Night Road

 

Night Road by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let’s say a person is holding a full glass of water. Someone comes along and jostles her arm. What will spill out of the glass? Water, of course. Why doesn’t juice spill out? Because only water is in the glass. Jude, the helicopter mother in this story, gets jostled big time. And what spills out of her is anger, grief, depression, selfishness, meanness, and an inability to forgive. All of us will be jostled in our lives. Trials and hardships are part of being human. Unlike Jude, I hope we will be full of goodness, so that’s what comes out of our glasses when those hardships come.
This is a page-turning, emotional novel. It is full of sadness. But it is thought-provoking and has some very lovable characters. I give it 4 stars. Language is an issue.


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Primary Memories

   I am writing a book of stories from my life.  It is called "Grandma's Stories."  Following is one of the stories from that book.

When I was growing up, Primary was held on a weekday afternoon after school. Our church was the old, white church in Caldwell, Idaho and that is where I always attended Primary.  Junior Primary was held downstairs in the Junior Sunday school room, and senior Primary was held upstairs in the chapel.  It was a big deal to graduate to senior Primary and get to go upstairs. After school, we would walk from school to Primary- at least while we attended Lincoln Elementary (grades 1-3) and Washington Elementary (grades 4-5.)  Lincoln elementary was just a block away from the church, and Washington elementary, maybe three blocks.  There was always time to play on the church grounds before we went inside for Primary.  We loved playing on the church lawn together.

One of my most vivid memories of playing while we waited for Primary to start was in the year 1964 in the month or so before the Goldwater/ Johnson presidential election.  I was eight years old that year.  We formed a line as you do for the bunny hop.  We hopped along, chanting “Goldwater, Goldwater, hip hip hooray!  Let’s get Johnson out of the way!”

Just like in the bunny hop, there were actions that went with the words: Goldwater, Goldwater (right hands on right shoulders of the person in front of you.  Left feet and left hands raised in rhythm) then on hip, hip hooray (switch and do the same on the right)  Let’s get Johnson (fling left hand and foot) Out of the way (fling right hand and foot.)  We hopped all over the church grounds chanting and hopping.  I don’t think such actions would be sanctioned by the church.  We were just little kids, so no one stopped us.

Once we went in for Primary, what I remember most is singing time.  I’m sure there were other parts of opening exercises and class, but I don’t remember much about those.  But, oh how I loved singing time.  Some of the songs I loved to sing were:  I Have a Garden, a Lovely Garden, Little Purple Pansies, I Am a Child of God, Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam, Jesus Once Was a Little Child, Give, Said the Little Stream, I Wonder When He Comes Again, etc. 

When I was in high school, I served as the Primary pianist in junior Primary, and then the chorister in senior Primary.  I got to keep singing and playing those songs I loved.  I really enjoyed those callings, especially chorister.

 

The last three years of Primary were wonderful.  Girls separated from boys.  When we were nine, we were called Gaynotes, 10-year-olds were Firelights, and 11-year-olds were the Merri Hands.  We learned to do embroidery, crochet and knit.  We earned emblems and jewels for our bandalos as we completed goals and projects and memorized scriptures:

 

I struggled to learn to crochet because I was left-handed and had a hard time translating my right-handed teacher’s instructions.  My mom arranged for me to go to Mary Cook’s home so she could teach me.  She was left-handed and was a kind, dear woman.  She was my neighbor, Lily Blacker’s mom.  This is a picture of her.  She is one of my childhood heroes.  Everyone loved Mary Cook.  I always called her Grandma Cook.

With Grandma Cook’s help, I made a lovely, crocheted rug of which I was very proud.

I have very special memories of Primary as a child.  I am grateful to those teachers and leaders that made it possible for me. 

47 Wonderful Years

 We celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary on August 19th.

Marrying Ken was the best decision I ever made.

We went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant called Chef Alfredo's.  The food was delicious!

Summer Olympics 2024

 We so enjoyed watching the Summer Olympics.  These athletes are so inspiring.  I love how the world comes together and supports one another.  These were some of favorite people and events:

These girls are amazing!  I read one comment about Simone Biles that made me laugh, "Is she even my same species?"  It is amazing what she can do.

Katie Ledecky was such an amazing distance swimmer and was so humble and pleasant.  What a great hero!

Sydney was a great runner and gave all the glory to God.

Kenneth Rooks was amazing in the Steeple Chase.  He's from BYU, so that gives great reason to cheer him on.  He took the silver medal.

I always feel a little sad when the Olympics ends as I know it will be two years until they come again.  

What We've Been Eating

 

We love peach season!

I'm All Shook Up

 I was preparing to go to the airport to pick up Ken at about 11:30 pm on Sunday, July 28th when our house started shaking.  It was loud.  I think it was mostly the garage door rattling that made most of the noise.  After the shaking, I immediately got online on neighborhood alert and the texts were flying as people from all over the county were reporting they felt it.  My first thought was that I hoped it hadn't destroyed the runway so that Ken's plane couldn't land. It hadn't.  I was ready for him to be home and didn't want anything to mess that up!

I texted Ken so that he would get the news as soon as he landed.  

Pretty exciting!

Theo

 

Theo by Amanda Prowse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The “other side of the story” to the book Anna. This is the story of Theo’s loveless and emotionally stark upbringing. It helps fill in the holes and give understanding for why people react the way they do. It is a lesson in judging others. I am now listening to the third book which is about Kitty- another character in these books.

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Anna

 

Anna by Amanda Prowse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I maybe should wait to write my review of this book until I finish “Theo,” Anna’s companion book, which I am listening to now. But I will go ahead and do my best. I can already see how the book Theo completes Anna and answers so many questions. It is a great illustration of the old phrase, “There are two sides to every story.”
I like Anna. I like her positive attitude in the midst of so many hardships. I like her determination and wisdom. But by the end of her story, emotions take control and she is less understanding and less likable. I truly hope that will sort itself out in Theo. I want a happily ever after ending. Stay tuned for my review of Theo.



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Humanitarian Trip to Mexico 2024

This year's humanitarian trip was to a little village: Santa Rosa-Temascatio, near Leon, Mexico.  Blake, Shonna, Caleb, Lily, Hannah, Blake's parents- Mark and Donna, and Ken went this year along with one of Blake's dental partners and two assistants and their husbands.  There were five others in the group as well.  Most slept in families' homes.  Ken and the Camerons slept in a school room.  There was no running water or showers and just porta-potties (brought in by Choice Humanitarian.)  The conditions were very primitive.

               

Donna (Blake's mom), Blake, Lily, Hannah. Mark, Caleb, Ken, and Shonna (who went for the first time this year.)

Besides offering free dental work, the project this year was building cisterns to collect water and wood-fired cookstoves for people in the village- offering great lifestyle improvements. The women were cooking their family's meals over an open fire, outside their homes.  

Resting.  This was really hard work: shoveling, mixing cement, applying cement, building, etc.

Left to right: Ken, village lady, Caleb and Lily mixing the concrete.

L to R: Mark Cameron, Lupita (an in-country Choice Humanitarian employee), Ken, Caleb, a village lady, and Lily.

L to R: Shonna, Ken, unknown village lady, Caleb & Lily, mixing concrete.

Here, you can see the concrete mixing, along with those passing the mixed concrete in buckets up to the local village man and in-country Choice Humanitarian employee applying the concrete to the cistern.

Lily & Caleb mixing the concrete for the cistern. Note that the concrete slab the mixing is happening on is the lid to one of the village's septic tanks.

Ken handing a small bucket of concrete mix to the local villager, who is applying the concrete plaster to the cistern's top.

Ah, the joy of service!

The large group was divided into smaller teams- each group assigned a cistern or a cookstove.  Each group also had people from the village working with them.

This is the school where Ken and the Camerons slept by night and was the dental office by day. This is the side of the school that acted as the dental office. You can see some of the local villagers sitting in the que, waiting their turn to receive dental care.

Caleb, standing in front of the school classroom that served as the bedroom for Ken, Blake, Shonna, Caleb, Lily and Hannah. Note the porta-potties (restroom facilities) in the background, on the right.

They pushed desks together to create "dental chairs."

On Wednesday evening, the people in the village put on a quincinera for a 15-year-old girl (Lilly) in the group.  She dressed in a fancy dress and there were treats and a dance.

Daddy, dancing with his pretty daughter, Lilly.

The other project was making cookstoves for families.

L to R: Ty, Lupita, and the mom and daughter for whom the cookstove is being built. They both helped in the stove's construction.

It had a large cooking surface and two smaller ones.  They installed a chimney so that the smoke could go up that instead of into the face of the cook.

What a huge improvement this will be for ladies who cook over an open fire with smoke constantly in their faces.

 At the hotel in Guanajuato after the service portion of the trip. It's time for a shave!

After the projects were complete in the village, the group went to Guanajuato.  This city is a touristy destination, especially for the Mexican people. It's beginning had to do with silver mining. Today, it is a thriving city with a university. Ken met three Japanese girls from Tokyo that were graduating from that university while he was there. 

They went on a mariachi band-led tour of downtown Guanajuato.  It was a rainy evening, so they took them down into the city's tunnels and told stories through their music,and played for them. Currently, the tunnels are used as underground streets; but originally, some of them were created by the river that coursed through this area.

The music played by the mariachi bands were well-known Mexican serenades. The locals seemed to know the words as well as the musicians and sang the words with as much gusto as the band members. We gringos found the activity interesting and the ambiance enjoyable, but we felt mostly left out of the meaning behind all of the songs and activities. The band would play for us a while, one of them would speak to us a bit, and then we would move to another location in the tunnels for another song or two. There were many groups in those tunnels with their own mariachi band.

This is a picture of one side of the plaza just outside the Luna Hotel, where Ken, the Cameron's, and the other team members stayed in downtown Guanajuato.

A Catholic cathedral near their hotel.

Gorgeous views of the city from the Papila statue, which you'll see soon.

In the background, to the right of Ken's left ear, you can see the green area that is the plaza in front of the Luna Hotel. The hotel was located between the green plaza and the large yellow/orange cathedral just to the right of Ken's head.

The statue of Papila, a local Mexican revolutionary hero

Amy, a dental hygienist and her husband, Peter, posing in front of a Bougainvillea Tree, located along the pathway/stairway down from the Papila Statue to Guanajuato's downtown area.

Stairs at the university

The view from the top of the stairs. Note the Papila Statue, near the top of the hill, on the horizon.

You can see that Papila statue in the distance.

The guide told them the Romeo/Juliet-esk story that happened in this alley.  A rich girl fell in love with a poor boy.  Her father forbade her to ever see him again.  The father caught them kissing.  They were each on a balcony on either side of the alley.  He stabbed his daughter to death.  There was a long line to get up to where it happened and there was a charge to stand on the balconies and kiss.  Shonna and Blake said, "We will just kiss here.  It's close enough!"

One of the many Mariachi bands playing on the shaded walkway between the plaza and the hotel-front restaurants. This is right in front of Hotel Luna.

From the movie, "Coco" You could pay to have your picture taken with her.

Here are some more pictures of the village from Mark's camera:

Pushed together desks created dental chairs.  Hannah and Donna helped in the dental clinic.

This is the wire frame which will be covered with cement/plaster for a cistern.

Cementing/plastering the cistern.

Look at that cistern.  This is Mark's 18th trip with Choice Humanitarian.  He is a fine leader and a true humanitarian.

This donkey brayed for the workers throughout the work.
Who needs Pandora?

This dear lady did not want the Americans to leave. Such a sweet, tender picture.

Ken climbed a mountain overlooking Guanajuato.  It was a 6-mile hike and had beautiful views.  The others went on a tour of a mine and went to a mummy museum.  Ken was hoping to see new birds, but was disappointed that birds seen there were ones he sees here.

Guanajuato's Weeping Rock

Mariachi band playing in front of the Luna Hotel for the patrons of the hotel-front restaurant.

Though the trip had a very difficult start, it ended up being a good experience.   They had no problems flying home except that many were ill. Thirteen of the seventeen in the group had intestinal illness, but Ken was spared that, thank goodness.