Halifax Public Gardens, across the road from The Lord Nelson Hotel (previous post)

Beautiful rhododendrons in the park …

and more. Aren’t these beautiful too?

A little history on the gardens opened to the public in 1875

I wonder if this fountain is as old as the park

The S V Mar at the dock by Murphy’s Restaurant

Little tug on back of bigger boat

Wonder how they rock the harbour. Maybe with music and singing?

All aboard the Mar with sails that were gathered like billowed sheets above our heads.

Someone offered to climb the ladder, but I don’t remember who it was. Not me, anyway!

On the evening cruise with fellow editors…

on the SV Mar, managed by strong young men like this fellow.

A university student spending his summer working on the boat

Putting up the giant sails that spread out to catch the wind

Moving out from the dock and into the harbour

…and a glimpse of Theodore Too. Just learned that Theodore’s home is Halifax.

A tad windy and chilly out here. By the time we came back to the dock, I suspect I was not the only one ready to warm up. Guess we need to dress like sailors do.

We got to singing on the way back. The ship Titanic was discouraged, but I remembered an old folk song we learned in school, The Nova Scotia Song, and others joined along in the chorus

“Farewell to Nova Scotia …”

More pictures for another day…

The Lord Nelson Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia, site of our conference

Conference co-chairs Nancy and Valerie with Barbara, opening remarks at Welcome Reception

Fiddler, Anthony Rissesco, playing east coast tunes during the reception

Thanks to Gael Spivak for this photo of me at Exclamation Mart with my book

Conversations during Exclamation Mart with Adrienne Montgomery

A pleasure to see Frances Peck again and to learn that she was born in Cape Breton and is a Maritimer at heart

Banquet table setting, then a  delicious dinner

The Oops Awards for most humorous, most expensive and other kinds of errors, by James Harbeck

Sitting around the banquet table and chatting, left to right, Patricia Morris McDonald and Moira Langton, members of the Halifax EAC group who put on the conference

Banquet table, left to right: Joanna, Vanessa and Greg

Members of the Black Rum Band: Adele, Carolyn (moi!), Nancy, Ann, Valerie, Jacquie, Moira, Daphne and Patricia

Song lyrics adapted by Daphne from an old Maritime song. No rum or blueberries in site! Thanks to Helena for sharing your suite for our practice sessions.

This photo of the band, Traci Williams, by permission.

I had the pleasure of  meeting Sheree Fitch and introducing her session. We did not plan to coordinate our clothing colours, but  apparently we both like blue.

An attendee took our photo with my camera.

And the SV Mar that took us on an evening cruise in Halifax Harbour on the last day of the conference

Photos on this blog by C. Wilker, unless otherwise noted

Coming soon: On the town, sightseeing in Halifax

At Green Gables, PEI, 2010, photo by C. Wilker

Pastor Peter Kuhnert and worship assistant at seminary, Black History Month celebration,  February 2013

On Sunday, June 9th, Maranatha Lutheran congregation, with Pastor Peter Kuhnert, will join St. Philip congregation for a joint service. In recognition of the two congregations sharing the space on  236 Woodhaven Road in Kitchener, we will celebrate this first Sunday together.

We expect to  share in various celebrations throughout the year, their congregation in some of our activities and we in celebrations that they organize, such as the Black  History celebration that Pastor Rick Pryce, minister of St. Philip, and members of St. Philip council and others joined in February (as shown in link below).

From that point on, the St. Philip building will house both ministries. St. Philip worship service and Sunday school beginning at 9:30 am and Maranatha beginning their worship at 11:00 am. Each congregation will maintain its own identity, and we are excited for this new partnership.

We’re looking forward to making music together and being in mission for others together and apart

photo, C. Wilker

http://storygal.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/a-celebration-of-black-history-month-with-maranatha-lutheran-church/

photos of Black History month by Sylma Fletcher, used by permission.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/opinion/vigilante-copy-editor.html?smid=fb-share&_r=2&

While you’re there, read posts by other Canadian Christian writers.

And for all the mothers reading my post, may you be blessed with love and time with your family, yes, even with long-distance calls.

My mother on her wedding day

Here’s a video of Ali Matthew’s song Counting Your Blessings. Go ahead and count yours. Name them too.

Waterloo Chapters, King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario.

Go here to listen to my interview with Robert White at  Faith FM’s Art Connections

From my publisher’s website:

A marvellous family friendly book that will lift your spirits. Once Upon a Sandbox, by C. R. Wilker, is a warm and gentle memoir about family life on a farm. It is about the farm and the individuals, the personalities, and the ties that bind them to each other.

Whether it’s helping to whitewash a barn, hoeing endless rows of vegetable plants, or driving a tractor to prepare for spring seeding, there’s plenty of work to be done. Through this collection of prose and poetry, reflect on the realities of farm families, their connection with community, weather and economy, as well as being stewards of the land from which they make a living. This is a fine story to which anyone will relate. Read more here.

speaking at Kitchener Kiwanis Club, November 2012

Once Upon a Sandbox was a finalist in the 2012 Word Guild contest

Thank you again, Deborah Pryce, for your delightful art on the cover of my book.

Here’s a letter I had forgotten about, one I wrote  in late 2009 when I was President of our Toastmasters club, the Energetics. I just unearthed the letter today and thought it was worth sharing.

Most organizations, I think, go through times of losing members and losing momentum. I’m happy to report that by the end of that year, we had gained momentum again and grown our club considerably. Here, for others who may be feeling discouraged by low enrollment or participation, is that letter.

Dear fellow Toastmasters

Two meetings ago, our theme was “Slow and steady wins the race,” a lesson we get from Aesop, a 6th Century B.C. Greek writer, who wrote The Hare and the Tortoise. He wrote entertaining short stories and fables that were meant to teach a lesson.
http://www.online-literature.com/aesop/

The tortoise, a rather slow moving creature, challenges the hare [rabbit] to a race. The hare sneers at the tortoise for his crooked legs and slow movements, and he brags that he can win the race easily. He accepts the challenge, assured that he can win. He leaps on ahead, while the owl, who is judge, and all the forest animals eagerly watch the race.

Hare had used so much energy bounding ahead that he decided to eat some carrots alongside the path, and then, since tortoise is still so far away, to take a nap beside the path as well. All this time, the tortoise plodded along steadily. Hare woke from his nap just as tortoise approached the finish line, and for all the hare’s hurry, owl declared the tortoise the winner of the race.

I thought how much that lesson compares with our Toastmasters journey—the slow and steady part. It might take awhile to get that Competent Communicator designation, but week after week and month after month of practice moves a member further along.

We are not to compare ourselves with others but to progress along our own course with the help and encouragement of the others. We learn from the others and not in isolation. The race analogy fails here. We are more like team members who work together to achieve something we cannot do alone. We are in a course alongside others who are also learning and growing.

If we continue along steadily, week after week and month after month, we will surely reach our goals. We will become better communicators and leaders. We are not in a competitive race to reach our goal, as the Hare believes. If one person takes two years and another member takes one to achieve the CC or ACB or whatever designation one chooses, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we join in and learn.

There has to be action and learning and cooperation among members. When only a few carry the load, they get tired and discouraged. When they get discouraged or drained from doing too much, the whole club suffers. Our club needs all of its members. And yes, I know, we have a life beyond Toastmasters.

Let’s renew our energy, beginning this new month of December, and continue on through the rest of our Toastmasters year, to reach those personal goals, and at the same time support others who are working toward theirs.

Sign on to the club website and put yourself in roles as often as you can. Work toward those goals you’ve set for yourself or challenge yourself to a new one for 2010. Let’s make the rest of the year a team effort where everyone wins. Game’s on!

Respectfully,

Your President

At Open Doors Waterloo, a Toastmasters initiative

At Huron Natural Park, photo by James Woo, Clickr Photography

For more information on this conference www.worldreligionsconference.org