"Take me out to the ball game"

This has been a very different week. Monday was Labor Day so the branch had their annual corn roast (where the corn is boiled, not roasted). We were asked to be there by 1:00 PM to help set everything up. It took about half an hour. We then sat around until the 4:00 PM activity. They built a big fire with a pot for cooking the corn. There were also barbecued hamburgers and sausages and lots of salads and desserts. We had more than 30 people attend with nine of them being non-members.

Pres Holt supervising Russ cutting wood

Russ building the fire

Food time

Dessert time

 We started a mini vacation on Tuesday. We drove to Toronto in the hardest rain we have had since arriving in Canada. The windshield wipers could hardly keep up with the rain. Last year when we were still living in Toronto my brother Wendell and his wife Yvette planned a visit. Being Baltimore Oriole fans (an understatement), their visit centered on three baseball games featuring the Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. They went to an afternoon game on Monday (Orioles winning 2-0), an evening game on Tuesday (Orioles winning 12-0), and invited us to join them for a game on Wednesday evening. We stayed in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Toronto. We thought that was where they were staying, but they were at the Renaissance Hotel (sounded alike to us). Their hotel was right at the Rogers Center where the games were played. Ours was a couple of blocks away.

We stopped by the Superstore in Don Mills on the way there to pick up some items we have not been able to find in Campbellford. We used to shop here when we lived in Toronto.

We don't have stores this big in Campbellford

We met Wendell and Yvette in their hotel. It has been a long time since we have seen them. We decided to go to Boston Pizza for a bite to eat since they have gluten-free pizza available. We then wandered around the PATH (Toronto underground), a set of passage ways connecting downtown buildings with a lot of stores, etc. We ended up at Eaton Center Mall. There were several large groups going around competing for how much noise they could make. It ended up being FROSH, activities for freshman orientation. From there we separated, Wendell and Yvette going to the game while we went to visit Marzia, the Brazilian lady that we taught.

Rogers Center sculpture

Pizza time

Yvette fell in love with Glen Gould, piano artist

FROSH groups chanting

Wednesday we joined Wendell for breakfast at his hotel. It had a view into the stadium. 

Breakfast time

Yvette wanted to go to the AGO art museum. Wendell decided to go with us to the Toronto Islands. This was left over from our list of fun things to do in Toronto we made before we were transfered to Campbellford. We took the ferry to the islands then walked all around the islands.

Ferry to the Toronto Islands

We really enjoyed the islands. It provided excellent views of Toronto, an amusement park (closed at the time), and a beach. 

Cute couple with Toronto in the background

OUCH!

Is this Suelyn?

Rock of ages

The Three Islanders

 We planned on returning on the 3:45 ferry and were there 45 minutes early. We moved over into the shade and got in line when the ferry came. Just as we were to get on the ferry they stopped us, telling us the ferry was full so we would have to wait for the next ferry in 30-45 minutes. We finely got back to Toronto in time to grab a bite to eat and head for the game. The last baseball game we went to was to see the Padres when we lived in San Diego. We decided to root for the home team (the Blue Jays) while Wendell and Yvette rooted for the Orioles. They were kind enough to invite us to the only game the Blue Jays won (6-4). We really enjoyed the game and especially enjoyed being with Wendell and Yvette.

Baseball fans

This is "real" baseball

Thursday we got up early to go to Oshawa for a zone conference. We took a wrong turn from the hotel and ended up on King Street, which meant we couldn't turn left or right since it was rush hour. We followed King Street for a long way until we could finally make a right turn then unsuccessfully tried to  find the entrance to the Gardiner Expressway or the Don Valley Parkway. We finally ended up on Kingston Street and went through Scarborough until we got to Highway 401.

We got to the chapel just in time for the zone conference to start. At about noon President Scott got up and said he had some good news and some bad news. The good news - it was time for lunch. The bad news - there was no lunch. Apparently an assignment fell through so we had nothing to eat. Immediately the senior couples gathered around Sister Scott to take assignments to call Pizza places for quick service. We went across town to Double Pizza and brought back five pizzas (out of the 25 pizzas needed - including one gluten-free pizza). The missionaries continued their training for another hour and we were able to break for lunch. This was our last zone conference so we had the opportunity to bear our testimonies. There was a very nice spirit at the conference.

We hurried back to Campbellford then to the church just in time for our Pearl of Great Price class. It was from Abraham 2, the Abrahamic covenant. There was a very good spirit there also. Overall it was a very good day.

Three types of finches at the bird feeder

The branch was preparing to participate in the National Day of Service by cleaning up a trail in Havelock. When Sister Hold went on the trail there was nothing to clean up. President Holt asked us to check with Trent Hills to see if they had a project we could do. We stopped by the Municipality offices on Friday morning to see what was available. We made arrangements to clean a portion of the Trans Canada Trail where we sometimes walk. There is one section that has been used as a dump. The Relief Society had an activity planned for Saturday morning so we stopped by the store to get materials for a small luncheon.

There was rain Saturday morning so the Relief Society activity was postponed until next Thursday (even though the activity was to be indoors, they were worried about transporting materials to the car). We need to be flexible and go with the flow.

Sunday started with an early meeting. As we were crossing the bridge in Campbellford we saw a different sight, a wedding couple crossing the bridge. It called for a quick picture from the car.

I'm getting married Sunday morning

Sister Wheeler acts as an ex-facto counselor for both Relief Society and Primary. She helped in planning the Saturday activity (that was moved to Thursday) as well as helping plan the Primary sacrament program (to be held at some unknown time). This means long talks with several of the sisters in the branch after the meetings.

I'm hungary, let's go home!

We got a phone call today (Sunday) from the Campbellford Holts when we got back home from church inviting us to dinner at their house. We had a nice dinner including steak and rice. We always enjoy our visit at their house. We were able to Skype with Andrea and her family in the evening. We look forward to seeing our grandchildren again.