The weekend in review

Maybe the main achievement this weekend was my initial foray into artisan breadmaking with my new stone and pizza peel!!

I'm not a pro yet - but we served one loaf at dinner at H and D's today and the reception was positive.

Certain fans were pleased with the game today.

And Sister Hahn - who served in Monrovia on her mission came by to visit.

Eve thought she'd try her hand at photography. Not bad. (the photography that is!!)

It was quite chilly Saturday night so Dad built a fire - and then said, "Why don't we invite Dawn and the kids over for S'mores?"

Somebody enjoyed them!!

Wednesday night Harry brought the kids over while Dawn was at work - and they discovered some games on my computer - mostly mazes and memory - but they were pretty involved.

Only 8 more days of school!!

Celebrating D-day - 2009

This caught my eye in the LA Times today. I found it quite evocative.

And then I wondered why there was no mention of D-Day on the front page? Especially since President Obama is over there for the event! And then I thought about how you see nothing even in any section anymore on November 22nd. And the Oklahoma City bombing wasn't noted either. There was something about Columbine towards the end of Section one this year. And Jonestown gets a nod every few years, but that is all.

Are there so many catastrophic events that we can't note their anniversaries? Do people just not care? What about the editors and columnists?

I for one believe it is instructive to remember certain events - if for no other reason than to keep them in the collective consciousness so they won't be repeated - hopefully anyway.

I find it disturbing that most of my students only know about Pearl Harbor if they've seen the movie - and as the years go by, fewer and fewer of them have seen the movie. Same with Titanic. (Although since the last survivor died this year, there was a mention - but not on the anniversary.)

"Living history" - that is, keeping memories alive for those who weren't there when it happened - or were very young when it happened - seems like a good way to teach kids.

Thank goodness I subscribe to edHelper - they always have a reading comprehension exercise for every anniversary of events and people in history - past and present - and so I try to teach my students about people and events that can enrich their understanding of history and the country they call home.

If one more student answers my query, "Who knows about the Civil Rights Movement?" with the answer, "That's when Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves right?" I just might stamp my foot and have a tantrum!!

Like saying goodbye to an old friend!

I finished the Hornblower series - all 11 novels!! But now I'm sad to not have another one to read!!

The novels were originally written out of order - after they became popular - I think because of the 1951 movie - they started combining them into trilogies and promoting them in chronological order.

His last novel, Beat to Quarters, actually fills in a gap between the first two. And the last one he wrote was unfinished, but the edition includes his notes for finishing the story. Too bad he didn't get to finish it - it sounded pretty flamboyant!

Also, there are two short stories that go with the Hornblower series - one not too interesting - but the other is called "The Final Encounter" and it relates the second Bonaparte - son of Napoleon - coming to see Hornblower and getting assistance to return to France! It's a nice little denouement, finding out how Hornblower is living out his years as a country squire.

(Maybe I just love that he ends up with Lady Barbara!!)

I was sorry to see the movies end, excited to read them, envisioning them filling long hours with swashbuckling adventure - and sad beyond words to see the books end.

Marcie brought be a George Eliot trilogy - Adam Bede, The Mill and the Floss and Silas Marner - that I will tackle next. It won't be Hornblower - but I hope it's compelling!

My how times have changed!

This is a photo of my mom at a young age, but boys used to be dressed the same way until a certain age. Recently in the lunchroom at school, a teacher was insisting that the dressing of boys in dresses had never been so.

A few of us were arguing vociferously, and she was not to be persuaded. Then I found this passage in Lord Hornblower, and boy, did I feel smart!!

"My beloved husband, the household here at Smallbridge is so much agog with all this news that our most important event bade fair to pass unnoticed. I refer to the breeching of Richard Arthur. He is in smallclothes now, and his petticoats are put away for ever. He is young for such a transformation, and Ramsbottom melted into tears at the passing of her baby; but if you could see him I think you would agree that he looks vastly well in his new clothes, at least until he can escape from supervision and induldge himself in his favourite recreation of digging holes in the ground in the shrubbery."

I find the terms "breeching" and "smallclothes" quite intriguing - maybe I will do some research.

Oh, the drama!

I miss the drama - not the drama of teen angst, but the drama of MHS musicals.

How come the blond Terrill women often wore raven wigs??

(Noah seems to have come by his current hairdo quite honestly!!)

The King and I, May 2000

My new love!!

Friday night Harry took his Sunday School class to the temple. I had a fairly vigorous p/t session. Then I hit Baja Fresh for a solitary dinner - I ate and read - kind of like - well, kind of like nothing I usually do - how often do I eat out alone?? But I enjoyed myself anyway!

I'm so in love with the new library, that I checked out the remainder of the HH books instead of buying them. This volume contains Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line and Flying Colours. This last one was especially compelling reading. I was talking out loud - at home anyway - and gesticulating and cheering and guessing what was going to happen!! Let me give you a taste, well, this isn't a taste of the action or the plot, but one of the things I'm loving about the novels is the character development.

"Those days on the Loire were pleasant, and every day was more pleasant than the one preceding. For Hornblower there was not merely the passive pleasure of a fortnight's picnic, but there was the far more active one of comradelines of it all. During his ten years as a captain his natural shyness had reinforced the restrictions surrounding his position, and had driven him more and more in upon himself until he had grown unconscious of his aching need for human companionship." (This is when Hornblower, Bush and Brown have escaped from the clutches of Napoleon's henchmen - they steal a boat and escape down the river, with the help of a displaced nobleman and his daughter-in-law.)


Of course I smiled at this one,

"There was the pageantry of the Loire - Gien with is chateau-fortress high on its terraces, and Sully with its vast rounded bastions, and Chateau-Neuf-sur-Loire, and Jargeau. Then for miles along the river they were in sight of the gaunt square towers of the cathedral of Orelans - Orleans was one of the few towns with an extensive river front, past which they had to drift unobtrusively and with special care at its diffiuclt bridges. Orleans was hardly out of sight before they reached Beaugency with its interminable bridge of countless arches and it's strange square tower."

Maybe you have to be a Terrill - or at least have read The Cat and the Devil by James Joyce.

Now I'm at the point where Horatio is in Russia with the Czar Alexander - but it is so gripping that I have a hard time putting it down!

Kyle Mc at work says he's not enjoying the dvd's as much as he enjoyed the novels - he said he read them in college - and what he doesn't like is that the character development in the movies is not the same as in the books. Since I did it the other way around, saw the films, then read the books, I have just found myself fitting the movie images to the words.

Either way I'm in hog heaven!!

P.S. Dad and I watched the 1951 Hornblower movie with Gregory Peck - we thought it might be stilted and cheesy - but it wasn't. It had combined details from 4 or 5 of the novels and just plugged them in - and it worked.

At least they will still feed me when I'm 64!!

And feed me they did - Greg did tri-tip, Dad cooked potatoes and veggies and Bill made the gravy. Of course Dawn did the Mimi Cake honors - and it was a good one - chocolate with white chocolate mint filling - yum (topped with quartered York Peppermint Patties - Dawn sure knows how to tempt the palate!) Grandma Terrill was not feeling well, so stayed home, but Susanne brought a fruit salad.

Only in our tiny little house would you find that someone ran out of room in the kitchen, so they put the fruit bowl in the bathroom!

Dawn and Susanne supervised the kidlettes at the kitchen table - and then enjoyed the peace and quiet when the all ran out to play!

I can always count on a hug from Eve!

Dad outdid himself with the wrap job - he really has a knack!! Click on it to see what it says!!
(It's certainly "green!")

Inside was a lovely pitcher and bowl - vintage too.

Eliza, Hannah and Bonny gave me a baking stone - it can be for pizza but you can bet that I'll be using it for bread!! I'm anxious to try it out! Also came with an "Epicurean Peel!" Send on the recipes, folks!

I had to hustle to blow out my candles - Baby Harry almost beat me to it!

Noah, explaining the fine points of vintage action figures to Baby Harry!

Did some "group shots" of the attendees!

Porter is into not having his picture taken!

Dad got little Harry a Boston fleece at the LA Marathon Expo Saturday. (They are both running it on Monday - hope they take pics of each other - Dawn and I are waiting it out at home for this one!!)

Greg - the honorary Terrill!! It wouldn't be Sunday dinner without Greg!

Eve's latest fave is Mouse Tales - and she will read it to anyone who will listen! (I personally love Mouse Tales myself!)

Angela tackled the wooden puzzle - took some time, but she did it! (After her dad gave up!)

The Clayton Girls!!

Bill with Angela and Alyssa (who enjoyed Dad's iPhone and its games!)

Once again I garnered an impressive array of cards!!

It was a great day - enjoyed a lengthy chat with Hannah too - thanks everyone for assuring me that you will "still need me when I'm 64!!"

Let's see if I got this right!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH7v6wordKs

Thought I'd see if I could post this - for your listening pleasure - it will only work this year, after all!

Birthday Greetings from my good friend Joy!!

Everyone has seen this shot countless times. But I thought you'd enjoy it in a different setting.


Joy sent me this card - it was in a box with a lovely gift - a watercolor by her - and some stationery featuring the watercolor on the front of the note cards - made by her daughter-in-law.

I had not quite thought of being 64 - hopefully Dad will still "need me" and "feed me" now that I'm indeed 64!!

Sounds ancient doesn't it??

Thanks Joy - always one to send a special gift on my birthday - and all I do year after year is send her a diary for New Year's!!

But it's always worked for us!

Some late night thoughts

(This photo has little to do with the post - except it does include several close relatives of mine!!)

I should just go to bed!! But I seem to get a second wind around 10 p.m. - and I don't sleep all that well with my knees bothering me, so I think, "Well, I'll blog a bit - that might make me tired!1"

(I laze around on the couch with ice on my knees for most of the time after I get off work - probably another reason why I'm not so sleepy at night - I do a lot of "dozing!")

I am giving the lesson on unity from Elder Eyring's talk last October, and so I have been thinking a lot about unity. I was especially impressed reading the lines about how we can always find common ground if we try hard enough. Then in the LA Times this morning, I read about President Obama's speech at Notre Dame, and of course, he focused on the same theme - finding common ground.

I was thinking that is pretty good advice for all of us - looking for similarities and not differences. It's a lot like looking for the good before you mention the bad. Or, just as Elder Eyring said, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all.")

My brother Bobby and his wife June once lived in the Monrovia Ward after we had been split into the Monrovia East Ward. After a bit, someone said, "Oh, I thought June was your sister, I didn't see any resemblance to your brother." And sometimes I've been known to say about a relative or two that if they weren't a relative, I probably wouldn't even be acquainted with them!!

And that seems a shame - a shared heritage and I don't feel a connection!! Fortunately I have matured and find myself looking for ways to connect with people. And finding that we really can find common ground if we look for it - we don't even have to look hard, we just have to look!

The Qualities of a Good Leader

(This is me with my current Stake Relief Society Presidency members - since I always like a post with a photo!)

I have actually gotten better at delegating. Years ago, I never delegated. I was a counselor to Polly Bourgeous, and she rightly taught me that I should involve others as we planned and prepared for Ward Relief Society activities.

We were having a Visiting Teaching Conference, and we were making these magnets for favors. Polly suggested several sisters who often volunteered to make things at home since they couldn't get out much. So I assembled little kits to make 10 or so each and took them around to these sisters. I gave them 3 weeks notice - and they all said they were happy to help.

The day before the conference, all but one sister had not made any - and didn't think they could!! So I was literally up all night doing a job that I could have spread out over 3 weeks. I was truly annoyed - and not very kind in my thoughts!

I was a counselor in a Relief Society Presidency once again - Connie Allsop was a champion delegator - you would have thought I would have grasped the concept. Connie gave me assignments that were sometimes tough ones. She just expected me to do them - and I did - and grew and was blessed and had some wonderful experiences. But didn't seem to learn the underlying lesson!

However, I continued to eschew delegating myself. I can do it better, faster and more reliably myself I thought. This was my mantra for many years. Even when I was working, Harry was the bishop and I was Young Women President, I still did most of the stuff myself. I was often without a complete presidency. Over the 4 years I served, I often had women in my presidency who could serve, but only in limited way. Others who served with me could be counted on to help, but sometimes I just did it myself anyway - often using the excuse that I'd left it until the last minute and it would be rude to ask someone so late like that. (One notable exception was Kacy - I turned a New Beginnings over to her - or maybe it was a Young Women in Excellence - but I did nothing on that one, she just took the ball and ran with it - and it was a great program. But then she moved!!)

I then served as a Relief Society President - and found that I simply had to delegate. And I had great counselors - Dawn was one - who were talented and almost insisted on doing more than I thought they had to. I started getting more comfortable with having others play a bigger role than I had previously allowed. (And it's really the job of a good president to train others, so I think I was finally figuring out how to do it.)

Later as a Stake Relief Society President, I found that I had these wonderful counselors and secretary - and I was going to Virginia to help when Theo was born. It was 2 weeks before the Women's Conference - and they took care of everything! The next year I had to work at the temple the night before the conference - and they set up without me and it was great!! I was finally sold on delegating.

But recently, I have had a disappointing experience with delegating. I will give no particulars, because it could get back to the some people, but I really felt like I should have done it myself.

I also have been reflecting on how hard it is to have others doing for me at home while I've been laid up - I have truly had to not let it bother me when things weren't done the way I am used to having them done.

But when I reflected some more, I saw that there were two important lessons to learn from all this: if you don't let others serve you, how will they know the joy of service? Someone has to be served!

And there really is more than one right way to do everything!

Robert W. Clayton: 11/7/16 - 5/12/2000

This is how some of you remember my dad,

and maybe some of you remember his like this.

I remember him like this.

Finally, many of your memories probably look like this.


However you remember him, remember that he was the best dad ever - not perfect, but trying to do the job the best way he knew how!!

Recipe for a Happy Mother's Day

Get the men together to fix and clean up the meal. (Even is one of them insists on clowning for the photo op - guess who???)

Let the moms sit and take it easy!

Have plenty of dessert for the kids to choose from!

Thanks one and all for a fun day! (Tasty too!)

Just a little visual check for similarities:

Miss Ida today - as in now, not years past:


Doesn't this shot below of Eliza remind you of Ida? It does to me. Just noting.

Learning to take it easy

Well, looks like I've always known how to take it easy!! And the last 3 weeks have been instructive indeed as I have really done very little that was strenuous. I confess that in the days leading up to my surgery, I did run around shopping, doing my visiting teaching, sewing aprons and doing laundry and odd jobs, but since then, I've really let others "do the walking" if you follow my drift.

But "the party's over" and "it's time to call it a day" as they say in the song. I do feel very rested - and part of the requirements for my going back to work is that I have a slot of time in the middle of the day to put my feet up, ice my knees and rest. The key will be to see if my ankles stay thin!

It has not been hard to tell myself to let something go - hope I remember that lesson. I went to my classroom today to enter my grades into the computer. I was tempted to sit there and check my email and get that cleaned up - but I decided the emails have been there awhile already - what's a few more days? (My subs have done a good job and the room looked great. I suspect I will be needing to spend time getting some kids back on track - but I can sit and do that!)

I have caught up on correspondence, bill paying and sorting and filing - things you can do sitting down. And I've gone through a lot of books I said I wanted to get read. I've enjoyed visiting on the phone with Leslie and Alice - and enjoyed spending a weekend with Mom, Donna and Mary. And I even joined Twitter - ostensibly to follow Hannah and Robbie on their trip - but I don't quite "get" Twitter, so I'm not sure how much I will do with it.

Dad and I have enjoyed playing "This is how it will be when we retire" - except I suspect retirement will be much busier!

Let's see what I post next Monday night!!

Family Furniture Follies??

Dad - and others in the family - are fond of poking fun at some of my furniture purchases. Starting with the cedar chest I bought on LayAway at the then antique store on Foothill where Dr. Demotor is now - and that one is most remembered for the way I picked it up in the van - and knocked over a post or something when I went forward too far - but I know that Phoebe still enjoys it - and finds it useful for storage!! - to my latest purchase at Marshall's yesterday, but I want to defend my choices!

Dad and others might not even notice these items, but I usually have to have them carry then into the house for me. Over the years I've bought a number of antiques - mostly from Kaleidescope - that I actually have a fondness for still - and I believe they are still functional. The above blanket chest - which was scoffed at, I know - holds my table cloths - and in close proximity to the tables in our house too!! How much more functional can you get?

We hauled this home from Oregon last year - I got a good deal on it at the Joann's in Lake Oswego - and Dad was muttering the whole time he loaded it into the truck. But as you can see, it is very functional in my sewing/computer/laundry room. It's best feature is that it folds down, so it doesn't always take up a lot of space - except when you need a lot of space!

I should have spread out a pattern and some fabric on it - that is when it is most useful - and the height is perfect - I can sit and work to save my knees and there is no strain on my back!

So Dad said little when I had him carry this footstool in from the trunk of my car - I am tired of always having to rig something up on the couches in the house so that I can sit and elevate my legs - after I convince him that we do need a classy ottoman, we can get something that costs more - because I'm pretty sure a classy ottoman won't be cheap - until then, this set up is portable and very useful - albeit a little tacky looking. It can be hidden too! (I actually want one of those that doubles as storage - like I said, it's all part of a plan.)

I wonder if I will ever convince him that we could use a coffee table??

Signs to live by

These signs are posted all around the new library. Seems fitting for spring and new growth.

Which the new library certainly represents.

After spending the last 2 or 3 weeks reading, reading, reading, I am looking forward to enjoying the new library this summer - browsing around especially - finding new discoveries.

I am just ready to get back out in the world.

We'll see what the doc orders on Wednesday.

Never thought I'd see the day when I got tired of resting and taking it easy!

I have far too much time on my hands!!

I need to get off the couch and back into my classroom - as soon as the doctor releases me back to work that is - because I have run out of books to read, movies to watch, people to talk to on the phone or in person - and I'm left with blogging! (In all fairness, I was at the computer paying bills - trying to be useful!!)

It is one of my niece's birthday today, so I was searching for an old photo of her - and came across this shot of Sam and Ara in 1998. I believe it was at the Terrill's Annual Ides of March Party.

I've always liked this shot - not sure why - just a couple of cute kids loving the piano. Ara plays pretty well now - don't know about Sam!

We loved having the Faulconer's in our ward - we still miss them.

"Play it again Sam!"