The Cardplayers

When Harry and I were first married and living in Salt Lake City, our dear friend Ronnie Horton got us a job ushering for the Salt Lake Symphony Orchestra. We got 4 tickets each time - and we loved doing the job - and being able to invite people to join us free of charge!

Those were great years - we did it for 3 or 4 years I think - maybe we quit ushering after Bonny was born and just went to the concerts? I do not recall. Harry had the opportunity to travel with the orchestra on their South American tour in 1971 - and that was an adventure. I stayed home with Bonny and had a couple of adventures on my own - not nearly as memorable as Harry's though!

The concerts for the orchestra were in the Tabernacle then - and we'd drive in and park on West Temple, on the street. As we walked to the Tabernacle, we passed a large cluster of old apartment buildings. They were fairly well cared for, but were old. Harry's great Aunt Vi had lived in them at one time - and we even visited her once.

Whenever we walked along the buildings, we would look down into the basement windows - we saw living rooms, kitchens, laundry rooms - and usually saw people in them. They seldom if ever looked up at us - and we tried not to stare. But it was intriguing to me!

I am not sure when we first noticed this one elderly couple (and what do you suppose - maybe they were all of 60 years old!!) They were always playing cards! It didn't matter what time we came by, they were there playing cards. When we were walking back to our car after the concert was over, their windows were dark. Maybe they really were old and couldn't stay awake past 10:30!

And so when I first found this old photo of my Grandma and Grandpa Stevens and my Aunt Dot and Uncle Steve - playing cards - my first thought was of the card-playing couple on West Temple in Salt Lake City.

Harry and I can be seen playing cards if you came up close to our kitchen or dining room windows - not every night though - and sometimes it's not cards, but Scrabble or Racko!!

What goes around comes around I guess!

Henry's Birthday!

Henry was the first Terrill grandson - and was such a great little guy - and he still is a great guy and not really very tall. But he wears it well.

 

We loved his visits - and we loved him - and we enjoyed getting to know him over the years.

 

We especially loved the great relationship he had with all the grandkids - and the way they all loved him. His mom has that quality - she reaches out and loves everyone - and it's gratifying to see him develop that way.

Now he is 19, heading - not literally actually - off on a mission - in the downstairs bedroom of his house where he will do online MTC - and I just know that it will be  a wonderful experience - probably even better than it would have been away!

Henry will make it the best experience!

Can't wait to hear about it!

Oh happy day!

This is a photo on my birthday in 1979 - I was turning 34 - and we had just recently made the decision to move back to California.We had built the house amid much hoopla about how this would be our "forever home." Thus we made design choices and decisions that would reflect that idea. And we had just moved in 3 months earlier. So it was the only birthday we ever celebrated in that house.

Over the years, birthdays have occurred on convenient days, happy days, inconvenient days, busy days, lazy days - and until this year, I had felt that May 23, 1979, was maybe the most "historically eventful" birthday in our family. 

But its place has been usurped. A pandemic birthday seems much more "historically eventful" to me. And there have been several in the family now - all kinds of new ways of celebrating have emerged - we are certainly a resourceful bunch - but the fact that we can't be together, can't hug and sing around each other, can't cluster together as the candles are blown out - takes a little of the joy out of the mix.

Zoom birthdays are fun and wonderful - but sort of make you wish you were together in person. Drive by birthday celebrations are the new normal - and a big hit. But once again you wish everyone could stop and get out and give you a high five at least. Cards, packages, phone calls - love is shared - and we should be grateful for technology - but there is the "human touch" that is missing.

And it makes us a little sad. Birthdays are a recognition that time is marching on - and can't be brought back. 

So let's at least learn something - and treasure the "now" - even if it's over Zoom!

What the future holds -

This photo was taken almost 18 years ago. These were the 5 grandchildren we had at the time - Ara, Ella, Henry, Esme, Eve.

 They were beautiful children - and they brought us much joy. 

More grandchildren came - we have 23 now. And they are all beautiful - and they all bring us much joy.

But we had no idea - when we took this photo - that just 18 years later, we would be in the midst of pandemic that would significantly alter the lives of these 5 little kids!

Ara had to redo all her wedding plans - although she did have a lovely wedding - it was just different than what we were expecting. Ella has had to alter her plans also - but there is no reason to believe that her wedding in June will not be just as lovely. Henry has a mission call - but is not 100% sure where he will be going after he finishes at home MTC - something he never planned on. And Esme and Eve are the infamous "Class of 2020" whose senior years were decimated by the virus. No prom. No senior trip. No spring musical. No last day of school. No graduation ceremony. No grad night.

I wonder what I will be reporting in a year. I am planning on it being good news!

They deserve it!

Happy First - and remembering at 100!

Today is baby Lee's first birthday - the pandemic has kept us apart and we are missing the exponential growth that happens that second half of the first year!

We look forward to being able to hug and snuggle once again.

And today would be Grandma Mary's 100th birthday. She would have loved little Lee. She loved all 57 of her grandkids and all of the great-grands - there are 144 now! No great-greats yet though.

She didn't mind that she had no great-greats though. "It's not a contest you know" she always said.

Always something wise to say - she was that way!

The New Sabbath

This is NOT a photo of some lovely ladies in our family waiting for virtual Sunday meeting to begin! But it could be. I wonder what my mom and Marjorie would have thought of "virtual fast and testimony meeting?" I suspect they would have been good sports about it. My mom stopped going to church often at the end of her life. It was hard for her to hear. Once she discovered the BYU channel's offering of online Sacrament meetings - minus the Sacrament - she preferred them - she could hear and she could pause them if there was an interruption. And I suspect the quality of the speakers was a little more consistent!

I don't mind the virtual meetings - certainly better than no meeting! And in these isolated times, it's great to see faces - even if they are on screen.

I find that if I clean up and dress up a bit, it's a better day too. I have tried to text and call to connect with people. Write letters, write posts, it is usually a very calm and quiet day - I enjoy it. 

Hopefully our "re-entry" will be gradual enough that it won't seem like too much of a shock!!

Musings

I do not even know the year or the location of this photo. I do know that it's Ida - and I think we were probably visiting for a blessing or a baptism - coats on mean winter - and possibly this is dinner or lunch after the event??

I love seeing pics of kids reading. Ida is a reader.  A voracious reader - a young lady after my own heart. Several of my grandkids love to read as much as I do. 

I sometimes wonder how much it's nature vs. nurture in the reading game. In the same family, there can be readers and those who pick up a book as a last resort. They all know how to read. Just don't always choose to read.

Reading was , and still is actually,  my happy place. I seldom get tired of reading. I keep notebooks noting the books I've read - but frequently look over the lists and can't really recall the book very well. This past week, I found myself reading three books simultaneously - fortunately I finished one of them, so I'm only reading 2! But that's kind of confusing. 

The one I finished was a novel about WW II. The two I'm reading are both about Orthodox Jewish women who have left their faith. They are memoirs. Whenever I read that sort of book, I often wonder what their family members would say - what their take on it would be.

Maybe I will write a review and let you know what I think.

When I finish!

Almost halfway through - May that is!

We had a number of trips planned for this year - Paris France to see Hannah and family, SLC for a bridal shower for Ara and Ellen - and a host of friends I wanted to see, Oregon for Henry's "non-farewell," family camp with Phoebe and crew - it's a bit depressing to think about actually.

It isn't totally unbearable to be "stuck at home." I can entertain myself with the best of them. But I'm not moving forward very quickly with projects, or house work, or apron making. 

Harry has taken up gardening - and puts me to shame - he is a force to be reckoned with out in nature now. We will invite you soon for curbside pickup of all the produce he produces!

I still write letters, read, send cards, talk on the phone, read, text on the phone, take walks, do online exercise videos, read, do minimal house work and maximum laundry, watch Zoom church meetings, and watch a movie now and then - we have no streaming devices - Amazon Prime is our go to - and we don't go to it much!

I would rather be visiting family and friends. 

It's true!

More happy days to fete!

Happy Birthday Noah!!

 

Happy Birthday Dawn!

May is positively FULL of birthdays. There are 48 on my personal perpetual birthday calendar. I send cards to most of them - unless they have not kept in touch and I don't have an address. Then, if they are on social media, I send them a greeting there.

And it's my birthday, my mom's birthday, my son's birthday, 4 of my grandsons' birthdays, and I am Birthday Buddies with 5 folks that I know of!

It's a good month!

Now it's being a somewhat not as good month, owing to the pandemic. Oh my, that colors EVERYTHING doesn't it??

I am getting more and more slothful each day. I started out pretty well - I think that not going to a regularly scheduled HIIT class 3 times a week has impacted how I face the day. If something is not required - I just don't seem to get moving. The other thing I notice is that I can get up, get moving, get a couple of things done - and then feel like I've done enough - time to go sit and read!!

And phone conversations are really using up large chunks of time. They are very enjoyable though - and may be what is keeping me sane.

And I do have student still - but he works online with another teacher for math - and hasn't yet gotten all the English work done. Perhaps I need to take note and push him.

I will put that on my To Do list.

After I finish a chapter.

Two for One - and some years it's Three for One!

 Happy Birthday Ralph - 3 years old today - we have missed seeing you for almost a year - the pandemic has thwarted all our travel plans!!

 

Happy 5th Birthday to Polly!! We miss seeing you too - but love the videos and FaceTime!!

  

Happy Heavenly Mother's Day to my sweet mama!!

 

And thanks to this crew, who made me a mama!!

"Man and wife"

So thankful for the circumstances that allowed Ara and Roger to be married at her home - in the presence of family and loved ones - officiated by Grandpa T. 

Not what they would have chosen - but perhaps they were chosen for this time!

Behind before I start!

Alice had a birthday in April - which I noted on IG and FB - Blogger gets short shrift it seems.

Frances had a birthday too - in fact, lots of people had birthdays, but I don't think I noted them here!

 

And we had a lovely, though different Easter, of course due to COVID 19.  I guess I should do a post about that - for history's sake anyway!!