US Thanksgiving

All the senior couples in the mission were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the Mission Home yesterday.  Attached is a picture of our group - three couples including us are from Canada.  (The Pearsons from Taber are on the left at the back and Sister Hunter is in the middle with the red jacket and Bro. Hunter is to her right in the picture.  The mission President and his wife, Brother and Sister Simpson are seated in the middle.  We have couples from Alaska, Utah, Wyoming, Wisconsin and the President is from Idaho.)  Temple attendance was boosted that evening because the Senior Couples all attended the six p.m. session.

After the Storm

Yesterday we had fourteen inches of snow followed by sleet and rain.  Bob spent three hours this morning shoveling the snow and chipping the ice.  The snowplow didn't come by until ten a.m.  Usually it comes just after midnight.  Last year we didn't have snow until nearly Christmas.  The senior missionaries got together at the mission home last night, but Bob wouldn't venture out on the roads so we missed it.

Above is a picture of the end of our driveway after the plow went by. The street is on the other side of the pile of snow.  Luckily our wonderful neighbour has a big snow blower and he cut through the pile for us.  Yesterday when we left for the temple at eight a.m. it wasn't snowing.  When we came home at two p.m. the neighbour had already run the snow blower over our driveway.

For the past two weeks I have had a sore throat and a cold.  It seems to improve and then it gets worse again.  I missed two days at the temple and spent five days in bed.  Bob also has the same thing but won't give in to it.  He only spent a couple of afternoons in bed.

The first evening I went out after the five days I noticed Christmas lights and houses and yards all decorated for Christmas.  One month to go until Christmas.  Seems to get earlier every year.  I noticed that the decorations included Santa Claus, and other non-religious symbols, but no angels or wise men etc.

We have now been in Nova Scotia for over a year. People are starting to ask when we are going home.  Someone said she couldn't remember when we hadn't been here.  Is that good or bad?

Tropical Storm Sean

11 - 11 - 11

It has been nearly two weeks since I posted anything, so I will give a summary of the last while.
Lets start with Halloween night.  It was quite a surprise to have somewhere between twenty and thirty trick or treaters visit us.  There doesn't seem to be many children in our neighbourhood, but they were there for Halloween.  Some of our favourite trick or treaters came over to visit for a while.

 A Scared looking Scary Skeleton

Little Tigger

On the first of November we spent a little time at Tara's and then we came home so the furnace people could do the annual maintenance on the furnace.  Later in the afternoon I got a haircut.

Wednesday we were at the Temple.  Thursday we had zone training most of the day and then the Temple in the evening.  Friday we were at the Temple in the evening and Saturday we spent most of the day at the Temple.  Bob had a sore throat so he came home to bed, but I enjoyed supper at Nathan and Tara's.  Sunday was church as usual.

Monday we cleaned, washed and Bob worked in the yard.  In the evening we went home teaching.  Tuesday we had district meeting and spent some time in the afternoon at Tara's.  We were at the Temple Wednesday.

Wednesday evening we attended the Dartmouth & District Pipe Band Association Awards Night.  Orson and Liam both received trophies.  They played a duet. Following is a videos of the last number that the band  played as they left the auditorium.

Thursday was a busy day.  We drove to Halifax to inspect two missionary apartments.  Then we went to visit a distant relative of mine that I met some years ago through genealogy.  We had an hour visit before we had to rush back to Dartmouth to get to the temple on time.

Today we had planned to go to the Spryfield Legion in Halifax to watch the Remembrance Day Parade in which the Dartmouth Pipe Band was participating.  However this morning the wind was howling and the rain coming down in sheets and we decided to stay off the roads and stay home.  The parade was cancelled but the band played under the overhand on a loading dock at the mall where they held the ceremony. The only thing we heard about Remembrance Day was the canon at the Citadel at 11:00 a.m.

Bob tried to get pictures of Tropical Storm Sean  but they don't show the wind howling or the extent of the rain.

Happy Halloween

It was a fairly quiet week.  On Monday evening we attended a family home evening group for the first time.  I made individual cheesecakes to take for desert.  We went to our district meeting on Tuesday morning and to Tara's in the afternoon and stayed with the boys while she ran errands.  Wednesday, besides the regular morning temple sessions there was an extra session in the evening (not very well attended).  Thursday, Friday and Saturday temple sessions were very small except for one Friday evening one.  Saturday they cancelled the last two sessions. 

Friday Nathan's family all came to our house for lunch.  Bob had been to Costco with them and they had picked up the food to bring here.

Saturday we left the temple early and went to Truro with Tara so we could see Orson and Liam receive their Champion Supreme Awards and play solos.

Last night it started to rain and the wind howled.  It rained most of today and the wind is still blowing.  We even got a bit of slush in with the rain.  We were glad to get home from church and stay inside.

Pumpkin Country

Last Thursday we had steady rain which lasted 24 hours and dropped 4 inches of rain on us.  It cleared up on Friday and we had lovely sunshine for several days in a row.  Today it has started to rain again.

Saturday was a very busy day at the Temple.  A busload of people came from P.E.I.  Several vans brought people from New Brunswick.

The fall trees were pretty when the sun shone on them.

Tomatoes don't grow well in Nova Scotia, but I think pumpkins must.  There are pumpkins everywhere here - in the stores, piled in front of Farmer Clems greenhouse, sitting on the steps of houses and lining the sidewalks.

 Even a White Pumpkin

Even the Baines House has Pumpkins

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Last Monday was Thanksgiving day here in Canada.  We celebrated at Nathan and Tara's with good food, good company and a good walk after dinner.  Here is the group after the walk.

When I lived in my parents home in Brooks we always had our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.  That was because pheasant season opened on the Monday.  When we are at home in Lethbridge we usually have our turkey dinner on Saturday because it doesn't interfere with our children's in-laws. They usually have their dinner on Sunday or Monday.  (This is in response to Amber's comment on the Baines Blog.)

On Tuesday Bob got snow tires put on his Honda.  Hopefully we will do better on the roads this winter.

We had our usual four days at the Temple - Wednesday to Saturday.  We also did some home teaching.

Saturday evening the boys came and stayed a couple of hours with us while Nathan and Tara went out for supper.

It is Tuesday again and we had district meeting this morning and finished our Home Teaching tonight.

The maritimes are known for their beautiful fall leaves, but this year left something to be desired.  As soon as the leaves turned colour they were blown away.  We have had wind and heavy rains lately.  However this afternoon was fairly nice.  Bob and Keaton went out walking this afternoon.