The date of this posting may confuse you and I truly apologize. For some reason, when this was uploaded the first time, apparantly the posting never made it to the blog, so here you go, something to entertain yourself with. Enjoy!
August 21, 2013
What a beautiful area the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is;
very much like Maine. Marquette is a major port situated on Lake Superior and
is home to an estimated population of 21,500. The discovery of iron deposits in
1844 brought homesteaders to the region to open and work the mines. Eventually
Marquette became known as a summer haven with vacationers arriving by rail and
steamships, filling up the developing hotels. Okay enough of a history lesson.
We had a nice ride from Duluth to Marquette arriving in
plenty of time to get set up at the Country
View RV Park. The ladies of
Nefretete
Temple No. 110 Daughters of the Nile welcomed us with open arms, as have all of
the temples on this tour and I got to fill in as Princess Marshal for the
Ceremonial; what fun, an office which I’d never done before. When Margaret Ann
and I returned to the park after the banquet, Harold had been filling in as our
P.R. man. Many campers had come by asking about Nila and Daughters of the Nile and
some even left a donation. We left bright and early (7 am) on the 20
th
for our 3.5 hr drive to Green Bay and Ajeb Temple No. 156, home of the Green
Bay Packers! Potentate John Sage of Beja Shriners happened to be at the Shrine
Center when we arrived as well as a retired electrician, Claude, who got us
hooked up to power. What was really nice about being at that location was that
the meeting place (the Masonic Center) was just across the street and the
banquet facility (a dining room at the Comfort Suites) was diagonally across
the street, and within walking distance. As we were preparing to retire after
the banquet, we could see car lights in the parking lot outside the coach, full
of people taking pictures and admiring Nila. Oh, I forgot something; SQ Margaret
Ann met with a wonderful group of young ladies prior to the Ceremonial, from
the local Jobs Daughters Bethel. What a delight they were, two sets of twin
sisters were part of the group. Folks, these young ladies are KEY when talking
about the future of Daughters of the Nile. It’s time for all Daughters of the
Nile to begin a dialogue with these girls organizations and become nurturers of
these sweet young women!!
7:00 am - Off to Milwaukee…..
August 25, 2013
We arrived at the Wisconsin Fairgrounds mid-morning on
August 21st, 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 Monday
as part of the tour on 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.
September 6, 2013
Since my last posting, we have been to Egbert, ON Canada
where we spent our R&R time at the home of friends, then into Toronto for
the Official Visit of Oronto No. 69 Daughters of the Nile. This was another
well done ceremonial due to dedicated officers…great job ladies!!
Due to the
morning commuter traffic around Toronto, we decided to leave the city after the
banquet that night and headed to Woodstock, ON. The members of Omar No. 111
Daughters of the Nile and the Shriners of Mocha Shriners welcomed us when we
arrived in London, the next morning where the Official Visit was scheduled to
be held later that day. Queen Evelyn arranged an interview with a local paper
and Supreme Queen Margaret Ann Risk. Folks, this is what we love…another
opportunity to promote the Daughters of the Nile Foundation, the Canadian Trust
and the work that is completed by the Daughters for the Shriners Hospitals for
Children®! We wish that there would be media coverage in every city where the
tour visits, wouldn’t that be great?! The ladies of Omar Temple were exemplary
with their initiation ceremony and their unit performances, what fun!!
September 5, 2013 we shuffled off to Buffalo!! What a
beautiful site as we entered into the St Catherine’s area. From the highway,
and looking out over Lake Ontario we could see the city of Toronto off in the
distance and freighters sitting off shore, in the foreground, waiting to go
through the locks into Lake Erie. It was so neat to see Lake Ontario out one
side of the coach windows in St Catherine and Lake Erie on the other as we
crossed into the USA at Buffalo. I have to say that the members of Athor No. 19
are a crazy funny group of ladies. Any time that I’ve visited there I’ve always
had a great time and left with a smile on my face.
September 6, 2013 – Destination: Erie, PA. and the Shriner Hospital for Children at
Erie. This hospital has become an ambulatory surgery and outpatient care
center. To dispel any and all rumors, IT IS still a hospital in the Shriner
Hospitals system. There is no inpatient department. All treatments are on an
outpatient basis and hundreds of outpatient surgeries are performed every year
with follow up treatment, physical therapy and occupational therapy; another
beautiful hospital! After the tour, and before we checked into the RV park, we
had lunch at a private yacht club, overlooking Lake Erie.
