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.

Some important dates in August:

August 7th is Grandpa Stevens' birthday.  Loved that man - others say he was "cold" but I always found him warm and loving.

 

Can you believe it? August 14th 2018 means 20 years for these two!!

 

August 17th was 78 years for my mom and dad! I think it was a Happy Anniversary in Heaven!! 

 

 August 7th is also Hannah K's birthday.  Alice and I named our babies the same - without consulting each other!

 

Helen and Pop - 80 years on August 19th!

 

And of course, Lyn and David - born 19years apart on the 19th!

Playing catch up!

I do not blog very assiduously.  In fact, I'm not even sure anyone reads this blog.

But I like to note the books I've read and the movies I've seen in case someone is looking for ideas.  I know I like ideas!

So I'm just going to list all the movies and books I've not noted for the last while. And maybe you will find something you might like! (If you are reading this that is!)

Gilead, Home, and Lila - a trilogy by Marilynne Robinson - wonderful - all of them - beautifully written too. Top of the list for sure!

Accident of Birth by Jeffrey Archer - a book group pick - I would never have even found it by myself.  Requires a lot of "willing suspension" but would make a good airplane read!

The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes - an entertaining read but the back and forth between the past and present got tedious for me. The story of the past could have stood alone.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate - another book group pick I thought I wouldn't like - but it was surprisingly gripping and engaging.  Based on true stories - which gives it weight - about illicit adoptions beginning in the 20's in Tennessee.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick.  This was entertaining but pretty formulaic.  Don't even remember why or how I came to choose it! 

Ahmet by Fiona Mozley - this is a keeper! Beautifully written and engaging and horrifying. You feel like you are in medieval times - but you're not!

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Compelling - superbly written - absolutely horrifying at times! I chose it because the woman who directed Leave No Trace had done the movie version of this book.  And I'm pretty sure I don't want to see the movie.  But it's a wonderfully crafted novel.

The Things We Carried by Tim O'Brien - Eliza suggested this - and I suggest it to all of you! It's a novel - but full of truth. About Vietnam. Maybe you had to live through those years. But my granddaughter's 11th grade English class has to read it!

Doctors by Erich Segal - the book group pic for September - almost 700 pages - but it was a good read. A little predictable and the ending required more "willing suspension of disbelief" than I could muster, but I'm not sorry I took the time to read it.

While traveling this summer, our East Coast flight had free movies - so I indulged:

Good bye Christopher Robin - loved it!

Collateral Beauty - a wonderful film - how come I never heard of it??

One Fine Day - so much fun! I missed it in the 90s!

Gifted - well-done - and thought-provoking. 

Hopefully I can stay abreast now!!

I am so behind!!

Happy Birthday Hannah!! Hannah has the distinction of being the only Terrill baby who was not late!  In fact, she was two days early.  Most folks don't think much of that, but it was a washday miracle in our household!!

My friend called me the day before she was born - said they were leaving on vacation and to call her in Utah if the baby came.  I blithely told her I'd still be pregnant when she got back! Since the previous 4 kids had been 11, 11, 11, and 13 days late, I added ten days to the due date - giving a September date to everyone. So when she came on August 20th, people were pretty sure I didn't know how to count - especially since Hannah was also the biggest baby I'd had - 9 lbs. 3 oz.

Hannah is her own person - I'd never had a climber - and here was a climber.  She'd take either kind of binky. She dropped off to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.  In spite of Dr. Brown splints and casts on both legs for club feet, she crawled and walked with ease. And when she got older, she got tired of waiting for me.  Once when she had a science project to work on, she said, "Can I use anything I can find in the garage?" rather than wait for me to take her to Michael's or Home Depot! She was and continues to be very resourceful.

We are happy to have Hannah in our family - I could write a book!

Maybe I should!