Another Day in Canada

 Ah, Canada.  Or Oh, Canada.  Anyway, these pictures went in backwards, but I'm to lazy to switch them around, and this picture is beautiful so I felt it should stay at the top.

 This is a 360 view at the Mountain View graveyard.

 

 And that's the end of our little 360 degree turn.  Did you follow it?

 So yes, one of the days we were in Canada, my parents took us out to the Cardston Cemetery to visit my grandparents and brother's graves. And a whole lot of other relatives, and Joker Walker, who was my dad's high school football coach.  And Sebastian was excited because all his (Joker's) grandkids had put their hands in the cement over his grave, and one of them fit Sebastian's perfectly.  And I really wish I had a chance to talk to Joker without my dad there, because as soon as Joker would start to tell us stories about Dad, Dad would hustle us out of the room.  Ruff.  Anyway, then we went to my Uncle Jerald's ranch, which had been my grandparents and was where my mom grew up.  I didn't even get a picture because I planned on getting one from the highway when we went through to Waterton, but we never went to Waterton because it was raining so hard that day.  After visiting my grandparents' house we went to the Mountain View cemetery and put flowers on my grandparents graves and my Uncle Delroy's.

 You can see the whole town of Mountain View in this picture. Practically anyway.

I stole pictures from Ana.

 And this really bugs me.  They put John and Dora when really their names were Johann and Anna Dorothea.  Errr... Okay, I shouldn't be ornery because some family members were obviously trying to commemorate their sacrifice as original pioneers and making sure their grave site was not forgotten (the original headstone is underneath) but really, that's awful for historians not to have the names right.

 Ana was nice and kept trying to tell the kids to not play on the headstones, etc.  I'm not that respectful, and it was funny when Sebastian and Elena were lying on cement covers that perfectly fit them.  I like cemeteries. There was a lady with a sewing machine on her headstone--I am so doing that!!!

 And my grandparents graves.

 And now these were at my Uncle Jerald's house.

 Poor Elena, she couldn't join in the fun, because she's allergic to hay.

 Yep, another picture of Old Chief.

 There's a Great Horned Owl nest in the windbreak, and feathers laying all around.  My kids loved it. Uncle Jerald said a chick and it's parents lived there.

 We went picking wildflowers to put on the graves.  It was actually quite sad to see my grandparents' house. Last time we went, it was pretty much unchanged, we even found chocolate in my grandma's cupboards. This time the cupboards had been ripped out, and the furniture was mostly all gone.  I tried to convince Mom to let me have the quilting frames, but apparently their already spoken for.  We explored the root cellar, and all over really, but it was making me sneeze.

 The wind picked up while we were there, and it was quite chilly.  I mean, we were cold.

 Yep, another one.

 That morning we went to a session with my parents.  Wow, the Cardston temple is different looking, all dark colors and woods but very art deco, even the chandelier in the Celestial Room is all wrought iron and medieval looking in a very art deco way.  I liked it, very Frank Lloyd Wright-ish.

 Where I lived in Leavitt when I was 3-5 yrs old. I remember being so angry at Megan because she wouldn't let me stand by the highway when the snow plow went by and get sprayed with snow like all the other kids while we were waiting for the school bus. I also remember playing house in a buffalo wallow with blankets, and being scared to go in the barn, and scared to gather eggs in the hen house, although I wasn't scared helping pluck feathers off of butchered chickens, "helping" Dad move pipe once, and Amy throwing my shoe in a pond because it had a leech in it, and my cat Cheetah and her kittens that I was so sad to leave in Canada. 

And this was at my grandparents' house.  I love that Sweet Peas and other flowers are still growing wild all around it.  :)

And a cute photo from Ana at Aunt Jeanette's house.