A New Day

I am now a liberated woman. We had pizza for our birthday dinner :o). Alan had invited the "children" for cake and ice-cream at 6pm, but that is an awkward time as no one had a chance to eat sooooooooo I said why don't we order pizza. Pizza is not our favorite food. But........ we ordered all sorts of pizza and everyone was pleased. I may do this again, NO WORK that is why I am liberated. And the clean-up was a snap. Earlier in the day we drove to Morgan for a hamburger and Raspberry shake at Steph's. 70 miles for a hamburger. As Alan and I are fond of commenting "only in America" Only half the family were here, but that is still a crowd. One son is in So. Cal. on vacation. Another is in England with his son on a graduation trip to watch soccer. And another son lives in California so was not able to make it. But I heard from them and that was wonderful.The cake was my Alan's favorite , white with raspberry filling and real whipped cream. He never forgets the "Irish" connection so there were shamrocks on it. :o)

Someone asked me one time

"when is your birthday?"

I answered "August 22nd"

"What year?"

"Every year!"

The cream frosting was good. But don't worry, I nibbled in a corner next to the dish :o)

On this date in History

I was born in Belfast. It was a Sunday. My Mother told my Dad, a beautiful baby girl Joey, a beautiful baby girl. My Dad was so happy, he wanted me to be named after my Mother. I was.

I was the second daughter and had three brothers. Later two more boys were added. I remember when I was ten years old coming home from school upset because the children in school said the world was going to end "tomorrow". My Dad was painting the living room and without missing a stroke said, "do you think if the world is going to end tomorrow I would be painting this room today?" my childish heart was comforted. My Mother died when I was fifteen. I married at almost nineteen and my Dad died here in Utah in 1988. I was truly born of goodly parents and taught the ways of the Lord.

The Pirate King...aka David

This is David's favorite role. At least it is now jockeying for the role he is playing in, "Pirated" now playing at Rogers Memorial Theater in Centerville. It is a story about a movie "Mogul" filming "The Pirates of Penzance" with "silent" actors with no singing voices and requiring sound overs. It quickly descends to mayhem and David plays the Mogul who is the "epitome" of arrogance. An absolutely funny show and a "must" see. David has played a lot of roles over the years and always enjoys the roles that give his personality a chance to come through. We were on our mission in England when he played in "South Pacific", I don't like "Shenendoah" he got killed in that. And I do not like "West Side Story", he didn't get killed I just do not like the story. He played Joseph in "Joseph and Mary" a very touching Christmas story. He played Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and on and on. He is good at what he does and that is not just a proud Mom making that statement, he has a following. Many people go because David is playing. As a family we remember the day at Cherry Hill and he was on the pirate ship there and suddenly burst into song, "I am a Pirate King....." his family disappeared into the crowd. But his Mom (me) stayed and filmed the whole sequence. What a character, what a "David".

Food for Thought

My Mother was born on August 10 1904. I think today I am going to write about her and her hospitality. She always put her best foot forward in welcoming people into our home. I remember as a child in wartime Britain the G.I.s who attended Church on Sunday were always sent home with various families and we always had two or three or four come home with us. We were on rations so there was not a lot to go around but whatever we had was shared and these young men were welcomed. I remember my Uncle Harry, her brother, who lived in Essex coming home to Belfast for his holidays and bringing Auntie May, June, Billy and Barbara. My Mother would rearrange all the sleeping arrangements to accommodate them. BUT!!!! the best part was she always made a FRY. Which included bacon, eggs, soda bread and potato bread. Uncle Harry was the returning native son and soda and tady was unheard of in England. We did not have this everyday so it was a treat for us also. Today we call it an Ulster Fry.
This is an Ulster Fry. Similar to what I make except I have not added mushrooms but will take requests. This is such a traditional meal, people outside Ulster do not know what it is. I learned to bake apple pie when I was about 12, and in the Fall we would always go Blackberrying and Mom would make jelly. Another celebration she prepared was the wedding reception of my brother Roy. She sat about 40 people down to a fancy meal in our living room which was NOT big. It was wall to wall tables and chairs. My children probably have stories to tell of my efforts at hosting people in our home, and the ensuing turmoil but hopefully they do have happy memories of the people we entertained. I learned it from my Mother. This being an Olympic year I am reminded that my Mother was a knitter. The Olympics were held in London in 1948 and she knit a sweater for my brother Roy that had the Olympic rings as a pattern. She also knit a sweater for my brother Joe, he visited an aunt who noticed a loose thread and pulled on it to break it off, instead a large piece of the sweater came unravelled. Needless to say my Mother was "upset". My Mother died in March 1953 before reaching her 49th birthday. I think of her often.

Gone are the Days

I clipped this picture from the Deseret News Dec. 22nd 1998. 87cents a gallon. This is your lifetime. We may never see this price again. :o(
There are some cliches I hate, others are appropiate, but I am going to use one I never thought I would. We are on a fixed income. Our income has not changed in 10 years. If you are wondering about saving for retirement wonder no longer. DO IT. But we do still buy gas, and we still eat, and we still go on our trips. Life is good. But we are spending our kids inheritance every time we buy gas :o)

Thru my window

I have a large window in my living room through which I view my surroundings. The window looks North so I look to the right and see the rising sun or at the end of the day I look to the left and see the setting sun. Well, to be truthful I don't get a great view of the setting sun because of trees but I can see the sky through the trees and see the colors on the mountains to the East. In the Fall I watch the falling leaves of trees across the street. One will fall from the top of the tree and as it makes it's way to the ground it will influence other leaves to join it and a cascade of leaves is the result. One Sabbath morning last Winter I sat in my chair early in the morning and watched the snow fall. All was quiet as no-one was abroad yet. It was a full 8 minutes before a car came down the street to disturb the snow and leave it's mark. In the Spring I watch as the trees begin to bloom and leaves and blossoms form. I watch my neighbor work her piece of land. She spends a lot of time there and it shows. I watch neighbors jog or walk by. Some with spouses, some pushing buggies with one or more wee ones in it. Sometimes a horse and rider will pass. Another time a noisy fire engine or emergency vehicle, and I wonder if it is for someone I know. Sometimes when speaking to a friend in England I will tell them what the weather is like and about snow on the mountains. At Christmas time we have our own display of neighborhood lights and think it rivals Temple Square. Years ago when our children were in there young teens and there were no other homes between us and Ogden the children would climb on the roof and watch the fireworks at the local Amusment Park. But there are so many trees now I don't see those fireworks anymore. When we first moved into this home it was a country road, but now it is one of the main streets through our town and we get a lot of traffic. I am glad for double pane windows that muffle a lot of the sound. Sometimes I watch neighbors not stop at the STOP sign but slide on through. I watch the teenagers when it is 20F waiting for the school bus in their shorts, and tee shirts and no coats. On July 4th I get to watch the parade, and at Christmas, Santa go by on a fire-engine. I watch my Grandkids play in the yard and climb the plum tree and see my kids with there kids arrive to visit. I watch the birds fly in and out of the plum tree eating their fill of the plums. I watch my Alan mow the lawn or shovel snow. Sometimes Alan and I will wash the window. Once a year whether it needs it or not. A major project as the window on the outside is about 8 feet off the ground and it entails ladders and long handled brushes and squeegees. But oh the satisfaction when I look out and exclaim, "Alan, there is a house across the street." :o)

A lot of life, a lot of memories. A lot of good friends and neighbors.

Faces and Places

Can you guess which face is my favorite? You do not get a second guess :o) After many years of "talking" we finally went to Mt. Rushmore. What a delightful time. We left Monday 14th July and headed on I-80 to Rawlins, Wyoming. What a desolate place is Southern Wyoming. That is our memory from many years ago and it has not changed. Although some desolation has it's own beauty. We headed north on Highway 287 towards Casper, passing Martin's Cove and Independence Rock on the way, but our plan was to visit these places on the way back. The scenery was flat and verdant, with some rolling hills . Sometimes we could see the highway stretch before us for miles and miles, and they were not busy. There are not a lot of people in Wyoming, according to the last census only 494,000 living in 98,000 square miles. I was impressed with the idea of the distance to go to the nearest Mall and even then where was it? I did read a tidbit in the local paper that said there is only one escalator in the whole State and that is in Cheyenne the Capitol. (Utah has a population of 2,645,330 and 85,000 sq. miles) Wyoming has 3 Interstates. I-25 from Sheridan, thru Casper to Cheyenne, I-90 from Buffalo thru Gillette into So. Dakota, and I-80 from Evanston to Cheyenne.


We were impressed with Casper especially when on our return journey we only had to pay $3.91 a gallon. Imagine being impressed at paying so much for petrol.!! We stayed overnight there, need we tell you the Hampton :o) (thanx Vic)> Next morning we headed south on I-25 and it was panoramic, again the roads stretching empty before us, a beautiful day , good company what more do we need? Wyoming is very good at keeping the traveller informed as to the sights and the rest stops were really nice. We took off the freeway and headed east thru Lusk, then north thru lush grasslands, no trees to speak of and into So. Dak. and stopped at Edgemont and had a picnic. I didn't make note of the populations in these small towns but rarely over a 1000 and at an elevation of over 6500'. Then on to Custer, SD where we stayed for 2 nights. Custer reminded us of West Yellowstone but not as busy, petrol $4.15. After we got checked into the "Bavarian Inn" we headed to the "faces". It was very moving with an avenue of State flags leading the way. It was amazing to me that the sculptor knew where to put the faces. The rock is as you see the surrounding rocks. Black. But through the process of building and measuring and completing then the rock was polished etc. to give it the "white" look. I can't help but feel the sculptor was inspired because of the work involved. The processes are explained in various exhibits, and included the workmen being lowered over the cliff face in a bosun's chair. I would have to feel the person manipulating the machinery loved me. :o) The faces can actually be seen from many miles away, we did a road trip the next day and saw them from across the valley. Wednesday we visited Custer State Park which contains Sylvan Lake which is the lake that is featured in "National Treasure, Book of Secrets" and appears to be on top of Mt. Rushmore. Seeing is not believing. It isn't very far away, a few miles and we visited there and walked around the lake. We looked all over for the lost City of Gold and couldn't find it and certainly didn't find Nicholas Cage. As we left the lake and headed through the Park we did see wild Burros and many interesting "pig tail" bridges and tunnels. On our way back to our hotel we did see the "Crazy Horse" memorial which has been under construction for 60 years and is a long way from completion. We plan to go back in another 60 years to hopefully see the completed work. If you look closely you can see his profile and the beginnings of his outstretched arm.

On Thursday we reluctantly left the Black Hills and headed south to Ft. Laramie WY. Now was the time we planned to follow the Mormon Pioneer Trail. We crossed the North Platte River and went to the Fort. It was HOT!!! and the flies were driving us crazy. There is of course no way we can exactly feel how the pioneers felt but we could certainly sympathize as we battled the same annoyances they did. Friday after a good nights sleep, warm showers, good food, and into an air-conditioned car we headed west. This time we stopped at Independence Rock and are you surprised to know your Dad/Granpa/Friend climbed to the top? I don't have a picture to prove that because he took the camera but...wait... maybe I do.






Well, I chose the wrong picture he was only partway up at this point. He did see many signatures. Then onto Martin's Cove. Independence Rock is a landmark along the way that the pioneers were glad to see, and could be seen for many miles. Another landmark was Devil's Gate. This could be accessed by a trail at Martin's Cove. When we got to the Cove Visitors' Center we discovered that to get to the actual Cove we had to take a five mile round trip hike which we declined to do because of time. BUT, I think it would make a great Granma field trip. There is camping available at the Missionary Campground, running water, toilets, fire rings etc and if we provide tents and everything else we can have a great camp out. The missionary said they would help with stories and square dancing. If we were to go one day, sleep over, spend the next day hiking and pulling handcarts and sleepover another night then home. If you think you would be interested in this let me know.





We followed the road toward Lander, we stopped at "Split Rock" another landmark located in a beautiful valley. The wind was blowing something fierce so again our hearts went out to the pioneers, and you could imagine them plodding along thru this valley. We learned that about 500,000 people crossed the continent before the coming of the railroad and approx 20,000 died. Somehow I imagined a lonely group of people but that wouldn't necessarily be so. We stopped and took pictures of South Pass and of wagon ruts that are still visible. Again we stopped overnight at a Hampton in Rock Springs. Saturday we headed on the last day and stopped at Ft. Bridger. We have been there before with Michael and Lesley at a Mountain Man Rendezvous and had pictures taken with Ashleigh and the boys. But decided we needed to go again because this time we were pioneers. It was very interesting and there was a recent addition of a replica of the original trading post as it would have looked when the pioneers went through. We stopped in Lyman,WY. found a Maverick :o) and my travelling companion got peanut butter cups which he had been without for 5 days. Poor Pioneer. :o) We then headed on the last leg. I confess it was a temptation to go home from Evanston as it is only an hour from home BUT as we were still pioneers we took off at Henefer and headed over 65 down past East Canyon. As we got our first glimpse of the high mountains you had to feel for the pioneers as they would have realized they had to conquer those. "It is said" that some considered turning around and going back. Presumably rather facing what they had already suffered than those mountains. But they persevered and aren't we glad they did. On highway 65 we found a marker that told us that William Clayton was on that very spot on the 19Th July 1847 (same day as us 161 years later :o)) And the sign said,"80 miles from Ft. Bridger" and when I checked my trusty little book, that was spot on. :o) How did they negotiate those mountains? that brush? daunting!!!! We watched water skiers etc as we passed the reservoir and wondered if those faithful pioneers were ever able to get a glimpse of how the valley had developed. We got to Big Mountain where Orson Pratt was on July 19th 1847 then around the back of the mountain and down Emigration Canyon. We did stop where the Saints would have caught their first glimpse of the Valley but we couldn't see it for the haze. We did stop momentarily to get a picture at "This is the Place".


Did those English Pioneers have a "stash" with them? Probably not. Poor Pioneers !!!! :o)


We had a wonderful time. It touched our hearts many times. We thought of the comforts we take for granted and are grateful. I don't think that at my age I would have survived the experience, it was so hot, so many flies, incessant wind. Nevertheless, we are Pioneers. The only difference was we came by plane and train. But we had our struggles, NEVER to compare with the Pioneers, but we made it. We have prospered in this land "choice above all others". We love The Lord, and try to serve Him and be faithful. Life is good.