PatDawnMontreal2022

For some time, we have been anticipating the arrival of our friends Dave and Carol, who are on a cruise from Iceland to Greenland to Newfoundland, and then to Halifax and on to Boston.  We drove down to Halifax to meet them and welcome them off the boat for a day of adventure.   The first stop is the Maritime Museum in Halifax, which also houses the Titanic Exhibit.  When the Titanic sank in April 1912, Halifax was the closest port, and the survivors were brought here first.  Rescue vessels were also sent out from Halifax. The Port of Halifax also berths a decommissioned Canadian warship, the Corvette HMCS Sackville.  It was used as a convey escort an U-boat hunter during WW2.  Carol and Sis J get a briefing before stepping on board. About 150 of the nearly 1500 Titanic victims were buried at the Fairlawn Cemetery in Halifax.  These included about 50 "unknown" persons.  Several of those have subsequently been identified through DNA and other resea...

Our friend Nhi just turned 14.  We hosted a dinner party for her, with a cake and celebration after.  We are privileged to be able to help teach the Restored Gospel to this fine family.  Her Mom and brother enjoyed the event, along with Sister Debbie and Alex. No birthday party is complete with out candles - and in this case sparklers.   Khoi thought the sparklers were pretty cool, or hot, so we lighted one just for him.    

  We received a request for help with an overgrown lawn and bushes from one of our Sydney Branch members.  Everything from the lawn to the lilac bush was overgrown.  It took 2 days to get everything cut down to where it will make it through the rest of the season and through the winter without being unmanageable.  Sister J works her usual artistic pruning skills on a large lilac bush.  She trimmed about half the growth out and reshaped it nicely.  It will be beautiful when it blooms next spring.  Too bad that we won't be here to see it. Sister Joann and Sister Johnson plan discuss and plan the rest of the work.  And of course chat about the stuff that Sisters chat about it.  Sister Joann is entertaining, funny, and a faithful member of the Branch.  We are happy to get to know her. In the middle of the lawn there are some small rosebushes.  Sister J makes sure they are all trimmed up, surrounded with mulch, and ready to grow next yea...

One of our favorite friends (we do have lots of favorite friends), is Sister Harriet, who lives in Eskasoni, about 40 mi out of town.  We made an appointment to come down and help her with her Family History, before a Temple trip to Halifax.  We were able to get her deceased brother and sisters ready for the Temple.   And here's the result.  Happy, Happy Happy! We were able to take our friend Br. Friday, who was baptized 3 months ago to the Halifax Temple.  He had a great experience, it was a delight to have him with us for two days. Unfortunately, we had one of our Branch members cancel on the trip, due to a work conflict.  So we had an extra seat in our car.  Everyone else from Sydney had a ride, so the Branch President notified the Stake, and we immediately got a request to take someone with us.  Sister Sujata is from Hyderabad, India.  She is in Antigonish, NS for a 7 week certificate course at St Francis Xavier University.  She had ...

The sea breezes off the North Atlantic Ocean are steady, and nearly constant.  Ideal for kite flying.  Darn, I have a really good 2-line kite at home that I didn't bring.  So I ordered a smaller one from Amazon.ca.  It always attracts attention, and is fun to let kids (and adults) try.  It's all cloth, so nothing to damage if it crashes - which does happen if I'm trying too many loops.  The beach is a short walk, less than half a mile from our apartment. The harsh Canadian winters can take a toll on outside decks.  We helped our friends Norm and Karen with refinishing their front deck.  It took quite a bit of scraping to get all the old, loose paint (actually a thick stain) off, and repaint, but we got it done, along with the railings in brilliant white.  Sister Johnson was a champ and made sure all the little tiny hard-to-see places were refinished.  Lookin' good Sister Johnson!

Every 6 weeks we have Zone Conference in Halifax.  The best part is getting together with the other senior couples in our Zone.  We have dinner together the evening prior.  Sister Olsen always chooses a great restaurant, this time a Greek one.  Elder & Sister Child serve in Greenwood, NS, the Cohens serve waay out in St John's, Newfoundland, the Olsens in Halifax, and us in Sydney. Last Sunday we were surprised - literally, when a new couple showed up at the Sydney Branch.  They are the Burch's, from Idaho Falls.  We heard vague rumors of them, but nothing solid, and we were very pleasantly surprised when they showed up - in route to Corner Brook, Newfoundland for 23 months.  Elder Burch served in the Halifax Mission 40 years ago, and was actually assigned to Sydney, a couple of the (older) members still recall him.  I didn't tell Sister Burch that Corner Brook has 160 days per year that are below 0C/32F every year, but being from Idaho Falls,...

 Our Cape Breton Video History Project was off to a slow start, but the momentum is starting to pick up now.  We are finding that some people are hesitant to speak into a microphone (or camera), and they are a little daunted by being recorded.  However, others are not and we have had some delightful experiences.  Here are a couple of jump drives with Video Histories recorded on them that we put in little gift boxes and give to those who participate.  We have had some great experiences so far, and look forward to many more. We continue with Family History.  The word is getting around that we can do some pretty clever things with it, which we can.  It's mostly a recall of what we learned to do during our Peru Cusco mission.  But the experiences are every bit delightful.  Sister Maritia is happy to show her family Fan Chart that we have helped with, and continue to help her. Not to be outdone, her husband Br. Robert is also an enthusiast now....

 The heater fan in our Touareg TDI started growling and making serious noises like it was going to come apart.  Kept getting worse.  So I look on youTube and sure enough, another enthusiast has posted a video on how to remove and replace it.  Actually quite simple once you know how, almost impossible if I would have had to figure it out by myself.  A new fan is required of course, but we being where we are and the worldwide supply chain problems being what they are, there isn't one here.  But there is in the US.  So I ordered one, had it drop shipped to my friend Dave, who bundled it with some other items we need, and he mailed it to me here.  In the meantime, I lubricated this one and put it back in.  The front bearing is really worn, but so far it's holding, and is quiet.  So if it's got a few more weeks of life, the replacement will arrive and I will swap it out.  We need to be as self-sufficient as we can up here.  So far m...

 Our kitchen window facing South lets in a lot of nice sun, but sometimes it's nice to block it and have some privacy.  On our trip to PEI, Sister Johnson found a couple of souvenir dishtowels.  With an expandable curtain rod and some safety pins, we now have custom curtains in our apartment. We have found Harold's, a great local bakery in Sydney River.  We will often get fresh baked loaves of bread and take them to our friends.  Sister J customizes clothespins with a magic market to let them know how thankful we are for being here to serve Him. Visiting our friends James and Natalia out in the country, we saw they had some newly hatched chicks.  Pretty cute. The chick is pretty cute.  Oh, I meant the chickens.  No, I really meant Sister Johnson At the seacoast about 20 miles south of Sydney, there is the Fortress of Louisbourg.  It was built by the French in the early 1700's, quite a complex of walled fort and homes to support/protect their ...