We spent a very enjoyable Friday evening last weekend at a food tasting event.
It was great and that’s the good news.
The bad news is that it was in Bragg Creek.
The good news is Bragg Creek is only 20 minutes away.
It was the first annual Taste of Bragg Creek event and it was a huge success.
Get this: More than 400 people attended.
That’s right, more than 400 people in one night for one event, which featured food samples from about 15 different, but local restaurants.
And you may wonder why Cochrane doesn’t have something like that, and one reason is Bragg Creek has a great community centre.
We have a community kitchen.
So a tip of the toque to the Bragg Creek folks who organized this event, they did good.
Speaking of doing good.
There’s nothing quite like being a grandparent, unless it’s being a great-grandparent.
We have a program in this town that I’ve been involved with for about six years and it’s time I shared it with you.
It’s called the grandparent program and it’s folks who share with younger school students.
It’s simple, it’s free and it’s so worthwhile.
Basically, it’s an hour a week, and we grandparents spend that with the kids, usually one-on-one, but sometimes you get a couple like I have presently.
There’s crafts and stuff like that, and you’re welcome to do that, but it’s a bit of a tough sell when you have a couple of 13-year-old boys like I do.
So, for an hour a week we play poker instead.
Well, not real poker, but we get the cards and a minimum bet is usually well over a million and why not, the kids watch poker often on TV and know more about the game than I do.
Last week, we switched to teaching them cribbage for an hour and we called that an hour’s study time in mathematics.
You know, 15-two and a pair is four, and that’s the math lesson for the day.
But it’s much more than that and yet so simple.
As a grandparent with these kids, the most important thing I can do is listen to them.
Kids need someone to listen to them.
We talk of all sorts of things, and of course to boys, sports is always a main theme.
Which is a very long way to get to the point, but the grandparents program needs more volunteers.
An hour a week and all you have to do is listen and share some of your life’s stories with these kids.
You don’t even have to play cribbage. But poker might be an asset.
Just call Lynn at 403-861-4558 and tell her you’d like to share.
And there’s a guarantee that goes with this — you’ll love every minute.
Guaranteed.
Unless you’ve been dead or in Edmonton, you’ll recall last week the mighty Cochrane Eagle announced a Best of Cochrane feature.
This is where we ask for your vote on the best pizza, best teacher, best place for a walk and all sorts of stuff like that.
Now I must admit, I wasn’t the most enthusiastic publisher in the western world over this, but I thought why not, we’ll give it a try.
And I totally underestimated you folks.
The response has been incredible.
Your enthusiasm boggles my mind
I realize, as you do, that this is anything but scientific, but it’s great fun and you folks are obviously aware and are enjoying that.
Some newspapers have done this same promotion and had returns in double figures after three weeks.
We had 50 the first day and hit three figures in three days.
Quite remarkable, and it’s only just started. So, have some fun and send us your survey.
More fun and also in Bragg Creek.
One of the most delightful websites is oopoomoo.com, and I love that monicker.
It belongs to Sam Chrysanthou and Darwin Wiggett.
I realize you’ll instantly recognize them as Cochrane Eagle columnists and, while that’s an incredible achievement, there’s more to them than that; they are also great photographers and they’re hosting a very informative seminar at the Bragg Creek Community Centre March 16.
It goes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is titled ‘Persistent Vision’.
David duChemin will share his knowledge and photos a couple of times and his work is amazing.
There’s panel discussions and if you have any questions about any aspect of photography you should be there.
If you’re planning a trip and taking your camera then you should be there and see how the experts do it; they’ll share that with you.
To get more information just go to my favorite website, oopoomoo.com.
