A Break in the Routine

Last Friday evening we received permission to skip the Temple and attend the J. Reuben Clarke annual law broadcast.  We went out for supper at Himachi (a Japanese restaurant) with members of the J. Reuben Clarke Law Society and then went and watched the broadcast.  It was a great evening.  (The reason we were able to get out of the temple was that there were 14 male workers who were going to be there so they didn't need us.  Well it rained and only 4 male workers turned up -- oh, oh.  However, only 5 patrons showed, so they were able to get by.)

Wednesday evening we invited five couples over for supper - the mission president and the temple president and their spouses and three senior missionary couples.  It was a bit of work, but was worth it.  We really enjoyed the evening.

We have had many variations in temperature and precipitation lately.  There is a brisk, cold wind today.  We ventured out to inspect an apartment this morning and decided it would be a good day to stay in the house.  However the roads are dry, and that is a good thing.

January Blahs

January has not been an exciting month.  We have been to the temple 4 days a week, spent some time with Nathan and Tara and boys and the boys have been at our house.

We have had raging snowstorms, pouring rain, howling wind, fog, and a wide range of temperatures.

One Saturday when we arrived home from the temple four of the trees in the back yard had been cut down.  The owners had arranged to have it done before we moved in.  The tree leaning over our deck is gone.

Bob went with Nathan's family to the skating oval in Halifax on Saturday evening.  It doesn't cost to skate and there were about six hundred people on the ice - rather crowded.  They had skates to lend but they were out of the sizes for Bob, Orson and Liam, so they had to stand in the freezing weather and watch the others.

One bright thing was that the missionary department announced modifications in the sister missionaries clothing standards.  I was happy to find out that we can now wear a pair of jeans on p day and that skirts no longer have to reach mid calf (they just have to cover the knees).

 View of the Lake Previously Blocked by the Leaning Tree

Skating Rink on the Lake

Rain is Falling all Around

There has been rain for 3 of the past 4 days.  It is a good day to stay home and watch the Rose Bowl parade where our granddaughter with the Calgary Stampede Show band is marching in the parade.  However we chose the wrong channel and missed her. 

It is also a good day to work on our 1000 piece puzzle that our oldest son so kindly gave us for Christmas.  All the pieces are the same and the colours are also the same.  Our son forgets that his parents are old and have poor eyesight etc and need some help to get it finished.  We have worked on it for a week and our progress has been minimal.

Last week was busy at the Temple.  There was a wedding on Wednesday.  There was an extra session on Thursday and a group of young people from New Brunswick came on Saturday.

There was a funeral on Wednesday for a Dartmouth Ward member.

We had a New Years Eve party at Nathan's on Saturday night.  Church changed to 9:00 a.m. for the coming year.

Matthi's First Christmas

There was still lots of snow on Christmas Eve and it didn't go away for Christmas.  We had below zero temperatures as well.

We were privileged to spend Christmas Eve and Day with Nathan, Tara, Orson, Liam, Keaton, Lochlan and Matthias.  What is Christmas if not grandchildren? 

Matthi was born in March.  I can't believe he is 9 months old already.  The time has flown.

Last night we spent time with all our children on google+.  It was rather noisy and I didn't hear much of the conversation, but it was good to see them all together.

We hope you all had a very joyous Christmas and we wish you a wonderful 2012!

Forecast - Green Christmas

For the past month or so the forecast has been for a green Christmas in our area and that was alright with me as I prefer roads without snow.  Well this morning it started to snow.  Bob shoveled the driveway about 10:00 a.m. and then went for a walk and took a few pictures in the neighbourhood.

About 300 p.m. Nathan and Orson came and shoveled the driveway again and cleaned off the car.  As soon as they left, the snowplow came by and plugged up our driveway with a big ridge of snow.  Lucky for us our wonderful neighbour got his big snow blower out and opened our driveway for us. 

Since our last post we have attended the ward party where Orson played the bagpipes on the program and Liam and Keaton were in the Primary part of the program.  Bob gave a talk in Church on "The Second Coming".  We had the young elders at our home for supper one night and we had supper at the Robinsons (The Temple President) one night.  We spent some time with Tara and Nathan's family.  They had supper with us one Sunday and we went to their home the next Sunday.

They were to change the Temple from propane to natural gas this past week; they got just about finished and they didn't have enough parts.  So now they have to wait until after New Years to finish.  Today was the last day at the Temple until after Christmas.

Karen and Ron Murphy's grandaughter (Lena and Brent Purnell's daughter) was at the Temple tonight.  She married a young man from the Maritimes.  Last night and tonight were very slow at the Temple - tonight only 7 patrons for the whole evening.

Some of the Nova Scotians say that the snow could be all gone by Christmas, but I don't think that is possible!

The Leaning Tree

There is a tree in our backyard that leans over the deck.  It began to lean some years ago during Hurricane Juan.  The house owners were advised to cut the tree down, but the lady of the house didn't want the tree cut down.  I am sure that it is going to come crashing down on the deck sometime and I just hope that it won't be until after we vacate the house.

Today we have been experience winds with gusts above 100 k.  The house is shaking.  I videoed the tree in the wind.

December Already?

We attended a family home evening group on Monday evening.  All that snow that came in November miraculously disappeared overnight Monday.

Tuesday we had district meeting, but I left in the middle of role playing and went to the family history library to look at a film that I ordered in.

We went to Halifax twice this week.  On Thursday we used the mission van and hauled a couple of bed frames over to a missionary apartment.  Bob installed blinds on one window and we got the beds up on frames and got back to Dartmouth in time to go to the Temple.

Friday was very relaxing.  We took the ferry over to Halifax and did a little shopping and had lunch there.  The trees along the harbour were covered with burlap, the clock had scaffolding around it and the ticket office for Theodore Tugboat was closed for the season.

There is an intriguing island in the harbour called Georges Island.  Although it has been named a National Historical site, it is not open to the public.  It is supposed to open by 2014, but we will be long gone by then.    It once had a fort called Fort Charlotte on it.  Some of the  Acadians were kept there before they  were expelled from the Maritimes to the Thirteen Colonies in the middle of the 18th century