visitors

Summer is here, but not as bad as in the USA. We had two holidays this week. Monday was the day everyone got off work for Canada Day, though we didn't see any celebration. Wednesday was the 4th of July, again no celebration. We are not totally isolated, however. We get visitors from time to time.

A blue jay visiting our bird feeder

A chickadee visiting our bird feeder

It has been a slow week. We have been preparing for the pearl of Great Price class that starts next week. We try to get out of the apartment every day even if it's hot and we have no one to visit. On Monday we went to the church (as usual) and sorted out more pictures we found. On Tuesday we went to Stirling. One day a week we want to walk around a village so we can let our "lights shine". We were able to talk to a few people and give out Mormon.org passalong cards.

Covered bridge in Stirling

This must be a "hot" dog grooming spa in Stirling

 Our phone went out so we couldn't communicate with anyone. We didn't know if there were special plans for district meeting (being the 4th of July) or normal. We went to Belleville at our normal time and had a normal district meeting, except Elder Wheeler had a talk assigned and didn't get the message because our phone wasn't working. Elder Pineira fixed it for us (that's what district leaders are for). President Davis (the district president) called and said he would like help with branch boundaries in the district. It seems no one knows where the boundaries really are and the maps they have are hard to read. Elder Wheeler said there should be no problem. If he can't read the map he can just make it up.

A giant hay-eating worm in the field

On Thursday we got some needed groceries. Sister Scott called to check up on us. Since we are a bit isolated she wants to make sure we are still alive.

How did that get on my shopping list?

Even though it was hot and humid, we decided to go to Petroglyphs Provincial Park. It is a sacred site for First-Nation peoples here. We were not allowed to take pictures of the petroglyphs, but found some on line so you can see what they are like.

The park

Petroglyphs

We went on a 5.5 km hike to Minnow Lake. It must have been a good day for hiking because swarms of black flies and deer flies were out (they are biting flies). Not too bad if you never stop to take a break. Sister Wheeler got a few bites from some of the black flies and one deer fly.

A model of the liahona in the museum

The tired boardwalk across the marsh

The lake

We had a branch temple day on Saturday. It consisted of four people, President & Sister Holt (Havelock) and us. We drove since Pres. Holt's knees still give him problems after his operation. We were selected as the witness couple. We took the back roads (cross country) back home to avoid the freeway through Toronto.  There were many rolling hills and beautiful views from the tops of the hills.

Temple time

 Sister Wheeler got a call, while we were at the temple, from the primary president requesting help on sunday since she would be out of town. Sister Wheeler was well prepared, but no one showed up. Part of the "support" function of our calling is to relieve the stress on branch members, even if it ends up that we don't do anything.