Home Doings

The days in Idaho are long in the summertime.  The summer solstice was accompanied by a full moon this year.  The last time that happened was 70 years ago, so I guess you could say that the night of June 20th was sort of special.  So I took a picture of our yard at 10 PM.  Pretty amazing, don't you think?  I love the summer light!

When our children were young and at home in Fremont, CA, we took in quite a few people, at various times, to live with us awhile.  One of those was Mark Hiatt.  He was a young man then, single and, temporarily homeless.  Home computers were pretty new then, and Mark had one.  To our 10 year old Benjamin, they were magical indeed.  Mark taught him how to use his and Ben was captured.  It was the beginning of a fascination with computers that has never ended.  

Mark moved out after his short stay with us.  We have kept in touch.  As it happens, he now lives in Idaho Falls with his second wife and comes to the Boise area once in awhile.  They came to visit us on their latest trip here.  Mark and his wife both have health issues now, but they are vibrant and involved with some of the good things of life.  We enjoyed them through this past weekend.  Here they are:  Mark and Kathleen Hiatt.

Once in awhile I mention to Layne that it would be nice to have a date night.  He isn't much interested.  I suppose that is because we spend lots of time together without it.  But it occurred to me that a fun thing to do with him would be taking some short outings where we could explore some of the local sights.  Day trips.  There is much to see here and many places of interest are not far away.  For instance, we live just a few miles from the country town of Emmett.  It is just over the hill from our place, but we never go there.  So I looked for places of interest there and found the Black Canyon Falls.  I've never heard of it but it was close and sounded interesting.  So I talked Layne into making the sort drive today.  He awoke this morning about to begin his usual routine, at home, hoping (I'm very sure of this) that I would forget.  But I didn't.  So we got in the car and headed out to Emmett.  We drove through their vintage downtown, which reminded me a little of Delta, Colorado, near my folks Cedaredge home.  I loved seeing the shops and taking in the feel of the place.  Though he wouldn't come right out and say it, I think Layne enjoyed seeing it too.

We continued our drive out into the countryside and soon came upon the Black Canyon Falls, built in the 20s to redirect water to the farmers.  It was a lovely little dam, located next to a beautiful arrangement of grass and trees called Rose Park.  We took in the Falls and walked through the park.  Then we drove on.  We eventually came to the town of Horseshoe Bend, which happens to have a store that serves the most delicious huckleberry ice cream.  So we each had some for lunch.  By the time we wound our way home we had spent just two hours on our adventure.  Layne is already forming plans to make this particular trip again.  Hah!  He liked it!

Here is Black Canyon Falls, near Emmett.

Layne in Rose Park, near the Falls.

50 Years

When I was young, I dreamed of marrying and having children.  Five children, I thought, would be just right.  I planned how I would care for them, teach them, love them.  Raising my family of five children (as I imagined I would have), took lots of effort, thought and prayer.  But I gave no thought at all about parenting them when they were grown.  Being a grandmother never entered my thoughts or plans either.  I suppose I somehow thought I would never be that old.  But here I am, with adult children and 23 grandchildren!  Somehow it just happened.

I mention all this hindsight because yesterday was our Golden Anniversary.  Layne and I have been married for 50 years!  I didn't even plan on being 50 years old.  Wow.  Time passes without our noticing; without out permission.  Suddenly, it seems, we have arrived at this milestone.  It seems but a whisper of time has passed since I first decided to marry Layne and we began our life together.  The passing of the years has brought undeniable changes in just about every aspect of our lives.  But I still love my husband.  In fact, I love him much more now than at the beginning of our relationship.  Love is a leap of faith when we are young and deciding to take the love plunge.  But time either waters it or starves it.  Our love, happily, has been watered.  

My sister, knowing that no family was here to celebrate with, offered to come and help us celebrate.  So she and husband, Bob, came on Thursday and stayed until Saturday.  We had a lovely visit and they treated us to dinner as their anniversary gift.  Maryanne is much more sparkly since her brain surgeries.  She moves better and is less weary.  It was good to spend time with them at our place instead of my usual visit to their home in Draper.  I feel blessed by their care of us.  Family is so nice to have!

We spent our anniversary talking, telling Bob and Maryanne goodbye and having dinner with our neighbors, Jim and Ines Wilkey.  They are also celebrating their 50th this year.  It was lovely, but not particularly special as a Saturday celebration.  But I plan to celebrate all year!

I feel inclined, just for fun, to share what happens when Isaiah gets ahold of my iphone.  He's in the MTC now, but last week he was at his mischievous best.  This picture is one of a series of interesting poses.

On the Road

Visiting family is a joy to me. But getting there...not so much.  Layne and I decided to drive out to California and spend a week with our family there, and take in grandson Isaiah's missionary farewell.  Isaiah is headed to Louisiana this week for his two year mission.  We hurried our drive so as to be with Isaiah when he went through the temple for the first time, a week ago.  It made for a tiring trip.  But it was worth it to be with Zay in the temple.  His departure this week empties Audrey and Cliff's nest.  Audrey is in mourning.  I remember those days of seeing my own family grow up.  I mourned my empty nest too.  For awhile.

Here's Isaiah all decked in his missionary duds.

Chris and Jess also came to support Isaiah.  It was so joyful to be united with all of our mainland children!  We loved spending time with all of them together.

Chris and Jess.

Peyton (Chris and Jess) playing with Olivia (Ben and Jess).

Isaiah with the Gendreau family.

Jacqueline and Alexis (Ben and Jess) and me.

Our week with family was going to end the day after Isaiah's talk, but our dear friend Lila Bringhurst died quite suddenly.  Her memorial was this past Saturday.  Layne was asked to speak at it, so our week's visit moved to the week following Isaiah's farewell.  As it turned out, it was a good time to be with our California bunch.

Three of the grandkids had promotions and one, James a graduation ceremony.  Between us, we were able to attend all of them.  I so love those grandkids!  Our week was full of fun times every day.

Jacqueline's Promotion, here in pink with her friends and sister Abigail.

James at his graduation with girlfriend, Bella.  Both are scholars!

The Reed and Dorothy family:  Timmy, Vincent, Layne, Dorothy, Bruce, James, me and Dorothy's sister, Emily.

Timmy, caught up reading.

Bruce, in his brother's graduation hat.

Vincent with a Rubric's cube.  He can solve it in 26 seconds!

I really wanted to visit my cousins and my Uncle Mike, who turns 97 in August.  I've lately been regretting not spending more time with this part of my family.  But visiting Uncle Mike isn't easy.  He lives in Healdsburg, which is a three hour drive from Audrey and Cliff's home in Mountain House.  We decided to make the trip with my cousin Judy and her husband Stan.  We had a great visit on our way, spent several hours at Uncle Mike's, then headed back.  My cousin Michael met us in Healdsburg.  Judy and Stan are great people, with tender hearts.  I like them very much.  Uncle Mike looked good; healthy.  He can't hear very well so it is hard to tell if he missed some of our conversation or was confused at times.  I think Michael is struggling with his health a bit; he acted like he didn't feel particularly well.  I wish I could spend more time with all of them.

Layne with Stan.

Uncle Mike and me.

Judy, Uncle Mike and Michael.

Lila Bringhurst's memorial was this past Saturday at 4 PM.  It was in Fremont.  Her children presented her life very well.  Layne spent 5 minutes at the end on the basic gospel message.  He did a fantastic job.  I believe it was the best memorial I've been to.  The chapel was full of people from our Fremont days.  People that I love.  I felt embraced by their affection and friendship.  Their names flowed into my mind; no one was lost to me.  It was a joyful experience; perhaps a little piece of heaven.  Relationships really are the joy in life.

We rushed out to our car to begin our journey home soon after the end of the memorial Saturday.  We had to be home by 11 AM on Sunday to speak about pornography.  Again.  So we drove until 1 AM, slept 4 hours in Winnemucca, then drove the remaining 4 hours to Idaho Sunday morning, making it to our meeting just in time.  Wouldn't you know, our presentation was one of our best.  Perhaps being exhausted adds a bit of soggy whimsy.  Or perhaps the Lord gave us extra blessings because of our marathon efforts to keep our commitment.

It is Monday and we are so happy to be home.  As wonderful as it is to be with family and friends, being home has its joys as well.

This and That

Our singing series has finally come to an end.  It was a fun-filled time as you might be able to see from the picture below.  Here we are singing a crazy number called, "The Orchestra Song", where everyone becomes in instrument.  It turns into a chaotic form of harmony that gives us all a good laugh.  I'm sad and glad that it is all over.

Shortly after our singing ended, Audrey and Isaiah drove over to spend the weekend with us.  Well, not exactly with us.  Granddaughter-in-law Morgan was having a baby shower in Blackfoot and Audrey wanted to go.  Isaiah wanted to go to spend some time with his brother Chase.  I wanted to go too so the three of us drove the 4 hours to Blackfoot last weekend for a two hour time there for the shower, then drove 4 hours back.  Somehow the driving felt tedious, but it was worth it to support Morgan and the shower crowd was welcoming and friendly.  We loved spending time with Audrey and Isaiah too.  Audrey is very good to visit with; she has such a great capacity for putting her thoughts into words.  So we talked a lot.  And we permed our hair.  And we went shopping and bought some shoes.  The time together passed quickly, as it always does.  By last Monday afternoon they were on their way home.  I always mourn a little when my kids leave me.  Even now.  

Here are Audrey, Isaiah and me, just before they left.

On Tuesday I drove to Draper to visit Bob and Maryanne.  I asked several people to drive over with me but no one could.  Layne wanted to stay home this time.  So I drove alone.  I found it pleasant enough.  I passed the time listening to General Conference talks.  Before I knew it I was parking in front of their home on a beautiful spring day.  We spent three days bonding, mostly over genealogy.  Maryanne was telling me how easy it is to find family information online now.  She decided to demonstrate that by finding family names for our neighbors here, the Wilkeys.  Maryanne found information in all sorts of online places and had so much fun doing it that I had to beg her to stop so we could go to bed.  She was off and running the next morning, searching for more information.  I believe the Wilkeys will be thrilled when I show it to them.  Maryanne is a great family detective.  "Hum," she will say.  "That didn't work; let's try this..."  And so it goes.  I so admire that.  When my plans don't work the first time I have a tendency to just decide it can't be done.  Bad, Bad, Bad!

Here is Maryanne and me.  Her hair is slowly growing back after her brain surgery.  Here she sports hair about an inch long.  

The sights from the Berrett home are beautiful, since they live on top of a mountain.  I could not resist take a few pictures of the view.  It is always fun to be with family.  Maryanne and I get along quite well and she puts up with my constant suggestions of things I think would make her life easier.  Her brain surgery has greatly improved her functioning, which I was so happy to see.  We managed to get some of her projects done.  We sorted her closet and I came home with some of her rejects; mostly shoes, which, if you know me at all, is a happy thought indeed.

View from the back yard.

                            

                                                View of the Berrett's back yard.

 I drove home on Saturday.  It was a particularly lovely day and the traffic was light, even through the Salt Lake Valley.  With one fill-up and some snacks I drove through Utah and into Idaho.  The highway was not crowded and the sights were beautiful.  I've come to love the drive between Idaho and Utah.  I listened to more of General Conference until my eyes began to glaze over.  Then I turned on some music and sang all the rest of the way home.  I felt happy and peaceful.  It was a wonderful drive!

As always it is good to be home.  I missed my man and meeting up with him was a particular pleasure.  He fixed my sewing table while I was gone.  He often does something special for me when I travel without him.  It is always a happy surprise to see what he comes up with.  The table looks better than it ever has.  So we are back to our routine, filled with all sorts of activities and commitments.  Speaking of that, we are off to another...you guessed it...addiction group.

Singing With Rayne

I never imagined myself a singer.  Ever.  Well maybe, but only in very large groups.  But singing with my Treble Clef group has pressed me into a whole new world of music.  Perhaps you will remember that this is a group of women who sing to senior groups of all sorts and, sometimes, to community groups.  We earn money with each performance and donate it to charity.  I've been singing with them for several years now and I feel myself transforming into something of a minor singer.  Nothing truly special, but now able to sing in a duet, or even, shudder, ALONE.  Since our audiences are very accepting of any effort on our part, stretching into singing is not very intimidating.  And that has made a big difference in my level of musical stress.

We are in the midst of our spring concert series, finishing up this coming week.  Our series of songs is light-hearted and happy.  Layne continues as our token man, beloved by all the girls in the group.  Bonnie, our leader, makes sure to pick a song to suit his bass voice, so he sings a solo with every concert.  He's never soloed before, so even he is stretched by this experience.  But his strong bass voice moving through his song is lovely.  Our narrator, getting a little carried away in introducing him at one of our performances, called him the "Lovely Layne".  We've had quite a bit of fun referring to him since as the Lovely Layne.  The audiences seem to especially love his singing.  You can hear a sample below.  He and I sing a duet too--Singing in the Rain, complete with an umbrella, which provides a bit of humor as we trade it back and forth throughout the song.

Here's the "Lovely Layne" singing "Sing Baby Sing."  Below is a picture of our duet, "Singing in the Rain".

"Singing in the Rain"

All of this singing fills our days for the three weeks we are performing.  But I have come to love it, as I learn how to sing with this group and move to the music.  It has become a source of growth, friendship and fun.  It ends for our spring season this coming week.  Then life will return to normal.

                                   Part of our singing group singing "The Orchestra Song".

In the midst of all this singing, our granddaughter Rayne came to visit.  She arrived Saturday of last week and stayed through the weekend.  So she was pressed into service taking pictures at some of our Monday performances.  We had such fun with her. She and I walked the path along the Boise River one morning.  I suggested that we take the path on the other side of the River to return, which we did.  Then we got lost.  Let me clarify, I, who live here, got lost.  Rayne, who has never been on this trail. knew where we were and how to get back.  Hum.  Do you think I might have a little problem with direction?  I have come to think that I am definitely losing my sense of direction.  It used to be so good!

                                   Rayne and me along the trail beside the Boise River.

The Boise River, at a high point from the release of the Winter melt.

Our lovely Rayne, on her last day with us.

In addition to singing, we are also in the process of visiting all of the addiction groups we are supervising now.  Rayne accompanied us on one of those visits also.  Poor girl got exposed to much more than she planned on, I'm sure.  So, between singing and visiting addiction groups, we are much busier than normal.  Somehow I've got to find a way to fit all I want to do into my schedule.  Oh yes, even in my older age there are times when I feel a little overwhelmed!  I didn't imagine it would be like this at this time of life.  But I suppose being stretched into new territory is good for us at any age. Right now is a stretching time.

Adventures in St. George

Once a year we travel to St. George, Utah to visit our good friends, Bill and Trudy Ostler.  Last week we made the trip.  This time we flew into Las Vegas, on the advice of Bill and Trudy who said it was cheaper than flying into St. George.  They met us at the Los Vegas airport and we began our adventure with them by touring the National Atomic Testing Museum featuring bomb testing in the Nevada desert and other places that took place in the 1940s and 50s.  I had no idea the extent of the testing, both above and below ground that was done during that time.

Over the three or so days that we spent with Bill and Trudy we drove for hours to various places of interest.  We loved seeing the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  The extremely rocky roads insured that not many people ventured to that part of the Canyon.  We weren't quite alone there, but there wasn't much company.  The dirt road that led us there passed by some interesting sights, among them an abandoned school that educated the children of the the local land owners, when there were enough of them to justify a school.  I love seeing abandoned places.  It is such fun to imagine what went on there.  The countryside boasts red dirt part of the time, which is my all-time favorite kind of dirt.  I love the shades of orange and red that color the views!

                                                        Here's the school I mentioned.

The north rim of the Grand Canyon.

On one of our days we returned to Las Vegas, where we toured the Hoover Dam.  I've been there before, but this time there was much more infrastructure to support tourists.  We went inside the Dam and learned more about its creation than I ever imagined.  It was built to last 2000 years, or so we were told.  That's quite an accomplishment when you consider that most of the workers were unskilled.  It is an amazing structure that dwarfs we mere mortals.  In case you didn't know this, there are quite a few dams that have been built along the Colorado River, but Hoover Dam is the largest.  One of its most important purposes is to control flooding in the Central Valley of California, where so much of our food is grown.  We were properly impressed.

                      Here's Bill and Trudy, along with us in a photo taken by photographers there.

This is a view of the Dam from a nearby bridge.

This picture was taken from the top of the dam looking down.  Looks a bit scary!

There is a park not far from Hoover Dam called the Valley of Fire that attracted us with the advertising claim that, when the sun is shining just right, the cliffs and rocks in the Valley look like they are on fire.  We didn't see anything that looked like fire as we drove through, but stopped to find the petroglyphs that were hidden behind some of the red cliffs that filled the Valley. You know I loved seeing more of the red stuff.  We hiked behind some of the hills and found them, petroglyphs that were scattered on the face of some of the cliffs, arranged like a message board.  I imaged that, perhaps, ancient travelers left messages for those following.  Since the carvings were not arranged into any sort of artistic display, I determined in my own mind that they must have been some sort of communication.  Look at one of the pictures and see what you think.

Trudy and I in a "cave" at the Valley of Fire.

Layne looking for petroglyphs in the Valley of Fire.

We enjoyed a musical evening during one of our nights, viewing a play about a group called the "Plaids" who sang 1950s vintage music.  The performers were full of fun and so good.  We rarely go to such things as that, so it's nice to experience it once and awhile.  It is such a pleasure to enjoy interesting adventures with people that you also enjoy.  Bill and Trudy are good people, through and through.  Being with them is a pleasure.  We don't really communicate with them much in between visits, but when we are together it is easy to pick up as if we hadn't been apart for months and months.

Our trip home took us from Las Vegas to San Francisco and then to Boise.  Both flights were delayed hours and hours.  "It's the weather in San Francisco" we were told over and over again.  But, having lots of time to wait, we got acquainted with a security lady at San Francisco who told us that the real reason for the delays was that President Obama flew into the airport earlier in the day.  I was disgusted.  Why not just say so?  Especially since he was long gone by the time we got there.  Despite that,  multiple delays continued making our arrival in Boise extremely late.  We didn't make it to bed until 2:30 AM!  So hundreds of people experienced multiple delays and missed flights because of one guy.  Ok, so he is the President.  I'm still disgusted by the whole deal.

But we are home now and finally caught up on the missed sleep.  It takes us older kids longer to recover from such happenings, you know.  It has been a sweet, mostly open week since our return.  That will end next week when we begin our marathon singing with my Treble Clef group. as we serenade the many senior centers and assisted living places on our schedule for the next three weeks.
Gotta gear up for it!

Easter and Such

Having a grandson for a month is a special blessing.  Isaiah spent almost all of March with us, cleaning up the yard, doing school work and just hanging out.  We so enjoyed him.  One of the good things about being away from family is this kind on one-on-one blessing.  We loved spending time with Isaiah.  He will soon be leaving for his mission, then off to school when he returns.  This has been a lovely window of time that will probably not come again.

Working in the yard is addictive.  It is nurturing to be surrounded by emerging life.  Our yard is exploding with new growth.  It is inspiring and I find myself dreaming of all we could do to "improve" our large yard by adding a few more plants.  "Nah," says Layne to my every suggestion.  "Too much pruning."  But it occurs to me that it was he who wanted "land."  He had his eye on acquiring much more than our meager one acre.  Now, what would he do with all that land but work in it?  And would that not involve a great deal more "pruning" than what we have now?  I'm thinking "yes."  So I mentioned that to him as part of my argument for planting more trees and flowers.  And besides, I tell him, we will be dead and gone before new plants will require much in the way of pruning.  And besides also, I would help him.  He remained unimpressed....but I had Isaiah.  So together he and I bought a couple of trees and he planted them for me.  And I bought some more flowers and planted them.  So, in spite of a reluctant husband, we have a few new things.  I'm excited.  He's resigned.  Well, maybe he even likes the new plant babies.

Here is one of the new trees that Isaiah planted for us.

Isaiah was with us for Eater so we had the pleasure of making an Easter basket for him.  I've not done Easter baskets for awhile so it was fun to do one for him.  Included were little gifts for his mission.  I so enjoyed sneaking into his room and placing the basket there for him to discover.  I like my life now, but I also miss those sweet times with my little ones, when such things as Easter baskets provide such excitement.  We had a lovely Easter dinner with Isaiah and our neighbors, the Wintersteen's.  I'm grateful to know of the Christ and the hope He represents for everyone.  At this time we are surrounded by such advantages and blessings.  I don't want to forget that for a moment.

                                                     Isaiah's Easter Basket.

Our Easter Table

One of those blessings is the ability to enjoy our General Conference from home.  I did so last weekend, when I listened to the Women's Session.  I keep thinking of Linda Burton's counsel to help the immigrants.  There is quite a conversation about immigrants here.  There seems to be a combination of compassion and fear, fear that some immigrants mean us harm.  How do we sort out the good from the bad?  I'm thinking of getting involved in helping our local immigrants and abandoning worry concerning them.  It would be a leap of faith that I think I'm willing to take.  It seems better than the alternative of fostering hatred and resentment.  I think I'd like to help teach English to those immigrants that desire it.  Now I just need to press myself into service.

Today we are full of Church Conference.  The choir is dressed in red, my favorite color.  The talks are great.  The sun is shining through our windows.  How lovely.

 Isaiah's departure, dressed in a jacket made of his favorite color, orange.