Radiating Beauty

We've been home a week. It's funny but being home just a day makes me feel that I've been there for a much longer time. Today we are back in Colorado and it feels like we never left. We've attended the temple twice; a very good feeling. One of my friends from there sent me a sweet e-mail message, where she told me that I "radiate beauty". I thought that such a sweet thing to tell me!

We spent our week cleaning the house and working in the yard. I have complained before that we are surrounded by dirt. I'm getting tired of brown all

around. It seems to take such a long time to get things established sufficiently to support plant life. There are a number of things working against growing things here. One is the almost continual wind. I believe that could be solved with trees, especially evergreens that shied from the ground up. Layne is against evergreen trees but I'm hoping to wear him down. The second problems is clay soil. We are in the process of mixing good stuff into the soil to soften it, but that takes time. The third problem is water; ours is full of boron and salt. Most plants don't like that much. So we have installed cisterns to catch the rain water.
That'll help quite a bit for some of the plants. Others are tolerant of
our water. It is trickly to get the right plants in the right places. So we haven't; at least not yet.

We have been busying ourselves getting the front yard ready for planting. The guys have finished the walk-ways and I am building a dry creek bed. I'm hoping to create something that will "radiate beauty". It curves nicely and I'm now filling it with the many stones that lie about the ground all over this place. They are quite pretty so I think they will look lovely. The days at home have been hot! As I worked on the creek, the heat was almost overwhelming. I even found myself sweating! That is something for me. In fact, for two days I could not stop sweating. Layne found it quite attractive!Here is the progress on the dry creek bed.

Friday night we had the pleasure of attending a special, fund-raising, golf tournament, sponsored by our investment company, Valentine Wealth Management Corporation. They found out about Carmen and donated some of the funds from the golf tournament to the family for Carmen. What a marvelous evening! Isn't it wonderful to see how good-hearted people are. It makes me feel so good about the American people; we are a caring bunch, for the most part. Reed spoke at the dinner following the tournament and was very well received. Many approached us after the celebration to meet Carmen and offer various forms of help. How inspiring to be among such giving people. We met and bonded with many of the Valentine family, especially the young daughter of John Valentine, Alexis. She was Carmen's age and sought her out. She talked to Carmen and hung around until our shy girl opened up and they formed a sweet bond. "Meet my new best friend", Alex told us. How sweet it was, for all of us.

We found a bed and a chair for Mom on Craig's List. Both are in good condition and do more things than the items mom is now using in her house. So I'm hoping that she will feel comfortable when we bring her home in November. Ah, it's good to be home! I love our home, it embraces me. There are easy visits to be had with family as well. I love it here!

We arrived back in Colorado yesterday, where we found Mom to be in good condition and functioning better than when we left. I have mentioned her lack of sparkle in previous writings but now understand that her stroke has caused her emotions to "flatten". Apparently, strokes on the right side commonly have that effect on people. She shows little emotion now and I miss it. I miss the mom that used to be even though I still enjoy her as she is now. But I miss the passion.

Pictures above are of Allegra on the left top and Layne on the right top. Family bonding is happening at the kitchen table.