Stiep Stiep Osterhas

(posted by Pete)

Easter has always been a wonderful holiday for us. Our parents and grandparents were very diligent in teaching us all the traditions they enjoyed in Germany as children and these customs remain with us today. As much as we appreciated the religious significance of the season, it was, in all honesty, quite often dwarfed by the dinners we had together and the wonderfully prepared Easter egg hunts. They ranged from the nature trail at Point Pelee to the 2 acre bush on the back of my parents farm. One year we even had to go into the 15 foot drainage ditch in the front of our house on the farm.

As our children grew up, they too were indoctrinated into these great traditions that seemed absurd to many of our friends. One is quite unique. We would arise early on Easter Sunday (5:00 am) and with pussywillow branched in hand would gather at a common meeting place and travel  as a pack from my parents house to My aunt's southwest of Wheatley and then to my  grandparents house in Leamington. We would quietly (LOL - how quiet can 12 -15 people really be) enter the house and make our way to the bedroom. Then reciting a verse in German very loudly, we would proceed to lightly use the branches on those sleeping in the bed until they got up and gave us all some chocolate. We were usually back home by 7:30 which allowed us enough time to get ready for the noon feast at my grandparents home. I am so grateful for their example to me and also for all the love they provided for my brothers, sisters, cousins, children, nephews and nieces and me as they struggled to climatize themselves into a new land.

 I am also grateful that He rose today to provide us with the opportunity to live with Him in the eternities.

Posted below are some of the pictures taken this Easter weekend as we enjoyed the company of family.

the goody tree in our backyard

hunting for Easter eggs in the chicken coop and finding some real eggs too.

Clara watching the hens closely - maybe another egg will come her way

Kathy, Heather and Patti

Heather and Brett

Easter dinner - l to r Roger, Rosie, Marlene, Heather, Tante Fietsch, Brigitte, Volker

Pete and Marlene with branches in hand waiting for the goody basket

Sunday dinner at Tante Fietsch. s house

Love is German relatives

Tante Fietsch and Pete's cousin Gerd. Tante Fietsch has been diagnosed with cancer and so her brother Walter and his son Gerd came from Germany for a visit. Also visiting is another nephew, Werner, from Alberta.

Pete's cousins  Marlene and Werner 

 Pete's Uncle Walter

We had eggnormous fun !!!....

Pat and Bill had an appointment and asked Pete and I to look after Nathan and Clara for a couple of hours this afternoon. So we decided to visit the chickens and gather their eggs.

We found the usual nest and gathered 7 eggs there.

Nathan started to chase the hens to pet them and we found another stash of eggs.

Clara gathered until the carton was full.

 So Clara and I stayed behind while the boys went to get another container

and here's the second box

then we had to wash the eggs and Nathan did it with such care

Then he wanted to know what the inside looked like, so I showed him. He thought there might be a baby chick in there.

then he wanted to play with it

then he wanted to eat it, so Pete cooked him an egg

then Clara wanted to taste too - so we shared

while we were washing eggs, Clara found the rocking horse

we had fun playing, but then Nathan decided the horse needed a name. His name is Rusty, so we hung his name tag around his neck. Nathan made the name sign by copying what I wrote.

we traced our hands and drew a piggy

and sat in the sunshine and loved Molly

swung on the swing and had a great afternoon

I think we might be in the running for Aunt and Uncle of the year in Ontario too. They whimpered and cried and didn't want to leave. Can't breathe, can't see, can't hear but they like us anyway! LOL

Extra Sun on a Sunday!!!

Church was super good today.  Sis. Ripley and Bro. Hewey spoke. We packed a lunch cause we were supposed to visit Windsor Ward and Lasalle Branch...things changed at the last minute...so we went to Leamington Branch .We ate our lunch at the Lake.

It was a beautiful Day !!!

Happy New Deer

We'd like you all to meet   Donner...

                                                      Isn't  he a cutie-patooooty

Go north young man, go north - another goofy idea

Last Thursday morning we finally left Florida for home. We decided to take a little side trip to Kirtland, Ohio to see some of the historic church sites and also to be able to view General Conference. We had a great trip north but are really disenchanted with the cold weather. Why do we live here? We arrived home in Kingsville late Saturday night (11:45 pm). It was sure good to sleep in our bed. Didn't have much food in the house but we made do for today.



Doesn't she look thrilled? (check out the gloves)

our resident polar bear - still in short sleeves

this is the revelation that led to the move from Palmyra to Kirtland

an artists' rendition of the building of the Kirtland temple

a view of the stream used many years ago to power the local saw mill

the yellow paint on this house used by the Whitney family signified wealth in that time period

these entrance doors to the N.K. Whitney store are original

the interior of the store - Newel Whitney was a meticulous record keeper and his journals were used to identify the items he stocked in the store

this is on the second floor of the store. The Prophet Joseph smith used this room as his School of the Prophets. It was in this room that the Prophet read the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom to the 22 brethren who were being schooled by the Prophet. Of the 22 attendees at this school, 20 were addicted tobacco. After the revelation was read, all 20 stood up and threw their tobacco products into the fireplace.

and we couldn't leave this blog without a shot of Heather in some snow