A Stranger in a Strange Land

Taking Down the Tree

2012-01-01T10:34:00.001-08:00

I'm watching my daughter's family take down their 2011 Christmas tree and thinking about what a bittersweet moment it is.

In our family at least, we approach the Christmas season with so much anticipation. In its own way it is the High Holy Day. I know that in Gospel terms, Easter is probably more important (if I may use that term), but Christmas is Family, and Giving, and Happy, and our Savior all rolled into one.

The day after Thanksgiving, weather permitting, is Christmas Tree Day. Mostly all my children's families follow this tradition. They look forward to it, and those who can go out and cut a fresh one. The choice of a tree is full of passion and some level of compromise. It is generally trimmed that day, or at least by the end of the weekend.

Even just getting out the boxes and bins of ornaments is loaded with emotion, as old, familiar friendships are renewed. Some of these are just baubles that have withstood the test of time and small fingers. Others are homemade, with the picture of a kindergardener pasted on it, or one with a year on it, a symbol of a special time that may not even be remembered.

Over the next month gifts start to appear. They arrive in the mail, they get wrapped early just because, and sometimes we never even figure out where they came from.

Wherever the tree is, that's where the gifts stay for the next week, in little piles by person. The wrapping paper has been (very carefully) thrown away, but the room is an extension of everyone's bedroom and closet.

Then comes the New Year, and It's Time. We regret the end of Christmas. We put everything away, out of sight, but certainly not out of mind. The tree gets consigned to the curb, to be picked up some day by the garbage collectors. We de-Christmas the whole house.

We have a saying in our family, whenever someone asks what something is that we don't want them to know about yet. We tell them "It's too close to Christmas".

Hugo

2011-12-29T17:29:00.001-08:00

If you saw the trailers to Hugo you may have gotten the impression that it is a kid movie, or at least one that would appeal to young boys.

The reality is delightfully far from that expectation.

Keep your eyes on Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz. They did a masterful job of portraying about-ten-year-old Hugo Cabret and Isabelle.

Hugo lives in the walls of a Paris train station. He winds all the clocks in the station on behalf of his uncle, and guardian, Claude, who left and never came back.

In his spare time he is trying to repair an automaton, left to him by his dead father.

It wasn't until he found out that Isabelle has the one piece he was missing. They get it to work, and it provides a clue to an adventure that took me on a totally unexpected emotional journey.

Be prepared for an enjoyable two hours. I understand why the AFI named it one of the 10 best movies of 2011 and give it a total thumbs up.

Another New Adventure, Part 3

2011-12-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Last night was night 7 of my CPAP.

A friend told me the experience of his brother, who "became a different person" with his CPAP. Most notably, he said that while the CPAP solved the immediate problem (sleep apnea) fairly quickly, it took him several weeks to get caught up on his sleep deficit.

I think both observations apply to me.

Last night we turned off the light at about the same time, but instead of waking up when Sally's alarm went off (she unlocks the front door at 6:30 so the grandkidlets can come in, mom starts work at 7:00), I was totally zonked until after 8:30.

And I feel better, more refreshed, than any of the other CPAP nights.

This is exciting!

Another New Adventure, Part 2

2011-12-10T11:58:00.001-08:00

I have had two more nights with my new BiPAP machine and I am finally getting the hang of it. I didn't (or don't remember) waking up last night with the suffocating feeling; I guess my subconscious is figuring it out.

Anecdotally, a friend told me it could take a while before I get caught up on my sleep, and I think he was absolutely correct. Each day I feel a little bit more refreshed - no mid-day falling asleep yesterday - and I expect that will be the case every day.

Another New Adventure

2011-12-08T14:31:00.001-08:00

Three nights ago I went for another sleep study, required to diagnose sleep apnea and required if I want my insurance company to pay for the treatment. This study consisted of my being wired in about 20 different ways, then trying to sleep.

Unlike prior times, this study revealed that I do now have sleep apnea. That resulted in my being fitted yesterday with a BiPAP (similar to a CPAP) machine and, temporarily, supplemental oxygen.

Last night was my first night. I didn't have too much trouble with the mask and with the air pressure every time I breathed, except for the fact that I couldn't scratch where it itched.

I had been looking forward to what people have described as the best night's sleep ever. Unfortunately, it is going to take me some time to adjust, I'm afraid, because today I am tired, irritable and stressed (I have a couple of tics I can't calm down).

I of course don't know if the BiPAP solved the main problem, which is that I stop breathing in the middle of the night, but the secondary problem, that of low blood oxygen saturation, seems to have been alleviated; I woke in the middle of the night and checked it and it was well into the 90% range. When I had the sleep study, once I got into bed and headed toward sleep it dropped to 84%, not a good level.

Stardust

2011-11-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

I don't remember precisely why I added Stardust to my Netflix queue, because the queue is full enough that it has been a long time since I added it. My best guess is that I saw it advertised and that it had Michelle Pfeiffer in it.

This was a wonderful movie. There was tension, good acting, a nice mixture of big-name stars and unknowns, romance, and best of all, I knew how I wanted it to end, and it did.

Stardust is the story of a young man, Tristan, trying to win a pretty girl, Victoria, away from a dashing bully, Huphreys. Tristan manages to get Victoria on a picnic overlooking the Wall, an ancient stone barrier between us and another universe. While sipping champagne overlooking this area, they see a star falling into it, and Tristan tells Victoria that to prove his love and devotion he will bring the star to her.

Victoria is more interested in her other suitor, but tells Tristan that if he can do it in the one week before her birthday, she will marry him.

Tristan enters the land through a guarded hole in the wall by evading the guard, and there has a bunch of harrowing adventures. The first of these adventures is where he actually meets and joins forces with the fallen star, Yvain, played by Claire Danes.

It turns out that Tristan is not the only one looking for the star, though the others want to cut her heart out and eat it. Among them is a witch played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Among those who help Tristan and Yvain escape is a pirate played by Robert de Niro.

I love this quote. This is Yvain talking to Tristan, who has been turned into a mouse, and who Yvain thinks can't understand her:

You know when I said I knew little about love. Well that wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it. Seen centuries and centuries of it. And it was the only thing that made watching your world bearable. And all those wars. Pain, and lies. Hate. Made me want to turn away, never look down again. But to see the way that mankind loves. You could search the furthest reaches of the universe, and never find anything more beautiful. So, yes. I know that love is unconditional. But I also know it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable. And strangely easy to mistake for loathing. And what I'm, I'm trying to say, Tristan, is: I think I love you! My heart, it feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange. No gift, no goods, no demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you love me too. Just your heart. In exchange for mine.

Watch this movie, I highly recommend it.

First Lesson

2011-11-06T07:17:00.001-08:00

I rented my cello this week and had my first lesson last night. A friend of ours, Scott Davis, has been playing the cello for many years, and is excited to help me learn.

He was very impressed with the cello. I guess it can be something of a crap shoot, but I lucked out and got one with a very good sound.

It sure helps to have some prior knowledge of music. I played the piano some many years ago and even went into the accordion for a while. But I think that it's mostly the desire to play that will make it work.

I figure in a year I will be playing along side Scott in our ensemble.

A New Adventure

2011-10-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Sally and I have been (willingly) co-opted into a singing group called the Sugar Hill Ensemble. The goal is to play in places such as rest homes and bring some happiness into some people's lives.

The originator of the ensemble is Scott Davis, a retired lawyer here in Spokane. Scott does the cello, Sally does the vocals, and we have a pianist (currently unavailable due to injury) and a guitar (currently unavailable due to travel). I narrate.

Scott is a self-taught cellist and has been urging me to give the cello a try. I already read music, so I am ahead of the game there. This has piqued my curiosity and I think I may go for it.

There is a popular pianist name Jon Schmidt who has been making the rounds, including Spokane a week or so ago. He is actually part of a duo, the other half of which is Steven Sharp Nelson, an absolutely wonderful cellist. Because some friends had gone to the Jon Schmidt concert, and raved about it, I looked him up and found Steven. Now I am totally engaged in the idea of learning to play the cello, not because I aspire to be him, but because his playing has touched my heart and my soul.

Here is an example of Steven's (and Jon's) playing, that should illustrate what I am talking about. Be forewarned, watching that video may lead you to search out others.

I blogged a long time ago about the violin that I got for Mildred one year because she had always wanted to play one. Well, I also have always wanted to play the violin. I love that sound I think more than any other in the orchestra. The cello has a lower range of sounds and now that I have been looking into it I find that it can be just as heart-touching as the violin. Well, almost.

That's my new adventure.

Music

2011-09-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

Music has had such a big place in my life, and I forget that sometimes.

My mom had been taught the basics of music at a young age by her grandmother. She had a lovely baby grand piano that was always a part of our lives, except for the three years we were overseas. What was remarkable was that she could hear any song, say on the radio, and sit down and play it. With all the chords.

Now this was not instantaneous, she sometimes had to think it through and work it out. But still, I was always impressed by that talent, and enjoyed a lot of the music she produced.

I married a gal (Mildred) who had been playing the piano in public since she was 11 years old. She had never had the time or the inclination to become, say, a concert pianist, though I have no doubt she could have. She loved her music, and the piano that I got from my aunt Mary's estate became a fixture in our home. She played it until it fell apart and we bought a new one.

Near the end of her life she was the ward organist, at a great personal cost. By that time her whole body was in pain, but especially her hands and her back. She still wouldn't give up playing the organ in church every Sunday, but paid a big price for it for the next day or two.

I married another gal (Sally) who had been singing in public for just about as long. She grew up on the island of Bermuda and as a young adult there sung in night clubs and such.

Sally still has a beautiful voice, one that I don't get to hear very often. But recently some friends have scooped her up into an ensemble they are putting together to sing what they call Magic Songs. These are songs that are memorable and emotional.

The first practice we had was just Sally and the cellist (and organizer), Scott Davis. I was coopted into being the narrator for the presentation. The songs he had picked out so far all seem to have a high emotional charge for me, mostly because of what was going on in my life at the time each was popular.

But most of all I was enchanted, once again, with Sally's voice. It's definitely not the voice of an 18-year-old, but that of a mature woman. Yet it has an ageless quality about it that makes me almost able to see her as she was at that age. If quality is any part of success (which I don't think it is most times, not in that industry), she could have been at the top of the charts in her day.

Mostly though, the passion for singing has been reawakened, and that is good. She has been giggling more, and practicing a lot, and is really happy. She is able to shift her load off her shoulders for a time and just be happy.

I have to say that in an odd way, I fell in love with her because of her voice. The first time we ever spoke on the phone (we were brought together by an internet site) I fell, and knew she was the one. Singing to each other became part of our courtship, though I know she got the short end of that stick.

What does it mean?

2011-08-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

I looked back and found that nobody has left a comment on any of my posts since January 29^th, and here it will be August 29^th in two days. I guess that means I can say anything about anybody and not offend them.

On the birth of a grandchild

2011-08-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

We are still in Toledo, Oregon, following the birth of our 14^th grandchild, Quentin, Amy and Ben's 7^th. We are leaving for our home in Spokane in the morning; we wanted to make sure everything was on track before we left.

As I was in bed last night, waiting to go to sleep, my thoughts went back to the birth of Mildred and my 7^th, Mary.

I could recall almost none of it! I was overtaken with sadness that I am still feeling this morning.

As I look back I remember so little. I was so busy trying to provide for our growing family that I'm afraid I left a lot of the child rearing experiences, and memories, up to Mildred. And now she's not here to help me remember.

Some things I remember well. Actually, I do remember a lot. But I especially remember sitting together in Sacrament Meeting, and how good that was. I miss that now, a lot, especially when I have to go to church alone because Sally has to stay home with her mother. It's really hard not to be an 'active' dad any more.

Back to the births. I remember Ruth's well. Of course it was our first, plus there were complications. I remember Deborah's well. But again, there were complications. The rest are a blur.

I think another part of this blue funk I am in is that I just plain miss my kids, and of course, their mother. I love my new family, and love spending time with them, but I don't get to see my crowd very often, and that hurts.

I actually talk to most of them quite often, usually at least a couple of times a week. It's the first, Ruth, and the last, Mary, that I can't seem to connect with very often. Coincidentally (?) they are the only two who have never been in my home in Spokane.

I have faith that once we move past this life, all our memories will become clear to us, and I suppose that will have to suffice for now.

The Drug-Free School Zone

2011-08-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

The dean of Science Fiction, Robert Heinlein, used an odd literary device to show how silly we can really be. In several of his earlier novels he would, at the beginning of selected chapters, start the chapter out with "headlines" from current (i.e. 22nd century) news media.

One of the ones I still, to this day, get a chuckle out of, was that the state legislature of some state had passed a law setting the value of pi to an even 3.14.

I was passing an elementary school the other day and noticed a sign that read "Drug-Free School Zone". AS IF JUST PUTTING UP A SIGN MADE IT SO.

I don't wonder if that isn't part of the problem, not part of the solution. We want to solve this problem, but instead of getting in there and really really doing something, we find catchy phrases (Just Say No?) and put up signs (Drug-Free School Zone) and then call it good.

For all I know, the Drug-Free School Zone is just what the community needed, and the sign really is keeping drugs out of that school. But my wife and I took a different route. We actually taught our kids what drugs do and what to do when confronted with them.

I know, that's a novel approach.

P.S. Had I known then what I know now I would have dumped the television set off a cliff.

Virgil Carter

2011-08-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

I went to High School with Virgil Carter.

Now if you are about my age and you follow BYU football, or the Chicago Bears, you know who Virgil Carter is. He set a bunch of records while at BYU and was the first LDS quarterback in the NFL.

Today after church my wife was talking to a sister in the lobby. We are still in Newport, OR, waiting for the new grandson (should be tomorrow). I wasn't really part of the conversation until I heard her mention Virgil Carter. I said "I know him, I went to High School with him".

Well, long story short, her husband is Virgil's older brother Mike, she brought him over and introduced me and we talked for an hour about his famous brother, and even better, about Folsom High school and all the teachers and kids we knew in common.

Now this doesn't even related to the church, because I didn't join until years later. Truly, It's a Small World After All.

Crabbing

2011-08-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

As my family knows, Dungeness crab is one of my most favorite foods. I remember fondly sitting around the dining room table with a pot of fresh cooked crabs that my mother had bought, spending hours cracking, shelling and eating. Not to mention what I have eaten in the many years since then.

Well I find myself in Newport, OR. We are waiting for our daughter Amy to have her baby; when we arrived here a week and a half ago she was in labor. Still no baby. So my son-in-law Ben and two grandkids (Lara and Brenden) and I went crabbing yesterday.

What a time!

Newport sits on the central Oregon coast at Yaquina Bay. Both the ocean and the bay floor must be littered with crabs, and not just Dungeness. But there are lots of those.

The process is simple. A crab ring costs $6/day to rent, and enough raw chicken breast to keep you going all day is $2. There are plenty of spots, piers, to bait the ring and throw it off the side. Wait 10-15 minutes and haul it up.

The law allows, for Dungeness, only keeping males that are at least 5 ³/₄ inches across, and there is a per-day limit. But the gender difference is very obvious and they give you a ruler. For other species, such as red rock, there are no restrictions.

So it was cold and windy, and boring while waiting out the 10 minutes. But we had a blast and went home with two nice Dungeness and six red rock crabs.

I don't have a license, so I couldn't have anything to do with the process, other than observing. If it weren't such a chore to get to Newport from Spokane (450 miles down through the Tri-Cities and Portland) I would probably get one.

Ben cooked them and he and I dug out all the meat. We decided that red rock were too small, but they were just as tasty as the Dungeness.

I slept like a log last night.

David's Fat Legs

2011-07-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

All our kids were scrawny. When small they were all in the 3rd percentile for their age. Our pediatrician just got used to it, but every once in a while he changed nurses and we had to teach the new one that it was okay, and that our kids were healthy.

David was one of the scrawniest. One summer day, he must have been 5-ish, he came in after playing outside all day. Mildred looked down at his legs, which were pretty much covered with bruises (as little boys can do), and said "David, look at those legs".

He looked down and said "Yeah, they're fat, aren't they" :)

Quarante Litres

2011-07-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

When we lived in France the first time (1959-1963) we brought with us a turquoise 1956 Mercury. We took that beast all over Europe with a rack that my dad made piled high with camping equipment.

Since the US military was in just about every country in Europe that wasn't behind the Iron Curtain, a very nice perk was gasoline at US military prices, instead of having to pay the what civilians did.

My dad would buy chits before a trip, each of which was good for 10 liters. They could only be redeemed at gas stations that displayed a US Quartermaster placard, so when it was getting to be about that time we all kept our eyes peeled for one.

Now my dad never really did learn much French. But he did know to say "quarante litres" (40 liters, or about 10 gallons). Then it was (apparently) my job to monitor the transaction.

I remember one time the gas station attendant wasn't paying attention and went past the quarante litres. But with the chits it was all (10 litres) or nothing. So my dad ended up having to pay the difference out of his pocket.

Boy, did I get in trouble!

My ear buds are nice and minty

2011-01-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

I got tired of mangling my Apple ear buds but wanted to carry them with me.

I got a can of Altoids Smalls, ate the mints and wiped it out as best I could. The ear buds fit in there very nicely, and the can fits in my pocket.

And they are nice and minty :)

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

2011-01-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

If you like smart, funny, touching movies with lots of stars and a surprise ending, this 1966 film is a must.

Starring Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Paul Ford, Charles Bickford, Burgess Meredith, Kevin McCarthy, etc., this western has a recovering poker addict (Henry Fonda) getting into the yearly "big game" that is normally reserved for a select few in the area.

He gets the poker hand of a lifetime and promptly keels over with a heart attack (don't worry, he survives). In order to save their life savings which are on the table, his wife (Joanne Woodward) must do the thing she hates the most and play out his hand. Unfortunately, she has neither the knowledge to play it nor the money to stay in the game.

The outcome is fun, sly, and for me was not predictable.

I highly recommend this movie, it has been one of my favorites for many years.

QUOTE: (After the poker game is over)
"How many truly exceptional women have you known in your life?"
"Only one"

Marriage

2011-01-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

Marriage, even to the best of partners, doesn't make you wise, strong, elegant, efficient, sexy, patient or honest. What it can do is teach you how to love, and maybe how to be loved. It really helps if you bring those other things in with you.

Oops

2010-12-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

Our instructor in High Priest Group today told a really funny story. I believe it was a story that came from one of the General Authorities.

There was a woman at the airport waiting for her flight. She was hungry, so purchased a bag of cookies from the convenience store. Of course being inside the airport she had to pay a premium for them.

In the waiting area there was a bank of seats facing another bank of seats with a table between them. There was a man sitting across the table from her.

She took a cookie from the bag which was now on the table. The man also took a cookie. She was miffed but didn't say anything.

She took another cookie and another cookie, and each time she took one the man also took one. She started to get really angry. How dare he!

Finally there was one cookie left in the bag. The man gestured for her to take it, which she did. But by this point she was so angry that she got up and stomped over to wait in line for her flight.

Once aboard the plane and situated in her seat, she opened her purse.

There was her bag of cookies.

King Herod

2010-12-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

This is my "palace" (the Primary room) at our ward Christmas party last night. I had a blast; the ward members went from room to room on their "Walk Through Bethlehem". I had a little speech about how wealthy I was because I was greedy. I explained that I had sent the Wise Men to Bethlehem but they never sent me word. Then I gave them a ring pop to remember me by.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

2010-11-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

Sally and I rarely watch television, and in fact don't even have a useable set. The only one we have is hooked up to the Wii. So we watch a lot of movies on the computer, thanks to Netflix, Hulu, Fancast, etc.

It came to me that it would be fun to review some of what we watch. What you will read here talks more about me than it does about the movies, of course, but that's the point of this blog anyway.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain was a complete delight and something of a surprise. I don't know wat I was expecting, though with Hugh Grant as the main character Reginald, there is generally going to be a "gentle soul" who may or may not also be a klutz.

Well he is not a klutz, and is in fact a cartographer on tour with his boss fixing up map problems for Her Majesty.

They stop in a small southern Welch village whose claim to fame is Ffynnon Garw, reputed to be the "first mountain in Wales". Only an earlier survey missed the fact that the peak is 16 feet less than the 1000 needed for mountain status.

The village is incensed and under the impetus of the local pastor and "Morgan the Goat" (played by Colm Meaney of Star Trek fame) the townsfolk decide to add the missing 16 feet, and 4 to spare.

Betty from Cardiff (played by Tara Fitzgerald) is set in Reginald's path to entice him into going along with the plan and eventually they fall in love, though TEWWUAHBCDAM is not exactly a love story. Well it is a love story, but more the love of the local citizens for their village and their mountain.

What I liked best about this movie was the was the whole town came together despite obstacles and long-running feuds. I highly recommend it.

Eldred G Smith

2010-11-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

Eldred G Smith was the last functioning Presiding Patriarch of the Church and as such was a direct descendant of Hyrum, the brother of the prophet Joseph.

While at BYU one Sunday evening I went to a fireside where Elder Smith was the speaker. I was fascinated by all that he knew and by the things he talked about that I had never even read about. Of course as a relatively new convert (this was after my mission, so I had been a member for about 4 years), all this stuff that everyone else had grown up with was intriguing.

I remember he was talking about the box that Joseph had commissioned to keep the plates in and safe while he was translating them. Joseph described it as being a wooden box, or chest, with a lid and a lock.

Then Eldred Smith reached down under the podium, brought something out and put it down in front of him and declared "This is the box".

I was so moved by the experience that I have never forgotten it. I even went up afterwards so that I could see it. It was plain and worn with age. And it had held the golden plates.

Bekah kept me awake

2010-11-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

Every year, like clockwork, we piled the whole family into our 9-seater VW van and made the trek to Utah.

We had learned that the 12-hour trip went faster and easier if we went at night so that the kids slept. I'm sure millions of parents have done this over the years.

Well the problem was, of course, my staying awake. We solved that by having a designated talker - Bekah - sit up front with me and keep me from dozing.

She was the perfect choice.

Tomato Soup

2010-11-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I don't like tomato soup. I never have, maybe never will.

I remember that when I was in grade school before we moved to Paris (I went to Hill School in Novato, CA) I only got to buy my lunch every once in a while.

You guessed it, almost every time, lunch was tomato soup.

We Do It Too

2010-08-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that Fast and Testimony Meeting is a strange LDS mashup of FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube.

2010-07-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching Dan In Real Life again.

I connect in so many ways with Dan and with the movie and any time I am feeling maudlin it is a good movie to immerse myself in. I have it on my iPhone so I can watch it when I feel so inspired.

Dan lost his wife while he still had three daughters living at home. Four years later he meets and falls for Marie, who unfortunately is in a relationship with his single brother Mitch. Of course all this happens at the most inopportune time, a family reunion where Marie and her relationship to Mitch take center stage, pushing Dan and Marie's love-at-first-sight underground.

Dan is the only member of the family who is exempt from participating in the family talent show. Regardless, he and Mitch sing a duet that eventually becomes a surreptitious love song by Dan to Marie. She knows he was singing to her and afterwards asks him: "What was that?"

"I couldn't stop myself"

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Can't do anything. He's my brother"

"Why did you sing for me, then?"

Sally and I used to sing to each other, when we were courting. We don't do that very much any more, though I do write poetry to her.

I am moved by the closeness of his family and also by the way they accept Marie from the very beginning. I am also moved by the mutual love Dan and Marie feel, from the beginning it is never one in love pursuing the other; they fall for each other right away. I am moved by the loyalty that Dan has for his brother. And I am happy that, unlike many movies, the story continued right through to their marriage, instead of leaving that to your imagination.

The Cows Make It Special

2010-07-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

In Switzerland you can drive up to the top of a mountain, and when you reach the top if you get out of your car or your funicular and walk over the summit you will find a beautiful little meadow and no houses. There will be a small herd of cows munching away on the grass.

APHC

2010-06-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

David and I had the great good fortune to be able to attend a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion" in Spokane when he (David) and his family were up here on a visit.

I've been listening to APHC on NPR for decades, and I'm glad that my love for it has rubbed off on at least one of my kids. It is a throwback to a less stressful, more peaceful time in our country and Garrison Keillor and his staff (Guy Noir, Fred Newman, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Dusty and Lefty, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, etc.) seem like old friends. Garrison is a master story teller and I never tire of hearing what he has to say.

I remember once, a bunch of years ago, in his "News From Lake Woebegone" segment, he talked about driving home after Thanksgiving dinner when he was a kid. Seated in the back seat, his sister next to him, the lights of oncoming cars whizzing past, he mused at what Thanksgiving meant to him and how warm it made him feel. Then his sister leaned over and put her head on his shoulder to sleep the rest of the way home.

That story moved me, because it could have been me, and it could have been Karen and I have all those same feelings.

A new (to me) singer that he has had on his last few shows is Andra Suchy, and I must say that I was very impressed with her. She had a good range, and interesting voice and was so clear that you could understand every word she sung. I look forward to hearing more from her.

Saturday's performance was the fastest 2 hours I've ever spent.

No Cousins?

2010-06-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

I heard an article on NPR that talked about the consequences of China's Only One Child policy that has been in place for the last 30 years. In other words, more than a generation.

The effect that really chilled me was that not only do today's kids not have any brothers or sisters, they also don't have any first or second, and maybe even third cousins.

I like my cousins! I've even gotten to live close enough to a couple of them to have a relationship, though I have neglected most of them for all too long. But my life definitely would have been poorer without them.

Disneyland, In Utero

2010-05-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

In August of 1979 I was scheduled for a week-long IBM class of some kind in Los Angeles.

We have some friends (Kim and Mary Purgaugh, to name names) in Rialto, which is next door to San Bernardino, California, and about 60 miles from Los Angeles. I talked my boss into letting me trade three "free" nights of staying with our friends for two nights in the Bonaventure Hotel, which would have otherwise been too expensive for the whole week.

The Bonaventure was fun. Our room was wedge shaped, but every room had a view of the outside.

The class schedule allowed for one free day before we had to get gone, so of course we had to go to Disneyland. Now honestly, I could have lived without going to Disneyland, but Mildred insisted.

At this point she was 8 months pregnant with David, our middle (#4) child, and I have to say that she was a real drag ;) But we really did have fun there.

I'm sure there were others of David's sibs who went to Disneyland in utero, but he was definitely the closest to delivery.

Master of the iPhone 3G

2010-05-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, "master" is probably too strong of a word, but I did something I had thought of but had never dared. I opened up an iPhone.

The on/off switch on Sally's iPhone started going wonky a while ago and then finally stopped working entirely. Now normally this wouldn't be a total disaster because you can press the Menu button to turn it on and then just wait for it to time out and turn itself off.

Well situations started arising where it really needed to be rebooted, which of course requires holding down the on/of switch for a while. I can't remember what the straw was this weekend but it finally became unusable without a reboot, which was impossible to do.

I found a video online put out by a group that specializes in fixing and helping people fix Apple products. With less fear than before (since it was unusable anyway) I dug into it and got it down to the very bottom where the battery is.

Of course tearing down any machine is generally easier than building it back up, and I didn't find a video on that. :) But little by little I worked at it and figured out all the gotchas and got it put back together. I probably went through a dozen cycles of getting it all put together, finding out it didn't work or didn't work correctly, and tearing it back apart. When I finally got it all the way, solidly and correctly put back together, it worked like a champ and Sally was happy.

The on/off switch? It still doesn't work.

Hopefully there will be another post in a while where I report that I found a new on/off switch and got it installed.

Can You Believe, Father's Day = Spokane?

2010-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Lost in the passage of time is the fact that Father's Day was invented by Sonora Dodd in 1910, in Spokane, Washington.

The Spokane City Fathers want the country to take note of this and are kicking off a year-long celebration of this observation and this fact.

Cecile Charles' Gallery of Thum in Spokane commissioned noted local watercolor artist Emma Randolph to paint Sonora's portrait. A reception in Sonora's honor (and Emma's 87th birthday) will be held the first Friday of June, 2010 in the Gallery of Thum.

Visit Cecile's website for details and to see Sonora's portrait. Additional articles with Emma's painting are available at Cafe Press.

APHC

2010-05-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

A Prairie Home Companion is coming to Spokane!

I guess most people don't think of this as a momentous occasion, but I've been listening to it (on National Public Radio) for decades, and even just listening to the opening lines warms my heart.

For those of you who are interested, and don't know what A Prairie Home Companion is, google it :) but the Reader's Digest version is that it is the brainchild of Garrison Keillor, who is one of the great storytellers of our time. His show is based on the formula of "old time" radio that was popular before television, and has lots of folk music and skits.

Even more sweet is that my son David and his family (wife and 1.5 kids) will be here that weekend. David is also a PHC fan and is going with me.

(It's June 12, 2010, if anyone wants to join us).

One other act coming to town that I don't think we're going to get to, unfortunately, is Celtic Woman, and you really have to see them to understand. They each have music talent pouring out of every pore, and together they are absolutely dynamite. They are coming May 20, 2010.

Sierra

2010-05-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

So my six-year-old grandson Cameron usually comes to our house before school starts and we take him there. Monday (today) is normally an exception.

This morning when I went to leave for work I saw three little girls crossing the street. The last one, a pretty little blond girl (named Sierra, we think) had a little bouquet of tulips that I think may have come from the flower bed across the street.

I told her that her flowers were very pretty, then she asked me if we were going to take Cameron to school. I told her that today was his mommy's turn to take him.

She started to leave, without the flowers, which she had put on the shrub. I reminded her of them and she said "oh, these are for Cameron", gave them to me and ran off :)

I Love a Parade

2010-05-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

Okay, I'll admit it, I love parades.

Spokane has (and has had for 72 years) a traditional parade on (I think) the third Saturday of May, called the Lilac Parade. It actually has a longer, more formal name than that, but Lilac Parade is easy to say and remember.

Two of the ham radio groups I belong to have been associated with the Lilac Parade for decades, and this year's parade, held two days ago, was the second one I've been able to be involved with.

We basically provide communications between the different areas of the parade, from the staging area, over the entire route, and up to the very end. We were this year stationed at every major corner and every minor corner, the side streets along the way.

I drew one of the PA areas this year. The announcer announced every entry that went by and gave some background (and some P.R.) for the entry.

Naturally, there are always entries that break down, never show up, or go out of turn. As soon as one of those situations is discovered it is relayed to the five PA hams, we tell their announcer, and then he isn't surprised when the wrong entry shows up.

I had a blast!

I was moved by a lot of the entries, but there was one special one that I enjoyed the most. It was the Spokane Library Book Cart Drill Team.

Need I say more? :)

Dance Festival

2010-05-09T18:06:00.001-07:00

I was a member of the church for one year and two weeks when I left on my mission. That wasn't a lot of time to get to know how to "be" a mormon.

But two things I did get to do were Roadshows and Dance Festival.

I lived in Novato, California and we were in the Santa Rosa Stake. The stake went all the way up north to Willits, and all the way south to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We did Dance Festival at three levels, first on the ward level, where we performed out in the back parking lot, then on the stake level, where we drove the 33 miles to the stake center and performed there, then on the regional level.

The regional dance festival must have taken in the whole Bay Area and was held in Spartan Stadium of San Jose State University. And what a thrill it was! 1500 kids all out on the football field, dancing, together, under the lights.

To this day I remember what a moving experience that was, and how impressed my parents were, sitting up in the audience. They didn't attend a lot of church stuff I did, but they did attend that.

Generator Brushes

2010-05-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

My dad went through a phase where everytime something went wrong with one of their cars it was always "generator brushes". Heaven only knows how he picked that as an excuse. He even extended it to me and Mildred. When something went wrong with one of our cars, he of course asked us if our generator brushes had gone bad.

Well, one day they went bad :)

When Are You Leaving?

2010-05-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

My father told the story of when he was first away at college (which was Dartmouth, class of 1939) and came home for his first visit.

I guess my grandfather asked him "When are you leaving" by which, of course, he meant "We are happy to see you, how long will you be able to be with us?". My father, of course, took the other meaning "Okay, you've barely gotten inside the door, now when are you leaving?".

My dad didn't talk much about his relationship with any of his family, but this was a great insite into his relationship with his dad. I wish I had more of them.

Washing Dishes in the Temple

2010-05-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

When I was a student at BYU they began building the Provo Temple. The construction site itself was great, it gave us an excuse to take someone of the opposite gender on a drive and make out.

Anyway, when the construction was almost complete my best friend Dave Schepps and I got jobs in the cafeteria washing dishes. I don't know why we got those jobs, but it seems like the cooking staff were all full-timers, whereas we were students and could only work part time.

It was a fun job. We had an automatic dishwasher where all we had to do was put plates/silverware/glasses/whatever in containers and run them through. If they didn't come out clean we would run them through again.

But best of all was this 1/2 horsepower garbage disposal that would grind just about anything, at least until it got jammed. Then we were really in trouble.

All the people who were eating the food could see was a window where they deposited their dirty dishes. We would stand on the other side of the window and do what we did. But while I was there, I sang. Songs from Broadway, or church songs, or whatever.

The Temple President, President Clark, pulled me aside once and told me the singing was good, but too loud. So I toned it down.

The best thing that came from the experience was that when Mildred and I got married I asked President Clark to perform the marriage, which he did.

Quarante Litres

2010-05-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

One of the perks that US military people stationed in Europe had was a reduced price on gasoline. Now I doubt very much that the price of gasoline was very high anyway, by today's standards, but still, it made it cheaper for us to drive all over.

The way it worked was that my dad could buy coupons worth 10 liters each at work. We then just needed to find a gas station that displayed a special symbol, that of the army quartermaster. Then we could buy gas just using the coupons.

Our routine was that my dad would order "quarante litres", which was about the extent of his French. Quarante litres means "40 liters" and it's roughly 10 gallons. He gave them four coupons and away we went.

But as the oldest, and the one that spoke the most French, I guess it was my job to make sure they didn't go over the 40 liters.

Well, one time they did, and my dad had to pay cash for the extra, and I was sure in trouble...

The Officer's Club

2010-05-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

In telling this story I might be embarassing my sister Karen, but I hope not. She probably doesn't even remember the incident.

We lived in Paris, France from December of 1959 until the summer of 1962. My father was an Air Force major, stationed at a joint military command there. I was 11 when we moved there and 14 when we left.

Everyone who has seen a picture of Paris has either seen the Eiffel Tower or the Étoile. Étoile means "star" in French, and it is so named because there are 12 major streets that feed into it. There is a major street that rings the familiar monument, which is actually the French Tomb of the Unknowns.

Well on that street was the Officer's Club and we would go there from time to time either for a special event or for the Sunday buffet.

We were there for some event once. My memory was that we were all dressed up and a bunch of the kids were off in an area away from the parents. We were sitting in easy chairs when a girl that I was really interested in came over to the group. My sister poked me and said "Stand up and let her sit in your chair".

Well I was embarassed, to say the least, and have never forgotten that. And of course I have no idea who the girl was :)

Stake Conference

2010-05-09T17:17:00.001-07:00

Last week in Stake Conference we got moved to a new ward. Actually, 35% of the stake members got moved into different wards, this is going to be an exciting time.

So with the new ward came a new meeting time. We're now back to the 0900 schedule and we have time after church to do stuff. I've been a slackard in my blog, but I think today I will try to whittle down the list I keep in my iPhone of things I want to talk about.

Mickey Mouse Club

2009-11-08T21:43:00.001-08:00

When I was very young we lived on Fort Meyer, Virginia. We lived there from 1953-1955, so I was in the neighborhood of 5-7.

The Mickey Mouse Club started in 1955 (I had to look that up) and everyone knew when the first episode would be.

I don't remember exactly what I had done, but I had done something to get myself banned from tv and wasn't going to be able see that important first episode. So I went over to a friend's house to watch it :)

His mom asked me why I wasn't watching it at home, and being essentially a good (but obviously not too bright ;) ) kid, I told her.

Well, I didn't get to watch it there, either.

My Dad's Diner Joke #2

2009-09-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Another of my dad's favorite jokes was about the man in the diner eating a bowl of soup until he noticed a fly in it.

He motioned the waiter over and asked him "What's this fly doing in my soup?".

The waiter looked down, thought a moment and said "The backstroke".

:)

My Dad's Diner Joke #1

2009-09-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

One of my dad's favorite jokes was about the man in the diner who had to use the "facilities" just as his soup arrived.

He grabbed a napkin and wrote on it "I spit in this soup", then put the napkin right next to the bowl. He hoped this would keep anyone else from taking and eating it.

When he returned he found someone had written: "So did I".

:)

Lerris

2009-07-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

When I was in 6th grade I picked up and read a book up in the school library called Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert Heinlein. I loved it, and that started a lifelong love not only of Science Fiction, but of Robert Heinlein. Over the years I have found my life has been influenced by the ideas he developed in his many novels. He was definitely my favorite author.

In college I found The Hobbit and read it and the rest of the series, including The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkein. I loved these books as well.

One day a number of years ago I read, on the internet somewhere, a reference to a character named Lerris. I was intrigued enough by the description to do some research and I found out that he was the protagonist of a book called The Magic of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt. That book was the first in a series called The Saga of Recluse, which has now grown to 15 books.

I now own every book of Mr. Modesitt's that is available in paperback (it's too hard to stuff a hardback book in my back pocket) and read most of them more than once. Some of them I've carted around and read enough times that I have had to replace my original copy with a new one.

I met him (Modesitt) last night :)

There is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention in town (Spokane, WA) this weekend on the campus of Gonzaga University, called SpoCon 2009. Mr. Modesitt is the "Guest of Honor". He and four other authors had a book signing event last night at Auntie's Book Store, a local independant. This event was scheduled at the last minute, and wasn't even mentioned in the morning "Local Events" segment on NPR. But a friend who knows I am a Modesitt fan found out about it and told me.

I got to spend a few minutes with Lee (I don't know what to call him now that I have met him, but he goes by Lee) and then he got busy signing and talking. So I spent almost two hours talking to his lovely wife Carol, an opera singer and famous in her own right, and the inspiration for her husband's Spellsong Cycle series.

I think I found out about as much about Lee from her as I would have from him, and had a delightful time doing it. She, by the way, is scheduled to sit on several panels during the convention, including one titled "How to feed an artist". Since he writes 12-15 hours a day, 7 days a week, I would think that would be a very approprite discussion.

Did I mention that he took Heinlein's place as my favorite author?

Lee Modesitt is the only living person, other than LDS church leaders, that I would go out of my way to meet. The two others that would have fit that description are Robert Heinlein, of course, and J.R.R. Tolkein, both of which have passed away.

Marjorie

2009-07-27T21:40:00.001-07:00

Fraggle Rock was one of the kids' favorite tv shows. Okay, I confess, it was one of my favorite tv shows. At any rate, one of the characters was Marjorie.

Marjorie was the trash heap and the font of all wisdom. Any time someone needed the answer to a perplexing question, they asked her.

We had this odd corner where the house, the fence and the patio met and over time it gathered this and that.

We called it Marjorie, of course.

The "it" Word

2009-07-24T07:57:00.001-07:00

Breanna (age 5 last February 28th) just called from Boise. She announced proudly that she can now read the "it" word. :) She can write it, too!

David Was Skinny

2009-07-15T21:37:00.001-07:00

David was so skinny that he was in danger when a stiff wind blew. Anyone who has seen the Disney movie Dumbo will understand.

One day when he was about 5 he came in after a hard day of playing outside. His legs below his shorts were all bruised up, as happens with little boys.

Mildred took one look and said "David, your legs!". He looked down at them and said "Yeah, they're fat, aren't they".

Two Testimonies Of Prayer

2009-06-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

While I was on my mission I met a young girl named Antoinette Palmièri. It was in the city of Toulon, down on the Mediterranean.

When I arrived there my companion and the Elder I replaced had met Antoinette and had been teaching her. Long story short, she eventually got baptized, but not until after I had been transferred. There is much more to that story, but I will save that for later.

After my mission I attend Brigham Young University and at one point I decided that Antoinette was the one for me. I had been back to my mission field and had seen her there, and now I wanted to marry her.

I began the usual process of fasting and praying about this.

One day a few months later it occurred to me that I had not only stopped praying about Antoinette, but in fact I hadn't even thought about her for a long, long time.

I knew then what the prophet was talking about when he described the "stupor of thought" that comes upon us when Heavenly Father is trying to tell us something. In this case the answer to my prayer was "no", and He accentuated that answer by making my mind go blank on the subject.

The second testimony has to do with Mildred. We had an on-again off-again relationship going on for a full year, from the beginning of one school year to the beginning of the next school year.

I didn't want her to be "the one" :) She was (I felt) still too young, and she clung to me like glue, etc. Finally I decided that we could pray about it, we would get the answer "no", and I could move on from there.

We didn't get that answer :)

So when someone asks "How will I know if it's a real answer or just what I want the answer to be", I tell them "You will know". Twice in my life I have known - once when I really wanted it to be "yes", and it was "no", and the other when I really wanted it to be "no", and it was yes.

Scapegoat of the week

2009-02-24T19:02:00.001-08:00

We did this thing mostly out of desperation. We designated a "Scapegoat Of The Week", and passed the "privilege" around.

It worked really well. When something happened, instead of multiple fingers pointing at each other, we just blamed the SOTW and everyone had a good laugh.

Pixie Stockings

2009-02-24T19:01:00.002-08:00

When Mildred and I were first married, as decorations for one of our very first Christmases we got six miniature felt Christmas stockings that we hung on the tree.

I got this idea of putting a little piece of candy in the one that was "hers". When she asked about it the next day, I told her the Christmas Pixies must have left it :)

We continued that tradition until the kids left and Mildred passed away.

I spent the 2008 Christmas season first in Houston and last in Utah, and the kids with kids have kept the tradition alive.

David and Ian playing with lights

2009-02-24T19:01:00.001-08:00

When the kids were growing up, there was one thing you could count on if you were in a public place and the lights went out - it was David, playing with the switch :)

That's why I wasn't surprised last Christmastime when I was visiting with David, April and Ian, and the lights went out.... Ian is his father's son.

The International Space Station

2009-02-24T18:54:00.001-08:00

I had read that there was always a ham radio operator on board the International Space Station, and that they took time to talk to hams on the ground.

Two weeks ago when I was driving Sally and her mom to Boise (for the birth of our grandson, Tyler), we heard the ISS! It was amazing!

Somewhere outside of the Tri-Cities I was scanning around (the ham version of channel surfing) and got a strong signal, that I stopped scanning for. The operator was talking about being 200 miles above the earth.

Is She or Isn't She?

2008-12-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

The older kids used to tell Deborah she was dead. I guess she believed them, because she would come to us, crying about it :)

Christmas, 2008

2008-12-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Christmas is really hard these days. I am torn between spending it with my children and spending it with my wife. I wish I didn't have to make that choice, but there it is.

For reasons that I won't go into right now (no, I'm not dying), I have chosen this year to spend Christmas and New Year's with my children. I am happily going to be able to do that in two stops; Mary and Mark will be in Houston the week before Christmas and Deborah will be there for the whole holiday.

So a week from tomorrow, the 15th, I will be flying to Houston. Mary and Mark will already be there and Deborah comes in the next day. I'll get to know Ian, finally.

The day after Christmas I will fly to Salt Lake City. I would like to be able to spend Deborah's birthday on the 27th with her, but I just couldn't make the flights and my budget work out.

I am planning on staying with Paul and Melina, as long as I don't have too severe a reaction to their cat. I don't know what Plan B is on that front.

Paul and Melina have something planned for New Year's Eve, so that night everyone else is having a party, probably at Rachel and Tim's. I will spend other time with the girls too, I just don't have it figured out yet.

Then I go home on the 2nd, Friday.

I am really looking forward to seeing everyone, though I also feel bad about not being with Sally and Emma on their first Christmas without Walt. But as Art Williams used to say, "All you can do is all you can do".

One other thing came up which almost scuttled the trip. I just found out (minutes from pressing the "Buy this plane ticket" button) that I am being moved to a different project at work, and that I might have to stick around to get trained on it. Luckily, that got ironed out.

I wish could come bearing Christmas gifts for everyone, but not this time. I am working on a sorta hand-made gift for the kids, one per kid, but I'm afraid it won't be finished in time.

Bonnie in France

2008-12-04T11:12:00.001-08:00

I had two favorite cousins, Ginny May on my mom's side and Bonnie on my dad's side.

I spent part of my mission in the south of France, not on the Riviera. I spent time on the Riviera as well, but this one summer I was farther west than that.

My cousin Bonnie got a job there! She spent a summer as (if I remember correctly) something along the lines of a chambermaid at a resort hotel on the Mediterranean.

I got the opportunity to spend some time with her, which was really a lot of fun.

All I Ever Wanted To Be Was A Dad

2008-12-04T11:11:00.001-08:00

Even as a teenager, the only thing I ever wanted to be was a dad.

Of course I went through all the usual stuff that young boys went through in those days, cowboy, fireman, astronaut. But they were all childhood dreams that passed.

I used to even pick babies up out of shopping carts and play with them. You could do that in those days, and moms didn't mind. The best I can do now is to make faces and try to get a smile.

Conference on Short Wave

2008-12-02T08:42:00.003-08:00

I had found out from Elder LeGrand Richards that Sister Nelson, my Mission Mom, was his granddaughter. But I didn't find out until later that Present (Joseph Fielding) Nelson was Joseph Fielding Smith's grandson.

So he had spent his whole life among the General Authorities and knew a good many of them.

I was odd man in the mission two different times and also served in the city of Geneva for three months. The Mission Home, located in Chambésy, had a short-wave radio in the family section, and the missionaries in the Mission Home and in Genève were invited to listen to General Conference on the short wave radio. At 2:00 o'clock in the morning.

I only remember getting to do that once, but it was so special being there and doing that. President Nelson could tell us just by the sound of the voice who was speaking.

In trouble with Homeland Security

2008-12-02T08:42:00.001-08:00

We were in a real rush to get Emma to the airport for her trip to Salt Lake City and I ended up dropping Sally, Emma and all her stuff at the curb while I parked.

The plan was that we would push her in a wheelchair right up to the gate, then leave her in the good hands of the Delta folks.

I was so rushed when I parked the car that I forgot to do what I had planned to do, which was to empty my pockets of everything that was suspicious, especially my Swiss Army Knife.

So we got to the security checkpoint, I dutifully emptied my pockets into the little basket, and they dutifully told me I couldn't take the knife in.

In a panic now, because I didn't want Sally to have to push that wheelchair up the ramp, and not having time to take it back out to the car, I tipped up a garbage can and stashed it underneath.

On the way back I retrieved it, thinking all was fine. Well, it wasn't. I got nabbed by a very stern security guard who told me that was "artfully concealing a banned item" :(

But he let me go "this time".

Thanksgiving at the LTM

2008-12-02T08:41:00.003-08:00

When I was there in the fall of 1967 it wasn't called the Missionary Training Center, it was the Language Training Mission.

These days all the missionaries pass through the MTC, but then you got one week's worth of training in Salt Lake and if you were going to an English-speaking mission, or there was no language training for your mission, you just left after the one week.

The LTM was in a building called Knight-Magnum hall, on the very south-eastern corner of campus. It had been a residence hall (dorm) in it's day, but didn't have enough living space for all the missionaries being trained, as there had to be classrooms. So my district lived around the corner in a house on 9th East.

Well, my group got to spend Christmas in the mission field, but Thanksgiving in the LTM.

We had sloppy-joes.

The Mormon Church in Pittsburgh

2008-12-02T08:41:00.001-08:00

I had made plans to stop off in Pennsylvania to see my mother's family on the way home from my mission.

At that point the only ones who lived there that I really knew that still drove were my Aunt Jay and Uncle Allan. They came out to the Pittsburgh airport to pick me up and on the ride back to the farm they were so excited about the Mormon Church in the area.

We drove past it, and it was a Reorganized chapel :)

Azteca Coffee

2008-12-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

In the Spring on 1975 when I was theoretically going to graduate from Brigham Young University (I ended up not, short one class), my parents came to Provo to attend the graduation ceremony.

They wanted to take us out to dinner and we chose a restaurant that we had never been to (we were very poor) called (and I hope I'm remembering this right) El Azteca.

El Azteca was one block off the south end of campus on the second floor of a small building on the corner. You had to live in the area to know it was there.

Well after dinner my parents wanted a cup of coffee. My dad asked the waitress, who gave him a puzzled look and said "Let me go check".

She came back some time later and told him "We used to have some coffee, but it spoiled!"

Only in Utah.

I understand, by the way, that it takes a long time for coffee to spoil :)

Coffee and Cigarettes

2008-11-22T22:28:00.003-08:00

At one point while Paul was on his mission I was working two full-time jobs and was dead tired all the time.

In one of my letters to him I said, jokingly, that it was hard working the two jobs and that if it weren't for the coffee and cigarettes I'd have a real problem.

Now Paul had spent his whole life with me and knew that I joked about odd things.

So for whatever reason he told his Mission President, who called my Stake President, who called my Bishop, who called ME.

Sheesh.

The Frog

2008-11-22T22:26:00.001-08:00

We had been out to dinner with our good friends Tom and Addie Kay Hartsinck. When we were on the way home suddenly Tom started screaming for me to pull the car over and stop. I did, and he got out about as fast as I could have imagined.

A big frog had gotten into the car and was climbing up his leg, inside his pants. :)

Choir Practice

2008-11-20T14:48:00.001-08:00

At one point when most of the kids had left home Mary saw the birds lined up on a power line and called them thereafter "Choir Practice". I still think of that when I see a bunch of birds on a wire.

Tonsils

2008-11-18T13:13:00.001-08:00

Okay, getting your tonsils out isn't exactly what one would call fun. The baloney about eating all the ice cream you want afterward is a great idea, except that your throat hurts so bad you don't want to eat ice cream. At least that's the way it was with me.

But two things stood out for me, and obviously meant a lot, since I still remember them. The first was that my father came and stayed in the hospital with me, and we played cribbage. The second was that he bought me a miniature red railroad lantern, that I still have.

Chestnuts

2008-11-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

I saw some chestnuts for sale in Safeway the other day and it reminded me of one of my fond memories of Paris.

First, I should explain that the chestnuts mentioned in Chestnuts roasting on an open fire were all wiped out in the United States many decades ago due to some kind of tree fungus.

But when we lived in Paris we found chestnut vendors all over the place. They had huge roasting carts, probably 3 feet across, with big metal wheels and handles so they could move them. The chestnuts roasted on a bed of coals.

When you bought some they took a piece of newspaper and rolled it into a cone, then filled it with the (very) hot chestnuts. In my memory that cost 1 new franc, which was about 20 cents. The smell was heavenly and the taste divine.

Followup to my Boyhood Dream

2008-11-14T08:50:00.001-08:00

I passed my General Class license exam on Thursday. I didn't think I would have time to study enough, but I did. There is just one more level to go, Amateur Extra. I'm not even precisely sure what the added benefits are to an Amateur Extra license as compared to a General license, but having the General license as compared to the Technician license allows me to do the High Frequency broadcasting that can take one around the world.

In the mean time I am waiting for my first ham radio to arrive; it should be here on Friday. I got my call sign this morning, it is KE7YBP. Or, as a ham would say it, Kilo Echo 7 Yankee Bravo Papa :)

Boyhood Dream Come True

2008-11-10T15:04:00.001-08:00

I realize that this will not resonate with many people. Everyone has dreams that come from their childhood, and that one person's dream can be pretty much blah to someone else. This is about one of my dreams.

Many years ago we were either living with or visiting my mom's family in Pennsylvania. I was able to spend some time with my cousin David May, who was a ham radio operator (K3MUA). I remember him putting the microphone into my hand and telling me to talk. I did, and it was fun, and he was impressed that I didn't clam up as did most people.

From that day forward I have wanted to get my ham license. I stabbed at it a few times, but frankly was scared of having to learn Morse Code to pass the test.

Then, in February, 2007, the Morse Code requirement was dropped.

I finally took the plunge. The stake started up a Technician Class (the first of three license classes) class, which I started attending. Then I really got the bug, studied a lot, took the practice tests, and finally, last night, passed the real test.

I'm a ham. I'm happy. My boyhood dream has come true.

Last night after passing I told the examiner what it meant to me, and he announced it to the whole club, who had gathered for their monthly meeting. They clapped and cheered for me :)

I am studying real hard to pass the General Class test on Thursday, before the last of the nine classes starts, so that I can go to the class with two licenses in my hand. That would be sweet!

I'm a ham!!!

In the Packers' Driveway

2008-11-10T14:59:00.001-08:00

Our BYU ward, the 86th, was amazing in the number of General Authority children and grandchildren that were members of it. We had a couple of Boyd K Packer's children, James E Talmadge's granddaughter, A Theodore Tuttle's son, and others.

I got close to Dave Packer because he was in the very next dorm room from mine. I took advantage of this friendship by going to his house in Salt Lake a couple of times.

One time I went was with Mildred, then my fiancee, and Joy, my soon-to-be-sister-in-law. Okay, I admit it, I was showing off. The weather was terrible and we should have just pushed straight through to Provo. In those days the freeway over the pass between Salt Lake County and Utah County was called the "Point of the Mountain" and was spoken of with fear and trembling.

We pulled into the Packer's driveway, rang the doorbell, and were greeted by Elder Packer himself. Dave (and Laurel, also in our ward) were not home. We got back into the the car (a VW, of course) and tried to drive out and found that we were by then snowbound. Back to the door to ask for some help. And to my (and Mildred's) delight we were pushed out of the snow by the Apostle himself.

As we drove away Joy said "Who was that?" :)

Wild Rides

2008-11-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

I was driving a friend's pickup truck in the rain the other day, hauling Ashley's washer and dryer to their new owners. I chose Bigelow Gulch because I didn't feel like tackling the freeway. As I peered out intently I remembered two other wild, scary rides.

The first was many years ago when Paul was in high school. For some reason I never did understand (a friend of a friend of the family was going to make it run?) they had to haul a Volkswagen bug from Union City to Redwood City, and in a fit of mental illness I agreed to basically sit in the bug and "steer" it. Which means that Paul and Ben were in the front car and I was alone in the VW they were towing.

The deal was that if I needed them to stop I would flash my lights and/or honk my horn. It wasn't until we were careening down the road that I found out that: a) the horn didn't work, and b) the lights didn't work. I tried slewing from side to side, I tried braking, I tried everything I could think of. Nothing worked.

That was one of the most frightening things I have ever done.

We got where we were going in one piece, by the way. I don't know how.

The second was when Rachel and Tim asked me to help them move from Tacoma to Sacramento. I thought that meant that I would be packing and unpacking the truck, but no, it meant that I was DRIVING the truck. In the rain. And the snow. And towing one of their cars. I was terrified, especially going over the mountains that separate Oregon from California.

We got where we were going in one piece, by the way. I don't know how.

Short Order

2008-11-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

The other day Cameron arrived about the time we were having breakfast. Sally had decided on French Toast, Cameron decided on cereal. "No, Cameron, we're having French Toast".

That brought back pleasant memories of cooking short-order Saturday breakfast for my family every once in a while. I had done it for the staff of the scout camp I cooked for one summer, and it was a lot of fun.

Well short-order cooking for my 9 was fun, too, and a lot of work, and a lot of mess.

Am I My Father

2008-11-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

I don't know. Well, no, I'm not. But every time I see myself in the mirror, I see him.

The Best Gift

2008-10-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Amanda, for your post that brought up this memory.

Mildred was an accomplished pianist and insisted, up to the end of her life, on playing every Sunday in church, regardless of how much it hurt. She started as a child, playing in Sunday School (when it used to be a separate meeting) at the age of 11.

But in high school she had a different dream. She wanted to play the violin. The closest she ever came to it was playing a friend's violin after school. Her request to take violin lessons were denied because "she played the piano and that's all she needed".

One year, somewhere around 15 years ago, while the kids were all still living at home, I had an inspiration. I bought her a student violin for Christmas, had it sent to a friend's house, and stored in in the storage locker. This was in June.

It's not too hard for me to keep a secret for six months, but as time went by the word spread. Her co-workers knew, the kids all knew, friends all knew. The only one who didn't know what Mildred.

Her reaction that Christmas morning was priceless. She took lessons and loved playing it, but unfortunately her carpal tunnel problems eventually made it too painful.

It was truly the best gift I've ever given.

My Setting Apart

2008-10-27T17:09:00.001-07:00

This will be a long post. It is inspired by something that Elder Perkins mentioned at our recent Stake Conference.

When I left on my mission to Switzerland I had been a member of the Church for a year and two weeks. I had a firm testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel but very little practical knowledge about how to LIVE like a member. I don't mean things like the Word of Wisdom, more like what a missionary did, what a mission president was, etc.

In those days there was a house across North Temple from Temple Square, called the Mission Home (now where the Conference Center is). All missionaries went there for one week. At the end of that week, those who were going to the Language Training Mission got on a bus for Provo (subject for another post) and those who were not got on a bus for the airport.

Many things happened that week, most of which have been changed for today's missionary. One was that everyone went to the Salt Lake Temple on Wednesday. Many missionaries arrived in Salt Lake unendowed because they just couldn't get to a temple before. Actually, we went twice. In between the two sessions we went up to the Assembly Hall and asked a General Authority any question we had ever had about the temple or any other Gospel subject.

Another important thing that happened was we all got set apart as missionaries. Now, of course, that is done by the Stake President. In those days the Stake President did not have the authority.

Unless we had made other arrangements we were all "assigned" a General Authority to set us apart. I believe that Alma Sonne was the one who did the bulk of these ordinances and that he was the one I was assigned to.

I told my companion (not in conjunction with the setting apart assignment) that it was a fond desire of my heart to somehow meet Elder LeGrand Richards, whose book A Marvelous Work and a Wonder had been responsible for my conversion (I will talk more about that in another post). He (my companion) said "Well why don't you just ask him to set you apart".

Understand, I had grown up a military brat. In that context you just didn't ask to have one of the generals meet with you for anything, so I was flabbergasted at the mere idea. Anyway, my companion made the call, and the arrangements were made.

When you first entered the Mission Home there was a big "living room", which was the place where the family said goodbye to the missionary. Around the walls of that room were pictures and short biographies of almost all the Mission Presidents. Of course, mine was one of the ones that was missing.

So here I was, truly a Stranger in a Strand Land, knowing nothing about what was in store for me, or even those who would be in charge.

Now comes the amazing part. I went out and bought a new copy of A Marvelous Work and a Wonder. We went to Elder Richard's office at the appointed time. He took my paperwork and glanced at it and said: "Oh, my granddaughter is your Mission President's wife".

:)

We talked about a lot of things, especially about being a missionary, and about President Nelson (who was the grandson of Joseph Fielding Smith) and his family. Then he set me apart, autographed my book, and we were done.

The Yorke Corner

2008-10-27T16:49:00.001-07:00

Thinking about this weekend's Stake Conference up here made me think of when our family was very small. We move to the Bay Area from Orem, Utah, with just Ruth. Five months later we moved from a town house in Fremont to a house in San Leandro.

The San Leandro Stake was so vibrant that it had to have Stake Conference in the pre-remodelled Interstake Center. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the building next to the Oakland Temple, and home of the Oakland Temple Pageant.

Our 'spot' was front row all the way to the right, and we sat there for the years we were in the San Leandro First Ward. Stake President Richard Crockett, who was also the doctor who delivered Paul, Rachel and David, told me once that it warmed his heart to see our little family always there.

Halloween Dance?

2008-10-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, when Cameron, one of my kindergarten grandsons, started talking about going to the Halloween dance last Friday at school, I thought he was just confused.

So Saturday I asked him what he got at his party, expecting to hear about all the candy he hauled in.

Nope, they had a dance. He didn't dance with any girls, only with Hunter, his best friend.

My Children Should Appreciate This

2008-10-26T12:30:00.001-07:00

We just got out of Stake Conference. Elder Shumway of the Seventy was one of the visiting General Authorities (Elder Perkins was the other), and in his remarks he told this story:

"Joseph Smith had a very good friend, Anson Call. Some of you may be related to him (Anson Call->Anson Bowen Call->Mary Theresa Call Hurst->Florence Hurst Wendel->Mildred Wendel Yorke->you) (Now the rest of what he said I am going to quote directly from Anson Call, A Short Life's Sketch, rather than from Elder Shumway):

"In conversation with Colonel Wilson of Jackson county who had been bragging of driving out the Mormons, told them not to go to far west because he was going to drive the Mormons out there too, (as he did), on a steam boat Anson replied that if you will stop a moment or two I will tell you the way it can be done, (stopping Joe Smiths career) for there, is but one way of accomplishing it. "What is that, Sir?" Wilson said. Anson answered, "Dethrone the almighty and Joe's career is ended and never until then."

The Stand-Up Comedian

2008-10-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

When David was in about 2nd grade he was the class clown. Okay, he probably didn't stand up to do his routine or he would have gotten in more trouble. The first we heard of this was at some parent-teacher meeting when she told us she had restricted David's joke telling to certain times of the day.

Fair Warning

2008-10-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

If you know me, I might mention you in my blog. For my children, especially, this may be embarrassing. Oh well :)

Ping Pong, a Lesson in Life

2008-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

When I was but a lad, and we lived in France, they built a youth center across the street from the front gate of the housing area. They had ping pong tables. For anyone who thinks there probably was no life before video games, well, ping pong was it. Well, that and smooching.

Anyway, I learned a very interesting lesson in life that I have never forgotten. When I played ping pong with someone better than I was, I played better. A lot better. When I played with someone who was not as good as I was, I played worse. Not a lot worse, but I got sloppy.

I've seen this put another way, which is more clever than I could come up with: It's Harder to Soar With Eagles When You Work With Turkeys.

It's true!

Two Vacations

2008-10-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

I had this idea a while ago for two really fun vacations. Now mind you, I have no idea what the respective moms and dads would think of this, but here it is anyway.

I would like to take all of our grandsons for a combined trip to Disneyland: Sam, Brenden, Wyatt, Cameron, Ian, Aiden and Deakin. Fly them all in, rent a van and stuff them all in our hotel room.

Then take all of our granddaughters and do the same: Arminda, Lara, Sarah, Breanna.

Wouldn't that be fun? I think so.

Kim's Korean BBQ

2008-10-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Emma (my mother-in-law) has a friend and former (art) student named Mary who lately has been coming over on Saturday afternoons and painting with her. Mary's fiancé, John, has been the unknown quantity until yesterday, when he came with Mary.

John is delightful. He's a little older, well-traveled, well-spoken and very outgoing.

We all decided to go out to their favorite Koren restaurant, Kim's. Sally and I had passed it many times and it was kind of on our list of places to try some day.

It turned out that John and Mary are practically members of the family there. They knew the owners, Chou and Joe, plus half the customers that came in. It was a bit like Cheers, where "Everybody Knows Your Face".

We spent the evening eating good Korean food, laughing, talking, SINGING karaoke, and John and I had a delightful time grousing about the state of the nation and indeed the world.

I don't know if we'll go back, because the food didn't totally agree with either of us, but we've made some new friends.

The Why

2008-10-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have successfully resisted the blog movement up to this point, more because of lack of time and mental energy than anything else. More and more though friends and family send me to their blog as a substitute for their personal attention. I hope I don't get to that point, though if it works for them that is fine.

At the same time I have had for many years the desire to leave behind something in the way of a personal history. I have, as I'm sure so many others have, started it many times. Maybe by using this electronic medium which I use so much in my life I will be more likely to keep it up.

I have read parts of many personal histories, or journals, and have been inspired by many of them. Like most people, I think, I find nothing remarkable in my life story. But I know that's not really the case, that there will be those of my descendants who will be interested, and who will read.

I plan on several different types of posts. Some will be short thoughts that have come to mind, others will be photographs, others will be philosophy, others will be sections of my life as they come to mind, others will be poetry.

Poetry? Robert Bly in his book Iron John talks about how men often start writing poetry at age 50. I've done that, and some of it is pretty awful, and some of it is very personal and some of it I really like.

The title of this blog at the starting point is Stranger in a Strange Land. This is not only a phrase used in the Bible but the title of a renowned science-fiction novel written by Robert Heinlein. The book has had an influence in my life. And, ultimately, we are all Strangers in this Strange Land called Life.