A month of Thanksgiving!!

So I was thinking that with a new month,  I would try each day to think of something I am especially thankful for - and maybe find a photo to go along with it.

I certainly have more than 30 blessings, but I'm thinking it will be good to reflect on them all - and maybe ferret out 30 of them to mention specifically.

Blessing number 1 - the gift of motherhood.  I am pregnant with Eliza in this photo.  And I'm pretty sure that is Jamie in the photo with me.  Pregnancy has its ups and downs.  It's mostly a positive state - but nausea and swelling and other discomforts can get tiresome.  Except in retrospect. And then you wonder why you complained because the result was always so worth it.

Being a mother is a wonderful blessing in my life.  The older I get, the more I value my own mother.  The more I see in her the great love and sacrifice she endured for each of her children.  And the older I get, the more I love and value my own children.  What a joy when they call and express their love and appreciation.  What fun it is to see them and play rounds of Golf with them - or Scrabble - or just laugh and joke - especially the esoteric family jokes that no one else understands.  What deep and abiding satisfaction comes as you see your children becoming wonderful parents and adults themselves.

Children - truly an heritage of the Lord!

At the close of Bontober!!

We do have a family full of folks born in October - but only one who celebrates Bontober - with such vim and verve too!!

So let me just say Happy Bontober to you - it's been a good month - hope the memories last all year!!

Airplane Reading

We recently flew to Portland - and lucky for me the newest Grisham had arrived in the mail the day before!!  It was some great airplane reading - and also filled my time when I was babysitting while Sully napped and everyone else went to the kids' games.

Generally speaking I love reading John Grisham novels - some are better than others.  Once there was one I could not plow through - I think it was The Brethren - but generally they do the job for me - that is, they entertain and keep my interest.

This is a really good one - when I told Harry it was not regular Grisham but had a twist that worked well - he said, "Isn't there someone who is wrongly accused?"  Well, there is someone who is wrongly accused, but trust me on this one folks -  the twist works really well.

I won't say anymore - but let me know if you read it!

My cousin Chaz posted on FB about a comment a band teacher had written in his yearbook.  And it piqued my curiosity,  so I pulled out one of my old yearbooks - the first one I came to in fact - and the comments there were amusing, to say the least.

Let me digress here with some info:  I went to LA Unified Schools - back when they were pretty great schools I might add - and one of the routines they followed was to have students start and finish at the semester.  I started school in February when I was almost 5, and graduated in January, when I was almost 18.

That said, students elected to student body offices served just one semester, and then a new election was held every semester.  We changed our classes every semester too - teachers, students, the whole enchilada.  I frankly think the semester system is superior to the year plan - but I'm in a distinct minority.  I remember being appalled when I discovered that our children would have the same teacher - or teachers - for an entire year!  What if you didn't like the teacher - or the class? 

Back to the point I had in mind when I started this - some of the quotes from the old yearbook pages.  The reason I had to explain is because I had been elected Student Body President in June - and would serve for my last semester in high school.  It was a close race - I won by 17 votes!!  And I ran against the captain of the football team!  (Who wrote:  "Barbara, Women have no place in government and furthermore you're a dodo.  Drop dead!  Bad luck!")

I will acknowledge that I was not the first girl elected at my school - there had been one a couple of years before me.  But it was quite a few years after me before another girl got elected.  Hopefully I didn't ruin it for the other girls, and it was just a quirk of fate that no more girls got in the "Oval Office" at  GHHS for several years!

So here are some random selections:

"Barbara, I can't believe that next semester will be so wonderful.  Let's bring our usual vice and corruption into student council politics."

"Barbara, I agree with Anne, keep our politics dirty, it's the only way we'll get anything done!!  Good Luck PRESIDENT!!"

"Barbara, good luck and best wishes in your big job next year."

"Good Luck in the coming semester as president Barbara.  Do as good a job as those before you have done and add your touch."

"Barb, Lots of Luck always espicpally (sp) with your High Office.  Your real neat."

"Barbara, To a real good joe.  I want you to get me a lot of favors next semester when your (sic) Queen Barbara.  Best of luck next year and forever."

"To the future Student Body President.  Best of luck "Bossing" the school."

And this one - which puzzles me - the things we forget I guess:

"Barbara, 

Beautiful Blond.

Famed Student Body Officer.

Fan of Roi Tans

May you always be happy."

Roi Tans???

"Trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God, who is our home. . ."

Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of our sweet baby Jonah.  He only stayed a short time, but his time with us was very significant.

He taught us all many lessons, right from the start.

Let me begin by saying that I was concerned that possibly I wouldn't "bond" instantly with Jonah.  I feared that his condition might be such that we could not hold him or cuddle him or do anything for him.  As we waited in the hospital waiting room for the word that he'd been safely born and we could see him, our anxiety was palpable.  Then Harry came and told us he was here and that we could come in.  

As we walked down the hall, we heard his little newborn cries.  Never have cries sounded so musical.  He sounded like a newborn baby.  I felt better already.

We all took turns holding him.  When my turn came, I held the soft bundle that was this precious little boy.  A little boy who had many earthly defects, but who felt like and smelled like and was a newborn baby first - a child of God.  Of secondary import was the catalog of characteristics that weren't quite right.

Every time I come across this photo of his soft, sweet hair, I am reminded that we should first see others as they really and truly are - children of God.  Secondarily we can consider the other factors that define them.

As we often say, our sweet baby Jonah had only 11 days with us - 11 days of life . . .  a lifetime of memories. May the memories of the lessons he taught us all never fade.

A very gripping tale!!

This book was chosen by my book group for this month.  Dad had linked my iPad to his Kindle so that we could both read the same books - this was our maiden voyage into the shared book territory!!  It was actually pretty fun to be reading the same book at the same time!!

And a very good book it is.  If you read Seabiscuit, also by Laura Hillenbrand, then you know that she has a way with real stories - she tells them like a novel - and they are gripping and compelling - we both had some late nights as we sat up reading into the wee hours.

It's the story of Louie Zamperini - an Olympian who was captured by the Japanesse during World War II.  His plane crashed and he and his two companions were adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for over 47 days - often surrounded by sharks.  If it hadn't been a true story, we might have believed that it couldn't possibly be true.

Don't let me spoil it - just give it a read - you'll be glad you did.

And let me know what you think!!

The Giver quartet

I for one was not aware that there was a "Giver Quartet."  Someone mentioned it in the lunchroom at school I think, and said that the third book was Messenger, which I wrote about previously.  The second book is Gathering Blue - which I re-read recently too.  So before the final book in the quartet arrived, I re-read The Giver.

That said, the whole set is a really great read.  If you are a fan of The Giver, I suggest you re-read it - otherwise you might get confused.  And read them all in order.  I am quite impressed with Lois Lowry.  She writes on a broad range of topics and does a good job of writing not only readable prose, but enlightening and well-crafted prose.

Any details would spoil the plot - take my word for it - if you are a fan, you need to read Son.  If it's been awhile since you've read them, you need to re-read them.

And then let me know what you think!!

Happy First Day of Fall!!

The calendar says it's fall.  The temperature says it's summer!!  The above is a fall photo - but the short sleeves at night tell me it was probably warm then too - it's always warm in September and October - and we're always surprised.

I even ordered a Christmas sweater last week - and a fall sweater too - for the chilly fall days I might enjoy when we visit Phoebe or Eliza or Hannah.

Thank goodness for fall somewhere!!  At least the days are going to be shorter - I did notice nightfall coming earlier!!

Some interesting trivia for your reading pleasure!!

I have been hunting for some specific photos - and of course I have not found them yet.  But I have found other treasures.  

This photo is part of a group panorama photo of temple workers at the Los Angeles Temple in 1969.  In the group of three men in the center, on the front row, the man on the left is President Benjamin L. Bowring.  I don't remember the name of the man in the middle, but the man next to the man in the middle is James B. Keysor.

Pres. Keysor is/was the owner of Century Record Mfg. Company in Saugus, CA.  I worked there for 9 months before I headed off to BYU  (9 months because I graduated from high school in January of 1963.)  He was friends with my parents, and he also lived with them in the Burbank Ward in the forties.  His son James Keysor Jr. was the man who hired me.  He and his wife also hired me as a baby-sitter and mother's helper when they had twin girls.

President Bowring is the man who performed our marriage ceremony in 1967.  Of special interest to us at least is the fact that he also performed the marriage ceremony for President and Sister Monson - before 1967 of course!!  He was in the temple presidency of the Salt Lake Temple at that time.

If you click on this photo and look at the woman almost in the center of the photo - on the third row with no one behind her - you will note a woman who bears a strong resemblance to my mother - as well she should, since she is my Grandma Stevens!  She was a temple worker when we got married - and took great pleasure in escorting me around the day we got married, introducing me to all of her friends!!  I now know what a pleasure it is to do just that!!

So there is the trivia trove for today - here's hoping I find the photos I am looking for!!

What I've been reading -

My sister gave this to me last June - and I started it - then skipped to the end and decided I didn't need to read it.  Then I kept meeting people or hearing people say how entertaining they'd found the book - so I decided to give it a read. Spent most of Labor Day on the lawn swing - reading and napping - and did indeed enjoy reading the whole book.  It's about a woman who faints at the gym and hits her head.  When she comes too, the last 10 years of her life is missing from her memory.  A compelling scenario and a good read.

 

 I long ago read The Giver and Gathering Blue - in fact, I think now I will need to re-read them - and did not even realize that there was a 3rd book in the series - if a series is what you call it - the books are only loosely related although they are similar in theme.  Anyway, I got Messenger and polished it off today - an excellent read - I'd enjoy discussing it with someone - could that be you??

Was visiting a friend today and saw this on her shelf.  I loved Rebecca but had read nothing else by Daphne du Maurier - she said this was her favorite by du Maurier - so I started it while I ate my solitary dinner tonight - Harry was at the temple.  I will let you know how I like it!!

Waiting for Harry to return from his run so we can get in another Pallisers episode!!

40 years ago today!!

When Bonny was born, I was in labor at the hospital for over 7 hours - and it wasn't very comfortable to say the least.  In those days, they kept you flat on your back the whole time!!  And in my case, they sent a rather annoying young intern in every so often to say, "Hey Sunshine, how is it going?"

So with Harry, I decided to stay home until I thought birth was fairly imminent - we were within walking distance of the hospital, so I was confident my plan was a good one.

All day on the 7th of September, 1972, I was feeling crampy.  I was 11 days overdue - just like with Bonny - so I was thinking this might be it.  But when Harry asked if we should go to the United Homes dinner at Chuck-a-Rama that was scheduled that night, I suggested he go and get the free meal, since I was convinced nothing "real" was happening yet.

I think he got his first course before I called the restaurant - this was indeed before cell phones - and had him paged!!  We got someone to come and stay with Bonny and hustled over to Holy Cross Hospital - where Harry Francis made his appearance less than an hour later!!

 

The Sunshine intern was no longer there, but in the ward where I was taken after Harry was born, there was a very young woman who was not married and who had just had a baby. boy too  Her foster parents had told her that if she kept the baby she could not come back to the house.  She sat in her bed crying because she wanted to keep her baby.  I have often wondered about her.  On every birthday of Harry's, I would wonder where that boy was now.  The nurses were close-lipped - as they should be - and I was possibly too wrapped up in my own drama to talk to the girl myself.  So it all remains a mystery that I will never solve.  But I hope both of them have found happiness!!

Harry was a good baby - in  fact, one day Harry the dad asked, "When is he going to start crying?"  And he didn't spit up either - Bonny had been a colicky baby and so we thought every baby was that way.  (Bonny may have been a fussy new baby, but once she got over the colic, she was our ideal - you could set a clock by her!!)

Harry has continued on in his life being his own person - a wonderful son, husband, father and friend!!

Happy Birthday Harry - here's to a great day and wonderful year ahead!!

What it looks like 35+ years later!!

I mentioned that we are re-living our love affair with the BBC production of The Pallisers.  (I ordered the boxed set when it went on special on Amazon.  And how did Amazon know to target us with the ad?  Are we that transparent?)

35+ years later, the series has some flaws we never noticed before.  For one thing, it's in color and we saw it for the first time in black and white.  It might have been better in black and white.  Also, the sets are pretty cheesy - we've obviously gotten used to much more authentic mid-Victorian film locales.  And some of the acting is wooden - we are wondering why we ever thought Burgo Fitzgerald was dashing and handsome - as Lady Glencora thought he was.

But the story still has a charm.  As does Lady Glencora (I wanted to name Phoebe Glencora - in spite of our love of the show, Harry would not hear of it.  I told that to someone and they said, "Lucky for Phoebe you didn't."  But I said, "Phoebe would have had everyone wishing their name was Glencora!!")

And Plantangenet Palliser seems a much more appealing character - maybe because we know how it ends??

There are something like 48 episodes - we are going to stretch it out though, to make it last!!

Sunday Night With PBS!!

Way back in 1976,  Harry and I started watching The Pallisers on PBS.  We'd get the kids in bed - the kids at that time were Bonny and Harry - and we were living in Harris' house in Centerville.  They had a lovely finished basement with a nice big - for that time anyway - television - and we'd snuggle on the couch to watch the weekly episodes of the famous Anthony Trollope novels.

We loved it - I even bought the complete set of the novels the series was based on.  And never read a one of them!!  I actually got rid of them last year.  Don't tell any of my English major friends!!

You may wonder why I share this.  Well, someone has my number - and sent me an email that the complete set of the series - in DVD - was available at a discount!  I could not resist.

Pardon me while we watch episode 1 - I will let you know how it was!!

End of summer reading

I guess my summer reading schedule is coming to a close.  Phoebe was talking about reading 52 books in 52 weeks.  I'm at 26 books for this year, so I'm a bit behind.  I don't dare start another book until after school starts - I have a tendency to get wrapped up in a book - and I read when I should be doing other stuff!!

So I finished Bel Canto this morning.  I have started this book 3 or 4 times - and just never seemed to be able to get into it.  Then I read 3 other books by the author - and they grabbed me right away.  So that gave me the resolve to stick it out - and the 3rd or 4th time was a charm!!

One of the elements of this novel that is so compelling is the role of language.  One of the characters is a translator - and after the group of hostages is finalized, it turns out that they speak several different languages.  The translator becomes essential to all of them - and the story seems to grow from there.

The fact that they are in small groups that cannot communicate well with one another impacts the development of the story - and the inter-relationships of the hostages.  Two romances that develop have characters who cannot speak each others languages - love grows through shared experiences - in one case the love of opera and in the other the desire to learn not only a new language, but to learn to read and write.

If you haven't read it - give it a look-see - and let me know what you think!!

For now I'm going to start re-reading Mr. Midshipman Hornblower - I noticed that on the cover of my copy there is a quote from Ernest Hemingway, "I recommend Forester to every literate I know."

Seems like a pretty good recommendation!!

In a big family - there are "little kids!"

Don't you love the juxtaposition of these two photos??

72 years

Today is my parents' 72nd wedding anniversary.  They were married on August 17, 1940 in Huntington Park, California.  After their wedding, they drove to Salt Lake City where they were sealed in the temple.  I think it was 3 or 4 days later.  They did things differently back then - they thought it was not fitting for a young unmarried couple to drive all the way to Utah alone!!

This photo was taken in Los Angeles  on Sunday, April 17, 1938.  Ruth MacMurrin was the photographer!!

I love everything about this photo - the buildings in the background, my mother's dress, her hair do, my dad's suspenders - and the white shoes!

And I love everything about my parents and their long, productive years together - they would have been married 60 years the year he died.

Happy Anniversary to a great pair of parents!!

What I just read -

It was a warm day today - and that's an understatement.  I was also up late last night.  So when I flopped on the couch to read this, I promptly fell asleep.

But that's okay - since I was then rested enough to wake up and read it all they way through in practically one sitting - a great way to read a book to my way of thinking.

A few months ago, Betsy posted about it, so when it showed up at our book fair, I bought it.  Read a few pages, put it on the shelf, and promptly forgot about it.  (I have a large collection of books that fit that description!!)

Then last night, as I enjoyed a late night chat with Leslie, she mentioned her book group was reading it.  That's why I picked it up today.

It is a great read - I think I may read it to my students when school starts.  It's about a girl with cerebral palsy who has an intact brain - and really understands everything going on around her - but she can't walk, talk, feed herself - and can't explain her thoughts and feelings to others - though some of those around her try to understand her needs.

Then she gets a Medi-Talker - a computer that will speak for her - and her life changes.  For good and bad.  It's a very well-told story about prejudice towards those who are "different."

I won't spoil it - but you - and your teen or tween should read it too!

Reading and watching some more!!

So I've been on an Ann Patchett kick - just finished this last night.  It was her first novel.  It is completely different from her other books - but then the amazing quality about her is that all of her books are so completely different from each other.  This one is compelling - takes place in the late 60s and moves forward to the early 80s.  The back stories are intriguing, the threads of the stories are interwoven quite tightly, and the ending is something of a surprise.  It takes place at a former grand hotel in Kentucky that has become a Catholic home for unwed mothers. She is quite prolific, so I guess I will be busy for awhile.  I'm starting next on Bel Canto - the first Ann Patchett book I'd ever heard of - and one I've started several times!!  Which seems strange, since the others have captured my interest right away.  I'll let you know how it goes!

 

For the last few months, Harry and I had been trying to figure out who we'd lent our Hornblower DVDs to - with no luck.  Then we get to Phoebe's last month, and she hands me a stack of books to take back home with me - there's Horatio on top!!

We were so excited to finally find them, we sat right down when we got back and started watching them - and they were as great as ever!  When we first watched them, we started reading the 11 volume set of Hornblower novels - and they were great too.  I suspect that since I had seen the movies, as I read the books, I was picturing the characters the way they were on-screen.

So when we finished on Sunday night, I asked Harry what the next one was and he told me that we'd just watched the last one!  "How can that be?" I exclaimed.  "What about Lady Barbara and Maria's death and the children?"

I suspect that I had internalized the novels so completely, I thought I'd seen them!!

I was keenly disappointed - and I wish A and E wanted to keep on with the series!!

I can dream.

And re-read the novels I guess!

Over the years -

The day of Lyn's missionary farewell - 1962

 

Christmas - 1971

 

Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary party - 1990

 

Dad's funeral - May, 2000

 

Mom's 90th celebration - 2010

Watching and Reading

Phoebe handed this to me the night we arrived in Portland - and it was a library book, so I had to get busy and read it!!  It was a pretty compelling read - about scientists in the Amazon jungle - but don't let that discourage you - I sat up until 2 a.m. one morning to finish it!!

 

These are photos of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson.

 

Don't you love the clothes?

 

Bonny handed this one off to me - it's a novel, but heavily based on facts and writings of Hemingway, Hadley Richardson and others - like F. Scott and company -  a good read also.

Phoebe had a pile of books for me to take home - some to Kyle M - so I had to get this one read so I could return it to him.  A compelling story once more - about mistaken identities and stalking and famous people - and a good read.  Let me know what you think!!  I had started the Ann Patchett novel Bel Canto a few years ago and could not get into it - needless to say I will try again!!  Phoebe commented that all of her books are so different.  And they are - but they have a great story as a common denominator!

 

Figured I needed a book to read on the flight home - so picked this up at Target.  The cover said, "If you are having Downton Abbey withdrawal, you need to read this!" It was a good story - a lot like watching Downton Abbey!!

Phoebe had gotten this on NetFlix - I don't even remember it coming out - but it's very entertaining - give it a look see - how can you go wrong with Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson??

 

And of course we've been watching the Olympics - here and in Portland - I can't recall ever watching this much of the Olympics!!

So I've been keeping busy - keeping my mind sharp!!