Four Seasons

 In 52 questions tradition section the last four questions ask what do you look forward to each season, what are the seasonal foods? places? hobbies? and so forth.

I'm sure I could go into more detail but this is what I have thought of so far:

Summer     –     enjoyed pool workouts for the first five years I was here.  The last two years have been more crowded for my taste.  I do enjoy outdoor picnics and barbeques.  I like being in the shade. It’s hot in Utah and equally hot in Oregon.  I don’t recall having fire season each year in Salt Lake.  There were parades and activities all summer long in Utah.  I don’t recall any of them being as hot as Summerfest.  I enjoyed taking the kids to the park for free lunch.  Seems a thing of the past. I prefer Utah summers to Oregon summers overall.

Winter     –     I like the winters in Oregon better than Utah winters where the snow and cold seem to make the season longer.  And the darkness.  Winters are always dark.  I look forward to the lights and decorations and music of Christmas.  I enjoyed sledding and tobogganing in my youth.  I like having green grass in Oregon.  I like Oregon’s moisture as opposed to Salt Lake’s dryness.

Spring     –     I like seeing blossoms on trees and daffodils.  Earlier I had said that Marigolds were my favorite flower but I think I prefer daffodils.  Irises are quite pretty also. I have memories of ham and potato salad that my mom made each spring. I was always grateful that the end of the school year was approaching.

Fall    -         autumn leaves in brilliant colors, the coolness after summer heat, I don’t know that I really have any hobbies.  I like apple cider and watching Jaime’s enthusiasm as it nears Halloween.  No food stands out that I don’t have access to every other season

The Grass is not Necessarily Greener

           We split our yard and kept the goats behind a fence we had secured – allowing them to graze almost a 3^rd of the yard.  It worked for almost three weeks and last night we received a call to let us know that the goats had managed to cross to the other side.

          The goats were staying in the yard at the top of the hill.  Richard and I were both very excited to see two of the “sticks” we planted now have blossoms – and so does the mysterious tree that I thought was a cherry but Richard thought apple.  I guess it’s apple; a daughter to a neighbor’s tree – though the once producing apple tree no longer exists.

          Richard and I spent three hours outside refiguring the fence and allowing more space for Sugar and Cocoa to roam.  When Cocoa returned to Mary’s yard, Richard was able to coax Sugar into crossing over also.  And then we shut the gate between our yard and Mary’s as we continued to secure the fence. 

          We put up a fence around one of the trees, patched where we thought there might be holes for Cocoa to escape (but Sugar cannot get through the holes as Cocoa can;  and really he’s the least mischievous goat of the two.) and I put a time limit and said we would have to return to the house by 6:00 – though we did not until almost 6:30. 

          We’d gone out this morning to tweak the security of the other tree as Sugar wants to eat the blossoms.  We’ll squirt the goats when we catch them doing something we don’t want them to do.  But we are not always out there to guard what we planted.

          There are a ton of weeded vines all throughout the yard.  Way more vines than there is grass.  Richard weed-wacked a small area and threw the weeds over the fence which Cocoa appreciated.  We had the gate shut and the goats were bothering Mary’s handy man.  But when we had finished with the tree we opened the gate and they were chowing down and seemed to enjoy it – though I noticed Sugar attempting to find an escape. 

          We’re not perfect by any means but are slowly finding a way – and enjoy having the animals do the work of mowing our lawn before summer hits – which is when we’d be mowing in Salt Lake.  But we don’t always have that option during fire season.  I have posted pictures.  We still have a hill in the yard.  Slopes. Slippery.  Wet . Muddy.  Looks as though it will rain again.  The goats don't like the rain.  I don't have a problem with it.  Most of the time I welcome it.

Mother's Memories For My Daughter

 

        When we had lived in Kearns and Jaime was almost three, there was a sister in our ward who had given us a Mother and Daughter scrapbook that she said she had but never used – and yet she had three daughters. 

          I made it a project for the two of us to work on and allowed Jai to pick all the pictures for the album and I would write about whatever the page instructed.  I wrote most of it in cursive not realizing few schools would even teach cursive anymore.  As with shorthand, cursive seems to be an art of the past.

          I never had pretty handwriting.  It’s somewhere between elementary and chicken scratch.  It wasn’t until we had moved here and I was working on some updates that I decided to scan the scrapbook, change some of the pictures, and use a font which Jaime would be able to read.  I don’t know how many pages I created.  There are a few tacked to earlier posts such as the ones found here

          I had hoped that Jaime would share my sentiment in preserving our legacy.  She does not.  At least not at this time.  Perhaps when she is my age it will be more meaningful (that is if it doesn’t get lost in the sauce and forgotten)

          In addition I have 12 binders of journaling from what I believed was her point of view.  After we moved here I continued to create pages but hadn’t printed anything.  There are volumes that will take up less space on a thumb drive than on a shelf.

Collecting Pennies

           When I was younger my grandpa taught me the art of collecting pennies and collecting stamps.  My brother and I each had books to collect pennies made in different years at different mints.  My neighbors across the street were really into it and found pennies made during the war.  I still had several pennies when I married Richard.

          He attempted on getting the boys into penny collecting.  I remember donating a couple of rolls of pennies to his cause – though I didn’t see any value to them.  But the boys were floored.  I had pennies dating as early as 1972.  Wow.  The year my brother was born.  To me they really weren’t that old.  But they were over 15 years older than each of the boys – therefore they were “antiques”

          I think within a week the boys had lost interest and some time later he had tried again with his two oldest girls.   Frances did seem interested, but as we really didn’t see them a whole lot, that didn’t pan out either.  So now he’s trying again with Jaime who tries to show genuine interest but is really not.  Richard keeps offering suggestions on what to do with extra pennies that were minted before this decade.

          I told her perhaps we should just keep them all.  After all the penny making has ceased and one day all of the pennies will be more valuable than they are today.  It’s just a thought.

Mother and Daughter Growing

 

          I am so grateful that Jaime has always had it together moreso than I.  I have been so much happier living in Oregon than I was in Salt Lake.  I have grown more in the last eight years than my entire lifetime in Salt Lake.

          Jaime was apprehensive with starting at Coffenbury Middle School after the summer we moved here, but she loved it.  I think of all her schooling she was happiest at Coffenberry.  I don’t know that she would have endured that same love at Eisenhower Junior High – which is where she would have continued her education if we had stayed.  She has also loved the small town life overall.

          She hasn’t been exposed to many active youth – even in Salt Lake.  I know there are more active youth in our current ward than there had been in our last ward.  Currently she has a boyfriend.  They have talked about marriage and are planning on moving out of state – which has made her apprehensive.  She doesn’t wish to leave us but at the same time she needs to live her life.

          She said she will be moving to a state where he will be closer to his family.  She has two sisters who reside in the same state.  Of course I am aware that the state is larger than Oregon and chances of running into her sisters might be slim.  But there’s the possibility.  I hope that they do make a connection.

          I know she will get growth there living in a larger city.  There are some aspects which she has missed.  I hope she finds it.

          I do know Jai is more comfortable with herself than I had ever been.  I’m fine now, but it has taken so long.  We have been so blessed with her.  I’m certain her growth won’t take as long for her as it has for me.

Being Disconnected

     

          My balance has been off and so I try getting at least 20 minutes of Tai Chi each day. I didn't do any Tai Chi on Sunday as I was feeling under the weather.  I don’t know what time I fell asleep on Sunday night.  I do remember hearing Jai come home after midnight and then she left again.  I had two things on the charger and got up to check on their status and to text Jaime but noticed she had left a note by the TV.

          I have made several references to NOT having the best sleeping habits.  Yesterday morning was no exception.  I had tried returning to my slumber but just wasn’t getting there.  I read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and 10 chapters in the Little Christmas Book.  At 3:00 I finally left my room and played on my tablet for a while.

          I don’t remember what time I returned to bed or how long it took me to finally fall asleep.  I did not wake up until almost 8:00 a.m.  When was the last time I ever slept past 5:30?  I was dumbfounded that I had slept that long.  And yet, when I count the hours I still didn’t get enough.

          I was so groggy. Richard said that he wanted to take some watches down to Ashland but I knew that Jaime would be returning and wanted to be home for her.  I really wasn’t up to spending three hours in the car. Again, I was out of it.

          I did clean the microwave and the yard.  I unloaded the dishwasher and filled it back up again.  I heard the beeping of what sounded like the garbage truck – but the garbage doesn’t get picked up until tomorrow.  And early.  When Jaime was in school the garbage wasn’t collected until after she left for school.  The last two or three years they have been collecting long before the dawn.

          Turned out that a neighbor two houses down had rented a dumpster which the sanitation was either dropping off or collecting.  Okay.  Glad it was an outside sound that didn’t need my attention.

          But then I could hear the sound of a school bell being rung – you know like they had on the set of “Little House on the Prairie”.  Our school bells do not sound like that – nor are any of the schools close enough that I would be able to hear it.  What the heck?

          I finally had that one figured out also.  The sound was coming from the dishwasher.  One of the pans was clinging against the water.  Great.  I was so disoriented for about four hours.  I really don’t like being that out of it. 

Midvale House front room 1963

 

I don’t recall our living room ever looking this spacious before.  I don’t remember the chair but I do remember the ottoman.  I had it (or one similar) when I married Richard.  The original color was green but had torn and I had attempted to reupholster it in a printed flannel.  That didn’t last long.

I remember breaking the tinseled tree – I had been looking for tinsel and not an entire branch.  It was an accident.  I didn’t know.

I don’t remember the painting/print ever hung in the living room. I remember it being upon the wall in my parents room. Corey claimed it before mom had passed.  To the best of my knowledge he still has it (here)

And I remember rabbit ears (referring to the antennas on the TV).  That child on the floor?  That would be me over 60 years ago.