My Favorite Christmas Song

          I LOVE Christmas songs.

I could play them all year wrong

which is sinful in Jaime’s mind –

Halloween should be honored. 

What a terrible thing it is to have

Christmas decorations displayed

side by side the Halloween.

 

We had taken her to Ashland to visit. 

When we picked her up we went to a

few second hand stores. 

In one we found three CDS –

one specifically for Christmas. 

Richard played each CD on the way home. 

Jaime cringed as the Christmas CD played. 

There was one song that played that

we both recognized but NOT as

a Christmas song. 

Jaime accepted “Feeling Good”

Haze and Fall

 I like sleeping with the 

window open if it is 

not too cold 

or smokey.  

Right now it appears the 

smoke and the mist are 

having a fight.  

I think that the smoke 

may be winning.  

Drastic Change

 

I have a drawer where

my shorts live or

used to anyway. 

Weather changed. 

Make way for the

coats and sweaters! 

 

Problem is – I don’t

have enough room. 

Too much bulk for

just one drawer. 

 

I do love the fall though. 

Kind of naughty for the

morning temperature to be

67 one day and 43 the next. 

 

I have gone two days now

without running the air conditioner. 

I would rather have it cold than

overly warm

 

Pretty soon we’ll be

turning the heat on. 

Bah, humbug!

When We’re Predictable - Badges and Suits

                Our Sunday School lesson focused on the latter-day prophets and apostles.  Before getting into the lesson we were asked to share any encounters we may have had with any.  Melodie told about seeing Pres. Monson at a Jazz game and waiting for the elevator with his party.  They were dressed in suits at the Jazz game.  They are dressed in suits every time they are in public.  It’s an image that we perceive.  Could we view them as God’s mouth pieces if they were dressed in tee shirts and jeans?  Perhaps.  They are human beings with their own thoughts but do represent so much more.

          Long before being ordained as president, the then Elder Monson had come into Snelgrove’s ice cream parlor with some companions.  Burnt Almond Fudge was a popular ice cream with the general authorities.  President Benson would order a dish of BAF – no cherry please. Elder Monson would order a double thick BAF shake. 

          One night while he was there my mom went to his table to take his order.  When it was his turn my mom had asked if he would like his usual  double thick BAF shake. 

          “Am I that predictable?” he asked.

          Well, yes.

          Elder Monson than decided to do something unexpected and ordered a dish called “Desert Sunset” which is totally different from a BAF shake.  The dish contained one scoop of vanilla ice cream, a scoop of raspberry sherbet and a scoop of orange sherbet on either side of the vanilla. This was topped with a fruit salad topping.  It was not a popular dish.

          As they were paying their ticket, mom asked Elder Monson how he had enjoyed the Desert Sunset.  He didn’t say he didn’t like it, but did make it clear that it wasn’t a BAF shake.  Mom said he sounded disappointment about the choice he had made.

          I always thought that might make a great analogy on those of us who wear suits or name tags – who are looked upon as examples (whether we want it or not) and what if things changed?  What if we were to wear a tee shirt instead of a suit or order another dish out of the ordinary?  How is perception changed? Or does it change?

          Ordering one dish over another is not life changing.  Some choices don’t matter.  And yet there are some who are so admired they put a suit on out of respect to those who may follow their every move.  Some of us are predictable and that’s okay.  I like doing things out of the ordinary just to throw people off.  What do I accomplish by doing that?

hopeless romantics . . . or rather hopeless at remembering.

 

The other night I had asked Alexa to set an alarm for yesterday morning as we would be picking pears . . . or so we believed.  I had glanced at the calendar and realized that yesterday was mine and Richard’s wedding anniversary.  I started toward the back room to ask him if he wanted to do anything special to celebrate.  I don’t know if I even made it back to the room where he was working on watches.  I am so losing it.  We both are.

          Both of us forgot about it being our anniversary.  We went down to Medford to pick pears which we normally do at the end of August.  No smoke filled the air!  It was great!  But we wondered: Do the pears prefer smoky weather?  I have never seen so many puny pears EVER.  The majority were not even pickable.  What?  It was rather disappointing.  Two people climbed ladders and dropped them down to those who would catch and gently place in their bags.  Rings had been handed out and most pears missed their mark.  I took a few pictures before getting recruited to fold boxes.  I liked that job.

          We did stay longer than normal but have stayed longer if the pears were their normal size.  It wasn’t until we were almost home when we received a text from Ryan wishing us a happy anniversary.  Oh, yea.  Talk about your hopeless romantics . . . or rather hopeless at remembering.

          Facebook reminders of celebrations past . . . many with other nostalgia unrelated to the anniversary itself but anniversary of something else – like the planes crashing into the twin towers just two days after we were married.  Twelve years ago I had gone to Mrs. Cavanaugh’s candies with the second grade field trip. 

Evidently it was “Karen” day one year – I think before 2020 when the name Karen seemed to get a bad rap. That was the same year I put some presidential trivia online for two months.  Ten years ago my mom was dwindling between this earth life and the other side. 

From 80 to 50

     I have wearing my 

sweatshirt the last couple of 

mornings.  

Mist crawls over 

the mountain.  

Fall is in 

the air.  

It would be 

nice if it would 

last always.

Laundry and Electric Communication

 We left the hotel just after 4:00 a.m. on Saturday.  Jaime likes getting breakfast at Denny's and so we went there for food.  Richard and I don't care for Denny's and were each disappointed with our meal - though we had not expected much to begin with. I would rather have McDonald's than Denny's. Jaime said it could be our last time for going to Denny's.  

We drove by way of Boise.  Though we hit almost every rest stop between Salt Lake and Myrtle Creek we seemed to make good timing.  I think it was after 5:00 when we drove passed the sign that indicated we were in Douglas County, but then it took another two hours before we arrived in Roseburg. (I have mentioned how incredibly large our county is) We could see the smoke before we arrived in Glide.

For the most part I don’t check my facebook or email while on vacation.  I’m on vacation.  This is how things looked when I returned

 

Before our backroom was built Richard had hung two clothes lines that came down in 2019 and were never replaced.  I could use the lines 2-4 months of the year.  I could hang about three loads.  Richard has since replaced one line but it is much shorter and holds only one load at best. 

I was able to take in a few more classes of the water fitness before the pool closed for the season.  The last day was August 25th although we had scheduled a pool party for the 26th.  Open swim and party were both cancelled due to the poor air quality.  We had worse in 2017.

When I returned home I had used the dryer as the skies were filled with smoke.  The rain has since chased the smoke away.  It seems pointless to hang the laundry with a chance of rain. 

Better Than McDonald’s

             We learned that Ryan and his family would be doing a tour of the main post office where he works.  We asked if we could join them.  On Saturday morning Richard drove Jaime and me downtown as she was still set on finding souvenirs bearing Utah’s name.  We also went to Trolley Square before driving to the post office to meet Ryan’s family.

It was a nice experience learning more about the structure of the post office.  Here is a more detailed example of what we saw.  Of course not exact.  We were not allowed to take pictures except in certain designated spots. Our tour guide spoke in a very soft voice.  He asked questions and gave out tee shirts for correct answers.  We walked away with two T-shirts and two string backpacks.

Afterward we asked if they would like to have lunch together and ended up going to the Old Spaghetti Factory (putting ourselves at Trolley Square once again).  Emma was most impressed and announced it as her new favorite restaurant.  She said the food was better than McDonald’s which made me laugh.  Well, yeah . . .

We parted ways after lunch.  Ryan's family had a ward bbq to attend that was different from  the ward reunion that we attended.  It was nice to see some faces from the past although all the visits among us felt quite brief.  Jaime was only five when we moved from the ward and so did not remember many but was able to visit with a few.

 

Family Barbeque

                My whole purpose for going to Utah in the first place was to see my sister’s family and that of my son, Ryan. Initailly I thought I would go at the end of July as Shelly and Shaylynn would have camp and Shelly would need someone to stay with the boys while Todd was at work.  Then I got word of an upcoming ward reunion for August 19^th. I somehow didn’t feel that I would be able to stay that long and declined the reunion. 

Later Shelly informed me that she was released from her calling and wouldn’t be attending camp after all – which gave me opportunity to make arrangements to attend the reunion after all.  And then Natalee (aka Sunny) called to ask if I’d be there this summer so that she could arrange for my sibs and I to get together.  She made arrangements for all of us to get together for a barbeque on the 18^th.  So my initial plan was to take the greyhound on the 15^th and arrive on the 17^th. 

We ended up going earlier and wished for Richard to come with us.  I felt fortunate that he decided to come get us.  He drove all day Thursday and arrived after 3:00 a.m. on Friday.  So he was there for my two primary purposes for being in town.  We kept his presence a secret from Ryan’s family and Shelly's.

The barbeque didn’t start until four or five but we had gone to my brother’s house early.  I don’t think Ryan was planning to attend initially but did arrive before Shelly and Todd.  They were all very happy and surprised to see “grandpa”. 

We had a really nice visit.  Of course we played games.  We started with a game of “spoons” outdoors but Mother Nature had other ideas and pushed us into the house before the night was over.  Such a memorable night.  Thank you all who attended!

Visiting Cousins and Playing Games

 On Thursday morning my cousin Kindra (aka Michelle) and daughter, Aria (aka Melody) drove to Marj’s house to take Jaime and me to breakfast.  We ended up at a waffle house near the high school.  Afterwards Aria had wanted to get something at Fashion Place and so Jaime and I returned to the mall for a second time. After we were through browsing at the mall, Kindra drove us downtown and dropped us off. 

          We were specifically looking for a penny press machine and thought there might be one at the planetarium, but there was not.  

 

Jaime received a text message from Richard while we were downtown.  He had made arrangements for us to check in at a hotel as he was planning on driving in to collect us.  I was adamant about NOT returning on Greyhound.  I had wanted Richard to go with us in the first place specifically for the 18^th and 19^th – my soul reason for even being in Utah. 

                  UTA offered free fare to all passengers riding bus or train on Thursday and Friday and so we did not have to pay on the return.  

We took the train all the way to Sandy and met Natalee who then drove us to Marj’s to collect our luggage and took us back to the hotel.  She offered to take us back to her house and feed us.  But we decided to just rest up.  Jaime and I unpacked and went to the pool. 

Later Keith called to ask if we wanted to play games.  He came and got us and took us back to his house.  We were playing games when Steven (aka Corey) arrived.  Natalee took some really great pictures of Jaime and me playing cards with my brothers. What great memories in the making.

Vacation Barbie

            On Tuesday Jaime wanted to go out to Sandy and hang out with my brother Keith and his wife Natalee.  We called first to see if we could come.  We did not know that it would lead to our becoming another’s house guest.  Natalee had already made plans with a former neighbor of ours.  She and Marj (aka Peggy Bird) were going to see “The Barbie Movie” and had invited us to attend with them.

          To be honest, “The Barbie Movie” was never on my agenda – especially for something to do while in Utah.  I was a bit floored to learn that it was something Marj had wanted to do.  Not only that she had offered to put Jaime and I up during the rest of our stay. Somehow the  wires were crossed and Marj seemed to be under the impression that Jaime and I were sleeping on the floor (which we were not)

          As school was scheduled to start the following day and my allergies had been acting up (I'm guessing the dog hair for one), I decided it would be best to leave Shelly’s and temporarily move in with Marj.  I felt like an intruder but things worked out.  We saw the movie and went out to lunch.  We also went grocery shopping.  Nat picked up some things for herself and Jaime and I did some light shopping for ourselves and for Marj.

        Jaime had really wanted to spend time at the Valley Fair Mall - opportunity missed on Monday.  I asked her if we could just go to Fashion Place as it was within walking distance.  Thought it was crazy to learn that none of the Malls open until after 11:00.  So on Wednesday we walked over to the mall and browsed around. We did get lunch at the food court and then walked home. 

                 Nat came and took us back to her place for a few hours. They fed us dinner.  We played all of the games that Jaime totes around with her.  Keith taught us the game “Oh, Heck”.  It was good to visit with them.

Going for Nostalgia

 

               On Monday we met with a gal that we had gone to Church with when we lived in West Valley.  She said the ward has now been dissolved.  Oh, that makes sense.  The last time I attended in 2017 the numbers were down and the ward page has since disappeared from facebook.

          Christy teaches at a school in Magna.  We took the bus out there and had a Mexican lunch.  It was nice to visit with her and catch up on some happenings. After we parted ways Jai and I took the bus back to Fairbourn and went to the library and took some pictures – two of which are found in this post 

          Jaime had conned Todd into taking her to see Coraline at the theater. He drove her and his two eldest to meet his niece who worked at the theater and they watched it together.  Afterwards Jaime treated Uncle Todd and her cousins to ice cream at Arctic Circle. I chose to stay home with Shelly and Jerry.  The heat of the day had worn me out and I needed to rest.