PatDawnMontreal2022

6 months can seem like a long time - or a very short time.  As we near the end of our Mission, it seems like a short time.  During the last week, we took some time to do some things we wanted to do before we left: You can't leave Canada without going to a hockey game.  It was fun, no fights though, and the local Cape Breton Eagles didn't prevail against a Quebec team. After helping Sister Johnson with a My Heritage animation, Norm and Karen have us out for supper one last time at Colette's, a favorite eatery in Glace Bay. We did a Video History for Sister Julia, and she posed for a photo with Sister Johnson afterwards An Appreciation Supper put on by the Primary was enjoyable.  The kids prepared the meal and served it as well, they were quite the little waiters.  I have video which is worth a million youTube views:  Josh Eats Spaghetti. Sister Bonnie is the Branch Librarian.  She always has the right materials readily at hand, and her bright smile make...

One of our favorite people is Sister Harriet who lives on the Eskasoni Reserve, about 40 minutes west of Sydney.  Since Hurricane Fiona, I've been on the chainsaw frequently.  I was able to score the last pair of size 9 steel-toed safety boots from Walmart.  They are needed to protect my feet from falling limbs and cut logs.  Harriet is quite an artist, and she has created many art objects and illustrated story books.  I asked her to put a Mik'Maw design on my boots for luck and safety.  She drew the Native symbol for the Sun and the Moon on each, with my name in the Mik'Maw language.  It's pronounced "Baad dleck".  I wear them every time I'm on the chainsaw, and will always treasure them and remember her for this fine memory. Super custom, the only pair in the entire world!  Original art by Harriet. And if the boots weren't fine enough, Harriet sent us home with a container of freshly made Moose Stew.  I haven't had moose for 50 years, ...

Several months ago, our good friends Kenny and Anne told us that there were cranberry bogs very close to where we live in Dominion, and that they ripen in mid-October.  Well, it's that time now, so we reminded them.  They took us out to what appeared an unlikely spot, through an old cemetery, out to the edge of the cliffs by the ocean.   It didn't look like much, but then Anne dropped down and started picking.  Cranberries are everywhere!  They grow very close to the ground, and are partly hidden by a little bit of their own foliage.  You know you're on cranberries when you hear popping under your feet like bubble wrap - cranberries are hollow. Sister Johnson gets right with it!  Just spread the foliage back a little - there are no stickers thank goodness - and there they are.  Easy pickin's. The bogs don't look like much, a very wild look right at the edge of the ocean.  It's a little windy and you can tell that fall is coming on, but i...

Canadians have a Thanksgiving Holiday too!  Only theirs is in October.  That means we get to have 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year.  We were invited by the Hamilton's, a lovely family that recently moved to Glace Bay.  Sister Hamilton prepared a lovely dinner. Young Josh is a fan, and had several plates - of turkey and potatoes.  Veggies not so much.  Josh is very "active", let's say, and the only glasses he can't break are sport glasses. Young Gabriel is an Air Cadet, with plans to be come an astronaut.  And with the dedication he shows to his studies and the Cadets, he's likely to make it.  He had to show us his Cadet uniform. And then I asked him to put it on for an official photo, which he was happy to do.  He stood at attention for the photo.  I think he'll be Commander Hamilton some day. Fuel is expensive in Canada.  For $200 Canadian, I get 87 liters of diesel, which won't even fill up the tank on the Touareg.  And - the...

When we did the "reveal" of our mission to our family, we showed them a map of eastern Canada and asked them to pick the place farthest away from Dammeron Valley that you could drive to on paved roads. It's actually Neil's Harbour, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 4235 miles from home.  And to prove it, Alayne took a photo of us at the entrance to the town. Unlike a lot of places on the Cabot Trail, Neil's Harbour is a working village, with the economy focused on fishing.  It's getting close to the end of the season, and the harbour only had one boat in the water, and a lot of crab and lobster traps pulled out for the winter.  We couldn't even find a store to sell us a souvenir T-shirt. The winters are severe, and most of the boats are pulled out of the water in dry dock, til the fishing season starts up again next spring. And being on the northeast tip of Cape Breton, sticking out into the North Atlantic, it's windy. Neil's Harbour has its own lighthouse...