The Evans Family: Summer's Here!

Clara was so excited that the day after Father's Day was the first day of summer. I think she must have thought that it would instantly be hot and we'd be spending every day at the beach or something. Reminds me of the first time I travelled to the US with Mom and Carl. Carl told me that as soon as we crossed the border it
would be hot and we'd see palm trees. Boy was I ever disappointed with Maine's landscape!

Well, it is a beautiful summer day here today, and we did spend the morning at the beach. The girls had a great time building sand castles. It was gorgeous and whet my appetite for lots of beach days this summer. Seems at the end of every summer I'm always wondering why we didn't spend more days at the beach...maybe this will be the year.

Last week-end John had to go to Cape Breton to participate in the ordination of a pastor there, and the girls and I tagged along. We left early Friday morning, took the ferry, and stayed in Baddeck that night. By Saturday afternoon we were heading back home so it was just a flying trip but it was fun. It was also Ella's first time off the island. On the way to Baddeck on Friday we stopped at the Highland Village Museum in Iona. We had never been there before and ended up spending the entire afternoon there. It was a wonderful attraction for little ones. It's a living history museum set way up on a hillside overlooking the beautiful Bras D'or Lakes.

You walk around the village at your own pace and are greeted in Gaelic by staff in period costumes.

Each house represents a different generation, spanning from life in the highlands of Scotland in the late 1700's up to life in Cape Breton in the early 1900's. The first house is a replica of the stone houses people lived in in the Scottish highlands around 1790. Clara laughed when I told her we would see a house made out of stones with a grass roof. She said, "Oh, just like the story of the three little piglets."

Elizabeth liked the farm animals...especially the wooly cattle.

There's also a one room school house, a general store complete with articles that would have been available for purchase in that era. We visited a blacksmith's shop and watched him fashion a nail which he then gave to us as a souvenir...much to Clara's delight. She had just seen a blacksmith on TV a few days before. I found it really neat because the village told the story of so many who had come from Scotland to this area of the world just as my ancestors did. My father remembers his grandfather speaking Gaelic to him...my, how much is lost in just a few generations!

This is a picture of a hearse from the early 1900's...probably around the same time that our family went into the funeral business (1912).

We are in for a busy evening this evening. Our church is having their lobster supper today, but with a totally different twist than other years. Instead of a fundraising event it has been turned into an evangelistic event. Ticket prices were lowered to just cover the cost of the food, and it was limited to 140 people for a sit-down meal. Following the meal there will be folks sharing their testimonies. We are praying God will use it to draw people closer to Himself.

Here's a picture of our Father's Day celebration at Rob Roy's Restaurant...