1055.
