Beneath the Wraps

          A week before Jenna was born I started recording thoughts in a journal from what I thought might be her point of view.   I added pictures to my accounts.   By the time she was ten I had ten volumes of journal which we started rereading this month.   It has helped to take our minds off everything that is currently taking place and what limited activities I will allow. I do not like the person I was when she was younger.   I was always so uptight.   I am so grateful to have left that person behind and that Jenna and I are friends with one another and that has her dad’s positivity rather than the attitude I feel like I have lost.   I certainly hope that I did.   I know I still have my uptight moments but I am such a happier and different person than I was for a long time.   I hope to always radiate positivity.

        Each month this year has brought up a new set of challenges – most which still exist.         January – Australia caught on fire         February – Chinese citizens post videos of the effects of COVID19 – I never imagined it would become a world wide thing         March – Several states go into a lockdown.   For Jenna the pendemic started Friday the 13 th .   The 18 th shakes Utah (where we came from and family members live) starts a chain of earthquakes and aftershocks         April – nation is short on supplies – items such as face masks, hand sanifizer, ventilators and toilet paper.   Only those working front line have jobs.   People feel more exposed to risk while working front line.   People without jobs are financially worn out. May – Rumor of Murder Hornets.   Not im...

This morning I dreamed I was in an institute class.   I was about 30 years younger and single.   Many of the students in my class were elderly women.   We were challenged to display something that would remind of us the lesson. I had five posters and selfishly planned on hanging all five and would not share them. (I think I probably missed the point of the lesson) When the class ended I had gone into the hall and toward the door that would lead me out to the parking lot.   I was digging through my purse in order to find my keys.   As I was not coming up with them, I decided to sit down and rummage through my purse believing it would be easier to go through.   Rather than a college or equivalent building, the seat I had chosen next to entrance /exit doors looked more like a lobby you would find in a hospital. As I was looking through my purse a number of guys appeared to ask me why I hadn ’ t been to class.   Evidently I had signed myself up for two...

        I have never had the best sleeping habits.  2020 seems to have changed the sleeping habits of many of my friends.  I seem to have more erratic dreams somehow.  I usually don ’ t remember them.  Sometimes I remember pieces but never any detail.  Take last night for instance.         I could hear the sounds of an injured animal.   At first it sounded like a dog – who se dog? We don ’ t see many dogs in our neighborhood.   We see a lot of cats.   Oh, wait.   Perhaps it isn ’ t a dog after all.   It must be the chickens.   They ’ re scared.   Why are they scared?   There is a mountain lion after them.   I hear a gun shot.   Oh, no.   The police are going to come around and ask what time we heard the gunshot.   I don ’ t want to look at the clock.   I am sooooo tired.   I ’ m guessing it is 2:30.      ...

        The Reader’s Digest is nearly a century old. I remember seeing it in the mail when I was younger.   I did not recognize it as a magazine as it always appeared like a paperback book – except for the table of contents were on the front cover and the picture was on the back.           Unfortunately I cannot find anything on the web to support my memories of the Weekly Reader and the Reader’s Digest used in classrooms.   I remember having read stories in at least three of them.   I even had one in my collection before we moved to Oregon.   One specific story I remember featured George Washington Carver.   After each story we read were followed by questions that we were required to answer and turn in. According to this site each issue contained 31 articles and best stories submitted.   To the best of my knowledge it has always included insightful tips and powerful experiences shared...

           I have often wondered if someone were to accept blame then what?   Someone accepting blame for a fire isn’t going to put it out.   Someone accepting blame for falling asleep at the wheel isn’t going to bring back the victims who lost their jobs because they were stranded on the freeway or lost their lives due to neglect.   If someone accepted blame for the coronavirus won’t make it go away.   What happens when someone accepts responsibility?   Then what?             Our country/state has tried lockdown and stay-at-home orders           Mask orders           Reopening in phases           Reclosing           Stepping back Four supposed stages.   Has anyone ever made it pa...

These are the signs I pass in the morning when I take Jaime and her friend out to the blueberry farm. Between Country Market to Ray’s: Between Ray’s and Horse Bridge:  Horse Bridge:    Riverside:  Just before Riverside merges with South Myrtle I pass these three spaced out social distantly: About half way to the farm:   On the return:  I pass at least 4 of these:  And at least two of these: Before I hit the fork between Division and Riverside:  Either road will take me home though the signs are different if I choose to go through town.  But here is what I see typically:  And now I am home.  Wasn’t that fun?

from  https://www.stephanh.com/2018/07/03/helicopter-role-forest-fires/             The river beds are already low           Now there’s a fire in Days Creek           I heard the helicopters this morning           I don’t hear them anymore           Could that mean that the fire is out?           Now if we could just get this pandemic fire Under control Helicopter passed again before I added the pictures.  Days Creek is further away so it takes them longer.   

           There is still a mask war and I suppose will be for as long as necessary.   Missionaries are required to wear masks while in public.   It is an inspired requirement .   Our ward mission leader is against wearing a mask – which puzzles me for a couple of reasons – well maybe more than a couple, but I will mention only two.           His son married the daughter of his next door neighbor who is avid about wearing masks and keeping social distances as her husband’s health is failing and has been for some time. They share the same grandchildren and yet seem insensitive to the restrictions that his in-laws would like to enforce. I’m not saying that he is insensitive.   I, of course, don’t have all of the facts.   I’m just saying that the action seems insensitive.            Who are we to not honor a requirement that the missionaries t...

                Recently someone posted that the churches were closed in California – again.   It had been posted in the World Wide Unified Group – which has become a support group among various faiths originally to join in a fast and now to continue with prayers. I’m sure there was disappointment as she created her post – probably even more when the administrators shut off the ability to receive comments.   I   understand why they did it – to avoid confrontation and politics.   There are several cases of outbreaks due to large indoor gatherings.   Church just happens to be one of those indoor gatherings that isn’t immune to the virus.   These are just three sites of many here , here and here                Church does not have to be a large gathering of people sitting on pews inside of a building.   We can worship within our hearts. We c...

             I have not unfriended or blocked anyone due to political views although I have unfollowed people due to their ignorant and often offensive memes.   My eldest son is the biggest culprit.   But then I never have shared in his sense of humor (or lack thereof).   I have family members who have unfriended him. He is not the same person he was at one time.   He has forgotten that he lost a wife and has developed into quite an insensitive person. Masks are now mandatory in at least half the states – some are resorting back to lockdown.   I have heard that only USA has made the coronavirus and mask requirement a political issue.   For the most part I have viewed the anti mask wearers or Trump supporters as “me” people.   They abuse their freedoms at the cost of other people.   They are bullies.   Not all of them are Republican.   Not all supporters are Democrats.   What does that even mean t...

What is up with the wind blowing like it’s Halloween I don’t recall ever hearing the wind howl since we have moved to Oregon I half expected to see snow this morning though it has been warming up to boiling What a bizarre thought that it might snow I didn’t fully believe it would but then again it is 2020.   Why not? It is, afterall, fire season.

https://www.guideposts.org/faith-and-prayer/7-trending-faith-and-prayer-topics              I have noticed that there are several prayers that are answered in a way that we would not choose to be answered in that way.   Remember this post? For some of us the answer comes with such devastation that we may not even recognize it as an answer until several months or years down the road.   Allow me to provide some examples.             I remember a sister in my home ward who was always on the go.   It seems she spent many hours driving, serving, nurturing, what have you . . . constantly assisting others but never herself.   She had a desire to spend more time for scripture study and prayed about it.   When she threw out her back initially, I don’t think she viewed it as an answer to her prayers.   She had to stay off her feet for several weeks which gave her the time to ...