Calgary Week-end

Last week we continued unpacking etc. The plumber came and fixed the toilet.  There were several conversations with Telus in regard to our phone (the last one assuring us that the phone would be hooked up Friday.  The internet got upgraded and is working really well.  We attended an RBC lecture about fixed income investments on Tuesday at the newly renovated Sportsplex (now called the Enmax Center)  and I went to Club on Thursday and had a visit with old friends.  Friday morning we got up to get ready to head off to Calgary and found that our hot water tank had burst and the water was running on the basement floor.  After the plumber came with a new tank and got it installed we made a late start for Calgary.  Our phone was not yet hooked up.  Although the roads in town were a mess the highway was clear.

We went out for supper at Mucho Burrito with Edward, Jeremy and Nathan and their families.

Saturday evening we attended the Youth Cultural Celebration connected with the dedication of the Calgary Temple.  Six of our grandchildren performed, although it was hard to pick them out among the large number of participants.  We ran into our niece, April,   who was ushering and met one of Bob's university room-mates.

Sunday morning we watched a broadcast of the Temple Dedication at the Willow Park Stake Center.  Miranda stayed with us in the afternoon while Edward and family went to attend the last session of the Temple Dedication.

Monday morning we returned home - still no phone.

Tuesday my sister, Joan, came by for a very welcome visit.

Today there was one more conversation with Telus and our phone with our previous number was hooked up within minutes - yea!  I think they sent out a memo to all the phone solicitors.  Within the hour we got a call from Mastercard and one from Sears and they knew my name!  Did we really want a phone?

Nova Scotia Sounds Good

I think I'll go out to Alberta; weathers good there in the fall?

We arrived home on Friday evening.  Darryl, Langley & Carter visited us on Saturday after lunch and later our neighbours, the Hergets brought a treat over and in the evening Sue-anne and Taylor stopped in on their way back from a track meet in Red Deer.

At church on Sunday one of the speakers didn't show so guess who got called up?  Yes, it was Bob and I.  There are a few members of the ward we know, but a lot has changed.  

We went out to Taber to Sue-anne's for Sunday dinner.  One of our granddaughters who is going to college in Lethbridge was also there.  It was certainly good to see them all.

Yesterday we cleaned up the leaves that had drifted into our driveway.  It was cold out.  The snow began at supper time and went on into the night.  The school buses in Lethbridge are not running and our grandchildren in Taber get a snow day.  We hear it was 17 degrees C in Dartmouth yesterday.

We have been busy unpacking and finding out what we left behind (many things that we didn't remember that we had) and trying to decide where we will put things. Bob hauled 70 kilograms of old computer and photocopying equipment out to the recycling place.

Our phone was supposed to be hooked up by now (we are getting our old number back we hope) but it is not yet working.  We have no TV as yet.  Our daughter discovered that the downstairs toilet started leaking the week before we came home and the plumber who was supposed to arrive the beginning of the week hasn't made it yet.  So it is good to be home!

Home in Lethbridge

We arrived home this afternoon about 2:30 p.m.

Beautiful Day - Boring Drive

We left Lehi, Utah about 9:30 this morning and making a 15 minute detour into Salt Lake to pick up some fabric swatches for Sue-anne and an hour detour to Ammon, Idaho so we could eat at Cafe Rio we are now settled into the Hampton Inn in Butte, Montana.

One more day!

Lehi, Utah

Monday we went to Cornbellies for the afternoon.  Many activities were going on there.  Tuesday was a day for shopping.  Today Bob and Owen went to the park.  Later we went to Wheeler Farms for a microsoft family party.  We had a wagon ride through the farm,  were entertained by Hired Guns and ate.  We leave Utah in the morning.

 I Remember when my Dad sold Minneapolis Moline Tractors

The FrontRunner is coming to Lehi in the near future.  It will travel between Ogden and Provo.

BYU Football

Bob, Darwin, Caden, Chloe & Owen went to the football game this afternoon.  Amber and I went shopping.

Walt and Marilyn Johnson (friends from China) came over after the football game and we had a good visit.

Lehi, Utah

What Can I Say?

 Nebraska

Wyoming

(Parking Lot at the Holiday Inn Express in Rawlins)

Wind Turbines on the Move

(The Blades are Much Bigger than They Look When They are in Operation)

I I I

Today's posting is bought to you by the letter I - Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.  (Drive, drive, drive)

As we came west there were less trees (although some were in beautiful colour), more open spaces, more cultivated land, more towns and businesses along the highway, more bill boards and very heavy traffic (at least until we passed Chicago).  There was a lot of construction on the highways.

I have never seen so many trucks as I have seen the last few days.  There were more big trucks on the road then cars until we got past Chicago.  We met them at the rate of 20 per minute.

We passed some very big wind farms.

We passed John Wayne's birthplace - De Soto, Iowa.

Kirtland, Ohio

This morning we drove from Palmyra, New York to Kirtland, Ohio.  We stopped and toured the Whitney Store where Joseph Smith and family lived upstairs for some months and where the School of the Prophets was located.

We were able to tour the Kirtland Temple as well.  The Temple is much larger than I envisioned it and it has three floors.

We ate at Subway in Kirtland and then headed west.  Tonight we are at the Holiday Inn Express in Holiday City.

Today in Palmyra

This morning we attended a session at the Temple.

 The Temple is Hidden by Trees from Most Directions

View from the Temple

We returned to the hotel and a half hour later our friends the Okesons arrived at the hotel and we spent the day sight seeing.

 A Replica of the Smith Family's Original Home

(built on the original foundation)

 Trees in the Sacred Grove

We had walked to the Smith Family Farm and the Sacred Grove and on our way back to the hotel we walked down Temple Street.

We drove downtown and toured the Grandin Print Shop.

From the Print Shop Bob and Jim walked down to the Erie Canal.  Jeannie and I walked through the LDS Bookstore.

Our next stop was the Hill Cumorah
.

 

By the time we finished at the Hill Cumorah it was supper time so we went to the Yellow Mill Diner for supper and then came back to the hotel for a game of cards. 

We Made it to Palmyra

This morning at 9:00 a.m. we left Augusta, Maine and drove to the New Hampshire border and cut across the corner of the state into Massachusetts.  After crossing Massachusetts we drove across New York to Palmyra arriving by 6:00 p.m.  We spent over $20 in tolls to travel on these highways.

The leaves were not as spectacular as those in New Brunswick, but they were some pretty (spoken like a true maritimer although I think in Nova Scotia some pretty means extremely pretty while I just mean somewhat pretty or quite pretty or something like that).

As we drove through New York state we were fairly close to the place where my Shewfelt ancestors settled in the early 1700s when they came from Germany.  The county was covered with rolling hills and looked like a nice place to live so I was wondering why some of them left.  I decided it was either because the land wasn't good enough to farm or because there was no land for the younger children and they had to go off into the wilderness to find land.

Augusta, Maine

This morning we had breakfast with the Robinsons. Bob had suggested we leave at 7:30 a.m., and I countered with 9:00 a.m.  We didn't get on the road until 9:45.  After driving past Nathan and Tara's former house, we crossed Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and into Maine.  It was rather sad to leave.

The leaves throughout New Brunswick were very beautiful - brilliant orange, yellows and various reds with evergreens for contrast.  All we saw were trees.

We arrived in Augusta before 6:00 p.m. and just as we were getting set to bring our overnight things into the hotel, it began to rain rather hard.  We had supper at a Mexican restaurant.

Farewell Nova Scotia

Tomorrow will be our last day at the Halifax Temple.  We will pack up the car, finish cleaning the house, do our temple shift and stay at the Robinson's overnight and leave on Saturday morning.

"I think I'll go out to Alberta,  weathers good there in the fall".

We said many good-byes over the past week.  The two counselors in the Temple Presidency and their wives will not be back to the temple this week so we said good-bye to them Saturday. The Temple presidency gave us a framed picture of the Halifax Temple.

Sunday was our last day in the Dartmouth Ward.

Monday was our last night with the Family Home Evening group.  They also gave us gifts - a framed picture of Peggy's Cove, pillow cases trimmed with Nova Scotia Tartan, etc.  Bob took a few pictures of the members of the group.

The couple who is replacing us arrived on Friday night.  They are from Hawaii, so I hope they enjoy the Nova Scotia winter.   We were at the Robinsons for supper last night along with the two temple missionary couples.

This morning there was an extra session at the Temple for a group that arrived on a cruise ship.  They were all from Utah.  We won't be around for the big groups that are coming on cruise ships the next two Tuesdays.

One last picture of a Dartmouth Electrical box!

So we are bound for moving on!