Blue Sky

Yesterday after our morning thunderstorm the sky cleared and it has been blue two days in a row. 

For the first time ever I went out into the back yard and then down to the lake.

A View of the House from Down at the Lake

The tomato plants that Bob went and bought this morning can be seen in buckets up on the deck on the left side.  He also bought some bedding out plants for the front flower bed. 

Lobster Dinner

On Tuesday evening Larry and Marge Heppler hosted a lobster dinner for some of the couples at the Temple.  I enjoyed the company, the soup, the salad and the potatoes while everyone else enjoyed the lobster.

Lobsters

Larry Giving Instructions on How to Open the Shells

The Ladies Wait to be Served

We were quite busy this week.  We inspected one missionary apartment out at Lower Sackville and did some home teaching on top of our usual time at the temple.

The rain finally stopped and Orson came and cut our lawn while we visited with Tara, Keaton, Lachlin and Matt (who slept the whole time he was here.)

Although the rain has stopped, it has been very foggy - no sunshine.

Today was the Dartmouth Ward Conference.  Nathan was asked to speak at it and did very well.

Another Week-End Getaway

On the Victoria Day week-end we toured the southwestern part of Nova Scotia.  We saw trees, hills, rocks and a bit of the Atlantic Ocean.  Now when people mention such places as Windsor, Liverpool, Yarmouth, Lunenberg etc I have an idea where they are talking about.  I also understand such things as "That is a south shore name." or "Are you from "The Valley"?"

We left the Temple Saturday afternoon about 3:00 p.m. and drove in the pouring rain to Digby where we met Nathan and his family who had left Dartmouth earlier in the day. The rain had stopped somewhere near Wolfville but it was cloudy and windy.  By the time we got there it was suppertime and we went to the Fundy Restaurant for supper.

We stayed in a cottage at the Admiral Digby.  It had a great view over the Annapolis Basis about a half mile from where the ferry leaves for St. John, New Brunswick.  We are told that the sunrises over the basin are beautiful, but we saw only fog rolling in when we were there.

A Lone Trawler on the Annapolis Basin

Sunday morning we drove to Yarmouth where we attended church.  In the afternoon we visited Cape Forchu.

A Modern Day Lighthouse

 The Atlantic Ocean from Cape Forchu

 Broken Anchor at Cape Forchu

Lobster Traps

After Cape Forchu we went to a playground for the little boys and then in the evening we were invited to a barbeque at the Veinots whom we know from the Temple.

In the morning we took a walk along the boardwalk in Yarmough.

 We had hoped to see the apple orchards in blossom as we came through the Annapolis Valley, but apparently you have to go off the freeway to see them.  This week is the Apple Blossom Festival.  Orson will be playing with his pipe band for the festival on Saturday.  Nathan may be playing as well, but Orson doesn't think that Nathan will be ready to play all 56 tunes.

We did see many beautiful trees in blossom in the town of Yarmouth.

Our next stop was White Point Lodge.  We had a three bedroom house there.  The big attraction for some of the boys was the fireplace.  They spent hours trying to get the wet logs burning.  The fire alarm only went off once.  There was a golf course there, but none of us wanted to play in the cold.

The downside of our accomodations was that one of the showers would only put out scalding water, so all nine of us had to share one shower.

Following are some views of the Atlantic Ocean from the resort.

All kinds of rabbits lived on the grounds.  They were under the house and in the bushes.  More of them came out in the late evening, presumably because they weren't so many children around.  The resort sold rabbit food so the boys had fun feeding the rabbits.

With that many rabbits around we wondered why they went to the trouble of planting tulips (or whatever these plants were).



The last day of our vacation was soon upon us.  After a big breakfast in the lodge we packed up and drove on to Lunenberg, which is a picturesque town.  It has colourful houses, probably because of all the clouds and fog.  Some of the streets are very narrow. 

The Bluenose is being repaired so it was not there.  I don't know when it will be back.

The last stop was Malone Bay, but we just stayed in the car and looked out over the bay before we headed back to Dartmouth.  We arrived back about 3:00 p.m.

That evening we found out that we had missed a day of missionary training - oops!  They hadn't tried to contact us about it until Monday while we were away.

Hunting in Pictou County

We went to Pictou County for a few days so I could go do some genealogical research about my McQuarrie and Balfour deceased relatives.  We left the temple on Saturday a wee early (an expression that I have heard here in Nova Scotia), or actually two hours early so we could get on the road.  As we drove we saw a lot of woodland and hills.  When the early settlers came to Nova Scotia they cleared the land but it didn't turn out that great for farming so many of them left in the late 1800's or early 1900s.  The land has now gone back to trees and wild blueberries.


We stayed at the Custom House Inn in Pictou.  It was built in 1878 and looks out over the harbour where my ancestors arrived between 1796 and 1831.  The harbour used to be very busy, but it is now very quiet and there is no need for a Customs House, so it has become an Inn.  We stayed there the same week five years ago and there were more people staying there at that time.  I think we were the only ones staying there this time. The economy has not been good for Pictou and a lot of businesses have shut down.

Fancy Window Coverings in the Custom House Inn

Not many ships use the harbour anymore, but we did see these two.  They were being loaded with logs.

When we arrived on Saturday we drove out to the Auburn Cemetery at Westville and found some of the family gravestones.  As it has been raining for a month now the ground was spongy and muddy.  We drove out to Piper's Landing (a restaurant near Scotsburn) for supper.

Sunday we attended church in New Glasgow and then went for Sunday brunch at the Pictou Lodge.  It would have been a beautiful place in good weather, but it was cloudy with intermittent rain. 

We then drove out and went through five more cemeteries and had no luck at all.  It got colder and colder and then began pouring rain.  We had a hard time finding the cemeteries.  We had supper at Subway.

Monday morning we took a wrong turn and found the Haliburton Cemetery which we had looked for five years ago and couldn't find, so we stopped and searched in the rain until we found my great-grandfather's sister's grave.  Then we went to the County office and spent $45. for a county map which we thought would help us find the cemeteries we wanted. 

Because of the rain we went to the Pictou County Archives and ended up staying there until it closed.  There was lots of information there.  We went back again this morning (Tuesday) to finish what we had been doing.

We didn't get to use the map we had bought.

Tuesday morning it was very foggy.  I hope that when my ancestors sailed into the harbour that they had sunshine and a good view of their new home.  It would be very depressing after a long voyage to be in the fog.

On our way home we back-tracked to a shopping centre in New Glasgow and I bought a few missionary type summer clothes.  I didn't bring enough clothes with me to have any variety.

It isn't raining here in Dartmouth and is much warmer than it was in Pictou.

Seen on Donview Drive this Week

Apparently when the Forsythias bloom it is officially spring.  There are forsythias in bloom all over the place.  They are bushes with little yellow flowers.  (The dandelions are also starting to bloom and it is against the law use chemical killers on weeds so Bob bought some kind of iron mixture called Weed Buster and put on the lawn, but we are getting a good crop of dandelions).

We don't know what happened across the street but the ambulance was there for quite a while.  It finally drove away without the  lights flashing.

East Coast Fog

David Phillips, national weather expert with Environment Canada is quoted in the Metro News: Halifax on May 7th as follows:
     "It's not as if you've been drenched and you're buildings arks; it's just been depressing.  It's like the water torture test."

The article went on to say that it's rained every day for the past 18 days.

On Thursday evening we gave a worker a ride to his house on the other side of the city.  It was raining so hard we could not see the lines for the lanes on the streets.  It did stop raining on Friday and there was no rain until Saturday evening when it was pouring again.

Along with the rain there has been a lot of fog.

Barbequing Nova Scotia Style

We have had a busy two weeks.  We  have done some home teaching, some apartment inspecting and have been at the temple as usual.

A week ago, Thursday, we had zone conference for all the missionaries in Nova Scotia.  Elder Christoffel Golden, Jr. of the first quorum of the seventy was the speaker for the conference.

The next Saturday and Sunday was stake conference and Elder J. Willard Marriott Jr., an area seventy was the speaker for that.  As he is CEO of the Marriott Corporation he took the opportunity to speak at Dalhousie University one evening and to the Halifax Tourist Association as well.  We didn't attend those speeches.

Nathan barbequed steak for a mother's day supper on Saturday evening.  Liam is picking up some of the Nova Scotia speaking habits and said "Those steaks are some thick."  I wonder if I should say, "Those steaks are some delicious."  It was the best steak I have had for a long time (they must import Alberta Beef here).

Saturday we had a large group of young people at the temple to do baptisms -  probably the biggest group we have ever had and the temple washing machine was not working.  The motor had been taken out to be rebuilt so we have been bringing the laundry home to be washed and dried.  With several people taking a batch or two home it has not been too bad.