Beneath the Wraps

           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”

 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.  

  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!

                 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 –...

  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 c...

     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.

 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...

                 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 agai...

                 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 1...

  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.   ...