Phoenix Fast

“Let’s get the temples over with,” Dave said, as we woke up in our Phoenix hotel room on Friday, May 10, 2019.  It was my idea to visit ten new LDS temples per year, and Dave reluctantly accompanies me.   He always has a better time than he expects.  "I can only be gone between Thursday and Saturday," Dave says, in light of his weekly obligations as a new LDS bishop.  I have become expert at finding cheap flights to cities with LDS temples, and efficient at planning a fun, fast trip.    

 We first visited the Phoenix temple, dedicated in 2014.  The Phoenix temple was particularly beautiful, with many panes of stained glass.  Both the Phoenix temple and the Gilbert temple included desert flowers and plants as symbols—aloe for one and agave for the other.  The new temples have murals of local landscapes in the ordinance rooms.  I enjoyed this beautiful painting of Arizona mountains and cactus.   

A docent proudly pointed out that the Phoenix temple has “one of only four oval Celestial rooms in the Church.”

The Gilbert temple is larger and more imposing than the Phoenix temple—similar, in style, to the Meridian temple near Boise.   It is 84,000 square feet and was dedicated in 2018.  It is one of the biggest and most elaborate of the new temples.  

 I love the images of plants that decorate most temples, designed into the carpets, upholstery, the stained glass windows, and even painted onto the ceilings.  They are appropriate symbols to honor the Creator of all living things.

Many temples use a local flower as an image that appears throughout the temple.

By 2:30 p.m., we had finished endowment sessions in both temples and were off to the Desert Botanical Gardens near Phoenix.

The gardens were lovely—full of spring flowers.  I wandered through the butterfly dome, the wildflower garden, the cactus garden, the herb garden, and the succulent garden, tied together by several loop trails.  Dave texted constantly, with a phone call here and there.  “All Church work,” he explained.  Hopefully, the bishop job will become less time-consuming.  

I have wonderful family memories of botanical gardens.  Jonny and Jenny often took Dave and me to the Chicago Botanical Garden when we visited them during Jonny's four years at the University of Chicago.  We sometimes gather our family for picnics at SLC's own Red Butte Gardens.

And, of course, Dave and I also spent four years in Tucson when Dave was in the Air Force, and I learned to love desert plants there.

Dave and I ate dinner at “Blanco,” a popular Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale.  We sat on the porch, on a spring day in the desert, munching on chips and salsa, and savoring being alone, together.

We spent Saturday morning at the Museum of Musical Instruments, a gem to which I want to return again and again.

My favorite area of the museum included a separate display for each country in the world, sharing its music through videos of musical performances, and through displays of musical instruments and the costumes of its musicians.

These horns are blown by African musicians.

These costumes are worn by Indian dancers.

Whenever we see an accordion, we think of our daughter-in-law, Heidi, who plays the accordion so beautifully.  Heidi told us that accordions are a popular instrument in many countries, but we were still surprised at how many displays included them--Germany, eastern Europe, Russia.

And, of course, anything Slovakian reminds us of our grandson, Grant Flindt, who recently returned from his LDS mission there.

Dave and I ate lunch at “Sala’s”, a quaint Mediterranean restaurant in a strip mall.  I love Middle Eastern food, as well as mom and pop ethnic restaurants.  This bistro had it all!  We then went next door for a cookie at “Crumb.”  

We next visited the Heard Museum.  Dave tells the story of my mother asking to visit the Heard Museum, when we met Mom and Dad in Phoenix, while we were living in Tucson.  As Dave drove into the museum parking lot, Mom said, “That’s fine.  I’ve seen it.  That’s all I need.” Today, we had two hours to wander through the many exhibitions, including the sculpture gardens.

The Heard Museum pottery collection reminded Dave and me of our driving trips through Arizona's pueblos. 

Cinquo de Mayo

 Cinquo da Mayo!  We celebrated with a Mexican dinner.   One of my favorite possessions is "The Beast," the paper mache creature Mike and Heidi brought home for me from Oaxaca, Mexico.  The Beast made a fine table decoration.  The best I can tell, it is a bright-colored fish with chicken legs.

 Janice was visiting from Saudi Arabia, and it was a treat to see her.

 I have fine collections of travel posters and ethnic music, but in the heat of fixing dinner, I often forget to put them out.  At this dinner, we had everything--a poster of Mexico, mariachi music playing, and great Mexican food. 

I made Janice’s salsa from the family cookbook, chicken mole, cheese enchiladas, Mexican rice, refried beans, and coconut flan.  I laid out Mexican table runners and decorated the tables with the Oaxaca animals Mike and Jonny bought me, as well as bright orange and purple flowers.  

There were just a few of us for dinner—Mike and Heidi, Dave and me, Alan and Shauna, Carol, and Janice.  I love my big dinners with lots of guests, but it also felt good to have just the eight of us, talking and laughing together. 

Sheep and Goats

 A day of total fun with old friends.  We spent the April 26 weekend with Spencer and Jane Jones, Paul and Julie Emmer, and Bob and Deanne Wilde in Cedar City and St. George.

 Spencer and Jane own a sheep ranch in Cedar City.  Our friends had spent Friday night there, but Dave and I stayed in SLC to attend a ward temple night, stayed the night in Fillmore, and drove to the Jones ranch on Saturday morning.

Spencer showed us around his property.  It was lambing time, and there were hundreds of baby lambs with their mothers.

We visited the dog pens, where we saw huge Siberian huskies, which live with the sheep during the summer, high in the hills above Cedar City.  They protect the sheep by killing coyotes who threaten the herd. 

 We also saw the adorable Siberian puppies.

 We visited the pens of the sheep dogs, who leaped against the walls of the pens with envy as Spencer released his favorite sheepdog, Zip, to give a demonstration of herding goats.  Goats are used to train sheep dogs because goats have more energy than sheep and can be “herded” more energetically.  Spencer gave commands in a low voice as Zip zipped around the goats, driving them this way and that and keeping them close together

We next toured the lambing pen, with its four and five day old lambs.  

And we met the lay veterinarian who was nursing lambs back to health.  “She’s a character,” Spencer said, “but she’s really good at keeping the little lambs alive.”  The lay vet was giving bottles to two ailing lambs as we visited her.  “I didn’t think this one would live the night,” she told us, pointing to a little lamb prancing around its pen.

Our next stop was the Sorenson Art Museum, near the Shakespeare festival buildings in downtown Cedar.  Deanne Wilde played a fun game of asking each of us what we would buy from the Museum collection, if we could, and then taking a picture of us next to that painting.  All of us chose paintings by Jimmy Jones of different Southern Utah landscapes.  Spencer and Jane chose a scene which was the same view as they have from their mountain property, where their sheep spend the summer.

We hiked up Cedar Canyon, drove to St. George, wandered through art galleries in Springdale, and finished the day with Mexican food at Oscar's, just outside Zion's Canyon.  Our friends spent the night at our home in St. George, and the next morning we showed them the huge arrow on top of the mountain near Dave's parents' former home, which was one of a series of huge arrows which guided the early airplane pilots from Los Angeles to SLC.  Dave and I then hurried home, so Dave would be fresh for his Sunday morning meetings.  Bob Wilde has been a stake president and Spencer Jones has been a mission president, but they have no major Church jobs right now.  They seemed delighted to be able to mosey home, with no big commitments on Sunday!