O, Canada!

Today is Canada Day. We don't plan to attend any celebrations because they are on Sunday. In Utah if the 4th of July falls on a Sunday the celebrations would occur on Monday (except in Logan where the fireworks are always on the 3rd of July instead of the 4th of July). We stood and sang the national anthem, "O, Canada" in church. We really like that song which recognizes the role of God in preserving Canada. We ended Sacrament meeting standing and singing "The Star Spangled Banner". It felt different knowing that it was written during the "American War" (War of 1812) between Canada and the United States (which both countries think they won). Sister Wheeler gave a wonderful lesson in Relief Society (as usual).

Flag in front of our apartment building

Rather than going to the church to work in the library on Monday, we spent the day working on the inventory for the library, which we could do in our apartment. We took a break to have dinner with the Campbellford Holts. We thought we were wrapping up the library work until we went there on Tuesday and found several more projects. Elder Wheeler went through oversized pictures while Sister Wheeler went through smaller pictures. While we were there the Havelock Holts and Sedores came along which livened up the day. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home.

What should I do with all these pictures?

At least we can buy gluten-free food

We had our district meeting on Wednesday this week. Tuesday was transfer day. We decided not to make the long drive to the temple since we will have a branch temple day early in July. We had several changes in the district. Elder Ashton (who came to the mission about the same time as we did) is a new zone leader with Elder Goodman in Kingston. The sisters in Napanee were replaced by Elder Radar and Elder Leasuasu (who was recently in Trenton). Elder Koceja is now working with Elder Pineira in Trenton. Sister Jungert and Sister Beasley are still working in Belleville. We expected Sister Jungert to be transfered since she has been in Belleville longer than we have been in Trent Hills.

Elders Ashton, Goodman, Radar, Leasuasu, Pineira, and Koceja

Lunch at Wendy's

Even bigger lunch at Wendy's

 We had branch Council on Wednesday evening. It was decided that we will be teaching a class on Thursday evenings on the Pearl of Great Price using the institute manual. It should be a lot of fun. It will last 15 weeks.


We helped Mary again at the Family History Center on Thursday. Sister Wheeler is trying to learn about her four ancestral lines who lived in Canada. As we took our walk along the TCT (transCanada trail) we noticed that the landscape has many shades of green.

Shades of green in the countryside

With a holiday weekend coming up and because we needed to make a deposit in the bank in Brighton, we decided to visit Presqu'ile Provincial Park.

Presqu'ile Park in Brighton

We started by visiting the beach on the west side of the park. It reminded us of the ocean in spite of only being a lake (but it is a Great Lake). Gulls love the children that will feed them. On the northern end was kite boarding, which included flying above the waves.

Beach along Lake Ontario

Feeding time for the gulls

High flying on kite boards

 We then took the marsh trail which took us out on a boardwalk through the cattails. It was a hot day, but the breeze cooled things off a bit, making it pleasant.

The marsh boardwalk trail

Two parts (male and female) of the narrow-leaf cattail

A leopard frog in the marsh

Riding horse trees (bent by nature)

 We then followed a trail to Owen Point, a bird nesting area. There was a lot of tall grass and mosquitos, but it was worth being able to see Owen Point as well as Gull Island and High Bluff Island in the distance where gulls and terns (as well as shore birds in the spring and fall) make their nests.

Owen Point trail

Owen Point and the islands in the background

 Following lunch we went to the Presqu'ile Point lighthouse.

Lunch time=cheese and crackers andwater

Presqu'ile lighthouse

Lake by the lighthouse

 We then went on a walk through Jobes' Woods. There were two more trails (3.8 km and 3.0 km) we could have taken,but decided to leave something for our next visit. We really enjoyed the variety of habitat in the park. We ended up tired and ready for a rest.

Along Jobes' Woods Trail

Saturday was a slower day. Elder Wheeler worked on outlining our 15-week Pearl of Great Price class while Sister Wheeler worked on her lesson for Relief Society. We did manage to take a morning walk to the canal and get the car washed in the afternoon.

The Trenton chapel had their septic system back up today so most of the branch went to Belleville for church. We had two families visit Trent Hills. They commented on the beauty between Trenton and Trent Hills. We tend to agree. For example, there are day lilies alongside the road. In Logan one only sees them in gardens.

Day lilies alongside the road

It is a beautiful start to a new month.