Back to Reality

Just a few pix here...ha ha. Some of the Confederation Bridge that goes from PEI to New Brunswick. There's a lighthouse there too!! And all over New England and Atlantic Canada there are soooo many old churches and they're surrounded by gravestones. If any of your relatives are from up there I'm sure you could find their graves.









We're BAAAACK!!!! Sigh......just got back from Canada this morning and it was such a great trip!! Since this is kinda like a journal I'll interject pictures here and there to break up the boredom of talk. Just spent some time on the phone with my old friends at the hospital back in Utah. I DON'T miss work!!! But they are sure fun people and I do miss that!!!

We only spent 2 days in New Brunswick but were able to do a workshop for young adults and returned missionaries and attend the Stake Conference. Our last two days on PEI we met with 10 people individually for about 1 1/2 hours each to help them with job searching. That was mentally exhausting but we sure learned alot about how to deal with people who are out of work. It really helped us to see what we're supposed to be doing and we feel "ready" to charge ahead and do the workshops. There are sessions for the young adults, a professional workshop, a career workshop, self employment and the individual counselling. And we got another possible idea from the Halifax Temple President to start trying to get the Laurel and Priest age kids to start thinking about jobs and careers. Just might take off and start something like that.

All the Canadian McDonalds have the maple leaf on them....

And here's the McDonalds in Freeport, Maine. Looks like the house next door!

We who are accustomed to living in Utah and other Mormon communities (like Gilbert, AZ) don't realize how blessed we are. But then, these people in the mission field make the most of their time together. In the Fredericton Stake, some people have to drive 4 hours to get to the Stake Center. The Stake President and 1 counselor live fairly close to one another (maybe an hour apart) but the other counselor lives in Maine. Some of the missionaries drove almost 4 hours to get there. They post the motels on the bulletin boards and the place we stayed was almost all LDS people staying for the weekend. There's food, fun, they cram as many leadership meetings into the weekend as they can, activities for the primary age kids (the Stake Primary kids sang Sunday morn and there were about 20!!) and we saw people with sleeping bags, suitcases and a number of changes of clothes. And they love it!! Newfoundland has areas where there are only a few members so there's no organized branch--they do home church!

We thoroughly enjoyed all the signs on PEI and New Brunswick---everything is in English and French. Here's some of the ones we ran in to (not literally).







This next sign is one of my favorites. Actually, the one I liked the best had a moose right next to a car and it was about 3 times the size of the car!! We never did see a moose but I did see 1 deer today on the way home.


I enjoyed the signs--it brought back a lot of that French I took in high school lo those many years ago. Many many of the kids in Canada are bilingual and it's so fun to hear them speaking a mix of both languages. Parents can send their kids to French only schools. And we've had a good time with the way words are pronounced. the word about usually sounds more like "a boot". If you're not born in one of the maritime provinces, you're "from away"; students there "write an exam"; hydro is electric; I guess I'll remember more of them during the night.....

We stopped and saw a couple tourist sights in New Brunswick yesterday. There is a teenie tiny town in New Brunswick on the St. John River that has a memorial to the logging industry....it's the biggest ax in the world!!!!





It was raining and the wind was blowing about 50 mph and that's about the most modest picture we got!!!!

Then we stopped in Hartland which boasts the longest covered bridge in the world. But of course, it's not tourist season anymore so they were working on the bridge and we couldn't actually drive into the bridge. But you'll get the idea.









This last picture is the bridge you use when the covered one is out of commission. Now, is that enough pictures for you covered bridges people???:-) I have more...
I do like the different liscense plates we see too. Maine has some with lobsters, others have geese or ducks on them.






One thing we've really enjoyed is seeing different stores and their locations. This morning we stopped in Freeport, Maine, which is nothing but outlet stores and I just had to take pictures of them. Enjoy.......





Would you take your dog to a purple pet house?????


This Stride Rite shoe store is just down the street from us.

Will someone PLEASE move out here and open a good Mexican restaurant???? The first one is in Fredericton and the second is in Freeport. Look carefully at the signs.....


Corned beef and refried beans???!!!

Well, most of you went to bed a long time ago...but I have to do this while it's still on and in my mind. And that's a challenge!! Despite what you may think, we are doing missionary work---even in the laundromat. Tomorrow it's back to getting appointments with bishops, high councilmen and Stake Presidents!