Minister's Island

Because we were so close to St. Andrews from St. George (only 22 km away) and...

Just a short drive across the ocean floor on the bar at low tide will take you to the summer residence of that visionary railway builder Sir William Van Horne.

It contained some fifty rooms, seventeen of which were bedrooms, and a grand drawing room as large as many of today's homes. Of course, there were servants' quarters and a huge dining room as well as a billiard room where his ornate six by twelve table still stands today.

Also constructed from the quarried beach stone is the circular bathhouse where Sir William would spend hours enjoying his hobby of drawing and painting.

Perhaps the loyalist Anglican minister, Parson Andrews whose old stone house (c 1790) still stands and for whom the island was named, felt the same magic that Sir William felt one hundred years later. Now another hundred years has passed and the mystique remains.

Thanks for the tour. Now to drive back across the ocean floor before the tide changes.

Canuck Aircraft

Zahi Hawass, Archaeologist

"World-renowned archaeologist Zahi Hawass serves as secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and director of excavations at Giza, Saqqara, and the Bahariya Oasis.


He is responsible for many recent discoveries, including the tombs of the pyramid builders at Giza and the Valley of the Golden Mummies at Bahariya. At Giza, he also uncovered the satellite pyramid of Khufu. In 2005, as part of the National Geographic Society-sponsored Egyptian Mummy Project to learn more about patterns of disease, health, and mortality in ancient Egypt, he led a team that CT scanned the mummy of King Tutankhamun. His team is continuing to CT scan mummies, both royal and private, and hopes to solve some of the mysteries surrounding the lives and deaths of such important figures as Hatshepsut and Nefertiti.

Hawass is extremely concerned about the conservation and protection of Egypt's monuments. He has supervised a major conservation project on the Great Sphinx and developed site management plans for a number of important sites, including the unfinished obelisk quarry in Aswan and the temples of Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Dendera. He currently is completing site management plans for the West Bank of Luxor, Giza, and Saqqara.

Hawass, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, has brought the world of the pharaohs into the homes and hearts of people around the world through numerous television appearances and books. His TV and film credits include programs with National Geographic, Discovery, NOVA, The History Channel, FOX, Good Morning America, and the Today Show. He is the spokesman for CNN on archaeological news in Egypt.

In 2006, Hawass received an Emmy for a special on ancient Egypt. He has been featured on many TV shows in Europe and Japan and has been profiled in numerous newspapers.

Among Hawass's many books on ancient Egypt are Silent Images: Women in Pharaonic Egypt, Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt, Secrets From the Sand, and Mountains of Stones: History of the Pyramid Builders. His book about his excavations in Bahariya, The Valley of the Golden Mummies, is a best seller. Many of his books have been translated into multiple languages. He also has written books for children, contributes regularly to several magazines and journals, and has published countless scholarly articles". National Geographic.com

Black Rose would LOVE to work with him just once!!!

King Tut

King Tut
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic

King Tut, depicted here by a gold funerary mask, was a frail pharaoh, according to a new DNA study. Tutankhamun was beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins, researchers say. (Read the full story: "King Tut Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred, DNA Shows.")

Released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the report is the first DNA study ever conducted with ancient Egyptian royal mummies. It apparently solves several mysteries surrounding the 14th-century B.C. pharaoh, including how he died and who his parents were.

"He was not a very strong pharaoh. He was not riding the chariots," said study team member Carsten Pusch, a geneticist at Germany's University of Tübingen. "Picture instead a frail, weak boy who had a bit of a club foot and who needed a cane to walk."

Published February 16, 2010 - National Geographic.com

November 4th

November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 57 days remaining until the end of the year

In 1922 one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times occurred at Luxor, Egypt. It was the tomb of Egypt’s child-king, Tutankhamen, who became pharaoh at the age of nine and died, probably in the year 1352 bc, when he was 19. Perhaps the only ancient Egyptian royal tomb to have escaped plundering by grave robbers, it was discovered more than 3,000 years after Tutankhamen’s death by English archaeologist Howard Carter, leader of an expedition financed by Lord Carnarvon. The priceless relics yielded by King Tut’s tomb were placed in Egypt’s National Museum at Cairo.



http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countries-places/egypt/king-tuts-tomb.html

GeoCaching

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

For those that don't GeoCache pictured on the left is a Travel Bug (Trackable) he's an example of a Hitchiker that is moved from cache to cache. The middle piece of paper tells his story.  On the right is our GPS system.  He was our first Travel Bug find! :)

This Travel Bug is Mr Lemon.  He came from Pennsylvania, United States.  His note says he hopes his Travel Bug goes to every country in the world, but if that does not happen then he hopes it gets to Denmark. He's currently on the move in Canada.

We enjoy Geocaching because it uses different tallents (you have to use a Compass/GPS, able to read and figure out clues, and one of the biggest is that it gives us time in the outdoors (and sometimes indoors) to enjoy and appreciate our country and community.  It's a great opportunity to spend time together as a family and that's why we enjoy it most.  Always bring the camera because you never know what you will find or where you will go. We enjoy it for it's history lessons.  We have learned so much about new places and 'old' places.  We then return home to log our 'finds'.  It's free to join and all you need is a sense of adventure and a GPS.  

Maybe we will see you out and about in this 'new sport'.

We are neo-geocachers, we are newbies to the sport.  The thing is now that we have begun, we have to return to places we had previously visited because when we were there the first time(s) we weren't geocachers. We sometimes wondered why those folks were wondering about looking at the trees or in the bush, and now we know.

CITO - Cache In Trash Out is an on-going environmental initiative adopted by Geocachers to encourage good outdoor civic responsibilty.  While out Geocaching, carry a trash bag to pack whatever trash you find along the trail. 

For more informaiton, please visit http://www.geocaching.com/

 

An old Church/Graveyard

We love to explore the history and the ages/dates of these older ones. 

This is posted on the corner of this Church.

This is just some of the Graveyard. 

Bleakney Cemetery 1836

"This cairn commemorates the Bi-Centennial

of the arrival of

DAVID BLEAKNEY and Family

Loyalists from South Carolina

First English Speaking Settlers in

PETITCODIAC".  1994

"The Lost Keith Girls" - May 16, 1816

Where...................

We have driven by this spot many times and never stopped to read the 'stone'.  The history we missed by driving so quickly today is sad.  This story, too pulled at our hearts. 

"This is the location of the pioneer farm of George & Abigail (Clark) Keith. On May 16, 1816, their daughters Eliza aged 7 and Mary Ann aged 5, dissappeared into the forests of colonial New Brunswick. Although the community searched extensively, all efforts were in vain.
After three decades of silence, Eliza was found living in a distant Mi'kmaq village. She briefly returned to Butternut Ridge (Havelock), visited with her mother, was able to recognize her elderly grandmother, and gave an account of being abducted by native peoples. She chose to return to her Mi'kmaq husband.
Years later, a wandering Mary Ann returned, but in such a troubled condition that she was unable to give an account of herself.  She roamed the countryside until her death.
The story of these girls has been told far and wide, and is recorded in early history books of this province.
Placed by the Keith Family Organization, 2004".

I have included a link that tells more of the story. 



Pioneer Cemetery

His monument is the tall obilisk type one.

Elder

Joseph Crandal

Died Febr. 20, 1858 in the 88 year of his age

With Heavenly weapons I have fought

The battles of the Lord

Finished my course and kept the Faith

And wait the sure reward.

**Those that follow my blog know that Black Rose & I love to explore the history, dates, and the old markers within the older Graveyards/Cemeteries.  I will be doing a series off and on in the next months that will give you a taste of what we have been finding.  I hope you enjoy the journey back in time with us. Be sure to keep an eye on the sidebar pictures too, because sometimes we find interesting stones, markers, objects, animals.**