Service With a Smile

"That's cold," Mom commented as I sprayed the back of her hair with water in an effort to redirect her curls. It was Sunday and I was attempting to provide a lovely hair style for her. "It's the price you pay for beauty," I told her. "What if I pay the price but don't get the beauty," she quickly responded. Sometimes, in her now quiet manner, she surprises me with her insight and wit. She charmed our visiting temple friends, the Larsons, today with her warmth and friendliness. She is a lovely lady.

This past week has been full of people. We spent Monday with son Ben and family. Tuesday I went to Brentwood to help daughter-in-law Dorothy. You can see the latest version of new grandson Bruce in this snapshot. Wednesday was Temple service. Thursday I visited some of my Church ladies and Friday we spent most of the day celebrating our neighbor Beverly's birthday. Saturday we watched grandson Vincent perform and today has been full of fun with friends Nikki and Brooks Larson. Wow, what a week. I've hardly had time to do anything at home. I can claim to have gotten the wash done. That's all! But I'm not stressing. Nope, not a bit.

It's been cold and wet here. I like it. I love the soggy sights outside our windows and the view of snow covering our hills. Perhaps you can spot the snow in the picture out our front window. The few flowers that we have are starting to bloom. The five cats are getting along. What's not to love.

Another Anniversary

As before mentioned, I've been working on a drapery project. The good news is, I'm finished. The bad news is, I don't like it! It is always disappointing when what I see in my mind doesn't match the actual product. That often happens to me, perhaps because I am an optimist at heart. My mind's view of things is almost always better than the actual things themselves. At any rate, the inferior draperies are hanging up still until I can figure out a way to improve them.

On the upside, our Valentine's Day was very nice. I fixed leftovers, but served them by candlelight and with a lacy kind of tablecloth. Mom, Layne and I exchanged valentines and sweet conversation. Layne even danced with me. That is always a stretch for him so it was a lovely gesture. After we put Mom to bed, I talked him into watching one of my favorite movies of all time, Enchanted April. I've pressed him to watch it before but he has resisted. But he hung in this time, it being Val Day and all. He didn't like the first part but by the end he was converted. Ah, what pleasure to see such a conversion after all my previous efforts! The movie left a sweet feeling that lingered all through the night.

The photo above was taken this past week. We've had tons of rain and this rainbow filled the sky one lovely morning.

I may have mentioned that Layne gave me an iphone for my birthday. It finally arrived and I must say I've hardly done anything else since then, except play with this phone! I am so amazed at all the great things it does and am determined that I will explore all its possibilities. I have to admit that, while I love techy things, I usually figure out the basics and never move beyond that. But this time I'm going to make a real effort to take full advantage of all the functions this phone has to offer. Well, most of the functions anyhow. Well, at least the functions that will be most useful.

February 18th marked the second anniversary of granddaughter Carmen's death. I drove to Brentwood to meet the kids and go to the cemetery. We gathered there in the late afternoon light on a cold and rainy Friday. Dorothy brought balloons. We spoke of our memories of Carmen and released the balloons, which soon disappeared in the wind, clouds and disappearing light. I still feel such sadness at the loss of our girl. As time passes, I worry that her memory will fade, especially for the little kids. I feel that we mustn't let that happen.

Reed treated us all to dinner at a lovely restaurant; the kind that cooks your dinner right in front of you. It was such a treat as we gathered around the large grill and watched the chef do his fancy chopping and frying. I'm trying to give more of myself to family. I think I've been too structured in the past, letting things get ahead of people. I hope to change that.

The Blessings of Leisure

It is interesting to me that I have been able to find open time so easily these past few weeks. I've been trying to take time to do nothing; pretty hard for a girl who seems to need to be busy. I've been fairly successful at doing very little lately. And I kinda like it. I am beginning to notice, however, that I've been overlooking things. But, hey, there's a price to pay for idleness too.

Part of the reason I am seeking leisure is a reaction to what may be a health problem for me. I am pretty invested in seeing myself as a healthy, strong person. So when my doctor friend offered me a free stress test I figured that it would confirm my excellent health. But she surprised me by saying that my heart is "abnormal". It seems that I have an irregular heart beat (not a problem) and also a partially clogged heart artery (a potential problem). Hum. That seems like a pretty compromised situation to me. So I'm working on confirming that diagnosis and then coming up with a plan to address it. So I suppose I must face this compromised health situation as I coast into "old". Hey, but maybe its all a mis-read. I'll soon find out.

Layne has a pretty long "honey-do" list these days. So I've tried not to bug him about things I want him to do. One of those things is to hang some frames for drapes in the living room. I've had a vision of how I want it to be done. But over the months that Layne hasn't done the job, I've come up with a simpler plan. He announced this past week that he was ready to take it on. So my days of leisure have ended, for now. My simple plan took him two days to accomplish, but the frames are ready for my drapery project. And I must get to it as the frames are most unattractive without the fabric to cover them. So I'm on the job.

As we worked on the framing job Friday, a beautiful sunset greeted us. It was sight not to be missed. So mom joined us in taking in that beautiful view. You can see it here. We awaken lately in the clouds. You can see that here as well. You can't beat nature for beauty and inspiration. Although this photo of mom with grandson Bruce is heart-warming. Work and leisure fills my days but the beauty in the world I see fills my soul.