Mon. June 3
We drove the Prius from Madison to Bath OH (near Akron) to spend night with Catherine, Ben and their kids.

Tue. June 4
After breakfast the kids went to school and Barbara and I went down to take a peek at the creek. Then Catherine showed us the nearly completed tree house. I took photos inside and out. A bit later Catherine went to a doctor's appointment and we pulled poke weed and thistles, and Barbara cleared a section of flower garden near the house, until 12:30 pm before setting out for Syracuse. We arrived in Syracuse NY in early evening.

Wed. June 5
It was a partly sunny day with temps in the 60s. I borrowed Margot's bike and biked to nearby Schiller Park and then south to Thornden Park next to Syracuse University, which includes a rose garden that Barb remembers from childhood. Atop the park's highest point is a standpipe holding water to serve the city. After seeing what the park had to offer I biked over to Syracuse University. One thing I stopped to photograph was the 60 ft. mosaic mural shown at left of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. Returning to the house required biking up a long hill much larger than any we have in Madison. I also took the challenge of biking up the steep block-long section paved in brick shown at right. I needed to use the lowest gear.

Thur. June 6
It was a rainy day. I continued reading Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier which I had brought from home.

Fri. June 7
In the morning Barb and I drove over to see the house on Fellows Ave. that she grew up in. In the afternoon we went to Tavery's school for her elemenatary school "graduation."

Sat. June 8
It rained off and on, causing elaborate "wedding" party for Biscuit (Tavery's dog) and Ruby (neighbor's dog) to be canceled. Tavery was upset (slamming her bedroom door.) Barb and I picked up the custom wedding cake and Margot put it in the freezer. The helium balloons were already here, as were a series of gift bags for guests.

Sun. June 9
Sunday was a beautiful day. Barb, Margot and Tavery went to the morning service at May Memorial UU church. After the service Barb went to visit her friend Sue Miller (left) and Margot came home and took Bill and me, along with Tavery and Biscuit, to a potluck UU picnic at a 6 acre farmette in nearby Manlius owned by congregation members.

Mon. June 10
Barb and I visited Woodlawn Cemetery a few blocks north of Bill & Margot's house where a number of Woese, Hommel and Loos relatives are buried. Shown at left is the headstone of Barb's grandfather, John Wesley Smith. It began raining as we finished up. In the rain we drove by 530 Oak St., where Barb remember's Christmas celebrations with her great aunt. The large brick house is now used for offices.

Tue. June 11
We headed for Margot's house in Cambridge MA. Barb opened the front door with one of the keys provided by Margot, but we could not open the door to the 3rd floor. However, one of the keys did open the door at the top of the back stairs. The 2nd floor is empty while work is being done on the floors. The living room in front has been expanded into what was previously part of a 2nd floor porch. At bedtime I started reading The Horse Whisperer, which I found in the bookcase of Margot's 3rd floor bedroom.

Wed. June 12
We headed for Barb Steinau's house on Cape Cod, stopping on the way in Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock (at left). Then we drove on to Barb's place near Eastham and spent the night there. In the evening we were included in a dinner at Barb's which had been arranged to honor a caregiver for Barb who was going on to other things. Barb and Mardi are shown in the photo at right.

Thur. June 13
In the morning I got Mardi's computer set up withDropbox and iTunes. Later I went through the many CDs she had on a table and selected some for her to rip mp3 files from for me. The house is shown at left and the bumper stickers on Mardi's car at right. That afternoon we returned to Cambridge where Margot and Tavery arrived before us. We spent a lot of time in Boston rush hour traffic, which was horrible.

Fri. June 14
We headed north, taking a scenic route for part of the trip near Baxter State Park ME, along the Penobscot River. We stopped for photos of the high water in the rushing river (left). Barb got a row of bug bites on her neck. That evening we found our way to Betty's house in Fredericton NB, despite having only an old map which did not show the new location of highway 2. Barb's iPhone was not available to aid our navigation because of the lack of service purchased for Canada. The sunset photo is from the hike along the St. John River shore path we took with Betty that evening.

Sat. June 15
Our first day in Fredericton was a beautiful day. In the morning I hiked to the west end of the shoreline trail at the Fredericton city limits and back while Betty and Barbara went into town and shopped at the market and visited a museum. The largest stream passing under the path, shown in photo at left, was at the far end of the trail. I stopped and whistled through my teeth at the fence of a horse pasture and one of the horses came over to meet me. After lunch I had Betty and Barb drop me off at the old railroad bridge which is now a popular footbridge over the St. John River in Fredericton. I hiked across to a biker's visitors center and back and then up the shore trail toward Betty's house. Along the way I stopped to photograph a heron standing on a log in a pond of water on the side of the path away from the river. Once back at the house I circled around to get a picture of the barn across the road in the late afternoon sun. When I showed up at the house I was surprised to find that I was late for our planned departure to Linda and Tony's house where we were due at 5 pm. It was already 6:15 pm! We promptly set off for Linda and Tony's where we met their Great Pyrenees puppy, saw their big kitchen addition, and enjoyed a fine lobster supper. Little Pepper, who is 10 years old, freaked out when the monstrous puppy tried to play with him.

Sun. June 16
It was another beautiful day. We went to the Unitarian Fellowship of Fredericton 11 am meeting and met, among others, the leader of the Fredericton Raging Grannies and her husband Tony, a cross dresser. The Fellowship meets in the house shown at left. I learned that Betty has a bicycle, cleaned it up and pumped up the tires. I biked as far as the horse pasture and back. On the way I heard loud drumming of the sort done by pileated woodpeckers near the trail and glimpsed a large black bird on a utility pole, but when I turned the bike around and went back the bird was nowhere to be seen, though the drumming was repeated a couple of times nearby. Later Betty took us to the azalea gardens at a government research facilty in Fredericton.

Mon. June 17
I drove Barb to the western end of the shoreline trail at the Fredericton city limits, drove back and met her on the bicycle. We walked most of the 2 miles back to the house together. At the end Barb took the bike from the nearby trailer park back to the house. That's the St. John River behind her. I made copies of a bunch of black and white photos from an old album of Betty's with Barb's iPhone. Betty prepared a fine lamb dinner for us and 3 guests from the Unitarian church. Barb had 2 helpings of lamb with no ill effects.

Tue. June 18
In the morning Barb and I visited the cemetary next to Betty's house where Gregory and Charlie are buried. Later Betty drove us to Parrsboro NS in her VW suv, passing CICR community radio before stopping at a gas station. Since I was curious we returned to the house with the station and drove to the parking area in back. We almost ran over an old dog which we did not see. Fortunately the owner rushed out and yelled at Betty to stop as she started to back up. The dog was actually under the suv but had not been run over by any wheel. It yelped when it was pulled out by the owner, apparently when it bumped its head on the fron bumper, but then walked into the house. The owner invited us in to see his radio operation. The station is only 50 watts ERP and uses an antenna with a circular part at the bottom. Their frequency is 99.1 FM (the same as the 100 watt station in our garage in Madison). A few more miles brought us to Betty's cottage outside of Parrsboro. I took the photo at right of the Two Brothers Islands from the cottage back yard.

Wed. June 19
While Betty and Barb drove to a museum in Joggins I hiked east along the Bay of Fundy shore from the cottage to Moose River, which took me about 4 hours. The photo at left shows Wasson Bluff as the tide is going out. Betty's property includes Wasson Creek, which empties into the bay below the near side of the bluff. The photo at right shows Moose River at low tide. On the way back I walked out on to the ridge of rock in the bay, shown at left, which is under water when the tide is in. Barb & Betty returned to the cottage about the same time as I did and we had some lunch, around 4 pm. Then the 3 of us plus Pepper walked the other direction along the shore (toward the mouth of the bay) almost to the end of the high cliffs and back. After a pizza supper I walked up to Two Islands Road and then left at the top of the driveway past the place where Wasson Creek and a tributary pass under the road, then into the woods and down to the double cascade waterfall below where the 2 creeks join. The waterfall is shown at left.

Thur. June 20
We visited Tysons' Fine Minerals in Parrsboro and Barb bought a necklace. Then we went to the Geology Museum, which was full of kids on a field trip, and then out to the FORCE tidal research visitor's center overlooking the tidal turbine demonstration project site in the Minas Passage of the Bay of Fundy. After that we stopped at the Ottawa House for ice cream and stayed to look around the museum. That evening we went out to the Wild Caraway Restaurant near Advocate Harbour. Barb took photos of appetizer (right) and desert extras. Back at the cottage we watched "Away From Her" on DVD in Betty's downstairs bedroom.

Fri. June 21
Betty and Barb drove to the home ourside of Parrsboro of the metal sculpture artist, Doris, some of whose works we had seen earlier in Parrsboro. Barb took photos with her iPhone of works in the field by the house of Doris and her husband. I took a short hike up the old access road to Two Islands Road, then along that road section with concrete barriers. At the end of the barriers there was a path through the tall grass which I explored. It led to a kind of stairs with ropes and 2x4s that took me down to the shore. If there was a house associated with the path, it was on the far side of the road. I collected stones and made a stone man with sea weed hair. Barb thought the stone for arms looked like a hat and the body rock like a face below it, so some photos were taken of that. I also built a tower with flat rocks. Later Barb and I hiked west along the shore past Wasson Bluff and stopped at a place where spring water from the cliff feeds the growth of the bright green water plants shown at right. After that we hiked out toward the water as the tide receded. Turning east, we met Betty and Pepper down toward the 2 islands, looking for live muscles along the way. We found none, and Betty found none whether there had been a sizable bed of them 2 summers ago. On the hike back to the cottage I found a large quartz stone protruding from the beach stones near the high water mark. I returned to dig it up with a garden fork from the shed. Succeeding at that I found I could lift it but it was too heavy to carry far. I returned to the cottage and got Betty's permission to borrow her wheel barrow and carried it down the steps and pushed it along the shore to the stone. I rolled it into the wheel barrow and pushed the prize back to the big log across our path to the beach from the steps. I left the stone and wheel barrow there for the night. I felt my back could use a night's rest. That night we watched "The Reader" in Betty's bedroom, a good movie.

Sat. June 22
Before breakfast I went down to the shore and brought the wheel barrow with the big quartz stone up the nearby dirt access road. Pepper, Barb and Betty followed me, as I discovered when I stopped to rest part way up the access road and saw Pepper at the bottom. They all caught up with me when I stopped with the wheel barrow at the top of Betty's driveway. After breakfast I scrubbed up the stone and Betty selected the spot and angle for the installation next to the steps down from the parking area above the cottage, as shown in the second photo. Then Betty and Barb went into Parrsboro and Barb met the CICR radio guy we had talked to, got some business cards from him and took a photo of the sign in front of his house. Later Barb and I hiked along the shore to the steep path I had come down before (with 2x4s and ropes). We went up the path (at right) and then along the road past Betty's driveway and the Wasson Creek crossing and down through the woods to below the double cascade falls. After taking photos there we attempted to hike down the stream to its outlet near Betty's stairs, but it was too clogged with a tangle of fallen trees and branches. Fish several inches long could be seen in the pool Barb is standing next to at left. Eventually we made our way up a rocky little gorge to the driveway, coming out above the shed. In the evening I built a 2-footed tower on the big flat rock, replacing the single footed one I had built the day before. Each day the waves at high tide knock the rocks down, so I find a shorter tower the next morning.

Sun. June 23
In the morning I took one more hike along the Bay of Fundy shore. This time the tide was out, and I took the low tide photo of Wasson Bluff at left. Betty drove us back to Fredericton with a stop for lunch at the truckstop where we stopped on the way to Parrsboro. In Fredericton we had supper at a local restaurant. Betty said she had not seen any photo of Dad on a cot in the yard at Fairground, when he was recovering from rheumatic fever, so I showed her the one incorporated in the online endnotes for her memoir. She printed out that one and 2 other endnote photos that she did not recall seeing before.

Mon. June 24
This was our departure day. Barb took one more photo of me with Betty in her kitchen. Betty recorded 2 station IDs for me and encouraged us to send other visitors her way. We set out for Trois-Rivières QC on highway 8 to 2 (the Trans-Canada) after breakfast. We had light rain at first and then it was partly sunny with temperatures of 75-84 deg. F. We took the shore highway from Levis as suggested by Judith, when we found it. (On local roads we reached highway 171 which took us there.) When I took over driving I noticed that the gas was down to one square. We were worried that we might not find a gas station open on the Quebec holiday of St. Joseph`s Day, but before heading south to the main highway (where an open service station seemed more likely) we went a bit further in the town we had reached and found an Esso station open. Barb went in to see if we needed to prepay because we couldn`t read the instructions (in French) on the pump. The man at the counter came out and flipped up the switch that the nozzles rests on, muttering "English". We filled up and the sun came out.

Tue. June 25
In the morningBarb and I walked toward the river and saw old houses and the old jail. Judith got up about 12:30 pm. We returned at 3 pm for a tour of the jail with a guide speaking in English (as a second language). I got Judith to interupt supper preparations long enough to be photographed at the front door of her house.

Wed. June 26
We had some breakfast and departed Trois-Rivières about 8:45 am (having said our goodbyes to Judith the night before) and arrived in Port Rowan ON about 8 pm. We took the highway 7 toll road to bypass Toronto on the north, reaching it by driving north through Whitby. We did not seen anything I recognized in Whitby. When we arrived at Abigail's B&B in Port Rowan we met owner Madaline Wilson coming from her garden. We talked in her kitchen. She gave us some cheese and crackers and strawberries and chocolate dip to eat since we had not had supper. She has a for sale sign in front but has not had any luck. (She is not happy with the lack of promotion by her realtor.)

Thur. June 27
Craig stopped by the B&B after 10 am and came in. (It was raining.) We talked and later went out for some lunch at a new little restaurant in town that Madaline told us about. (It was hot. We left just after 3 pm, seeing the sign they had put up before we left saying they were closing early, at 3 pm, hoping to get air conditioning installed.) Then we drove in the Prius to the Bush Lot to see all the work he had done on the house. Barb's photo shows me and Craig in front of the new exterior wall. (We are standing under the eve to keep out of the rain.) After our tour of the house we returned to Port Rowan where Craig had left Wanda's truck (with steer horns on the front). A bit after 4 pm we set out for Delhi on the way to Amherstburg (since we were leaving Port Rowan a couple of hour earlier than the deadline we had set for ourselves). We found the rail line and then the single-lane underpass, though we were on the wrong side of it and looked further before coming back and going through it to find the old Delhi house where my grandparents had lived. It is at 475 East Street, at the corner of East and Ann Streets, Ann St. being the one that go through the viaduct under the railroad line. The old garage building is gone, that part of the lot having been sold off with another house now being located there. We arrived at 208 Pointe West Road, Amherstburg, around 8 pm to find Jennifer and Brian in their driveway (the rain having ended). (Fortunately I was able to find, in the back seat, the Southwestern Ontario map Jennifer and Brian had given us several years ago. It helped us find our way there.)

Fri. June 28
In the morning Liz brought baby Evelyn over for the day and we got to spend time with her and her grandparents. After 10 am we headed for the US, arriving in Madison around 8 pm EDT, 7 pm CDT. I found that WIDE-LP logging had ended on June 20 and that the station in our garage had been operating with an events schedule from 2010 since then.

There are more Nova Scotia photos from our trip here and here.