September 15, 2020

We try to keep busy in positive ways during this pandemic and reading books written by church authors has been one of those things that we have felt good about doing. I have been listening to audio books, especially during the healing of my knee. My knee is doing better but I am still reading. Tom listens to numerous books too and now he has pulled a muscle in his back so may be listening even more. What a pair we are! I read Wendy Watson Nelson’s “The Heavens are Open” this week and it was excellent. I have also read Sheri Dew’s book on President Nelson, David Butler’s trilogy on the Godhead, Emily Belle Freeman’s book on Grace, Tim Ballard’s “Pilgrims Hypothesis” and a book authored by a gay member of the church “Without the Mask”. All were excellent.

We use email, messaging and the phone to keep in touch with family and friends these days. We message, FaceTime and phone our children regularly. We email friends from the mission and contribute to and read the mission “app” and we email and phone our ministering people. We work on our musical chairmen calling at home and email and phone those we need to talk to. The children have us working on our histories by sending us each a question every week that we reply to and then send to a site called “Storyworth”. They answers will be made into books at the end of the year. As Tom was answering questions he began thinking of his friend Peter Russell who we had known during our teenage and young married years but hadn’t talked to for decades. He asked Liza to try getting Pete’s phone number from his son Paul who Liza and Brendon had known in Saskatoon. She succeeded in obtaining both Peter and Clares’ numbers. They had been divorced long ago and we had a little contact with Clare since but none with Peter. We had double dated in our teenage years and Clare had come to Vancouver to live with us and attend UBC with me for a year just before we both got married. I was able to make contact with her and we had a lovely visit, catching up on literally years. She had completed her PHD and is still working with the Calgary School Board and she has been busy with her four children and twelve grandchildren. She has bought her parents home and now lives just where she grew up. Her life has been full of good things. Tom has yet to make contact with Peter but we know his life has been less positive and perhaps that is why Tom has had these feelings and he needs to speak to him.

Fires on the west coast of the USA have sent smoke across the borders to us. Forests and communities are burning and the poor air quality is affecting millions. Both Liza and Larissa have the smoke in the interior and in Montana. We are praying for rain to help everyone involved in this concerning situation. We have limited our walking and our time outside.

We were happy Saturday to have Max over to receive the first two Temple Prep lessons. He received permission to have us give him the lessons and we love it. He is preparing to go through the Temple and eventually, when flights are able to fly between Australia and Canada, be sealed in the Temple to his fiancée Jacqui. Jacqui is having the same lessons in Australia. They do not care which Temple or country they marry in, they just want to marry and have Tom be their sealer.

We were surprised when we had a zoom meeting with the missionaries Saturday evening to find that one of the missionaries was Elder Swan, Tom’s brother Wayne’s grandson. Elder Swan had orchestrated the whole thing and knew he would be teaching us. He was serving down in South America when covid hit and was brought home and reassigned to Vancouver. He seems to be a fine young man and we were thrilled to get to know him.

We are still celebrating family birthdays online and our grandson Wyatt and his father Scott both had their birthdays this week. Wyatt was one very excited birthday boy receiving a new bike and lego set as well as being able to skateboard with three friends.

We are trying to keep busy during these confining times and hope that our busyness is of some value to us and to others.

Scott and Wyatt

Max here for Temple Lesson

September 8, 2020

Update to Reading Loft

 Liza’s family was here for the week and they were off each day on some new adventure. Because Sayde had a cold she did not go to her planned for “camp” for children with CP but stayed with us or went with Liza and the other children. They went to the beach on Wednesday and Sayde walked in the ocean with her walker and collected shells. On Thursday Cindy picked Liza, Bryson, Breya and Keaton up early and they joined the Rolfson family and several Kenyan children for a hike up a mountain in Chilliwack area. Liza loves hiking and running mountains and Cindy likes hiking too but her legs were hurting badly by the time they got down. Sayde stayed with us that day and we learned some cursive writing, read books and played. Brendon drove down Thursday evening to join his family. The Burgess family went to the North Shore on Friday and while Brendon and the older children climbed The Grouse Grind, Liza and Sayde had their own explore and hike. Brendon then took all the children to Capilano Suspension Bridge and Liza ran along the Capilano River to Ambleside just the way she used to as a child with the track club. The North Shore is beautiful and we miss so much about it. They bought me flowers at our old Hardy’s corner store and they ate Chinese food ordered from Capilano Heights Chinese restaurant. The whole “home” experience on the North Shore. Brendon left early Saturday morning with Keaton to go to a “young men’s activity” in Kelowna and Liza left later with the other three children. 

Liza and Sayde have both been dealing with bad colds this week and Cindy and Max have it too. Tom now has it and I am fighting against it. Sayde took the covid test when she first came down with the cold and as she seems to be the original source of this virus,  we are all assuming it is a cold and not covid. Cindy has had one covid test and Liza has had a couple in the past few months. You feel like you can’t be running for tests every time we sniffle or sneeze and we realize colds and flus are still around. Hopefully this is a cold.

We have been busy with the children this week but we did run out to look for a new ottoman for our reading loft. We found one at “Lazboy” but after a valiant attempt we realized we were not going to get it into our car. Cindy came to our rescue and got us home ottoman and all. I have made a few trips to Home Sense and have accessorized the area. It looks very cute and it makes us feel good because the ottoman was on sale.

We had the Hardy Family for Chinese food Monday evening. We often take them for or order in Chinese food before school begins and Monday was Labor Day. We have also been working on our new church calling as joint ward Music Chairmen and doing our ministering. All these things are being done by email and by phone.

Brother Funes arrived to look at the painting project we have after having our new mill work and baseboard repair done. He said he would get to us in a week or two. The first painter we contacted came to see the project but never got back to us and we finally had to give up on him.

Trevor’s Trey is back at school and Rissa’s Wyatt is back too. Trevor and Tammie are taking Jadyn to BYUI this week and we are excited for her. The other children are ready to return to school in the next week or so and all will be IN the schools. Cindy is also starting her job as a teaching assistant. We are hoping all goes well and they are all kept safe. We are praying.

My knee is improving very slowly and I am going on longer walks. We still hope to go back on our mission but as we can see, when I am home too much, I start to redecorate. Tom is taking it well.

Cindy, Liza and children on mountain hike.

September 1, 2020

August 26, 1970

August 26, 2020

Wedding Day August 26, 1970

  The month of August 2011 was month that will always be remembered in our family with joy and thanksgiving but also with loss and grief. We had three precious grandchildren born that month.  Halle and Anderson had not survived but we were grateful that Sayde, Halle’s twin had survived and though it was expected that she would have CP, she was thriving and feisty. She still is thriving and feisty and she does have CP. All three would have turned nine this past month but only Sayde was here to celebrate though we remember and think of them all and miss our two angels who chose heaven. The Bull family sent 9 balloons heavenward yesterday on Anderson’s birthday.

Liza’s family arrived yesterday to spend one last week of summer with us. Both Sayde and Liza have bad colds and are trying not to share them. Sayde was tested for covid and the results were negative. 

The children of our family are starting to return to school in the new covid world and we will just have to see how that goes. Jadyn leaves for BYU Idaho in about a week and she has been told that if she comes down with covid the school is asking that students isolate in place and not return home. In that way they hope to prevent further spread of  the virus.

We celebrated a major milestone in our lives on August 26th - our 50th Wedding Anniversary! We started discussing this event while we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii. We felt then that we wanted to share that future event with our children - perhaps in Hawaii. When we left on our mission we decided we would instead celebrate it alone by driving to the White Cliffs of Dover where the old song indicated that you should celebrate your Golden wedding day. Who knew that we would be in the middle of a pandemic and unable to even be with our children and grandchildren or even Dover for that matter. The Hardy family are  the only family near us and they were leaving for Kelowna that day. Well our children and our grandchildren made it a special day for us anyway. They all messaged video clips to us throughout the day sending good wishes and Cindy and the younger boys came over with beautiful flowers, a gourmet cake, wishes and gift certificates from all of them. Joanne called and she and Dave sent wishes and after Cindy posted the event on Facebook we received kind wishes from many and a phone call from Bob and Pat and flowers from our neighbour Jean and family. We went for High Tea at the Little White House in Langley which was so fun and then we ordered Italian food for dinner and enjoyed our yummy cake. It was a lovely day and we were able to share it with our family. But mostly we were able to share it with each other as we have the last fifty years. We were in love on that honeymoon when we started planning our 50th and even more in love when the day arrived. We could have never guessed that possible. We have been so blessed in being able to have our wonderful family, to share remarkable experiences, to add very special people to our friend list and to support each other thru cloud and sunshine over many years. We have tried to make the gospel our constant path and it has opened heavenly vistas to us. Our hearts are full and we are are very  grateful for all these things and so much more.

August 25, 2020

 My knee concerns are slowly improving. My doctor had me take another blood test this week which showed normal white cell levels and no infection present. She also had me see an orthopaedic specialist yesterday, Doctor Boyer. He had an X-ray taken of my knee which indicated my knee is in good shape and the bursitis healing. He thinks the lancing done previously on my knee has contributed to more swelling and bruising and that I am healing from that procedure as well as the bursitis and infection.

We made it a point this week to complete the addition to our privacy barrier which we had originally built on our covered deck. The neighbours are close and we use our deck almost daily in good weather so we decided more privacy would be a benefit to us and the neighbours. Tom cut the 2x2’s that he had bought with Paul and Cindy and I painted them out in the backyard. I helped Tom screw them up and it looks very nice. I spray painted an outdoor sun/moon ornament that hangs on the finished project.

I have listened to seven audio books while my knee has been healing. That has been one of my keep busy projects. I also taught the Relief Society lesson this week for our ward. The lesson was on the new “Proclamation of the Restoration”. I enjoyed preparing for it and I love to teach but the main thing that concerns me with the zoom teaching is the technology. I had a few things that I wanted to share with the class and with the help of Tom, Paul, Sam, the Neisners and pray everything worked out well. I am now going on short walks with Tom each day and I love it. We also ventured out to do some clothes shopping this week and with the way you shop these days with covid concerns it is an adventure.

David Leavitt called Tom and I to be joint music chair people for the ward on Saturday and it was announced on Sunday. With covid things are a little different. The ward wants special musical numbers for our zoom sacrament meetings but we are unable to have any singing by individuals or choirs. They also want us to organize the Christmas program and music - again probably without singing. This will all take some thought and ingenuity.

Cindy did an overnight hike with some friends up at Manning Park this weekend and Liza ran a 32 km three mountain peak trail race up at Big White. Liza won for the women and beat most of the men.  The girls were both happy and both are more adventurous than their mother.

We have had rain storms and sunny days this week and we have needed both the rain and the sun.

Privacy Wall Update On Deck

August 18, 2020

 I have been asked to teach the Relief Society lesson this coming Sunday on the Proclamation of the Restoration and I have been preparing for that zoom meeting. I love to teach but I have never taught by zoom before and I still need to have at least one grandchild show me how to bring things up on the screen as part of the lesson. I think I will need a dress rehearsal to make sure things are working properly.

I have been doing some short walks with Tom in the mornings before he goes on his longer walks. I feel like I need to keep moving and keep my strength up and my blood flowing. The knee concern is still there and gradually, very gradually improving. I have a phone appointment with the doctor this afternoon. I have been cooking, doing a little yard work and cleaning as well as reading. I read David Butler’s book “Almighty” and Michael Wilcox’s book “What Seek Ye?” this week. Both were very good.We went to the plant nursery to buy a couple of new plants and Cindy and Paul took Tom for some lumber at Home Depot and he and I have been cutting 2x2 pieces to add to our “privacy” divider on our back deck. I will stain the pieces and Tom will screw them up. We got Tom’s hair cut this week and I coloured mine. We are looking better.

It has been very, very hot this week and on some days almost impossible to be outside. Our children have all had warm weather too. Trevor had surgery on his other elbow last week and hopefully that will be the last for awhile. We appreciate our children and their phone calls and FaceTime calls. Staying in touch with them means a great deal to us.

We are excited that the Vancouver Temple is moving to a stage two opening this month. Our neighbour Jean has been waiting for the opportunity to go thru the Temple for the first time as has our grandson Max. His girlfriend Jacqui needs to go through too but she is in Australia near Sydney and they are not open yet for endowments.

We continue to pray for the alleviation of the affects of the virus on the world and on our Temples and missions.  We would still like to complete our mission.

View From The Deck

August 11, 2020

This was a happy day for me. With the covid virus Tom has been doing his best to cut my hair and for a skilled dentist he has done very well, however,  I have been longing for a haircut from Karl my long time hair dresser on the North Shore. I had let my hair grow longer than usual and today we finally made the anticipated trip to Karl’s salon. I have no words. When people used to tell me they loved my haircut and wantEd one like it I always felt like saying, “Well, you need my hair, my head and my Karl” and my Karl is the real key. Feeling good!

Liza and Cindy’s families were in Shuswap camping this week with many of the Burgess family members. Sayde celebrated her 9th birthday while they were together.  Cindy and Paul left their two oldest boys Max and Ross home to work so we had them over for dinner together on Friday and Max came for church with us and again later for dinner on Sunday. Ross had gone camping with his fiancé’s family by then. Sarah picked Ross up from our house Friday evening and we were able to see her engagement ring and a picture of the wedding dress she has already purchased. Max’s Jacqui is shopping for dresses online as she cannot get to the necessary stores in Australia at this time.

Our daughter Larissa in Montana went camping with her family on the weekend too and they celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary. They are growing a successful vegetable garden. Our son Trevor and wife his Tammie in Tennessee are preparing their daughter Jadyn for her first year of college at BYU Idaho and their son Zachary to play hockey for the Boise Steelheads. The start of Zach’s season is still up in the air as covid has thrown a curve into professional sports. Trevor’s youngest, Treyvn is already back at school zooming. His oldest, Justin, was named Vice President of his PT grad school. Everyone is busy.

My bursa concerns are somewhat better but it is not a quick heal and sometimes just when I feel we are making progress things seem to slide back. My pain at night is less, I am helping more with cooking, cleaning and things around the house. The pain has certainly decreased so we are hopeful and prayerful. I am getting more books read than usual and have really added to my online cookbook recipes. 

We are excited and somewhat surprised that the London Temple is moving to stage two reopening. The Vancouver Temple is still at stage one. We are pleased though that the Vancouver Temple is moving forward with an exterior fence around the Temple grounds. We were not sure if this was going to happen or not and we are so happy to see it going up. Tom checks on it when he goes for walks without me. I am anxious to be with him again on every adventure.

Karl “Cut”

My Happy Cut

August 4, 2020

We celebrated Tom’s birthday last Thursday, July 30th and Zachary’s birthday on Sunday, August 2nd. Our celebrations are mainly just online these days but Cindy brought us over some healthy desserts for Tom. I felt badly on his birthday as I am still a lame duck and was unable to do much to make it a special day for him.

I went to the doctor’s office last Wednesday for her to examine my knee in person. She just looked at it as she entered the room and said it needed to be lanced. I already realized that and even when she told me it was going to be painful, I was eager to have it done. It has improved somewhat but is still swollen and  a little red and warm. I am able to bend it now but it still feels tight and it definitely does not have full mobility. She took a sample of the fluids and put me on another round of antibiotics. I think the infection has improved but I think the bursa is still inflamed and will take some time to settle.

Tom goes on walks alone and is still doing much of the work around the house but I am trying to do more. I have been entering recipes on my recipe app and now have 111 entered. I think I have all my essentials there now. The app proved to be very helpful on our mission for our meals but should even be more beneficial now. I have listened to Emily Belle Freeman’s book on “Grace”and enjoyed that. I am ready to get going on some other books now.

Cindy and Liza’s families left yesterday for Shuswap Lake with the Burgess family. Liza wanted Cindy’s family to be with them this year. Her sister is a good support for her. The weather is warm and they should all have a good time. The two youngest boys went with Cindy and Paul and Max and Ross are home working and planning weddings.

Mary and Laurel Harvey brought me over a hand held massage device to stimulate my blood flow. They are so kind. Marilyn Rolfson called to see how I was doing and the Elders had a Zoom meeting with us last night. We discussed the “Restoration Proclamation”. We appreciate everyone’s contact and kindness. The Elders have challenged us to write our testimonies in some copies of the Book of Mormon that they might be able to hand out to individuals and they offered to pray for our neighbour Gene who is struggling with cancer.

At this point I am looking for small improvements with my leg and trying look for and appreciate my many blessings. Slowing down with covid is one thing and this knee concern is just an additional braking mode for me to learn from.

Burgess Family

Hardy Family