Mountain Tales

I went over to admire the deck my neighbor has been repairing.  A tree had crushed part of his this winter.  I then proceeded to tell him I didn't see how I was going to stain my deck when the squirrels were dropping all their mess on my deck.  Actually it is on my deck and in the yard for about 25 feet around the tree.  It is a continual ping every second it seems.  Evidently they split the green seeds in two and take out the center and lick it and put it in their cheek to hide later.  Evidently their saliva makes a scent that will make it easy for them to find this winter.  These droppings have been going on for about a week now and as fast as I clean them up they are replaced by more.

I look up into the cedar and I can't see the squirrels.  An old nest was pushed out.  I learned that they bare their babies in the summer and they make clean nests to avoid having bad fungi to harm them.  Evidently they are very clean squirrels.  That is nice to know.  I don't remember ever having this much mess before though.  I can only think from the amount of food they are gathering and the number of holes around the yard that we are in for one long winter.

My neighbor then told me a tale of his own.  He said he and his wife were in bed one night when he felt something flying around their heads.  (He sleeps in the nude)  though what that had to do with the story I am not sure.  But he told his wife to lay very still and he got up and the bat began flying around his head and he walked down the stairs (can't you just picture that) and opened the door  and walked outside and the bat went outside with him and flew away.  I can only hope that never happens to me. 

I did have bats in my umbrella the second summer I was up here.  One flew out when I started to open it up.  I immediately called my friend's husband to come and get rid of them for me.  Although we had bats flying around the light posts at home in Montana and swooping down at our heads I never got used to them.  That is one reason I do not like walking in the evenings here.  The bats are swooping around.  My neighbor says I should have my grandson built a bat house to go along with my bird houses.  He said they eat the mosquitoes.  I have never seen enough mosquitoes to bother with that, thank you.

Lady Antebelum and John Updike

There is a great concert of 'Lady Antebelum' I have saved on my TV--I love this group, especially their song "I Need You Now" and they are fun to watch

I have decided I am going to have to read more of John Updike.  The rumor is that he has never had an 'unpublished thought.'  If I want a few laughs I just have to bring up some of his quotes.  This is one I love.

Any decent kind of world, you wouldn't need all these rules.

And especially for us oldies:

Looking foolish does the spirit good. The need not to look foolish is one of youth’s many burdens; as we get older we are exempted from more and more, and float upward in our heedlessness, singing Gratia Dei sum quod sum. (By the Grace of God, I am what I am)

Labor Day Weekend

Church is always fun on holidays.  There are many visitors and today there were so many families with boys and so many of the boys bore their testimonies.  It was very inspiring and impressive.  One of the young boys reminded me so much of my John when he was about four or five.  He loved to get behind the microphone.   It brought tears to my eyes.

One of the men observed than when we were away from our families we always had our ward family and that is so true.  I don't always like to go to church alone but I am always glad to be there and be among 'family' once I get there.

Mona from Phoenix was visiting and she is like a breath of fresh air.  We surely miss her in the Branch.

This morning I listened to a great talk by Dallin Oaks on 'Timing' and how we try to plan our lives but "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans" as John Lennon (I think) said.  Elder Oaks made the point that it is good to make plans but we should continually do our personal best in obedience and preparation and be ready for the Lord's timing, not necessarily ours, as it is impossible to know exactly what changes will come about in our life.  How true!  How many times have I had to reinvent myself and go with the flow and it does no good to stew about when is the right time to make another change.  I just need to keep my life in order and be ready.

I am in to another great mystery by Harlan Coben "The Woods".  I feel like I would like to know the main character and be a part of his solving the mystery.  Great book!  I really need to get busy on some of my projects--but "I'll think about it tomorrow" as Scarlett said...

Great Grandson is Two Years in November!

Ryan Stewart
Look at this picture and then look at my Montana picture--quite a resemblance!

Twins are One Year Old!

Sage Fuqua

Happy Birthday Girls!

Raina Fuqua

Promises

Yes, I should be out staining my deck but I am enthralled by yet another new author (to me).  Carole had mentioned she liked Belva Plain so I checked out her "Promises" and Yes, I like her, too and will definitely read some more--not sure why I have overlooked her in the past.

This book was particularly interesting because it treated both the side of "the other woman" and the "wife who is left" by having two different scenarios going on at the same time.    In one situation the husband left a marriage and in the other the husband did not.

Some interesting observations in the book were:

Divorces are so much more complicated and take so much more planning than big weddings...

With the new divorce laws the husband usually ends up 40% financially better while the wife ends up about the same worse...

Over 50% of marriages end up in divorce...

Very few divorces are because the wife is unfaithful...

It is the children who are most affected for the worse...

Don't know how much any of these are true but it was an enlightening book and a 'must read' for anyone who wants to be the 'other woman' or a wife who thinks her husband could never be tempted.

Gas Leak

Yesterday I was watering early in the morning and it was very still.  I smelled gas.  I thought I had smelled it the night before but this time is was very strong.  I smelled both my neighbor's and my tank and was sure it was coming from mine.

I called in and they told me to turn the tank off (told me how) and then go outside.  Bandido was not in the mood for a walk but I dragged him for awhile anyway and then he was insistent to go back in.  Remembering the story that Myrna had told me about her friend's daughter being in a house in Jackson Hole that had exploded because of a propane gas leak I felt guilty finally letting him go back in the house.  I had my book to read but he was bored sitting in the dirt.

No problem, the house did not explode but there was a leak and the gas man fixed it and checked everything out.  Just in time, too, I barely had time to shower and dress to meet Jean, Mary Anne, Margaret, Sue, and Annette for lunch. 

I had the crispy chicken salad again which is very good and filling.  It is my big meal of the day.  Margaret was turning 85 but looks so much younger.  Where has all the time gone?  I can't believe how old we are.  It was fun chatting with everyone and then a quick trip to Holiday Market.  Saw Melissa's Ex-- Brendan, and he said Hi.

I do feel aged especially when I carried a watermelon up the stairs and didn't lift my foot high enough on the last step.  I fell with the watermelon taking the brunt of it and my shin the rest.  I feel so stupid when I trip.  I just have to hold on when going up and down stairs, that is evident, what a klutz.

Marjorie has an electric chair to wisk her up and down the stairs of her new home--what a great idea!

Maria called and told me about the big IZIGG party at Jimmy's house--which she later confirmed was a great success!!

Oh, yes, since Desperate Housewives is only once a day now, old Ali Mcbeal shows have taken over the other two hours of my TV excitement for the day.  What a life.  I would rather be working...

More Books

This week I also read a Mary Higgins Clark mystery which I had actually read before.  She is known as the "Queen of Suspense" and I always enjoy her mystery books especially by cd or tape on a long trip.  She writes a lot of books with esp powers in them but it always seems very realistic.  I like her books but it is always a fast read for me as I like to solve the mystery as quickly as possible.  She always manages to have a little romance in them, too.

Also this week I read a Nora Roberts book called Tribute because the heroine's movie star grandmother was named Janet Hardy.  I was remembering why I gave up Nora Roberts books and why I am not interested in reading more.

Her books are too much like a Harlequin romance books, not realistic, plus the women all seem to swear a lot.  Since I do not know women who swear a lot, it does not particularly appeal to me.   In reading about her I find she is "America's Favorite Author" and she has written over 200 books since starting in 1981 when she was at home with two young sons.  At that time Harlequin romances were being written mostly by British women and she was rejected as an author.  However, Silhouette came out  with a desire to be like Harlequin only with American authors and Nora Roberts was an instant hit.  If you wonder how anyone can write that many books, it is because she is very disciplined and writes 8 hours a day.  Stephen King thinks she is 'cool'.

Sounds like she lives in a wonderful place, though.  I did love Maryland when I was there after Hurricane Isabel.

For a quick, fun read that is not too realistic but has beautiful women, handsome men, torrid romance, mystery,  murder and such you might like her.  I think I will go back to reading other favorite authors myself.

Gorgeous Day

It is another gorgeous day in paradise.  After doing my watering and cleaning I spent the next two hours reading on the deck.  The weather is sunny, no wind, under 70 degrees.  I really need to get to work on the lattice and deck, maybe tomorrow.

Read, Read, Read

My reading nonstop is continuing.  On Monday morning I finished my third book read this weekend:  Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers--there is a sequel coming out this fall.  Francine Rivers graduated from the University of Reno and lives in Northern California and is a Christian Author.  I like her writing very much and this book takes a teen ager at the turn of the century in Switzerland until she is a widow with all her children married.  Ms Rivers really brings her characters to life and writes without any extra words.  I look forward to reading more of her books.

Yesterday I picked up five more books from the library and for the fourth time this summer reread a book.  This one was "The Weight of Water" by Anita Shreve.  I see there was a movie made of it in 2001 though I am curious to know how they could possibly capture this book on screen.  I may have to rent the video just to see.  I really enthrall in Anita Shreve's books.  I have already finished it.  This has been a great summer of good books.  What a life!

Sun Tunnels and Secrets

My sister sent my niece's book for me to read and I started it at suppertime and read it straight through till I finished it.  I couldn't put it down!!  What an interesting book with all it's side story secrets and mysteries, romance, music, family relationships.  It was just a fun, fun read and very touching.

On "Good Reads" they give this synopsis:

On a trip to the Sun Tunnels in the Utah desert, Norma and her sisters find a body on the side of the road. But this awful discovery turns out to be the least of their problems. Norma's husband just passed on, and she learns he kept a secret from her for sixty years.

 LaRue is keeping a secret from Norma. The sisters' young friend Tony is keeping a secret about his famous father, and Tony's mother is keeping a secret of her own. Tony is secretly in love with his friend Kelli, who recently escaped from a polygamist cult. And who is the mysterious young car thief with whom Norma feels a special connection?

Everything converges in Grouse Creek at the Fourth of July celebration. Will secrets prove everyone's undoing?

Definitely a five star read!

Deer Maurauders

My gardens have all had devastation--it is my fault.  I have been neglectful of spraying with the deer deterrent spray.  You can never stop being watchful!!!  

First Cozy Fire of Fall

Today when I came home from Church it was still in the 50's outside--it had rained a little and stayed cool for two days.  I used it as an excuse to start a cozy fire in the stove.  Loved it.  One of the accolades of living in the mountains.  Next week it will probably be up to the 80's again before fall really sets in but for today it was lovely to take a nap in front of a roaring fire.  "If you are lucky enough to live in the mountains, you are lucky enough."

Every Last One

I was lucky on Friday when I snagged a recently donated book at the Chester library.  It was Anne Quindlen's newest book "Every Last One".  I just finished it.  Even though I only started it last night and spent most of the day in Reno I had to read every minute I had available until I finished it.  I love her writing and the way she taps in to my inner most feelings.  This is a the review that "Good Reads" gave and without giving away the plot, it should tempt you to read it also.  I warn you though, most libraries will have a waiting list--as I say I was lucky. 

"In this breathtaking and beautiful novel, the #1 New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.

 Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence.

What happens afterwards is a testament to the power of a woman’s love and determination, and to the invisible line of hope and healing that connects one human being with another. Ultimately, in the hands of Anna Quindlen’s mesmerizing prose, Every Last One is a novel about facing every last one of the the things we fear most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel, to live a life we never dreamed we’d have to live but must be brave enough to try."

As for the trip to Reno, Mary Anne and I had a nice day at the Temple again and drove through lots of rain.  It smelled so fresh and made everything so green.  I was happy to see it rained in Lake Almanor, too.

Birthday Time

Tomorrow is Mary Anne's birthday so we met at Burger Depot for lunch. Margaret is on the left, Jean in the middle and Mary Anne on the right. These are some of the nicest ladies you would ever want to meet and I have known Mary Anne and Jean since I moved here in 1999 and Margaret came several years later. Our ages range from 85 to 58--I should have gotten myself in the picture. Happy Birthday, Mary Anne. Since Mary Anne is the youngest we let her drive us everywhere. Tomorrow we go to Reno to the Temple as we did last Friday as well.

For the Birds

Some times it is hard to find anything important I do in a day but I do have one steady job and that is keeping the three bird baths filled with clean water. It is so dry right now. The birds like to bathe mostly in the late afternoon and the robins definitely take the most thorough baths.

 Maybe the smaller birds are afraid to get in but at least they use it for drinking all day long. Just previous to this blurry picture two birds were fighting over it and this one won.

Happy Birthday, Richard! 79 Years

After Richard passed away in November 1996, many memories were received in the way of cards, condolences and letters.  Today I will share some of the memories from our daughter Maria about working with her Dad.  She worked closely with him for many years in the business in many different areas.

"I started working for Dad at a very young age - or I should say he started having us work for him.  He often had jobs he needed done that were perfect ways for kids to make pocket money,  probably it all began with stuffing envelopes.  I can remember getting a penny a piece, and I got quite fast at it.  One of my favorite recollections is getting to go to work with Dad on a Saturday at Mansfied Mills, all by myself.  I must have been very young, maybe 6 or 7.  I can't remember what I did while I was at the office, but I remember the rest of the day very well.  We stopped at the gas station on the way to lunch, and I was so impressed with the fact that everyone knew Dad.  Some called him Dick, others called him Mr. Hardy but he was treated as though he was very important and he treated me as though I was very important, introducing me to everyone as his 'beautiful daughter'.  Then we went to John's Waffle Shop for lunch, where again, everyone knew him and again he introduced me as his 'beautiful daughter'.  After that day, I don't think I every looked at my Dad the same way again...

I started working at the La Mesa office on a regular basis in tenth grade - after I got my driver's license.  I can remember I didn't get paid very much, Dad didn't want to be accused of nepotism.  He would make up for the small salary in other ways as in allowing me to use his gas card.  And it was OK since he was always willing to give you a job, if you were willing to work where you were needed most.  I learned many of the different jobs that way.  Jones Mortgage was a bigger office, with several girls working in different parts of the loan processing - not like when he started Choice Mortgage where one person followed the whole loan.

I can remember when I was learning the beginning of processing private loans, one of the girls gave me some general instructions and then I went at it.  The girl who was training me flagged a lot of the areas in my package and then gave it back to me, it kind of depressed me that I did such a poor job.  Afterwards my Dad had walked by my desk and could see what was happening, he sat down next to me and told me a story about when he worked one summer for the forest service.  He helped clear fire hazards from the forest.  When he was being trained they would have the trainees go through and clear the hazards and then the trainers would follow them and attached red flags to the areas they missed and then make them do it over again.  He said he hated having the flags behind him and so got really good at it really fast.  He went on to explain this procedure in training me to process loans was the same principal.  Seeing the mistakes I made so obvious would help me to remember what needed to be done, and I would get better at it quickly.  He had this natural ability of making people feel really good about themselves, although I was his daughter, it certainly didn't apply to me exclusively.

My Dad was an excellent personnel manager - he might have missed his calling - he was amazing at making all the girls feel needed and encouraging them when things got difficult at the office, whether it was business related or employee related.  I can remember many times listening to him talk to different employees at their desks, mostly listening to their problem, giving them understanding and helping them to feel better, even at my young age, I was absolutely amazed at his patience, kindness and generosity of other's feelings.

Another time, I was in charge of a complete mailing.  My Dad was out of the office, and I wanted to impress him with my ability to get it completed and mailed off in record time.  I did, however, when he got back he realized that I missed one letter that was supposed to be inserted..it was the most important letter of the whole mailing and with out it, the mailing didn't even make sense.  I felt terrible, and there was nothing I could do to fix it..the mailing was already at the post office being processed.  Dad was so amazing..he knew how badly I felt, there was nothing he could have said to make me understand anymore had badly I failed..instead he told me that it was OK, he knew the best person for the job was the one who made a huge mistake..because they'd be the one to make sure it never happened again.  He hid his disappointment well, and left me feeling as though he had complete confidence in me.  I never did make that mistake again.

Maria wrote many other interesting experiences working with Dad which should be shared another day.  She finished her letter about Richard with these final words.

...Interestingly enough though, the worse things got, the more Dad read and shared his insights and testimony.  When I was having a difficult time with money and he felt badly that he had none to give, he had great wisdom to share instead.  he always stayed positive in his views and was a wonderful example of perseverance, integrity and courage.

My dad may have died penniless, but he was wealthy to me, wealthy in all the things that mattered.

Bread, Glorious Bread

This week I have been on a bread binge because Holiday Market now stocks UDI'S frozen products.  This includes gluten free bagels, chocolate muffins, cinnamon rolls, white bread and wheat bread.  The texture is the wheat texture I am accustomed to and not the dense, shreddy bread I have found in the past for gluten free products.

I had discovered the UDI'S products in Park City and you can order them online as well. The price online is about the same price as at Holiday Market which I find interesting.

I did order some flour so I can try some of my favorites and see if they taste the same.  I do find the products tend to have more sugar and fat--boo, that is the downside.  Especially since I am trying very hard to live a heart happy life as well as a digestion happy life, too. 

Oh, yes, I am now walking about 1 1/2 mile a day, that is progress!

Fall is in the Air

Seems early but it is already cool in the morning and evening and my front tree is turning into fall colors--so late spring and early fall this year.

John's Birthday--50 Years, August 18th

This year I will share a few of the thoughts that John's friend Matt Recksieck wrote after John's death in April 2004:

 "...I knew John in several different contexts, but there was always a cool enthusiasm about him. He really loved his family. He showed pride over his brother and sisters like I think only a first born can--having seen each and everyone of them come home from the hospital as infants.

 I didn't meet John until a couple of weeks before his 13th birthday. I met and first knew him through surfing. Then school...then his home life...then through the forming of his own family. But it was always his passion and intellectual curiosity that drew me toward him. And like all friendships, it's hard to pin-point all the reasons why. To some surfing is simply a youthful outlet. In fact, I imagine that it is really boring for them--those not actually afflicted with the surfing disease--to listen to surfers talk about it. To me, however, one of the major afflictions associated with surfing is that it leads to a passion for style, self-discovery, and poetry. John Hardy was a surfer along with everything else he was. Surfing at its best leads to concentration in the moment. Poetry is nothing more than this. John was very good at picking up on this. It was something I admired about him. He blew my mind away at times. It's a love we shared. John's never ending quest to be inspired, stoked, or awed dominated his approach to life. He had the intelligence to be able to discipline himself in this regard. He also had the passion to be able to pull it off. John was a very successful poet...

John's brother Jimmy, at the memorial service, briefly mentioned John's first attempt to glass a surfboard in their backyard playroom shed. Jimmy made the comment that it wasn't very good by professional standards, but that the passion that was put into it was second to none. I concur, but there was another thing we use to laugh about in connection to this. John made a gesture of pointing out to us that there were parts of his glass job that were perfect. He took the thumb and forefinger of his hands, and joined them together to make a square. He placed the box created by his hands over a section of the glass job that was very clean, and said look, "perfection". This was an outlook of John's that I try to keep with me in my life perception today. There is perfection...you just have to look for it...you have to look away from peering directly at, that which isn't. Eventually things come into focus-even that which might not be perfect, can become perfect. This is the philosophical statement that epitomizes John's take on life to me.

At the memorial service, John's secret surf spot, Bathtub Rock, was mentioned several times. (I'll let out the secret completely out of the bag if you want to go: it's at the end of the beach trail of Torrey Pines State Park.) All John's surfing buddies knew it wasn't a very good surf spot, but did we believe it wasn't perfect: "no". John made it that way, and so we believed him. Feel free to go down there yourself (even if you don't surf...in fact, it's probably actually better if you don't). I think you can experience the place's beauty if you knew John. It's not the most beautiful stretch of beach you have ever seen either. But if you go down there and begin listening to the hype in John's voice 'concerting' (a verb I feel John could appreciate) the place, you may begin to believe yourself, that it is a beautiful secret spot--bordering on "perfection". That's the way John worked you into believing. There was no trick involved. It was only a treat to be experienced...

For what it's worth, John's memorial service truly was one of the first services I've ever been to where I believe that I celebrated a life more than I felt lousy at it."

Thanks Matt, for sharing so many beautiful thoughts about the John you knew. I will have to share more another time.

Hardys at Temple Square

The Hardys are evidently in Salt Lake City and sending great pictures by Iphone.  Thanks for remembering me, Hardy Family.

Great picture of James with sons Jimmy and Jacob.

Beautiful picture of Camber with Jacob, Lea, ?, Jimmy and Kelsi.

Galveston by Suzanne Morris

 The one upside to being alone is you can read as much as you want and no body cares. Read all night, read all day, no matter. I am always happy to find a new author. Usually I choose books to read by the author but I saw the thick book 'Galveston' on the shelf and couldn't resist. Glad I didn't. When I was in Galveston for a few months after Hurricane Katrina I was so curious about the city. Why wasn't it more prosperous than it was? This book, though a romantic novel, was also historically correct about Galveston at the turn of the century and I learned a lot about how Houston became the main port instead of Galveston and why.

Galveston Wall-wonder how it looks after last year's devastation.

It was a great book and now I know there are seven more of hers I can read, how great. I could visualize all the places she wrote about and how it might have looked in the late 1800's in Galveston. Great story, enjoyable reading with a little mystery.

Restored Victorian Home in Galveston-2005.

I also learned that my favorite Anita Shreve has another coming out this fall. She always has a little mystery in her books. I just read her first book 'Eden Close' for the second time. It wasn't intentional but when I discovered I had read it I couldn't stop reading it again, that is the kind of writer she is, hooks you in and you have to find out what is going to happen next. I marvel at these writers who have all these ideas in their mind. Interesting that both of these ladies started writing novels later in life--I guess you need a little life experience before you can write a really great novel.

Silver Gate, Yellowstone and Jackson Hole 2005

Steph asked us to add pictures to the Anderson Cabin Facebook page and it was then I

realized that the Silver Gate trip we took in 2005 were not in my published Blog book because I didn't start blogging until November 2005.  So here are some of the great pictures from that trip.

View from the Cabin window of the Amphitheater.

In Jackson Hole with Sarah, Linda and Tanner.

Beautiful view of the Amphitheater. Linda, Meagan, Mitch, Tanner and Sarah.

Mitch and Tanner try a little fishing.

Tanner in front of the Amphitheater.

Tanner, Linda, Mitch, Sarah, Meagan at the Canyon

Cafe where we eat our trout in Silvergate.

Waiting for Old Faithful.

It was a great trip!

Twins Go Hiking in Montana

The twins Raina and Sage looked pretty bored with that exquisite scenery. Mom, Bethany, and Dad, Jon, look pretty happy with it all though.  Great pix!

Childhelp

I was watching a true movie tonight. It was the founding of Childhelp 50 years ago.  Childhelp is especially for abused children.  They are taken from parents and raised in a rural type village with animals to love and caring teachers. Obviously it is a very affective organization but with child abuse being reported every 10 seconds there is no way they can save all the children.

I had to stop watching, I couldn't bear to watch the examples of parenting and abuse that they showed.  I only saw one instance of child abuse in my life when my neighbor took his belt to his daughter, but I never forgot that look on his face or the helpless look on her face.

When I see a child being yelled at or mistreated in a grocery store I walk over and stand nearby until they stop.  I remember when Johnny threw a tantrum in a grocery store and Richard just picked him up, yelling and screaming, and carried him out and walked with him till he settled down.  The cashier told me that was so refreshing instead of seeing the yelling at children she usually saw.  I am afraid I became impatient and yelled at the children, I am so sorry for that.  Richard only yelled once that I remember, when he was out of work and trying to do something in the little office he had set up in the playroom and the children were out of control.

Of course, the kind of abuse they were referring to in the movie was so much more than yelling.  It makes you sick to see defenseless children being so mistreated.  It appeared that so often the mother sides with the 'boyfriend' because she does not want to be alone and the child is not believed or taken care of.  So sad.

Johnny and Maria were both tantrum throwers and I did not know how to handle it well at all.  I've decided the most important classes they could give in high school are parenting, auto mechanics, meal planning and housekeeping, high finance (investing in stocks, etc) and money management instead of algebra and geometry and such,

I was one lucky child and so were my children, if you go to Childhelpusa.org and read the statistics you will know why I say that.

Good News--Maybe.

Saturday I was called by SBA and told my request to switch over to a Customer Service Rep from a Loan Officer has been completed and as of Aug 15 I am a Customer Service Rep under the Sacramento Office.

The chances of getting called out are increased but who knows, I am no spring chicken and they know it, so we will see what happens.  Of course, Customer Service Reps travel, no staying in one place too long.  The good part is the dress standard is our blue SBA shirts and jackets with jeans and slacks, so easy packing!! 

Also today President Meyers was doing Temple Recommends and he wanted to know where I lived and he said that was in the heavy duty snow area.  I was telling him about my no door from my garage and he made me promise to call him in three weeks.  He said he was going to be in my area and he would come by and see what he could figure out for me.  He has his own construction company so if he can't figure it out, no one can.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Girls Camp

We had a very spiritual Sacrament Meeting today.  Three of the girls and a leader bore their testimonies about Girls Camp.  Makes me realize I really did miss something by not being able to participate in such things when I was in high school.

Anyway, beautiful girls and beautiful leader--and we are all the benefactors by having them in our small Branch. 

The Branch President told us his daughter was 11 when her mother died.  He said Girls Camp helped her to cement her resolve to marry in the Temple.   He said she had not been successful in meeting the one who could take her to the Temple but she waited, and waited and this year at age 25 (old by LDS standards) she met the one and seven weeks later became engaged and they are going through the Temple December 18th.

A visitor bore his testimony as to the fact he would probably not have met his wife if not for Girls Camp.  She was a visitor at one many years ago and was so impressed it led to her baptism and eventually he met and married her. 

Presient Meyers bore his testimony to the fact these leaders of the girls are prayerfully called and pore their hearts into providing a spiritual and enjoyable experience for the girls.  The girls had told us about the Devotional Hall which resembled a quiet cave far away from the present world.  The girls would go in there as a small group and talk and pray together.  President Meyers said it was actually transformed from a tool shed but appeared inside like a cave with a warm fire of light (christmas tree lights in tissue) which reflected light and warmth on the 'cave' wall.  The girls really were impressed with their lone time there with just the girls from their own branch or ward. 

Anyway very inspirational meetings as the girls testified of their love for one another and the Gospel.  Unify the youth and you unify a ward, that is for sure.

Oh, Deer, NO...

Last night I had a feeling the deer might come for my lilies so I sprayed deer repellent on them--I hope I missed this one.  Some deer had a grandiose breakfast and I would hate to think the repellent didn't work.

This is all that was left this morning... 

Seven Deadly Sins

Saturday I watched a four hour movie on the Seven Deadly Sins in a modern high school setting.   It was taken from some books written by an author I was not familiar with and so have forgotten the name.  However, it was extremely well done but certainly could not have been made in the 40's or 50's when I was in high school.  I don't believe we had so much evil and mischief in our hearts.  Or the writer was just exaggerating all the weaknesses of the youth today as the writers exaggerate all the weaknesses of men and women in Desperate Housewives.

Anyway it made me curious to look up the history of the Seven Deadly Sins and the one that surprised me was Acedia/discouragement.  This is "neglect to take care of something that one should do."  It is translated to apathetic listlessness, depression without joy.  It is similar to melancholy.  In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a wilful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God and the world God created..."

"Despair is the precipitating cause of suicide.  Feelings of hopelessness, despondency, and impending doom...Since sadness often results in acedia, Pope Gregory's revision of the list subsumed Despair into Acedia."

 "Sloth --Gradually the focus came to be on the consequences of acedia, rather than the cause, and so by the 17th century the exact deadly sin referred to was believed to be the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts.  In practice, it came to be closer to sloth.  The modern view goes further, regarding laziness and indifference as the sin at the heart of the matter...more a sin of omission than of commission." (Wikepedia)

In other words we need to avoid Acedia and follow the admonition of Paul:

"We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.  If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after those things." (13th Article of Faith)

We need to be "UP in a DOWN WORLD.".

or as Charlie Chaplin wrote in his song called SMILE:

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it's breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky

you'll get by.

If you smile through your pain and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll see the sun shining through

For you.

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide every trace of sadness.

Although a tear may be ever so near

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying.

You'll find that life is still worthwhile-

If you just smile.

"We don't smile because we are happy, we are happy because we smile."