Beneath the Wraps

             When Jenna and I trip over our tongues and say things incorrectly (or just when I hear things incorrectly) we will laugh.   For example, she once said, “I talked to this about dad” instead of “. . . dad about this”.   We usually catch ourselves before the laughter comes.               I heard a country song the other day.   I don’t listen to country and my hearing has seemed a little off since May.   I was pretty certain that I had heard incorrectly and asked Jenna, who seems to have radar hearing when it comes to music and lyrics.   “Did he just sing ‘How can my cow use my cell phone’?” at which point she started laughing and that made me laugh.              We’ve got some inside jokes that will make each other laugh.   Well, I don’t exactly laugh when she says “raw rhubarb” but rather will make a face which will make her laugh. ...

Two years ago next month, libraries across Douglas County were making attempts to reopen their doors in time for the Summer Reading Program.   We marched with our group for the Rodeo parade ( here ) and Jenna enjoyed herself immensely during Summer Fest when the “Friends of Myrtle Creek” set up a booth in order to raise awareness that the doors would be open again.   The team had set up two activities: knock down a paper cup pyramid or paint a rock.   Jenna believed in giving deals to those who wished to do both.   She had a real knack for recruiting people.   Those on the board were anxious to keep her on around the clock and Jenna enjoyed being there. We’d gone back the following year to assist, but we couldn’t find a booth for Myrtle Creek.   We did find one for the Riddle Sawdust Jubilee and we volunteered to help. Jenna and I met Annie at the booth last year. Once again, Jenna helped recruit and assisted with games which Annie very much app...

          I had gone to the pool on Tuesday and Wednesday.   Wednesday was colder than Tuesday had been – perhaps warmer with air but cooler with water.   I didn’t bother going yesterday and didn’t seem all that motivated.   I figured as the air felt cold (only 52 degrees) that the water would feel warm.   I never did find out.           I did drive to the pool.   My phone went off just before I turned in to park.   I thought perhaps it was the instructor telling me that nobody showed and would ask if I was on my way.   I was all prepared to tell her to get an early start on her trip to Portland.   But the phone number was for the Young Women’s camp leader.   Oh –oh.           She said Jenna had been throwing up and would I like to come and get her or have her weigh it out.   We have both made a commitment to help wi...

The only association I remember having with the name “Ebenezer” was the character Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”.   Thus when I saw that word in “Come Thy Fount” ( here ) I questioned its meaning. I have looked up the word and have done some research as to why the Hebrew word Ebenezer translates into “stone of help”.   Evidently, it has something to do with the ark of the covenant and the gratitude of the Israelites who had lost but gained back into custody.   Samuel evidently raised a stone as a symbolic gesture.   This was done in recognition of receiving assistance from God. Then I questioned what might have possessed Charles Dickens to give his character that same name.   Was it because Scrooge had the feeling of a stone?   He didn’t appear to be at all helpful to anyone in the beginning of the story.   According to the Mierriam-Webster the word Ebenezer (which generally is capitalized) has two meanings. ...

          My mom told me that Flamingos’ hit “I Only Have Eyes for You” had been playing the first time she kissed dad. Therefore she had dubbed it “their song”.           Roland and I had an appointment in Medford on Saturday morning. The entire time we were driving he was listening to a book on tape and I was hearing the Flamingos singing, “Are the stars out tonight?   I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright.   I only have eyes for you dear”             Once in a while, I would hear, “. . . they all disappear from view” which I don’t believe comes until the end of the song.   And I’m wondering, “Where did this song even come from that it would be trapped in my head?” and “Why can’t I shake this off?”   I mean 90 plus minutes is a long time for the same set of lyrics to be playing in one’s head over and over again. This video was posted t...

I recall a time when Grandma Helen had taken Michelle and I to a downtown department store.   She had given us each a dollar to spend on whatever we like.   I fell in love with a plastic bank that resembled a Martian caught in a bag of Money.   It was 2.00.   Michelle wanted a Skipper doll which she said she’d be getting from her other grandmother and she would lend me her dollar in which to purchase my beloved bank (whom I named Michael). I don’t know where my grandma had gone as we were ready to make our purchase.   The issue of leaving children alone in the department store did not seem to be a huge safety concern as it is today.   I took the bank up to the counter.   The cashier rang me up.   The total came to $2.06.   I was eight or nine and had not considered a tax fee.   Why would I?   I didn’t have six cents to spare!   A kindly man took a nickel out of his pocket and placed it on the counter.   One cent m...

She became aware of boy/girl relationships during middle school.   She thought they were stupid.   All the emotions.   All of the game playing.   All of the drama.   The entire idea of relationships was stupid.   They did not appeal to her and she was fine and secure on her own.   She remained that way throughout middle school and her freshman year. Then came summer. They were friends.   There were generally four of them who hung around one another during lunch.   Not necessarily to eat, but to play games and enjoy one another’s company. He really liked her.   First as a friend.   Then maybe something more.   Not too much more.   He had been in a relationship before.   He did not need another.   And yet he found her to be adorable.   He liked holding her hand and leaning on her.   What’s more, he enjoyed it when she leaned on him. He told her that he would not date her.   Or at le...

                Today is the 4 th annual city-wide yard sale.   It’s cooler than it has been in prior years but hotter than it has been all week.   A lot of baby stuff up and down the city drive.   I didn’t realize there were so many babies in the city as this seems to be more of a senior populated town.           Roland and I ended up leaving our own city and making an excursion between Winston and Roseburg.   We ended up with an entire dinette set (though we had initially only wanted a table) and he spotted these adorable dishes that was a reminder of the first dishes that we had ever purchased together – but a more complete and bigger set.   That would mean getting rid of ALL the dishes that are currently in our house to make room for more dishes that we really don’t need, but it was a beautiful thought.    ...

          Several years ago my friend Peggy had gone to several doctors with odd symptoms that no one could seem to figure out.   Out of frustration, she did her own research.   She checked out books from the library (because this took place long before Google existed) and spent countless hours at the library until she thought she had figured it out and reported back to her doctor and said, “This is what I have.”           Fibromyalgia wasn’t a word associated with the 20 th century as it is today. Commercials now are exploding with drugs and advice to “ask your doctor” – not that the pills will cure you.   They will assist with whatever ails you while we sit back and collect cash.   Hey, and if it doesn’t work out to all expectations, there are also ads inviting us to join whatever bandwagon the attorneys may have set up so that we can sue whatever company for making us sick.      ...

Currently, the temperature is 56 degrees.   Alexa says the high will be 73.   This is why we moved to Oregon.   This is how the temperature should be EVERY day.

       I don’t recall where the email was sent from or why I accepted it.   I registered both Roland and me for a seminar on social security.   He had been asking me questions when I had taken my Sociology of Ageism class.   I thought we could attend this together, have questions answered, and have a free lunch.   I enjoyed the lunch part but had found my Ageism class much more informative than the seminar. Except for a few facts that apply specifically to Oregon, there isn't really much that I learned.        During my school course, I had completed four assignments.   The subjects were as follows:   “Websites for the Aged”, “Financial Options for Elderly Care”, “Age of Retirement” and “Life After Retirement”. I started off my first paper by defining “Baby Boomers” which is/was an unusually high amount of births that took place between 1946 and 1965.        I used a quote...

            There are definitely many values that our parents instilled in us, but the three I would pick to answer this question would be prayer, family and service. Prayer           From an early age, we learned that we could communicate to our Heavenly Father through prayer.   We were taught not only to ask for things but to thank God as well for the many blessings that we had.   And there truly were many.   Mom and dad were able to help us understand what the blessings were.   Especially dad.   He had tremendous faith and find the blessings where we could not such as in car failure or his swelled foot ( here )and in his final years could see the blessings with his deteriorating health.                     I remember on several occasions seeing my dad kneeling in front of the gre...

          I remember going to a resort when I was a leader of the young women in my first ward.   There was a thirteen-year-old who enthusiastically asked, “Could we take all the mattresses downstairs and put them in a pile and jump over the balcony into them?   Wouldn’t that be fun?”              At thirteen years old I would have agreed with her. But I had become a rational fun-sucking adult.            “No.   That does not sound fun.   It sounds dangerous.   If you land the incorrectly, you could break your neck.   No.”              I am through with school.   I no longer have to sign in each day or take care of assignments, assessments, and discussions.   My last class was called “Biological Psychology” where we were introduced to the brain and functions.   We’re told that the ...

What causes stress?             Moving causes stress – especially when the moving date has changed and you are not prepared as you believe you have more time to pack everything.              It is stressful looking for a house to move into.             A job can be stressful – especially one that lays on the pressure for an academic advisor to reach the unreasonable goal of ten starts each month.   How can an academic advisor seriously be accountable for a student changing his or her mind?   Especially when the referrals given come from people who were searching for jobs and filled out a school interest on accident as they believed it was a part of the job application?             Stress is trying to fill out a job application online or take a test for school when the Wi-Fi seems to have troubles staying connecte...

There is not a large amount of time from the time cherries ripen to when they need to be picked.   The race between getting them picked before the birds eat them creates an even smaller window of opportunity.   I don’t like being in the yard when the sun is blazing nor do I have the confidence in myself to climb the hill.   But I have made a conscious effort to do my part this year. Wednesday was my last day for subbing. Before I left the house, I took a bucket to the top of the hill to pick some cherries.   When the bucket was a third to half full, I made my way back down the hill and left the cherries on the kitchen table.             Yesterday I retrieved the cherry pitter from its storage spot and punched cherries for about an hour or so.   Perhaps the cherries weren’t ready after all as many of the pits remained attached to the cherries.   I would have preferred an assembly line but as Jenna was...

                I don’t know that dad really had a motto he lived by.   The quote I remember him saying most were: “If wishes were fishes, we’d all have a fry” which is quite a mouthful for my dad.   I believe his favorite word was “ditto” as it provided him a way to mimic someone else’s complete sentence.   My dad was not a big talker

Field Day is a way for the elementary schools to transit from the last week of school to beginning the summer vacation.   The idea is for children to have fun playing games and friendly competition. I remember volunteering for Field Day at South Kearns Elementary.   I believe I had signed up three different years.   I know we got rained out at least two years, but there may have been one room in which we were able to complete the competitions. There were a parachute and relays, water games, racing with a spoon and keeping contents from spilling over.   I don’t remember being involved in another field day until yesterday as I had agreed to sub this week.   It felt weird going back after having been off for a month.   I felt awake when I left the house but somehow grew tired after having entered the building.   I don’t know why.   Every time I entered a classroom I seemed to go deaf. I was constantly asking students to repeat themselves...

          Hillcrest High has held some amazing performances throughout the years as well as some not so amazing.   Since I can remember, the high school plays had always had HUGE casts. If you were a student in band, choir, or the dance club, it was mandatory for you to be a part of the play.   I don’t know if it was just at Hillcrest or if it was the entire Jordan School District (now Canyon Schools) that made it mandatory.   I can remember going to only two other plays outside of Hillcrest – each in a different district.            For instance, mom and I had gone to Kearns High to support a co-worker who was playing Jasper B. Biggler in the musical “How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying”.   Jasper’s personality was so identical to Jack’s that we didn’t really consider it acting.   We heard the same thing about the guy playing J. Pierpoint Finch.   That is pretty...