September Week 3

We are just starting to see the colors change in a big way. We figure by next week it will be in full swing. Today we went to Church with the Etchells. They attend a branch in Rochester. Wonderful place with lots of babies and little children. I believe they had at least 10 in their nursery and we had six babies in RS. What fun.

We are back to work this week and can't tell you how great it is to be back working in the temple every day. We took on a couple of sub jobs this week so worked three days double shifts. We are holding up pretty well, we think. The temple was busy. Maybe because we have been closed two weeks, maybe everyone wants to see the changes in the carpets etc. whatever the reason we are happy about it.

For FHE last Monday we had a marvelous tour of the Sacred Grove with Bob Parrott the forest manager of the grove in the afternoon. He gave us a map and took us around pointing out various trees and what the Church's for the grove. The Church acquired the farm in 1907. There was a patch of forest, the grove, about 6 1/2 acres which the owners after the Smith's said "he felt strongly about putting an ax to trees in that area of the farm and told his children not to touch them." Through the 80's it is was plan to clean up the grove and make it look like a park, every piece of dead wood was picked up and hauled out. In 1998 the thinking changed and they now want it to look like it did in Joseph's time. The pasture has been left to regenerate back to forest. They want a 150 acre forest to buffer the grove. Mr. Parrott is a wonderful advocate for this kind of thinking. In the last ten years the farm land around the grove has not been farmed and allowed to return to forest. Wind carries the seeds, the maple, ash and tulip, squirrels and other animals bring in other seeks and each year it is more diversified. Mr. Parrott, our guide, said "You don't have to be a member of the Church to feel the spirit in this grove." His father owned the farm next to the Smith's and he has walked the grove for over 45 years. He has been working as a consultant forest manager for the church for the lasts 11 years.

Ironwood tree

Forest regenerating

On our walk he pointed out what we call the "Witness Trees". These are trees that would have been old enough to be there when Joseph received the first vision.

Witness tree

Paul & Mar Jean in front of a witness tree

The oldest tree is the ironwood tree which is now dead; but they should be able to keep up for many years. Three of the trees are beech trees, one an ironwood and one a sugar maple. When trees need to come down they are left and the animals use them for homes, the birds feed off them and they eventually disintegrate back into the ground. It was a wonderful experience.

On P-Day we went to the Chiropractor, Dr. Lowry, and then we visited the Whitmer Farm again. We have decided to watch a session of conference out there. This is where President Kimball held the first satellite broadcast and dedicated the Fayette Ward, visitor center and Whitmer Farm. This is where the church was organized on April 6, 1830.

Paul spent P-Day morning mowing the Amsden's field, only two more times. He found some nice red leaves.

What a great week in the mission field. Hope you all have a great week and find time to go to the House of the Lord. love mj & paul

September Week 3

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week we went back to Niagara Falls and Toronto. We took a ride up the Skylon Tower at Niagara Falls, it was a clear day and we had a good view of Lake Ontario, Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

This is Niagara on the Lake on the Canadian side. A quaint little town with lots of shops and a beautiful beach area.

In Toronto we took the double decker bus trip around town. We caught it at the Gray Hound Bus depot and went on the North and South route. Our favorite site was the CN Tower, the tallest in the world, 1400 feet tall. We really had a view from there. The Rogers stadium was right below us and the Yankees were playing the Bluejays.

A view from 147 stories high

This is Paul's new favorite car. It's called the "Smart" car.

We were back home Thursday morning and ready to go into the temple to help clean. We have new carpet in the waiting room, halls, brides & President's office and dressing rooms. It all looks really nice. We helped clean the marble in the baptismal font area. We got to be down with the oxen for awhile. Friday we returned to clean "wax on wax off" the marble entry. Even though we used towels to kneel on, knees were still sore Saturday.

This weekend was Palmyra Canal Days. A big weekend for the town. They had a parade, food and craft booths all down main street, a big classic car show and competition. We took another ride on the Erie Canal with a group of the site missionaries. We went through Locke 29.

Today at church our friends, the Crookstons, spoke. It was a very good Sunday. I spent three hours with Sister Donhneke learning some family history.

Happy Birthday to our grandson Tyler who turned 7 today. We love you. Be good. Thanks to all of you who left a comment last blog. It is good to hear from you all.

We are looking forward to returning to the temple to serve 8 shifts this week. We will be in the temple all day Wednesday to support the Camarillo CA Stake temple day.

Love you. Mar Jean & Paul

September Week 2

Just a question: Is anyone reading my blogs? You can leave a comment either annonymous with your name in the message or put in your email address even if it is not google it will take it. Thanks.
Montreal Visit:
We returned home Saturday evening from Montreal. This is a picture of the city. It is on an island with the St. Lawrence River going around it. Looks like a lot of smog to us. We took a bus ride around the city.

This is the Montreal Temple and it is the same floor plan as the Palmyra Temple. We felt like we were at home. We did one session in English, another in French and also did some baptisms and sealings.

This is the Citadel in Montreal; we saw it on the bus trip.

Alexandria Bay/Thousand Islands Visit:

This is the boat trip we took of Thousand Islands (Alexandria Bay) and we are on the St. Lawrence River. The international boundary runs down the river going around the islands so they are not split between two nations.

This is the most famous of the summer homes on the islands. It is the Boldt Castle built in the early 1900's by Mr. George Boldt for his wife, Louise. It has six stories from the foundation level of the indoor swimming pool to the highest tower room, an elevator served over 120 rooms. It has Italian Gardens, an arch entry for launches, delivering guests from larger yachts anchored in deep water, the Alster Tower (a play house with bowling alley, stage for plays), the Power House, underground passages and a Yacht House across the water on Wellesley Island. He owned 3,000 acres of islands. He made his money in the Astoria New York Hotel. On with the love story, he was well into three years having the castle built when his wife died suddenly. He stopped construction and never returned to that island again. It was eventually sold to the Thousand Island Bridge Authority and they immediately began a rehabilitation program. It was empty for about 75 years. Vandals did a number on it. They have put 20 million dollars into restoring it.

This is the gazebo on Heart Island where we went through the Boldt Castle.

Paul and Elder Crookston taking a rest from all the sight seeing.

Toronto Visit:

Now we are in Toronto going through our first castle the Casa Loma Castle built by Sir Henry Pellett. He and his wife lived in the lodge while the castle and the stables were being built. He had an underground passage way between the three. This is the stables. He was in the Queens Rifle Regiment. He made his money in the stock market, building the hydro electric plant at Niagara Falls and some other things. He also went broke and had to sell it and it also fell into disarray and vandals also took their toll on it. The City now owns it and the Kiwanis Club has taken it over. They do lots of weddings etc. there now. Paul again having a wonderful time

This is the Toronto Temple. It is a midsized temple and very beautiful. We went a couple of times while we were there.

This is the home we stayed in. We got smart and found someone close to the temple who rents out rooms to people coming to the temple. It only cost us $30 a night.

What a wonderful week. In case you think we did not work this week, we did do inventory on Monday and cleaned the temple on Tuesday before we left. Have a great week.

September Week 1

Oh, what a beautiful morning, Oh, what a beautiful day. I haven't been out yet but it is looking really good out there. We had a wonderful week. How could we help, working in the temple every day is a blessing in itself. It's going to seem strange having it closed for two weeks starting today. It will get some new carpet and a good cleaning and several other things I know nothing about. Today we go in a 9 am and help with inventory and then tomorrow we go in and help clean.

Well last week was very good. We had good sessions and had many people come to the temple for marriages and coming for the first time. I'll start with Monday. At FHE Paul and Tonita Crookston did our lesson on symbols of the temple. They had just been on a trip to the Mayan country before coming to Palmyra. They had some beautiful pictures to go along with their presentation.

We got up early Tuesday morning to see the eclipse of the moon. I couldn't get my camera to hold still so this is what we got. It was very impressive in person.

Tuesday we served in the morning and helped clean in the afternoon. I might have mentioned that the missionaries clean the temple every Tuesday. On Fridays the temple district assigns Stakes to provide about 10 people to come clean. It's really a privilege. We usually clean the celestial room, the two endowment rooms and the two sealing rooms, that means dusting and vacuuming. Wednesday is our double shift day. In between we ran over to the Wayne County Public Health with the Crookstons and got our final Hep B shot.

On P-Day our group went to Rochester to the George Eastman Mansion. We went early to see the Ansel Adams exhibit they had. He had 150 photographs. I just love him. Mainly from the calendars we use to get every year. He loved Yosemite, California, and New Mexico. We even found a picture of the Manti Temple and several places in Utah. He did black and white photographs. The Eastman Mansion is quite the place. George Eastman of Kodak never married but loved to entertain. His mother lived with him for two years before she passed away and then his niece took over hostessing for him. He was very generous to many civic and private organizations. His philosophy was to use and give the money away while he was alive instead of saving it for others to spend. They have some beautiful old trees on the property. Can you believe the size of the trunk of this one.

This elephant is for Tyler. This is the side of the Eastman Mansion and the conservatory.

Friday we had some time and went to visit the Genesee Country Museum. It is a village of 50 homes and businesses from the 1800's that they have moved onto this property. They have docents and everything is in time periods. It is really an interesting place. You could easily spend all day here but we only had a few hours. We are glad we got to see it.

The Crookstons and an old drug store we took for Joe Hoffman

Thank you to many of you who remembered my birthday Sunday. It was very special and I heard from so many of you. I feel so loved. I had many choirs of Happy Birthday from my grandchildren and many of you. I feel loved and special. Thanks.

We had a cook out with the Morse's Saturday night and this is my marshmallow birthday cake.

Sunday we served in the nursery for the Colletts who were on vacation. We had ten children yesterday. After Church we visited our three home teaching families and then visited a couple of friends in convalescent homes here. John and Susan Hutchinson invited a few of us over for a wonderful dinner. They are the couple who live in an apartment and actually have room for more than two people. It was a wonderful dinner and she even made me a cake with these "flexible" candles on it. We finished up by walking through the Sacred Grove in the evening.

Our children are all enjoying the weekend. Kimberly and Gary (who also celebrated his birthday yesterday) are in Island Park. Kory and Katie are at Yuba Lake in Sipio camping and boating and Kelly made Rob stay home and finish some projects around the house or they would be in Island Park also.

Tyler, this squirrel was right outside the window. He was doing all kinds of acrobatics on the tree and wire.

Have a wonderful week! love Mar Jean and Paul