Some Big EXPLOSION ......

Not far from Deadman's Island is another incredible monument.

It is a monument to the Halifax Explosion of 1917.

(Warning.... excessive history ahead.... I just find it so interesting!!)

During WWI, Halifax was the main base of the new Canadian Navy and housed the most 

important army garrison in Canada. The port was a major hub and the harbour was 

crowded with warships, troop transports and supply ships. 

Two ships collided in the harbour. The Imo, a Belgian relief vessel and the Mont Blanc, 

a French munitions ship. The relief vessel was headed for New York and the 

Mont Blanc was coming to wait for a convoy to Europe. 

The crew on the Mont Blanc took lifeboats to the Dartmouth shore and tried to warn the people. 

The ship floated til it rammed into a pier in Halifax. The Mont Blanc exploded, 

flattening everything for 2,600 feet. The fire spread quickly. 

In the end more than 1900 people were killed, 9,000 injured, 1600 buildings destroyed, 

12,000 homes destroyed, 6,000 homeless, 25,000 without adequate housing. 

This ultimately caused a tsunami which took more lives and then to add insult to injury, 

the following day one of the worst blizzards to ever hit Halifax began and lasted for 6 days. 

Aid was received from all over Canada and north eastern United States. 

To show appreciation to the city of Boston for their help, 

the province of Nova Scotia sends Boston a giant Christmas tree every year. 
The explosion from this was the largest man-made, non-nuclear explosion in history. 

We traveled to Horseshoe Island Park. It is just around the other side of the bay. 

The view here is gorgeous! In the background you can see Memorial or Dingle Tower. 

This tower was built In 1908, to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the 

establishment of representative government in Canada. 

I've read that the tower has been restored and is open to the public..... I see another Maritime bucket list item... 

The views here at Horseshoe Island (not really an island, a peninsula), are beautiful!!

• We are loving our opportunity to serve in the Halifax Temple. 
• We are so privileged to serve in the House of the Lord! 

Deadman's Island..... a history lesson for me

 Tuesday we had a little bit of free time. We went to Halifax to visit a place called Deadman's Island.

We had heard quite a bit about Deadman's Island from our upstairs neighbor. 

This beautiful park was created by the Halifax Regional Municipality in 2005. 

To get there, we parked along the street and went down this lovely trail ~ it was pretty steep. 

Such a pretty little walk.....  

During the War of 1812, Canada was still part of the British Empire, 

and Halifax served as the Royal Navy's most important base in North America. 

U.S. POW's were held at a prison on Melville Island, just about 2 miles from Halifax. 

About 8,000 U.S. men were held there during the War of 1812, and 195 of them died there. 

Melville Island is not an island, but a peninsula; now it isn't a prison, it's a yacht club.  

Melville Island Prison has quite a history. Prior to the War of 1812, 

during the Napoleonic Wars, French and Spanish soldiers were held here. 

 During the War of 1812 the British offered liberty to any slave who fled to the islands 

they controlled along the Eastern Seaboard, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay area.

Over 1,000 slaves were housed in Melville following the end of the war in 1815. About 100 died there.  

As early as 1818 Melville Island was used as a quarantine station. In the summer of 1847, 

1,200 Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine arrived in Halifax 

and were quarantined on Melville Island. Remarkably, this episode only recorded 30 deaths.

Those that died on Melville Island were wrapped in bits of canvas, 

rowed about 100 yards away and buried in shallow graves on what was originally called Target Hill. 

In time the name was changed to "Deadman's Island". This also is not an island, but a small peninsula.

This monument was added May of 2005 by the U.S. Government. 

Deadman's Island Park is not very large. 

The hill is to the right of the picture. It is covered with trees. 

I don't know if these will be readable, but I am going to try. 

The U.S. has a ceremony here each Memorial Day. 
We missed it this year. We hope to go next year. 

This isn't a large area, but the HRM has put up a lot of information. So appreciated.

We are learning so much about our history as it connects with Canadian history. 
We love it!

We are so grateful to be serving here in Nova Scotia!
The Lord blesses us so much! 

Flower buds are nodding, Swayed by gentle breeze

A Bitter-Sweet Day!

Elder and Sister Wood hit to the skies today!

They'll land in SLC in no time!

They return to their home in Burley, Idaho as well as 6 children along with kids, grandkids etc!

They have bee such warriors in God's Kingdom. This was mission #7. 

He'll be 90 and she'll be 85 next month. 

(Thanks President Nelson for the pic!)

Laurence wanted an ice cream cone. The sign said "Two Scoops - $2.50" 

Who knew that they were going to make sure I got ice cream!! 

We live in a nice apartment complex. 

Although not required to fix things up as a part of our tenancy, 

we always want to leave things better than we found them. 

 This walkway out our front door, onto our patio is nice, but needed a bit of TLC. 

Laurence took up the concrete pavers, put pea gravel under them,

 reseated them and filled in with more pea gravel. It is so much more even now!  

The sisters and us are the only ones with walkways. 

We found out as we were doing this that the earlier ones were done by the church. 

Whether that means the church itself or the missionaries, we don't know, but sure are grateful!! 

This was taken back in May At that time he was trimming back some of the trees etc. 

He has surely made our little part of the world more wonderful!

We are so grateful that the Lord has blessed Laurence with such good health! 

He has been doing things here that he has been unable to do for years! Tender mercies and miracles!!

Last Wednesday we spent the morning at the temple doing paperwork and working on computers. 

When we finished we stopped at a grocery store, got picnic items and headed to this fun park.

This is such a nice park and lake. It's about 10 minutes from our house.

We enjoyed a fun picnic before returning to spend the rest of our wonderful day in the Lord's house! 

I had read about the lupine here in Nova Scotia.

Nothing I had read even remotely prepared me for it!! 

These pictures were taken last night about 10 minutes from our house. 

There are many more everywhere!! 

This is such a cool area! 

Last, but surely not least! Happy Father's Day to my amazing husband and partner on this journey!
Happy Father's day to my dad as well. He passed away in September 2007, but I still miss him daily!
I am so grateful for our Father In Heaven's plan that allows us to be with Him and our families for Eternity!

I LOVE Running These Errands!!

Last Sunday we were going to go to Kentville to church. 

At the last minute our plans changed and we didn't go.

That did not change the fact that we had a chest of drawers in the truck to take to the missionaries in Kentville. 

Tuesday we were able to schedule ourselves to go over to Kentville via Windsor. 

The Bonn's live in Windsor. We went to visit Sister Bonn, get some rhubarb and have fun!

This is the view from their back deck!!

The Bonn's own a bit of Heaven on Earth! 

They have apple trees, cherry trees, pear trees, raspberries, blackberries and ....

BLUEJAYS!!! 

Sister Bonn took us over to Hall's Harbour. 
One of the coolest places ever!!

This was Hall's Harbour when we arrived at about 1:30 in the afternoon. 
Definitely LOW TIDE!!
Can you believe that just a short time earlier these boats were floating on the water?!

Notice how everything is on rollers etc so that as the tide comes in everything can rise without mishap. 

This is how it looked when we arrived. It takes 6 hours to go from low tide to high tide. 

This is taken about the same spot about an hour or so later. 

It is so very beautiful there!! It was so fun!

We didn't get to stay until the tide came back in. We had obligations back in Dartmouth.
This is  a picture I took off the online webcam when we got home. 
Unfortunately, by the time I found it, the tide was going back out again. 

We were there!!

For measuring the tide. 
Mostly for us tourists I think. 

Sister Bonn and Elder Pitt!
She is a fantastic tour guide!!
Brother Bonn was one of the men that built the dock they are standing on. He is a highly skilled heavy equipment operator.

Man oh man!! They have some absolutely HUGE lobsters here!! According to Brother Bonn, the smaller ones taste the best.

I love that there were forget-me-nots growing wild here!
I've always loved them, Elder Uchtdorf's talk just made me love them more. 

We are so grateful for the peace we feel as serve our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ!

I found this cool video on youtube showing in about 30 seconds what it takes 6 hours to do. What fun!!