August 31, 2016

Bob: Went swimming this morning. Did a personal best of 16 laps. I think it was about 35 minutes, give or take. Felt fine afterwards.
We stopped in Cobalt to see Sister Wilson, but she was on her way to go shopping with her neighbor. Didn't get to talk to her much.
Went to the hospital to see Donna Craig and Mike, a man who lives in our apartment building. He goes in for dialysis every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Had our Activity Night and it was good. Bonnie Hopkins, a volunteer at the hospital that we met, came and spent the evening with us. She seemed to enjoy herself. Afterwards we showed her our apartment as she is planning on selling her house and moving into an apartment in the near future.
That about sums up the day. Hope your day was wonderful. Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Bonnie:  I don't have much to add, other than some information about our guest tonight. At the age of 25 she had an aneurysm that left  her right side paralyzed. She has almost completely recovered from it, learning how to speak and walk and use her good arm. She had to relearn how to do the simplest of things. including how to read. There have been several articles written about her amazing recovery. She is very open and friendly.
Bob and I also watched a talk give by Dallin H. Oaks in January to all of the missionaries world-wide in preparation for Elder Arnold's visit. In fact, tomorrow we will be spending time with our two Elders here doing more preparation. We will be discussing an article we have been asked to read. His visit will be next Thursday and Friday.
It's time to turn in, so my wish is a restful night for all of us.
Love, Mom/Bonnie

August 30, 2016

Bob: Fixed bacon, scrambled eggs and fried potatoes this morning for the Budgetts, Bonnie and myself. I don't think I would work well in a restaurant!! Trying to get everything done at nearly the same time is difficult. I think I should leave this to someone who has had much more experience. Just tell me when to start cooking what and it will work out better.
After breakfast we went to Devil's Rock overlook. It was a fun walk. We thought it might rain, but the sky cleared up and it was rather warm by the time we returned to our car. I got a couple pictures from our hike and put them below.
After the Budgett's left we went to the hospital to see Sister Craig, but she was asleep. Stopped to see Jack and Trudy as her brother-in-law was just buried, but they were not home. Went to the afternoon 'tea' and invited a couple brethren to our 'Activity Night'.
After dinner I headed to Brad's to help him put the shower surround on the bathtub. We did a lot of twisting and turning, took one door off its hinges, removed the molding from one door, scuffed up the newly painted drywall, but finally got it in place. Brad was so happy we didn't have to cut out a wall to do it.
After I got home we did some planning, scheduling and review of tomorrow night's spiritual thought before watching our nightly Murdoch Mystery episode.
Hope everyone had a wonderful day. Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Bonnie:

Overlooking Lake Timiskaming

On the way to Devil's Rock

Bonnie:  I don't have much to add. Our breakfast turned out well. It's a great walk out to Devil's Rock, which is an overlook of Lake Timiskaming, about 300' up.  It's a beautiful view.
We have done our planning for the rest of the week. Now, it's just a matter of carrying it out.
I can't believe that it's the last day of August tomorrow! Where does the time go? I  hope we all have something productive to show at the end of the day tomorrow!
Love to all, Mom/Bonnie

April 29, 2016

Bob: We took the Budgetts and visited the Jakobs today. The women went blueberry picking and the men went to Cooke Lake for some fishing. We caught 4 pike and 1 perch before lunch. For lunch we went ashore and cooked the fish. We ate almost every bit of it. I thought we had way more fish than we could eat, but there wasn't much left. We went back out and fished in the afternoon. We caught 4 more fish, but took them home. When we left tonight Karl was cleaning the last one.
We just finished season 3 of the Murdoch Mysteries. It is time for bed and I am so tired. My love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Bonnie:  Sister Budgett and I got to the Jakob's house about 11:30. We had a good time chatting and playing with their three foster children.  We went looking for berries in the afternoon. It took some driving around, but we finally found a place . Between six of us we got a good many berries. We would have had more but the littlest foster daughter ate quite a bit more than she picked! We came home and grilled some marinated chicken with lots of vegetables from Jakob's garden. For dessert I brought a homemade blueberry cobbler.
Tomorrow we will have the Budgett's over for breakfast and then hike out to Devil's  Rock. They will be leaving about 2:00 for Brampton. Then, we will be planning out the rest of our week. We have missionary work to do!
Lots of love,
Mom/Bonnie

August 28, 2016

Bob: Made the trip to Val d'Or today. We left about 7:05 - 7:10 from New Liskeard and pulled up behind the church at 9:42. Does not take quite as long as everyone says. But our driver wasn't letting any grass grow under his wheels. On the way back we found a short cut that saves about 10 minutes. Looking at the map I think there is another shortcut right in Rouyn that would save some time also. So if we go again we'll try it. The service was very small. 1st and 2nd Counselors in Bishop, Bonnie and I, 2 Elders, 2 children, 1 investigator, and 6 sisters. And it was mostly in French, although President Ochs, who spoke and taught the combined PH/RS meeting would occasionally review in English what he had said in French.
The Budgetts got here just before 7:00 tonight. Planning on visiting the Jakobs with them tomorrow. The women and children are going berry picking. The men are going to try to reduce the fish population. Hopefully we can catch enough to have a fish fry tomorrow night.
Well, we had better get to bed. Hope you had a great weekend. Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Bonnie:  I don't have anything to add, other than I was asked to lead the singing in Sacrament Meeting! I'm so glad I know the little French I do. It really helped me sing some of the words of the songs correctly. It was a very good  Sabbath Day for us.
May we all have an even better tomorrow!
Love, Mom/Bonnie

August 27,2016

Bob: Been busy today doing little things. Got up early and went blueberry picking with Brother Wiwchar. We drove about 20 miles south on highway 11, but it was worth it. Once they were washed we had about 8 cups per the first mate. She made a cobbler for tomorrow.
While she was cooking I washed the car. Then it was onto to Brad's house to help him set the bathtub in place. Once that was done he had to cut the water lines, which are copper. It was then that he discovered that the values did not completely shut off the water. It was barely leaking through. So we were able to wick the water out of the line with a paper towel before soldering a cap on the line. Had to do one of them twice, but they held.
Brad came over to eat supper with us. I fried the bacon for the sandwiches and we had a simple, but great meal.
Next it was onto potato soup. First mate peeled the potatoes while I diced them and an onion. Pot is on the stove cooking right now.
That's about it for the day. Hope you had a great day and that your Sabbath will be even better.
Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Bonnie:  We were up early today but that was good for us. There is a huge "clear cut" area that is filled with blueberries. They are small, but delicious. Some were so little that I threw them away! The longest part is cleaning them.
I  have been busy cooking, washing clothes and cleaning today. We need to take something tomorrow to Val D'Or so we made a macaroni salad. I'm also taking granola bars and fruit. We will eat the potato soup tomorrow night when the Budgetts arrive. We hope we are home in time. We probably will be because they aren't leaving until 1:30 pm, after their Sacrament Meeting. We should be home by 6, which ought to work. I am excited about attending church in Val D'Or. Maybe I can understand a bit more French than our last visit to Quebec.
I hope everyone  has a wonderful Sabbath Day tomorrow!
Love, Mom/Bonnie

August 26, 2016

Bonnie:  It's been a full day. After a haircut and shopping for me, we went to find a less-active man. We never found his home but we had a beautiful drive along two different lakes. We found some fishing camps that Bob did not know existed. We also went to look at a historic fort, but only found a marker for it. The fort was moved to the Quebec side of the Temiskaming Lake, we figure. Tonight we visited with our friends the Villeneffs. We really like teaching them, and hope that one day they both will come back to church.
Tomorrow will be busy because we are preparing for the visit of our friends from Brampton, the Budgett's. They will arrive Sunday evening and go back Tuesday afternoon. I will be doing lots of cooking in preparation for them. It's something I love to do, though. And in the morning we will be picking blueberries!! That really makes me happy!!
May we all  have a great weekend.
Love, Mom/Bonnie

Bob: You can see pictures of the bears I took today below. We were on our way to Brother Evans down a dirt road that runs parallel to Lake Timiskaming. We rounded a curve and I saw our first bear about 100 feet in front of us. I couldn't get the camera out soon enough to get his picture. On our way back we turned off and headed down to see the site of old Fort Timiskaming. As we passed a turnoff to the left I spotted the 3 bears below about 100 yards off. I took several pictures but these 3 are the best. It was hard to get a good picture until I finally positioned the car window so I could rest the camera on it. Should have tried a little more zoom though.
We finally got to the fort, but there is just a marker and a cross (see below). I walked down to the lake and could see a similar cross across the lake at Ville Marie, I think. They have a little more to see over there. We want to go down as soon as we can before it gets too cold.
We did have a good visit with the Villneffs this evening. I believe he likes us coming around. He told us his door is always open if we want to come by. Each time we have been there he makes the effort to walk us out to our car and say good bye.
After the berry-picking in the morning I will help Brad put the bathtub/shower combo in his bathroom. We were going to do it tonight, but his uncle was in the hospital and the family was gathering. He passed away this evening.
A recent picture taken of two of our favorite missionaries at the last temple session for returning missionaries is below. Elder Erickson went to Utah county and Elder Barlow to Davis County.
Hope your day has been wonderful. I feel blessed to have 'shot' 3 bears in one day. Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Momma Bear

Momma and twins

Historical Marker for Fort Timiskaming

Cross at Historical Site

Elder Erickson (left) and Elder Barlow (Right)
(Two of our favorites that just went home to Utah)

August 25, 2016

Bonnie:  While Bob discussed Elders Quorum stuff this morning with Brother Humphry I made cookies. We then attended afternoon "tea" with several of the seniors who live here. It was quite interesting to talk to them. Each has a story to tell! After this, we delivered some of the cookies to a sister and then went north to see the Jakob's. We had a nice visit which included dinner. After we ate, we went to the beach with Patsy and Karl and their three foster daughters. It was a very pleasant evening, as the picture below shows.
I hope all of our readers have had pleasant evenings, as well!
Love, Mom/Bonnie

Bob: Very interesting day. President Humphrey and I spent an hour and a half trying to figure out home teaching. Determining routes and companionships when there are great distances and 'situations' involved is rather tricky. We will do our best and hopefully the brothers will follow through on their assignments.
It was nice to visit with the Jakobs this evening. They hear all the problems which are many. However, there are no members close to where they live and they can't leave the foster children with just anyone. I told Bonnie that they need to be visited and fellowshipped as well as others.
Hope you enjoy the picture below. It represents to me the pace of life here in the north country as I perceive it.
May all your days be pleasant and all your righteous expectations met. Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay