Some rainy night thoughts on Christmas

Tonight I attended the Christmas Enrichment at the Arcadia Ward. It was really lovely - the Arcadia Ward is pretty good at putting on events - the decorations were very classy and the food was divine - you get Ginger Daines, Cindy Cutler, Suzanne Hix, Sandy White and I don't know who else together and you can't go wrong!

And the program was lovely too - songs and readings - very beautifully alternated - it was a lovely way to start the Christmas season. The theme running throughout the program was shepherds and sheep - and the centerpieces were small nativity statues surrounded by cotton with ceramic sheep - and we each got to take a sheep home.

A nice touch.

And the cultural hall was ringed with those tall poinsettia trees with lights - red and green table cloths - and every table was full.

I forgot to take pictures - but I did take my camera!!

November's Nativity

I was in a stake welfare meeting and noticed that after my name on the agenda, it said "service project."

Whoa, I thought, we haven't even talked about that. What will I say?

I feel now that it was definitely inspiration, but I ended up saying that we were going to ask the ward Relief Societies to make 5 quilts each and have a toy drive for the Bishop's Storehouse.

Every year when I was R.S. President, a letter came at the end of October asking for quilts and toys for the Storehouse so that when needy families came in with their Bishop's order, there would be plenty for them to choose from. I then had our ward make a quilt of two and asked for toy donations, but there really wasn't a huge response. To be fair, I didn't really organize it much or push it too hard.

But when I realized that this letter comes year after year, I thought that maybe we needed to focus on really trying to "give it our all!"

We had a stake Relief Society leadership breakfast just a couple of weeks later and I presented my "vision" to the presidents there. And they were pretty enthusiastic about the idea.

The wards all took a different approach - one had a dinner and the price of admission was a new toy. Another had an enrichment activity and made quilts. Another ward with a group of avid quilters made 5 patchwork, machine quilted blankets that are shown above. Another passed out a very clever poem and had tables set up to take donations through the month of November. In one ward the Young Women made the quilts.

When we had a meeting in mid-November, one ward president showed up with enough toys and blankets to fill my sewing room. Dad trundled that load off to the Storehouse the next day and said that they were very grateful to receive it.

The shot above is the guest room and it and the crib were full of blankets and toys after my counselor brought over a load last week. Dad's taking that today.

I was so pleased with the great response - and the thought that throughout the month of November, the great women of our stake were feeling the true spirit of Christmas.

I've been a little "bah, humbug" lately - even told Dad, "Well, do we need a Christmas tree?" (We may be going to Harry's for Christmas Eve and Hannah won't be there - and Noah has a job again at Sears, so who knows where he'll be. And when the family comes, we are going up to Crestline - so maybe I should decorate up there??)

But now that I got a pine bough wreath from Norma and Larry in the mail and bought some poinsettias and started thinking about breaking out my Christmas tee shirts and sweaters and put on my Christmas CD's in the car, I'm feeling like decorating the house just for us will be worth it.

And besides, part of the wonderful spirit of Christmas is the festive decorations in the house.

And so I wish all of you a happy holiday season! And may the "reason for the season" infuse all of your days!

Life's little annoyances

I highly recommend this book to all readers - and writers - even if you wouldn't read a Stephen King novel if your life depended on it. (I've read one - that was enough!)

I am supposed to teach the Young Women tomorrow - the lesson is on optimism.

I'm not sure what optimism has to do with annoyance, but since I was standing around waiting with time on my hands - being annoyed with the man who was mailing about 20 packages at the APC kiosk in the Post Office - while I was waiting to mail 2 - all I could think of to pass the time was the lesson I am going to give.

But I digress - as I usually do. What this little experience really brought to mind was Stephen King's advice in his rather excellent little book On Writing.

I am not a Stephen King fan, but this book was recommended to me by Kacy F. many years ago. It is a very interesting and insightful autobiography of Stephen King. And the second half is a very excellent treatise on writing - and how to write well.

One of his main points is the fact that you can't hope to be a good writer if you don't read a lot - like all the time! And he says, well, you are saying I don't have time to read, but we all have tons of time that gets wasted - and we could be reading during that time.

I thought of all of this while waiting at the P.O. - without a book to read! And Stephen King says to always carry a book with you - because there will always be moments that you can spend reading.

And he's right! Why did I forget this?

Monday Night at the Movies

Since becoming essentially "empty nesters" - Noah in the Presidential Suite notwithstanding - we have gotten in the Monday night movie habit - FHE for Seniors I guess!

Anyway, tonight we saw this documentary about Jimmy Carter - it was at the Laemle. The reviews were mixed, but we all enjoyed it. (Noah came with us too.)

Definitely a history lesson too! You all might enjoy it - it was "slow" but compelling too. Jimmy Carter is really a fine man!

Some Perspective

I wanted to post a picture or two with this post - but forgot to take my camera to school - so this photo from my junior high "A9 Pin Day" will have to do!! (We had junior high for 7th, 8th and 9th grades. And we had separate grades for the semesters - the first part of a year was the A part and the second was the B part. And they started students in kindergarten every semester and graduated you from high school every semester. So I started school in February and graduated 12 years later in January. And started Seminary in A8 and finished in B12 so my last semester of high school I didn't go to Seminary. LA Unified ended the practice back when Leslie and Donna were going to high school. But I met a woman from Chicago who had gone to school with a similar system there.)

But I digress - I often do!

When I was a teen going to Seminary - back before the Flood - there were two girls in my class named Margaret and Linda. And they had more clothes than anyone I knew! They came to school every day for weeks on end and never repeated what they wore.

I should note that in the late 50's and early '60's, fashion was full skirts with "stiff slips" underneath that we starched so the skirts would be very bouffant. And I think the one girl made lots of her skirts - they weren't all that difficult to make, but that didn't help me have more of them. I don't think I could even go a week without repeating some part of my outfit.

And so I always thought that it would be the height of coolness, sophistication and luxury to be able to go a period of time and not repeat what you wore. Eliza and I discussed this once when she was working at the Church Office Building. She said someone pointed out to her once that "You haven't repeated your clothes for a month now." (Eliza said she was pretty sure she'd repeated things; she'd just used different combinations.)

But let me get to my point - because there is a point to this. I decided about 3 weeks ago to see if I could wear something different every day for one month. Because I have "favorites" - I'm sure I usually wear 20% of my clothes 80% of the time - I wrote down what I wore each day.

It's a good thing I did, because I couldn't remember after a couple of days what I'd worn 3 days before!

And I found myself wearing stuff I hadn't worn in a long time - and hoping that my experiment would soon end so I could wear my jean skirt, my khaki pants and my black trousers again!

Now let me introduce what might seem to be a non-sequitur - and I am the queen of non- sequiturs remember - but I had Henriette L. come and speak to my high Language Arts class. We are reading The Diary of Anne Frank and studying the Holocaust.

She, as you may remember from a blog post Dad wrote a year ago, survived as a Jew in Belgium during the war. Her aunt and uncle raised her and her sister after their parents disappeared while working for the underground. Her aunt was married to a non-Jewish Pole and was able to register as a non-Jew. Henriette and her sister were small enough that they were not required to wear the yellow star, so no one particularly remembered them as Jewish. She also changed her name from Hannah to Henriette to appear more Flemish. After the war, she didn't change it back.

She had my kids enthralled as she told stories of the deprivation and fear she remembered, and also the stories she has collected from her family. Her aunt and uncle hid a Jewish family for 3 years in their apartment in Belgium - the police only came one time and the man, woman and child hid in the wall!

For two years, Henriette and her sister were in a Catholic convent for safe keeping. A woman her aunt was going to hide decided to leave the apartment - against Aunt Stella's wishes - and was caught. Aunt Stella was afraid the woman might "talk" so that was when she sent Henriette and her sister to the convent for 2 years.

The sisters in the convent did their best to care for the children in the town, all the children!

Last year she went to Belgium again and recorded stories. She also had pictures to show my students - there is something beautiful and haunting about old photographs! She had two uncles who were rabbis and she had pictures of them and wedding pictures of her parents and photos of their town and their apartment and the members of the Church in Liege, Belgium where they went to church after they were converted - which was before the war. They weren't able to go all that often, but they maintained their faith.

But back to clothes and the sisters from the convent. One Christmas they got new shoes for all the children in the town who needed them. The trouble was, the pair Henriette got were boys shoes and she didn't want to wear them. In fact, she refused to go to school in them. But her aunt made her go - and when she got to school, Henriette discovered that all the other girls had boys shoes too!

Henriette said, "That's a story about false pride." And I thought, "How silly to spend time writing down what I'm wearing and wondering if people will notice that I wear something different everyday for a month." I thought, "How silly to give that much time and thought to clothing!"

So I think I will wear my black trousers tomorrow!

Kids say the darndest things . . .

So we're reading The Diary of Anne Frank, and we are going over vocabulary.

And the word is "fatuous" - and one boy eagerly waves his hand as the class nods in agreement.

"It means, like, passing gas." Look of triumph on said boy's face.

After the laughter subsides, and I give the correct definition, the class looks somewhat doubtful, although they do know that I have a real facility for vocabulary. They believe me, but I think they are disappointed.

That they are wrong? That they weren't able to "put one over on me?" That "flatuence" won't figure in the story?

I'm pretty impressed that they know the meaning of "flatuence!"

The 26th of September

Mothers remember some strange details - like their due dates! Probably especially women like yours truly who was 11 days late for the first 3 kids, 13 days late for Eliza, and 2 days late for Noah. (Let's have a big shout out for Hannah, who came two days early!! Thank you very much - in August this is very significant!)

September 26th is the birthdate of T. S. Eliot. One of the first items in my memory bank when the doctor said the due date was September 26th. ("in the room the women come and go")

And it was the due date for Miss B. Brae!! (Whose b-day is October 5th!!) And frankly, even with the babies that were late, we were delighted with their arrival!

Better late than never could be the Terrill anthem - if someone put it to music!!

And I used to say to Dad, when I had figured out the connection to old Thomas Stearns, "If it's a boy, we could name him Eliot Stearns Terrill."

Not an idea that ever took hold with him. But I always liked it. Obviously never got to use it!

I saw a man who had no shoes -

Okay, does anybody else's husband line up his shoes like this??

It drives me nuts - that's what closets are for, right?

Oh well, if that's his worst vice, I guess I should be counting my blessings.

And now that he's the one out of bed after me, he's getting pretty good at making the bed and putting the pillows in the right place.

Either that or I'm getting a lot less picky in my old age.

We're practicing being retired!!

In honor of Grandparents' Day

I'm pretty sure Hallmark just makes up these holidays, but they are a good impetus for a post or two! This is my Grandpa Stevens as a young man. I have fond memories of my Grandpa Stevens. He was a crusty sort, but I remember one Christmas day, when we were living in the "little house" and I got roller skates for Christmas - the kind you tighten with a key - which you would wear around your neck on a string. My grandpa walked around and around the house with me, holding my right hand while my left hand held on to the wall of the house. He did this until I felt comfortable skating by myself. I'm not sure I have that kind of patience!

His wife was my Grandma Stevens, shown here in her younger years also. She taught me to play cards. She had a drawer in her hall with toys you could play with. She had the most wonderful jewelry - which I thought was real and so I thought she must be as rich as the Queen of England. When I made a jewelled Christmas tree years later, and my mom gave me her old jewelry to use for it, I discovered it was all costume jewelry. But it was still beautiful to me! And she would bring us random gifts - I think they were things she bought on sale, but they were lovely - one was a gold colored corduroy jacket - I loved it - and felt very stylish and cutting edge in it. I think I wore it until it fell apart!

This is my Grandma Connie and my Grandpa Clayton. She was his third wife and the only Grandma Clayton I ever knew. She was wonderful - and I was so grateful that she lived a long life so my kids got to know her too. She was truly "forever young." She came from a large family herself, so she was never put off by the clutter and chaos of a houseful of kids. She was stylish and appreciated a good joke - her laugh was infectious. Alice and I would go to her home each year for two weeks in the summer - she had daughter our age from a previous marriage - and she gave us so much freedom - I loved it! And she gave good advice. Once when I was moping around about having cramps, she said, "Go take a walk and quit complaining." So I did - and I felt better too!

This is the first Grandpa and Grandma Clayton - but Agnes died when my father was 17, so I never knew her - but my dad treasured her memory and truly kept her alive in our memories. My middle name is Agnes - and I did not appreciate until a few years ago when I realized what a tribute it was. Although my dad was fond of saying that they should have named Alice Agnes because Alice took after her more than any of the rest of us.

My grandpa was the sunshine of our lives. He was a magician, among other things, and would come over and pull quarters out of his ears and give them to you! He was a snappy dresser and always wore a hat. He died his hair red and combed it over on top! He used to call me "the little Relief Society President." He hobnobbed with presidents of the church and general authorities when the came to SoCal to escape the Utah winters. I wish I'd appreciated him more when he was alive - and by appreciate, I mean I wish I talked to him more about his past!

Here's Grandmother Taylor - holding a baby Karen - and this is the only Grandparent your dad ever knew. By the time I met her, she was somewhat senile, but she was gracious and charming and showed a lot of the "real" Genieve Taylor quite often. If I get old and very forgetful, I hope I do it with as much panache as she did!

I love being a grandma - hopefully on a Grandparents' Day many years from now, someone will have fond memories of me and Dad - that's our goal!

1976 - a very good year!!

Some of the biggest memories of 1976 don't have documentation - it's a good thing I'm writing them down - I may forget them by next year!

1976 was the bicentennial of the United States - and it was a really big deal. Babies were born and named Liberty. Stamps were issued. Billboards blared the news. The media was steeped in it. The church got on the bandwagon too. We had special programs - and I was on one in our ward Relief Society. We did some kind of tableau or pageant - and I was Molly Pitcher! I went all out - made a dress with apron, shawl, bonnet - I was authentic! We were in SoCal for the 4th - and it was a Sunday - and women all over the church wore their Colonial dresses to church. It didn't seem irreverant at all - in fact, it was pretty cool. And I don't have a single picture of me in that dress!

We had moved to Harris' house in December of 1975. They were a couple in our ward who were going on a mission. The house was somewhat furnished, but we put some of our things in . There were two fireplaces, 3 bedrooms upstairs and and a finished basement. It was glorious after years in Spartan rentals and old stone houses full of critters and mold! And we reveled at being in a real neighborhood with a real yard. The babysitter lived next door!! My visiting teaching route was literally "up the street."

Harry had his 4th birthday - love the Mr. Roger's cardigan and U.S. Mail lunch pail - his pride and joy - along with the Fuller Brush hair brush - I think he still has it. You can see Elizabeth in the background.

I made clothes for Bonny all the time - I can remember them clearly but I don't have pictures of very many of them. I also made lots of matching doll dresses. Dad used to say, "Are you making those for Bonny or for you?" I sewed a lot for myself too. I made a new dress every month to go with my Relief Society lesson!

One dress was a mauve wool jumper - kind of tweedy - with a matching cape! I'm not sure why I never took a picture. When the kids went to Primary - in the afternoons on weekdays then - I would go to the fabric store and look at patterns. I loved it!

Alice came over a lot - Frances and her kids came. I took classes at the U. Charley and Jeannette came for a visit too. We were across the street from Julie's mom and dad.

And we had a blue Pinto - and we don't have a photo of that either! Elizabeth disappeared - and we feared she was gone forever - we had lost Amado a few years earlier. Then one day as I was lamenting her disappearance, Richard, who worked for Dad and was at our house, said, "She's out on the hood of the Pinto."

Sure enough she was. And she had a healed wound on her side - she had apparently been injured - probably by a dog - and gone away to heal - and then came back! (At least that is what all the neighbors claimed.)

Bonny and Harry both got whopping cases of chicken pox. Harry was very ill one night - we took him to the emergency room. The verdict? A huge bubble of gas in his stomach.

I became good friends with a Danish woman who lived in our ward - she was not a member but her son was. She taught me to make abelskiever. We had them a lot.

And we had a Scandinavian Christmas - even had goose - but it wasn't all that good. Kind of dry.

I think Dad worked a lot. And was in the Elder's Quorum Presidency. I taught Cultural Refinement. He and I spent Sunday nights watching "Masterpiece Theater" - loved The Pallisers and Danger UXB.

It was a pretty good year - and got better soon thereafter with the promise of Phoebe coming into our lives. We had wanted more children for a while, and it wasn't happening. Bonny would tell people at church that we were going to have a baby - thinking I guess that if she said it, I would make good on it!!

Lessons from school today

I am reading No More Words by Reeve Lindbergh, daughter of Charles and Anne Morrow, about the years of taking care of her aging mother - when there were indeed "no more words."

It is pretty thought-provoking - and I wanted to share some lines from the book that caused me to get out my highlighter during SSR today:

When she reflects on her day:

"I think I have other things, so many that they spin in my head and churn in my stomach, making me dizzy with a kind of backward self-importance. I think I have myriad responsibilities and burdens, each one distracting me from the other, all of them multiplying so fast that there are more and more in motion around me all the time, like the nightmare of breeding broomsticks in The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

On finding herself caring for her aging mother:

"Oh, yes indeed, I am overwhelmed, overloaded, and traveling over my weight limit, dragging with me my treasure chest of daily obligations. I guard them jealously - mine! mine! - I take them with me wherever I go, cling to them so tightly that I am grinding my teeth and hunching my shoulders as I drive over the back roads of northern Vermont this very morning."

When she went to see her sister who was dealing with brain cancer: (note, her sister died.)

"Yes, I turned up. That's what I do. That is my family job. I turn up, often bearing flowers, but always bringing myself, and words. Words are the family legacy and the family habit, and they are what I have to offer, whether anybody pays attention to them or not. If somebody doesn't want to listen, he or she can go to sleep. I don't mind. I'm just doing my job."

When she started reading the poetry her mother and sister had written: (maybe like we re-read blogs and letters)

"I look again for words, not for my mother or my sister but for myself. I search for words as if for traveling companions on a journey I did not expect to be taking alone, and I look first in the family collections."

When she was looking at the stars: (something her parents did with her all the time - they had the constellations memorized - not too odd for the daughter of pilots.)

"So dazzling was the spread of constellations that it had the impact of a vision, of some hidden insight.I drove home saying to myself: The dead, too, are like this, blazing within us - invisibly."

I recommend the book.

Defending the faith

This photo has nothing to do with the post - I'm just excited that Harry William is willing to come to someone other than his mother - I did baby duty Sunday while Dawn was in Primary and Harry had to go home to sleep (he'd worked all night.) I mean, a grandkid who doesn't want you to hold him is a Grandma's deepest sorrow!!

But on to my task at hand.

I was recently "embroiled' in some blogging repartee that got me thinking.

Eliza had posted about her two week vegan adventure she was going to try. And she got a lot of responses. Like any good mother, I warned her of the perils involved in such a foray - mainly because mothers do that sort of thing. And also because I have a close friend whose daughter-in-law was a vegan and was even under the care of a nutritionist while pregnant, but had to start eating meat and dairy because they just couldn't get the volume of nutrients into her in any other way.

So then another respondent cast some aspersions on my concerns - and "them's fightin' words" in my book. So I actually went to her husband's blog, because she suggested it in her comment, and was a bit taken aback at the guy's comparison of Michael Vick to omnivores!

So I commented - and he commented back - and I commented back again - and I haven't checked since then.

But the upshot of all this is that it reminded me of how I feel when people move away from Monrovia or LA or California. They can't just say how much they love their new home. They have to say something bad about Monrovia or LA or California.

Does it occur to them that Monrovia or LA or California is my home? And even with all it's flaws, I love it.

Grandpa Terrill understood this concept. He was talking with Dad once and said something to the effect that "Well, Harry, it's large, and crowded, and smoggy, and over-priced, and even dangerous in some places. But it's home!" (I think it was when Grandma was trying to get him to move away.)

I think when we are excited about something we can go overboard with our recommendations that everyone else should get excited about it too. And I think we could be a lot more sensitive. I've been offended more than once by ward members who've moved away and when they come to visit they go on and on about Monrovia's deficiencies. We know about Monrovia's deficiencies, but we've chosen to stay!

This is not to say that Eliza was trying to convert anyone - I think her respondents were though. I think Eliza was just being informative. As she often is; that is what makes her blog interesting to read.

I'm going to try to take my own advice too.

If I fail, you can remind me what I said!

Belated Birthday Greetings to my Brother Bill

It was Bill's birthday yesterday - and I'm not even sure which one it was - I lose track after Charley!!So, hope it was happy!

FHE revisited

I have been asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting about Family Home Evening. I immediately thought of this now famous photo of Richard - who tried valiantly to get through FHE without incurring someone's wrath!!

Anyway, I would like to hear about your experiences with FHE - good, bad, indifferent - you can recount, philosophize, exhort, entertain, suggest, pontificate - but do so before September 9th!

Thanks!!

Leslie's Contribution

Leslie sent me this email message - and I thought I'd post a picture to go with it - this is from '75 or '76 I think.

"Thanks, Barbara, for the wonderful tribute. I have been thinking about all of you over the past few weeks. I have come up with a little list of things that Clayton girls do really well. 1) Make chocolate chip cookies. 2) Frost graham crackers. Believe it or not, many people do not know of this delicious treat! 3) Clean bathrooms. Actually, a lot of people don't do this very well. 4) Iron. I will not wear wrinkled clothing! 5) Hang clothes on a clothes line. This is not hard of course, but not done too much anymore!

I love you all, Leslie"

Happy Sister's Day!!

This photo was taken at my dad's funeral in 2000. We did have another group photo shot when we had a sister's retreat a few years ago, but I can't find it, so this will suffice for now!

Hallmark Free e-cards said that today was National Sister's Day. And I was going to send each of my sisters a free e-card from them - meaning Hallmark. So I hustled home from church today to do it, and their site was "temporarily unavailable, we apologize for any inconvenience."

Don't you just hate it when you have a great idea, and you even remember about doing it - and then you are thwarted?

I do!

So I decided to just do a post about the 5 great sisters I have - and hope they all read it!

Here's a shot of all of us at Leslie's wedding in 1983. Alice had had Hester in January, I'd had Eliza 4 days earlier and Mary was pregnant with Tami.

For the uninformed, there are 6 Clayton girls - which means I have 5 sisters. I have always had sisters, so I can't imagine what it would be like to not have sisters. But I'm really glad I do!

Joan with Bonny in 1971

My oldest sister Joan, who is 4 years older than me, has always been a great cheerleader and supporter. When I won the election for Student Body President at Granada Hills High, Joan brought me home a box of See's chocolates! Believe me, in a family of 12 kids, your own box of See's is a prize beyond compare. And when Bonny was born, while Fred was in VietNam, she came to SLC to visit and bought us a wonderful stroller/car bed combo that served us through our first three kids. More important, though, was the feeling of being loved and cared for - and you always know that Joan loves and cares.

Barbara, Leslie and Alice - December of 1966.

Alice and I are just a month under 2 years apart in age, and we grew up together like best friends. Except for the neighbor Judy, no one else understands the paper-doll world we created as kids - a world that was truly a childhood dream experience. We played dolls a lot too. And we pooled our resources to buy Christmas gifts together. We were roommates in college, and Alice was , for many years, my in-house seamstress! When she left on her mission, and I was barely pregnant with Bonny, she gave me a pattern and fabric and said "I know you can do it yourself!" (And I did - her confidence in me gave me confidence!) Over the years, we discovered that we could go pattern shopping separately and, without ever discussing it, come home with the same pattern! We think alike!

Mother and Mary at Aunt Bobbie's funeral - 2006?

Mary is younger enough that I can remember her birth! Alice and I went to Grandma Helen's and Grandpa Clayton's house to stay. And Mary was at Ricks when Bonny was born and she would come down and babysit and just keep me company sometimes. In fact, she was Bonny's first baby sitter - I was loathe to leave her, but Mary happened to come down and Harry seized the opportunity for us to go to the ballet. Mary I would trust with her! Mary can always be counted on for love and support.

At Richard and Julie's wedding - June of 1975.

Leslie has often been called "Barbara Junior" in her lifetime - we look alike - but she is taller, obviously! In spite of the nearly 14 year gap in our ages, we have always felt like peers. She's not the world's best correspondent, but she can call you randomly and you can have the best conversation - as if you'd never been apart! As with dress patterns with Alice, it will often turn out that Leslie and I are loving the same book. Leslie's smiles and hugs are truly life enhancing!

This looks like Harry F.'s 8th b-day - which would be 1980.

Donna, the baby sister, has earned the title of World's Favorite Aunt! She was always - and still is - there for my kids. Taking them to movies, babysitting them - or their kids - celebrating their birthdays - or the ultimate sacrifice - going along as the chaperone to the Howard Jones Concert with Bonny!! You can always count on Donna - to help, to listen, to care!!

When Annika was born, Ara, Ella and Esme were staying with us. Bruce called to say they had a new little sister. Ara said, "Grandma, now we are our own Little Women." I was always glad that I had four daughters who seem to be their own Little Women too.

And I've always been grateful that I had wonderful sisters! And grateful for a mom who helped us all become the sisters we are today!

Nightgowns

This photo was taken in 1969 in the little house in Provo that we lived in after the House of Do Chung. I'm not sure why Harry took it - I think we were clowning around. The nightgown in this picture has nothing to do with the story that follows - but it's the only photo I had of me in a night gown - at least that I could find!

(And this nightgown was pink tricot - it came from Barbizon. Roseann used to work there, and so I got nightgowns from her as gifts. And they were lovely nightgowns too.)

But I thought about it when I got home last week. I took a clean nightgown out of the drawer and realized how old and shabby it was. I have considered tossing it many times.

I remembered then that it was bought when Hannah was a year old - so it's over 20 years old now. But it has a history.

We were in St. George - it's the year I missed Hannah's first birthday - we celebrated it a day early, because I was leaving on the Greyhound for Provo and a mini-reunion with my old BYU roommates. It bothered the other kids, but I don't think Hannah cared!

Anyway, for Mother's Day, Harry and the kids had gotten me a beautiful Eileen Fisher white cotton nightgown. Eileen Fisher is expensive, but this had been on sale. I loved it!! I was sure I would wow my old roomies with my exquisite taste in nightwear - as opposed to the way we used to dress in the dorms!

They did indeed admire it - we met and stayed at a fairly new hotel in Provo - had a wonderful all-night gab-fest. Then we parted company again the next a.m. (It was indeed a "mini" reunion in all ways!)

When I got back to St. George and got ready for bed that night, I discovered that I did not have my beautiful Eileen Fisher gown! Yikes! Horrors!

I promptly called the hotel, but to no avail. The gown was gone! (Obviously some savvy co-ed, working as a maid at the hotel, knew a find when she found one! At least I hope it just didn't end up in the D.I. bin!)

The biggest problem was getting a new nightgown - I'm not a pajama wearer - as all who have lived with me will attest - and we couldn't find a summer nightgown anywhere in St. George! (20 years ago they didn't have the outlets there or malls.)

We had K-mart and Christensen's! We finally found the one I pulled out of the drawer last Saturday - it's white with lavender flowers and a Henley-type neckline and lavender binding on the cap sleeves and bottom. It's getting pretty thin and threadbare.

But it sure is comfy to sleep in!

I could tell a lot of nightgown stories now that I think about it. Do you have a favorite nightgown? Does anyone but me still wear nightgowns? (They must, they still sell them!)

Enquiring minds want to know!

The Adventures of GrannyBabs in Oregon - in pretty random order I might add!

Sheri Mac Dowell, who used to live in Monrovia (Phoebe taught her kids swimming and she used to babysit for them), lives down the street from Phoebe. We enjoyed visiting and "catching up!"

The Monday night before Agnes's birth was David's company party at an amusment park - Henry loved the rides!

Calvin was pretty fond of them too - especially the ones he was tall enough to go on!


Phoebe and I pretty much limited ourselves to the train and the carousel - thought this stork was pretty apropos!


Burgerville is Oregon's answer to In 'n Out - the burgers aren't as good, but their fruit in season shakes and lemonades are REALLY good!



Calvin likes their chicken strips.



Agnes had her first bath today. She loved it. And Calvin loves participating.

Henry has taken well to being the big brother who can hold the baby while Mom does something like answer the phone or the door.

I got the afghan done - Phoebe had started it for Calvin - so I pulled it out and did a stitch I knew how to do.

Calvin and Henry got new bubble guns and had a great time with them on the deck.

Phoebe made Agnes a little bracelet.

The gray, rainy days have finally given way to sunshine. The boys and I went swimming tonight while Phoebe and David went to the show to see Harry Potter. Agnes went too.

Most of our evenings consisted of me crocheting or sewing while Phoebe fed Agnes and David walked around with her when she needed burping. We watched whatever Netflix had left that day! (Lots of House episodes!)

I leave tomorrow afternoon. I will miss being here. It is work, but it's not the kind of work that seems never-ending - because it's not at your own house! Laundry and meals are never-ending, but for me they are not - because I'm not always here. And everyone here is very appreciative of my efforts - that always makes it more fun! I think our own children are appreciative of what we do, but it does become routine and we forget to acknowledge what we do for one another - both parents and children.

And I've enjoyed reading the dragon stories of Ruth Giles and Henry Reed's Babysitting Service to the boys at night. I never did chapter books with my kids - I'm not sure why - I always read to them, but they were usually one-sitting picture books and when they got to chapter books, they read them on their own.

We will be back in a few weeks for the Hood to Coast Relay that Dad will participate in and Agnes will be blessed that weekend too, so I'm looking forward to that.

And after I'm home for 2 days, it will feel like I never left!

Random Thoughts

I was thinking about how it's so green and wet and cool here - odd even for this area in July - but I am enjoying it.

The problem is, it's normal for these folks to have gray, rainy days. It's not normal for me. I feel like we should be "seizing the day" and curling up with a book - like Harry Potter! They (the locals) just go on like usual!

And speaking of Harry Potter, the UPS man delivered my copy yesterday just before noon - just like they promised!! I love the packaging when they deliver Harry Potter -"Attention Muggles: do not deliver before July 21st!"

Can you believe it ? - I'm saving it for the plane ride home. Mainly because I brought a book up to Phoebe for her book group in August - and started reading it last week and it's really good, so I need to finish it before I can start Harry Potter. (It's called The Glass Castle - a memoir that is pretty fascinating - truth is indeed stranger than fiction!)

And I also thought that the world is full of Harry's for me - my husband, my son, my grandson, my uncle, my father-in-law, my own grandfather - and since the advent of Prince Harry and Harry Potter, no one thinks Harry is such a strange name.

(When I first met my Harry - officially anyway - I knew I had danced with him the night before at the Y Center Grand Opening - but couldn't remember his name. So I coyly pulled his ID card out of his pocket - and saw that it said "Harry Porter" and figured, well, he must have a nickname. No one was named Harry except old people like my Grandpa Stevens, Harry Truman and my Uncle Harry! Imagine my surprise when every one who passed by and knew him said "Hi Harry!")

Harry is a fine name! And don't tell me if Harry dies!

Wedding Fashions Over the Years

There appeared to be some response to the photos from Alice's wedding - so here are the lovely gowns from Lyn and Roseann's wedding in 1966. I actually cut mine off to be a street length dress and wore it to church a couple of times - but it still seemed to yell "Bridesmaid's dress!" (It was a linen blend.)

I like how girls do things now like skirts and tops - so you can at least separate the parts and recombine them so the outfits aren't a total loss.

I remember Joan had a closet full of bridesmaid dresses - a "dress up" treasure trove if there ever was one. I especially remember an emerald green silk sheath dress - I wanted to be old enough to wear it with panache - I never was at a point where I would have done it justice - but then again I used to imagine being Miss America!!

And below are the dresses from Joy's wedding, also in 1966. They were velvet and crepe on the bottom. That dress was a total loss - I didn't like the color! The things we do for our friends!

And Joy ended up divorcing Dale, so all those lovely studio shots are probably gathering dust in some basement! (This is obviously not a studio shot!!)

Jumping on the recipe bandwagon

Our friend Dana recently joined the church and often joins us for Sunday dinner. She brought this recipe - said it's a family favorite. It looks intriguing to me - not sure if I will get a chance to make it at Phoebe's, but I thought I'd post the recipe. (She didn't bring the finished product, just a photograph from the recipe book and the recipe.)

Lemon Fruit Mold

To duplicate the photo, double the recipe and use a 13 by 9 glass or porcelain baking dish.

1 (6 oz.) pkg. lemon-flavored gelatin Fruit for garnish such as sliced strawberries,
3 cups boiling water sliced bananas dipped in lemon juice,
1/3 cup mayonnaise drained mandarin oranges, grapes,
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, cut in cubes blueberries, sliced apples dipped in lemon
1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate juice, sliced peaches and raspberries

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Reserve 3/4 cup gelatin mixture and let stand at room temperature; do not refrigerate at this point or gelatin will harden. Pour remaining gelatin into blender. Add mayonnaise, cream cheese and lemonade concentrate. Blend until smooth. Pour into a 9 inch pie plate or porcelain quiche dish. Refrigerate until firm. Arrange fruits over top of mold in a flower design, as pictured. Or, if desired, arrange fruit in circles, working from the outside in. Refrigerate reserved 3/4 cup gelatin until thick enough to coat a spoon. Carefully spoon thickened gelatin over fruit to glaze. Refrigerate until set or overnight. Makes 8 servings.

As a lover of pudding and custard, I'm thinking this will tempt my palate. I will try it with low-fat cream cheese and mayo too - but hey, with all that fruit, it's bordering on healthy!

Setting the record straight . . .

Somewhere in bloggerland, it is noted, erroneously I might add, that I don't know how to French braid hair.

Well, folks, I am here to set the record straight!! In the summer of 1980, Bonny went to a church camp with her good friend Krissie. And she had a good time - it wasn't an LDS camp, but they were good Christian folk with high standards.

And as a result, any Terrill worth their salt can sing "I am an M, I am an M-O, I am an M-O-R-M-O-N-L-D-S, L-D-S, and I have C-H-R-I-S-T in my H-E-A-R-T, and I will L-I-V-E-E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y."

Bonny also came home with French braids in her long blond hair. And she wanted me to learn to do it. I kept protesting that I didn't know how to do it. One rainy Saturday, we were sitting in the house on Lime watching an old movie on T.V. and she told me to try braiding her hair. "You just have to do it over and over again and practice and then you can do it."

And then we went camping up Santa Barbara way after Christmas - and used Uncle Bill's motorhome too. It was rainy and cold - I think that was the one year the Rose Parade got rained on.

And I sat in the motor home and braided hair until the girls decided I had it right.

I may not do it perfectly (i.e. snugly and tightly), but I do indeed know how to do it!

Let the record reflect the truth in this matter!

That's all I have to say.

The Saga of the Sewing Machine

It's a long story, folks, but I think I'm going to tell it anyway!

About 35 years ago, I bought a Viking Sewing Machine - I had a machine that my mom had given me as a wedding gift, but it was a cheaper model - perfect for the beginner I was at the time. I was ready for the bigtime however!

So I made payments on this great Viking - that I quickly outgrew as my sewing skills improved and expanded. Then I bought a really deluxe model Viking that "did everything" except the dishes.

I sewed up a storm on that machine - if it could talk, would it have tales to tell. After about 15 years though, it seemed to be showing its age. When I took it in - we were in California by then - it was going to cost nearly $300 to repair it. But the guy said it was worth it. I waffled - so he offered me a used machine in the store - which was much "newer" and a Viking - and repair of my old machine for a great combo price. (The newer Viking was computerized too.)

So I fell for it - and for many years felt I had gotten the good end of the deal. Two machines came in handy when we did sewing classes with the Young Women or when Phoebe, Eliza or Hannah wanted to venture into the needlewoman's path. Or when wedding or prom or baby sewing took up the dining room at Grandma Clayton's.

Chinks in the armor or holes in the dike, if you will, began appearing. More and more frequently I needed to take my "newer" machine into the shop. And I didn't sew all that often, so I didn't think about it all the time.

Then last summer, they had my machine for over 6 months!! It needed a new circuit board, the machine was no longer being made so they had to find a "reconditioned" circuit board, and then they sent an incomplete one so it had to be sent back!! I had their phone number memorized!

Finally got it back last fall - and two months later it went dead, no power, zip, nada! I took it in and they guy said it was a fuse and charged me $15.

So I've been sewing aprons nearly non-stop it seems - and yesterday I planned to finally get one made for my mom - and I sat down ready to work - and whoa, a dead machine again!

It was a holiday - I was fried! I thought of going to the church and borrowing the ward Bernina - but I don't have keys to our building anymore, and Harry was at work!

I ranted to the walls - and then went for the Yellow Pages! I found a sewing shop in Altadena that has been around since 1938 - why I haven't found it before I'll never know - I've hit all the other ones in the San Gabriel Valley. And the guy answered - on a holiday no less!

I said, "Are you open?" And he said, "For awhile."

So I hustled over there - and he said, "This machine doesn't use a fuse." First clue that maybe I had been dealing with the wrong people. Then he said, "I will have to take it apart to find out what's wrong." So I said, "What do you have for sale?"

And the rest, as they say, is history! I no longer have a Viking - except for my old, wonderful, workhorse Viking from 35 years ago that Phoebe is currently using - but instead have a new mid-line Riccar. It's not computerized - you turn dials and levers to make it work - and it works great - I made two more aprons yesterday - you may all get yours eventually - if you want one that is.

Turns out Viking no longer really makes Vikings - the company that makes Elnas and Necchis and many other names makes Vikings now. And my blue Viking was the first year of computerized Vikings - the guinea pig I guess.

Riccar makes their own - that sold me on the concept.

I am a happy seamstress these days!!

Thanks for listening.

Moving right along . . .

Our most recent task as a Stake Relief Society was to have a Young Women Transition to Relief Society event.

In honor of the occasion, I finally finished making aprons for my presidency - something I've been wanting to do ever since we were called 9 months ago. (Maybe aprons gestate like humans??) (Mine wasn't ironed - so I wore one of my vintage ones that was ironed!)

It was not an elaborate affair - there were 12 girls in the stake graduating from high school, so I made them aprons and put them in gift bags with the Relief Society logo on the bag. We did it at the Lemon Building on Sunday afternoon.

We invited ward YW and Relief Society presidents to attend. The Stake YW leaders were there too.

Only 3 of the 12 girls came - but it was a great afternoon. Maybe the others had good excuses - I visited one very less active girl beforehand and gave her her apron on Sunday morning since I definitely knew she was not coming.

I plan to visit each girl to give her the apron and a welcome.

Sue Cornwall was our speaker - and she gave a great talk on aprons and what they mean to women and Relief Society - she talked about how they represent service, hard work and protection. You can see her summary with some great photographs here.

The transition activity used to be done in our stake, but hasn't been done for several years. It was not on the stake calendar, so I don't think everyone really understood what we were trying to do. But I wanted to get it started again - and this was a very good start.

Watch us next year!! (Sue is talking about how we could do a theme with knitting - but what will I make for each girl - I don't knit??)