LtWobo days 3 and 4

 Yesterday I posted this picture without a caption. 

My sister was the first to make a comment to which I replied:

 “That is Palmyra.  They don’t know where in the sacred grove was the first vision.  It’s not so much because of the first vision [that this picture brings peace] but because of the solitude I felt just being there."

 NY had just reopened and had barely started phase one.  Tours were done virtually - although we took a self guided tour before the missionaries showed.  There were more cars in the parking lot when we left than had arrived.  It was a nice peaceful feeling being in the grove by ourselves.

I provided more info in this post 

Today’s caption for this photo:

“When the angel comes to the shepherds to announce the child’s birth there is a light that shines through the darkness and changes the countenance of each shepherd (or shepherdess) and I can see a sign of “hope” in their faces.”

Transformational Landscapes

I have shared these two paintings before and although they look nothing alike I can always see the above in the dark even though I’m really looking at the one below

The top one hung in my mother’s home for as long as I can remember.  When I was younger  I had marred my mother’s picture when I took a pencil to it and scribbled in the water. 

 Corey had done a research about the painting which he mentions in this post.

If I had claimed the painting as my own, it would have been for sentimental reasons and nothing more.  I never disliked the painting, but it wasn’t my favorite and overtime I had become bored with it over the years and yet there was a comfortable familiararity about me that I really have missed the last seven or eight years.

Roland had purchased the seascape and fog one just over three years ago.  It hung above our bed for just over a year until after we purchased a bed frame.  Now it hangs to the side and I will often see shadows cast over the painting but instead of seeing the misty shore and sea I will see the painting that was in my mom’s house.  Isn’t that weird? 

 

Recycling Lights and Day 10

      Today’s Light of the World feature is to Highlight our hero on social media and just like last year (here) I think those who truly have Christ like attributes would NOT want to be showcased on social media.  Especially if they don’t see it in themselves.  Thus here is my post for day 10.

        Jenna had an assignment in which she was to write an essay answering different questions about a book character or a personal ancestor.  She chose the latter and we found an ancestor I knew I had stories for.  She needed more words than the three stories combined. As we couldn't answer all the questions accurately we fudged a bit on “what might have been” – it was quite a good essay, but not exact as we have no way of knowing if all the facts were actual – only that much of it was “based on truth”.

        When Jenna learned what Day 10 would be she excitedly asked if she could share her essay on facebook.  At first I told her that perhaps she shouldn’t as certain family members might take it as truth, but the more I thought about it I wondered how many would take the time to read it especially since "posting s story" seems more inviting to her than having to post it to the "wall".  

            I have many stories that I have shared throughout this blog. For the most part I have not posted them on facebook - mostly due to lenghth.  That’s too much information for facebook in my opinion.  And yet my brother would often write lengthy posts - especially during the time that his mother-in-law had COVID.  Those I would read - but sometimes would only scan.

        The experience that I am now sharing was from a different ancestor and another side than the one we used for Jenna. For facebook I will end up with only one paragraph that explains a journal but not much of a story line.  But I will share the story here and send a link to any of those that may be curious enough to want to read more:

        Just a brief history to hopefully make this easier to follow.  My great grandmother had four children.  Her only daughter married and had three children: my dad, his brother and his sister. Great grandma’s oldest son married and had six children (three boys and three girls).  The eldest of his children also had six children – five girls and a boy.  I will provide the names of four as I am about to mention the “story” and what unfolded as a result.

        My dad’s sister had four sons.  One I will refer to as Skyler. Dad’s cousin had the six children.  Her only son is Brett. He fits somewhat in the middle. The last time I remember seeing my second cousins was when Heidi was four to six years old.  I had forgotten that dad’s cousin had also given birth to twins after Heidi. I don’t believe Skyler knows about Brett or Heidi or any of the living relatives on that side.  But I could be wrong.  I don’t suppose it matters to the point of this story.

 

On March 29 this year was our second Sunday since the schools shut down and we were on a Stay-at-home order.  Skyler had shared a post about great grandma’s grandfather on a family facebook page.  He sent a Acrobatic link which included pages of Richard’s journal.  Richard is our 3^rd great grandfather. 

I did write a brief synopsis at receiving the journal (here) but did not mention what took place shortly after that. 

Brett has been active on ancestry and I thought he would be interested in Richard’s journal as well – though some of it is really hard to read.  At the time it did not appear that Brett had an account on facebook – though I have seen his name quite recently so must have created an account during the pandemic – I’m thinking in August.  I don’t know if he’s posted since then.

I am facebook friends with one of my dad’s cousins – Brett’s uncle, his mother’s brother.  I knew the names of three of his sisters but had no idea what their married names were and so went to their uncle’s account to see if I could possibly find them that way.  I saw that Heidi and I had two fb friends in common – her uncle and my daughter-in-law.  What?  How would my daughter-in-law know Heidi?  Turns out they had lived in an area that Heidi’s mom had grown up in and seemed to dislike.  I smile every time I think about her saying “Who wants to live in [place]” – and here she has at least two daughters living there.

 I messaged Heidi:

         “I understand that Randy and Carrie used to live in your ward.  I am Randy’s mother.  I am also your second cousin by way of your Grandpa J and my Grandma Helen.  I used to work with your mom at Snelgrove’s ice cream store.”

I mentioned that I’d been searching for her brother as I believed he might be the family historian and told her about Skyler sharing a piece of our 3^rd great grandpa’s journal and asked if they might have seen it.  Unfortunately I was unable to send the pfd. I asked Skyler if he could email it to her but do not know if Heidi was able to view it.  But I have shared other things with her – a photo of Randy and Carrie’s baby, a family photo of our grandparents, great grandparents, and her mom when she was three or four years old.  I also shared a photo I have shared on my blog before and our relationship with the Bird family (see here) 

          The point is I had made a connection with living relatives which to me is more important than lineage.  Not to take away from ancestry or those who thrive on it.  I have shared other discoveries on my blog as well as my lack of enthusiasm for family history in the past;  I do enjoy maintaining present and keeping records for posterity so they may hopefully have a better attitude toward genealogy than do I.

          Though I don't share the story of the ancestor himself,  I have briefly shared our lineage and the experience of connecting over social media.  I don't guess that's showcasing my ancestor - though he has become more than just a name to me. He evidently wrote some poetry in addition to his journal.  

not all the pages are this hard
to read but much of it is

Day One: Donate and Share on Social Media

        I am not the type of person who seeks recognition for performing an act of service or feel the need to blow my own horn and yet so many of the “Light of the World” suggestions want us to use social media to post our accomplishment or share suggestions.  This day for example

 

As though social media is not already flooded with donate to this cause – donate to that cause.  So and so is raising money for this charity or that – and now light of the world wants me to add to that:

 

        “Look what I did!” 

I can share a link I suppose. But I’m not going to.  I am not alone.  My RS president is not too thrilled with the idea of posting our every move when it sounds like we are blowing our own horns which I’m sure is not the intent of the church.  It’s probably more of a missionary tool and because of COVID may be limited to activities that we have done in prior years. 

 

        I have written something for day 10 which in my opinion is too long for a facebook post. I am sure I will be posting it to this blog before the 10^th.  Perhaps I will provide a link to the paragraph I have selected for my day 10 fb post.  I don’t think all my Light the World activities will make it to facebook however.  Does that mean I am not sharing the light appropriately? Would sharing a link on facebook make my light more genuine?  I don’t think it would.

Driving Conditions

 

                Rumor has it that the school district in this area has finally wised up to doing online schooling until the end of the year.  Cars were at the schools today but no buses on the roads.  Perhaps the instructors are still teaching from the school building. Seminary is still being held in person.

It is now too dark for me to leave the house in order to pick Jenna up on time.  I used to leave the house at 7:00 and take a longer route to the church but did not have that option this morning.  As there were no buses I thought I could make it in time but as I rounded the corner and saw a familiar car driving toward me. I stopped and the other vehicle stopped and Jenna got out and joined me.

Initially the driver didn’t want to make a stop on the way to the high school to drop Jenna off as he would encounter school buses.  Oh, I totally understand that, but as there is no school he was willing to drive her and I asked if that could continue.  Still waiting for a reply.

But then again, there is another girl who has stopped going to seminary as she does not go to public school either and her mom can no longer drive her.  They live in a different city – same as the driver who used to pick her up.  Perhaps he could add her back to the route again and we will have to find another way for Jenna.

It was raining this morning.  There is still a foggy mist engulfing the mountains.  Not drivable weather in my opinion but I have driven in worse – just not in this state.  Skinny windy roads is a challenge in itself – I don’t need the elements to create more challenge for me. 

Talents and Technology

  Today we watched a YouTube video that my daughter-in-law had sent a link for.  The video itself was only up for two hours but shared the primary program of one of the wards in Syracuse.  The video itself was just over 20 minutes and we were able to watch our granddaughter perform her part along with several others.

    Throughout this pandemic I have been quite grateful for the creativity and talents of others as they share parodies or bring so many together to perform in ways that they are not able to do in person such as these

 

Memories by One Voice Choir (here)

Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4 (here)

Family Lockdown Boogie (here)

Coronavirus Rhapsody (here)

as well as many countless others.

Thank you to so many who have shared their talents and for the minds behind modern day technology which has made this all possible

Our Thanksgiving

         We started off the day watching the last half hour of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  

Jenna decided that it would be a good time to put up the Christmas decorations and proceed to go out to the shed.  I followed as her last attempt at bringing in the Christmas decorations by herself ended in tears.  We brought the decorations into the house and then watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade – which has never really been tradition for me personally.  It comes on and people come and go while the parade plays.  Occasionally we glance at what is going on.  But come on.  Three hours of parade . . . that is entirely too long.  Parades should not drag on as I mentioned in this post 

         Thursday’s parade was pretty awesome – I think mostly because it wasn’t the traditional parade.  Everything took place in front of Macy’s.  Acts were performed – floats arrived – but it all took place within the same spot.  I thought that was awesome.

         The first number performed featured Jimmy Kimmel and cast performing “Dancing in the Streets” – it seemed full of life and gave hope to this bizarre year.  Most of the performers wore masks and carried social distancing (six-feet-apart) signs while they performed.  It was what was needed to liven up a Thanksgiving Day.  I enjoyed it and the “Schyler Sisters” number from Hamilton. 

“Look around, Look around to see how lucky we are . . .”  Jenna is not feeling lucky living in 2020.  (She is the one who suggested I add that comment)

 

Somebody had asked Alexa a question and some commercials came on. “Amazing Grace” played over a car commercial, health care and McDonald’s.  I thought “oh, how cool that they are playing this song during the commercials somehow linking them together” and then the music stopped and a black and white memory of Macy’s came on.  Then I decided Alexa had been responsible and that the “Amazing Grace” had been from her and had nothing to do with the ads (which did seem abnormal though I thought it was part of it . . . I don’t know why) and Jenna suggested I turn off the TV and turn it back on again in order to get sound.

Roland had dismissed himself to cut up the Christmas cards and gave the cut cards to Jenna so that she could fold them.  I stuffed them into envelopes and Roland sealed them after he finished with the cutting part.  We began to lose interest in the parade after a while but did manage to leave the parade on the entire time it aired.  Jenna put up the tree and we started decorating – even before we had our Thanksgiving meal.

Jenna had the opportunity of making the pizza dough.  We tried contacting the boys and Uncle Bill while the dough was rising. Each call was a bust. After the dough had risen Jenna and Roland made our Thanksgiving Pizza (which is a first for us . . . we usually have Turkey, Yams, etc.) and decorated with pineapple and ham.  We did talk with a couple of families while the pizza was cooking. We then ate our Thanksgiving pizza in front of the television.  We started watching the Christmas Chronicles part 2.  

Jenna excused herself after she ate.  Roland started to fall asleep and I wasn’t about to watch this squirrelly picture by myself!

 We called Jenna back in to discuss our gratitude.  I asked each one what they were grateful to since we moved to Oregon and what specifically this year.  We are all grateful that Roland is still able to work and is a job that we brought with us as he has been working remotely since before the move.  Jenna and I both appreciate living in the country as opposed to the city.  Especially this year.  It was nice to enjoy even just a few minutes being thankful.

        We ended the night with Jenna and I attempting to play games but ended up on with me on the computer looking up the events for Light of the World this year and her programming ideas into her phone about how to fulfill each day – disappointed with the request of posting said activities online.  Take day 10 for instance – “. . . learn about your ancestors and share their stories on social media” I don’t go into facebook to read paragraphs.  Does blogging count as social media?