Latest read -

I have been spending most of my reading hours on Deborah Crombie novels - and have barreled through 13 of the 14 - but need to save the last one for my plane ride to Virginia next month! (Since her next book does not debut until October!)

Got this from Phoebe when I was there recently - started it but got sidetracked. So I picked it up again and quite enjoyed it.

Somehow stories about people with personality disorders can get tedious at times - but this author was able to create a believable environment that only got tedious a time or two!

At first I thought it was about a young woman on the spectrum - and much of her behavior mimics spectrum behavior - but there is a deeper and more compelling story that emerges.

And I won't say any more in case you plan to read it.

It's a good read - and would work for an airplane ride too!

Reunion time!

We do a Clayton reunion every other year - and this is the year!

Every year I say I'm not going to be in charge the next time. And then I'm in charge the next time!

Fewer and fewer people come every year - and some key players will not be available this year.  So I put it out there on social media that maybe I would not do it.  And of course got lots of "Yes we are coming this year" kind of replies.

I guess we will see.

Reading, reading, always reading!

I have a penchant for series of books.  I loved the Hornblower series, the Poldark series, as a kid I loved the Little House on the Prairie books, as a teen I also had a penchant for trying to read every book one author had written - and I have read all of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Edna Ferber, and John Grisham.

Upon reflection, some of these don't seem particularly literarily upscale - if you follow my drift. But I think the continuity appeals to me - it's like the people become real, the places seem to be someplace I can see in my mind's eye, and I like that the story doesn't end!

Right now I am absorbed in the Deborah Crombie murder mysteries - Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James - detectives extraordinaire - and very British.

Maybe it's because I've been traveling and good "airplane fiction" can be hard to find.

But if you love a good detective team, give these a try.

And I feel the same way about listening to Louis L'Amour novels when we take road trips!

Where did April go?

I have truly gotten behind in blogging - posting on two blogs can be a problem!

I have read some good books - which I neglected to post - and have been whiling away the hours with the compelling murder mystery.  I have actually never been a real murder mystery fan - and now I think I know why - they eat up too much time! They are interesting, compelling, and all-together too time-consuming.

But it's May - and I need to start devoting time to memorizing the DMV handbook so I can pass the written test this month!

And the Easter photo is a homage to April!!

"There is no frigate like a book . . ."

Since 2019 began, I have been reading a lot - and posting very little!  For one thing, I read the entire series of Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny - all 14 of them! (actually I read the last 6 in 2019 - the first 8 in 2018) I will not review them separately, but I will say that they make a lovely list of books to have at your bedside! (Literally or figuratively!)  Everyone I have recommended them to has loved them - and I have discovered that many, many other people have discovered them without me! A big thank you to Phoebe for persisting in encouraging me to read them!

I picked up Under the Wide and Starry Sky at the Book Rack in the dollar bin.  The woman wrote Loving Frank, a fictionalized bio of Frank Lloyd Wright, and I thought this might be a good way to learn about Robert Louis Stevenson. And it was. But like Loving Frank, it is not great literature, and even drags in places.

 

One of my home/hospital students needs to read this, so I read it too. I didn't think I read it, but passages seemed very familiar - perhaps they have been quotes somewhere. 

It is a compelling piece of holocaust writing - but very spare. Seems like a good place to start - thus it seems appropriate for students.

 

Hannah recommended this - and it is excellent! I would like to see this book become compulsory reading for high school students - everyone needs to know the true story of slavery in America - and this book goes a long way towards achieving such a goal.

 

Found this in the dollar bin too - and thought that maybe short stories would be good for our book group to tackle - and these were enjoyable but not exceptional - and would need to be discussed as a body - thus it wouldn't be a shorter assignment.

There are a good example of female, Southern, regional fiction - in case you cared.

Also read The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz - a pretty good murder mystery, but I am actually a little tired of murder mysteries. The author has written the screenplays for the BBC production Endeavor - which I love!

Also read Unshattered by Carole Decker - about a woman who contracts sepsis after an emergency c-section and loses her lower legs, her left hand and her vision! It is a good read.

So now I'm caught up. 

And I need to choose a book for book group for next month.

And where did January and February go??

Well, if I post nothing else this month - and it's highly likely that it might come to that - we will at least have noted the Ides of March! Originally done way back when - as in when we lived in Butterfield Arms in Salt Lake City in 1973!!

Ronnie Horton's birthday is the Ides of March - and so we decided to celebrate by re-enacting the assassination of Julius Caeser. 

And thus a tradition was born!

 

We used to have an Ides of March party every year - the guest list grew - and shrank - and grew again.

 

Some years it was an extended FHE activity.

 

And there are lots of stories to tell about how kids and grandkids reacted to the activity.  My favorite is the year Dawn came when she and Harry were just engaged.  After we finished, she said, "That was short - I thought it was much longer."

She had assumed we would be doing the whole play!! (We have long had an abridged version we use.) 

I was impressed that she had come willing to do the whole thing!!

 

Soon it got to be too much - for lots of reasons - and so we don't do it anymore.

But we love the memories!

marching forth

There are almost no Terrill birthdays in March - in fact, until Noah married Taylor, who brought along Keesa - for which we are grateful - there were none - but now we do have Keesa to celebrate.

 But we also have Pi Day - and except for the fact that I am committed to losing 20 pounds - mostly for health reasons - I really feel bad about baking a pie to celebrate.  Although for the last several months, when I have made a lemon meringue pie - actually the only kind I make - I have given it away - and contented myself with licking the pan. 

That may again suffice. 

When you retire, the pool of people who celebrate Pi Day shrinks considerably.

 

And the Terrills used to be famous for celebrating the Ides of March -  with a lavish dramatic production - here, here! But we no longer do that either. For lots of reasons - one of the major ones being that it got too big for our house - and I wasn't up for managing a larger venue.

So we content ourselves with fond memories and FB posts with old photos!

 

Not being a teacher usually means I don't think about celebrating St. Patrick's Day either - but I do send cards - of course. And I have a nephew with a birthday that day - and it's on a Sunday this year - so maybe I will wear green - I did buy a fun St. Patrick's day scarf - I can wear that.

 

Arrghh - Jury Duty occurs with maddening frequency - this is in Alhambra though - so maybe won't be too bad. I will let you know. And I do believe in participatory government - so I need to put my money where my mouth is!

 

I have not flown a kite in a gazillion years - perhaps it will be windy.  Perhaps we will think of doing it. Or perhaps not!

 

And it's good to look forward to Easter!

 

And General Conference.

Not too bad after all!

56 years ago at this time!

So, 56 years ago at this time, I was a recent high school grad who was working at Century Records Manufacturing in Saugus, CA.  It was a job - and actually an interesting.  I was the expediter at a plant that manufactured phonograph records. 

LA Unified used to graduate students each semester - and I was a January grad. I had been accepted at BYU, but not until September. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I didn't consider going up mid-year. Probably I couldn't afford to. I had a scholarship but needed housing and eating money.

Some time I ought to blog about my experiences at Century Records - before they had a name for it, I was the victim of sexual harassment - but I didn't even tell anyone - I assumed it was the way life was.

My education wasn't only at school!

Where did December go?

Somehow December came and went - with nary a post for birthdays or Christmas or wedding anniversaries. What is this world coming to?

I did have everyone here for the holidays.

I did read a number of Inspector Gamache novels.

I did celebrate said birthdsays, Christmas, and anniversaries.

And I kept up with the laundry and sanitizing the bathrooms daily when everyone was here.

And no one got sick.

We can hope for more in January.

And does anyone even read this blog?

November is over - almost!

This is a fave photo of mine - for many reasons - but as the end of November - the month of gratitude - winds down - I am aware that I have left many days un-noted.

That doesn't mean I'm not grateful.  But it does mean that I have been spending a lot of November days traveling with Harry - and getting ready for traveling and getting back from traveling - and for that I am grateful - grateful enough to fill a whole year's worth of posts!

Not sure of the date of this photo, but it's pretty old.

So are we, actually!

What's in a name?

When Harry W. was born, Harry, Dawn and family were living with us - while their house was being remodeled. 

They couldn't decide on a name - so we kept a running tally on the white board - it was a fun time!

Noah went without a name for 3 weeks after he was born.  Maybe if we'd had a whiteboard it would have happened sooner!

Kind of behind!

On our recent trip to Guatemala, I noted how many beautiful trees, flowers, bushes, and hedges there were. It is so lush and colorful - I could be happy in a place like that. Our son-in-law Bruce noted, "It's either 75 and sunny or 75 and raining there." 

I loved looking out each morning and seeing all the beautiful trees and flowers. I am grateful that such beauty exists - and that I can enjoy it.

(I used to grow calla lilies and amaryllis in our yard - somewhere along the way, they ceased to grow.  It could have more to do with my skills than anything else!)

Grateful - yes!

I am grateful for the beach.  It makes California the place everyone wants to be. 

That can be a problem - as we are seeing now with the fires.

But I do love an outing to the beach!

A little nature goes a long way!

I am go grateful for the bougainvillea that not only grows in our yard, but grows in the yards all around us. It always makes me smile!

A Terrill Treasure!

We are grateful that Harry chose Dawn for many reasons, but we are certainly grateful that she introduced us to Mimi Cakes!

Gratitude - every day!

53 years ago at this time, I was home  working to earn money to go on a Study Abroad program to Grenoble, France. It turned out to be a wonderful experience - well worth the time spent earning the money to go.

I am grateful for the encouragement and support I received so that I could go - and I'm grateful for the experience of going!

Another day of gratitude

Grateful for Harry's mission - and the impact it has had on all of our lives!

I love this photo. I love what it's like with a new baby in the house - I was third oldest of 12 and got to welcome lots of new babies. And as a grandma of 22, I have been on hand to welcome those new babies.

I am grateful that new babies have been such a big part of my life!

I am still thankful!

Grateful for Seminary - the early morning variety - and the great blessing it was for each of our children.

Gratitude - Day 7

Today is my dad's birthday - he would have been 102. On his birthday, he always said, "On the day I was born, Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States." 

I am so grateful that my dad could be counted on:  counted on to wear suspenders, counted on to honk the horn if you didn't get out of the house fast enough, counted on to tell you he couldn't carry a tune in a basket, counted on to help with posters for school assignments, counted on for rides to stake dances, counted on to be a great dad.

He was a blessing in my life.

More gratitude to express!

This is a photo of Harry's Aunt Dorothy. She was a delightful as her smile is!

 

The woman in the middle of this photo is my Aunt Dorothy - married to my mom's brother Steve.

I am grateful for Aunt Dorothys - everyone should have one!

Gratitude - Day 5

We have taken some road trips in our time - but they haven't been particularly legendary. And we have taken some camping trips - but not really a lot of them.

This particular trip was in my brother Bill's van. We had moved to California a couple of years before, but I'm not even sure where we went to camp - I remember little about the trip except the fact that Bonny wanted me to practice doing French braids - and so on that trip I did just that!

I am grateful for camping trips - and for knowing how to French braid!!

Grateful each day

I am not an animal person. I grew up with dogs, but they were outside animals and I knew little more than their names.

(The above shot is Cosmo.)

 

 (The above shot is Amado.)

Harry grew up with animals and loved them and is a great animal person. But a weekend tending my brother's German shepherd was enough to persuade him that cats would do!

I am grateful for the three

 (The cat in the background is Elizabeth.)

cats who were a part of ours and our children's lives. Amado was cared for by the missionaries Harry was teaching at the LTM, and when they left, we took over. It was a task to hide this kitten in the apartment we were renting - the apartment that didn't allow pets! Amado disappeared one day - and we ran an ad and he was returned! Then he disappeared again and we never saw him again. It was sad.

Our good friends the Swensons had too many cats - and offered to give us Elizabeth - and Bonny and Harry as young children enjoyed her immensely. But she contracted cat leukemia and died - in spite of our best efforts. We had  little funeral for her - and Harry talked about the resurrection. That night at family prayer, Bonny prayed that Elizabeth could be resurrected the next day! Harry commented that may he needed to clarify things for her!

What followed were several years of no cats - Bonny had a parakeet, Harry had a guinea pig and a snake. And we had fish.

Then Cosmo came into our lives - literally being dumped on our street.  Harry  promised he'd get his Eagle if I would let them keep him - and I took him up on his offer!

Cosmo grew old with us - and we loved him. But one day he disappeared. We sent out flyers. Turned out our neighbors knew him well - he hung out at their homes often. One neighbor called him Mr. Chang. One neighbor called him Sophomore - because he was smarter than their cat - whose name was Freshman!

We never found him or his remains. The common belief is that he was killed by a coyote. We did have a lovely memorial service for him - and sang "Cats" in his honor. 

And so the last many years has passed without a pet in our house. But we can enjoy other pets that belong to other people and other people are responsible for them.

But I do enjoy Lady Mary!

Day 3 - grateful for the charming Miss Rhoda!

Today is Rhoda's 5th birthday - and in addition to being grateful for her and grateful to be one of her grandmothers, I am generally grateful for 5 year olds. They are a lot of fun to be around.  They are pretty independent. They are good conversationalists. And they still like to be read to!

Always looking forward to time with Rhoda!

Day two of the Month of Gratitude

I am grateful to be a grandparent.  Here we are with our first - Ara Grace - born 21 years ago - and now we have 22 grandchildren and one more on the way.

It gets better all the time - these wonderful children are a joy and a blessing - perhaps I should do some individual posts about the aspects of grandparenting that bring me joy!

I always loved my grandparents - maybe that pre-disposed me to enjoy the job.

But enjoy it I do!

Month of Gratitude - or "I've got plenty to be thankful for!"

I post on FB, Instagram, the Terrill blog, and my own blog - and it seems like I ought to have enough things to be thankful for that I woudn't have to duplicate any! I guess we will see - keeping track is a task - I suppose I ought to be grateful that I can still keep track of things!

In the past year, the Clayton homestead was sold - and if you drove by, it would not look like this - this is from over 50 years ago. But even the modern version we were most familiar with is very changed. It has a handicap ramp installed on the front and one side, and the yard has been left to die and get full of weeds.

So I don't drive by - once was enough. But I do remember the house very well - I can close my eyes and be there. I can recall Sunday afternoons in the living room with the LA Times spread all around. I can recall coming home late from a babysitting job and tip-toeing down the hall. I can recall Sunday dinners in a very crowded dining room. I can recall Christmas mornings in the living room with tissue-paper covered chairs because our Santa didn't wrap gifts - he covered them with a layer of white tissue paper.

The memories go on and on - and I am grateful not only for good memories but for a place that was home for many, many years - all the remembering years of my youth and young adulthood and parenthood and later adulthood. Not everyone gets to call the same place home for over 60 years!

Grateful for home!

I'm reading when I ought to be doing lots of other things!!

Loaded this on my Kindle to take on our upcoming trip to Chile - and then just started reading to be sure it had gotten loaded all right - first mistake - because I just kept reading - until I finished it at the end of the day!!

A great novel - full of beautiful prose, exquisite description, powerful character development - and a blockbuster ending that will knock your socks off!

And the themes in the story seem to have been written for our time and place - even though the story starts in 1952! 

Also, I love that the main character was born in 1945 - just like me!

Bontober begins!

A few years ago, Bonny coined the term "Bontober" for her celebratory month - and the term has stuck! The Terrill family has a few birthdays in October - and Harry and I are going to Chile for two weeks, so I'm going to cover all the birthdays now - and maybe do some catch up posts in November!! 

 

Phoebe is on the 11th - and will be 41 - oh my, time flies when you are having fun - and this girl seems to always be having fun!!

 

Porter will be 14 on the 11th - and is Phoebe's Birthday Buddy!! Oh my, where did the time go??

 

Calvin is 14 also - on the 25th. Such a great kid - wish we could see him more often.

 

Ida wanted a day of her own, so she came on the 12th - and she will be 10!!

 

Deacon - the "baby" of the family - will be 5. Not a baby anymore!!

 

And October means we remember the short but meaningful life of Jonah Adam Terrill - 11 days of life, a lifetime of memories.

I have been reading a lot - not sure when I will blog about it though!!

Latest read

Found this on the shelf at the Friends of the Monrovia Library bookstore - same spot where I have found some other faves.  This started out better than it ended, but it was still a good read.

There are parallels to Herman Melville's Moby Dick - in fact, I surmise that the story was constructed as "the true story of Moby Dick." It is a conceit that works sometimes - and not other times.

I am thinking that some authors just don't know how to end a book. This ending drags on - a little too long.