August 9 - 18, 2013

This posting was in a draft form and apparently never loaded. Enjoy!!!

August 19, 2013

Yes, we ARE alive and well! Since my last posting we have traveled from Point Peninsula, NY to Minneapolis, MN and on to Duluth, MN. We left Point Peninsula on Friday August 9^th and arrived in St Paul, MN in only 3 short days, which would have been shorter had we not been held up in the Chicago, even on a Sunday. At least we saw the Sears Tower (not named that anymore), and we saw it and saw it and saw it!

 

 

 

Note to self – next time we travel through Chicago…..don’t; instead, take the extra time and travel around it. Arrangements had been made for us to stay at the St. Paul East RV Park in Woodbury, MN, which was located out in the country, near to the highway and only 20 minutes from the Mall of America! Since my Verizon smart phone was not performing properly, I absolutely had to visit the Verizon store at the mall. Did I check to see if there were any other stores closer? Heck no, why would I do that?! In a word….incredible! For those of you who have never visited the mall, there is a small amusement park located in the center of this 4 wall, 4 story complex.

 

 

Tuesday, August 13^th we visited the Shriners Hospital for Children® - Twin Cities in Minneapolis at 2 pm followed by refreshments and an opportunity to meet the staff. The layout of this 1991 rebuilt hospital mimics that of the Springfield Hospital as the same architect was used. The original hospital was opened in 1924 and situated near the river in a beautiful country setting; the wards for the girls and boys were separated by the nurses’ station. (Almost sounds like a dorm or Catholic school from back in the day, doesn’t it?) Hospital Administrator Charles Lobeck, was our tour guide of this beautiful facility.

The next day, Mat-Sha Temple No. 62 had their Official Visit, honoring the Supreme Queen and initiating 6 new members. Congratulations Queen Sara and the members – great job!! We couldn’t have been treated any nicer by these wonderful ladies beginning with a cookout after the hospital visit at PQ Heather Lambert’s home, and the banquet following the Ceremonial. Oh! And a special treat was that Past Supreme Queen Suzie Schumacher and Bill Risk, husband of the Supreme Queen both flew in to spend a few days traveling with us!

 

 

Bright and early on Thursday, the 15^th we set off for the 3 hr drive to Duluth with Queen Sara as our traveling guest. At a stop in Hinckley, MN I noticed and mentioned to Sara that the color of the dirt was much redder than in the Minneapolis area. Sara explained to me that the northern portion of Minnesota is a huge iron ore mining region and that after mined, the iron pellets called taconite are sent by rail to Duluth, loaded on freighters and shipped to steel mills to be processed into steel. The native Americans named this area “Mesabi” due to the color of the earth when discovered.

 

 

 

Past Queen Darlene Carlson, graciously, invited us to park Nila in her driveway during our stay in the Duluth area. I can’t tell you how absolutely wonderful this was! We all so enjoyed spending time with her, she transported us where we needed to be, opened her home to the five of us and Mollie got to play with her two four footed pals, Windsor the border collie and Bentley the collie. Mollie was somewhat confused with the border collie as Windsor kept trying to herd Mollie in; it was really quite comical to watch. August 15^th – August 17^th the Midwest Shrine Association held its annual field days in Duluth. When we arrived in town, we went directly to a ladies brunch followed by a train ride up the North Shore of Lake Superior. The Shrine parade was held that evening in Superior, WI, located just over the Blatnik Bridge which connects the two cities and states. Nila made her second parade appearance just behind the “Hiking Vikings”, a unit from Lotus Temple No. 7, Daughters of the Nile,  two convertibles transporting the Supreme Queen, Past Supreme Queen, Queen Sara and Queen Linda and just ahead of the color guard.

SQ Margaret Ann

PSQ Suzie Schumacher

Queen Sara of Mat-Sha

The Hiking Vikings of Lotus No. 7 Daughters of the Nile

SQ Margaret Ann

Nila's third Shrine Parade

• Noble Harold in the drivers seat.

A Hillbilly Unit!

SQ Margaret Ann and Queen Linda of Lotus

Tina and Lena on stage

The Risks and the Polleys

It was fantastic! The “Hiking Vikings” unit is very active within the local communities and based on the cheers from the crowd along the parade route are very well received. The city of Duluth is a major shipping port on Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes. On Friday, we attended an MSA ladies luncheon on the Duluth waterfront. The fantastic meal was followed with the comedy singing act of “Tina and Lena”, Minnesota best friends since high school duo, who had us in stitches the entire time that they performed. OMG, they were hilarious! Tina and Lena started their act 30 years ago and take it on the road for more than 100 days per year. Friday evening found us at a Shrine-A-Rama Pardi Gras where many of the patrons were dressed in Mardi Gras attire. There, we were entertained with a swim suit fashion show. Guys, this was not a fashion show in the normal sense, no indeed. The show was organized by the Hiking Vikings and the models were members of AAD Shrine, including the current Potentate who dressed up for the occasion in a wedding style swimsuit. These guys really knew how to ham it up and raised in excess of $1800.00 for the hospitals. You go guys!! Saturday morning we set off for Proctor, MN a short 8 mile journey to star in another parade. The city of Proctor was celebrating their annual Hog Head Days so the parade was a joint effort of the Shriners and the local groups and clubs. Again, Nila fell in behind the Hiking Vikings followed by the Queens and the color guard. The streets were lined with spectators for the 1.5 mile long parade. The weather couldn’t have been better for a parade; mid-seventies with a beautiful breeze, awesome! Saturday evening we went to this really neat pizza place in Superior which our host Darlene has been going to for better than 40 years. It’s great to spend time with the locals; they know all the best places to patronize! Thank you Dar. Sunday, it was back to work. We attended the Official Visit of Lotus Temple No. 7 where one new member was initiated. The ceremonial and banquet was held at the historic Scottish Rite building in downtown Duluth. This building is beautiful as are many of the old Masonic buildings. It’s rich in history, architecture and design. The ladies and officers of Lotus performed their ritual work like a well-oiled machine….no glitches, no break in the action…beautiful!

Here we are, Monday morning, August 19, 2013, on our way to Marquette, MI to visit Nefretete Temple No. 110, Daughters of the Nile. We were on the road at 3 am for the 5-6 hour drive and 1 hour time zone change. More to come later, stay tuned……

September 8 - 17, 2013

September 8, 2013

The Presque Isle Passage RV Park greeted us warmly when we arrived on September 6^th. Coincidentally, this park was formally owned by a “Hill” family. A Wal-Mart run was on the schedule for the morning of September 7^th, to purchase provisions and take a ride into the city of Erie. Ten of the Tall Ships were in port and due to the multitudes of people trying to get close enough to view and tour these amazing sailing vessels, we couldn’t get anywhere near, within the time frame which we had. Soooooo, back to the RV Park we went to prepare for the Official Visit at Selket Temple No. 140, Daughters of the Nile. This Temple meets at Zem Zem Shrine Center, a beautiful building! It was a short night after the banquet as we left at 5 pm this morning for our 5.5 hour trip to Parkersburg, WV. Actually, we are on the road as I am writing this. The father south we go, here in the state of Ohio, the hillier the terrain becomes. Being from the Northeast, I think of this country as being so industrial and it is amazing to me to see so much farm country! This is truly the “Heartland”. Thus far on this journey we have crossed into and out of 22 states and provinces, have visited 15 Shrine Centers, 6 Shriners Hospitals for Children® and logged almost 12,000 miles!

September 11, 2013

I would be sorely remiss if I did not make mention in this blog of the horrific attack on this country 12 years ago today. We as Americans, lost so many innocent citizens on that fateful day, from the attack at the Pentagon in our Nations’ Capitol, the devastation and destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City and the fatal crash of Flight 93 in a remote field in rural Pennsylvania. Our country and mostly our hearts will be scarred forever; may we always honor and memorialize our fallen citizens and members of the military who have fought so valiantly to uphold the honor of this United States by securing our freedoms, not only for us but for our future generations.

After arriving in Parkersburg, WV on the morning of September 8^th, we were greeted at Nemesis Shrine Center by Queen Agnes and Princess Royal Pat, who brought us delicious cheese balls, homemade salsa, chips, crackers, homemade Plum wine and a homemade apple pie. Yum!!! This 5 year old Shrine Center is nestled among the trees, high on a hill and overlooking the valley where the city of Parkersburg is located. Beautiful! These Shriners built their building to accommodate their needs as well as provide a great venue for receptions, banquets, etc. They have an outside pavilion, complete with picnic tables, a kitchen, sound system, grills and electric hookup. Future plans include adding a gazebo. Deer and turkeys wander around the property on this serene site. The Official Visit was at the Masonic Center; a beautiful old building in the heart of this quaint and historic city. Two highlights of the event were that the Queen's granddaughter sang the song "We Put Children First" and that Margaret Ann was presented with a Citation from the Mayor of Parkersburg.

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday morning, before leaving town to head towards Pittsburgh, we met with several of the ladies at the Blennerhassett Hotel for breakfast. Let me back up a little here. In Supreme Queen Margaret Ann talk during the Ceremonial, one of here suggestions is to encourage the members to dress alike and go out to a restaurant, etc. and have fun. This will stimulate questions from onlookers re: who they are and what organization do they belong to. So, when we walked into the hotel restaurant I glanced at a table of five ladies who were dressed in, at first glance, what appeared to be t-shirts. Well, when taking a second look, they were not dressed in t-shirts but in identical nightshirts, slippers, hair clips and each holding a stuffed animal. We couldn’t stop laughing!!! (Note to Supreme Queen – be careful what you suggest!) True to form, we were asked by other patrons, who we were and what organization did we belong to.

 

The Traveling "Nilettes"

 

On the road toward Pittsburgh we stopped at a Wal-Mart to look for identical garb such as the ladies in the restaurant were wearing, but to no avail, we struck out and could not conceal our disappointment. We parked in Connellsville, PA at an RV Park for the night.

Airys Temple, Daughters of the Nile greeted us on the morning of September 10^th at Syria Shrine Center in Cheswick, PA; another beautiful building on an expansive site. After the Ceremonial and at the banquet, many events occurred. We were escorted in to the main ballroom on a plush “Red Carpet”. We were entertained by the Syria Shriners Chief Rabban and his singing partner Tony, fabulous!

 

 

 

Supreme Queen Margaret Ann was presented with a Pennsylvania State Flag which had been flown at the capitol building for a day and an American Flag which too, was flown over the capitol building and was presented by the pageantry unit of Airys Temple in a flag folding ceremony, amazing!

 

 

 

Oh, I almost forgot, the five ladies who were dressed alike in Parkersburg were introduced at the beginning of the banquet, as the “Traveling Nilettes and dressed in their “outfits”. They presented both Margaret Ann and me a gift; in the bag were complete outfits, identical to theirs, complete with hair clips and stuffed animals.

 

 

 

Apparently they shopped at a different Wal-Mart than we did!! So, do I think that the “Traveling Nilettes” will show up at another Nile banquet? Oh yeah!!!

September 22, 2013 – My original intent with this blog was to keep you all updated on an almost daily basis, so I apologize for the extended gaps between postings. Really, I’ll try to do better, however while the Supreme Queen is traveling in the Northwest, Nila, her driver and company are on hiatus in the Northeast. Back to my journal – This has been a journey of a life time for us; to be able to gaze out of the large windshield of the motor coach and take in the landscape of the cities, country and Great Lakes! The people along the way have been amazing, including the ladies and gentlemen of the Daughters of the Nile and Shriners as well as the curious seekers when we stop for fuel, or at an overnight stop in an RV Park. We’ve even received donations from strangers who after learning about the tour, felt compelled to contribute to the Foundation. Priceless!

 

Next stop - Altoona, PA the home of Jaffa Shriners, Dorcas, Daughters of the Nile and Boyer candy factory, the makers of the Mallo Cup and Smoothie!! My friend Jackie took me on a tour of her city and we actually stopped at Boyer so I could purchase some of their product. Yum!! Jaffa Shrine Center is a huge building, situated in the heart of Altoona and houses the Shrine Circus under its own roof! Three Shrine Children and their Mom's were special guests at the banquet ans spoke of their experiences as patients and families of the patients at the Shrine Hospitals. Lesson to remember - even if your day is a little out of whack, it's far better than the lives of many of these children, who also wear the biggest smiles!!

 

 

After leaving Altoona, we traveled the short distance to Cumberland, MD where we were met by the Campers Club of Ali Ghan Shriners. This shrine center boasts a nice RV Park for its members and guests. The front of the shrine building looks like the front porch of a southern planation house, with pillars and multiple rocking chairs in which to rest and take in the view of the Pennsylvania/Maryland mountains, beautiful!

 

 

 

This Nile temple, Re Temple, went all out with their Official Visit, beginning with a “paving brick” in honor of the Supreme Queen, which will be placed in their memorial walkway which surrounds the gazebo. Following a newspaper interview, she was greeted by two Shrine patients, the Ali Ghan Highlanders and presented with a yellow rose. At the banquet she was presented with a Key and Proclamation from the City of Cumberland, an Official Citation from the Alleghany County Commissioners and an Official Citation from the Maryland State Governor. To be in Endicott, NY the next day at 11 am, we left Cumberland at a very early hour, daylight was hours away….

 

 

Endicott, NY – we had reservations at the Pine Valley Campground, a nice campground outside of town. I learned the difference between a campground and an RV Park. Gravel and grass sites versus paved; gravel and muddy roads versus paved; unheated restrooms versus heated, tiled and individual units. No cable or WIFI to…. well you get my drift. So okay, I may be a little spoiled! At Zuleika Temple, Daughters of the Nile, Margaret Ann was given multiple Citations and Proclamations by a Shriner.

 

 

First Crown worn by the Queens of Zuleika Temple Daughters of the Nile.

 

The next morning we had another early start to get to Albany/Latham, NY by 10am. We were met there by a photographer who with the assistance of Rosemary Caruso, put together a wonderful news article for the Altamonte Enterprise, a local paper. Check it out at - www.altamontenterprise.com. Click on Community then Correspondents. The ladies of both Zuleika and Cyrene Daughters of the Nile Temples put on beautiful ceremonials and banquets. Thank you! Sunday, September 15^th, off to Utica, NY. Well actually, the Villages at Turning Stone RV Resort in Verona, NY. Now that was an RV Resort, holy moly! Large shady grassy lots with paved slabs. Clean, beautiful and heated restrooms. Yes indeed, very nice! Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to take advantage of the shuttle bus which delivers guests to and from Turning Stone Casino 24/7. Maybe another time. However, what we did have time for was telling several of the other campers (those curiosity seekers which I’ve mentioned before) of our mission and reason for the tour. So now, three more couples have knowledge of our philanthropy and hopefully will share the information with three more and three more and so on!! We had a delightful day with the ladies of Uarda Temple and can’t thank them enough for their hospitality. Monday, the 16^th we were off to North Syracuse. I think that this was the shortest journey which we have had so far on the tour; less than 40 miles. I’ve had the opportunity to visit Ilderim Temple Daughters of the Nile in the past and love these ladies! A record number of ladies were in attendance, > 90. They meet at a fairly new Masonic Center in North Syracuse and had their banquet at the American Legion Hall in Cicero. Grilled steak that was cooked to perfection!!! Now, let me tell you about the campground, not an RV Park, where we parked that night after the banquet. First let me preface this by saying that I was the one who found this place as it was the closest to Cicero and on the way to Webster, NY. Talk about a mud hole….no sewer hookup and no satellite reception. Definitely a “campground”. I’m really not complaining, although it sounds that way, I’m just really noticing a huge difference in the parks. Tuesday morning, bright and early, off to Webster for the official visit at Zama Temple which was wonderful. I actually had an hour or so to shop before the events began! This was our last visit of this leg of the tour. Nila is on hiatus now until October 10^th when we are scheduled to tour the Shriner’s Hospital in Chicago. ‘Til then……..

August 25, 2013

We arrived at the Wisconsin Fairgrounds mid-morning on August 21^st, got set up and went to Brookfield, WI, to the McKinley Masonic Lodge where Shelomoth Temple No. 106 holds their Sessions.  After the Ceremonial of Initiation, Queen Sue maneuvered through rush hour traffic to deliver us to the Tripoli Shrine Center in downtown Milwaukee, for the banquet. Holy Moly…..another city I wouldn’t want to live near due to the traffic. I’m beginning to think I must be a true country girl!! Anyway, the Tripoli Shrine Center is absolutely beautiful and is on the National Historic Registry. Within the past few years the building went through an extensive multi-million dollar restoration project and as a result things were discovered which they didn’t know existed, especially behind the stain glass windows in the dome.

 

Originally, each of the tiles in the tile and mosaic floor were laid down one piece at a time by an Italian family who resided in the building during this three year process. Much of the furniture and lighting in the building is original as well as the tile floors which were laid down one piece at a time.

Early (again early) the next morning, we left the fairgrounds for Madison Wisconsin and the official Visit of Antioch Temple No. 113 and the scheduled overnight stay at Zor Shrine Center. Enroute, Harold got us through a horrific thunder storm…the winds began to switch, the trees began to twitch. This Shrine Center is another of the fairly new and modern Shrine Centers which we have visited. We were met by a noble who assisted Harold in getting us hooked up to power. The ladies of Antioch did a wonderful job with the Ceremonial and provided everyone with a delicious banquet and wonderful hospitality!

 

Friday the 23^rd, off to Rockford, Illinois! We arrived in Rockford early and drove straight to Tebala Shrine Center where Denise, from the office, made sure we had what we needed to get hooked up to water and electric. Thank you Denise, who is also a member of Daughters of the Nile. I have to say that this Temple put their Official Visit over the top with their ritual work, banquet, displays and special guest performance by Shrine Hospital Ambassador and recording artist, Jeremy Gabriel!

 

Amazing! Because we had to be in Montreal by 10 a.m. on MonAs part of the tour  ay the 26^th, we decided to get on the road directly after the conclusion of the banquet. To avoid another episode of traffic delays around Chicago, we took I-39 south to I-80 east and stopped in Portage, IN for a few hours rest and parked at one of our most frequently visited sites, Walmart! Saturday, August 24, 2013 – Harold is like a mad man when he has a long trip and definite destination in store, so we traveled all the way from Portage IN to Rochester, NY where we stayed at the home of very dear friends, Karen and Al; a 15 hr. day! The next day we drove to our camp in Point Peninsula and stayed the night there; getting a very early start Monday morning to finish the trip to Montreal.

Monday August 26, 2013 – We got a very early start (5 am) and headed up the road to Montreal. Heading northeast toward the US/Canadian border at Thousand Islands, we were blessed with a beautiful sunrise! As many times as I’ve crossed the 2 bridges which connect the two countries, I’ve never sat up high enough to have such a magnificent view of the St Lawrence River and the many summer homes which are built on the privately owned islands, which make up the Thousand Islands. Wow! During our stay in Montreal we had permission to park at the Karnak Shriners Center. The ladies of Oasis No. 46, Daughters of the Nile greeted us with open arms and executed a wonderful ceremonial with the banquet following at Karnak Shrine. Another first – while singing the Canadian National Anthem, O’Canada, it was like listening to a “round”, remember when we used to sing those in school? Some of us were singing in English and some in French, it was really nice to hear the song being sung in the native language of many of these ladies from Quebec!

 

Tuesday August 17, 2013 – Nila and its inhabitants were guided to the Shriners Hospital Montreal by Queen Christine’s husband, Richard, which was much appreciated! There is soooo much construction in and around the city that I’m not sure if we would have gotten there without his guidance. Our tour guide for the hospital was Celine Dorey the hospital administrator who was so gracious and informative. In 2015 this hospital will be closed as a new state of the art facility is being built as part of a medical complex which includes the Montreal Children’s Hospital and McGill University Medical Research Center. As part of the tour, Celine explained and described to us the details of the new hospital. Every geographic region of Canada will be represented throughout the new hospital, in design and color. The hospital staff provided us with a nice lunch during which we were privileged to listen to a guest speaker who was a Shriner child and is now a staff member at the hospital. She told of her story, how she came to be a patient at Shriner’s and her desire to give back to the medical community which gave her so much; very inspiring. After lunch we boarded vans and were taken to the construction site of the new hospital where we stood on an observation platform and were given information from the site engineer, regarding the complex. Hard hats and vests were required! This hospital will be situated next to the Children’s Hospital, at one end of the complex and is now being prepared for the pouring of the cement for the foundations. Completion is scheduled for 2015. Surprisingly enough there is no helipad on the complex site.

 

Saturday August 31, 2013 – After the visit to the Montreal Hospital, we drove back to camp for some R&R, while Supreme Queen Margaret Ann made visitations to St. John, NB and Halifax, NS. Here we are, back on the road again, on our way to Ottawa. In going through Canadian customs we were detained and instructed that we had to go through immigrations. What? And Why? An customs agent instructed us to leave the coach and go inside the customs building so he could board the coach and go through everything. Harold was grilled by another agent as I sat outside with Mollie. We concluded that the reason for this detainment was to determine if we were participating in a money laundering scheme. After about an hour we were cleared for entry into Canada. The remainder of the ride to Ottawa was uneventful as we arrived on time despite the delay at the border. Sakina Temple No 145, Daughters of the Nile extended their Ontario hospitality to us by treating us to lunch, holding a wonderful Ceremonial and a lovely banquet meal of roast pork, my personal favorite. Montreal Shrine Hospital Administrator, Celine Doray attended this banquet and spoke again, singing the praises of the Daughters of the Nile and the organizations’ dedication to the hospital system! What an absolutely delightful lady, who speaks with so much love and enthusiasm for the Shriners Hospitals.

September 1, 2013 – 8:00 am – On the road to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for a day of R&R.