Sunday - September 7

Bob: Up early this morning for exercise. Today is Fast Sunday so no breakfast today. Heading for church at 9:00. Going to ask the brethren in Priesthood Class what they would do if someone asked them to tell them about the church. Should lead to some interesting discussion.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BYU FOOTBALL. WENT TO TEXAS AND PASTED THE LONGHORNS 41 - 7. LOOKS LIKE UTAH IS ALSO OFF AND RUNNING AS THEY ARE NOW 2 - 0.

Bonnie:  Now I can say I've had an authentic English dinner!  Sister Margetson, who we've mentioned before, is from England.  She is a very classy lady.  She just turned 80 years old and is the chorister in Church including the Primary.  She is the Poet Laureate of  Cobalt, Ontario, is on the Museum Board, and the Theatre Board of that community.  When I say theatre, I mean plays, concerts and musical productions put on by the community. Last year she performed in a production of Les Miserables. She has been a Stake Relief Society President and a temple worker for several years.  As we've mentioned, we took her with us the two times we went to the Toronto temple.  This beautiful sister invited us to have dinner today. To start out, Ann showed me how to "fold" the napkins.  I'll have to ask her again what they are called...lily somethings.  She was taught to do this by her grandmother!  They look like flowers when you're done and are put under the glasses of water at each place setting. It was a three course meal.  Our first course was beef onion soup, with cheese to put on top.  That was followed with a well seasoned beef roast, potatoes, peas and carrots and dark delicious gravy.  But the high-light was the yorkshire pudding!  If you've never had it you've missed a treat.  It turns out that they are like rolls, but puffy and hollowed out in the middle.  This is where you put the gravy.  They can be eaten with a knife and fork or in your hands.  Absolutely heavenly.  The last course was trifle for dessert.  Jello with lady fingers was the bottom layer, a layer of pudding, ( I think,) topped with another color of jello with fruit in it, topped with pudding, then real whipped cream on top of that.  She was out of sprinkles and cherries which is what she usually puts on top of the cream to finish it off.  She must have worked all day yesterday to prepare all of this.  Then, she gave us a gift, a little hand-made decorative vase that can be used for lotion or flowers without the stopper, of course.  We were very full, needless to say, and so appreciative of all the work she did.  We insisted on doing the dishes for her.
After we waddled out from her place, we stopped by the church to make some calls.  Then, we delivered a Book of Mormon to a lady in New Liskeard.  It was a media referral.  She and her son had seen the "Book of Mormon" musical in Toronto and she wanted a Book of Mormon to give her son as a memento.  We wrote our testimonies inside the front cover, asking her and her son to read Moroni's promise in Moroni 10: 4-5.  We'll see what happens!  Then, we visited another single sister with whom we enjoyed a long conversation.  She asked Bob to pray before we left.  We got home about 7:15 pm or so, another long Sabbath day, but very enjoyable.

Saturday - September 6

Bob: Sorry we did not get this posted yesterday. We had Karl, Patsy and their 2 foster children, Mason and Summer, over for dinner last night. Because we needed the space we put the computer in the bedroom, and then forgot about posting to the blog. I was preoccupied with what to teach in Priesthood Sunday morning. Karl said he forgot to assign the lesson to someone and asked me to do it. Bonnie and I worked on that, so the blog was forgotten last night.
Went fishing yesterday morning with my neighbor, Kaz. He is from Poland, but he and his wife live about an hour north of Toronto now. We went to Mountain Lake and caught 5 pike. There were several boats on the lake today as the gold mine in Matachewan is having a fishing tournament at our camp. Don't know how we would have fared.
In the evening as I said, Karl and his family came over. It was a fun evening.
Weather definitely cooled off today. It was in the 40s when we went fishing this morning. When the sun finally came out it felt real good. The temperature eventually got to the 60s. Sunday's high is predicted to be 59. Looks like most of summer is gone. Everyone has told us this summer's weather has been very abnormal.

Friday - September 5

Bob: Went fishing this morning. Was going to take our neighbor in cabin 1, but he was sick with a migraine. Did land 7 pike and another one broke my line right at the boat. Don't know what happened as he wasn't a big one. But another lure is at the bottom of Mountain Lake. When I got back to camp I was so tired that I slept for a couple of hours.

Had walleye for dinner and then we went trolling for pike. Bonnie caught 2 and I got 1. They weren't as hungry this evening as they were this morning.

Bonnie: I spent most of the day working on my history, with the aid of a book Shannan gave me. It's harder than I thought it would be. It asks how much a candy bar was when I was young, and a stamp and a movie ticket. Some of this stuff I just can't remember! I think the internet will help, though. I also made the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. (I agree-Bob)

Note: I have learned that a choke cherry is aptly named. I was offered one yesterday and, you guessed it, it almost made me choke!

Thursday September 4

Bonnie:  It's been a great day today.  We left relatively early to go to Quebec, the Canadian province next to Ontario.  It's like going to another country because everyone speaks French and everything written is in French.  We went to a little town called Angliers.  It's a tiny fishing town.  Then we went to Ville Marie which is bigger and very quaint.  Bob took me to the chocolatier in town. Ummmmmm, delicious!  Then, we went back to Ontario to go out for an early dinner.  We went to a Chinese buffet. It was good to eat something other than fish and something I didn't have to cook! Then we did the shopping and headed home.  Because it was so nice out we decided to go fishing when we got back.  It was a pleasant way to end the day.

Bob: Not much to add. There is a dam in Angliers on Lac des Quinze. They are doing some construction on the dam, but traffic can still drive across it. We decided to go across and look around. We took a picture of the dam from below it. It is posted below. While we were driving around we came to a fork in the road. We weren't sure which way we wanted to go, but came to a road sign that we thought would help. Take a look at it below. Some help that was! We decided to turn around and go back to where we came from.
We drove to Ville Marie and then Notre Dame du Nord after leaving Angliers. Beside visiting the chocolatier in Ville Marie we went down to the boat harbor that was near by. Took a picture of it also. When we got to Notre Dame du Nord we stopped and took a walk on the boardwalk.
All in all it was a relaxing day and we saw some pretty scenery. I think Bonnie enjoyed her birthday.

Dam on Lac des Quinze in Angliers, Quebec

Bonnie outside the Chocolatier in Ville Marie, Quebec

Quebec road sign

Ville Marie Boat Harbor

Notre Dame du Nord boardwalk

Wednesday - September 3

Bob: Got up and went to help Karl with putting his firewood away. We were stacking the 'mill ends' he bought from the local lumber mill. Mill ends are the ends of boards the lumber company cut off and cannot use. We would stack pieces about 2 feet long and either 6 or 8 inches wide. Karl made a rack that would hold a stack 2 feet wide, 8 feet long and about 3 feet high. Once we stacked it then he would run his chain saw down the middle of each stack. He ended up with 8 stacks a foot wide. We did 3 loads and he did some before I got there. After we finished we went fishing, but didn't have much luck. I had 2 pike on, but they were little so I shook them off before landing them.
Got home about 4:45. We had to go to Elk Lake and get some milk to make biscuits. Milk is $3.97 for 4 liters in New Liskeard. In Elk Lake it is 6.95 for 4 liters! Biscuits were very good, especially after being made with such expensive milk.
Bonnie and I went fishing for walleye. I caught one on the first cast and we didn't get another one all night. Had a couple of bites but that was it. Fishing has really slowed down since August 10. The rain started on August 11th.

Tuesday September 2

Bonnie:  Bob went fishing today, taking with him the truck and the boat. He got home about 5:00. I had the day to myself so what did I do?  Washing, ironing and cleaning the cabin!  As I've said earlier, some things never change.  I also worked on my personal history which was good.  After dinner we went to the library and to Patsy and Karl's to make a phone call.  We were there till 9:00!  It's always fun to go to their house! I'll let Bob finish our post about his fishing trip... oh, and the three big white trucks next to our cabin that belong to Canadian conservation officers.  I wonder what they are doing in our little campground???

Bob: Went fishing with Brother Sauve and Brother Gunnell today. We fished in Cassells and Rabbit Lakes. Put my boat in the same place I used 30 years ago when I was in Tamagami with Ruthie and the 3 kids. The new owners bought it in 1985 and it looks a lot different. Did not remember much about the lake except the narrow strip that you have to navigate to miss the rocks. They have the lakes marked with red and green markers now that indicate the shallow spots. Fishing wasn't much better there as we only caught 3 fish in about 4 1/2 hours (11:00 - 3:30). But that wasn't the prime time to be fishing anyway. Brad and I got to Rick's about 9:30, but he wasn't ready. Then he had to go to a restaurant to get his breakfast. Didn't get on the water till about 11.
While we were fishing today Brother Gunnell told me I am supposed to have a waterproof flashlight in my boat as a safety item. Told him I wasn't aware of that. Brad then suggested I look up the requirements on the internet. When I pulled into the campground on my return there were 3 white trucks marked 'Ontario Conservation Officer' parked by cabins 3 and 4. I figured I'm not putting my boat into the water until I find out if I need that flashlight or anything else. Saw online that I needed the light and a 15 meter life saving line that could be tossed to someone overboard. Went to the office and asked Linda about it. She gave me the standard safety kit that goes in the boat. So now I am completely legal. She said the officers are having a 2 day class here this week. They have it every fall and use different camp grounds every year. Glad to know they weren't out looking for the ignorant American that isn't following all the safety rules!
Enjoyed our evening talking to Karl and Patsy. He and I are going to work on his firewood tomorrow and then do a little fishing in the evening.

Monday - September 1

Our internet went down last night while we were trying to save this. Will do a separate post for Tuesday.

Bob: Went fishing this morning. Caught 2 perch in the weeds. Moved out to deeper water and caught 3 walleye, but lost two of them. Had them in a wire fish basket hanging on the side of the boat. When I went to put the 3rd fish in the basket, the basket was gone. Don't know what I did. Not fishing this evening as rain is forecast for around 6:00. Loaded the boat on the trailer this afternoon so I can take it to Tamagami tomorrow morning. Washed all the mud off the truck. Cleanest truck in camp now.

Bonnie:  I went to Elk Lake this morning to see a special plaque given to the town of Elk Lake to honor its founder. The founder was also part of the "Princess Pats" who were also honored. The "Princess Pats" are an infantry division that is not government (Canadian) funded that played a big part in all the wars since World War I. They are named after an English princess. The fun part was the parade complete with bagpipes.