Sometimes life requires creativity and improvisation.  On Saturday morning we left PEI on the Woods Island Ferry to Nova Scotia.  As we set up camp near Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, a cable on the tent trailer broke leaving one corner of the roof sagging.  What to do?  We managed to raise the fallen corner manually but had to find something to hold it up.  Looking around at what we had on hand, we decided to try the broom handle.  It worked!  After considering our options concerning repairs and putting the trailer up and down successfully without having any done, we’ve decided to manage this way until we get home and can drop the trailer off at an RV place for however long is necessary.  Today we’ll check out a building supply place and try to come up with something a little sturdier and longer than the broom handle.

It wasn’t raining when we set up camp but sprinkled a bit during the night and the rain began in earnest shortly before we got up the following morning.  It clearly wasn’t a day for the Cabot Trail so we set off for the Fortress of Louisbourg, about an hour and a half away.  Arriving at noon, we spent several hours touring Canada’s largest historical reconstruction.  The 18th century French fortress lay in ruins for many years before the area was excavated and part of the military fort and surrounding village were reconstructed on the original foundations.  Interpretive staff in period costumes played their roles extremely well adding to the feeling that we’d stepped back in time.  At lunch, we were served a warm, hearty meal with only a large spoon to eat with.  Apparently, that was how the soldiers of Louisbourg ate!  It was a cool, wet day but we spent much of it indoors and with umbrellas in hand, we didn’t get too wet walking between the buildings.

One of the challenges of living in a tent trailer is keeping dry.  The canvas portions of the trailer are laminated with a heavy plastic and don’t leak but, for reasons that I don’t understand, anything that rubs up against the canvas gets wet.  The section where we sleep is wide enough that our bedding doesn’t touch the canvas but it isn’t very long and the foot of our bed touches it.  How to keep the bedding dry?  Again, the need to improvise.  Unfolding one of our rain capes into a large rectangle of plastic and using a few clothespins, I managed to create a plastic envelope around the end of our bedding that has been keeping it dry through some pretty rainy nights.  I just don’t know why I didn’t think of this years ago!

By Monday morning, the rain had stopped.  It was still heavily overcast but we decided to give the Cabot Trail a try.  We drove it in the sunshine 18 years ago but this time, the mood was different.  As we headed up the west coast, it wasn’t raining but the wind was howling.  As we climbed across the north end of the trail, we drove through patches of heavy fog and it rained most of the way down the eastern coast.  Some of the views were obscured but there’s majesty and power in a stormy sea.  At times, it was spectacular as it crashed on the rocky shore.  

It was still raining the next morning as we broke camp and prepared to head south.  Ours was a lovely campsite but it was in a low spot that had, by that time, gathered a lot of water!  In addition to our sandals, which we haven’t had a lot of use for yet, we only brought one pair of shoes each. We didn’t even think of packing our rubber boots!  I used to carry several pairs of shoes everywhere we went but I guess I got used to packing light on our treks around Asia!  How would we keep our shoes dry while we packed up in the middle of the large puddles?  That wasn’t difficult. We simply wrapped our feet in grocery bags!  It might not have been stylish but it worked!  Fortunately, Atlantic Coop grocery bags are much sturdier than the ones we get at the Sedgewick Coop!

On December 7, 1928 two little girls were born; Myrna in Nova Scotia and Lorraine in Alberta. Eleven years later, they became penpals when one of them responded to an advertisement placed by the other.  They met once in 1985 when Myrna and her husband, Ron, were in Alberta visiting a son who was living there.  The two women continued to correspond until Lorraine’s sudden death in 1994.  

Lorraine was my mother-in-law and though none of us knew much about her penpal, we knew that someone needed to write and tell her the sad news.  I volunteered.  We searched through mother’s things and found an address.  I wrote the letter and thought that that would be the end of the story. Not so!  I received a very kind and thoughtful reply from Myrna mentioning that she would love to continue hearing about Lorraine’s family.  I had inherited a penpal!

Myrna is 80 years old now.  She and Ron live at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia and we will be meeting them on Tuesday!  We plan to stay for a week at a campground just a few miles from their place. When we talked on the phone for the first time a few weeks ago, Myrna told me that she wanted us to stay there because we’d be “close enough to run back and forth”! She told me that she’s as excited as a little girl at Christmas!  I think I am too.

I’ve fallen in love with Prince Edward Island!  The colours are stunning – the red, red soil, the vivid green of the trees and the fields, and the blues of the sea and sky.  Then there are the wild lupins growing everywhere!  Of course, the sunshine of the past couple of days have shown the island off to perfection. In addition, PEI has a laid back small town feel.  People wave, say hello and even stop to talk to total strangers.  I think a few days on the island would be the perfect answer to anyone’s stress!

We started the day before yesterday with a self-guided walking tour of Charlottetown’s harbour and historic downtown area including a visit to Province House where the Fathers of Confederation first met to discuss the formation of Canada.  Next, we crossed the Hillsborough River to the town of Stratford to see if we could locate the area where my Grandad spent his boyhood.  Armed with several clues given me by my father, we think we came pretty close.  He told me that the house was called Kinlock, that it was located near Tea Hill and that it was within sight of the beach.  I suspect that the house isn’t there anymore but we walked the red sand of Tea Hill beach at the bottom of Kinlock Road and I waded where my grandfather may have played.  We also visited nearby Crossroads Cemetery where many of my Stewart ancestors are buried.  

That evening, we visited Port-la-Joye / Fort Amherst National Historic Site overlooking the narrow opening to the Charlottetown harbour.  It was the site of the original French fortification and settlement, Port-la-Joye, which was later taken over by the British and renamed Fort Amherst.  At that time, the French Acadians were expelled.  Fort Amherst served as capital of PEI for 10 years until it was moved to Charlottetown.  Today, grassy mounds mark the place where the fortifications once stood and archeological excavations continue nearby.

Though she’s never been to Canada, my friend Yoshiko (Yopi) is a great fan of Anne of Green Gables. In fact, when we first met, she told me that it’s her dream to be married at Green Gables and I promised that I’d attend the wedding!  We often laughed about the fact that there’s one problem with this plan; she hasn’t found her Gilbert yet!  I’m not sure why the Japanese are so in love with the Anne stories but apparently 5% of the visitors to Green Gables, or approximately 12 000 people a year, are from Japan!

Yesterday was our Anne of Green Gables day.  In the morning, we drove to Cavendish where we toured the Green Gables house, walked the paths made famous by the Anne stories and enjoyed a lunch of lobster sandwiches and raspberry cordial.  In the evening, it was back to Charlottetown for Anne of Green Gables – The Musical at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.  Fantastic!  It was the first performance of the 2009 season and I think we had the best seats in the house – absolute centre of the 8th row!  Amazingly, we had only purchased the tickets the afternoon before!  Since we’d seen the show with the children 18 years ago, we were undecided about going again.  When we stopped by the box office to inquire, however, we learned that someone had just called in to cancel their reservation for those two seats.  That, plus the fact that the tickets for the first showing were half price made it a pretty easy decision!

Today, we played golf on the Forest Hills course at Cavendish then walked on the sandy beach at North Rustico Harbour.  My pocket is full of red rocks and my heart is full of Prince Edward Island! Tomorrow we leave for Nova Scotia.

My favourite book is The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller.  It’s the beautiful story of photographer, Robert Kincaid, on assignment for National Geographic taking photos of the covered bridges of Madison County, Iowa and farm wife, Francesca, who meet when he stops to ask for directions.  I’ve read it several times.  I also love the movie which stars Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. Unlike many movies, it’s quite true to the book.

So what does all this have to do with our cross-Canada trek?  We spent the day before yesterday wandering the back roads of King’s County, New Brunswick in search of covered bridges!  The day before, we had stopped in Hartland, NB to see the world’s longest covered bridge then on Monday, we visited nine more and I took over 100 photos!  My patient husband kindly drove me around the countryside indulging my desire to see these remnants from the past.  Most of the bridges that we visited are still in use today.  There is some question as to why they were covered but common thinking seems to be that it was to protect the wooden structures from the elements.  In early days, they were known as kissing bridges because a young man could stop his carriage briefly under the cover of the bridge and kiss his young miss without being seen!

In addition to enjoying the bridges, wandering the country roads gave us opportunity to enjoy the beautiful green hillsides and the many small farming operations along the way.

We crossed a bridge of a very different sort yesterday when we left New Brunswick and drove across the 13 km long Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island.  Before leaving New Brunswick, however, we visited Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy.  We arrived when the tide was at its lowest so were able to enjoy a long walk “on the ocean floor” enjoying the amazing flowerpot formations that are surrounded by water when the tide comes in.  What a change 18 years has made!  Then, there was a parking lot, a few picnic tables and a steep set of wooden stairs down to the ocean floor.  Now, there’s a large park with several parking lots, restaurant, gift shop, interpretive centre, and various walking trails and staircases accessing the beach.  Along with all of this, of course, there’s also a fairly hefty admission fee.  It was definitely worth it, however, to walk amongst the giant rocks.

We said good-bye to Anne and Steve yesterday morning and soon crossed the border into the province of Quebec.  Since we’ve visited Montreal twice before, we decided not to stop there this trip.  We continued on to Quebec City and set up camp in a municipal campground on the outskirts of the city.  

With map and brochure in hand, we spent most of today on a self-guided walking tour of historic Quebec City including the narrow cobble stoned streets inside the fortified walls of the original city. We saw historic churches and trendy boutiques, visited the longest operating grocery store in North America and toured a chocolate museum!  We ate lunch in the Old Port Market and rode a funicular from the lower riverfront Old Port District up the steep cliff to the walled city above.  It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for enjoying such a marvelous place.  

After walking more than 6 km, we returned to the campground for showers and supper.  I’m currently sitting in the car at the campground entrance as this is the only place where wireless internet is available.  Tomorrow, we’re heading for New Brunswick but for now, I’d better get back to our campsite and join Richard by the fire before he wonders what’s happened to me!

We decided to travel in June because it’s usually such a beautiful month in Canada.  Not so this year, however!  It’s been a damp, chilly journey so far.  It’s amazingly easy to find a place to camp though.  In fact, we’ve had a couple of campgrounds entirely to ourselves!  With the propane furnace running at night, we’ve managed not to freeze!

Once again, we’ve been reminded just how big this country of ours is.  On day 1, we drove over 600 km and the scenery never changed.  Most of Saskatchewan looks much like central east Alberta where we live so we didn’t plan to spend much time there.  We made a short stop in Biggar, SK to visit with friends who moved there a couple of years ago then camped further east at Foam Lake. 

Foam Lake is a small town that has a special place in our family story as it was just outside town that Matt and Robin had a car fire several years ago while returning home from university in Ottawa.  They were treated so kindly by the members of the volunteer fire department that we continue to have fond feelings for the place.

Day 2 took us through rain, hail, wind, thunder and lightning to Winnipeg, Manitoba where we gratefully accepted Buck and Chrissy’s invitation to spend the night at their place.  We took them out for dinner then curled up on the couch to enjoy a movie on their giant screen TV.  It was nice to know that we’d have a warm bed and a solid roof over our head for the night!  The temperature was only 6C when we drove away the next morning. 

Early on day 3, we left the prairie behind and began our long journey across the Canadian Shield, an area characterized by exposed rock, swampy areas and many, many lakes.  We also entered Ontario, Canada’s largest province.  We camped at Kakabeka Provincial Park where we enjoyed beautiful views of spectacular Kakabeka Falls under the setting sun and again the next morning.  Before leaving the park we also walked the short Mountain Portage trail where voyageurs of the past carried their canoes and heavy loads around the falls. 

Continuing east on day 4, we stopped briefly at the Terry Fox monument overlooking Lake Superior.  Though this was our third visit to the monument, I continue to be moved by the story of this young Canadian hero whose historic cross Canada run was cut short at this point when the cancer that had claimed his leg three years earlier returned.  Sadly, he was never able to complete his dream of running across Canada as he succumbed to his disease at the young age of 22.  He did, however, raise a large amount of money for the battle against cancer and his fight goes on with annual Terry Fox runs being held in schools and communities across the nation.

A little later in the morning, we visited Panorama Amethyst Mine where we learned that amethyst, the official stone of Ontario, is actually quartz crystals that contain iron.  The more iron, the deeper the purple colour.  We had the opportunity to collect and purchase amethyst samples from the rocky piles left behind by the mining operation.  In spite of the fact that we continue to be impressed by the sheer size of this country, we were also reminded that it’s a small world when we met a nephew of an aquaintance from Sedgewick at the mine and also learned that the daughter of one of the women working in the gift store there spent a summer working in Sedgewick a few years ago!

Continuing on, we camped at Obatanga Provincial Park north of Sault Ste. Marie.  Day 5 started early.  During the wee hours of the morning, the propane bottle ran dry.  Richard got up at 6:00 a.m. to replace it and discovered that the new tank, purchased the evening before, was faulty.  The valve wouldn’t open.  We decided to pack up and backtrack the 35 km to White River to exchange it.  The temperature was 2C when we pulled out of the campground at 7:15!  We were more than happy to enjoy a hearty breakfast at a truck stop along the highway rather than in a chilly campground.  As we traveled, however, the temperature rose to 17C, the highest we’d seen so far and the afternoon was beautifully sunny.  We camped at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park east of North Bay. 

Day 6 took us into the city of Ottawa where we ate our lunch on the grass in front of the Canadian Parilament Buildings and enjoyed a walk around the area, familiar to us because Matt and Robin were both working for Members of Parliament when we last visited Ottawa during the summer of 2001.  We continued on to nearby Russell where, after driving more than 3500 km in six days, we’ve been enjoying a visit with longtime friends, Anne and Steve.  Anne and I first met when she and my sister were classmates in Yellowknife almost 40 years ago! 

We spent most of the day yesterday at Upper Canada Village near Morrisburg on the St. Lawrence River.  We found the 1860s reconstructed village just as interesting as we did when we visited it with our children 18 years ago.  We especially enjoyed touring the 3 working mills – a lumber mill, a textile mill and a flour mill.  The interpretive staff were excellent, helping bring life in small town Ontario in the early days to life for us. 

We plan to visit the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa this afternoon and will move on toward Quebec City tomorrow.  Hopefully we find summer soon!

That was the theme of our church’s 11th annual ladies retreat this past weekend.  Twenty something women enjoyed a 24 hour getaway from their busy day to day lives.  We laughed, cried, worshipped, sang and had fun together.  The main retreat room was decorated with quilts and hand stitched items of many kinds.

Early in 1998, the women of our church were invited to join the ladies of one of the Nazarene churches in Edmonton for a weekend retreat. Several ladies went and as three of us relaxed together at the beautiful retreat centre, we started talking about the possibility of holding a retreat of our own. Ideas flowed and before we knew it, we were in the midst of planning one for later that spring.  It was a tremendous success and thus it became an annual event that we all look forward to.

Because we would have to travel some distance to a retreat centre and the cost would be prohibitive for some, we hold it at the church. Some bring their sleeping bags and sleep over  while others go home for the night and return in time for breakfast the following morning. We keep things as simple as possible, having one meal catered to and ensuring that the others don’t require anyone to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

With the exception of last year’s retreat which took place while I was in Japan, I have attended all of them.  After a small group of us organized the first couple of retreats, the planning was taken over by my weekly ladies Bible study group.  I was MC for the first few retreats.  One year I shared my testimony and this year, I was the speaker.

Our theme verse this year was Ephesians 3:20.  “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”  The italics are mine, highlighting the part of the verse that truly describes what God did for us during our year in Japan.

I spoke once on Friday evening and twice on Saturday.  I knew that the ladies were anxious to hear about our Asian experiences but I felt that the weekend needed to be much more than just a travelogue. During the first session, I used scripture and personal experience to talk about the many ways that God speaks to us.  On Saturday morning, I talked about our year in Japan focusing on the church that God led us to there. I shared the ways in which I feel that God used us while we were there as well as some of the things that I think he accomplished in my life through the experiences that we had. During my final talk, I spoke about the impact that our trip to Vietnam had on me.  I talked about the contrast between North American culture where we have so much and yet are not satisfied and cultures like that of Vietnam where people are happy if they know where their next meal is coming from. I also shared Biblical principles that can help us live successfully in tough economic times such as we are experiencing today. Much to the delight of the ladies, I wore my Vietnamese silk au dai while I gave the final talk.  Some of them even talked me into wearing it to church the following morning.

Over the years, we have always done a craft at retreat.  In keeping with this year’s theme, the craft was a quilt.  Each lady wrote a favourite Bible verse or message on a quilt square and signed her name.  During a quiet time on Saturday afternoon while some of us went for a long walk and others visited or napped, one industrious woman took the pieces home and sewed them together.  When she returned, everyone gathered around the quilt frame and tied the quilt. The final stitching around the outside was done by hand by an avid quilter in the group during my final talk.  At the end of the retreat, I was presented with the quilt! The red and white colour scheme represents the colours of the Canadian and Japanese flags. What a wonderful keepsake and one that I will always treasure!

I watched my oldest son graduate from the University of British Columbia law school in Vancouver, BC today without ever leaving the comforts of my own home!  We watched the ceremony live online. Aren’t the wonders of technology amazing?

Since we were just in Vancouver in March and plan to return again to meet our new grandchild, Matt and Robin’s firstborn, when he or she arrives in October, Matt suggested that we might not want to make another trip to the coast for today’s event.  He definitely wants us to be there next spring, however, when he’s called to the bar and we’ve already promised that we will be.

We’ve had the privilege of watching Matthew graduate three times; first from high school here in Sedgewick in 1998 when he won many academic awards including the top student award, then we were there when he received his Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa in 2002 and finally, today!

As we watched the webcast, we were delighted to see my father in the crowd!  Matthew’s grandpa graduated from UBC over 60 years ago. I’m sure watching his grandson walk across the platform and accept a diploma from his alma mater was a very proud moment indeed!

Matt will continue his studies with a six week preparation course for the bar exam.  After writing the exam early this summer, he’ll begin his year of articling with the Vancouver office of McCarthy Tetrault, one of Canada’s largest law firms.  He worked for the firm last summer and is very excited about going back.

Matthew’s interest in law goes back a long way.  In fact, I remember one of his primary school teachers commenting during a parent/teacher interview that he had a very strong sense of justice. As his parents, we may be a little biased but we consider him to be a young man of both wisdom and integrity and are certain that he will be an asset to the legal profession.

Congratulations, Matthew!  We’re very proud of you!

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I’d grow up to be a farmer; or more accurately, a farm labourer.  I was born in Powell River, a pulp and paper town on the coast of British Columbia and spent most of my teen years in Vancouver.  I also lived for a time in Yellowknife, NWT.  It wasn’t until I went to university in Calgary that I came anywhere near the wheat fields of Alberta.

When I moved to Sedgewick to begin my teaching career in 1975, I entered a whole new world where the livelihood of many families depended on a good harvest.  I was fascinated by the farm equipment and the cycle of seeding and harvest and was humbled by the fact that my elementary school students knew more about it than I did.  Over the years that followed, however, I continued to observe from a distance. Even when I visited the family farm with Richard, I didn’t have opportunity to experience farming first hand.  I remember helping move cattle once, but for the most part, the men did the farm work and the women were in the house.

All that changed one Sunday in the fall of 2005 when my friend, Louis, asked if I’d ever ridden a combine.  When I said no, he asked if I’d like to and so it was that one sunny afternoon, after a day of teaching school, I drove out to the field and joined him on the combine.  What a thrill!  As we crisscrossed the field and watched the sun set over the waves of gold, I saw a beauty in this land that I’d never seen before.  I was far from the first person to be invited to ride along with Louis but apparently I was the first to fall in love with what he was doing.  The following year he invited me back and then in the spring of 2007, I also spent a few hours riding the tractor with him during seeding.  I enjoyed every moment and hoped I’d be invited back yet again.  Little did I know that I would soon become his hired hand!

Richard and I retired from teaching in the spring of 2007.  Sometime during August of that year, Louis stopped by the house to see if we’d be interested in helping out during harvest.  The economy was booming and seasonal help was difficult to find.  Richard spent some time swathing (cutting the grain) and I did almost all the combining (running the machine that separates the grain seeds from the stalks).  When everyone else went back to school in the fall, I didn’t miss it one bit.  I was on the combine having the time of my life! When we were in Japan last fall and I knew that harvest was going on without me, I missed it terribly.

Louis is 80 years old.  Over the past few years, he’s been gradually cutting back on the amount of land that he farms and this year his family suggested that he should retire completely.  Farming has been his life and his passion for more than 60 years, however.  I truly believe that if he couldn’t farm, he’d feel that life wasn’t worth living anymore.  We’re both working for him again this spring.  In fact, we’re pretty much putting the crop in for him.  Richard is running the air seeder which deposits seed and fertilizer into the ground and I follow up with the harrow/packer, a 50 foot wide implement that smoothes and packs the newly seeded soil.  Both are pulled behind gigantic John Deere tractors. Louis is the boss; making all the important decisions, maintaining the equipment and making many trips to and fro with fuel, seed and fertilizer.  With two rookies on the equipment, there’s plenty to keep him busy.  The arrangement seems to be working well for all of us and we’ve promised him that as long as he’s able and wants to continue farming, we’ll be here during spring and fall to help.

Richard at work

Louis is a wise and patient teacher.  He takes the time to answer my questions even though some of them must seem very elementary to him. He realizes that I want to understand not just how to do the job correctly but why we do things the way we do.  He even handled my frustration the first day of seeding with grace.  I hadn’t learned to read the field yet and couldn’t always tell where I’d already been and where I should go next.  I was disgusted that my lines weren’t always as straight as I thought they should be.  Louis knows me well enough to know that I was frustrated because I share his philosophy that a job worth doing is worth doing right. He also knew that I was stubborn enough not to give up and that with practice, I’d get better.  By the time he came around a second time to see how things were going, I was able to tell him that I was having fun.

with Louis and "my" tractor

When I’m out on an open field under the big Alberta sky, I feel such peace. I liken it to being on a boat on the ocean on a calm day.  At times we share the fields with deer, coyotes and birds of many kinds. When I look back over a field that I’ve finished, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

the harrow/packer

In addition to the fun of farming itself, there’s another plus to all of this and that is Louis’ wife, Doris, who is known throughout the countryside as a fantastic cook.  She makes supper for us every day that we work!  In the spring, we finish up by 6:30 p.m. and head to the house for a hearty meal. At harvest time, like many farm wives, she delivers supper to the field so that we can stop for a short break and then get back to work as every minute counts when winter is just around the corner.

If the weather cooperates, we’ll soon be finished seeding.  We’ve been delayed several times by this spring’s ugly weather conditions.  Last week, we had to wait for three days because the remaining fields needed to be sprayed for weeds before they could be planted.  Spraying requires almost perfect weather conditions.  First it was too windy and then it was too cold. Though the fields desperately need moisture so that the seeds will germinate and grow, they need to be dry while we actually work them. Once we finish seeding, we’ll be praying for both rain and heat so that there will be a bountiful crop to harvest come fall.