Adventures in Wandaland

Rock Star Status

2011-10-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last week I flew to Denver for 5 days to see some of my grandchildren. Also my daughter and her husband, of course. Before I arrived Sarah texted me the following: "...also be prepared to help make hogwarts robes. And now delete help from previous sentence." So the first couple of days, in between cuddling and reading with grandchildren, buying them some toys, and watching Ainsleigh swim

I made these:

That's Ron and Ginny Weasley in case you didn't know!

We had fun at the Butterfly Pavilion where we all got a chance to hold a tarantula (!)

and saw lots of insects and fish as well as butterflies.

Friday, Sarah had arranged for us to have tea at the Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver with my sister, Cheryl, her daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. The food was delicious: scones, clotted cream, finger sandwiches, and some lovely desserts.

Cheryl & I

Delicious food

Ainsleigh carefully adding MORE sugar

Gemma demonstrating drinking tea with the pinkie extended

Sarah, Gemma, Ainsleigh and I

Cheryl, Gwynneth, Lisa, Sariah

Our surroundings were absolutely gorgeous.

On Saturday, I had a chance to attend Donovan's football game

Donovan takes the hike (love the tongue)

runs up the field

and faces the defence

and soccer game. (There's the tongue again!)

The Hills also had the most beautiful tree in their front yard:

It's always fun to go for a visit. They all think I can do just about anything and make me feel like a rock star!

Sea Day

2011-10-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

After leaving Boston, we had our last sea day. We had a chance to take a few last pictures of the people we had become acquainted with. Our new-found Chicago friends, Ron & Carol, Dan & Kathy with Mark & I:

Our table mates with Mark and I (from left, Geoff & Carol from London, Jean & John from Spain, Harriett & Ron from NYC:

Farewell to our servers, Fan & Victor:

One last towel animal:

It was somewhat sad to leave the ship, but it was just a short cab ride to NYC where we met up with Laura and spent the weekend with her and Mark's sister, Nancy. I was a neglectful mother and didn't take any pictures of Laura. But you can read her account here.

Last Stop - Boston

2011-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

We finally had a beautiful sunny day! We were so glad since we would be walking the Freedom Trail and didn't want to do it in the rain!

We arrived at the dock:

And headed to Boston Common to begin our walk. Boston Common is the oldest public park in America. Originally, it was deemed "common land" for cattle-grazing and military training. During the Revolutionary War, British troops assembled here for several battles.

This sculpture honors the Shaw-54th Regiment, soldiers in the Civil War:

Across the street from the sculpture is the State House:

This is the Park Street Church, founded in 1809. In 1829 William Lloyd Garrison gave his first major anti-slavery speech here:

The Granary Burying Ground, established in 1660.

Samuel Adams is buried here. He was famous for leading the Boston Tea Party and was a second cousin to John Adams. They often did not see eye to eye on political matters.

There were several tour guides leading groups around:

Paul Revere is buried here...

As is John Hancock:

We enjoyed looking at the many headstones. On one of the instructional plaques, we learned that many people prepared their headstone in advance. This person seemed to have a bone to pick with society:

It says:

Farewell Vain World I have Enough of the(e)

and now I'm Careles(s) what thou Sayst of me

What Fault thou Seest in me

Take Care to Shun

Theres worke within thy Self

That Should be Done

Thy Smiles I Court not nor thy Frowns I fear

My Cares are past my head lies quiet here

We continued our walk, following these:

Puritans came to America to escape the British Anglican Church, but as non-Puritans settled in Boston, King James II ordered King's Chapel be built. Shortly after the Revolution, King's Chapel became the first Unitarian church in America.

Boston Latin School was established in 1635 and was the first colonial public school. Benjamin Franklin attended here.

The Old Corner Bookstore (now houses shops) was a popular hangout for authors such as Longfellow, Emerson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Old South Meeting House was a Puritan church with simple wooden pews and an austere pulpit. Samuel Adams was a member of this congregation and Benjamin Franklin was baptized here. It was also here that 5,000 Bostonians gathered here in protest of British tax policies which led to the Boston Tea Party.

This is the Old State House, built in 1713 and is the oldest public building in Boston. Next to it is a square which is the site of the Boston Massacre.

We walked through Quincy Market where I bought some gloves and a scarf to help cut the chill in the air.

Paul Revere's House where he moved in with his wife, Sara, and their 5 children. When Sara passed away during childbirth, Revere married his second wife, Rachel. All told, 16 children were raised in this home. It was from here that Paul Revere departed on horseback to participate in the Boston Tea Party. Besides his political activities, Revere was a renowned silversmith, goldsmith, and coppersmith.

This is what the streets looked like:

Old North Church is the oldest active church in Boston. It was here that Robert Newman signaled Paul Revere that the British were coming by sea.

Paul Revere statue outside Old North Church:

We took a break for lunch and Mark had oysters on the half shell and then another disgusting dish that had about 8 sea creatures including octopus. Eew!

Why, yes that IS a little octopus on his fork!

After lunch it was off to see the USS Constitution. President George Washington ordered six ships to built for the US Navy in 1794. Nicknamed "Old Ironsides", this ship was never defeated in battle. The oak wood sides were so dense that cannon balls literally bounced right off.

A random cute house:

We took the water taxi back to a dock area (not where our ship was) and walked back to our dock. I think we covered about 5 miles.

The Boston skyline from the water taxi

Mark looking pensive while enjoying the sights

We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset as our ship pulled out of the harbor area.

And another towel animal.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

2011-10-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

We joined forces with our new friends from Chicago and met up with our driver and van for the day. This time however, we discovered that our driver had to breathe into a little machine before starting the car and then every 20 minutes while driving. So we are assuming that this guy had more than one DUI and this was a device that monitored his blood alcohol level. Apparently, if he had been drinking, the car wouldn't start. Lucky for us, he hadn't been drinking!

Our first stop after about 45 minutes of driving was the town of Lunenburg, established by German immigrants that were enticed to Nova Scotia with the promise of land and a job in the fishing industry.

It was a cute little town with brightly colored buildings.

We learned that the little decorative touches around the windows are a distinct German design, but I can't remember what they are called.

This is St. John's Anglican church founded in 1753.

The interior had beautiful stained glass windows and lots of carved wood. The columns were carved and painted to look like marble. It was really amazing.

This area by the harbor has a Tribute to Fishermen. Each column represents the points of a compass and contain the names of those lost at sea as well as the names of the vessels lost at sea. It was interesting that some years, hundreds of men were lost, while other years only a very few.

The fishermen's tribute from the hill (above) and up close (below)

Our next stop was Mahone Bay, a darling town with a scarecrow festival in progress. These are not your normal scarecrows and every house and practically every business had a display out front.

I'm just chillin' with the girls......

....while Mark hung out with the boys.

Bank humor

The royal wedding

Loved the paint job on this house

This is a REAL duck.

This is the place where we stopped for lunch: seafood chowder, lobster salad sandwiches, and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Very tasty.

Love the brightly colored buildings here as well... just what I think of when I think about eastern coastal towns!

After lunch we headed for Peggy's Cove and the rain starting pouring down. There were also a ton of buses of tourists there at the same time, so between the rain and the tourists, photographic moments were a little difficult!

We returned to the ship and that night we had another towel animal waiting for us at bedtime:

The next day was a sea day and we headed back south into the storm that had been following us up the coast and I believe there had been a tropical storm somewhere out by Bermuda. The seas were angry that day, my friends... But no seasickness ensued for us. We weren't supposed to open our balcony doors because of wind and high seas, but that didn't stop me. I loved the clouds. The sea doesn't look that bad, but I'm about 10 stories up, so it is to tell.

It was another formal night and our menu included some delicious items:

Mark couldn't decide between prime rib and lobster, so he had both!

Our server, Fan, brought extra lobster tails for everyone.

This is our beverage server, Victor.

That night our show was "The Unexpected Boys" who do a very good impression of The Jersey Boys. It was a really great show and with the boat rocking, they were very light on their feet as they danced, sang, and did a little comedy. Quite adorable, really. They were selling CDs afterward and I couldn't resist getting my picture with them.

St. John, New Brunswick

2011-10-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Once again, we joined forces with Dan and Kathy, Carol and Ron, in a minivan this time driven by Roy. He was a former lobster fisherman and was quite a salty old dog.

Sometimes when we'd stop he'd go off for a smoke. He says he's trying to quite. With this on the Canadian packs of cigarettes, it's a wonder that anyone is still smoking:

The weather was still overcast and threatened rain, but it held off until the afternoon. We began by a trip to the City Hall where we viewed a world famous spiral staircase. Why world famous? Because of the way they are built... they have no support and are carved out of sandstone. A Scotsman chiseled these out and they were thought to be so unstable that the people who hired him refused to pay him. They paraded 35 prisoners up and down the stairs for 10 hours and when they didn't fall down, the Scotsman was paid.

Our next stop was the downtown indoor market.

Look closely at the ceiling. What does it remind you of? Think of something that has been turned upside down.

If you said a ship's hull, you are right. Since this is a harbor town, the people recycled old shipping vessels. This is a picture of St. John from the overlooking hill. You can see our cruise ship and how lovely the weather was.

And I had to take a picture of this bus for obvious reasons:

Perhaps the most interesting thing about New Brunswick is the Bay of Fundy and the extreme low and high tides. We were there at low tide. Sometimes people can get caught in the caves if they are not careful.

The tide comes up to where you see the line of seaweed at high tide.

A person could find themselves in 15 ft. of water if they aren't paying attention.

This is what the ocean floor looks like.

I look mad here, but I'm really not!

When the tide comes in, these boats are usable.

We took a short hike to these waterfalls and more views of the coastline:

We stopped at a little curio shop and there was time for lobster claw shenanigans. That is a real claw:

We also saw several covered bridges that were oh, so cute:

The Irving family has a great presence in New Brunswick. There are a lot of Irving gas stations. Our driver stopped at one to get gas and for us to use the facilities. The other ladies and I thought these signs on the restroom doors were hilarious, however some of the Canadians in the convenience store couldn't figure out why we were laughing and taking pictures:

We saw some very quaint homes and churches.

We also saw a lot of trees with these red berries on them. But not a lot of fall leaves.

Bah Hahbah (or at least that's how they pronounce it)

2011-10-07T20:11:00.001-07:00

Bar Harbor was a port we had to use tenders (smaller boats) rather than parking (!) right at the dock.

Usually that can result in long lines, but things moved very quickly and we proceeded directly to the tour Mark had scheduled for us: a Lobster Boat.

This proved to be a wonderful two hours out with a knowledgeable, funny guide.

Lobster traps on the dock before we went out:

A little bit of lobster humor on the side of the boat:

We learned all about lobster fishing, the anatomy of lobsters, laws and conservation regarding lobsters and fishing. He pulled up a couple of traps, the first one there weren't any lobsters, but the second one yielded three. The scenery was quite beautiful:

and we had a good vantage point to take pictures of our ship:

We also went out by the lighthouse and learned about the different kind of seals off the coast of Maine and saw some as well as a bald eagle.

We learned about the many wealthy families with houses in the area. The Campbell's soup guy owns this house, but is only there a couple of weeks a year.

Martha Stewart also has a place at Bar Harbor. Her place is surrounded by trees and is a bit inland, but this house was on the shoreline:

Because of the bad weather, they weren't sure we were going to be able to go out, but I am very glad we did. After our tour we grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant and had.... you guessed it, lobster!

We also had some delicious seafood chowder and warm blueberry pie with ice cream. Maine is famous for their blueberries and blueberry products: jam, pie, muffins. After lunch we met up with two other couples who were sharing the cost of a tour guide with a mini-van. Both couples are from the Chicago area, Kathy & Dan, Carol & Ron. Dan and Carol are quite funny and have Chicago accents. Their spouses are more quiet. We drove around the island seeing the sights. The first place we stopped was a visitors' center with a map of the area, which was helpful for us:

Unfortunately, it was so overcast and foggy on top of Cadillac Mountain that we couldn't see the views that were supposed to be beautiful. We saw a lot of cyclists riding the roads that criss cross the area, even as the rain came pouring down. J. D. Rockefeller bought up a ton of the land and donated it to the government after creating or maintaining the "carriage trails" which are used today for hiking or mountain-biking. Where the trails cross the main road he built carriage houses.

Bar Harbor was the place for the wealthy to escape the summer heat and humidity in the New York/Boston area in the early 1900s and I suppose it still is today. We also learned that the island that Bar Harbor is on is largely granite. Sand Beach was a lovely inlet that our guide told us was not really sand, but ground up granite.

This was our best day so far. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Portland, Maine

2011-10-07T20:06:00.001-07:00

The weather has not cooperated with us. We had to disembark and load the bus for our tour at 8:00 am in the pouring rain. We drove from Portland, Maine to New Hampshire to Mt. Washington. The reason? To see the world's first cog train and until recently the steepest grade for a cog train at 37%. Mt. Washington is the highest peak on the eastern seaboard and is known for the world's worst weather. It has clocked the world's top windspeed at 235 mph. Since it was raining when we boarded the bus, we didn't have high hopes for the day. It was a 3 hour bus ride and our guide NEVER stopped talking. And it wasn't all great information. Mostly it was random tidbits about his life or other trivial information. But we did make a brief stop on the way and I was able to capture the fall colors that were just barely starting to turn. Unfortunately, we were told, the later summer had postponed the really gorgeous colors.

We boarded the train for the 40 minute train ride to the top.

The track starts the ascent and disappears into the heavy fog or cloud or whatever it was!

The wind was blowing and the rain was pouring and we got a picture of us at the top. Sorry about the raindrops on the lens!

Here is a picture of the track with the cog track in the middle. It kind of looks like a roller coaster track.

We then rode the train down and returned to Portland on the bus. We drove through lots of small Maine and New Hampshire towns. We saw a pet store with an amusing name, "For Your Paws Only." - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New Jersey

2011-10-02T14:07:00.001-07:00

We flew to New Jersey and boarded Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas for a New England cruise. Our car service driver was a young guy from Queens with a thick accent. A New Yorker Queen's accent, complete with "fugit about it" attitude. It was clear as we boarded that this cruise clientele would be different from other cruises we had been on. After counting several wheelchairs and walkers and Rascals (those motorized carts) we felt like the kids on the ship. Later we did see some younger people and maybe 4 kids under 10 years old. The weather was not that great, but it did stop raining long enough for a not-so-great shot of the Statue of Liberty with the New York skyline in the background. I have to say, as we passed Long Island, I was kind of melancholy thinking of David in Flushing just a few miles away.

As you leave the New Jersey harbor area, you have go under the Verazzano Bridge.

Laura will be running over that bridge in just about a month as she does the New York marathon. Our ship doesn't clear the bridge by much, at least it seemed that way.

Our first full day of the cruise was a sea day, so we went to the gym in the morning and relaxed and read, walked around the ship, and prepared for our first formal night. Also, Mark went to a trivia challenge. Here are some pictures of what I ate:

That last picture is a chocolate soufflé that they pour warm delicious cream over. This is the first cruise that we have taken without our family and extended family or friends, so dining has been a different experience. We are at a table with a British couple (John and Jean)that have been living in Spain for the past 8 or 9 years. They live near Malaga and say that there are probably 250,000 British living in the area, which I thought was interesting. At first it was just us and this couple at a table for 10, but then they put another couple from New York (Harriett and Ron) with us. They have very thick New York accents and are very agreeable as well, so it has been fun chatting about lots of things. They have been on 18 cruises and said that this one has 700 less people than capacity. It hasn't seemed very crowded, so I guess that is good for us! Our waitress is Fan from China. She is a very cute young girl who has been working on the cruise line for 3 years. She said when she first started working, she didn't know any English. She has a heavy accent now, but is doing fine communicating with us. Certainly much better than I would do in Chinese. Here is one of the obligatory towel animals that our room steward left for us:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

North Carolina

2011-10-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

Look at this face.... Could you stay away?

Last Saturday, we flew to Charlotte to see two of our adorable randchildren. Emaline greeted us with a poster that she had made, welcoming us.

We started off our stay by visiting Bojangles for fried chicken and biscuits. Nothing says "Southern" quite like fried food. On Monday, Allison, Mark, and I jogged along the greenbelt path near her home. It is amazing to me how wooded and green this part of the country is. Dave told us that the average rainfall is about 3-4 inches a month andit actually rains each month, unlike California. Hence, the muggy weather when it is hot. People don't really bother with sprinkler systems here. While we were in NC, it rained, thundered and lightninged (is that even a word?) But not all of the time.

I had mad another one of these and sent it to them ahead of our arrival:

Mark had fun throwing Annabelle around and doing "ta-dah" with her.

We also made the obligatory trip to Toys R Us for the kids to pick out a toy. Since Emaline rides the school bus and Annabelle loves to see her come home on it, she got a Little People school bus that played music when you pushed the driver down. Each time the song came on, Annabelle would rock back and forth and flap her hands to dance to the music. If one can dance while sitting down.

Emaline read to me and we played math on her white board. She is in first grade, but already is doing very well in her reading and math.

Allison and looked at model homes in a few areas that they would like to live and we just had fun hanging out. She made us delicious food as well.

One day we went to South Carolina, just a few miles away and went to Historic Brattonsville where they have some homes from Revolutionary War time. The Bratton family first built a small home, called a backwoods cabin like this reproduction to live in while their larger home was being built. And when I say small, I mean small. Here is Mark and Emaline just inside the doorway:

This is the McConnell House:

The hogs and chickens:

The Brattons built this home in the late 1700s.

Later, Wiliam's son John, built a side wing where they established a school.

Dr. John Bratton built the Homestead between 1823 and 1826. It was used in the movie "The Patriot."

These stairs had beautiful detailing.

The nursery:

The parlor:

Dining Hall:

Basement:

Gin house with cotton gin inside:

The area was just beautiful and I loved the chevron pattern on this barn:

Hightower Hall, also used in the movie, "The Patriot."

It was a beautiful area and the heavily wooded area illustrated how difficult fighting a battle in the area would be. (Love the fences!)

This area was also interesting to us because several of Mark's ancestors came from North and South Carolina. It made it easier to imagine what life was like for them.

Annabelle loves to copy everything Emaline does.

We were sad to leave on Thursday, but excited as we headed to New Jersey to board our ship for a New England cruise!

Note: I don't know how much I'll be able to blog on this vacation. I've been very frustrated with trying to blog from the ipad and then it not uploading. I don't know if it has to do with the connection I'm using, but I may have to wait until I am home.

Austin

2011-09-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Mark and I flew to Austin to see the BYU game against the University of Texas. We like to go to BYU football games, and have been to a few away games such as UCLA, Notre Dame, and Air Force. If we can visit friends at the same time, all the better.

This trip we got to visit with some friends who moved to Austin from Fremont 6 years ago, Garic & Nici. Friday, after arriving in Austin in the afternoon, we drove out to their home and got the grand tour, and then went out to dinner with them. It was really fun to reconnect with them and hear all about their busy lives. We also got the lowdown on living in Texas. Apparently, football is really big in Texas! (I know, that's an understatement.) They showed us the high school where their kids attend, the football stadium, the indoor practice facility and weight rooms. Also a huge music building. Pretty impressive. There are season ticket holders for high school games. At a recent away game (2 hours away) 30,000 fans traveled to see the game. I haven't seen "Friday Night Lights" but it is pretty accurate from what I have heard. They attended a game soon after moving to Austin and had to stand the entire game because there were no more seats. In a stadium that would make a college proud.

Saturday morning we walked around downtown Austin taking in the sights. There were some interesting buildings....

The Capitol building

.... and some colorful cows sprinkled throughout the downtown. The mascot for the University of Texas is a longhorn.

Austin also has what appears to be a river running through it, except we were told that it is really a long twisty lake. Looked like a river to me.

Austin is also the home of the first Whole Foods and we visited that as well. It was awesome. And big. This is Texas, after all: 100,000 square feet.

Later in the day, we visited the LBJ library and walked around the campus. It was super hot.

Little known fact: LBJ was a BYU Cougars fan.

We went to the top of the infamous clock tower

and had a great view of the downtown area:

You can see the Capitol building to the left of center

The stadium is quite impressive and holds 100,000 people.

EVERYONE wears the school color: burnt orange. I was impressed with the variety of T-shirts, polo shirts, tank tops, and DRESSES that I saw. Apparently, wearing boots is also important:

The cheerleaders had interesting outfits:

ESPN was covering the game:

Every time there was a score, a kickoff, or the end of a quarter, the cannon would go off. Those Texans love their guns.

Notice the girls in boots?

The band was huge. Everything is big in Texas, right? Their school song sounds suspiciously like "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad." I'm told it is called "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You." The cheerleaders also danced to "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

The drum major and majorette giving the longhorn sign

We lost by one point, but were leading until the last little bit. The game started at 6 pm and it was 98 degrees. By the end of the game it was a much better 84 degrees, but all in all VERY hot. And everyone stands the whole game except for time outs. Not just the students. EVERYONE.

The next morning before we had to be at the airport, we stopped by the Capitol building for some parting shots.

The front

The back

Texas Rangers Monument

We saw a sign on a pet supply store that advertised "Longhorn wear for your dog" and a marque outside a church that said "Sunday Service 11-ish."

All in all, it was a bit of a culture shock. The eyes of Texas were upon us.

Half marathon

2011-09-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

Back in March or so, Mark decided he wanted to do the Disney Half Marathon in September. He asked if I wanted to join him. In a moment of weakness, I said yes, and starting about 10 weeks ago, we began training in earnest. Mark had been running all along and had done some 10Ks and we both had done plenty of cycling, but I hate running. I AM a fast walker, however, so I thought I could at least do that.

We increased our mileage each week, and each week I hurt. Not my muscles, but my joints. All that pounding was making me ache. I had settled into a system of running three songs and walking one song which was working pretty well. I had initially tried the "run 4 min., walk 2 min." thing, but checking my Garmin that often, especially on the long runs was annoying, so I switched to the song thing. Two different weeks I did a long run of 10 miles and then began tapering prior to the big day.

Rebecca decided to join us for the half marathon, having done 2 other halfs, so she was a seasoned vet and then Mark's sister signed up as well. It would be a regular party. Except this party was 15,000 people and we probably wouldn't be together as we each had differing abilities. In the end, Rebecca's IT bands acted up, so she couldn't run with Mark but she could run/walk with me which was great for me!

Sarah designed and ordered some race day shirts for Mark & I. On the back of mine all of the kids, in-laws and grandkids had written encouraging words.

We got lots of compliments on our shirts.

The race started at 6:00 am and we were encouraged to be at the start at 4:30 am. We didn't arrive until about 5:00 am and were astounded at the crowd.

We were assigned corrals and humanity stretched in back of us and in front of us. Our group didn't actually start until 6:30 (we were the 6th of 7 groups to start).

The crowd stretched back to that parking structure (above) and forward to the blue signs.

We ran through California Adventure, Disneyland, the streets of Anaheim, past the Honda Center arena (home of the ice hockey team), Angels Stadium and then back to Disney. Disney characters were throughout the parks and people would stop and wait in lines to get their pictures taken with them! These people were not serious about their times.

Lots of people wore costumes to run in.

Becca was trying to outdo Sarah's photo, but in my hurry, I didn't hold the camera still.

Running through the castle

When we left the parks, every 1/2 mile or so there would be a school cheer team, a band, or some dancing group... there was a mariachi band & dancers, Hawaiian dancers, and others. It was quite entertaining and made the time pass faster. There were also a lot of people cheering along the way.

Theoretically, you would see yourself on the big screen if one knew when to look....

After the race, we received fabulous medals and had our pictures taken.

I finished in 2:43 (although my Garmin said 2:37 because it pauses when I stop for a potty break!) That is my personal best since this was my first (and probably last) half marathon. Mark did a blistering 2:10! He tells me my time was in the top 25% of women in my age group. What a guy to make me feel accomplished. I felt better than I thought I would when it was done because I thought I'd feel awful and I didn't! Biggest surprises for me? How many people there were in the race and how many people were doing it that didn't look like they'd be able to finish but did. Which kind of lessened my sense of achievement. Is that bad?

This was fun to do, but I still like cycling better.

old mind, new things

2011-08-26T16:51:00.001-07:00

Well, this is a real experiment. Can she learn to blog from the ipad? At first, I wasn't sure if it was possible. I mean, I could use the browser on the ipad to see my blog, and theoretically type on it, but I couldn't post photos that way. I had already downloaded an app to access Picasa, but that didn't help. "I can't post pictures on my blog from the ipad," I announced. Wait a minute.... maybe there is an app for that, too! I went to my computer and typed in "blogger apps" and lo! and behold! So with the help of the wireless keyboard, I'm giving it a try. And just because I can, I'm posting a picture as a trial.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

37 years

2011-08-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

He still makes me feel like I am the best thing that ever happened to him even though he's the best thing that ever happened to me. I can't imagine my life without him nor do I ever want to. Happy Anniversary to us!

a great week, part 2

2011-08-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

This post is much delayed. Like 2 months delayed, but I feel I must document our activities as this is a kind of journal for me. One of the reasons for the delay is because I was working on the hardest quilt I've ever done. I bought the pattern thinking it was so cute, not realizing that even though it looks cute, it was really quite diabolical. When I opened up the pattern and saw the amount of work involved, I folded up the pattern and put it away for some time. The problem was, I had already invested quite a bit of money in the pattern and the fabrics, and I really needed to make it. After all, I couldn't very well justify buying more quilt fabric when that one was staring at me. There is so much piecing to this quilt that it made it quite tricky. See those 21 hearts around the outside which measure 3" x 3"? Each one of those is made up of EIGHT pieces of fabric. I mistakenly thought that it was an applique quilt. There is applique, but not as much as I thought. For example, when the pattern calls for 104 1" squares cut from one of the fabrics, you know you're in for it. But now it's done and I can breathe a sigh of relief while my quilt lady works her magic and quilts it for me.

So, back to the great week that occurred at the end of May and beginning of June.

After the wedding, Jeff and Jess headed to France and the rest of us headed to Lake Tahoe for what we thought would be a summer vacation. Instead we were greeted with fresh snow on June 1.

We stayed inside a fair amount. We tried to do a little hike, but it started snowing on us. But we had fun playing games and just doing the regular bonding stuff.

One day when it wasn't snowing we drove to Virginia City, Nevada and did some sightseeing. Unfortunately, Allison and her family had had to leave to get home for Emaline's dance recital, so they weren't able to come with us.

It's a fun little mining town from yesteryear

We rode the *olde tyme* train which was fun even if it was cold.

Ainsleigh & Laura trying to keep warm on the train

Donovan, Ainsleigh, Gemma, with the train conductor

Another day we walked down to Sugar Pine Point where the Erhman Mansion has been preserved in a state park. Most of the snow in the lower areas had melted. In the summertime, there are usually a ton of people picnicking and jumping off the dock. We had the place to ourselves and the kids enjoyed skipping rocks and taking pictures.

Dono, Becca, Gemma, & Austin walk through the woods

Sarah has to get into all the pictures!

Our last family vacation with David for awhile.

David took my camera and caught this picture of Ainsleigh and Dono working hard on the beach.

The Erhman Mansion - what a great vacation home

Emerald Bay was gorgeous even if it was cold

Laura and David

We had a lot of fun together, a lot of laughs, and of course, a lot of yummy food. It's how we roll.

it does NOT get easier

2011-06-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

With tears in our eyes, we dropped this ~~boy~~ young man off at the airport.

We won't see him or feel his arms around us for two years, but in our hearts we rejoice for the growth and experiences he will have as he bears testimony of Jesus Christ to the Chinese people in NYC. We know this because it happened to another son 11 years ago. But it is not easier the second time around. Eleven years ago after taking Jeff to the MTC (missionary training center), Mark and I could not speak the whole ride up to the Salt Lake airport. Our emotions were so close to the surface that we didn't dare open the floodgates.

This morning after saying our goodbyes and expressing our love for him, David joined two other young missionaries to walk to the security line. I got in the car and the tears started once again, to which Mark said, "Oh knock it off!" It wasn't harsh.... more pleading, really, so that I wouldn't start a chain reaction in him. It also served as comic relief. We will miss that boy, our baby.

As we left the house this morning it was dark, but when we got home I took a picture of the posters that the YW (young women) in our ward had made and used to decorate our yard.

I took them down and took another picture of them all together.

No it does not get easier.

a great week, part 1

2011-06-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

It seems that in our family we tend to cram as much fun and excitement as we can into a small window of time.

The kids and grandkids began arriving home on the evening of May 26. They were coming for Jeff & Jess' wedding. They came from Colorado, North Carolina, Utah, and New York. On Friday, we had the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner.

On Saturday, David went to the temple for the first time and we were joined by Sarah, Joel, Allison & Dave.

On Saturday afternoon, Mark took some of the grandkids, sons-in-law, and Becca's boyfriend, Austin, horseback riding.

Gemma was very sad as they rode off and she was too young to ride.

On Sunday morning, we all attended church to hear David give his farewell talk prior to entering the MTC (missionary training center) on June 22. He did a great job and there were many friends there to support him besides his family.

We hurried home from church so the kids could nap before heading out to the wedding. It was a lovely ceremony.

The bride was beautiful.

Jess

The flower girls were adorable. Maybe because they are my granddaughters?

Jess with her bridesmaids and flower girls

Watching an episode of "Dora" while waiting their turn for pictures.

The ring bearer was darling. Well, he is our only grandson!

The groom was handsome.

Nick (best man) and Jeff

We had a chance to take lots of family pictures.

Our 6 kids, I can't believe they're so old!

The original 8 of us

My girls and I

Our grandchildren. Annabelle was not happy!

The younger three kids.

Allison & Dave & their girls

(Somehow, I managed to miss taking a picture of Sarah & her family)

Austin had a chance to spend a lot of time with us. He was a real champ for sticking it out for the whole week!

The food was delicious and we had a great time dancing.

Donovan had some sweet break dancing moves

Annabelle like the dancing more than picture taking with the grandparents.

The groomsmen ham it up

Rebecca caught or was hit by the bouquet, one of the two.

And then the bride and groom headed off in their limo.

catching up with May

2011-05-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

The day before Mother's Day, some of my biker chicks (picture taken with an iPhone) and I rode a century in Santa Rosa. This century didn't have as much climbing as the one I did three weeks ago, but had a respectable 5,000 ft of climbing. We were still able to average about 16 mph and we did it in style! We had ordered some matching cycling jerseys from our new favorite company and we were surprised at the amount of attention we garnered. At every rest stop other cyclists would ask us if we were a team or a cycling club (uh, no, we're just friends who like to ride together) and how cool our unusual jerseys were. One guy said he assumed we were a team because of our skill in drafting. Even the volunteers at the rest stops would ask about our jerseys and where we got them. At the beginning of the ride, we'd pick out a fairly strong/fast group of men and draft them, which conserves about 30% of your energy, or draft each other, taking turns at pulling the others. After the lunch stop, we noticed that we had men drafting us!

On Mother's Day while Jeff and Jess made a delicious dinner for me, Mark and I went out for a drive to take pictures near the Calaveras Reservoir, another of our favorite riding spots. The lush green hills have begun to go "golden" in a few patches and I wanted to capture the beauty of the area before all the green was gone.

Then, last weekend, Mark and I went to Lake Tahoe to see the beginning of the Tour of California (cycling race.) The first stage was going to be a once and a half trip around the lake, which meant the riders would go past our family's condo twice. We went up a couple of days early and got in a couple of rides. In the afternoon on Saturday we went to the falls near Emerald Bay. There was still snow melting from the long winter which made the falls even more beautiful.

But Sunday morning, we woke up to this:

The first words out of my mouth were, "Are you KIDDING me?!?" This is the middle of MAY!"

The first stage of the Tour of California was cancelled and we headed for home. Bummer. I sure hope that in two weeks when our kids and grandkids join us up there for a reunion, we'll finally get some summer. Actually, I'd settle for some spring!

voices

2011-05-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

There was an article about this guy in today's Chronicle. He's an animator at Pixar Studios, but has an amazing voice. Singing is just something he does in his spare time. Last year he auditioned for Glee, but never heard back from the producers. Maybe you've heard of him, but I hadn't. Wow.

Tuesday night at the movies

2011-05-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of not having a child in grades k-12 is being able to go to the movies during the week and avoiding the crowds on the weekends. And we do love our movies and the popcorn that goes with it. So we instituted Tuesday night at the Movies. We can always find a parking space, there are no lines, we don't have to sit right next to anyone, and best of all, a big tub of popcorn is half price on Tuesdays. We get our movie tickets at Costco and save there, too!

Last night we decided to see *Rio*. Normally we hate 3D stuff because we find the glasses annoying and it doesn't really add much to the experience, but we had heard it was cute so we went. We were the ONLY ones in our movie. We had the entire room to ourselves. Heck, I think we had the whole movie complex to ourselves. We only saw one other couple in the lobby when we came in, and when we left, we didn't even see any workers! I think we were supposed to lock up and turn out the lights when we left.....

a fun change

2011-04-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

I always love a home improvement project, even (especially?) when I'm not the one doing the work!

When we first moved to this house, there were about 7 "indents", large niches? (I don't know what they are called), waiting to be filled. In the upstairs playroom we had a huge entertainment wall unit built. Some of the niches were filled with Mark's office furniture & the dining room china hutch, which fit quite nicely. But the family room TV didn't quite fill the space and the desk I was using was cramped and small and made me feel like I was in a cave. This week that changed.

We went from this:

To this (had to upgrade the TV of course):

And from this (actually it was worse than this because I have an additional screen besides my laptop, so my screen was squished onto the desk and my laptop was on a TV tray off to the side. But I couldn't find any other picture. Attractive, right?):

To this:

I can't believe how much I love my desk! I've never really had a desk of my own--I always shared with the kids or just had that cramped small make-do desk. Of course, that doesn't mean anyone will get any more work out of me....

this was a tough one

2011-04-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of beautiful places in the world, but this time of year in California is hard to beat. The hills are green and the sky is blue. We live in an area where the towns are quite bicycle-friendly, have good bike lanes, and lots of cyclists, but a short 20 minute ride takes you into rural areas with cows, horses, sheep, vineyards, and fewer cars. It makes me really happy to be alive and healthy and take in the beauty around me. These are some of the roads we ride:

Vineyard on the right

We love this house on the hill with its white fence. Sometimes there are even cows at the very top, silhouetted by the blue sky and it is so picturesque!

Patterson Pass, where there are lots of windmills.

This is my favorite picture, it just kind of sums up what we see.

At the urgings of another cyclist couple, we signed up for a century that would be more difficult than anything we'd done before. Besides being 102 miles, there would be nearly 7,000 ft of climbing, much of which would come in the middle of the ride on two 10 mile long climbs. I was pretty nervous about how hard it would be, but we worked hard on our climbing and about 10 days before the ride we rode 80 miles with about 4800 ft of climbing and felt like we were ready.

Last Saturday, we left Pleasanton at 5:30a and drove to Gilroy to begin our ride. At 6:40a we unloaded our bikes amid the usual festive air that surrounds this kind of event. There were 2,000 participants riding 3 different length rides. The course opens at 7:00, but there isn't a gun start, you just kind of go and keep your own time.

Brian, Sandy, Me, Mark at the first rest stop

The four of us stuck together on the flats and rollers, but once we started serious climbing, it was every man for himself. The scenery was beautiful and I did take a few pictures, but couldn't stop too often for that. At one point on a winding descent, there was a guy in a skeleton costume waving his arms as a warning to be careful going around the curves too fast. A little while later we saw a guy on the ground surrounded by a group of people (and a highway patrol) who had obviously crashed. One side of his face looked like raw ground beef. It is always a sobering reminder to be careful. We later heard that he was moving all of his extremities and seemed to be doing okay.

Brian & Sandy

Mark & I, this was our lunch stop

You can't really tell from the picture, but going up that hill was about a 20% grade!

About 60 miles into the ride, we turned north and were smacked with about a 12 mph headwind. We drafted Brian and he was awesome. Our foursome was joined by a younger rider, probably in his early 30s, who switched off with Brian "pulling" us. At mile 75 or 80, we turned and headed back south, this time with a sweet tailwind. We were mostly on the flats with just 3 smaller hills to climb (which to my screaming leg muscles felt like Mt. Everest!). Because of the tailwind, it was exhilarating to be skimming along at 22-27 mph at mile 90 on our way to the finish. At one point I looked behind us and noticed that we had picked up about 8 other riders who were taking advantage of our momentum and were drafting behind us.

We finished with a riding time of 7 1/2 hours, which made our average about 13.4 mph. Not a terribly fast time, but given the amount of climbing and wind, we were happy with our accomplishment. And happy to be off the seat!

my baby

2011-03-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

How did this little guy become this young man?
Today is my baby's 19th birthday. The last year that I'll ever have a teenager. Last year's post said it all. He's still sweet, funny, and sarcastic. Initially, we thought 5 kids were enough, but I couldn't imagine our family without him. The big news this year is (if you haven't already heard!) that he will be serving a 2 year LDS mission to the New York City South Mission, speaking Mandarin Chinese. He enters the Mission Training Center on June 22. We are very proud of the man that he is becoming. Happy Birthday, David!

food

2011-03-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

We just watched a documentary that is entertaining, funny, and informative. It is an answer to the documentary "Supersize Me" and is called "Fat Head." We streamed it from Netflix. (Have I done enough promotions, yet?)

I found it fascinating. I have always been interested in knowing about fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and what makes some people fat and others not so much. This documentary takes a hard look at what information we have been fed (pun intended) and the "studies" that support them.

So, start giving your children whole milk (their brains need the fats), use butter, eat meat. Low-fat diets can cause depression, saturated fat doesn't cause heart disease. Trust mother nature.

Go to the website. I recommend it.

my week of winter

2011-02-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

I just spent a week in Denver. It hadn't been that cold there in 26 years. The day I arrived it was -10, but felt like -24 according to the weather website. I had never been in weather in the negatives before and I spent most of my time indoors.

When I walked out of the airport and into the awaiting car, it was so cold it was hard to breathe. When it wasn't too cold, it was snowing. It snowed enough that church was canceled.

Donovan was excited to show me his Indiana Jones outfit:

He was a good help in shoveling the walks.

Sarah, Donovan, Gemma and I met my sister, Cheryl and her daughter, Lisa and baby Aaron for brunch one morning.

The food was delicious. Cheryl got Sticky Buns French Toast which was beautiful AND tasted good.

For Super Bowl Sunday, Sarah made S'mores Pie. Everything she makes is yummy.

We went sledding. Well, they went sledding and I took pictures

Gemma actually liked the sledding although it doesn't look like it!

We played a game for family home evening and then the kids had S'mores done with giant marshmallows in the microwave.

Gemma won!

Then I decided that I needed a picture with each of them. I wanted to be sure that they have a picture with just them and their Grandma. When I look back through my pictures, I don't have many with just one child and their grandparent.

It was fun to be in Denver because I just love those kids, but it is nice to be back where it is green and sunny!

for the record

2011-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

Part of the reason I blog is because it is a kind of journal for me. So the rest of this blog post is not for anyone else but me. I'm not trying to brag, just record.

Last week marked the 2 year anniversary of getting my training G*armin. It is a wristwatch type thing that records my heart rate, distance, and elevation gain of my bike rides. In the last two years, I have ridden over 9,500 miles! To me that is amazing. I mean, if you had told me that at 55 I would start riding a bike that much, I would have thought you were crazy. But the fact is, I couldn't have done it when I was younger. There simply wasn't time. Now, instead of endless vacuuming, endless laundry, and endless kid activities, I have time to explore my interests. I put in 34 years of being a full-time mom and this is my reward!

That got me to thinking about doing things you don't think you can do and starting new challenges. At the age of 40 I started teaching music in the schools as a volunteer which I did for 10 years. It was the most rewarding experience I have had in teaching. But that was not something I would have even thought about or imagined when I was in my 30s. The thing is, there are a lot of things out there to do, talents to develop, weaknesses to overcome. And there is a season for everything.

Life is not over when you are in your late 50s. Save something to try at every stage. I'm looking forward to my next challenge.

A Jolly Season

2011-01-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

It has been a week since the last one left. The house is quiet and clean. No more squeals of 5 grandchildren running (or crawling) through the rooms. No more jumble of humanity playing video games, laughing, talking, hugging, eating, watching movies, going out to movies. No more sounds of remote control helicopters buzzing over my head. Loads of sheets and towels have been washed, folded, and put away. The decorations and lights have been taken down, put away into their plastic bins, and stacked neatly in the corner of a cleaned and swept garage. It was a glorious season.

The kids and grandchildren trickled in starting Dec. 16 with David coming home after a triumphant first semester at BYUI, then Allison and Dave and their crew on Dec. 21,

Laura and Rebecca (at two different airports) on Dec. 22,

Sarah and Joel and their crew on Dec. 25.

And then they trickled away beginning Dec. 31 until Jan. 4. We had 14 bodies living under the same roof for a week with Jeff and Jess dropping by frequently.

On Christmas Eve, we had 19 people here for dinner.

Our friends, the Obers, make Christmas Eve with us their tradition and we are so glad they do!

There were pajamas (of course)

And a crying present....

Mark had purchased remote control helicopters for the men, and they were a huge hit.

Jeff and David challenged each other to various feats with the helicopters, the ultimate one was landing on the slanted blade of the ceiling fan. Everyone had fun playing with them and the girls were a little miffed that they didn't get one.

The day after Christmas, Jess' mom (and Jeff's future mother-in-law) cooked us up Thai food (she IS Thai, so that made it even better!)

Cooking for this many people can be daunting, but she was a champ and the kids had fun helping out with the won tons. All of the food was soooo delicious.

One day, we went into SF and walked on the bridge and went to the Exploratorium.

In between, we lunched at Jeff and Jess' apartment and were served delicious Ruben sandwiches made by Jess. The day was spectacular and the views marvelous.

It was Annabelle's birthday on New Year's Eve, so we had another reason to celebrate.

It is always fun when the whole family gets together. It's crazy and noisy and hard work. But I love it.

loving work

2010-11-30T22:57:00.000-08:00

It used to bug me when people who had been married 50 or more years were asked the secret of staying married that long and they would respond that it was something they worked at. That sounded unpleasant!

Last month I finished a photo book of our trip to France. It's a lot of work and takes hours to complete the task. Sometimes it gets tedious and I just want to quit. But mostly I receive joy and satisfaction from the creative process. It is enjoyable work. No, that is not an oxymoron. Work can be enjoyable and fulfilling.

Recently Mark was quoted on his cyber board (you know, the one where he has his imaginary friends). It seems he had posted something about love and marriage well over a year ago and forgot about it, but then someone re-posted his comments. It was in response to one of the guys on the board who wrote: It isn't reasonable to ask a 20-something to make a choice that will have to be honored by the same person as a 40-something. People change, and those promises that are made fail to take into account how people change.

Mark responded (his name on the board is PAC, thus I am Mrs. PAC): I’ve found the quoted view to be widely shared, and rather sad. It’s like Woody Allen’s response, after Mia discovered he was sleeping with their daughter (his stepdaughter), Soon-Yi: “The heart wants what it wants. There's no logic to these things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that's that.” That view treats “to love” as a passive verb; it just happens, and you run with it. Love is simply one batch of hormones calling out to the other, and a relationship rests on the hope that one’s partner won’t find a more attractive deal down the road. But that makes marriage a marketplace, not a committed relationship.

Genuine commitment requires the view that love is an active verb. Even in those times in which you don’t like your spouse very much, you continue to love him/her, behaving and doing things that look like love, and shunning thoughts and behaviors that don’t. The cool thing is that eventually the thing that peeved you about your spouse, or the allure of someone else, eventually subsides, and your active behavior of “loving” your spouse makes your passive “love” greater than before. If one doesn’t take that approach, then each spouse is simply waiting and hoping that a better deal doesn’t come along for the other.

As great as she is, there are times when She Who Must Be Obeyed bugs me (admittedly, often the cause of this annoyance is my fault, but still...). I’ve come to realize that I have a choice. I can focus on the annoyance and let it fester, I can succumb to the flirtations of an office assistant or work acquaintance (sadly, these flirtations are coming far less often in my fifties), I can feel sorry for myself, etc. After a brief wallow in self-pity, I pull out the mental DVD collection I have in my head that features many dozens, even hundreds, of memories of Mrs. PAC in action: by her side at childbirth; holding her hand as she struggled through a miscarriage; vacations with the kids; vacations without the kids (including, e.g., a memorable drive to a Maui hotel—there’s an extensive Adults Only collection in my memory); mile 80 of our first century when we came up behind a small group of serious riders I knew I could pass but was concerned if the missus could keep up, and then from right behind me I simply heard the words “Jam it!,” and we cruised past the group; and “those thousand decencies that daily flow from all her words and actions,” as Milton wrote of Eve. As I focus on Mrs. PAC’s Greatest Hits, whatever ill feelings I might have had toward her, or the warm fuzzies I might be feeling about the office Lolita, shrink to insignificance.

We married when I had just turned 22, and Mrs. PAC wasn’t quite 21. We will celebrate our 35th anniversary this summer. Other things being equal, I’d recommend people wait longer before making the commitment. But once the commitment is made, I think in most cases it’s possible to make it work, and work very well. People do change, but if the focus remains on actively loving the other, the change can be for the better, for the couple as well as the individual.

I love that man!

Louie Ostler September 18, 2000- November 11, 2010

2010-11-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

Louie is the only dog I have ever had, so I have none to compare him with, but in my opinion, he was a really good dog. He was patient beyond belief with Emaline who thought he was her personal plaything.

He was warm and loving and liked nothing better than to curl up next to someone who was watching TV or reading a book or napping. He had a big smile on his face while someone was walking him. He rarely barked and never bit anyone.

Today he left us quite unexpectedly. He hadn't been eating as well lately, but sometimes he did that. He wasn't chasing the ball quite as energetically either. But last night as I walked him he seemed just fine and happy to be outdoors cruising along at a brisk pace. This morning while I was drying my hair he came upstairs and collapsed on my bathroom floor, looking so pathetic and hardly breathing. I rushed him to the veterinarian. He had nodules (cancer) on his liver and spleen that had ruptured and he was bleeding out. He died without assistance from them. I said goodbye to him, sobbing hysterically. I never thought I would react that way, but for the first time, someone I was caring for, someone I was responsible for, someone who was relying on me to make it better, died.

I am glad that he didn't have to suffer for a long time. He was a good little baba (Rebecca's nickname for him) and will be greatly missed.

PSA

2010-10-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

The people at Starbucks lie. Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate IS DELICIOUS. They said it wasn't.

What brought about this PSA? I recently bought Pumpkin Spice Coffemate. While on my girl's weekend, we were at the airport Starbucks and KC ordered a "pumpkin steamer" which is just hot milk with the pumpkin flavoring. It was really good and so when I got home and saw the pumpkin coffeemate at the store so I bought it. I was telling Sarah about it and she said she asked the people at Starbucks once if they did a pumpkin hot chocolate and they said they tried it once and it wasn't good. Well, I'm here to tell you it is fabulous. Maybe not the way Starbucks does it, but mine was soooo good. Try it out if you like pumpkin and chocolate. And really, who doesn't. Add that to the White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice popcorn that Sarah sent for my birthday and I'm in hog (yes, indeed) heaven.

Your welcome.

an adventure

2010-10-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

This last week I did something I've never done before. I went on a "Girls Weekend." I know plenty of other people who have done this, and I've done a "Sisters Weekend," but for me this was a first.

It came about because two of my bike group girls (Sandy and Leslie) were going to BYU parent's weekend and they wanted to combine that trip with getting together with two women who used to live and bike here (Patti and Chris.) Another of the bike group girls (KC) was going to go as well. I had been invited to go, but was reluctant because I didn't really know the two Utah women and didn't want to feel out of place. But they talked me into it, and it was really fun. Let me just say that these women are amazing. They are strong. They are beautiful inside and out. Some have been through a lot. They have made it easy for me to adjust to our move two years ago by welcoming me into their midst.

We flew out Wednesday morning, and KC drove to the airport. She flies frequently and parks in the "premier" parking area which gets you right next to the airport and fast passes through the security line. Sweet! We stayed at Leslie's family's condo in Midway. Condo is misleading. It has six bedrooms. We met up with Chris and Patti, drove the Alpine loop and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors.

We hiked to a waterfall near Aspen Grove and had dinner at Sundance.

We giggled into the night and watched a chick flick and ate junk food. Thursday we rented a 6 person ATV and drove up into the area above Midway. I couldn't believe the colors of the aspens.

We acted like kids, driving through a stream that crossed the road over and over to get just the right picture.

Afterward we cleaned up and drove to SLC to a lacrosse game that KC's son was playing in. We came back to the condo and played games and ate and laughed some more.

On Friday we had breakfast at the Homestead and the BYU moms headed off. More talking and laughing. Later that day we picked up KC's son and friends and met up with Patti and her husband in Park City for dinner. My crown roast of beef ribs was amazing.

KC and I got a hotel room in SLC. They had very cool bathrobes for us to use.

Saturday I spent time with Becca. She treated me to breakfast for my birthday and I dragged her to a quilt store and a crafty and home decor place. It was fun to see her.

This whole outing seemed a very decadent thing to do, but Mark pointed out that it was one of the perks of being an empty nester. It sure was fun!

Donner Pass ride

2010-10-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

In 1960, Interstate 80 through the Tahoe area was begun and about 3 years later was completed. Prior to that time, the only way to get through the Sierras from Sacramento to Reno was Highway 40. As a child, Mark made that trip many times on the way to visit relatives in Utah. The road from Donner Pass to Donner Lake is steep with many switchbacks. This road existed long before guardrails were invented and Mark remembers seeing rusting wrecks that were once cars that had gone over the side. So it was a trip down memory lane for Mark to ride up that road once again. Only this time on our bikes.

We began at Donner Lake. This picture shows the mountain we are going to climb. The arrow points to a bridge.....

........ about a mile from the top. The bridge was built in the 1920's. If you look closely, you'll see Mark riding his bike:

The view from near the top:

We saw a lot of rock climbers up there as well. This picture has two arrows pointing to rock climbers.

Thanks to my telephoto lens, you can see these crazy people up close!

We stopped at a historical society marker in Soda Springs Station and the man there told us that before US80 was built they would get as many as 7,000 cars through their town a day.

It was a tough three mile climb, and then a fun downhill for about 12 miles. The only problem is that you have to ride back UP those 12 miles and then go down the three mile switchbacks which can be a bit scary. But not as scary as what I imagine rock climbing to be.

Road Trip2 - part 3

2010-09-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Whew! We've been home 3 days and I still haven't finished this post!

Picture of the grandkids with the quilt I made for them:

From the Denver area we headed southwest through the beautiful countryside of Colorado:

And ended up at my sister and brother-in-law's cabin which is 30 minutes from Durango. To call it a cabin is understated. I think it is more of a lodge, complete with 6 bedrooms, a loft, and a media room.

The view from the front deck:

It is beautifully decorated and they designed and furnished it themselves. In fact, my brother-in-law, the fabulous Terry made quite a few of the furnishings himself.

Yes, he MADE those chairs! Not bad for a dentist, right? And my sister, Mary Kaye, did a wonderful job of designing and decorating.

And who hasn't wanted an excuse to have this chandelier?

Besides the usual driving around and showing us the area, they took us on quads up steep mountain trails! We started by driving up towards Silverton, stopping at the summit to enjoy the view of Molas Lake:

Just past Silverton, we parked the truck and trailer at Eureka where there is an old mine. We were at about 9,000 ft. altitude.

Mary Kaye backing one of the quads off of the trailer:

From there we got on the two quads and drove up a rocky road to Animas Forks which is at about 11,000 ft. Animas Forks is a ghost town that was quite a thriving community in the late 1800's.

It had about 5 mines in the area,

many saloons, a jail,

homes and two assay offices. In one of the houses you could see remnants of wallpaper.

From there we took a trail that was once a stagecoach road up to Engineer Pass. We saw lots of other quads and some 4WD vehicles, but I would never drive a car up there. It was challenging to get up some of the hairpin turns with so many rocks and pits in the road.
I would have hated being in a stagecoach. The road is narrow and there is no room for a car to turn around. Once you start on that road, you are committed! We had much more flexibility on the quads. Near the top there were a line of 9 jeeps stopped because one of the jeeps had car trouble. They were trying to fix it. I mean, you are miles from civilization and no easy access for anyone to come help you, not to mention no cell phone coverage!

At the top there were beautiful views and it felt like the top of the world with all the other 14ers (or nearly so) surrounding you. Here we are at about 13,000 ft.

Engineer Pass was just under 13,000 ft:

The sky was so very blue and we were surrounded by beautiful scenery.

If you look closely, you can see a cabin and a waterfall. But how does one get to the cabin?!?

One of the days we were there, Mark and I went to Mesa Verde. Mary Kaye and Terry had been before, so they didn't accompany us. Mesa Verde has the remains of the cliff dwellings built by the Pueblo Indians. Truly amazing!

On our two day drive home we passed through Shiprock, NM and saw their big rock:

We stayed overnight in Laughlin, NV because Mark decided he needed to see it. It's just casinos by the Colorado river. We don't need to ever go back. This was our view from our window.

It was good to get home and sleep in our own bed, but we had a wonderful trip and appreciated the hospitality of Sarah and Joel, Mary Kaye and Terry.

Road Trip2 - part 2

2010-09-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

We've had a great time with our kids and grandkids. We got to go to Donovan's soccer game

and the BYU/Air Force game. It was fun to go to the BYU game, but the team played miserably and lost! Since it was 9/11 they handed out flags to everyone coming in the stadium:

And had a giant flag at halftime:

At the beginning of the game there was a flyover by some really cool planes (sorry I don't know what they were) and at halftime we were treated to a performance by their mascot, a falcon. We were told that it is the only performing mascot in college football. It was pretty hard to get a picture.

After the game we drove up to the Air Force campus to look around. The chapel is interesting:

We were able to meet up with a former seminary student of ours, Derek, who is a cadet at the Air Force Academy. He identified the different buildings for us and told us a little about what it is like to be in the Air Force. I know he was not the most diligent student in high school, so it was really fun to see him and see how well he is doing. He said he has a 3.8 gpa in college!

Road Trip 2

2010-09-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Taking the last child to college can be somewhat traumatic. To alleviate this, we decided that as long as there wasn't any reason to rush back, we'd hit the road and take our bikes along.

Our first stop (before dropping the boy off) was Provo, Utah where we attended the BYU women's soccer game (we won!). The next morning we met up with some of Mark's imaginary friends and rode the Alpine Loop which was about 40 miles and had much climbing. Here is the group at Sundance:

This is the back of Mt. Timpanogas:

That evening we attended the BYU Football home opener (we won!) and the next day headed to Rexburg. BYUI has a really nice campus and David's apartment seems nice:

However, coming back from the Walmart we saw this truck..... I debated whether to post this picture, but Mark and I were laughing so hard, I decided what the heck:

Because we were able to get David settled in one day and there were no further activities for parents, we decided to drive through Yellowstone. It was really fun and we got to add Montana to the list of states we've driven through, even if it was only a tiny corner. We have actually been in 7 states in the last 7 days!

We went through the west entrance, where this little town was:

Not too far into the park we saw:

We stopped to see Old Faithful and some of the other hot springs:

Further on we saw Yellowstone Lake, the largest mountain lake in North America:

We also saw the Grand Tetons from both sides.... the west side as we left Rexburg and the east side as we left Yellowstone and headed for Rock Springs.

We spent the night in Rock Springs and then drove to the Denver area to play with our grandchildren.

This and that

2010-08-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do a few separate posts about stuff, but have kept procrastinating, so now they are going to be lumped together.

1. Earlier this month I was the reviewer and hostess for my book club. This book club has been around for a long time.... about 27 years. Long before Oprah had a book club. There are very few of us who have been around for that long, but we are continually adding women. Others drop out or move away. It is an eclectic group. The book I was reviewing was "My Life in France" by Julia Child and I had warned the group that I was going to "go Julia" on them and to wear their pearls. I made beef bourguignon (just to give them a taste - not a whole meal) and chocolate mousse. I rented the DVD of her TV series "The French Chef" and showed a clip from that. I wore my mother's dress from the 50's. I forgot to take pictures, but here is a picture of my mother in the dress:

We had a great time discussing the book and shouting Bon Appetit!

2. A year ago I went to a quilt show and saw a Halloween quilt displayed there that I fell in love with. I bought the pattern and knew that I would never get it done in time for Halloween 2009, but decided to give myself a year to complete it. I got it back from the lady that does really intricate quilting for me and it looks fabulous:

Oh, and that quilt store I went to in Oregon? There was a quilt hanging there that I just had to make, so I came home and ordered the fabric and got the quilt top done. I can't wait to do the quilting myself on this one:

3. Last week David informed me that he needed glasses because he was always squinting. Nice of him to mention it just 10 days before we take him to college. But fabulous Costco came through for us and he picked these up yesterday:

The optometrist said that his vision wasn't terribly bad, but his astigmatism was and even though David told him he thought he just needed them for classwork, the doctor said he bet David would want to wear them all the time once he realized what he was missing. When David walked into the house with his glasses he was amazed at how good the world looked! He could see leaves on trees! Colors were brighter! Signs were readable! He said walking around Costco he couldn't stop smiling!

4. I can't even talk about the fact that my last child is leaving home. His car left with his older sister on Sunday morning and I came into the house and cried. It's really happening. Where did the time go? This was something I dreamed and fantasized about when in the throes of raising 6 kids. But it signals an end of an era for me. I am no longer a mother in that sense. Something that I have been on a daily basis for 34 years. It has been part of my identity as a person. It makes me sad and makes me feel old.

36

2010-08-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

I am very fortunate to have been married to this guy for 36 years. We thought we were in love then. And I guess we were in a twenty-something way. But just as you have no idea how much love you can feel for your children before you have them, you really have no idea how much love you can have for your spouse when you are first married. It is the accumulation of your experiences together, the joys and the heartaches and struggles that deepen that love.

We are planning on going for another 36 years of wedded bliss. Then we'll really know all about love. In the meantime, we'll have a lot of fun.

the ride

2010-07-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

We did it! And it was hard. The ride ended up being 90 miles and 5700-6000 feet of climbing, depending on whose Garmin we use! The last downhill was pretty sweet and my top speed was 40 mph. The other grandma in the group had a top speed of 48 mph. She is more daring than I.

This morning we got up early and I took this picture of Mt. Bachelor from our hotel balcony.

The group met at our hotel and we started off shortly after 8:00 am following a photo:

Since we were riding around Mt. Bachelor, we saw it from many angles:

After 20 miles of a steady uphill we stopped to regroup and take pictures. These are the boys that had BYU jerseys. (Notice Mt. Bachelor in the background.)

It was a really beautiful area for a ride. Yup, there's that Mt. Bachelor again.

That last picture I took while I was riding uphill. We returned to the hotel and had a post ride feast as a group. It's been a fun weekend. We've been out to dinner twice, seen two movies, shopped and rode 90 miles. I think we've accomplished a lot. I just wish I had had more time to go back to that quilt shop I liked....

road trip

2010-07-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

We are in Bend, Oregon. Why Bend, you may ask. Perhaps you remember last August when Mark and I rode around Lake Tahoe with Mark's "imaginary friends." Well, they are at it again.

The sports message board that Mark posts on has many avid cyclists. About 10 of them are joining us in Bend for a ride around Mt. Bachelor. It should be interesting. Eighty-eight miles and about 5,000 ft of climbing. But the last 18 miles are all downhill. More on that after we ride tomorrow.

Yesterday we drove up here and on the way stopped at Crater Lake. It was a beautiful day and scenery was wonderful. I took two pictures and used PSE8's Panoramic stitch function for this photo (click on it to see it full size!):

Last evening we settled into our hotel which is right next to the Deschutes River where it *bends* (thus the name of the town) and right next to what is called the Old Mill District. There are stores, restaurants, a cute bridge and parks in the Old Mill District. Oh and a movie theater complex. With a Ben & Jerry's next door. We couldn't be more ideally situated.

Above, our hotel is the tall building in the background. We have a room with a view!
We keep seeing these signs which we think are pretty funny:

After dinner, we walked around the area which felt good after being in the car all day. We brought flat Ainsleigh on this trip with us. If you don't know about the Flat Ainsleigh Project, go to Sarah's blog for all of her exciting adventures.

We took Flat Ainsleigh to France with us as well and soon those pictures will be on Sarah's blog, but we'll just post our pictures of Oregon here.

accidentally

2010-06-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

How ironic is this? I'm on my way with David to pick up Jeff's car from the auto body repair place (his car had been hit while parked in front of our house) and I get in an accident! I won't go into the boring details, but basically a woman tried to make a left turn in front of me without a clear view of me. I slammed on my brakes, but ended up hitting her. Her car received more damage than mine. David's comment was "of course, your car is a TANK!" Since I just happened to be going to an auto body shop, I got an estimate which was a little more than $1200 - cheap by car standards.

But the thing that irritates me the most is that in 40 years of driving, I've never been in an accident. (You can't count backing out of the garage and ripping the side-view mirror off, can you?) But now that record is ruined. Even if it wasn't my fault.

For some must push and some must pull

2010-06-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

When we moved from Fremont two years ago, we heard that they were going to do a pioneer "trek" with the youth. Mark, David, and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. We got out just in time, we said, and congratulated each other on our timing. After our friends went on trek they would talk about how hot it was (they actually had many heat stroke cases) but they always said it was such a great experience for the kids.

I didn't believe them. No thanks, I'd say to myself.

Then in January I heard that our stake was going on trek. I was approached about Mark and I becoming a "Ma" and "Pa". You see, one of the women in my bike group was (with her husband) the trail boss. I was less than enthusiastic and Mark? Not happening. I was also in the middle of the seminary year. Wasn't I sacrificing every morning with the youth already?

When it came right down to it, we couldn't think of a good excuse. Some of the couples chosen were ones we knew and liked (some from the bike group!) and so we agreed to go.

Each couple was asked to select a family name from either the Martin or the Willie handcart company to walk in honor of and find out a little about that family. That was easy for me since I have ancestors who were in the Willie handcart company.

Wednesday night the youth had a pack check at the church and all of their stuff was locked at the church. All they had to do was show up Thursday morning in their pioneer garb at 7 am. They would find out their "families" when we arrived at the trailhead. As I scanned the group of youth, I wondered who was in my family. What was I in for?

The kids were grouped together in families in a random fashion. Most didn't know each other very well or at all. They mixed age groups and wards. We had two girls who were just barely 14 and two that had just graduated from high school. There were a couple of kids from our ward that I knew, but no one from my seminary class. Some were quiet and some gregarious. But as they pulled their bandanas out of their trek bags which indicated which family they were in, many were so enthusiastic that it spread to the others.

We had a fabulous group of kids. They all were very hard workers, all helped push and pull the cart. They encouraged and complimented each other. We laughed and sweated together. They immediately started calling us Ma and Pa and they loved Pa's sense of humor. At campfire the first night, all of the Pas performed a silly song in front of all the kids and of course Mark really hammed it up. One of our girls told me later that as they were sitting in the audience, one of the girls behind her said, "That Pa in the black hat is really funny." She turned around and was very proud to say, "That's MY Pa!"

Each day along the trail, we would stop a couple of times for vignettes. These were adults who had taken on the persona of someone who had been in one of the handcart companies. They would tell their story in first person, having memorized their part. Some were so touching that the actor and many of the kids were in tears. It helped the youth understand the sacrifices and trials of these pioneers. It was extremely effective.

Each evening (and lunch stop) we had family time - time to reflect on the things we were doing and time for a devotional. The first night we waited until dark and Mark did an astronomy lesson for our family, pointing out stars and constellations. Then he tied it in with scriptures from the Pearl of Great Price when Moses is shown a vision and told "worlds without number have I created." When Moses feels small and insignificant, God tells him that of all his creations, man is his greatest.... "for this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The kids loved it. Some of the kids in the surrounding families were listening, too!

We slept under the stars - my first time since the 1960s. I can't say I slept well on trek, but waking in the middle of the night and seeing the Milky Way was pretty spectacular.

Each day we hiked an average of 6 miles up and down hills with that handcart which probably weighed .... 400 lbs, maybe 500? We had some rolling hills, but several 20-23% grades sometimes lasting a couple of miles. Going down that type of grade with a handcart is just as tough as going up. You are almost skiing behind that thing!

Friday morning Brigham Young came into camp as we were all packed up and ready to go and announced that he needed all of the males for the Mormon Battallion (this was a vignette which talked about that whole situation) and the girls were left to pull the handcarts by themselves. The men marched off. Before the women left for the women's pull we had another vignette about Capt. Hunt's wife and about her having to bury one of her 7 month old twins along the trail. She had us all in tears. As we pushed the handcart the girls commented on how much more difficult it was without the boys.

We had a steep climb for the women's pull and the boys were at the top, just having to watch the girls struggle with the handcarts on their own. It was very moving for them and they were dying to come and help. When their family got to a certain place, they were allowed to go and help and they rushed in.

I had been so skeptical about trek, but I have got to say I have learned some things. We had it so much easier than the pioneers. (I already knew that part.) We had food, good weather, good shoes, only 3 days, etc. But the kids got that--they knew they had it easier, but they became much more appreciative of the sacrifice and faith of the pioneers. They understood that they have their own uphill battles to face, but that the same God that helped the pioneers is there to help them with their struggles. They learned that they can become lifelong friends and very close with a family they've only been in for 3 days because they worked together and that a positive attitude can make a difference. I think that the clothing and handcart play significant roles. The clothing equalized everyone.... we all looked the same and not all that attractive. We didn't have designer clothes or jewelry. The handcart kept everyone in the family together, working hard and encouraging each other. On our lunch break on the last day, we went around the family circle and asked then to tell us one thing they had learned from trek. One boy said that on scout trips he usually hiked by himself, which is nice because it gives him time to think, but he liked the feeling it gave him of being in a group working on a common goal. That was why the handcart was important.

None of my children have been on a trek. David had just gotten a job and we didn't feel like we could have him take off since we'd just been to France. Now I wish I had had him go. If you have a chance to go, do it. Encourage your children to go. It has been such a positive experience for these kids and for us.

I know you are skeptical. I was.

Here are some pictures of our family:

The girls and their Pa:

One of the girls had to leave early for a dance recital, so we put up a cross in honor of her "death."

I forgot to mention that one of the last kids to arrive at the staging area was Forrest. I knew him by sight from seminary. He moved to our stake in January. I told Mark that he was a big kid - like a football player. When he arrived, I said to Mark who was loading the handcart, "Oh, there's Forrest." Mark looked up and did a double take. Forrest is 6'7" and weighs about 280. Mark felt like he had won the first round pick in the trek draft! But the best thing about Forrest is that he has a big heart and really is a gentle giant.

Some of the hills:

It seems like just yesterday

2010-06-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

How did this boy

grow up so fast?

Wasn't it just yesterday that he graduated from Tiny Tots?

Last night, he graduated from high school.

I have packed my last school lunch. I wonder how many I have done in the last 29 years?

Mark was nearly 40 years old when David was born and he was worried he'd be attending David's graduation in a walker.... I mean, it sounded so far away and we'd be so OLD! I don't think Mark ever imagined that the morning of graduation, he would ride 40+ miles on his bike. And earlier in the week he ran 4 miles. Not even close to a walker!

Day 11 - Paris

2010-06-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Today was hot, probably over 85 degrees. It was very crowded in Paris today (as it is on weekends) and I couldn't imagine what it would be like in August when it was hot and even more crowded. And the smell of body odor is powerful here. I don't know, maybe it's like that in New York, too, but I haven't been in NYC when it was hot.

We began the day with a quick look at La Place des Vosges. It was in an apartment that overlooks this square that Victor Hugo penned "Les Miserables."

Next, the Louvre.

We saw the usual tourist things: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory. I like the Rubens room because I did a paper on him for my Humanities class in college. David was amazed at the size of some of the paintings that we saw.

For lunch (I had some delicious Lasagna Bolognese - so creamy and cheesy)we sat at some tables that faced a little square.

Pretty soon some musicians came and set up and played some very good classical music.

David was quite bothered by the women who chain-smoked at the table in front of us. Smoke really effects his allergies. It is surprising how many people smoke here.

Next stop, St. Chappelle and Notre Dame. (I posted a picture of the outside yesterday.) Lots of people and a long line at St. Chappelle. But after Chartre it was a bit disappointing. The stained glass was pretty, but I liked Chartre better. In Notre Dame an organist was practicing bits and pieces of songs, but I really wanted him/her to really launch into something awesome.

We came back to our rooms for an hour or so break (getting soft, I know) and then headed to the Arc du Triomphe.

We climbed the 284 steps to the top for some fabulous views.

We ate dinner at a restaurant on the Champs Elysses and had a great meal! I had chicken fricassee which I don't think I've ever had before. Mark and David had escargot for starters.

We had some wonderful desserts, too.

All in all a most satisfying meal. We hopped onto the metro and got to the Eiffel Tower for our 10 pm reservation.

Sorry this post is just sort of listing what we did and not terribly interesting, but I think I've run out of steam and ready to make the trip home tomorrow. Au revoir.

Day 10 - Driving from Sarlat to Paris, stopping at Vaux le Comte, Seine Cruise

2010-06-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

Driving into Paris. Gave us problems 8 years ago. Gave us problems today.

Let me back up. We left the Sarlat area around 10:00 am after stopping at a little boulangerie (mmm chocolate éclair, baguettes, pan a chocolat, croissant.) The three of us munched happily, looking forward to completing the 5+ hour drive to a place outside of Paris called Vaux le Comte.

Vaux le Comte is a huge palace? estate? built by an up and coming finance minister to King Louis XIV by the name of Foquet. He had this great idea to raze a village and put 8,000 peasants to work on building a fabulous house complete with moat, grand canal, and gardens. He hired a master architect and garden planner and really did it up fabulous. He wanted to honor King Louis and had a party in his honor while also unveiling his grand achievement. Louis was a bit jealous of Foquet’s house, took some notes on how to make Versailles like it only better, and had Foquet arrested. There was some French intrigue amongst some competing politicos and some question about where the finance minister got so much money. Foquet ended up in prison for 19 years, where he died.

Or something like that. Anyway, he had pretty impressive digs:

We felt pretty good that we finished looking around by 5:00 pm and our GPS lady said we’d be at our hotel in 40 minutes. That was before we got stuck in traffic (I don’t know, Friday night+rush hour+Paris, what does that equal?) and she said “recalculating” about a billion times. We finally made it to the hotel by about 6:45 pm where Mark dumped David and I with all of our stuff (and his) at the curb while he went in search of a gas station (in the middle of Paris, you ask? What folly) and then to the rental car return place which was supposed to be within walking distance of the hotel. The GPS lady led him to one supposed gas station, but there was nothing there except construction. With only fumes to go one he finally made it to a gas pump at the curb and then on to the rental place. He managed to get to the hotel around 8:30.

Things got better, however, as we walked quickly from the hotel for a couple of miles (it seemed) past Notre Dame

to the Pont Neuf where we grabbed some sandwiches and waited for the 10 pm Seine cruise. There were a bunch (thousands?) of 20-something people lining the river enjoying the weather and a Friday night. It got up into the 80’s today, so the evening was absolutely lovely. We saw some beautiful sights (and a not so beautiful rear end as a guy mooned us from the shore).

If you’ve seen the Jason Bourne movies you will recognize the Samaritane:

And the Pont Neuf:

The Eiffel Tower, of course:

Tomorrow is our last day in France and we will drag David around to as many sites in Paris as possible!

Day 9 - Biking and Canoeing on the Dordogne

2010-06-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful, sunny day and we had much to accomplish! Because where Mark is concerned, the longer the list of things seen and done, the better. Just ask my kids. Laura will shudder if you say "Paris Death March." (That will come in a few days, although this time we won't do Versailles, the Louve, Arc du Triomphe and Eiffel Tower in one day.... we'll leave off Versailles!)

Mark and I went out on the bikes this morning for a 33 mile ride. This area is quite hilly, and after yesterday's ride David was a bit saddle sore, so he stayed home to work on his homework. I think the pictures will speak for themselves. It was a really enjoyable ride. There are so many beautiful wildflowers. These poppies are on the side of the road everywhere we go:

Wildflowers in the field and a castle on the hill. It doesn't get any better than that.

We ended up in downtown Sarlat where we visited a shop to buy some goodies for Nancy. She really helped Mark plan for this trip and gave us some great suggestions. I forgot to mention that when we dined in Sarlat the other night, both David and I tried foie gras with a pear sauce. I can't say I love it, sorry Nancy, but at least I tried it. Then we had a long climb back up to the place we are staying just outside of Sarlat.

This afternoon we spent on the Dordogne River. Mark and I were in a canoe and David had a kayak. We began our 10 mile paddle at Vitrac. It was a picturesque trip:

We stopped in La Roque Gageac which some people call the cutest town in France. We had a late lunch/early dinner and walked around the town a bit. The town in built right up next to the cliffs.

Here is a picture of the church. Notice the windows in the rock just above the roof:

Here is a close-up:

Here is another picture of the town. There is a fort high above built into the rock.

Here is a close-up:

A house built into the rock:

I would have to agree that it is a REALLY cute town. This chateau was built in the 19th century, so not all that old, but very pretty.

Along our way on the river we saw some other fortresses/chateaus. We saw Castelnaud from the river (the one we biked to yesterday) and also had a better view of the one at Beynac:

We landed at Beynac and drove home. They sure knew how to use rocks around here. Tomorrow we drive to Paris.

Day 8 - La Roque St. Christophe, Castelnaud bike ride

2010-06-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Upon opening the shutters this morning, we were greeted by sunshine! We were very excited. It was nice to see blue skies and white puffy clouds for a change.

We got in the car and started driving. This is one of the random chateaux that we passed:

We decided to visit La Roque St. Christophe. This area (the Dordogne) is covered with huge limestone cliffs jutting out of the river valley. Many of these cliff areas are sites of former civilizations who have utilized the rock formations as part of their villages. Houses used today are often built with the rock being the back wall.

As we approached La Roque, the site was impressive.

It was a five level fortress and it was a handy place to hide when the Vikings came pillaging and plundering. The villagers could gather up their families and climb up to the upper caves and take their ladders up with them, keeping them high above their enemies.

After returning the the house, we grabbed a quick lunch/snack and headed off on the bikes we had rented. They are hybrids and have seats that have some suspension to them which is handy on some of the backroads here. We rode 28 miles, circling down to the Dordogne River, stopping in Beynac
to find out more about the canoes we are going to rent tomorrow, and then continuing across the river to Castlenaud high on a hill. And yes, we rode UP there. The views from the top were spectacular.

I'm a little frustrated with this stupid program... I can't seem to make the pictures land where I want them to. Above is a picture of David and I as we pedal along with Les Milandes in the background. It is a chateau that Josephine Baker owned during the '30's and '40's.

Day 7 - Font de Gaume, Chateau de Commarque, old town Sarlat

2010-06-02T01:27:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be fun to do some cycling in this area, so Mark had arranged with a man to rent some bikes while we are here. He happens to be British, so language was not a problem and he brought the bikes this morning complete with maps of routes we might take and sights we might like to see. The problem was the weather. It has continued to rain, so we had to scrap the idea of riding today.

About 4 months ago, Mark made reservations for us at Font de Gaume. It is the last cave in Europe with multicolored (3 colors) prehistoric cave paintings still opened to the public.

This cave only lets in 200 people a day because of the damage carbon dioxide does to the paintings. These paintings have been dated and they are 15,000 years old. Some also have parts of the painting etched into the rock. The paintings are very light and I probably wouldn't have noticed them if the guide, with his laser pointer, hadn't pointed them out. The lights they use in the cave are very dim, to protect the paintings I suppose. Mostly the pictures we saw were of bison with a few reindeer and horses thrown in. Here is David at the entrance of the cave:

This area seems to have a lot of very rocky terrain, but still lots of green woodsy areas. Following our visit to the cave, we visited a chateau ruin recommended by our bicycle guy. It isn't really on the tourist route, but we enjoyed Chateau de Commarque immensely.

We parked and then walked about 600 meters (David thought it was a longer walk than that, but that's what the sign said) down to the ruins. Can I just say here that the forests are amazing? The trees are SO close together. It really illustrates the fact that you had to have a road or path through the forests in order to get through it. It also illustrates that one could get lost in the forest very easily.

Emerging from the forest, we saw this:

Across the field you can see carved into the rock, holes that would have held the cross beams for the village that once existed next to the chateau.

I love walking around ruins and trying to imagine what it must have looked like in times gone by. It is amazing how they have integrated the rock into their structures.

You can see where the steps must have gone up.

The neighboring chateau across the valley:

An arrow slit:

Mark on top of the highest lookout point:

In the evening we went into the medieval part of Sarlat. It was a perfect time of day because there weren't very many people and it had stopped raining.

Town square:

David sits by the "boy of Sarlat" a bronze statue on the wall overlooking the square:

This region is noted for it's walnuts and fois gras.

Day 6 - Nevers to Sarlat, stopping in Oradour

2010-06-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Today we did a lot of driving and it was raining as well, so it was a dreary day. The dreariness was emphasized in our stop at Oradour.

On June 10, 1944, German soldiers entered the village of Oradour and rounded up all of the inhabitants, 642 men, women, and children. Without explanation, they separated the women and children from the men and put the women and children in the church.
They tried to gas them by putting a bomb in the church, but it didn't work well and SS decided to shoot the women and children.
This is a list of the men from the village who died in World War I. Notice the bullet holes:
The men were separated into several groups and put in different barns under armed guard. Oradour had never been suspicious of being involved in the Resistance, nor of any other violence toward the Germans. But on this day, for no apparent reason, the SS killed all of the men, women and children and burned the town. Some of the people were only wounded, but burned to death as a result of the fires.

I counted 7 or 8 sewing machines. I guess everyone had one.

The town is a monument now, with a new town built next to it. This is the town cemetery:
This is a field of wildflowers that has grown around the ruins.
We drove on to Sarlat to a 2 bedroom house that Mark rented. The couple who owns it lives in the downstairs apartment. It is very nice and clean and cheaper than two hotel rooms would be. We’ve actually rented it for the week but are only using it 4 nights and it still is less! It is quite adorable:

Day 5 - Ride Day

2010-05-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

Upon awakening, we opened our curtains to check the weather: raining and wind blowing. Checking on the internet, it said there would be light rain all day and winds from 13-17 mph. Ouch. Originally, Mark and I intended to ride the 100 mile route and David would ride the 50 mile route. From the beginning I had some misgivings about David riding alone in a foreign country, but we had arranged for him to have cell phone coverage in Europe as well as Mark’s phone. But with the weather, we decided that we would all ride the 50 mile route together. That way, if it got unbearable, we could all bail together.

Outside the hotel the VIP group of cyclists gathered for picture taking. Everyone looked like serious cyclists. The way I tell serious cyclists is when they have words on their jerseys AND shorts. That was my first clue that this was going to be a completely different ride than I had been on before. With our new attire we looked the part. Hah!

Start time for the 100 mile bike ride (162K) began at 8:30 am. Leading off the pack was Laurent Jalabert and Bernard Hinault, two of the most famous names in French cycling. Everyone had been given ankle straps with chips in them (like for marathons, etc.) that would record the time you left the start and returned. That was my second clue that we might be in over our heads! In the organized rides we’ve done, you just start within about a 30 minute period of time and it’s more laid back. Also the demographics are very different. This ride was about 95% men and a much younger crowd. At the dinner the night before we had learned that many would finish the 100 miles in 5 hours or less. That includes any time off the bike.

The start time for the 50 miles route (82K) was at 9:00 am. We began and were with a very large group.

We were riding though the downtown areas of Nevers and had gendarmes stopping traffic for us which was fun. On an incline, David shifted out of his big gear and dropped his chain. We stopped and put it back on, but by that time the group had whizzed on by. We followed along what we thought was the route, but because of stupidity on our part in not realizing that the streets were marked on the asphalt with arrows, we became lost. It also started raining harder. They had not provided us with turn by turn instructions like we have had in other rides, but Mark knew some of the names of the towns we were supposed to go through, so we headed in the direction of one of those towns using the road signs. At that point I was glad that we were with David, but worried that the rain and the uncertainty of where in the heck we were would diminish the enjoyment for him. I shouldn’t have worried.

After about 16 miles, we realized that we were going in exactly the opposite direction of the route, as cyclists started whizzing past us going the other way. But we wanted to ride at least 50 miles so we continued on, meandering through the French countryside and towns, calling out “bonjour” to the people we saw who would call out to us in French. We had no idea what they were saying. Probably something like, “you stupid idiots, you’re not supposed to be in our town, you are going the wrong way!” By this point the rain had stopped and the sun even managed to break through, so we were much happier. The wind was still a factor, however.

We rejoined the ride and headed back to Nevers. At one point, David got ahead of us on a fast downhill and we weren’t sure he made the sharp left turn so we spent some time looking for him. We were glad to have cell phones.

At the rest stop, some of the groups from the 182K were coming through:

The rest stop was at the bottom of a climb and after that group went through, we started up and were passed by another large group. Man, they go fast. It made me nervous having so many whizzing past me while I’m cranking uphill. Oh, and let me interject here that I really hated the components on my bike. It is a famous maker that starts with a “C” (but I’m not mentioning brands, remember?). I could not keep it in my easiest gear without holding the shift lever all the way over the whole time. Also it would shift to a harder gear whenever it felt like it. I was not impressed and more than a little frustrated. I also think our tires were under inflated, but we had packed our CO2 cartridges in our carry-on and they had been confiscated at the airport! The last thing I will whine about is that after more than half of the ride I discovered that my front brakes were causing drag on the front wheel - when I tried to spin the tire, it would stop! Not good. It is always hard to ride a new bike. One guy we met from V*elo News said he never rides an unfamiliar bike. He always brings his with him. (He did the ride in 5 hours.)

This area is so lush and green, it is truly amazing. I love the white cows we keep seeing in the fields (right behind Mark.) They are called Charolais cows.

We stopped many times to take pictures, it seemed that there were so many gorgeous places I probably could have stopped more, but then I would have never finished! David actually finished about 20 minutes before us. He absolutely loved the ride, thought it was perfect, actually, and now wishes he had a nice bike.

The last climb into the old city:

Notice the rough brick street – not fun on a bike!

Our total mileage was 100K (62 miles) so we sort of did our own bike ride. We're calling it La Ostler.

Ending spot for the ride:

The young man that handled all of the arrangements for us (Pierre) greeted us at the end. David had admired the t-shirt Pierre was wearing with the company logo and before we knew it David had one to take home. He also scored a company jacket which is not sold in stores:

He keeps speaking with a French accent and wishes he had taken French in high school.

Day 4 - Chartres, Nevers

2010-05-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

We left La Ducrie this morning and headed to Chartres Cathedral. Mark had read about an old English gentleman who gave really good tours of the Cathedral. When he had mentioned this to his sister, Nancy, she said Malcolm Miller (the guide) had given her semester abroad group a tour 35 years ago! So I guess he knows his stuff.

We raced to make it to the Cathedral by noon. We followed our GPS lady’s instructions, but we became concerned about the route she had chosen for us. We seemed to be going along many country roads. This was nice for seeing quaint French towns, but we were under a time crunch. It dawned on us that we needed to change the setting on the GPS from “shortest route” to “fastest route.” We didn’t have a good map of France, also a mistake. We remedied that at Chartres. (pictured below)

Our tour with Mr. Miller was very good. He pointed out lots of architectural details and talked about the building of the Cathedral. Then he explained some of the stained glass windows. I just love stained glass windows. He pointed out one stained glass window depicting in panels the story of the Good Samaritan. In the same window is the story of Adam.

I remember reading an article in BYU Magazine years ago about this very window. The author of that article and Mr. Miller both emphasized how in medieval times everyone realized the connection between those two stories. The parable of the Good Samaritan is about Man’s journey to earth. Going down from Jerusalem (heaven) to Jericho (earth) he falls among thieves (sin). The Samaritan (hated, shunned) takes him to an inn (gospel) where his wounds are taken care of (repentance) by the innkeeper. The Samaritan gives the innkeeper money to take care of him and promises to return in 3 days to pay the debt (atonement). That’s just a brief summary, but you get the idea. Here is part of the Good Samaritan panel.

Here is part of the Adam panels:

I also love the sculptures on the sides of the doorways. Here is one with (from left) Melchizedek, Abraham (with Isaac), Moses, Aaron, and David. Did you know that the outside sculptures reflect the subject matter of the stained glass windows that are just inside on the same wall? I didn't!

Back in the car again, this time with a map AND GPS, we headed to Nevers. The main reason for this trip is because we have been invited to participate in Mark’s client’s bike ride. Headquarters for this company is in Nevers, France and this is where the ride will take place. We are considered VIPs for this event, which is always good. I will forgo mentioning the name of the bicycle company (learned a lesson from the car rental company’s comments on my blog!) but you’ll be able to tell from the pictures.

When we got to our hotel rooms, it was like Christmas morning! Our bikes that they were providing us with were in our rooms as well as a gift bag for each of us containing new bike outfits and water bottles. Here is a picture of Mark and David looking very tough:

Our hotel is right next to the Loire River. Here is a view from our window:

We attended a dinner for all of the VIP. There were a few other English speakers who sat with us, including the president of the company and his wife. This was another very long dinner with all of the courses (cheese course comes just before dessert!) and we promised David that it would be the last long dinner he’d have to sit through. But he’s been doing well and has been such a good sport.

Oh, and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

Day 3 - D-Day

2010-05-29T15:56:00.001-07:00

Today was an incredible day. Eight years ago, when we were here in Normandy with Jeff, Laura, and Rebecca, Mark worked up his own tour of the D-Day sites for us and he is very knowledgeable about World War 2 information. But this time he decided to sign us up for a guided tour by an Englishman who has spent his life, really, immersed in the history of D-Day.

La Ducrie

David with a friend at La Ducrie

We began our day by having breakfast in the sunroom at La Ducrie. Ducks and black swans waited outside the glassed-in porch for their breakfast. We then hopped in the car and drove to Ste. Mere Eglise where we met our guide, Elwood. Elwood lives in a house that faces the church and town square. He took us in and gave us about an hour lesson on the historical events leading up to the invasion as well as information about the landing, the things that went wrong, and the things that miraculously went right.

Paratroopers were dropped over the inland areas of Normandy in the night before the invasion on June 6, 1944. Pilots miscalculated where they were and many paratroopers were dropped in the wrong place. Ste. Mere Elgise is the site of a famous miscalculation. Germans occupied the town and when they saw the paratroopers dropping (and heard the planes overhead) a battle broke out. One paratrooper was caught by his parachute on the spire of the church and hung there for two hours as bullets flew around him, pretending to be dead. They have a parachute and fake paratrooper on the church now. Only three men survived that drop.

We visited a museum with lots of weapons, uniforms, an airplane, a glider, a tank, etc. from the battle over Ste. Mere Eglise. Along with Mark, David, and I, we had three others in our group. One couple were both in the Navy and each had been a commander of a ship, so they were very knowledgeable. After our museum visit, Elwood showed us his own collection in an upper room of his house. He had rows and rows of military helmets of both Germans and Allies. He also had different types of guns, uniforms, and other equipment. Very often during his ongoing lectures he would ask questions to test how much we knew, and as he held up one of his guns, he asked if anyone knew what kind it was. David answered correctly. Apparently playing Call of Duty has its advantages!

After a lunch break, we piled into Ellwood’s van and headed for the beaches. Our first stop was Utah Beach. This was a fairly successful landing. We had been told about how the Allies wanted to land at mid-tide so as to reduce the distance from the landing crafts to the embankments, however, it turned out that it was low tide when they landed and because of artillery fire, most of the boats didn’t go in far enough which meant that many men drowned before they even got to the beach and then there was about 200 yards of beach to cross (and to be shot at).

The Germans had fortified the beaches by dropping “Hedgehogs” along the beaches from Brittany to Belgium – 10 million of them. These were placed down at low tide, preventing boats from coming in at high tide (damage the bottoms) or mid-tide (block their path).

Our next stop was Pont du Hoc. This is between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. It was a natural stronghold and believed to be impossible to assault.

There were many cement emplacements (widerstandnest – German, meaning “stand against) and very big guns that could hit either beach. The assignment to scale the cliffs were given to the Army rangers, but thought to be an impossible task. They were successful. They were helped by British bombers who dropped 2,000 lb. bombs creating huge holes that create an undulating terrain and two destroyers who came down from Utah Beach after that assault was successful.

We next visited Omaha Beach, which was the site depicted in the movie “Saving Private Ryan.” It is a HUGE beach and stretches for a couple of miles. More than 2,000 men died on the beach at Omaha and survivors have said that the sand was red with the blood of those men.

Our last stop on our tour was the American Cemetery. It is reserved for those who died in combat or wounds from combat sustained during June through August of 1944. It is moving to walk through and see those crosses and Jewish stars all lined up and realize that each of those represents a mother who had to be told that her son would not be returning home.

At the American Cemetery there is a wall with names of the MIAs from this assault:

When we returned to Ste. Mere Eglise, we described to Elwood the problem we had been having with our rental car GPS and he confirmed what we suspected – that it was probably the cigarette lighter fuse that needed to be replaced. (Yes, we had already called Hertz customer service who suggested that we return the car to Paris for a new one. Um, that would be about a 3 hour drive….) We asked Elwood if there was a place in the small town of Ste. Mere Eglise where we could go for help. He recommended Olivier at the local Renault place, so with a hand-drawn map in hand, off we went. Olivier was most helpful, found the fuse box, replaced the fuse and charged us 1 Euro! Within 10 minutes we were on our way with a working GPS.

Upon returning to La Ducrie, we quickly changed clothes and joined the other 8 guests and our hosts for gourmet night. Viv is an excellent cook, and we were served “nibbles” to start in the sunroom and were introduced to the 4 couples that were also staying at La Ducrie. Apparently they all worked together at one time in New Jersey, about half of them were British, and some had returned to Britain.

They rest of the food was delicious as well. My salad was beautiful.

We had a sorbet to cleanse the palate, then a lovely beef, potato, and asparagus dish, a cheese course, and some yummy desserts. David was quite a hit with them all. He tried out his British accent on them (remember that Joe and Viv are also British) and they thought he was quite entertaining. There was much laughter (it helped that they had a fair amount of alcohol as well) and they all decided that David should go into the theatre.

We began the hors d’oeuvres about 7:30 pm and finished dinner just before midnight!

Day 2

2010-05-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

This morning Mark went to the car rental place and got us car with a Garmin navigation system as an add-on. We headed for a little market and bought 2 baguettes, butter, water, clementines, and a yogurt and hit the road for Rouen.

In Rouen, there is a cathedral called Notre Dame (not THE Notre Dame) that Monet painted in different light over 30 times.

In it is the tomb of Richard the Lionheart – but it only has his heart in it. Apparently, the remainder of his body is in England. We also saw the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. It has kind of a modern church and plaza to mark the spot.

We walked around the downtown area for a while and also went into a little courtyard that was the site of a plague cemetery.

The surrounding buildings are decorated with skeletons and bones carved into the timbers. Many of the houses are half-timber in design.

There is also a very old clock with only one hand. In the olden days, no one really cared about minutes, just hours, so only one hand on the clock was needed.

We left Rouen and shortly thereafter our Garmin said the battery was low and eventually died. We had it plugged into the cigarette lighter, but I guess it wasn’t getting any juice. So we got off the freeway at Caen, found our way to the center of town and went into the TI office (tourist information) and asked where we might find a Hertz car rental place. We were directed to go to the train station and after a very long time looking and asking, Mark was finally given a new navi. He pointed out that it might not be the navi, but rather the car, but the young lady knew nothing about cars and shooed him away with a new navigation system in hand.

The countryside is so green and lush here. Very beautiful. Our stop in Caen was a 1 ½ hour detour, so we got back on the road trying to make Mont St. Michel before it was too late to see it. Luckily, it doesn’t get dark here until about 10:00 pm and we arrived shortly before 7:00 pm.

It was fun to walk around this quaint little fortress/city/abbey. One last bus was leaving the parking lot on the west side of the causeway when we arrived. As we left about an hour later the parking lot had disappeared under the incoming tide. Because the causeway is built up on higher ground, the incoming tide no longer makes Mont St. Michel an island. One good thing about arriving so late in the day was that there was hardly anybody walking around, so it was like we had the place to ourselves.

We had a quick dinner in the neighboring town and then drove an hour to our lodgings for the next two night, La Ducrie. On the way, the navigational system ran out of battery again. It is definitely a problem with the car.

La Ducrie is a charming chateau (with a mote!) B&B built around the 1400s and is run by a British couple. We stayed here in 2002. More on La Ducrie and the beaches of Normany tour tomorrow.

Bonjour!

2010-05-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Today Mark, David and I flew in to Paris. We arrived just before 5:00 pm (local time). We flew British Airways and the day before we left, their employees walked out on strike. Fortunately, our flight was not canceled. That would have been a real damper on our trip. Mark was able to snag perfect seats for us. He and David had unfettered leg room. Our flight left at 7:30 pm from SFO and we were dead tired. The night before our trip I only got about 3 hours of sleep. I was busily finishing up David’s collage for grad nite which I had to turn in before I left. That, coupled with the fact that I was making cinnamon rolls and quiche for my last morning at seminary (hurrah!), made it hard to get sleep time. But we slept well on the plane even though we were flying coach.

After arriving here in Paris, we checked into an airport hotel, went to the ATM, walked to a Creperie for dinner, and tomorrow the adventure begins!

Granddaughter fun

2010-05-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

I should have posted this sooner….. right after Rebecca’s graduation, Allison and her family came for a visit. They were here for Mother's Day, which was wonderful. This visit prompted Rebecca and Laura to make a trek home to join in the fun. We certainly missed having Sarah, et al with us! Miss Annabelle made her debut appearance for Mark, David, Rebecca, Jeff and Jess. She was such a good baby and we all declared her the easiest baby ever. (In this picture her hands are blurry due to madly flapping.)

Emaline was her regular charming self and full of energy. Every time Rebecca and Laura sat down on the couch, she’d say “So, what are we going to do now, guys?” We really loved having our granddaughters here. We enjoyed Allison & Dave, of course, but having the chance to read to, squeeze, and tickle two little girls was fabulous.

Five down, one to go

2010-05-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we flew to SLC to see Rebecca graduate from the University of Utah. She received her Bachelor of Nursing and we couldn't be prouder. When she first said she wanted to major in nursing, I smiled and nodded, but in my head, I thought, "Really? Because in high school I thought you hated science." I wasn't sure she had it in her, but I'm glad I didn't discourage her because she's done fabulously and absolutely loves the work. So, three cheers for our fifth college grad!

Another century

2010-04-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Last Friday afternoon, Mark and I loaded up bikes and gear and drove down to Paso Robles so that we could participate in the W*ildflower C*entury on Saturday. That evening we met up with Vicki, Leslie & Sandy from my bike group for dinner. The excuse for the chocolate mousse cake was that we were carbo-loading!

Saturday morning we got up earlier than we wanted to because the person next door got up at 4:30 am and turned on their TV loudly. By 7:05 we had driven the 30 minutes to Creston where the ride would begin. Creston is a small town and when 3500 cyclists descend upon it, it is a sight to behold. My college roommate was riding that day, too, but because of no cell phone coverage, we never could find each other!

The five of us began the ride about 7:20 am in a very wet fog... but by about 10:30 am we were seeing blue sky. It was a pretty tough ride with 6500 ft of climbing, but we finished in just under 7 hours riding time which put us averaging 14 mph. That was our goal. The bad thing about that much climbing is that it seems like you are always going uphill--long steady climbs and then downhills that end too quickly. But then, I guess life is like that too.

The last 10-15 miles were particularly hard because we were riding into a headwind, my butt was tired of sitting on what felt like an axe by that point, and my feet were burning. We drove the 3 hours home and showered and got into the hot tub which made us feel much better! We met a man who was 70 years old riding along. I hope I can still be riding at that age.

Spring Break

2010-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time in Denver this last week. The main reason I went was because our first grandchild was getting baptized. But I always like an excuse to squeeze grandchildren. Ainsleigh's baptism was timed perfectly since our schools were on spring break which meant no seminary. I had made her a dress and a quilt for her birthday/baptism. She was delighted with both. It is always fun to do ordinary things with Ainsleigh, Donovan, and Gemma like walking Ainsleigh to school, baking cookies with the kids, playing and reading books with Gemma, going to Donovan's soccer game, we even colored Easter eggs after Easter... Oh, and getting together with my sister, Cheryl and her daughters Lisa & Lindy for lunch. Mark and David came on Thursday and they went with everyone (except Gemma & I) to the movies. So all and all, a fun week.

Gemma thinks she's supposed to EAT the egg instead of coloring it.

Grandma, Ainsleigh, and quilt

Go Dono!

PSA

2010-04-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

Important things to try:
1. SweeTart Jelly Beans - loved SweeTarts as a kid, love jelly beans. Combined? Delicious.
2. "Life" on Discovery Channel. Sort of a Planet Earth with Oprah Winfrey narrating. I loved "Wild Kingdom" when I was a kid and continue to find nature shows fascinating.
3. "Who Do You Think You Are?" - TV show airing Friday nights. It takes one celebrity a week and finds out details about one or two of their ancestors that they weren't previously aware of. Very touching.

That's all for now.

I did it!

2010-03-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

(Note This post is mostly for my sister, Bonnie, who understands my joy. Mark tried to be joyful, but he just doesn't get it.)

I wish I could call my mother and tell her how clever I was today. She always loved the idea of being clever. And she was when it came to sewing. I called her after I made my first quilt block and she rejoiced in my cleverness.

I have been making quilt tops for 11 years and then sending them out to various quilt ladies to do the quilting. My sister, Bonnie, has done some beautiful quilting on the quilts she has made with her sewing machine (which is just like mine!) But I never liked the bulkiness and (my) awkwardness of doing it on my machine.

Two weeks ago, the fabulous Wendy and I went to an all day class in San Mateo to learn how to quilt on a long-arm quilting machine. This quilt shop offered lessons (for a fee) and then allows you to rent time on their long-arm. Which is good because they are VERY expensive to buy. The quilt, batting, and backing are attached to the frame and the sewing machine is mounted on rollers, so that the machine moves instead of the quilt. Kind of like driving a car. You guide the machine as it sews.

Today I took two quilts over to the shop for my first try and Wendy offered to come along as moral support and to help me get the quilts onto the frame. A true friend! I just did a random swirl pattern of stitching all over the quilts as a beginner. It's not that easy to drive the machine through loops and swirls and make them look even and random at the same time. I got two smaller sized quilts done in 3 1/2 hours! The first one I did was a quilt top I've had done for over a year. (Yes, Sarah, it's finally done!)

And the other is a quilt top I posted a picture of a couple of posts ago, and now I have quilted.

The back:

I like the idea of being able to make a whole quilt from start to finish. It's actually quite liberating besides being less expensive than paying someone else to quilt it for you. I certainly don't have the artistic talent that my current quilt lady has, but for now I am satisfied. And I think my mother would be too.

Happy Birthday, David!

2010-03-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

So, it's finally happened. A day I truly thought would never come. After 34 years, I no longer have any minor children. The youngest has turned 18 years old.

Eighteen and a half years ago when I, somewhat apologetically, told our older 5 children, ages 4, 7, 10, 12, 15 that we would be having another baby in 6 months they shouted for joy! He has been pampered and doted on. He was a life-sized doll for the girls. He was a trick pony. He was pushed around in a laundry basket sitting on a pillow like he was a king, adored by his fans. He was also the source of embarrassment at times (something involving relieving himself on the driveway as an older sister and her friends drove up.) He got into things he wasn't supposed to. Like my lipstick.... You should have seen the couch cushion!

But he has been a delightful child, always easy going. Sometimes TOO easy going, which can drive me crazy. I had him when I was 38 1/2 years old and he has helped keep me young. Sometimes he would be in the middle of playing with his toys and stop and look at me in the kitchen or wherever I was and say, "I love you, Mom." (melt) He has a soft spot in his heart for little children and is very good to spend time with them. Probably because so much kindness and love was shown him from his siblings. He was funny and quick witted at an early age, sometimes, it seemed, beyond his years. He still is. Something that hasn't always been appreciated by his teachers and coaches.

I am going to miss him in September when he goes to college.

random things

2010-03-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

9 days. 5 rides. 250 miles. Boo-yah.

And here's a great quote:
"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.

'The fact is most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .

"Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

"'The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride'" (Hinckley, 1997).