Where's the clue??

Copies of these two photos hang on the wall in the hallway. We took all the photos down when the floor guys came - and then rehung them. As we were putting them back up, Dad commented,

"I think these two photos were taken on the same day." Since it looked like it was Phoebe's birthday that was being celebrated, and since there were 10 candles on the cake,
and since we knew that the second photo had been taken at church for a directory or something, we Googled to see if October 11th had been a Sunday in 1987.


And indeed it had been a Sunday!! (Don't you love solving mysteries - or even just finding bits of trivia here and there!?)

I mostly just thought it was kind of remarkable that no one had ever pointed that out before.

Maybe you can't go home again, but you can look at an old photo and take a trip down Memory Lane!

I honestly sometimes just pull down a box of photos and browse through them. Sometimes nothing comes up of any interest. Other times a whole train of thought emerges.

This rather poor-quality photo is dated May 1982. That would be Leslie walking with Bonny and Phoebe - and Harry is in front. I say it would be Leslie, because I'm probably taking the picture - and I'm not that tall or that long-legged.

They are walking towards the beach house in Oxnard. I'm not sure why we were there in May - maybe for Memorial Day - or maybe just some random weekend. Maybe Leslie would be just back from her mission? Maybe the date on the back is wrong?

The possibilities are endless.

What I do know for sure is that we went up there many times after we moved down here. And my kids always loved being with their Aunt Leslie. And it was always fun to get away - even to Oxnard!

Believe it or not!

According to the notation on the back, this is a photo of my dad, taken in the summer of 1934. After visiting with my Uncle Byron on Sunday, he commented that after his mother's death in 1934, Ted went to Salt Lake for the summer, and Dad went to Logan, Utah. My mom thinks it was Roy, Utah.

Byron was supposed to go to Springville but refused. So he spent the summer living with Uncle Paul - who was 20 years old at the time.

Up close, this doesn't look like my dad to me - but someone said it was! Obviously he spent the summer working on a farm!

Dad told lots of stories about living on the farm and working - too bad I didn't take notes!!

Lipstick!

I was putting on lipstick this morning and thought about how the whole issue of lipstick has changed and evolved. When I was girl, being allowed to wear lipstick was a right of passage into womanhood! Now I'm not sure how women really feel about lipstick. I know that I put it on in the morning - and that's it - however long it lasts is it for me.

Mary Stevens - circa 1938 - not sure if the lipstick and blush are real or "painted on!"

I know women who truly will not be seen without it. In fact tonight, when we were at a restaurant for our "Girls of '45" get together, I asked the waiter to take our picture - and Sandee wouldn't hear of it until she put on fresh lipstick!!

I remember a friend once saying that if she walked into the room naked, her husband might not even notice - but if she didn't have lipstick on, he would!

I also remember watching older girls put on lipstick in the restrooms at school - many of them used some amazing techniques that I was sure I would never be able to master. Fortunately, I have lived long without the skills, and it seems to have not made a difference.

I know that the magazine ads make lipstick look like it's still pretty essential. And it's certainly for sale everywhere. But most of the women I'm around seem to mostly use Chapstick and lip gloss - many times a day.

Maybe I'm just genetically predisposed to have self-moistening lips, but my lips don't get dry - and they survive nicely with my once a morning contribution of Carmex and Coty.

And I've never worried much about being trendy about make-up.

But I do feel naked without mascara!

A name from the past - with a photo to go along with it!

You have all probably heard me talk about my experience as a 14 year old babysitting for a recently widowed young mother of 8 children under 7 - because there was a set of twins. She moved into our ward from Idaho, where her husband had been killed in a farming accident.

It was difficult to babysit for her because there were so many children and the house was very chaotic, and so no one wanted to do it. My mother pretty much made me do it - and made me tell her she couldn't pay me because I needed service hours!! (She was taking classes to upgrade her nursing degree so that she could be a school nurse, so she needed babysitters two nights a week.)

I am so glad my mother made me have this experience. It taught me many things - chiefly that "when we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God." But I also have used this experience over the years to remind myself that difficult service is often the most rewarding service of all. And I am grateful to have that understanding.

I came across this photo in a box of picture's at my mom's house - and I reflected on how sweet those children truly were. Their living situation was very difficult - but they were not. And there's a great lesson to be learned there.

Also, Sister Harris would visit with me when she got home - while we waited for my dad to pick me up - and she treated me not like a peer, but like what I had to say was really important to her. I came to feel valued by her, not just for babysitting, but for who I was. There's also a great lesson to be learned there.

Finally, looking at the photo took me back in time to a place where I might have acted very differently. And if I had acted very differently, maybe I would feel badly about that now. Another great lesson!

Long ago and far away!!

I came across this photo recently, and it brought back a flood of memories.

It's Girls' Camp 1975 in Centerville, Utah. Dale Lords was our ward Young Women President - and she asked for me to be the Camp Director.

It was an interesting experience - one I didn't totally enjoy - except for my association with the leaders there. The girls were less than friendly - they short-sheeted my bed, put Saran Wrap over the toilet bowls, and talked all night long!! Of course, as soon as one of them didn't feel well, it was a plaintive, "Sister Terrill?"

But I remember taking the 5 mile hike - and Dale and I ended up at the tail end. And Dale kept me laughing the whole way. "I'm sure this is the 3rd time we've circled this pine tree. I know we've gone 10 miles already!" A woman after my own heart!!

A few months later, she and her husband and family moved to Oregon, I believe. We soon got word that Dale had been killed in a tragic auto accident. There had been other deaths by auto accidents in the Centerville Ward we lived in - and it was a pretty new experience for me to lose people so suddenly and unexpectedly.

Seeing this photo was like a little frozen moment in time - one that won't come back.

Treasure the here and now.

"At the hop!"

Here I am in all my 9th grade glory - "At the Hop" was probably on the turntable too!

The dress was seafoam green taffeta. And my partner was Bobby McCann. And don't you love that we had our dances in a classroom??!!

I attended "new" schools for junior high and high school - so gyms and auditoriums weren't finished at first. Once I commented to Harry that the schools I went to look so different now. "Well, the trees are 40+ years older. That should make a difference!" was his reply.

Is it a sign of aging that I love to look at old school photos??

"Senior" Supper

There's a bit of irony here in noting a photo of me and my good friend and old college roommate Joy - at our "Senior" Supper in January of 1963.

They may not even have Senior Supper's anymore - especially in the cafeteria!!

The beginnings of sisterhood in my life - but not the familial kind

This is a photo from Horne Hall, December 1963. We all got up at 5:00 a.m. to exchange gifts before we headed home for the holidays. My roomies in order: Joy, Judy, Marlene, me, Pat, and Janet.

I was thinking about the gifts that Pat gave each of us. I certainly don't remember what I gave people on that occasion, but I have never forgotten how Pat had gotten little, tiny glass figurines that represented each one of us - and then she wrote a poem about each one of us. I don't have the figurine anymore - but I think maybe the poem is somewhere in my "stuff." But I remember the first line,

"Here's Barb, with her chic new "double-bubble,"

Marlene wore her hair in a "double-bubble" which means she teased the bottom into a bubble. Then she teased the top into another bubble on top of it. It was indeed chic. And for someone who'd spent the last several years looking like Mary Martin in Peter Pan, it was quite a change for me to adopt the hair style.

Pat was a wonderful roommate - she was a couple of years older than us - she was a junior in fact - and she was hard-working and serious and so kind and helpful. And she washed her hair with Tide. (I tried it a couple of times, but it was pretty harsh, so I gave it up.) And she is the reason I was an English major.

Pat: What is your major?
Me: I don't know, maybe math?
Pat: Math is hard.
Me: Maybe French?
Pat: Language majors take more time.
Me: Maybe English?
Pat: Good choice.

As I think about the role of sisterhood in the lives of LDS women, I realize that I came to love other women the way I loved my sisters as I lived with these girls for two years at BYU. I was really learning about the sisterhood that is Relief Society, but I didn't know that then. And I'm not sure that the church or BYU even realized the role this played in shaping our future interactions in the church.

Women can be each other's best friends - or worst enemies. And Relief Society provides a divine forum for learning to become one another's best friends.

I will always be grateful for those college years of living, loving, and learning to grow together as women. It was a good training ground!

I felt that our Women's Conference today was a beautiful testimony of growing and learning together as women of God. And it all started way back when!!

Thinking about "Little Women"

We went to Centre Stage Friday night and saw their performance of Little Women. I had seen it at the Pantages a few years ago, and their performance was really just as good - and we had better seats!!


When Annika was born, Ara came to me and said, "Grandma, now we are our own Little Women."


When Harry and I went to Boston one year for the marathon, we went to Concord and visited Orchard House - Louisa May Alcott's home. It was everything I expected it to be. In fact, I kept waiting for Jo to come bounding down the stairs!



And I often think of my 4 lovely daughters as a great group of Little Women.


(I have 5 sisters, so we don't exactly fit the mold, but we like to think that we are a group of Little Women too!!)

So when I came across this photo of the wonderful Burdick sisters, from Eliza's wedding reception, I thought that they certainly qualify as a bona fide Little Women group!!

(And they always look so fashionable and well put together!! They probably don't scorch their party dresses and have to carry one soiled glove all scrunched up!!)

(And that's Desirae McKendrick Badger in the middle!!)

Do we sense a theme here?? I have several aprons to sew by next Saturday - I think I will watch Little Women while I sew!!

"The Way We Were"

All this talk about decades makes me realize that I don't really think in decades. People talk about clothes and music and hairdos and movies and TV shows and frankly, it all kind of blurs for me. I navigate decades the way I navigate period - with landmarks.

For me, clothing is a landmark, not a description of how people dressed. For example, I found this old, rather bad photo in a box of other photos. It has no real markers as to where it was taken. Dad said, "Well, those were my first glasses. That's why they are so big and shiny. And that would be Centerville."

And the salmon-colored dress is one I made at Margaret's School of Custom Dressmaking - also in Centerville. I loved that dress. I loved making it. I loved wearing it. I loved how it made me feel. And I have no idea what I did with it when it quit fitting me - or when I quit wearing it. I was pretty thin until I got pregnant with Eliza. But all my memories of wearing this dress are from Centerville.

And that would be the 70's.

And I usually didn't wear it with this jacket. I had made a lovely floral quilted vest that I usually wore with it. And I don't know what happened to that vest either. What I do know is that I loved how that vest looked so much that I keep trying out wearing vests. Even though they really don't "work" for me anymore.

All this info from one rather bad photo.

The power of the visual!

Food for thought

The photo has little to do with the post - I just like to use photos I haven't used before. This is Christmas time - Eliza could probably tell you the year!!

And since it's a shot of her before her violin recital, it may have something to do with the post.

I googled "Karen Lamb" after Anna May quoted her in the daily "Need to Know," and apparently she dispenses quotes!!

No matter - I like what she said - if indeed she's a woman - she could be a corporation!!

"A year from now you may wish you had started today."

Pretty compelling thought, yes?

"Turn around and you're a young wife . . ."

I come across random photos from the Young Women days. I get very nostalgic. Maybe it's just me, but I remember those years as a wonderful time.

Especially on the heels of having seen some of these same young women - now wives and mothers and returned missionaries - and I hope the work we did with them helped them become the wonderful women they are today.

I know the whereabouts of all of them except Crystal.

A little something to live by:

I continue with my random photo syndrome - but when I found this photo - of our ever-insightful Calvin in August of 2007 - I also found this quote I'd copied down.

"Remember, you're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
Christopher Robin

Happy Belated Greetings to Richard!!

I don't think I am ever on time wishing Richard a happy birthday!! But then, when your birthday is on a holiday, I guess that is what happens. This is a photo of how the family looked when Richard was the "baby" of the crew. I remember his birth. I remember sitting out on the curb waiting for Dad to come home and tell us about the new baby!!

This is the one and only time I ever went fishing - we went with Richard and Julie - must be '75 or so.

Ah, the famous beach shots from Oxnard!!

This was Dad's funeral in 2000.

And this is the shop - a rite of passage for Clayton males!! (I actually worked there too at times - doing filing, but I didn't get a swell apron!!)

And this is Richard's baby picture. Mom says he was the best baby she had - easygoing and didn't fuss a lot.

Even though the greetings are tardy, they are nonetheless sincere - hope it was a great day - and that the year ahead is the best!!

Random memories

This photo is from April of 1973. We had driven from Provo to Arizona for Charlie and Jeanette's wedding. Then on to California for the reception.

We stopped in South Pasadena to visit the Linebacks - Kay and I went to Grenoble together and taught together at BYU.

And then a few years later, there we were practically neighbors - how delightful.

And then Steve joined the Navy as a chaplain and they've been traveling over the world ever since!!

Just a random memory triggered when I found this photo at the bottom of a box!!

New Year's Resolutions

Karl is here staying with us - amid all the chaos - doesn't seem to bother him though. In fact, he's pretty good with the kidlettes - he must be vying for favorite uncle status!! Anyway, he asked me if I'd made any New Year's resolutions. I told him I pretty much make resolutions every day - and then the next day need to make them over again.

Browsing through my photos, I came across this one-year old photo of Ara - who will be 13 years old next month!! This idea staggered me for a moment. While we were bowling today, the topic of being a teenager came up - well, it came up when Eve brought it up - she said, "I'll be a teenager soon. Well, in a few years."

I so vividly remember awaiting Ara's birth, watching her grow, watching the bevy of beautiful grandkids grow too.

Maybe I will get more serious about some resolutions so that I can thoroughly enjoy the wonderful blessing that is grandchildren.

35 years ago

I was just thinking how much I love the SoCal winter experience. I lived in snow country for 17 years - and thought I didn't mind it. But when we came back here in '79, one winter passed and I realized I didn't miss the snow and cold at all.

Bonny and Harry at the Rock House - winter 1974.

I enjoy pictures of folks enjoying the snow - more than I enjoy snow!

42 years ago!!

42 years ago we came home from our honeymoon - and visited both of our families. When we got to GH, someone, Leslie or Donna I think, ran out of the house shouting, "There are millions of presents under the tree - and they are all for YOU!!!

You need to understand a couple of things. First, a flocked tree was an absolute luxury that our family had never indulged in. And a flocked tree with "themed" decor was also unheard of in our household. So my siblings were duly impressed when the tree from the reception came to the house for its last hurrah.

And secondly, gifts weren't usually under the tree. On Christmas Eve, you picked a spot and one of Dad's work socks. And you pinned said sock, with your name pinned to it also, on the chair or section of the couch you were claiming. When Santa came, he deposited gifts on your spot - and then covered them with a piece of tissue paper. Apparently that tradition did not last much past my childhood - but I remember it well. And many years later, when I was up late on Christmas Eve, wrapping what seemed like far too many gifts, I was thinking that I wished we had started the tissue paper tradition ourselves!!

Just a little day-after-Christmas memory for your perusal!!

This is to let all of you out there know that we do get inclement weather now and again. It blew like crazy yesterday. Some places it was up to 80 mph. This shot is taken in Sierra Madre.

And also to let you know that we have some mighty fierce sunsets. It can be glorious driving west on Hillcrest.

And keeping with the time-honored Terrill tradition of getting the tree up at the last possible moment - ta da - it's up and ready for festivities!!

I shopped for it, picked it out myself, got Harry F. to deliver it in his truck - and did a pretty good job. Who needs Home Depot?? (Not us apparently - they were fresh out when Dad went on Saturday. So I ended up contributing to the Youth Ministry at IC!!)

O, tannenbaum!!

"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!!"

Is that what a baby says in a Santa sleeper? Not likely. Found this photo in the box of pics Mom gave me to sort through.

It's obviously December of 1970 - we drove down in a little VW bug - had a carbed for Bonny on our laps as we sat in the back seat. Kinda scrunched up we were!!

It was a long trip. But worth it just to see the look of pure joy on Leslie's face when she pulled back the blanket to see Bonny for the first time!

And I remember Dad "walking the floor" with Bonny when she was fussy, assuring us all that he was a pro at this. And indeed he was!

Christmas and good memories do seem to go together!!

Happy Holidays to You!!

If nothing else, this is certainly good for a smile!!

Season's Best to one and all!!

And to all a good night!

Fashionistas Extraordinaire

The setting: Bonny and Bruce's unfinished house.

The year: 1996

The object: Take a fashion foto!!

The result: A couple of cute teens bring a smile to their old mom's face whenever she runs across said fotographias!!

And then there were 5

This is 2002 - when there were 5 grandchildren - and I was thinking, "Wow, we are growing by leaps and bounds."

I'm getting excited for the holiday season and all that it entails - meaning being with everyone!!

And school is out!!

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

Getting into the holiday spirit with the Terrills involves weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays - as well as Christmas and New Year's Eve.

This shot from Eliza and Matt's reception of Esme with Bruce certainly makes me smile!!

Have a great Thursday!

The New Yorker has nothing on us!!

The New Yorker has a back page feature with a cartoon without a caption - and they invite readers to submit captions.

"So, do you think they know what they're doing, Harry?"

What do you suggest??

A lovely Christmas tribute -

A businessman in Maine has been donating 5,000 wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery since 1992. I think it's a really lovely tribute.

No author was mentioned, but the photo had this caption,

"Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.

Know the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.

Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held . . .

Peace, peace and farewell . . ."

Dad and I commented how much we have enjoyed seeing more of our nation's capitol - I find myself feeling more and more like it is part of my heritage too. I think everyone ought to have a chance to feel that way.

Why I love being Granny Babs!

There is just nothing quite like a new little baby!

And our lovely Miss Isla is not disappointing us at all. She is a sweetheart.

Guess I'll go over tomorrow and take some more photos!!

"I sigh that kiss you, for I must own, that I shall miss you when you have grown."

November 22, 1963

If you are a certain age, and someone says, "And what were you doing when you heard that President Kennedy had been shot?" you can tell them exactly where you were,

and what you were doing. And you've never forgotten it!

Oh this busy, busy week!!

It has been a busy week at school and at home, getting ready for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Our district is giving us the whole week off! I'm not sure why, but I'm not questioning my good fortune to not have to use up my "no reason" days to take a trip to see Eliza and Hannah.

Robbie sent this photo - called it "Theo, waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come."

But the days before a trip always seem to be hectic and crazy - and this week is no exception.

But there was a quote on the daily "Need to Know" at work today that I thought I would share with you. It made me stop and think - especially after I'd gone to Marshalls and bought a new Christmas tree skirt!!

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

Someone named Steven Wright said that. And he's got a good point. Especially as I'm trying to pack for 8 days using one carry on bag only!!

Memories

Memories are funny creatures. Odd events trigger them. They are usually different for everyone. And they are often random.

I was thinking that I should post something on my blog. I couldn't think of much that needed saying - at least that needed saying into cyberspace! So I grabbed the top photo in my "to be scanned" box - and this is what I found.

It's obviously in the '80s. We are living on Lime. We have Bonny's bird Hiccup in his/her cage. (Can't remember the gender!!) Damond and Harry look like they just wanted to smear Halloween make up all over the place. Maybe this wasn't even Halloween??

We still have the copper plate that's shown hanging above the fireplace. The jacket Bonny is wearing was one I bought at Bullock's Wilshire when I was in college and paid more than it was worth, probably. It was camel's hair - and I was so impressed at owning it. I actually never wore it much - I kept thinking the perfect occasion for wearing it would come about - and it would be there in my closet, ready to do its job! (Those were the exact reasons it took me so long to actually get rid of it - once it made it to the dress up bin, I figured it was time to let it go!)

And do you notice how many LA Dodger hats are in the family photos from the '80s? (And the basket below the birdcage was around until just last year, when I finally gave it the boot as they say!)

And the pottery pitcher on the mantel - purchased from a U of U Art Show - met its demise in the earthquake of '91. (But I actually still have it in its damaged form - I really don't know why either.)

How's that for funny, odd, different - and random?

Kids Say the Darnedest Things!

I should take pictures of Dylan and George, so you can envision this exchange.

Ray, reluctant new kid in my Study Skills class: "I'm working as fast as I can." (He wasn't!)

Dylan, apparently trying to show solidarity with his new classmate: "You know we have slow brains, Mrs. Terrill, that's why we're in this class."

Mrs. Terrill: "You don't have slow brains. You might have processing disorders, but no one in here has a slow brain. Stop making excuses."

George, random as usual: "Someday we'll all have gills anyway."

(Mrs. Terrill guffaws heartily - much to the amazement of the rest of the class.)

Maybe you had to be there.

The Way I Remember It

I was going through photos in preparation for doing a blog post for my dad's birthday coming up, and came across this photo of Mom and Dad.

It's dated December, 1971, and it really is the way I remember Dad.

Funny how a photo takes you back, not just to the occasion of the photo - this was the family shot we had taken that Christmas - but also to a place in time that is full of events and memories. I can't explain and quantify them all - but they are there!

My Town

I fell and hurt my knees a little over a year ago. And I had surgery a little over 6 months ago. Prior to the fall and the surgery, I had been in the habit of walking to and from school on most days. But I have not been walking to and from school for 9 or 10 months - it just got too painful.

So today I walked to and from school. And I really enjoyed it. I was thinking about how much I love this town. I love the old houses, I love the beautiful flower gardens that seem to abound, I love the many trees that flourish here, and right now I love the brilliant blue skies that weren't even diminished by the fires that hit Diamond Bar today.

(The above photo was taken a couple of years ago, but today looked just like that.)

And as I walked home, I loved browsing in the storefronts on Foothill, stopping in at the wonderful little apron store, and checking out the goods at Country Cottage. I also eyeballed the windows of a new store, Victoria's Cache - which apparently isn't open yet - it's in the spot formerly occupied by the antique store that was mostly junk - and overpriced junk too!

I am teaching a high school student at his home on lower Primrose 2 afternoons a week, so I headed there. By the time I was walking home, it was 5:30 and night was falling fast. But I love that I wasn't a bit nervous about walking up Primrose in the dusk - even if Dad was coming home at the same time and gave me a lift at Greystone!

Hannah posted about loving Monrovia too - and I was thinking that it's truly a little "Gem City of the Foothills!"

I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning's walk!!