Nature’s finest and most frustrating moments…

As I am sitting here at the computer in my air-conditioned, safe little world,

I wish to express my love and hate mild frustration with nature.

Let’s start with the positives.

I recently took a little day trip to Idaho to attend a bridal shower for a great-niece, Karli.  My daughter-in-law Brittany and I were the only ones free, so we happily headed north together.  I mentioned to her that I always loved driving through the beautiful Cache Valley, especially seeing charming old barns, white fences, rolling fields of wheat or hay, and neat and tidy farmsteads, all surrounded by the pretty mountains. 

First, we shared our love of buying fresh cheese from a dairy.  Gosner Cheese has a little store, right at their plant.  It is modeled after a Swiss Chalet and has charming planters and hanging baskets of colorful, fragrant flowers.

We always buy the cheese that doesn’t look as pretty, but tastes the same as the smooth-packaged-ready-for–stores-cheese.  It costs a lot less and grates up for cooking just the same as the more expensive cheese.  Besides, who doesn’t love a bargain?

We were a little early for the shower, so I decided to take Brittany on a detour,  by way of the back roads.

It wasn’t very direct and we headed in the wrong direction for a while, but the views were quite rewarding-just what I needed to see.  We even made it- almost on time.

I only stopped the car once to take a picture and I completely forgot to take any pictures at the party, but it was lovely.  Sorry!

As we were leaving to return home, a small summer rain shower was just moving in as I snapped a picture of our family farm where I grew up.  You can see it through the field. 

We enjoyed driving in the cooling storm (it had been in the low 100’s all week).

We do live in a stunning world, with all its variety of beauty!

Which brings me to the parts of nature that I could do without….

SKUNKS and HEAT!

The less than enjoyable aroma of skunks is interrupting my serene workspace right now.  It smells very close.  I don’t think I will venture out to see how close! 

And…

This heat has totally turned my hair to wavy ringlets.  Not cute Shirley Temple ringlets, but wild, go any direction, pop up here and there semi curls.  (Just not enough curl to look good!)

So there you have it.

Nature is quite wonderful, despite a few little challenges.

Isn’t it great to be able to get out and appreciate our amazing surroundings?

I hope you are enjoying your summer.

Only forty-two days until school starts.

Oh, wait, I am retired now!

♥

JoAnn

I’d like to meet this woman…

Have you seen those commercials on television that show you what your DNA heritage is?  It seems to be very popular now to know who we are and where we came from.

Now that I am retired I  am determined to take up some fun projects, like doing family history.

I have been going to a site called familysearch.org to learn more about my progenitors.  You can sign up for free.

This woman, Sarah Barber Manwaring, is my great, great, great grandmother, on my mother’s line.  She married Henry Manwaring.

She was born in Sandbach, Cheshire, England in 1830 and died in Springville, Utah in 1918. 

The picture below hangs in the Springville, Utah DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Museum.  Sarah must have been a prominent pioneer woman in the community.  She is the woman on the far right front row.  Don’t you love the picture frame?

This picture shows her husband and children.  The young woman Eleanor on the front left is my great, great grandmother.

My husband’s family lived in the Springville/Mapleton area and I’m sure they probably knew each other.  My line eventually moved to Idaho, where I was born.

The wonderful thing about family search is that people can easily share photos and histories.  You can copy the pictures and documents on your computer.  Yes, technology is amazing!  Isn’t it great that family photos don’t have to end up in someone’s drawer to never be seen again by anyone?

I hope to share more histories from time to time, mainly to help my family know and appreciate their heritage (and help me to get to know them, too!).

Isn’t it nice to live in a day when we can connect with the past so easily?

JoAnn

Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Birthday America!

(photo collage by Liz-Thanks!)

We are very grateful to live in this wonderful country,

and

we appreciate all those who have sacrificed and given service to ensure our freedoms.

What blessings we share!

Yesterday, we celebrated the day with some of our family and neighbors at our annual pancake/Dutch oven breakfast at our church, just like many other small town celebrations taking part all across the country.

While I love big, professional patriotic celebrations, complete with bands, orchestras, fireworks, and slide shows, something about a “home-grown” gathering of every day people seems to make this day real and relevant to me.  We honored those in attendance who had served in each of the different branches of armed forces.  These heroes are our neighbors and friends!

My favorite part of the day was the little patriotic program. 

A children’s group sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (complete with waving flags), a women’s choir sang “America the Beautiful”, followed by a beautiful solo of “God Bless the USA”.  A wonderful older man gave a brief message about our freedom, and a men’s quartet sang “God Bless America”.

It was short and sweet as the saying goes, but it touched my heart, and I’m sure it affected others as well.

A children’s parade followed the program, led by this wonderful old Dodge truck owned by a neighbor.

After the parade, lawn games (and a water fight) were enjoyed.

It was a perfect, HOT summer day!

How do you like to celebrate July 4th?

Please share.

♥♥♥

JoAnn

Summertime…

Bet my husband makes better frozen strawberry jam than yours does!

Ha!

Thanks to my husband, Ken, for becoming the family jam maker.  It started one year when I was really busy about the time strawberries were on sale, and he stepped in to help out. 

Now that we know he can do it, and do it well, he gets to take over that role.  He mashes the berries much better than I ever did-I’m too impatient.

He’s been busy all weekend.

Did you know, we worried that he had forgotten to put in corn syrup, but we checked the recipe again and again and corn syrup isn’t there anymore. 

They must have changed the recipe this year.

While he has been making jam, I’ve been able to putter in the yard.  We are enjoying this time of year and all the perennials so much.  Mother Nature does a great job of spring gardening.  Things never look as good when it is dependent on our care. 

For the record, I was able to join up with my sisters on Thursday and spend the day with them.

We had a great time, saw some fun houses, and got a little inspiration for a few new decorating ideas,

but I always come home grateful for my own little home.

Happy rest of June!

♥

JoAnn

Killing time…..

I’m sitting here waiting for a call from our mechanic as he finishes  servicing my car.

Killing time is not one of my virtues.

My sisters Julie and Linda are going to the Utah Valley Parade of Homes and I hope to join them soon.

I was so looking forward to a day of fun with them.

It’s kind of an annual thing to spend a day together: looking at newly built and cleverly decorated houses, talking, driving, eating out, getting lost, wearing ourselves out getting in and out of the car, climbing up and down hundreds of stairs, sweating (or getting soaked from rain-but not this year), and catching up on what is going on in our lives.

Sounds fun, right?

So, the killing time thing lead me to this old drawing by Katie, which caused me to think about how I visualize myself, and how others perceive me back.

I have never claimed beauty as one of my virtues.

On the other hand, I figure I’m not homely either.

Average looking is probably a good description.

(Some hair fashions have NOT helped my cause!)

I tend to visualize myself as much thinner and younger than I am (although that is getting harder to do), and I’m sure I must have that well aged look to the young leaders I serve with in our church’s Young Women’s organization, seeing as they are younger than any of our children.

But, I won’t think of myself as old enough to wear frumpy shoes, mother jeans, or letting my hair go gray! 

So, where is this post going?

I’m not sure.

The mechanic still hasn’t called.

Did I mention that I’m not very good at killing time?

JoAnn

June…who said retirement was restful?

(The 9 cutest kids on the planet!)

I have officially been a retired senior citizen for two weeks now.

Life hasn’t slowed down a bit!

We had some good family time on Memorial Day weekend, with some of our extended family and with our children and grandchildren.

We like to remember our family members who have passed on by taking flowers to their graves and then by having a picnic or gathering to celebrate our family legacy.

It’s kind of nice to think they are aware of us, too, as our little ones who don’t know or remember them climb on their headstones, despite our efforts to stop them.  (I hope they would understand!)

We attended a preschool graduation, a kindergarten graduation, a soccer game, and a birthday party for some of our little grands.  We love being a part of their lives.

My life was interrupted in a big way when my cell phone disappeared.  I must have dropped it somewhere and someone found it and took it to Motel 6.  We never did find it, so I have been out of touch with the world, literally!

I spent a very hectic week preparing for our church girls’ camp.  We worked on schedules, handouts, skits, devotionals, and then we went shopping.  Six hours spent buying food and other supplies to keep around fifteen people happy for four days was anything but restful.

It was a fun camp, despite heat, sun burn, lack of sleep, hiking, a blown over tent (in the middle of the night), and lots of work putting up and taking down tents and other equipment.

(Isn’t recent retiree and girls’ camp leader an odd mix?)

We taught the girls first aid and other life skills as we worked together during the week.  The girls got to zip line, learn archery, and do crafts.  Our camp director was amazing! 

I don’t have many photos (no phone camera), but it was a beautiful place.  Mother Nature never disappoints.

Today, I am officially starting my summer vacation/retirement- if you don’t count doing a week’s worth of mountain-dirty laundry!

Have a relaxing and fun week!

JoAnn

P.S.  The movie, “Once I Was a Beehive”, gives a pretty realistic view of what a girls’ camp is like.  Check out this link for more information.

Mother May I?

May.

For a three letter word, M-A-Y carries a lot of power .

Do you remember being told that you may go to the party, after eagerly asking if you “can” do something and then being questioned back with, “I don’t know, can you?”

Or…

Ever play the game “Mother May I?”

It was a favorite one of mine when we were young and our cousins would arrive for a family gathering.  I had a lot of cousins and some of them didn’t live very close, so it was always fun getting together. We’d all line up on the lawn of my grandparent’s house, which was right next door to my house, and play that game, “No Bears Are Out Tonight”, and “Kick the Can”.  It was a magical time!

Which has nothing to do with the month of May. For the month with the fewest letters in it, it seems to be one of the busiest, most demanding times of the year!

May is always hectic for anyone with school age children, and for teachers it is often the closest time we get to “throwing in the towel”.  (Just finished teaching idioms to my class!)

With the school year winding down, that means important testing sessions, projects due, banquets, concerts, graduations, report cards, packing up classrooms, and on and on and on, all while trying to keep restless, tired students focused and somewhat on task.

This year was an especially busy one for me.

In the words of my daughter Liz,

“After spending 19 years in the third grade, (and 1 year in second grade) my Mom finally graduated today. Happy retirement to you dear Mommy, Happy retirement to you!!!

On the last day of school my family anticipated a bitter-sweet day for me, and arrived at school shortly after the children left to help me with the final bit of packing up and cleaning out.  They arrived with treats, cold drinks, and willing hands. 

I was much too tired exhausted to feel emotional about leaving.

But…

We will see how I feel come August.

I May or May not have some mixed emotions.

JoAnn

P.S.  I do hope to have more energy for this badly neglected blog!

P.P.S.  Don’t tell my husband that I know this cake was the better bargain than having a retirement cake special ordered. 

I still love it!