March 3 Rosenfeld News by Tina Wolfe
Greetings from the land of snow. It’s Monday morning and the snow is swirling around the house causing faces to falter and freeze on TV. The storm system must be fairly dense in order to interfere with the satellite. I’m sure the kids were happy to get another long weekend even though all these off days must be cutting into the school year and will need to be made up in June.
Amber’s update
On Saturday, Feb.23, I travelled to Hamburg for some sightseeing. I went with another au-pair who is originally from Alberta so it was two Canadians on the loose in Germany. While in Hamburg we took a boat tour on a lake which in Canada we would call a huge pond. We were told that the water front property sold for $19,000 a sq. meter. We also visited an art museum and then ended up eating at a MacDonald’s. This is quite funny because in Canada I almost never go there.
Week days I continue to attend German classes at the university every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. I enjoy meeting all the new students. I try to stay busy but do miss my family and friends back in Canada.
School activities
The Grade 2 & 3 students were excited on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 26. Everyone boarded the bus for a field trip to Steinbach Heritage Museum where they spent the day sightseeing and learning about the early pioneers.
The Read-a-thon came to a close on the morning of Wednesday, Feb.27 with mystery reader, Brett Klassen. Brett is the son of school secretary Gladys Klassen and he plays for the Winkler Flyers. Since this was on a Wacky Wednesday and everyone was encouraged to dress in their favourite sports gear this was a perfect combination. Brett read The Hockey Tree which is a story about skating and ice fishing. The kids’ puck ends up flying into the hole and one of the fathers hauls out a chain saw and cuts wooden pucks from a thick dead branch. Needless to say the kids all go home happy.
Principal, Jason Pilkington, received a call a while back from one of the local radio stations with a request to broadcast from the school. What a nice coincidence for Eagle 93.5 to send out Connie Bailey to report from the Rosenfeld School on this same Wednesday.
Winter carnival
The Rosenfeld Good Neighbour Center was filled with the aroma of pancakes, sausages and coffee on Saturday, Mar. 2 and the place was packed. The last person to come in the doors was lucky to get the last pancake and sausages. From there many drove to the reservoir for ice fishing where Dave and Mike Wolfe again drilled all the holes. The wind howled from the south and even though the temperature wasn’t that cold it soon proved too much for most and they left to go the rink to warm up. It also didn’t help that the fishing was very slow.
The skating rink was soon packed and from all reports there was standing room only at lunch. For the first time ever Carol Schroeder and Anne Winter report that they ran out of hotdogs. Herman Kuhl organized the jam-pail curling for the 6 teams who had a fun time trying to make the good shot. The participation for sno-golf which took place on the school play grounds was weak. It was suggested that the students would learn the game on Monday but that is now not to be.
Sleigh rides were again offered by Marvin and Ruth Harder. Marvin has built a caboose onto his sleigh which includes a wood stove to keep everyone toasty warm. The rides are always a big hit and this year was no exception.
This event is made possible by the LUD of Rosenfeld, Rosenfeld and District Skating Rink and the Rosenfeld Good Neighbour Center. The Center Committee reports that the Carnival was a huge success and thanks everyone for their participation.
Condolences and prayers
Mary H. Schellenberg, 90, of Rosenfeld passed away on Monday, Feb. 25. She is survived by two daughters, three sons and their families. She was predeceased by her husband Henry H. Schellenberg and one son. The funeral was held on Saturday, Mar. 2 at 2:00 pm at the EMMC in Altona with burial at Plum Coulee.
The community sends our deepest regards to the family especially since this comes so quickly at the heels of the passing of her son, Henry.
Brandon trip
I love new adventures so I joined my sister, Eva and her daughter Kate Vermette on Saturday, Mar. 2. Kate had been invited to do a reading of her poems at the Manitoba Mennonite Creative Arts Festival in Brandon and Eva and I attended for moral support. The event was called Worscht en Rhubuaba which means sausage and rhubarb and ran March 2 -3 at the Brandon University. Writers from across Canada attended; some as young as first year university students to others who sported gray hair but young spirits. All were invited to have lunch before emcee; Lesley Glendinning began with words of welcome at 1:00 pm. Before the literary portion of the day started we were entertained with Deutsche Kinderlieder, arrangement by Kenneth Nichols, sung by the Brandon University Chorale with Andree Dagenais as conductor. More singing followed with German Mennonite folksongs, arrangement by Kenneth Nichols, sung by Sarah Hall and The Something, Something Quintet. The Quintet also performed a circle dance.
The readings began at 1:45 and Kate was in the first group to read to the audience. She read a number of her bird poems out of her recently published book, North End Love Songs. There is a nice rhythm to her poetry. Refreshments were served and the readings ended for the day at 4:40 pm.
We did not stay for supper which was going to be a traditional Mennonite meal of worscht en warenijke met schmauntfatt en rhubuaba.
I enjoyed many of the authors and my most favourite include Armin Wiebe, Di Brandt and Audrey Thiessen. Armin is best known for his Salvation of Yasch Siemens and has a sequel out. It is just as funny as the first. I had heard of Di Brandt before but never met her; she has a very bubbly personality which is reflected in her writing. This was Audrey’s first public reading and will definitely not be her last. Of all the writers attending, I would guess that Rudy Wiebe was the best known author.
It was an interesting experience but a very long day as we drove back to Winnipeg and then I made my way home. Over six hours of driving time in one day is just a bit much. I think that a road trip would not be my favourite thing.
