The Annotated Pride and Prejudice

The Annotated Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is my first Jane Austen novel. I decided to cut my Austen teeth on her most famous novel, and to read the Annotated version (as recommended by my daughter, Michelle.) In the text there were footnote numbers that directed you to the page opposite. It made for a very easy look up that explained culture, Jane Austen’s personal views, references to other of Austen’s novels as well as others of that period, and, of course gave definitions of words and phrases peculiar to the setting. It made it so much more enjoyable to understand all of that. In way of review, what can I possibly say that hasn’t been said in thousands of other reviews of this classic novel? I honestly couldn’t believe how minutely it was analyzed in the annotations and how well Miss Austen’s writing stood up to that kind of scrutiny. There is no denying she is a fabulous author with remarkable writing talent. Her characterization and ability to carry the story forward with dialogue is quite amazing. I feel like I know each of the characters and could point out Mr. Collins or Elizabeth or Jane or Mrs. Bennett or, heaven forbid, Lydia on the street. I also know and understand their culture and social structure way better than I want to! I find her ability to scrutinize her own culture and really laugh at it through her story amazing. I guess my criticism of the book is that it seems like much ado about nothing. What? This from the girl that loves Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and the Ladies Detective Agency Series and the Mitford Series??? I know, I know. It just seems that the characters every day lives were so shallow and void of service or of anything of much importance that I find it hard to relate. What WILL Mrs. Bennett do once she gets all of her girls married off? Really, it seems the sum of her existence. But, I guess the fact that I’m asking what a fictional character is going to do proves the quality of the writing. So, do I give it five stars or four? I just can’t decide. (Maybe this dilemma is much ado about nothing, too.) Can I go with four-and a half? View all my reviews

Winter Getaway

Ken audits a little town called Tropic, so each year at this time he needs to go up there to present the audit to their town council. So, I cancel my Thursday voice lessons, and we go up and spend a night away in Ruby's Inn where we honeymooned over 30 years ago. It is right at the mouth of Bryce Canyon. It is gorgeous and peaceful up there in the winter, with few other travelers. They have a magnificent steak house/ restaurant at Ruby's Inn. I can't tell you how good their ribeye is with gorganzola portabellas on top. Ken even talked them into giving him the recipe for the rub they put on the steaks. We'll try it, and if it's as good as theirs, we'll post the recipe on Hungry Hintons. I left Ken to pay the bill and wandered into the gift shop. He didn't come and didn't come. I finally went back and found him writing down the recipe as they dictated it to him. How he talked them into that, I'll never know.

We also enjoy swimming in their indoor pool with huge glass windows looking out on the snow and cold. It is really a fun work getaway that we look forward to every year.

I'm still camera-less (and am developing a tic from having no camera), but Ken took this one his iphone at breakfast.

Carl Bloch Exhibit

On the way up to the funeral last week, Ken and I stopped in Provo to visit the BYU Museum of Art to view the Carl Bloch exhibit. The museum borrowed four altar piece paintings from Lutheran churches in Denmark. They also have a room full of smaller Bloch paintings, plus prints of some of his famous series of the life of Christ. I've grown up viewing his paintings at church and in church magazines, etc, not knowing who the painter was. It was a moving experience to view these paintings and to contemplate and meditate on the life of Christ. Since none of my children and their spouses will be able to view the exhibit, I'm putting them on my blog for them to see, as well as anyone else who is interested. It's not the same as seeing the huge paintings in person, of course, but it will give you a taste of this magnificent exhibit.

This painting is owned by the BYU Museum of Art. Christ healing at the waters of Bethesda. ( Thinking about each of the people in this painting again made me realize that we all need Christ to heal us and He will.)

Christ with the innocent child. (It seems as if Christ is admonishing and inviting us to be like a child.)

Come unto Me. ( I loved looking into each of the faces in this painting and contemplating how everyone - even the skeptical as represented my the man under the Savior's left arm- is loved by the Savior. The child on his right looking at us was modeled by one of Bloch's many children.)

Doubting Thomas (Thomas feels so ashamed that he doubted. How often I feel ashamed at doubting my Savior and that He knows what's best for me and for those I love.)

This was my favorite of the prints. I love the absolute joy of Elizabeth as she greets Mary. I can only imagine how these two felt as they saw each other.

This was my favorite of the altar pieces. The angel came to comfort the Savior in His darkest hour in the Garden of Gethsemane. (I sat in front of this painting for a very long time with tears streaming down my face. I felt ashamed for causing my Savior pain and suffering. I felt unspeakable gratitude for Him being willing to do that for me.)

Alvin Gabrielsen Memorial Service

My uncle, Alvin Gabrielsen passed away so we attended his memorial services in Ogden and Logan this past weekend. Friday evening was a viewing, but really what it was was a happy family reunion. It was a packed happy "party" in that small Relief Society room. Of course, there were many friends and ward members going through a very long line, and the rest of us mingling and renewing family ties. It was pointed out by my cousin that every cousin but one was there. In my Dad's family, there were four siblings: Dad, Alvin, Ronald, and Nedra. Each of them had five children, so there are 20 cousins. Every one of them was there except Bryce who lives in Indiana. Every one. Now that's pretty amazing. It was good to see everyone and feel their testimonies and feel the bond of family. It was a joy to gather together and reunite as family. I admit, it was a joy I didn't expect. I was excited to see my siblings and to be together with them, but I was overwhelmed with joy at the entire family being together. After the viewing and family prayer, our family - my siblings and spouses- went for a quick bite to eat together before the Boise/Caldwell people had to head home late into the night. What a fun bunch. Saturday morning, was the graveside service in Logan. We arrived quite early, so went to Bluebird chocolates and went to see my grandma's house and the temple= traditions! The graveside service was short and so nice. They had military honors with taps. As they brought the casket, and taps were played, the skies opened up with sleet pouring= the heavens wept. It came down quite hard during that moving ceremony. Then, it cleared back up. I have this vivid picture of that young man playing taps with the military in uniform in front with the heavens weeping streaks of sleet. It created deep emotion. Then my cousin Ellen- Alvin's youngest daughter gave a wonderful, short talk on the plan of salvation and how she and her parents had read "Jesus the Christ" together when she was in high school and how she had developed her testimony of Him then. The grave was dedicated, and then we did a "cousin" picture. By then, John, Joan and David and still Bryce were missing, but it's pretty complete. We included Grace, Nedra and Ron in it, too. Patty, Pam and us then went over to pay respects to our parents grave. It was nice to be there and we got some more pictures. It was nice to visit their graves and tell them I love them. We then drove back to Ogden for the luncheon/ informal funeral. Each of the siblings, their spouses, and Nedra shared memories. A few grandchildren did and a friend, too. It was SO enlightening to hear those memories of Alvin. Why is it that we don't truly know someone until their funeral? It was a lot of driving in a few hours, but so worth the effort. Funerals and weddings: you never know what you miss when you miss them. These family times are truly the joy in life and what keep us focused and determined to do better and be better. I am grateful to be part of such a great family. We used to have reunions with this bunch every other year. The reunions were discontinued several years ago when it was going to be Alvin's turn and he said he just couldn't do it. He was getting too old and it was too much work. Well, Uncle Al, you hosted the reunion, and it was a doozy. Well done, well done. *Note: Thanks, Patty and Hal for the pictures. My camera is still in the shop.

The Flower Spoon

I don’t know where it came from; nor do I know where it’s gone. But, for a few years the flower spoon reigned supreme at our house. Every cereal breakfast started not with a prayer of thanks but with a child shouting, “I get the flower spoon.” Which, of course, was followed with a “No, You got it yesterday.” Every macaroni and cheese lunch: same story. Every soup dinner: well, you get the picture. I never figured out why the flower spoon was so much better than our pretty, matching silverware. But maybe it was it’s uniqueness that gave it it’s value. Hmmmm . . . . maybe there a life lesson there. . . .but whatever it was, it was a serious source of contention in our home for several years. It’s long since disappeared, but it’s memory – like it’s rose- is forever engraved in our family history. I somehow feel it’s found a place in another home where at this very minute a child is shouting, “I get the flower spoon!”

My Favorite Things: Books!

No, I don't think I'm Julie Andrews, Oprah, or even my sister, Joan. Though I was very inspired by Joan's Christmas blog post of some of her favorite things. I thought, "I want to do that." So I not only copied some of her cute ideas, I'm now copying her idea of a blog post. (Don't worry, she won't be mad; she's used to it.) But I thought I would do it a little different and just do one favorite thing at a time. Maybe once a weekish or so(or when I can't think of anything else to blog about,) I will post one of my or Ken's favorite things. I'm starting with:

Books!

My book club plans our reading a year in advance, so I ordered all the years' books (most of them used on Amazon.com), plus a few others I've been itching to read, tied a big bow around them, and said, "Here, Ken, this is what you're giving me for Christmas." We were both thrilled! I love to read, and having a big stack of delicious books just ready and waiting for me is the BEST feeling! I've started with "The Annotated Pride and Prejudice" and am really enjoying it. I'll be reviewing it and all of these books here as I read them. . . so stay tuned!

Books- one my favorite things!

And along came a spider . . .

The other day, I was showering when I felt something on my arm. I looked down and found this monster crawling on me! Not down by my hand, but right up by my shoulder! He was huge!! I brushed him off and proceeded to spray the sprayer at him, but he was far too resilient for that. He simply would not drown. So, I streaked through the house to find my camera and snapped a few shots. Remember, my camera is broken (I've since sent it for repairs.) The view finder is just white, so you just have to point and hope it's taking a good picture. Then I tried drowning him again, but he was having nothing of it. Only my shower brush as a blunt force object could do him in. Call me a murderer, but hey, he was in my space! I'm just hoping he was a HE and he didn't leave behind eggs or babies. OOOOOOSSSH!