My Favorite Things- Hot Chocolate

It's Ken's turn- and this time of year, hot chocolate is definitely one of his favorite things. When he gets chilled, he loves to come home and make himself some hot chocolate with marshmallows and/or some of these thrown in: Hot chocolate- one of Ken's favorite things!

Mandy and Darren Wed

Ready to go!

The Wedding Dinner

Visiting at Rick and Sherrie's

Reception at Clark and Nan's

Out of the Best Books- Volume 1

Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Volumes One - Five by Bruce Budge Clark This five volume set of books is a magnificent collection of some of the greatest literature ever written. It was compiled back in the 1960's by Bruce Clark to be studied for the cultural refinement lessons for the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints. Each short story, poem, and essay was carefully chosen to be included in these volumes. I just finished Volume 1. My plan is to read all five volumes. I read one short story, essay, or poem each evening, or several evenings a week, and Volume 1 (about 500 pages) has taken me about five months to read. I am LOVING it. I am being introduced to the great authors and am learning so much. I feel like I am taking a literature class and Mr. Clark is an excellent teacher, helping me understand what I would never understand on my own. After each poem, essay or short story, he gives a synopsis and explanation of what was just read. I admit, sometimes I have NO clue what I just read, until I read his help, then I go back and read again and have an "Ah HA!" I love it. Some I still don't understand, but that's okay. I feel myself growing and learning. It's impossible to adequately review a book like this, but I wanted to record some of my favorite "Ah Ha's!": William Wordsworth: "The world is too much with us; late and soon. Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;" . . . we lay waste our powers. Ah Ha! I loved "The Portable Phonograph", a futuristic short story by Walter Van Tilburg Clark about the four last survivors of humankind and how they come out of their respective caves to listen to a salvaged phonograph, classical music, their last shred of civilization(everything else was destroyed in the "explosion.") It teaches the need we all have for beauty in our lives. My Dad used to quote, "Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink." and I've heard all my life about the white albatross hung around the neck. I now know those were literary references from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Who knew? Probably everyone but me. Powerful stuff. Truly one of the greatest poems of world literature. Donne's "Death Be Not Proud" and Rabbi Ben Ezra by Browning were favorites: I love the first line of the latter: "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be," I think one of the most poignant is a short story I used in a speech I did in high school,"The Lament" by Anton Chekhov. It's about a man, a "Cabby"(taxi driver) whose son has just passed away and he longs for somebody, anybody to listen to him as he expresses his grief. No one will. I love "Abou Ben Adhem" for two reasons: It's my neighbor's favorite poem (he wants it read at his funeral) and I understand it! Without any help from Mr. Clark, I "get" that one. Dickens, Dickinson, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, Blake, and many, many others. . . all within the paperback pages of one book, and that's just Volume 1. Stay tuned for about five months for the review of Volume 2. I can't wait to get started! View all my reviews

Nedje

About a month ago, maybe a little longer now, I met a fun lady at the pool. She was swimming laps, punching this cool yellow lap tracker after each lap. When she finished swimming, I asked her about her cool tool, thus striking up a friendship with Nedje. I learned she was from Maryland, visiting here for a couple of months to take time for herself- losing weight and exercising. I was excited to learn her undergraduate and Masters degrees were in vocal performance and that she taught voice and "The Influence of African American Culture on American Music" at her local college in Maryland. I told her about our Keynote group (the women's singing group I'm in and am in charge of). I told her we were singing two spirituals and two jazz pieces for our concert in May and asked if she would come and help us be "less Mormon and less white" when we sing them. She agreed. So, for the past couple of weeks, Nedje has joined our rehearsals and given us a master class. It has been so fun. In exchange, we gave Nedje a gift bag of goodies, including a "Mormon" hymnbook and a Book of Mormon. She promised she would read it. Nedje left to go back to Maryland this week. She promised to keep in touch.

Thanks, Nedje! It was fun!

My Favorite Things- My Camera!

It's been awhile since I've done a "my favorite things" post. I was stymied by the absence of my camera. I had to send it in for repairs to a place in Connecticut and it took a LONG time to get it back. It was still under warranty, so we didn't have to pay for the repairs, which was very nice. But I sure did miss my camera. I am certainly no expert photographer and probably never will be, but I love pictures and the memories they evoke. As is often the case, living without something makes you appreciate it more. My camera is definitely one of "my favorite things."

Another Funeral

Today, we attended another funeral. You may remember a post I did last summer about Gwen, a long-time employee of Ken's firm, retiring. She unexpectedly passed away this last Monday. Her funeral was today. The family asked Ken to speak. He was overwhelmed at first with that responsibility, but was inspired to email everyone in the firm, asking them to share with him their memories of Gwen. He was flooded with responses. Everyone loved Gwen and wanted to share their love and memories. He then wove those memories together into a wonderful talk. He said that the memories would be presented in random order, but that was not at all the case. He spent three hours the other evening typing them up and weaving them together to make a spell-binding speech that had you laughing one minute and crying the next. It was absolutely masterful. I am so proud of him. He "captured" Gwen and her goodness and her humor and had everyone wanting to be a better person as they left. He said that knowing someone for 34 years, working with them every day, you get to know their good, their bad, and their ugly. He said in 34 years, he never saw any ugly or bad in Gwen. Only good. . . lots and lots of good. Some of Gwen's stellar qualities that I want to always remember:

Integrity. She was honest almost to a fault. She was responsible for ordering for the firm. Occasionally she would miss a deadline and cost the firm a small amount in credit payment. She would say, "Please take it out of my check." Or she would try to pay cash. Of course the firm never accepted her offer, but what a great example of absolute honesty and integrity(and humility to admit her mistake.) Ken told how every year at review time she would insist that she not get a raise and would give a list of reasons she didn't deserve one. They always gave her a raise. How many people do you know like that? Gwen was one of a kind. Ken told how as CPA's they instruct their clients to always have internal controls over a bookkeeper- never completely trust anyone. That is essential in business. Then he threw up his hands and said, "We're hypocrites! We trusted Gwen explicitly. We didn't need to follow our own advice." Gwen had absolute integrity.

Selflessness. Gwen didn't know how to think of herself first. She always put others and their needs above her own. Ken told the story of how she went up to Pine Valley (where her family home was) to clean and accidently locked herself in an upstairs bedroom. She tied bedsheets together and tried to climb down (she'd watched too many movies). About halfway down, she fell breaking her ankle and injuring her back. She climbed back up the stairs, secured the house, then drove the hour down to St. George and went to the emergency room. Only then did she call her family and let them know she was fine, but would be in the hospital over night. She didn't want to interrupt what they were doing to take care of her needs. Last year, she got very sick and the Dr. told her she needed to be hospitalized. She said, no, she couldn't do that because she had clients who had payroll due and she had to go to work and do that for them. Her family and the Dr. prevailed, but during her hospital stay, she frequently called those covering for her to instruct and direct them, making sure the clients' needs were met. One of Ken's clients recently told him how much Gwen meant to him and what great care she took of him. Gwen selflessly raised her own children and some of her grandchildren as her daughter was not in a position to do so. She even had instructed her family that when she died to be sure to hold the funeral on a Saturday so people wouldn't have to miss work to attend. Even in death, she was thinking of others.

Gentle I think that word describes Gwen so well. She was quiet and gentle and loving. I want to be more gentle from knowing her.

Humble I've already described her humility, but wanted to list it as one of her stellar qualities.

Loyalty Never was there a more loyal employee, family member or friend that Gwen.

We will miss this elect lady.

That was the fifth funeral we've attended in a month. That's enough. I decree that there will be no more for awhile. Next week we attend a temple wedding. Five funerals and a wedding. That sums up our month.

tuesdays with Morrie Revisited

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom My rating: 5 of 5 stars Update on February 10, 2011: I just finished this book for the second time as I'm leading the discussion about it for our book club next week. I liked it even more the second time. I cried just as much at the ending. Here are some of my favorite quotes ( that I copied from someone's blog): On Culture: "The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it." (p.42) * * * "People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does...And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture." (p.42) On Tension of Opposites: "Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else." (p.40) * * * "A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle." (p.40) On Love: "Love wins. Love always wins." (p.40) * * * "Love each other or die." (p.163) On Forgiveness: "Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others." (p.164) * * * "We...need to forgive ourselves...For all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened." (p.166) On Getting Meaning into Life: "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." (p.43) On Most Important Thing in Life: "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." (p.52) On Trust: "...if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too--even when you're in the dark." (p.61) On Friendship: "...we've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that." (p.71) On Death and Ambition: "...the truth is...if you accept that you can die at any time--then you might not be as ambitious as you are." (p.83) On Family: "The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family." (p.91) * * * "If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all. Love is so supremely important." (p.91) On Having Children: "There is no experience like having children...If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children." (p.93) On Material Things: "Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent." (p.103) * * * "You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship." (p.125) On Emotions: "If you hold back on the emotions--if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them--you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid." (p.104) On Dying and Living: "When you learn how to die, you learn how to live." (p.104) * * * "Don't let go too soon but, but don't hang on too long." (p.162) On Being a Child: "We all know how to be a child. It's inside all of us. For me, it's just remembering how to enjoy it." (p.116) On Youth: "...I know what a misery being young can be, so don't tell me it's so great." (p.117) * * * "...in addition to all the miseries, the young are not wise. They have very little understanding about life." (p.118) On Aging: "If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow." (p.118,119) * * * "How can I be envious of where you are--when I've been there myself." (p.121) On Money and Power: "Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness." (p.125) On Status and Showing Off: "...if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone." (p.127) On Immortality: "...love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone." (p.133) * * * On Marriage: "...there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike." (p.149) On Shortsightedness: "...no matter where you live, the biggest defect we human beings have is our shortsightedness. We don't see what we could be. We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into everything we can be come." (p.156) On Needing Others: "In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well." (p.157) On Being Number Two: "What's wrong with being number two?" (p.159) On Death : "Death ends a life, not a relationship." (p.174) View all my reviews

Three Funerals and a Wedding

They say deaths come in threes. We attended three funerals in the last week. The first was a three-year-old girl in our ward who died from cancer. It is the saddest of the three, but the funeral was a happy celebration of her short life.

Second was the funeral of a lady in our ward that I visit taught for several years. She was never active in the church, but graciously let us visit her. I grew to love her. She was 83 years old.

Third, we attended the funeral of Brian's grandfather, Reed Walker. We drove up to SLC this last weekend to attend and to be with Brian, Michelle, and Gabbi and Brian's wonderful family. It was a wonderful celebration of Brother Walker's life. He was 93 years old. He was physically active through his whole life. He spent his 92nd birthday on the ski slopes. It was a funeral that made you want to live your life better. He helped hundreds of young people in scouting, teaching them in school and others to ski both on the slopes and in the water. He was a teacher in every sense of the word. He lived by the scout law. "On my honor I will do my best . . . " That was read at his funeral, and you realized he took every word in that to heart and lived it to the fullest. The Prince boys- Brian and his father and brothers- sang at the funeral. They are SO good. They sing acapella and are just amazing. The other musical numbers were also top notch and the talks were also wonderful and inspiring. Brian spoke sharing memories of his grandpa as did three other grandsons. It was a wonderful and inspiring meeting. I'm already trying harder to be a better person as a result of being there. I hope the affects last!

The Prince family were so kind and gracious to us, including us in all of their family activities throughout the weekend. What a privilege it is to be in their home! It was SO good to be with Brian, Michelle, and Gabbi. They live too far away! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

At the viewing

The Prince Family at the viewing

After the viewing, we went back to the Prince home where Brian's sister, Michelle set up Girls Night- we soaked our feet and had fun getting pedicures.

The Prince boys checking out the cuticle pusher thingy

During the graveside service, Gabbi wanted to run, not be held at a meeting. So she and I explored the cemetery. She was so cute. When the ground was uneven, she would reach up for my hand. There were Canadian geese. "Hi, Duck!" she said as she ran toward them. We had a fun walk.

Ken and I went to Hires for lunch after.

The Prince family after church. They won't be all together again for a very long time as Carl is going on his mission in June.

The Princes put on a princely feast indeed for us on Sunday. They are so kind.

Michelle's BFF since middle school came up from Provo for dinner, too with her husband and cute new daughter, Ellen. Lindsey and her husband will be moving to Portland at the end of the semester, so who knows when they'll get to see each other again. It was so fun to see cute Lindsey again.

All set for dinner. (Gabbi's getting a head start)

Brian and his mom suggested we surprise Michelle since her birthday is this month and make it a birthday party. "With a bump on the head." It's a Prince family tradition.

Happy birthday to you!

It was a great weekend. Thanks again to the Prince's for being so kind to us. We loved every minute of it.

So, when's the wedding you ask? It's in a couple of weeks. Our niece is getting married in Arizona. I'll have to post about that then, but I just couldn't resist that title.