Wedding Bells Through the Years

All this talk of weddings makes me think about how simple ours was! This is a polaroid my Uncle Paul took - that's where our wedding photo collection comes from! (At least some of them. Various and sundry others took snapshots too - we have a nice little collection of varying quality. But we don't really need photos to remember the details. At least not yet!)

And Alice made my dress - the fabric was about $20.

And the serving ladies - maybe this look should make a comeback! I could make the aprons. Start a new fad! (Seriously these women were my mom's right hands - they "made" it happen!)

This was Joy's wedding line in 1966 - from her first marriage. I'm not sure why I am always making a face in the photos from her wedding. You might look carefully and see that I borrowed my veil from her.

Harry and I observed that we are really from a different generation. It was pretty simple back then.

We don't begrudge the brouhaha that weddings now seem to entail. We just smile and shake our heads and write the checks.

And I keep surfing the net for the perfect mother of the bride dress for me!

"Each life that touches ours for good"

I feel like I am too young to have my old friends dying. But there was a message on our answering machine today from a friend whose voice I hadn't heard in over 30 years. I have maintained contact with Janice and Roger Rowley since our days in the Butterfield Arms on 5th South and 10th East in SLC, and every few years would hear back from them at Christmastime. I hadn't heard from them in several years, and then I got a letter from them while they were on a mission in New Jersey.

So when I got a message that said, "This is Roger Rowley from Helper, Utah and I have some news. Give me a call," I told Harry, "This can only be bad news."

I called back but only got a machine, so I left a message. When I got back tonight, I called again. Janice had died in January, from a combination of a malignant adrenal tumor and congestive heart failure.

Janice is in the center of the back row of this rather poor quality picture. Alice is on the left in the back row, and the others are people you wouldn't know. The occasion was Harry's first birthday - he is in the high chair on the left. Bonny is on the front row, in plaid shorts.

We lived in a 4-plex owned by the Butterfields - hence our own name for it was "Butterfield Arms." Kind of a commentary on how deluxe they were not! We moved there when Bonny was about 7 months old and left when Harry was 2.

The duplex had a great back yard; we even planted vegetables in it one summer. There was a big swing set too. It was connected to a complex of houses and apartments that were on these short private streets - a tiny hidden away neighborhood. I wish I had photos - but you will just have to trust me that it was like a kingdom unto itself - a nice little world of its own.

We had a cat named Elizabeth and one day I was out calling her and a woman came through the back fence and said, "Are you calling me?" (Her name turned out to be Elizabeth!) We were still attending a student ward, so we hadn't gotten to know any of the neighbors. Turned out there was Elizabeth and her children and Janice and her kids. We became friends - and it was a wonderful neighborhood kind of friendship. We mostly just hung out together with our kids - mostly outside. Janice and Elizabeth's kids were older - some were in school - so their lives didn't really parallel mine, but we enjoyed our time together. In the winter time, we would go into one another's houses sometimes, but not as often as we would hang out in the good weather.

When we moved to Centerville, Janice and I would meet at the zoo, or at a park. And over the years, I faithfully sent them a Christmas card.

She hadn't really gone into details about her life, mostly just Christmas letter kind of stuff. They have 6 kids - and 4 are not active. He was a bishop in Helper when a terrible mine disaster happened there back in the 80's. It was in the Church News. It prompted me to write to her about it, and for a few years her letters were more personal and detailed.

She and her husband were school teachers, so when I got involved with education, we had that much more to talk about.

There are people who come into your life for a brief period of time. They are important in your life for that period of time. Even if you never see them again - and I haven't seen Janice since we left Centerville in 1979 - they are significant friends.

And their loss is real.

I grieve for Roger - who said he's doing okay, "just gets rough at night." And grieve is too strong a word for that sorrow we feel for days gone by that really won't ever come again. But it's a loss, nonetheless.

Loss has been a component of my life lately. I'm not sure how well I am dealing with it. I know it is part of life, but I am new to this sense of time, and people, slipping away.

If any young women are reading this - treasure and value your friends. Stay in touch with them. And remember that it is true that "When such a friend from us departs, we hold forever in our hearts, a sweet and hallowed memory, bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee."

I am grateful for my friendship with Janice Rowley. I think I'm a better person because of it.

Sometimes you get a great laugh just when you need it!

I got an IM from my old roomie Marlene last night. She was lamenting that our "roomie letter" was taking so long to get around. This last one was started over 3 years ago - and she just got it!

So she proposed that we go to an email format. I have been trying to get them on board with a roomie blog, but I've had no takers. I figure if you can do email, you can do a blog post.

So we are going with an email group - and I will link so often to the blog, they will be motivated to get on board!

(Email is great - and it's better than a letter that takes 3 years to go around - but I like the blog format better - maybe I'm a snob, but I like pictures and text that flow.)

So then she finished up by sending me this photo. Is this laugh-out-funny or not??

Note that I am wearing an apron - in addition to curlers!!

What a cutie!!

(Just an FYI, but Alice Merrill Horne was Minerva Teichert's agent - got her works sold and got commissions for her - I was delighted to read that!!)

A day off

I love days off. I used to hate school holidays - probably because my routine was disrupted. Now I love having my "routine" disrupted with a holiday. Guess it's all about perspective.

I used to feel guilty because I didn't like planning activities for the kids to fill up the "day off." I hope they didn't feel bad about just hanging around the house all day. Maybe I did things - I can't remember - I know they will remind me. ("Mom, how can you forget . . . ?")

Actually I remember taking Bonny, Harry and Phoebe to the show at the Santa Anita Mall on the first President's Day we were here in Monrovia. But I don't remember what we saw.

I am really feeling the need for a "day off" but I never seem to get as much done as I think I will. In fact, I usually get things "ready to go" and then the day is over - and I need another day.

I hope I'm making myself clear. I think there's a line in a poem or a story somewhere that expresses the thought clearly - to me anyway. It's hovering in the back of my mind but not emerging. A sign that maybe I need a day off??

I like to spend days off doing things like catching up on my ironing while watching old movies. (I love to iron - especially while watching old movies.)

Or writing letters.

Or blogging.

Or sorting through drawers and "getting organized." And going to Target to get containers for my organization.

Or making aprons.

Or browsing through the racks at Marshalls.

Or curling up with a good book - but I never seem to be "caught up" in a book on a holiday - I was up late last week finishing a "page turner" but they never seem to be there when you need them!!

Or dreaming that I'm going to spend the day getting all the photos sorted!! (In my dreams!)

In recent years, my days off have often included doing things with the grandkids - which is the best use for a day off, frankly. It's fun to be with them, you feel good at the end of the day, and you can save your "to do" list for the next day off without feeling guilty!

And Dad doesn't really do "days off" - at least not the predesignated kind - he's pretty random.

Like we are going to go up to Oakland next week to see the daughter of the 12 year old girl Dad baptized in 1967 - he got a letter from the woman a week or so ago - emailed her and she'd like us to go visit her daughter - who is now on a mission in Oakland - it's a long story - and a great story - and I may have to be the one to tell it because I don't think Dad will get around to blogging it anytime soon.

Anyway - I'll have another "day off " next week- I'll let you know how it goes. (we are flying up in the a.m. and back in the p.m. - don't ask!)

What do you like to do on a day off?

Pumpkin Cookies a la Frazzled

We have had a death in our ward, and I am the visiting teacher to the wife in the household, so I was making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I also made dinner, so I took the bowl of cookie dough with me so the kids could help me bake them.

They didn't come out well - I was perplexed. Then decided it was the stove - the one daughter said, "Yes, it doesn't work very well. It's vintage." People were eating them and not complaining, but they really didn't look right.

So I went home and thought, I'll bake them and drop them off in the a.m. on my way to school. But they were just as bad in my oven! What was wrong?

I checked the recipe thinking I hadn't used enough flour. Well, I'd forgotten the eggs!!!

There's something to be said against multi-tasking - the distraction factor!

So I stirred an egg into the remaining dough and then scraped the ones on the cookie sheet into the bowl too. They had been in the oven maybe 90 seconds - and the chocolate chips had melted. So the dough turned chocolaty brown. They tasted fine - a little different - more gingerbready Harry thinks. But they looked suspicious!

So I whipped up another batch - and they were lovely!!

And I dropped them off this a.m. on the way to work with a typed sheet explaining the mystery of the failed pumpkin cookies.

There might be a lesson here, but I'm not sure just what it is. I plan to remember it though and use it in a lesson or talk someday!

10 years ago today it was 1998

Eliza correctly pointed out that I had not said what I was doing 10 years ago when I was "tagged" recently. (I am so not into the complexities of bloggerdom.)

This photo is from Christmas of '98 - I am asleep again - holding Ella. That's why I'm good at getting babies to sleep in my arms - then you get a little snooze yourself. So I was grandmothering 10 years ago.

And this was when David came to Monrovia to meet all the Terrills - so I was contemplating a wedding 10 years ago too.

And here are the "little kids" clowning around with Ara - so I was mothering too ten years ago.

And just for fun, and to let you know I'm not the only sleepy person around here, here's a shot of Ara, waking up Hannah!

And Eliza, waking up on her own I guess!! (Or not!)

I was teaching 1/2 time at Clifton 10 years ago - RSP - it was a great job. (I love half time - not the pay and lack of benefits though.) I was also taking classes at APU, serving as Young Women President, planning a wedding, loving having a granddaughter and one on the way, Dad was still bishop, Hannah played softball, Noah played little league, life was crazy and busy.

"I'm it!"

So Hannah "tagged" me and hopefully I'm doing it right!

5 things on my "to do" list to day:

1. Fast
2. Fix dinner for 14 people
3. Write thank you notes to the teachers who taught today - because they did a a great job.
4. Type up handout for R.S. for next week's ward conference - I still don't have a secretary - they took her to be a ward R.S. President.
5. Do the rest of the 1993 anniversary post.

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Lightbulb cookies
2. Kettlecorn microwave popcorn in 100 calorie packs.
3. Clementines
4. Cut up Pink Lady apples
5. Baked Cheetos 100 calorie packs - Mini Bites

(somehow the 100 calorie designation brings me solace and comfort!!)

What I would do if I was given a billion dollars:

Buy a Craftsman house - a big one - and remodel it to look like the Gamble House and put in a pool and hire a lifeguard so I could enjoy the pool! Or maybe buy a Mediterranean house - an old one, like the beauties on Orange Grove - and do the pool thing there too.

3 Bad Habits:

1. Staying up too late.
2. Suggesting events, projects, etc.
3. Staying up late implementing aforementioned events or projects.

5 places I have lived:

1. Burbank, CA
2. Long Beach, CA
3. Grenoble, France
4. Centerville, Utah
5. El Monte, CA

5 jobs I have had:

1. Summer playground aide - LAUSD
2. Laundress, BYU
3. Transcript clerk, U of U Registrar's Office
4. Expediter, Century Record Mfg. Co.
5. Office Manager, HPT, Inc.

5 things (most) people don't know about me:

1. My "car" was once a '41 Chevy 3/4 ton flat bed truck with a sheepherder's cabin on it.
2. I was on a high school Homecoming Court.
3. I was on the student council that implemented a 3.5 GPA rule to be on Homecoming Court.
4. I hitch-hiked in eastern France for a period of time in 1966.
5. I had spaghetti for Thanksgiving dinner in 1963.

5 people I am tagging: (how will they know about this? - this is a time-consuming process - no wonder people don't do it!)

1. Scott
2. Karen
3. Amy
4. Heather
5. Melissa

I feel so au courant!!