Life in Our World - Details

We have an old lady's cupboard.  My mom had one, clear full of odd foods no one liked.  Now I know how you get one:  you pick something up here and someone gives you something there and no one eats it or knows what to do with it.  Dried tomatoes, masala, seaweed, marmalade, V-8 juice, stuffed green olives - there they sit on the shelf and rest.  And age.  I'm wondering what to do with it all -- short of tossing it to the chickens and calling it feed.

The night before my neighbor left on a Caribbean cruise she called and asked if I would like her amaryllis. She said it had at least three blooms ready to open and it bothered her to think it would sit on her table and no one appreciate it.  I see this neighbor once a year at the grocery store, but I see her husband several mornings a week during the summer out on the ditch-bank.  It was sweet of her to think to share it.
 

I picked up a bouquet of daisies to give away because "they're such a friendly flower" (name that movie), but wasn't able to deliver them like I'd planned.  I brought them home and now I have two bouquets (of sorts) at the same time.  This never happens to us except during weddings and funerals.

Calvin built a feed box for the steers and then we scooped 1400 pounds of grain into it, one scoop at a time.  It took about 300 scoops to transfer it.   That's a lot of bend, scoop, lift, dump, bend, scoop, lift, dump.  It almost felt like an exercise routine.

I read a good book this week, Peace Like a River.  The review on the front said this book "serves as a reminder why we read fiction to begin with."  I enjoyed it.  It was one of those books that felt like an accomplishment when I closed it, and I was glad I read it.  It had some wonderful sentences in it.  Have you read it?  Did you enjoy it?

I watched the Mitt Romney documentary on Netflix.  I enjoyed it as well.  It made me smile watching him pick up trash and clutter.  It was interesting hearing how the mind of a businessman thinks in politics.  What a good man.  I still wish he would have won.

Calvin and I went out to dinner Friday night using a gift certificate.  The only thing better than a good dinner out is a free good dinner out.

We went to Fort Lewis on Wednesday to be with Grace for an ultrasound since Abe is still away on training. The baby kept his face squished against the walls of Grace in every facial picture.  Seeing the images I imagined his nose and lips pressed up against our glass door in a few years.

Today I went to Marv Vernon's funeral.  He just turned 90.  Brother Vernon was our home teacher for several years.  By occupation, he was a banker, and by the end of his career he was a consultant for failing banks.  I remember a church lesson he gave several years ago. He shared his experience of helping troubled banks and that he quickly learned it was fruitless to ask, "What happened?" and "Why did you fail?"  That question only caused accusations and excuses.  Instead, he learned to ask, "Now that we're in this situation, what can you do to help get and keep us out?"

He suggested families would do well to use that advice and focus on the future and what can be done, rather than on the past and what was done.  I've often thought of and used his advice.


And finally . . .

. . . today was also our stake young women's conference.  While Nesha and I didn't have any young women attend with us, we still went and enjoyed it.  Our theme this year is Come Unto Christ.  I find this video we watched inspiring and heartwarming.