Porning and Writing

It is nice to be in a routine.  It frees my mind to have the basics of living already decided.  We've needed free minds lately as we've been called upon to give multiple talks on pornography.  I believe we have the basic presentation effectively organized, after changing it multiple times.  I now have three talks, to various audiences, organized and ready.  Except that we are about to be released from our missionary assignment as Addiction Recovery Missionaries.  For awhile anyhow.  It seems that we will soon be involved in addiction programs for the whole Boise area in the not too distant future. So I'll keep those talks handy.

Besides pornography, I've become immersed in writing short family stories for our grandchildren.  The writing seems to come easier than figuring out what accompanying pictures I should include.  There just don't seem to be photos of what I'd like to illustrate.  So I've been photoshopping some and combining elements from several illustrations until they say what I want them to.  It is time consuming but fun.  But also not authentic.  Not the doctored pictures anyhow.  I'm hoping to accumulate quite a collection of stories to give the kids that, hopefully, they will read and save to share with their own children in time to come.  I am hoping that the stories will serve as a kind of family blanket, surrounding the kids and grandkids with family love through generations of living and dead family members.

I have a hard time finishing what I start, as, before I can finish one project I get an idea for another.  I begin that one so it doesn't escape me and then I get another idea.  And so it goes.  But I have FINISHED three stories and two books!  So far!  I'm so excited about FINISHING.

Here's the first book:  Layne's Dream (I suppose it isn't too hard to figure out that it is about flying airplanes).

Fun With the Ostlers

Layne turned 75 last Monday.  As his twin reminded him, that is the age at which both his father and grandfather died.  Hum.  Could he really be old enough to die?  Could I?  It doesn't seem so.  Not until I consider how old we really are.  But I'm not worried.  Somehow I feel full of life and still very connected to this mortality.  I feel that there are still things to do here.  But I'm beginning to feel an urgency about getting them all done.

When I was younger I longed for what I would call a "balanced" friendship; one where the give and take between us was somewhere around equal.  As the years have passed I have found a few friends that fit that model.  One of them is Trudy Ostler.  I met Trudy and her husband Bill in Fremont, California, where we worked together on various Church projects.  We seemed to find a meeting of the minds on most things and tended to think down the same mental roads.  We understood one another and seemed to have very similar life experiences and goals.  Bill and Trudy moved to St. George, Utah.  We eventually moved here to Star, Idaho.  Because we enjoyed our shared mental journey our friendship has continued.  And so we have developed a tradition:  every year since we have moved here they visit us and we visit them.  In between visits we rarely talk, but when we are together, things pick up where we last left off.  There is little need to become reacquainted.  It just so happens that Bill and Layne are very compatible as well.  So our visits have been so pleasant and fun.

The Ostlers arrived for their yearly visit on Layne's birthday.  We celebrated with his requested dinner and dessert.  Every birthday Layne says he doesn't want anything.  Every year I try to find him something anyhow.  It has to be useful.  This year I decided on sunglasses.  His favorites are years and years old.  It just so happens that his old ones broke several days before his special day.  So the gift I offered seemed to fit perfectly into his needs.  Score!  It is rare so I've got to brag.

This is the first house built in Idaho City, an hour north of us, and it was built by Galbraiths!  Gotta be related.  Its located next to a blacksmith shop, seen to the right in this photo.

We spent a fun-filled week with Bill and Trudy.  We saw the movie, The Martian (very good), toured the almost ghost town of Idaho City, went ATVing, and, most daring of all, we went zip lining.  I was too chicken to zip line at our July reunion, but decided to try it, since all I read about the company here was encouraging.  We took a leap of faith and reserved a spot on Wednesday.  I admit right now that standing on a platform high above the ground was a bit unnerving.  And I admit that leaping off of said platform was even more so.  But I was not about to let anyone know that I was so nervous.  So I made the leap.  Over and over.  Because I did it, so did my chicken husband, Layne.  Bill and Trudy leaped with pure delight.  By the end of the experience my fears were somewhat dissipated and it became sort of fun.  Perhaps I can do it again.  Sometime.

Here we are, gathered, confidently, for our first zip line adventure.

We are standing on top of the first zip line platform, safely connected to the wire cording you see around the tree.

First zip line challenge:  cross the bridge.  For us greenies it was challenging.  I am leading here, with Layne following.

Here's Layne, newly arrived from a zip.  "Zippin'" the worker with us called it.

There are two zip lines here.  Layne is on the left, I'm on the right.  We are about to race to the other end.  As you might imagine, the heaviest guy wins.  I not only lost, but didn't have enough momentum to make it to the very end and slid slowly back to the middle of the zip.  I had to be rescued by grabbing onto a rope and being pulled to the end by our young worker.  It was quite a workout for him.  Kinda embarrassing actually.

Our three days together came to a quick end when Bill and Trudy drove off Friday morning.  We will see them again in the spring, when we visit them in St. George.  I'm looking forward to it.

We will be finished with our pornography mission in another month.  During our two years doing this we have been asked to speak about it three times.  Three times in almost 2 years.  Now that we are in our last month, we have three more speaking assignments, all this month!  How strange is that?  Layne is very ready to be finished with addiction. I don't think he will miss it.  But I will.  The women I work with every Sunday night have been an inspiration to me and, in many ways, have changed my life.  I'm grateful to be ever learning what appears to me to be important concepts.  After tonight, theoretically we have just 3 or 4 more addiction meetings.  Wow.  Then what?

Florida

Layne isn't much for traveling.  But our friends the Wintersteins pressed us into going with them to Florida, mostly to see the Epcot Center in Orlando.  We joined them and another couple, Fred and Linda Denison, in Orlando for a week of touring.  Larry rented a house with a pool for our week.  Florida is experiencing an unusually hot summer, we were told.  The heavy, humid air of Florida multiplies any summer heat.  We felt weighted down by it, but soon adjusted fairly well.  After all, there was a pool if we really wanted a cool-down.  Here's a view of the pool in back, surrounded by a screened enclosure.  Lots of yards in Orlando have these enclosures.  The locals say to keep the many bugs out.  Or maybe alligators?

We spent two days in Epcot.  I tried to talk our gang into making those two days week days, but was out-voted, so our first day was a Saturday.  If you like mobs and mobs of people it was a good pick.  But we didn't.  Layne just barely tolerated that first day, walking along the crowded, steamy paths in between the mobs gathered for the weekend tour.  I think we all thought that people would be involved in school and so the crowds would be thinner.  No way.  Somehow the sights dull a little when viewed in between bobbing heads.

Epcot is a lovely park, mostly built to appeal to adults I think.  But there were plenty of children there as well.  It is mostly about featuring various countries, recreated in the form of small villages, offering some films of their countrysides, occasional live performances, food and lots of overpriced souvenirs.  There are fireworks every night.  We loved seeing them on Saturday night.

Three girls in Epcot:  Linda Denison (the screamer), me, and Carol Winterstein.

We dragged Layne along for another day at Epcot on Monday.  The crowds were much thinner and so it was more enjoyable.  Larry used a wheelchair both days, which got us into various rides and shows ahead of the line.  That was pretty nice!  Our favorite ride was a 5 minute one called, "Soar!"  It offered an imaginary ride over various sights in California, putting us right up next to the screen.  With every shift of scene, Linda squealed in abandoned delight.  It made that 5 minutes quite magical.  The best of the day for sure.  Layne and I stand in front of one of the many lovely sights in Epcot.  I'm holding my one and only souvenir:  a fan, bought in "Japan".

Here's the Orlando Temple

There were other sights to see in Orlando.  The Church has a huge 290,000+ acre ranch there.  We took the time to tour it.  The ranch is one of many that the Church has and runs on a for-profit basis.  The profits go to the humanitarian arm of the Church.  I had no idea of the scope of the Church ranches!  We also saw the Orlando temple and the nearby beach.  Beaches are pretty special to me since they were the recreational place of choice when I was growing up.  The Florida beaches offer warm water and lovely, white sand.  It was a beach paradise.  Here's a scene from the LDS Ranch.  Don't the cows look happy?  They should; their job is just to do what comes naturally and bear calves each spring.

Orlando started out as a fort named for a man named Gatlin, in the mid 1800s.  It was built to protect early settlers from the Indians during the Indian wars of the mid-century.  Dr. John Gatlin was a young surgeon when he found himself involved in an Indian battle.  Sadly, he was killed in that battle, along with almost all the white men involved.  But the fort that was built soon afterwards was named for him.  There is nothing left of it now except a marker and a street named for him.  When the Indian Wars ended, the fort was abandoned.  The area was later renamed Orlando.  But it so happens that John Gatlin is a distant uncle of mine, so it was exciting to be able to talk our gang into checking out the marker for what is assumed to be the site of Fort Gatlin.  Historical sites are much more exciting when family is involved!

Our last night we ate at an all-you-can-eat lobster feed.  I think this guy would rather not.

All of us flew home on various flights last Thursday.  We were pretty tired for a couple of days but soon recovered.  Well, Layne is still dragging a bit.  We vegged out this weekend while watching General Conference.  What fun that was, and special too as three new apostles were introduced.  How wonderful it is to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ.  I feel overwhelmingly blessed on every level.

Layne turns 75 on Monday.  We plan to celebrate it all week since our good friends Bill and Trudy Ostler will be spending it with us.  So next week promises to be full of new adventures.