Mixed Emotions

These photos were taken at a local winter festival that I went to on the weekend.  I went for a hay ride behind these magnificent horses.  They are owned by a lady we know and her son is the driver. The next picture is one of the floats in the parade.  The lady standing is our next door neighbour's sister who is quite the comedian.  Their float always get a lot of attention and it gets better every year.

This morning as my husband and I left to go to North Bay, we noticed flashing lights and emergency vehicles on the road.  As we got closer, we saw that the house of a neighbour had been gutted by fire.  Of course, we were quite concerned about the man who lived there but had no way of finding out, at that point, how he was.  While we were out, a friend whose son is a volunteer firefighter phoned to let us know our neighbour had died.  (This is how you get your news in a rural area.  The paper I write for phoned called me later to see if I had information.).  We are quite saddened to hear the enws.  We didn't know him to do more than wave when we passed his house and to know that he always had a herd of deer around waiting to be fed but he was a human being and a neighbour.  Another friend called to ask if I thought the deer would be okay and I let her know that there are a number of people around here that put feed out.  Now everyone is getting in touch with each other to see what they can do to help.  (Another rural things-do what you can for the people and the animals.  By the time we read  Thursday's paper, everything will be arranged.)
I feel quite unsettled.  You want to do something but there really isn't anything that you can do.  I don't know the brother who lives in the village and the people there will see he has enough food to see him through this time.
Our sky is blue and the sun bright but this area is saddened by the death of a good man.
Blessings,