It is an odd thing when Upstate New York is colder than Alberta. We were sitting at -15C here in New York and Alberta was having above zero Celsius temperatures. With the cold here comes very dry air. I am over the sensation of getting zapped every time I get up to go do something. I had packed a little diffuser for essential oils but we have been running it constantly just to put a little moisture back into the air. Still….Zing! Uncomfortable but I know that one day it won’t happen anymore. Oh, glory be!
I am including this photo that Erik took a couple of weeks ago. This is our church parking lot in Greece. It looks very frosty but it is entirely covered in salt.
Our house developed huge icicles hanging from the eaves. If one of those fell, it would kill someone. We were wondering how to deal with them and I suggested opening the laundry room window and using a broom, try to knock off the icicles. Erik tried it and it worked. It’s getting treacherous to walk on our stoop stairs because of all the melting, dripping and refreezing. On the other side of the house is our bedroom window and while I was sewing, I heard the thud of ice hitting the ground. Erik was again using a broom to knock off the icicles. I was worried about them falling because the air conditioning units sitting below the bedroom.
We finally were able to make it to Jon’s Sewing Machines in Wolcott. On Thursday we left early and made it with clear roads. They carry a small selection of fabric but I was able to find the New York State panel that has been sold out everywhere. They were able to reorder some and I was thrilled to find it. I want to make a quilt of the places we visited while in New York and many of the panels depict these places. Jon expanded his shop to have a huge repair area and so my Bernina is in for some spa time. On the way home, we hit a snow squall right before highway 14 and so we turned south and went to Lyons.
While in Lyons, we went to Aldi’s to pick up some veggies. We saw an Amish couple shopping there and when we left I had Erik take photos of their ride.
Our son Lyndon sent us a little video of our grandson, Henry opening his birthday present that we mailed to him. I found a quiet book of the Old Testament stories. When Henry asked his mom what it was, his dad replied, “Those are the brass plates.” Henry then said, “They sure are, they sure are!” Toddlers are so cute! He has now decided that he needs to wear a tie to church to go to nursery class.
Salt laid down by the snow removal company.
This past week, we experienced the onslaught of salt on the temple grounds. It’s very pretty and looks like sea glass but unfortunately it does get tracked into the temple and then melts into the carpets and makes blue puddles on the floor. Thus the presidency decided that we should encourage the patrons to remove their outer footwear before coming into the main foyer. We have four little cloak areas to hang coats and place footwear. It really helped to keep the temple cleaner and safer for everyone. This photo shows how much salt is on the sidewalks.
Palmyra temple by C. Fazio
My friend Christine loves to take photos and she’s really good at it. This photo is one of hers on a day where we actually could see blue skies.
On Sunday, we attempted to drive to Greece for church but as we were leaving Palmyra, the snow started picking up in intensity. By the time we reached the west side of Macedon, it was coming down so thickly that we thought that it might not be a good idea to proceed. We passed 3 big snowplows heading out in a row to the freeway and that sealed the deal. We turned around at Egypt and came back to Palmyra in perfect time for church.
This was my first church meeting in English in nearly a year. The first Sunday of the month, we have the opportunity to share our testimonies of the Savior. Members go up to the pulpit one at a time and share their thoughts. Near the end of the meeting, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a young lady going to the front row to wait her turn. I was on the opposite side of the chapel and couldn’t see who she was but my spirit was so drawn to her and I wondered who she possibly could be. When it was her turn, I gasped when I saw that she was a young lady from our 5th Branch that I hadn’t seen in months. Her parents are divorced and she had decided to spend some time with her mother. This young lady is very special and is so, so sweet. She has a very kind soul and looks to help others. I couldn’t wait to see her after the meeting. I turned to Sister Lau, who I was sitting with and said, “That’s why we were sent back to Palmyra today!” This darling girl and I exchanged contact information and had lots of hugs and a great little catchup. I love her like she is one of my grandchildren. This was a great lesson in knowing that God has plans for us and we just need to listen.
I have been asking the Lord about what’s next after the next. He told me that I am getting ahead of myself and that I need to breathe. So, I place my trust in Him and know that all will work out for my benefit.
Take your time to breathe and pause. Especially in these times with all the chaos going on around us, it can become overwhelming. Step back to reclaim your peace and serenity. I love the quote, “Don’t trade God’s timing for your deadline.”
In John 14:27 we find: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Go forth with faith, not fear and know that you are loved and God’s timing is perfect.
Well, today was the day to go to our assigned church congregation…Rochester 5th Branch. Driving on highway 31 and then took an exit to highway 490. Then onto the 390 and then exit onto Vintage Lane. We drove past a big wooded park. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there. The building is shared with the Rochester 2nd Ward. We have Relief Society/Elder’s Quorum first and then have Sacrament meeting. There were very few members today in attendance. Upon entering the building, we stopped and talked with the sister missionaries. One sister is from Texas and has been on her mission for three months. The other sister is from Utah and seems well-seasoned in her service.
In Relief Society (a meeting for adult women), we discussed a talk by Elder Holland given in October 2024 General Conference, titled, “I Am He”. We took turns reading paragraphs from the talk. The gist of the talk was Christ’s charity – evident in complete loyalty to divine will – persisted and continues to persist.
One of my favorite paragraphs: “Whom seek ye?” With all our hearts we answer, “Jesus of Nazareth.” When He says, “I am he,” we bow our knee and confess with our tongue that He is the living Christ, that He alone atoned for our sins, that He was carrying us even when we thought He had abandoned us. When we stand before Him and see the wounds in His hands and feet, we will begin to comprehend what it meant for Him to bear our sins and be acquainted with grief, to be completely obedient to the will of His Father—all out of pure love for us. To introduce others to faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and receiving our blessings in the house of the Lord—these are the fundamental “principles and ordinances” that ultimately reveal our love of God and neighbor and joyfully characterize the true Church of Christ.
Of course, all of this was in Spanish. I sat and prayed for understanding and help in discerning the meaning of the lesson. I started to recognize the difference in the Puerto Rican accent. At the end of the lesson, I was asked to give the closing prayer. If you could have witnessed the sheer panic on my face as I had never given a prayer in Spanish before. But I slowly got up and said, “Okay.” I managed to say some things and everyone was grateful that I did it. I told them that it was my first prayer in Spanish in church. Another hard thing done! We moved on to Sacrament meeting and they were having a testimony meeting, where anyone who felt moved upon, could go to the pulpit and share their feelings of the Saviour. It was a very sweet meeting. Erik used Google Translate with the transcript function to translate the meeting. It was a very humbling experience to know that the Lord wants us to be there, knowing that one of us needs a lot more Spanish in their life. It will give me the opportunity to have more conversations in Spanish.
The day was absolutely gorgeous and sunny. After a snack break, we went for our walk through Palmyra to the Prospect Hill. I made us take a slight detour so that I could see the lady walking her four dogs. I was able to pet and coo to them and then covered in dog hair, we moved on. I started searching for a path to connect to the path that Erik had been on, but ended up bushwhacking through the woods to get to the path. It was a good hike up there. According to climatologists, the Wisconsin Ice Advance, 15 to 10,000 years ago, covered what is now Wayne County with an ice pack about 5,000 feet thick. As a result of the progression and recession of the action, Wayne County contains a number of unique hills call drumlins; for example, Prospect Hill in Palmyra and Hill Cumorah are among the numerous drumlins in our area. At the top of Prospect, stands a tall telecommunication tower and a massive water tank. As we made our way down the trail, we took a one way street back to the downtown area. The houses are of spectacular design and landscape and are a joy to observe.
We watched an uncle teaching his nephews and niece how to use a wiggle board. He said that they have been around for many years but I have never seen one before; fascinating! A person very carefully gets on and then wiggles themselves to create a forward motion. That will develop excellent core strength.
Moving Day!! It’s time to pack up and move one block over. We are moving from a one level apartment to a two-story apartment. I jokingly call it the servant’s quarters. The photo shows the back view of the house. The little set of stairs is the entrance to our place. Our friends, the Gurr’s, moved into the front part of the house. The church that you see used to be the First United Methodist church. It went out of business and the building was sold in 2019. Our landlord, Jeff bought the church and this house which is known as the Parsonage House. Our little apartment has a renovated kitchen. You go upstairs to the bathroom, laundry and bedroom. As the Gurr’s and ourselves started the moving process, we also visited each other’s units. I was gobsmacked by how large their unit is; three bedrooms upstairs! Plus, I was struck by the beautiful staircase and millwork going upstairs. Our staircase is narrow and steep, hence, why I call it the servant’s quarters.
Erik had started bringing our belongings over while I worked on packing and cleaning the previous apartment. Remember how I said that it wasn’t very clean? Well, I was about to rectify that scenario. I took the screens off the windows and scrubbed the window sills and screens. I pulled the bed apart (quite literally) to move it all and clean along the wall behind the head of the bed. Oh, the lovely things I found! Vacuuming and washing baseboards was very satisfying.
Laundry was going on and then Erik suggested that I come to the new place and start organizing our belongings and the kitchen. With another car load, I arrived and started the work. I couldn’t understand the flow in the living room, so I jumped up and started rearranging the furniture. Our landlord said the we were free to do whatever we wanted. Every couple seems to like it a different way.
My haha moment of the day was right at the beginning. When I got up to deal with my hair and get ready for the day, I found a big twig in my hair! All the bushwhacking yesterday gave me a “friend” to bring home. I slept all night with it. I’m just becoming one with nature, haha!
We were both pretty exhausted at the end of the day and were looking forward to a good night’s rest.
I had an excellent night’s rest in a lovely comfortable bed. We have accordian blinds on the bedroom windows and poor Erik was awaken by a bright sliver of light beaming through the edge of the blind and going right onto his face. He complained about it and said that we need something to cover the edges of the windows. I told him that he simply needed to roll over and face away from the light; just like I have to when he is reading his Kobo at night, tehe!
More sorting today and finding places for our belongings as well as trying to decide how we want to live here for a year. It would be delightful to find more comfortable living room furniture. Rob Fergus told Erik that he should try thrift stores because that is how he furnished his home office. Another search party will be organized.
It was raining by the time we left to drive to the temple. Thank goodness I had put my rain jacket on. We met more new people and also are starting to recognise people from the past two weeks. I told workers that tomorrow is Erik’s birthday and I will be bringing cake and ice cream to the temple for everyone to share. I was told that Wegman’s has a good bakery and does nice cakes.
On Wednesday morning, we drove to Fairport where the Wegman’s store is. We stopped at Lowe’s to buy a little tape measure for Erik. I was stunned because people are allowed to bring their dogs in with them. We saw a short haired red dog going into the store. Once we entered, we saw a Great Dane checking out the red dog. Then after wandering looking for organizational items and the tape measure, I saw a white Golden Retriever. I told her what a pretty girl she was and I was rewarded with the Golden butt wiggle. Her dad said that everyone always tells her that she’s pretty and she knows it!
Upon entering Wegman’s, I headed to the bakery department to find out about cakes. Erik chose a chocolate cake and I had them write, “Happy Birthday, Erik”. I’m pretty sure that you can’t have cake without ice cream so we bought a couple tubs of vanilla ice cream.
I saw a recipe that I thought Erik might like for his birthday meal. Lemon Ginger Chicken with Pineapple/Mango Salsa. I made some coconut rice and spicy mayo to accompany the dish. The part I loved was that this recipe too, can be made vegetarian by substituting ingredients. Erik loved the meal and then we headed to our shift at the temple.
Workers at the temple were happy to see a birthday cake for Erik and told me how tasty it was. Wegman’s makes good cakes (is what I am told). I did purchase a gluten free piece of cake to join the celebration and it was very nice. I did meet a father and sons who came to the temple from Minnesota. I learned that they had lived in Canada for 20 years. For 15 years in the Red Deer Stake! He had gone to Canada (Ottawa) to go to law school and ended up practising in Red Deer. He knows my cousin, Todd Law. I asked what took him to Minnesota and his boys said, “You won’t believe what he did!” He left law and became an organic farmer in Minnesota!
Thursday brought a little bit warmer weather. Erik was finishing up little details at the other apartment and I was doing my workout. By the time we left to go work our shift at the temple, I was feeling a little tired. It’s not exactly a good way to start things. I kept nodding off during our preparation meeting before our shift. Our leftover cake was kept in the break room fridge and Erik made sure to have a piece before it was all gone.
Friday morning was a different type of morning. We donned our white scrubs to go help clean the temple. I’m not a real social morning person. I’m not grumpy but I like to start my day slowly and let my body get used to the day. There are squirrels in the area and I could see that some of the spring bulbs were being unearthed by the critters. There was a pansy that was nearly all the way out of the ground. I couldn’t leave it like that so, I dug a better hole for it and replanted it. Erik suggested that maybe I should be helping with the gardening. We had to fill out a form letting the temple maintenance people know what our skills were and also what we liked to do. My eyes hadn’t woken up yet and I couldn’t read the paper without some reading glasses. Erik filled in my paperwork for me. I was laughing because we had to rate everything from 1 to 5. I told Erik to put a 0 for me on a bunch of things. I really don’t know anything about commercial HVAC or boilers and pumps. Cleaning is my forte. After a couple of hours, we left to go home and figure out the rest of the day.
I wondered because of it being Good Friday, what would be going on in the area. Our landlord, Jeff, said that nothing should be different. Nothing except my heart as I pondered the Saviour’s crucifixtion.
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
— John 15:12–13
INGREDIENTS
1 dozen white, organic eggs
Skins from approx. 10 onions
2 Tbsp. vinegar
Approx. 2 quarts water
String
Clean cheese cloth, gauze or nylon stockings cut into 4” pieces
Herbs, leaves, flowers and other botanicals to decorate
INSTRUCTIONS
Place onion skins in large stockpot.
Make sure eggs are clean. Dampen eggs slightly and apply leaves, flowers and botanicals to decorate. Place inside of piece of nylon stocking and tie both ends. Make sure the egg is wrapped tightly so that the botanical decoration stays in place.
Place prepared eggs into the pot with the onion skins.
Cover with water so that it is 1” above eggs. Add the vinegar and place the pot over medium-high heat.
Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Check eggs for desired color.
Remove from heat, let cool and store in fridge overnight.
When ready, carefully remove eggs from the fridge. Next, remove the stockings and design pieces. Dry off and oil if desired for shine.
I was reading about the Latvian Easter tradition of using natural botanicals and onion peels to dye eggs. These eggs are beautiful and a lovely tradition of using what God made for us. I enjoy researching culture from Latvia and Germany because that is where Erik’s parents were born.
Holy Week is known as “Quiet Week” in Lativa. I love that because it reminds us to be still and contemplate the life of the Saviour and what our relationship is with Him.
Saturday morning was so lovely and warm compared to what we had been having for weather. Very cloudy but warm. Threatening looking clouds that would have us checking for tornado warnings in Alberta were swirling all through the sky. Today we were working a double shift at the temple. I was determined to stay awake for this preparation meeting. The temple was full today of patrons and we were kept hopping. Erik was concerned because I didn’t get a break and ended up working the entire day without a break. My legs started complaining and I noticed that one ankle was swollen. Hopefully, a good night’s rest will help a lot.
I hope that you feel and enjoy the blessings in your lives. I know that we all will experience hard times and pain. I rejoice in knowing that Jesus Christ suffered for all of us and took upon himself our sorrows, pains and all hard things. Through the atonement, He brought the opportunity for exaltation and eternal joy. Have a blessed week!
cherylnaglis 