Kelsi the Cheerleader

Looks like Kelsi has a good start at posing as a Cheerleader!  She looks so cute.

Fun Weekend

I picked Maria up in Reno and we drove to Matt's place in Tahoe.


Maria had a choice reunion with Bruce, as well as Matt.

 

We had wonderful Mexican food at the Castinita (I think)--so good!

Checked out Matt's Pad.

and Bruce remembers the treat lady--me.

 

Fuqua Birthday Party

Three Fuqua birthdays celebrated in August--the twinnies Raina and Sage


and Fin--looks like Grandma bought the right present for him and Steph made beautiful doll cakes for the twinnies.

 

 

Len's brother Rob was visiting.

and finally a cute picture of Carole and her lifelong friend Alyce, aren't they a cute 70 something?

 

Family Fridge Magnet

Stephanie sent a Fridge Magnet with Maria for me.  It is of my family in 1961 and I love it.

 

The Expats

It is always fun to find a book that really holds your attention.  "The Expats" is a first book by Chris Pavone and what a thriller.  I read till 3 AM and then finished it the next day.  It was that good.  I am glad he also referenced 10 other good books about Expats of which I have only read three so that will be fun to find also.

I need to get the next "Emigrants" book--Moberg really makes you feel like you are there.  I am so glad my ancesters did the emigrating and I was born in America, how blessed we are.

Keeping Up with High Tech

I broke down and got myself a Tablet--I decided in today's world it is just part of the scene and probably more necessary than a microwave oven.  The Church is encouraging everyone to have their own digital manuals and scriptures and I can see why.  I got the Samsung Galaxy 3--10 inch.  Really like it so far except for the games I accidentally added in some foreign language, not sure how that happened.

Once I made my decision, I ordered it at 10:30 AM on Thursday and it was shipped that night and arrived on my front deck late morning on Friday--from Arkansas.  How do they do that?  When I ordered it, they said it would be delivered on Monday, which seemed reasonable to me.  But free overnight delivery?  Wow.

Anyway I still like my Kindle Paperwhite strictly for my reading books.  It is so easy to hold for late night reading which is getting to be more and more when I read my books.  Currently I am reading "Secret Daughter" by Gowda.  It is such a revelation to me reading about India and the diverse conditions that abound in that country.  I think this is a first book for this author...excellent.

Hardy Update

Really nice picture of the Hardy Family!!

Good Things

Yesterday I received six discs of good music from a high school friend, Joanie, who I probably haven't seen since college days.  She has a collection of around 9000 pieces on digital and sent me what I asked for which was about 100 or so.   So nice of her!!!  I love it.

So I have it all on my Itunes and Ipod and can now listen to three versions of "Paper Doll", the Mill Brothers, Big Bands like Benny Goodman, Harry James, Ink Spots, Ames Brothers, and lots more of Vic Damone and Jerry Vale.  Most of the music is from  the 40's and 50's.

I did make an interesting playlist called Chris and Harry though and it is alternate pieces of Chris Botti and Harry James on their trumpets.  Interesting to see the different music between today and 60 years ago.  Both terrific.

So much of the music from those days is considered classics that I have the same songs sung by several different artists spanning 60 years.  Very nice, love it.  Sometime during all my moves all my old  record collection was lost so I really love this.

Today I let Sadie out for one of her 'runs' and when she is free like that I am never sure how much coaxing I am going to have to do to get her to come home.  I started out toward the back looking for her and immediately tripped on a root and fell flat on my face.  Kudos to Sadie she immediately came running to see if I was hurt.  I wasn't.

I also had a good day making a box for one of my Shirley Temple dolls.  I thought it turned out lovely and I watched some videos on the Mormon Channel on Roku while doing it, it was a big box and took lots of paper. 

I also finally started my Yoga yesterday, it looked so easy and slow but the stretching is so new for my old body it is aching so much I can hardly walk...not good.

Two Fav Granddaughters

 

Now that grandaughters Lea (on left) and Sarah (middle) are living near each other they get to spend some fun time together.  They are in different grades and different schools but that just makes more to talk about, right?

OK, girls, keep Grandma in the scoop about things, you are living one of the most interesting times of your life, enjoy!

Eric's New Pad

This is the interesting home that Carole's son Eric is buying in Glendive, Mt, my home town.  It was built to look like it belongs at Cape Cod or someplace like that.  It even has the Widows Walk where women looked for their husbands coming in from Sea.  I think it looks charming.  It is evidently a home he has loved from his youth.  And it looks out over the mighty Yellowstone River.  Hope it all turns out well!!

Where Are All the Good Men?

"The Helen Morgan Story" was a favorite of mine.  I just watched the  movie version with Ann Blythe and Paul Newman last week, however, the TV version with Polly Bergen was my favorite.

Helen Morgan was a fantastic blues and pop singer who was exploited by men and she became an alcoholic.  Old story as it happens so often.

The article in Meridian Magazine reminded me of it.  The article was specifically asking where all the men were in the life of Miley Cyrus who should have been giving her good advice and protecting her from her tawdry exhibition this past week. 

The problem is that too often it is the men who are doing the exploiting and the damage,  greed is a very dangerous tool used by Satan.

I guess the real question is Where are all the Good men?  Which takes me to the movie "Lydia" where she passed up the good man Joseph Cotton and had undying love for the scoundrel.  Why is that so often the case???  What is attractive about the lying charmer that Paul Newman was in The Helen Morgan Story.  Why do we want to believe those kind of guys?

What made Miley Cyrus think that shocking exhibition sells--because of Madonna, Lady Gaga???  Somehow those ladies always manage to look classy even in their skimpies, why is that? and Miley only looked vulgar??

So many questions, so many choices, I guess the best advice is the WWJD question, that usually settles any quandary fairly fast.

I thought it was interesting that the lady miz are having so many people want them to come and give them a message.  There is a lot of people out there hurting and seeking answers...these are the last days for sure...

Update on the Hardy Family

Camber just sent me this pix to update the Hardys.  Darling Pix.



 Last night James sent me a movie of Lea as a cheerleader!!  8th grade and a cheerleader, so cute.  And Jacob is in high school and a lineman on the Torrey Pines Junior Varsity and even Kelsi, who is in 2nd grade, was a cheerleader, as she has been going to Cheerleading Camp, and Jimmy is already in 6th grade and also playing football!!  Yikes, where have all the years gone.

I have so many memories of taking care of babies and toddlers and now they are all "slipping through our fingers" and moving on...Jacob has really developed muscles, must be all that surfing!!

Oh course, I still have very negative feelings about teens and younger playing football, too many head injuries.  Supposedly football rules have changed so no more leading with the head and it is supposed to make it safer.  However, 4500 former NFL were just paid millions of dollars due to head injuries and thousands of head injuries to high school footballers are reported every year.  Is it really going to be safer because of a new rule about tackling?  We shall see.  I hope they are aggressive about dropping those yellow flags if anyone does do the head butting.  It might change the game.

Another doctor just came on TV this morning and said when young people come to him, he tells them to choose another sport rather than football.  I guess I was ahead of my time.  I did not let my boys play Pop Warner--did they suffer because of it??  

Unfortunately NFL is my favorite sport to watch--now isn't that hypocritical????  And of course, we adored our football players in high school...  

Nothing Improves with Age but the Past

"Lydia" is a movie from 1941 staring Merle Oberon and Joseph Cotton.  It is about a spinster reminiscing her past (40 years later) with three rejected suitors.  She has contributed so much to the world by way of a Home for the Blind but she is trying to  tell them why she never married.  She tells the three that they never knew the real Lydia, that she was born when she started this month long affair and the real Lydia died when he left her, never to return.

This fourth suitor does show up as he was curious to what he was invited but he doesn't even remember her and he is the one she accepted a proposal from but he was a rover and playboy who had an affair with her and strung her on and kept her waiting at the altar.  All these years she remembered him as her great love and it was just another score for him.

It is true that we remember the past as we choose to and it may be far from reality and it is true that an encounter to one person can mean everything while at the same time not much to the other person.

In the end, she says they all loved an illusion of her, the blind pianist loved a blonde, blue eyed person because a child had described her doll Lydia to him and he thought she was describing the real Lydia who actually was dark haired with green eyes.  She told the older suitor he was in love with an angel, which she was not, she had actually sinned and never told him.  The football player suitor was in love with a young "idiot" which she was not.  And Richard, the man she had loved all these years only loved himself.

She said there was no real Lydia, there were dozens (as every woman knows).  She was "wise and foolish, clever and absurd, good and bad" as are all women.

I think you would have to be an old person to appreciate this movie but it surely rang true with me, it was especially interesting as she described her first ball and how it looked and then it showed how it actually looked--yes, 'nothing improves with age but the past' is soooo true.

Happiness

Happiness today was,,,

• freshly washed sheets--will sleep well tonight
• more Chris Botti music downloaded--love that trumpet sound
• finishing a long overdue sewing task and it looks good
• spaghetti--haven't had that for a long time
• a call from Maria--always love hearing from my children or grandchildren
• visitors--Terri and the lady miz
• watching Keira sing Happy Birthday again
• watching Michelle's newest video about Johnny
• a sweet memory of Richard
• another perfect day of sunshine and slight breeze
• a call from Carole--love hearing from my sisters
• viewing Eric's new house in Glendive--so unique!!!

Glad I Wasn't Born in China

I have just finished "Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See written about China around 1958 when they had the great famine under Mao's Communist leadership.  Compelling book but I need to read a happy one for a change where women have a better life.  Seems everything I have read as late is about the sorry role of women.  And I can't get the image out of my mind of those dying babies being put in pits so they could not crawl away.

However, earlier in the book this is a quote I like:

"I put a smile on my face.  I came here to be happy, and I'm going to be happy.  If I smile, then maybe I can convince my body just how happy I am.  I look both ways, and decide to venture to the right.  I don't know where I'm going.  I just need to walk and keep smiling."

I think that was sort of how I felt the first day of college...

It Must Be Fall

Plop, .plop, plop,  what is that plopping on my roof????  A check outside and oh, yes, it is that time of year.

The squirrels are in the trees throwing down food to store for winter.  Pretty smart to throw them on my roof and have them roll to the ground.  I will give them a day or two to get them buried somewhere else and then I am sweeping them up.



So it is 10 AM and my laundry is done, my house is clean, my decks are swept, my storage closet is cleaned out and my food cans in the garage are realigned.  Must be time to read.  Retirement is great.

Choosing Movie Stars to Be Fantasy Characters--Again...

So I think there is much interest in who Hollywood is choosing for Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele from the Shades of Grey books.  I can visualize Dakota Johnson in the part but not sure about the guys rumored to be in the running.  It is hard to pick someone to play fantasy parts, I mean who can be so smart, so successful, so talented, so rich, so clever and so handsome and so messed up in the mind--I mean, what 30 year old can play the part????  A lot could play the messed up in the mind I suppose but the other to be so handsome and competent--I am sure I will be as disappointed as I am with the current James Bond... ish.

Anyway the announcements are after Labor Day.  Question is, is the movie just going to cover the first book or all three?  The third book reveals many mysteries and makes the transformation of Christian almost complete.  To me the books illustrate what power a good or bad woman can have over a man.  And the difficulty of having trust and the fantasies of being so wealthy you can have everything and more and yet you still have to figure out how to have good relationships with others and you can't be totally selfish and still be happy.

Most popular books in the world which shows the interest people have in sex, wonder if they found out what they wanted to know?  I am sure men read them for advice on how to treat women but after all, they are not about real life are they, or are they?????

Chinese View of Being a Widow

I am really enjoying Agnetha's singing.  She has a very unique voice and an expert at singing sad songs.  It is interesting that Agnetha says "Winner Takes It All" is the story of her and Bjorn's break up and he says it was not.  He did write it when he was drunk just after they broke up.  She sings the song with such perfection and claims it is her favorite of the ABBA songs.  

Anyway I almost have the "The Emigrants" across the ocean but I have left it to read a couple of books which have to be returned at the end of the week.  Moberg really makes me feel what it was like to be a peasant in the 1800's with so little control over life.  So sad.  Someone's reasoning for not pursuing making 'Kristina' a  musical over here is that "Sad does not sell."

Lisa See's  'Dreams of Joy' is a continuation from her 'Shanghai Girls' which I read last year.  I was interested in what June's mother told her about the fate of a widow.

June's mother said:

...a widow is the unluckiest person on earth, because either she committed an unforgivable crime in a previous life or her lack of devotion to her husband caused him to die.  Either way, she's doomed to live out her life unloved by another man, for no good family will accept a widow into their family, she would know better than to accept, because the world knows that a decent woman should never go with a second man.  A miserable existence should be anticipated and accepted.

A widow should pray, fast, and recite sutras...she should dedicate herself to doing good deeds at her place of worship.  She should give up material possessions and devote herself to others like me: the socially dead. 

I've often been told that a widow's suffering will overcome vanity and attachment by wearing it.  A proper widow should confine herself to dark colors and maybe a few pieces of jade of good quality.

It seems that all of the books I have read this last week are about the horrible existence of women in some cultures and age.  I am blessed to live in this time and in America!!!

I know people think I write in my blog so other people will read it but I know there are only a couple people who skim through my blog.  It is a blog for me, it is a way a person can live alone and be able to express your thoughts when there is no one to talk to.  It is a way of recording your life and being able to go back and read what you thought or did at a certain time, quite therapeutic, I think it prevents loneliness because your time is so filled and you always have 'someone' to talk to...

Words of Wisdom by Richard Hardy

Happy Birthday, Richard.

Richard had a lot of thoughts that he tried to live by.  This was a contribution that he gave to a monthly letter when he was a young missionary.

     I have often told myself how wonderful it is to be independent.  Independent in thought, action, and in all the daily dealings with our fellow men.  To be independent is to be self-sufficient.  To provide your own living expenses, to drive your own car, to have more knowledge and more experience than those whom you contact, all these things, contribute to a feeling of independence.

     From early childhood our goal in life seems to be independence.  First we try to break the ties to our parents and from there we gradually increase our independence until we need no council, need no friends, need to accept help from no one and are not obliged to help anyone.

      At one time or another every soul that comes to the earth realizes that we are inherently dependent.  The greatness of the individual is in direct proportion to the degree that he accepts his dependence.  The great souls are those who need love and therefore give it to others, those who need council and therefore give it without reprisal.  Jesus Christ, the greatest of all, never spoke one thing that his Father didn't tell him to speak (John 12:49-50.
 
     When we remember that we are dependent on others and that others are dependent on us, then and only then, do we gain a true perspective to fulfill our calling.

     The very best lesson that can be learned beyond perhaps faith in God himself, is to enjoy what you're doing, the people you're with, the place you're in , and not to let life be postponed, for the happiness you have has to be today.  As expressed by the poet, "At every dawn I say, if not today, my joy will come to me tomorrow, and hoping for delight dawn becomes night till thus deceived I find unto my sorrow at last that hoping for tomorrow my life has passed."

     We should do what we are alive to do today, and should do it by divine guidance.  This guidance can best be gained by having charity for others and making a real effort to understand their problems.

     Arthur Snitchler in "Vanity Fair" tells us, "The world would be better off if every believer did not feel himself superior to the doubter in nobility of soul, and every doubter did not have the same attitude toward the believer on the score of intelligence.  The doubters can be imbeciles, and believers can be scoundrels, and vice versa." As Shakespeare said, "A man may smile and smile and be a villain still." A man may be a leader and a missionary, and a girl may be apparently a pillar of truth and light, and act like she knows how to handle herself, and it may appear that she's really qualified to be emulated and loved and admired, and she may not be, and he may not be.

     May the Lord bless us to be what we are, to do what we have to do today, and to do it with charity and a feeling of dependence on our Father in Heaven.

Another ABBA Day

I finished reading "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows"--all about Abba.  It was very long, but very interesting.  There is a lot more to making music than we can all imagine.  After reading the book I had to watch the movie "Mama Mia!"   I had forgotten how fun it was and knowing a little bit more about what some of the songs were about and what inspired the writing made it even more so.

Then I find out they opened "Abba-The Museum" on May 13 of this year.  The website is very fun, especially the Karaoke of all their songs!  I will never get to Stockholm again to see the museum but there is a real feel for it on the website.

It is amazing to think that they were only actively performing for 10 years and that was over 33 years ago and yet they expect this museum to draw millions of people a year and I am sure it will.  Abba is considered the 4th most popular (sell of records) in the world--The others are Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and the Beatles I think.

Oh, well--now on to the "The Emigrants" and listening to more of  'Kristina'.

I Get Around and Dulce de Leche

This has actually been a busier month than usual for activities.  I had lunch at the 'Burger Depot' with Sue, Jean, and Maryanne and tried the fish and fries (really good).  I went to Reno to the Temple with Jean, Maryanne and Ann and we ate at the Dairy Queen, (Blizzards, yum yum).  Matt and I ate out at 'Happy Garden', (Beef and Peppers, so good). Matt and I had barbequed steaks, with all the trimmings.  Maryanne and I saw the movie "The Butler" which was very enjoyable and ate at Taco Bell--good Taco Supreme.   There was another missionary farewell with food recipes from Argentina.  I made some cookies which I did not like but I liked the filling of Dulce de Leche and I was happy to learn a very easy way for making that.

Last night we had 'Trash Chicken' and 'Tri-tip' at the Goolsbys in Chester.  Neighbors and friends brought side dishes and there was ice cream, cookies and cake for dessert.  It was very enjoyable and delicious food.  It is always interesting the side dishes that other people make, so many good cooks and I am not one of them...

However, I did learn two valuable things this month.  One was how to keep celery crisp and it really works so well.  You put the celery in warm water for five minutes and then in cold water for five minutes and then you shake it well and wrap it in foil and every time you use it, you rewrap the foil tightly around it.

For Dulce de Leche--instead of boiling a can of Sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water, pour it into a pie plate.  Then sprinkle salt on it and wrap it tightly in foil.  Put the pie pan in a roaster pan and fill the pan so it goes half way up the pie pan.  The oven has already been preheated to 425 degrees.  After an hour, carefully unwrap the pie plate and stir the mixture for a minute.  Then rewrap and put it back.  Pour more water in the roaster pan to get it up to half way again.  Check it in an hour and put in more water if need be.  It will burn if you do not keep it filled up with the water.  In another half hour, take it out and whip the mixture for three minutes.

At this time it is a perfect texture for dipping your apples in or putting it on ice cream.  Put it in the fridge (covered) and it becomes a wonderful caramel dessert which is delicious with a dob of whipped cream or eat it straight from the container a little at a time--delicious.

Read, Read, Read

Because I need to get borrowed books back on time I am often reading 3 or 4 books at a time.  Fortunately on a Kindle this is not a problem.   I am midstream on three books right now and just finished "The Dressmaker" and sent it back.

A journalist Kate Alcott wrote "The Dressmaker" about the sinking of the Titanic and the Congressional Hearings that followed.  These hearings led to laws being past that would help to prevent the tragedy of the Titanic.  It was all woven in with a sweet heroine who came to America on the Titanic to further her ambitions of being a dressmaker.  I really like historical fiction because you always learn something in such an easy and enjoyable way.

Learning history and geography the way we were taught in school is not necessarily an  easy and enjoyable way, too much memorization of facts and figures which are soon forgotten.  For instance we had a Current Events paper which we had to read in Junior High.  At the end of the week Ms. Corbett would ask questions about it and we did not get to choose which one was orally answered.  We had to stand and answer whichever question she asked.  If we got it wrong, she would say "Check It Off".  If you got three checks you had to write something, can't remember what.  But I was always terrified at these times.  And did I remember what I learned.  Not!

Some Things Do Not Improve With Age

I still love to read though,

I
I part my hair on a different side.

 

Hmmm, do I look any wiser?  I don't think so.  But pictures are in color and all the scars from cancer surgery have changed my nose, which was not too great to begin with, oh well, that's life, too much sun in my youth and sailing days.

One Thing Leads to Another

So I am reading "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows" the story of ABBA and I start watching some of the songs the books is talking about.  They are all on You Tube.  Then I am reading about what they were doing after their divorces and I see a clip on Frida singing a song about Falling in Love and someone has pieced clips from the movie "Falling in Love" with Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro to Frida singing the song.  What?  Somehow I had missed that movie--two great stars, romance, how did I miss it?

Anyway it was a beautiful song and I found the movie on Amazon.  It only had a rating of 6 but someone doesn't know a romantic movie when they see it.  OK, it was about two married people falling in love...but, it was romantic.  Two such great actors showing the pain of falling in love when you are not supposed to...and try not to...

The Roots of the Olive Tree

Finally, finally, I read the book Marjorie's granddaughter wrote "The Roots of the Olive Tree".  Her name is Courtney Miller Santo and she lives in Tennessee.  I do not want any more books on my shelves so I waited to read it when I got my Kindle.

Wow, she is a great writer.  I could not put it down!!  Thoroughly enjoyed it.  How great to know how to write a good story that everyone would like to read.  I can see why the publishers were so taken with it.  Hope she writes some more.

 She has such insight and ability to express it so well.  It's about five generations of women living together in a town near Sacramento where they raise olive trees that were planted by the father of the oldest woman, who is 110 when the book begins...and it is believable!

Curiosity Leads to Joyful Finds

I have always been a very curious person, which often leads me to ask inappropriate questions, but also leads me to find out very interesting things, unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, that I soon forget! 

Meagan sent an email about the books by Vilhelm Moberg that her inlaws  were enjoying reading.  That sent me off on a curious search and a start to reading the first book "The Emigrants" on my Kindle.  Then I read about the musical that the ABBA male duo wrote about the books called "Kristina fran Duvemala" and a search for that.

I found the videos on You Tube and love the music, I found it had been recorded in English after a concert at Carnegie Hall, but I like the Swedish lyrics so that sent me to a wonderful find of the interpretation of the lyrics and I printed them out--about 100 plus pages.  Now I can listen to the music and know what they are singing.  I would like to find a good Swedish CD but so far the one I found I wanted is way too expensive so I will use You Tube in the meantime.

However, that sent me a curious search of what happened to the ABBA ladies and I found a lot on You Tube about them and found that Agnetha had made some CDs which I just happened to love and so I downloaded a couple of those to my IPod but then I was curious as to what happened to them and their breakup and that led me to a book to help satisfy my curiosity.  Of course, because they are Swedish and that is my ancestry, too, it makes me more curious than ever.   But I did love the Abba music, introduced to me by Meagan's Mom, as I recall.  And then, of course, I was able to see "Mama Mia" on Broadway with Melissa's Drama Group, loved that, and I have the CD, of course, and saw the movie.  Why is it that I have absolutely no musical talent, but love music so much.

Oh, my, what a couple of interesting days and still so much to read...fun, fun, fun.  So much to learn, to read, to know in my shortened days...

Also in the meantime a former high school friend contacted me and offered me CDs of some of my favorite music, she has a fantastic collection of about 9000 pieces, and many from our youth so she said she would send me what I wanted, I am anxious to get those, too.  I only asked for about a 60 or so of my favorites, though, I am not greedy...

Day at Legoland in Carlsbad

The Stewarts from Las Vegas are visiting the Pulsiphers in Carlsbad and spend the day at Lego Land.
I don't know what the purpose of the finger business is but they surely are darling, grandchild (Sarah) and great grandchildren, Kate, Brynn, and Ryan.

 

 

 

Just In Time

Good timing, Matt came up this weekend and looked for work to do, as usual.  He put the pad which had just come under my new carpet, could never do that alone.  Then he bought the tools he needed to put the net side bags I had ordered for the back of my Subaru and got those in place and then he changed out the 4 way hose nozzle at the front of the house.  All things I could not do for myself.  He also got new oven lights and put them in and filled up my gas tank.  Busy guy while he was here, he likes to keep busy.

We had a nice barbeque steak dinner Saturday night and then a good Happy Garden lunch on Sunday.  I really appreciated Matt coming all the way up here.  He also gave Bruce a really good bath in the front driveway.  Sadie was so happy to see Bruce and Bruce for the most part let her nuzzle him a lot.

Great weekend with Matt and Bruce.  Thanks you so much, Matt!!!

I finished "Caught" by Harlan Coben.  He writes the most complicated mysteries but they are always enjoyable to listen to, yes that was an audio book.  I also finished two more Nora Roberts books, one a mystery, one a romance and am currently reading "War Brides" who also wrote "Sisterhood" which was a very unusual book.  The author Helen Bryan was a CEO and quit to write, she must have to do a lot of research for her books because they are historical novels.  After reading "House of Mirth" and "Tess of d'Urberville" I was very appreciative of the long way women have come into today's world.  Although in many ways society still messes up people's lives as it did in "House of Mirth".  We are continually having to rise above living our life to please other people and worrying too much about what others think.  Gave me lots to think about, both books with sad endings.

I was interested in the comments about Nora Roberts trilogy about Boonesboro in western Maryland.  Some felt she had just "cut and pasted" from other books so she could write about the businesses her family owns in that little town.  I must admit some of her books have much more depth than others.  I have several classics on my Kindle now so I think I will delve into them next, so much more depth in every one I have read...TV hardly gets turned on anymore though I enjoyed watching "Switched" with Jennifer Anniston which I had never seen.  I also watched some more of the "Joseph Smith Papers" last evening--have really enjoyed them.  So much to read and see and do, so little time....I have now read 8 books since I bought my Kindle about two weeks ago and listened to one on my computer.

Happy Birthday, John!

This is a picture of John and his daughter Meagan I had not seen before.  Zoo, Wild Animal Park???
Charming.  We miss you, John.

 

Also 46 Years Ago

 

 

Taken in Aunt Ellen's backyard after the burial of my father in Ogden.

46 Years Ago

It was 46 years ago that my Dad Ferrell Anderson had a heart attack while fishing at the Lamar river near his cabin in Silver Gate, Montana.  This is a picture I recently found of him that so depicted who he was.  The big smile, the happy husband, father, friend, leader, merchant, outdoorsman--what a great guy whom we all loved so much.  I remember when he was reading something about there being no mountains in the hereafter (I have no idea what it was he was reading, whether it was true or not) but he was devastated--how can we live without mountains??? 



Ferrell's daughter Marilyn shares a memory of Dad's last day on earth.  He was at his beloved Silver Gate cabin.

We were a few days late getting to the cabin.  Randy and Bobby both were getting over the flu.  Jeanne and her family had been to the cabin the week before and Mom and Dad had taken a few days to go back to Idaho Falls before we came.  Dad had worked a day at the Church Farm and had felt like he had a heart attack.  They went to see Dr. Lyman Knutson, Lorin’s son-in-law.  I think he wasn’t sure but he did give Dad the nitro pills. 

We arrived Sunday late afternoon and as soon as we had eaten Arky and Dad went into the park to fish.  I think it was around 6 PM. 

Around 8 PM a ranger came to the door and said there had been an accident and would Mom and I follow him.  Sherry was about 11 and we left the kids with her.  I had never driven into the Park so fast.  Mom was very quiet. We followed the rangers to the curve in the highway where the Soda Butte meets the Lamar River.  The ranger stopped right at the curve and we also.  I jumped out and left Mom and I ran across the Soda Butte (not too deep) and ran across the field and trees to the Lamar River where I could see Arky waiting.  Since we had just arrived from the low altitude Texas, it was a hard run. 

The second I saw Dad with a smile on his relaxed face and a full creel, I knew his Spirit was already out of the body and I felt his Spirit and it was a most wonderful, peaceful feeling.  It was a big testimony to me of life after death.  Dad was there but I felt so peaceful and strangely calm.  I have never had that same feeling again.  Mom already knew also and was calm and peaceful.  It is strange to think that now but it was so. 

 

Arky, son-in-law of Ferrell, describes what happened prior to his death:

Late afternoon Ferrell and I drove the Toyota down to fish the upper Lamar River.  We parked the Toyota across the road from the spot where Soda Butte Creek runs into the Lamar River.  We took our fishing gear and waded across the Soda Butte, headed upstream on the Lamar, fishing along the way.  I went quite a distance ahead and fished till it was getting late and headed back toward the car. 

I had walked some distance in the meadow beside the Lamar when I spotted Ferrell some thirty or forty yards ahead of me.  He seemed to be looking at me, but before he could say a word he collapsed.  I rushed to him and couldn’t feel a pulse so did mouth to mouth resuscitation with no sign of breathing or pulse.  After a short period I spotted a fisherman coming down the trail and I asked him if he would stay with Ferrell while I ran back to the car and drove to the Lamar Ranger Station to get help.  They had the Silver Gate Rangers get in touch with the family at the cabin. 

The rangers brought the body back to the highway.  I think an ambulance came from the Lake Station hospital and took him to Lake Hospital.  We returned to the cabin.  This was a sad day but Ferrell did catch his limit of fish.

  

Roaring 20's

These are a few pictures I have not seen before of my Mom and Dad.



So young with first baby Richard.

All dressed up.

Playday for Mom and Dad

My Dad with first son Richard (I think)

 

My Mom with David--2nd Son--pretty coat!

My Dad

Here is a really nice picture of my Dad that I do not remember seeing before.  I have no idea what all the flowers are for or what date this was taken but I love his big smile which he always had for everyone.  It looks like it could be a Christmas decor, maybe at my brother's house next door.

I have been scanning all the pictures I went to my sister's home in Orem last October to find.  I had made a Book of Remembrance for my Mom and also a photo album and I wanted to scan the originals instead of just the copies which I sent up to the cabin.  Jeanne could not even remember what I was talking about so asked me to fly over and see if I could find them.  They were actually at her son's Steve's house.  Anyway I am almost finished and then I will send them back.  I am so glad I am doing this because the pictures are so much better and I am finding some I did not remember.

A New Joy In My Life

I am so happy when something really pleases me and the 6" Kindle Paperwhite does please me.  One reason I have been able to get so much work done is that I know I can stop and rest and read from one of my good books on the Kindle whenever I am tired.  I have read at least four in the past week.

Why do I like it so much?

1. It is small and light.  It is so hard to hold a book when you read in bed, so hard to turn the pages and to get enough light on it.  Now the kindle is easy to hold, no turning pages. love it.
2. There is always enough light, even in the dark!!!  No more looking for good lighting when I am visiting my children or reading in bed or strange places, love it.
3. I can download in an instant from my Wifi or Computer, love it.
4. Amazon keeps tabs on what books I have and what to do with them, love it.
5. With Library to Go I can have 6 books checked out all the time or have some on Wait List, no more running to the library, love it.
6. I actually like to read rather than Audio, of course I can still do audio with my computer, but I prefer to read, because I read so much faster and don't fall asleep midstream, love it.
7. Amazon has free books and special deals so I can even get books besides my Library to Go, love it.  The deal today was Eric Fromm's "The Art of Loving" for $1.99.
8. When my eyes are tired I can increase the size of the letters,. love it.
9. I just tap on which ever book I want to read at the moment and it goes to the right page!

While I am on it, I think Amazon is an amazing company.  I love doing business with them and they seem to have their hands in everything.  Now the owner buys the Washington Post for 250 million, what is he going to do with it?  Something very techy I am thinking.  Besides my Kindle manager they also send me my Pamela's Bread Mix every three months and they sent me an Aeblskiver pan for practically nothing and I love their Instant Videos--how come some people are so smart and the rest of us are just consumers.

Yes, I quit Facebook, so commercial now, but I love Amazon, they are actually doing things to make my life better and making it so easy to do them.  It is all commercial, but it is my choice what I choose, love it.

More Moments with Keira

Meagan captured these pictures, here we are all ready for the Sunday night concert.

Keira likes the little cedar benches that Matt made.

Walking with Sadie with a fruit bar.

 I
I think she has the swing down.

At last, proof that I noodle in the lake.  It holds me up, honest.

Life is good.

This is a little scary, I probably have not combed my hair, no makeup, and a scrunched up face.  But look, Keira scrunches her face, too when she is concentrating.  She just looks so much cuter doing it.

Doing the Guy Stuff

I was always happy being  a girl because I never wanted to do the "guy stuff".  I was always contented with the guy knowing how to do everything and taking care of me.  Ha, be a widow for 16 1/2 years and you are going to have to learn to do a lot of guy stuff.

This month I have fixed the refrigerator, the vacuum cleaner (I know how to take apart and clean out every possible juncture for problems), the dishwasher (I did try and get a plumber, no one would call me back, but I pursued with what Johnny told me and finally found the last  answer on the internet at 9:30 pm), the disposal (yes, after not working for more than a year I applied the Richard Hardy method with the broomstick one more time and voila, it works!),  I also mended the cut in the hose, of course it looked so easy when Mike did it but guess what, I have no muscles in my hands.  It took five tries and five water explosions before I finally got it to stay.  Even now I expect it to pull  apart every time I turn the hose on.  I also tackled the front hose with pliers and wrench and got that fixed.

My hands hurt and my arms hurt and my back hurts but for the moment everything is fixed.  I also cleaned the carpets, the couches and stained the back deck and front stairs.  Front deck remains to be done and that should be done tomorrow.

My nightmares of vulnerability have stopped, is that because I have conquered the appliances???  I am holding my breath till the next thing breaks.  I have lived here for 14 years now, so hard to believe, but I love my little cabin in the woods.

 

The former living room rug.

"These are a few of my favorite things."

As I looked around my home this week I thought about where everything came from.  The couches are from the 70's in our La Jolla home, had three different covers, but still very solidly holding up.  The rockers are from 88 and our Rancho Bernardo home, also recovered, wonder what happened to the other two rockers???  The glass case Richard picked out himself in 88 for the RB home, I treasure it but would have missed seeing it except for him and I love all the memories collected in it.  The grandmother clock is also from the 70's in La Jolla, I have had it fixed once but right now it is stopped on the moment Richard died and is not working, still love it though.  The coffee table and couch table are from RB as is one of the couch tables and the other end table is from our Pacific Beach home in the 60's!!!

Also in the living room are painted pictures from nephew Brian of the Silver Gate cabin, the Arches, Pilot Peak, and the monument of "This is the Place".  There is also a painted picture from a budding artist from the 60's of a sailboat, a favorite of mine.  There is a sign with our Rancho Bernardo address on it that Maria painted, the clock my sisters gave me when I moved in and the painted sign Camber gave me for Christmas stating, " The Hardy Family Est 1959".  The organ Richard bought for me from a client in the late 80's.  There are three of John's photos, one from Montana, one from Nepal and one from Peru.  On the coffee table is the replica of the Hot Dog Stand Richard always wanted, the hand painted vase from Vida (I took it back from Maria as it is both our favorite, she can have it when I die) the shell collection John created in a glass jar, and the little house Maria gave me with the note inside and the handmade glass lookee from Idaho.

  Only the lamps were bought for my cabin home here.  The mail tray on my end table is a wedding gift from my childhood friend Carla.  The fish hook glass holders are from John and the others are from Guam.   There are special rocks and shells and wood things from my travels and John's and his beautiful book ends.  Sitting at the organ is the Victorian Rag doll Linda gave me.  Sitting in the rocker is the special velvet Rabbit Richard bought for me at the San Diego Craft Fair--I think I named her Esmeralda.  On the dining table is the silk bouquet Carole made for me in 1988 when the Fuquas were living in San Diego.  On the glass case is the silk bouquet made in Big Bear to go with the picture we had over our  La Jolla bed--which I still have, love my electric bed so I can sit up and put my feet up while I watch late night movies.  The large mirror over the organ was from our RB home, love it.  The pillow covers on the rockers are from Croatia and the wonderful Mediterranean cruise with James.  The Grandma pillow is from the Valko children.

Amd now there is the new shag rug which I now want to snuggle my old, tired feet in.  I think I had a similar larger one in RB????  My RB home was supposed to be my retirement hone...life has it's little surprises.

So it is easy to see why I did not want to sell my home here, it has my past, my present and so much of myself and memories in it, it is a place of peace and security in my last days. (I hope).

One More Thing about Keira

Keira found this cut down tree in the woodpile and decided on her own it belonged in the garden, not the woodpile.  Very good logic I would say.