Quail Adventures

It was a *beautiful-work-in-the-yard* day today. I started early with a trip to the green waste dump to get a load of compost. It is so wonderful and black and compost-y!

I bought a bunch of plants yesterday at Home Depot to fill in some blank spots in my yard. I started in the front; planting a big hydrangea and installing my new self-winding hose reel. As I came around into the backyard I saw movement...

It was a quail family: Mama, Daddy and a bunch of little babies were crossing the back lawn and went into hiding under the currant bushes. I struggled to get my iPhone out of my pocket to get some photos. Those little babies move FAST!!! I have several of photos of rocks as they darted along the breach filled with rocks between the garden shed and the raised garden area. I didn't want to unduly upset them, but I NEEDED SOME PHOTOS! So I stood back by the edge of the shed and just kept clicking photos.

Daddy immediately flew away, I'm sure it was a diversionary tactic but I couldn't help but see that it left Mama in crisis with about a dozen babies! She was talking to them the whole time...

"All right babies, be brave and follow me!"

"Stay right along the fence..."

"Be quick now! Come under this nice plant..."

And, my favorite, "Come my babies. Let me gather you under my wings!"

I love how fluffed out she is. I couldn't see any babies under her. What a good Mama!

O ye people... how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you. (3Nephi 10:4)

Saving Up Sunshine

I walked out to deliver a singing birthday card to one of our little Primary kids in just my long-sleeved shirt. Ah, I do love this 40° day! This is one of those bright cerulean blue sky days! I just love this wonderful shade of blue! Even though Salt Lake City is in the midst of an inversion-yuck day we sit high enough here on the Springville bench to be out of most of it.

On my return I noticed all of the beautiful things all framed by that gorgeous sky. I fetched my Rebel (which has been languishing in its camera bag for way too long!) and went back out and retraced my steps to capture some sunny-sky days.

The thought occurred to me, "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to store up some of this sunshine and blue sky for one of those bleak, dark days that I know will be coming?"

Fortunately we can do that! We can save up our happy thoughts and faith-filled moments for those dark, discouraging days that come to all of us.

Then we can "repair our nest" and be good as new again.

So that's what I'm doing here, on my blog; filling up my pockets with happy thoughts and sunshiny days.

Gingerbread Nativity

Our Ward Christmas party is tonight. The theme is an old-fashioned Christmas. Several weeks ago they sent around a sign-up at church asking for the obligatory *funeral potatoes* or dessert AND something new... a gingerbread house to be used as a table centerpiece. I thought, "I can do that!"

Now I don't remember what came first: the sign up OR seeing a gingerbread nativity on Pinterest. But as soon as I saw the nativity I knew that is what I wanted to do. My first thought was to make a gingerbread stable and then use the little figurines from my Playskool nativity (and trust me I didn't pay what Amazon wants when I bought mine years ago). Then I saw a set of nativity cookie cutters (again, on Pinterest) They were so cute and... HOW HARD COULD IT BE?

(Are you ready to be amused?)

The cookie cutter set arrived late Tuesday so first thing Wednesday (yesterday) morning I contacted a Facebook friend to get her recipe for royal icing (the kind that flows and then dries hard and shiny). She generously shared her recipe and tips with me. I'm so grateful for that. I took my shopping list to Wal-mart to get the things I needed, came home, made and baked the gingerbread piece (my house smells so good!). I was aware, while shopping, that I was having some minimal-brain-disfunction, but that isn't a new occurrence for me.

While the gingerbread pieces cooled I mixed up the frosting. I decided that the first thing to do was ice the two triangle stable pieces and cover then with Wal-mart brand shredded wheat so it looked thatched and set them aside to dry. Now onto the figures. I had a few problems with the learning curve working with the royal icing, but finally figured it out. I'm sure it didn't help that I only have two small tips.

After the stable pieces were dry I decided to put them together, with royal icing, just like the instructions say. Ummmm, problem- the ginormous triangle cookie cutter is not a perfect triangle, but a triangle with convex sides so there was only about one inch of contact along the side.

OK, DESIGN CHANGE- get out the serrated-edge knife and saw them straight. Now how do I get it to stand up while the icing SLOWLY dries? I ended up propping it up with some canning jars and went back to the little figures.

Hours later I carefully pick up the stable and the icing-glue immediately breaks! I'm sure it doesn't help that the frosting and shredded-wheat cover walls now weigh approximately 40 lbs!!!

DESIGN CHANGE (again)- Maybe someone else could have made this work, but after fooling around with this for the better part of 6 hours already I WAS NOT THAT PERSON! I reverted to my original two-walls-with-a-flat-roof idea. I got out my saw serrated edge knife again. Ahh, much better.

Even with the design change the royal icing wouldn't hold things together and by now I've realized that this gingerbread nativity was never going to be eaten... Bring on the glue gun! (I think that if I'd used the glue gun with the triangle pieces it may have worked)

When I was doing the last of the decorating, after Primary presidency meeting last night, I mixed up some black frosting for the the sheep's legs, noses and ears. That is when I had the idea to make a all black sheep. My mind started to roll that black-sheep idea around and I knew that little black-sheep had to be closest to baby Jesus, the redeemer of the world.

Because when it is all said and done aren't we all black-sheep in need of our Savior's atonement?

Apples... Must Be Fall

I realize that the calendar still thinks it's summer but in Springville fall is here! AND I love it. Elio told me it was 44 degrees this morning!

One sure indicators that fall REALLY is here are apples. I love apples... they are such a wonderful fruit. They are the hardy fruit... they store well and they don't spoil too quickly. The other thing is that the are easily redeemed.

What do I mean by that? If an apricot hits the ground, well, there's only one place for it to go and that is the trash. A peach? Maybe if you do it RIGHT NOW... but even a couple of hours and your windfall peach is a bruised mess ready for the trash. But apples... even if they have been birdy-pecked, dropped in the dirt, bounced on the lawn, invaded by insects or just generally deformed it is still useable and edible with a little bit of skillful trimming with a sharp paring knife.

BEHOLD THE BYU BUCKET!

I figured I've yammered on so many times about my *favorite BYU buckets* that they needed some press time. I love these handy plastic buckets with tight fitting lids...

BUT I digress...

I had a bucketful of windfall, birdy-pecked, dropped in the dirt, bounced on the lawn, invaded by insects or just generally deformed apples today (and 3 buckets of OK apples) that needed my attention. These are the little apples that just beg to be made into applesauce.

Applesauce and I go way back... 40 years ago this month I made my first foray into applesauce land.

First you trim out any bad spots (quite a few in today's batch), throw them in a big pot and cook until tender...

I used to use a Foley Food Mill but now I depend on my Vitorio Juicer/Strainer. I picked it up at a garage sale almost 30 years ago and it has served me well. It really is the simplest thing to use.

Pour the cooked apples into the hopper...

Crank the handle and the applesauce comes out the shoot...

And the core, peelings, seeds, etc. go out the end...

Six quarts of redeemed apples!

I couldn't help but reflect on the analogy of how we are redeemed. We are windfall, birdy-pecked, dropped in the dirt, bounced on the lawn, invaded by insects or just generally deformed *little-apples* but the Savior skillfully helps us trim out all of the bad spots and makes us useful in His kingdom.

Happy thought!

Chambered Nautilus

This is my 1000th post! Wow!

My very talented daughter-in-law has written a song, soon to be released on You Tube that tells about the chambered nautilus. How this little sea creature builds its shell one chamber at a time. As the nautilus grows it builds a new chamber and seals off the old chamber. Megan likened it to healing... closing off that difficult chamber of your life and moving on- growing, getting stronger until, finally, the creature is free.

I loved this analogy! As I've written my blog, one post at a time over the past few years, it has aided me in my journey of healing.

Joplin MO

Since we were only an hour's drive from Joplin MO we wanted needed to go.

I've seen photos online and TV showing the devastation but I don't think I was prepared for the vastness of the tornado's power.

Tornado's swath

I became aware that for every photo like this there is a family who've lost their home, possessions and, in some cases, loved ones. How can I even wrap my head around that?

Shattered Dreams

It has been 8 months since the May 22, 2011 EF5 tornado cut its way through Joplin. There are signs of reconstruction: new homes, half-built homes, new businesses but there are still the very visible demolished buildings left standing as a reminder.

Joplin High School

I can' help but think about my favorite parable of The Wise Man and the Foolish Man. The floods will come, the winds, ye the shafts in the whirlwind will blow (and the EF5 tornado will wreak its might blow) but the Wise Man, firmly rooted on the Rock, who is Jesus Christ, will still be standing, if somewhat weathered when the storm passes.

Steadfast and immovable

Truly we could not continue on this difficult course of life if it were not for our faith in our loving Savior.

Robust Mortal Experience

Last September we had a Regional Conference Broadcast to 139 Stakes in Utah County and parts of Wasatch County plus 17 BYU Stakes; a possible audience half a million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the speakers was Julie B Beck, General Relief Society President. She said something that resonated with me. I wrote it down and have applied its words many times in the last year. She said that we are "having a Robust Mortal Experience!" I love that! It acknowledges that life is not easy nor was it meant to be. BUT when we have faith in Jesus Christ we are able to meet those robust experiences with courage, faith and a knowledge that the Lord will not leave us alone in our struggles.

This truth is also testified to by Helaman speaking to his sons; Nephi and Lehi.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Helaman 5:12

These last two weeks have been a Robust Mortal Experience for our family! It was two weeks ago this morning that our little Chloe was born 4 weeks early and within 90 minutes we found out that our little Dylan's heartbeat had stopped in utero; he was delivered, stillborn, 36 hours later. We made a fast trip to the AV for Dylan's graveside service on August 4th- the 30th anniversary of Amanda's death. Then this last Sunday Camille had a miscarriage.

Why do I share these happenings that many people would refer to as tragedies? Because I am here as a witness that the Lord will hold us firmly in His loving arms, rooted on His sure Foundation; "a foundation whereon if [we] build [we] cannot fall!"

Have we been sad? Yes, of course. Have we cried for our losses and rejoiced in the triumph of little Chloe? Yes.

But in spite of, or perhaps, because of, our Robust Mortal Experience we know of the Lord's love and caring for us and we know that He will never leave us alone in the storm.

Fledgings

This morning before church I was taking the trash out, as I traipsed down the path I caught a flash of yellow movement out of the corner of my eye- it was a tiny, little fledgling bird. He alighted on the little rock border that follows my path. I was quite close so I *talked very gently* to him and told him there was nothing to worry about, I wouldn't hurt him.



I'd talked to him for a few minutes before I realized I really did want a photo of him (duh!) So I came in, got my 70-300mm lens and came quietly out the back door again, telling Harley he just needed to step away from the birdie stay were he was on the deck.

I came fairly close again, even though I had my super zoom lens and could see his little breast heaving... poor little baby bird!

It seemed more than coincidence to me that I would see this sweet little helpless bird on Easter morning. I reflected on how we are so much like this helpless little creature. We don't know how to fly on our own and we need our loving parent to help us learn... and protect us when we fall out of the nest.

I want to bear strong and fervent testimony that Jesus is the Christ.  He came to earth, born a helpless infant. He lived and taught, healed and loved. He was crucified on Calvary.  He accepted all our sins in Gethsemane. He was laid in a borrowed tomb and on the third day took up His body in the act of Resurrection. He lives! Because of His willing, loving sacrifice, we, too can live again with Him. He is the only way! I am so grateful for this abiding testimony!

Crusty

Isn't it interesting how something will get our mind going?

My sweet friend, Karen, sent me another sourdough start down lasterday with one of her darling little boys because I let mine get *beyond-sourdough*. I fed it last night and decided to start a loaf of bread.

Sourdough isn't difficult, but it is time consuming. You mix flour, water, salt and some of your sourdough start into a medium dough and let it rise overnight, about 12 hours. Then you punch it down, shape your loaf, let it rise again for about 1-2 hours and then bake. Hands-on is only about 10 minutes total, that includes mixing, punching down, shaping, preheating the oven and dutch oven, transferring the risen dough to the dutch oven and starting the two-part baking process. Yeah, you just let it do all the work... and it works slow! My favorite part about fresh sourdough bread it the crunch, crust outside and the soft and fluffy inside.



So this is where my brain started whirring!

Have you ever considered just how much we, as women, are like crusty sourdough bread? We take a lot of time to turn out *right*. And, frankly, sometimes we want to rush that process! We want Pillsbury Dough results using a sourdough starter! Those Pillsbury Crescent rolls are yummy and FAST! And for some reason we think we have to be that fast, when really, were are sourdough all the way!

• We get sick... we want to be well YES-TER-DAY!
• We lose a loved one... we want to stop hurting YES-TER-DAY!
• We have financial difficulties... we want to be out of debt YES-TER-DAY!

Well, you see where I'm going with this.   We hold ourselves to higher standard than anyone else around us.  And you know what?

WE JUST NEED TO BE KIND TO OURSELVES!

We need to say, it's ok to take time to heal, to grieve, to dig out, to adjust, and often times, accept that we will NEVER be who and what we were before [before we lost our parent or child, went through a divorce, had surgery, moved away from a best friend, before...]  It's OK, because it has to be OK!

So my advice today is allow yourself to be like that sourdough bread that just came out of my oven:

• Crusty on the outside [read- I can do hard things.  With God I can do all things!] 
• Soft on the inside [read- don't become jaded by the negative things around you.  Fret not yourself!]

***(Yeah, and break open a jar of apricots to go along with your hot, buttery, slice of sourdough bread [read- I don't know but it sure tastes good to me])

325- The Last Leaf

Just as predicted the snow moved in about midnight last night. We have a blanket of about 1-2" of snow on the ground with slop on the roads (Fritz said it would be like this!)

From my bedroom window I can see all of the trees in my neighbor's orchard. He has several pear trees right along the fence that are just beautiful in the fall (they have been feature here before and, by the way, grow yummy pears that hang over the fence for me to pick and enjoy!) I was walking through my bedroom earlier and a flash of red caught my eye! What? A robin? Out in this weather? I did a double take and saw that it was just one of the flaming red leaves on the pear tree.



I couldn't help remembering the story The Last Leaf  by O Henry and how it has always moved me.

What a wonderful analogy of the Savior's love for us and the power of the atonement. All we have to do is keep believing and working towards that Heavenly goal...

319- Cloud Choices

I tend to go through periods where my trusty Rebel XS is my close companion... there are so many things to capture that day.  I end up with way too many to post on one day.

Then there are stretches of long, grey days where there just isn't anything that photo-worthy. It is on those days (such as this day) when I start digging through my files and see what I've missed on one of those *high-photo-days*.

This cloud shot caught my eye; immediately I could hear Joni Mitchell's song (Both Sides Now) in my head.



When I *Googled-up* the lyrics I found something that spoke to my beautiful-cloud/grey-cloud dilemma!

Rows and flows of angel hair,
And ice cream castles in the air,
And feather canyons everywhere,
I've looked at clouds that way.

But now they only block the Sun,
They rain and snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done,
But clouds got in my way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow,
It's cloud illusions I recall,
I really don't know clouds, at all.

As I've sat here and pondered all of this I realized how much life is like my photo-ops.  Some days are bursting with positive energy; some days, well, not so much.

I'm grateful that I have looked at clouds from both side... the black, threatening ones, the silver-lining variety and my personal favorite, pink tinged.  I'm also grateful that I've learned NOT to let those black, threatening clouds get in my way!

I always have the option to go dig around in my mental photo-stash and find those happy, pink cloud days.  Happy thought!  So even on gloomy-grey days I CHOOSE to see those pink edged clouds... It's always my choice!

206- Entwined

Some Sabbath days are just better than others... this is one of the best ones! I came home from church feeling fed and uplifted.

As I backed into the garage I noticed, once again, my beautiful Japanese Maple that grows just outside my front window. Two of the branches have twisted and entwined themselves; this day I noticed that they have bonded.



I was struck with the idea of how this is like us and our relationship to our Savior. The more we are obedient, follow his example, immerse ourselves in the scripture, pray with real intent, love and forgive freely we find that we are becoming entwined with the Lord, Jesus Christ.

It is my hope that someday I will be able to stand back and observe that we have bonded tightly together... never varying from His path.

177- All Bound Up

This phrase has a double meaning today: not only is the quilt all bound and finished, but I'm feeling all bound up with Camille's wedding less than 2 weeks away.

I often wish that binding up my feelings was as easy as binding a quilt, but alas, it isn't. I get too caught up in unmet expectations, disappointments and just sheer exhaustion.

The good news is that all of the sewing is finished! Now I just need to keep all the little duck lined up and ready for a wedding in 13 days!



As I finished binding the quilt yesterday I thought I would share my way of putting on binding. Some *purists* might not want to follow my method but that is ok... it works well for me.

Instead of the usual way of machine sewing the binding to the front of the quilt and then hand-stitching the binding on the back side (which makes my hands and wrists hurt so much!) I machine sew the binding to the back of the quilt and then turn the finished edge to the front.

Then, using the point of my seam ripper or stiletto to manipulate the fabric, I machine sew along the edge of the binding.



By careful feeling and alignment I make the stitches fall right in the *ditch* on the back side of the quilt. This isn't a particularly fast method, but it is easier, faster and more secure then the hand sewing method. Even if all of the stitched don't end up right in the ditch, once washed it doesn't show.



The front looks so nice, neat and precise. A hundred years ago quilters who'd hand pieced and quilted their quilts would sew their binding like this to show they owned a sewing machine.



So (sew), now all I need to do is work by careful feel and alignment through the next 13 days of wedding preparations remembering the words of the Psalmist- "Fret Not Thyself"!

149- Ladybug Toesies & Musings in the Garden

First off I have to share my cute ladybug toesies! I love the whole polkie-dottie toesies. When I hit on this idea I though they looked just like a ladybug



Now for my musings...

This is my sixth spring here in Utah on my little quarter-acre of heaven. Every year I reflect on how grateful I am for all of the work the previous occupants put into making this yard a beautiful place.

The flowerbed that runs along the back fence where my raspberries currently reside had a slight mishap, last year the center third of the plants died (I think my bug-guy inadvertently killed them) I decided I want to have hollyhocks in that space. I love them... they are another one of the flowers that my mom grew.


"Faith is like a little seed... if planted it will grow..."

As I was weeding and amending the soil I thought, "Wow, look how nice this soil is! Isn't it nice that the *previous occupants* put so much work into this bed!" Then it occurred to me that when I weeded this bed for the first time 5 years ago the soil wasn't like this. It was hard and full of rocks. Wait... WAIT... I've made this soil as nice as it is! That surprised me. I realized that I've put a lot of work and effort into the beauty of my yard and gardens. Me!

As I pondered on that fact I mused how similar this is to our lives. We all start with rocky, hard, poor soil but by constant work, removal of the rocks and amending our soil we improve. The thought brought tears to my eyes. Just as my little quarter acre has taken the work and supervision of the gardener. If we turn our lives over to the Gardener, He will remove the rocks and soften our soil making it fertile and able to grow those seeds of faith, hope and charity.

053- My Design Wall

Saturday evening I cut out a couple of quilts so this morning they were waiting for me... calling my name.

I love to make scrappy quilts. I've found that my design wall is invaluable to the success of this type of quilt. I'm so lucky to have a room dedicated to my creative habits! I have a portable design wall (READ- a wonderful, soft, fuzzy queen-sized sheet tacked to the wall). I love the ability to deal out the quilt pieces like a deck of card. I get to see the *big picture*. I have a process for stacking up the rows, in pairs, so I can carry the labeled stacks to the sewing machine to chain-piece the rows together.

I've added another step to my design wall process, I take a photo of the quilt on the design wall. Then I look at it on the camera's display, it's kind of like squinting at the quilt... I can see if I have a good distribution of colors and color values.


FONT- Albemarle Swash, ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow, BRUSH- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShot_Horizontal6, JasonGaylor Valentine, destroyed heraldry 1, 7GrungeBorderBarsBrushSet

Ah, but what happens if I get the stack twisted, in spite of all the careful planning, stacking and labeling? (I wasn't too far into piecing when I saw that the pieces didn't seem to going together the way it looked on the wall. I had too many of the *wrong* fabrics as neighbors.) Well, this-day I put the memory card into my laptop to view the master plan. It would take some adjustments to get back on track.

As I UN-sewed, rotated and re-sewed I thought about how this applies to my life. If I am careful in *planning-my-day* (morning prayer, scripture study, controlling negative thoughts, etc) I have a pretty good chance that I will have a good day.

Ah, but what happens when someone/something *twists my stacks*? Can I take out my memory card, put it into my mental computer and re-view my Master Plan? Can I pick out the wrong stitches, make the needed adjustments and reunite my positive feelings and intentions and meet my goals?

Sounds simple doesn't it?

284- Severe Tire Damnation!

I have a very funny nephew, (actually several of them) Josh. He loves to tell stories, use accents, be funny, raging, and make us laugh. During one of our visits he got going on the sign Severe Tire Damnation using an East Indian accent. He had all of us rolling. Now whenever I see one of these signs... I laugh, quote Josh, and laugh some more.


BRUSHES- Hof3 Sample Kit, AASPN_BasicMaskGradient, FONT- Papyrus ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow, (A2D)_Lomo

But, you know, I'm struggling with the mental version of Severe Tire Damnation (I had an educator friend who used to refer to is as Minimal Brain Dysfunction... yeah, well, I'm having some maximal brain dysfunction!!) I've always struggled with my dyslexia but when I am under emotional stress (like after my children died) it gets really bad.

I've been struggling with some emotional issues lately, you know the kind, you have no control over the situation because it's not your choices that are causing the stress. I think I'm handling it pretty well, using my mantra of "It's ok! Because it has to be ok!", until I try to do something like: typing (my fingers won't type correctly), singing (I can't read the word and the music and make LOTS of mistakes), express myself to a group (say the wrong words, forget what I'm saying, etc) and then I realize that, no, I'm not dealing so well with the stress. I suppose that it is an emotional barometer that lets me know that subconsciously I'm not coping with the stress.

The good news is that I have an understanding family, I can laugh at my mistakes without thinking that I'm as stupid as I sound, and, yes, have a good cry... what else can I do?

260- The Path Less Traveled

I'm feeling just a little philosophical tonight. I started the day with a walk around the main lake at Yosemite Lakes Park (fondly know as YLP to the locals) while Rebekah and her cohorts were kick-boxing (No, I'm not going to kick-box and I promise I won't take embarrassing photos of you again!)



I love to walk alone in the woods and this is a pleasant little 1 mile hike. I saw an elderly gentleman, feeding the ducks. I suspect he may have a daily ritual of this. I saw other walkers and one jogger ("All my friends that jog are dead!" Gordon B Hinckley). I thought of all the times as a child that I would take just these kinds of walks... cool shade, warm sun, powdery dirt under my feet and in my flip-flops (except back then I called them thongs... I don't dare say that today... gross!)

Rebekah warned me that there were a couple of places where the path forked and told me which way I needed to go. I thought about that proverbial "path/road less traveled". It was so easy to see which path was less traveled. I was in no danger of being lost. I could see the weed on one and the footprints on the other.

It made me think about the paths of life. Today we have so many *BAD* well traveled paths that I have to desire to follow. The good news is that I do have the a good road map for my life. The perfect example who is the way, the truth and the light.

226- Thunder in the Distance

Earlier today I was lying down (hmmm, been to the dentist... can't like it!) and I could hear the thunder in the distance. I've always loved thunder, lightning, and rain storms... call me silly, but there you are. Perhaps if I'd grown up on the East Coast, say Virginia, I would have a different and more scared opinion... but I grew up in the mountains where I could safely sit back and watch the show.



I've thought about that phrase "Thunder in the Distance" and I wonder how many times we might respond like a scared child afraid of the coming storm. Recently I talked with a friend whose had her share of problems and she speculated that we get ourselves too worked up about all the things that could go wrong (hey, we've both been there and things CAN go terribly wrong)! I don't think I have an answer for that. On the one hand I think that the trauma must come out... I just can't keep it bottled up inside. I get all my crying done in private and then can face the problem mostly tear-free. On the other hand (I also have 5 fingers), I ask, "Do I just get myself worked up needlessly?"

The thing that I DO KNOW is that the Lord is with me every step of the way. I don't have to go it alone or comfortless. I know that I can face anything with the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour AND Friend.

What are your thoughts...

164- Old and Gnarled...

... but still very beautiful.

The minute I saw this shot in my mental view-finder I knew that there was a story to be told. I just love the *compare and contrast*.



I can't help thinking how wonderful *old* friends are. All of my life I've had *old* friends and I love the depth they've added to my life. They have so much wisdom, character, love and humor to offer. (I was talking about this subject the other day with DeLoris and asked her what is going to happen when I am the old one? Will I have young friends? I sure hope so!)



DeLoris has had more than her share of health problems in the last year. First she broke her hip and had to have surgery. Then the bones failed (osteoporosis) and she had to have hip-replacement surgery. She's had her share of discouragement and has received several priesthood blessings. She was told that her time here isn't finished... she is here for her children. (And I will add, for her friends.)



I know that this burl wood is caused by adversity (fungus, insects, etc) but it is highly prized by wood workers for its beauty. Not everyone who looks at this *canker* will think it beautiful... but those who have *eyes to see* behold its beauty.

That brings me back to my DeLoris. Last Sunday after Sacrament meeting was over one of the young men in our ward told DeLoris she was beautiful. He could see her beauty, the beauty that comes from within and radiates into her countenance. DeLoris said she was dumbfounded, no one had ever told her she was beautiful in her whole life. But just to make sure that DeLoris got the message that her Heavenly Father was sending to her she was told so again by a sister as she was leaving the chapel.



I am so appreciative of this bonding of families and friends, youth and age. Just as the new plants sprout and grow in the hollowed out log; we feed and nourish those around us... what a beautiful plan.

071- In Reflection

Several months ago I was driving in downtown Provo and saw a sight I KNEW I was going to have to capture on film. So this week I found myself in the same neighborhood BUT THIS TIME I had my camera!

The Provo Tabernacle is situated on the corner of First South and University Ave. It was built in the last 1800's. It is a beautiful specimen of older architecture. But the interesting thing is that on the opposite corner of the same block is this giant black glass building (I think it might be a NuSkin building, but I don't know for sure.)

I was captured by the reflection of this stately old building in the mirror effect of the modern one. I feel there is an analogy in this image. We are progressing, learning, growing, becoming more "sophisticated" but we must never forget the Rock on which we are planted, strong and immovable, our Saviour Jesus Christ. And if we forget, we will become distorted, just as this reflection is.