And Daisy, Too!

Jonny once told me that when he was on his mission and daydreamed about home, it was our second home in St. George, Utah, that he dreamed of.  That home continues to generate sweet memories.  During the weekend of October 13 and 14, 2018, Mike and Heidi, Lisa's sons Grant and Spencer, and Spencer's wife, Naomi, joined us in St. George.  Spencer and Naomi's dog, Daisy, came along.  Daisy immediately made herself at home and even barked furiously at Dave when he entered the back yard and invaded her territory!  Daisy is sleek and much-loved, and the sound of her bark is out of all proportion to the length of her legs! 

The kids hiked to Observation Point, along the east rim of Zions National Park, on Saturday.  They played Mike's board games and card games in the evening.

 I cooked barbecued spare ribs for Sunday dinner, before we cleaned the house and drove home.

 "Every guest a janitor" is our motto, as we all pitch in to keep our 17-year-old home looking brand new.

 Dave and I left for St. George on Friday morning and stopped for a temple session at the new Payson Temple, an hour south of SLC. 

We had heard that the temple was beautiful, but it was even lovelier than we expected.  The temple was built in an apple orchard, and the decorator used the theme of apple blossoms in the stained glass windows and upholstery.

On Saturday, while the kids hiked, Dave and I attended two plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  They were witty and fun.  We enjoyed the slapstick of "The Foreigner," although its underlying themes of either welcoming or persecuting foreigners seemed very current.

 "The Liar" was a modern adaptation of a comedy by the French playwright, Corneille.  It was in rhyme, like the original, but with updated jokes and dialogue.  One of the main characters could tell no lies and another could tell nothing but lies.  The dialogue about what it takes to be a successful liar was a primer for some of today's politicians!

 We lingered to hear a Southern Utah University professor analyze the plays.

 And we eagerly bought tickets for the entire 2019 season.

We drove Spencer, Naomi, and Grant back to Provo, sorry the weekend was over so soon!

Conference and all that Jazz

"It's the only time we get to go to Church by watching TV!"  "The talks are wonderful and inspire us all year!"  "It's a party--the family gets together to feast on great food and great messages!"  LDS Conference weekend comes twice per year, during the beginning of April and the beginning of October.  It is a favorite time for our family.  During this Conference weekend, October 6 and 7, 2018, Lisa's son, Spencer, and his wife, Naomi, stayed with us on Friday and Saturday nights and brought their very fun friend, Logan Nielson.  Mike and Heidi watched the talks with us, as well.  Mike broke out chess and his board games for the Conference doldrums.  I spread my red-checked tablecloths and served an Italian feast between Conference sessions.  We savored antipasto, homemade gnocchi with two sauces, and cannoli with lemon ice cream.

Camille and Steve were in Chicago, running a marathon and visiting with Jonny and his boys.  Camille's children were under the able care of Annelise.  They planned their own adventures for most of the weekend, including painting pumpkins, but they joined us for Sunday dinner.

 Annelise with Sophie (above) and Annelise with Ezra.

 It is a special treat to hear our new LDS president, Russell Nelson.  He is in his 90s, but is a powerful leader, initiating many new programs.  At Conference he announced the building of 15 new temples, including one in Moscow, Russia, and another near our St. George home.  It is also a treat to hear President Nelson's counselor, Henry Eyring speak (upper right in above photo).  He is my first cousin and tells wonderful stories about my grandmother, uncle, and aunt during some of his addresses.

 Attending Conference live in the 25,000 person Conference Center is a memorable event.  Sitting in front of our TV at home and doing the ironing as I watch is less memorable, but more fun.

 With 15 million Church members worldwide, there is a rash of Conference-related products.  A few are both artistic and free, such as these downloadable cards memorializing favorite quotes from Conference.

Kirsten and Her Envelope

The Opening of the Envelope.  It is a major event for LDS families.  Kirsten submitted her application to become an LDS missionary several weeks ago.  When the envelope with her mission call arrived in the mail, word went out to family members near and far to congregate for the Opening on October 4, 2018.  The Flindt and Spendlove families were hooked up by Skype--Kirsten and her parents in Seattle; Michael and Rebecca Flindt in Rexburg, Idaho; Spencer and Naomi Flindt in Provo, Utah; Herb and Jodi Flindt at one home in Salt Lake City and Dave, Mike, Heidi and I at another.

 Kirsten's sibs, Alyssa and Bryce, gave Kirsten advice for her opening performance (top left).

 Mike, the electrical engineer, got our computer up and running (maybe some overkill there).

And then the big moment--"Sister Flindt, you have been called to serve as a full-time missionary...for the Independence, Missouri Visitors Center Mission."  Kirsten will spend 18 months as an interpreter and guide for one of the most interesting Church historical sites.  From 1834 to 1839, Mormons gathered to Missouri, hoping to found a permanent Church headquarters first in southern Missouri and then in northern Missouri. But the Mormons were northerners and non-slave owners in a southern slave state.  They were also feared and resented because they arrived in vast caravans and voted en masse.  Their neighbors thought they'd dominate the politics of their communities.    Church members were expelled by force, including the capture, imprisonment, and threatened execution of their leader, Joseph Smith.  Governor Boggs of Missouri issued a notorious "extermination order."  The LDS Church has not, however, given up on Missouri.  Church members believe that in the last days the faithful will gather to Missouri, and Christ will come again to both Jerusalem and the Americas.  Kirsten can tell us all about it!

 The Spendloves are always ready for a party.  We talked and laughed in our computer room, as we waited for the Opening.

Kirsten and her envelope; Heidi and her horns.  Dave passed time by aligning Heidi's head perfectly between the horns of our water buffalo skull on the wall, all without Heidi realizing she'd become the focus of David's art!

Together on PEI

"We should have gotten together with them more, during all these years," Dave said, at the end of a special evening with Paul Maughn and his wife, Susan.  Paul was Dave's mission companion on Prince Edward Island more than fifty years ago.  Paul is now a senior judge and he and Susan are just back from a mission to Australia.  We thoroughly enjoyed talking and laughing with the Maughns for several hours, over dinner.  We found so much in common.  An evening with good friends is a special treat.

An Evening in Armenia

"The Armenian Table," published by the St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church Ladies Society, Costa Mesa, CA.  That was my Bible--the equivalent of a ward cookbook, but for Armenians.  On September 23, 2018, I invited family and friends to an evening of Armenian food and stories.  Pam and Wynn Johnson, who were our guests, were just back from a trip to Armenia and Azerbajain.  Pam cooked a loaf of braided Armenian bread for my buffet.  She also told about visiting a 12th century Armenian monastery.  We missed Mike and Heidi, who also recently visited Armenia.  They were in Yellowstone this weekend.

For appetizers we had stuffed grape leaves and homemade pita bread with hummus.  The entrees were a chicken rice dish spiced with coriander and turmeric, and beef shish kebabs.  Camille brought a greens, cucumber, and feta cheese salad, and our neighbors, the Brintons, brought a 24" watermelon grown in their own backyard.  I remembered buying an Armenian melon at a market when we visited Tbilisi in 1986!

Camille and her children always have smiles for my ethnic dinners.  "The kids look forward to them," Camille insists."  I bought my table runners from an Armenian online store.  They are decorated with pomegranates and letters from the unique Armenian alphabet. 

Pam and Wynn Johnson brought their protege from the Congo.  They met him at BYU-Hawaii, where Pam and Wynn taught entrepreneurship classes several years ago.  He now trains entrepreneurs in the Congo, and he recently had 1000 attendees at a training session on setting up African businesses.  Another guest was our favorite home teacher, Jack Hammond.

Shauna always has effusive praises for my dinners.  "I tell my kids what I had to eat at your house and they can't believe it!" she says.  "And it was good, too."

Janice leaves for Saudi Arabia in a couple of weeks.  We want to enjoy her company while we can.

The Brintons are a generous, very spiritual couple in our ward--real role models.  Bethany is now our stake Relief Society president.

Elliot was a stake president in New York City, and is now our Gospel Doctrine teacher.  They insist that their son, T.J., who has Down's syndrome and autism, has been a great blessing in their lives.

An Iliad: Big Issues, Small Pleasures

My favorite type of play is modern--newly written and I haven't seen it before--and deals with a serious current issue.  When Dave and I discovered we'd missed "An Iliad" at the Utah Shakespeare Festival--a play of just that type--we hurried back down to Cedar City on September 22, 2018, to see it.  We also ate supper at one of David's favorite restaurants in Southern Utah--Rusty's, up the canyon from Cedar City.  Rusty's has an Old West feel, with moose and bear heads around its walls.  It serves old standards like steak and ribs.  A steak with mushrooms and sauteed onions--one of life's small pleasures that buffers big worries and hassles.

 "An Iliad" was a one-man-play, starring Brian Vaughn, the Utah Shakespeare Festival artistic director.  The muse, a woman with a violin, played haunting tunes to punctuate the drama.  Vaughn's role was "the poet," telling stories from The Iliad, the Greek epic poem about the senseless, tragic war between Greece and Troy.  The poet compared that war to all the senseless, tragic wars since.  He mentioned Afghanistan, which has lingered on, with death after death, for so many years.

We attended a "briefing" on An Iliad by a SUU professor, who mentioned the symbolism of the lantern in the play, which is turned off at the end.  I'm still thinking about that....

Salvador Dali and the Utah State Fair

 As Dave and I walked around the Utah State Fair on September 8, 2018, I had the same feeling I have at an exhibition of paintings of the surrealist artist, Salvador Dali--"I can't believe I'm seeing this."

 With Dali, I can't believe I'm seeing a mustache that sticks straight up or a limp wristwatch.

 At the fair,  I couldn't believe I just saw an advertisement for toe rings, a sign paid for by the Utah state government proclaiming, "Goats just wanna have fun," or fried everything.

The commercial halls always draw me in, with their irresistible but useless items.  I absolutely had to have a set of these blue plastic "fits all" bowl covers.

 I tried to keep Dave from seeing this "Dump your timeshare" booth.

 Ah, the pig races!  Always a highlight of the fair for me.

 What was this torture stand?  This boy could earn $100 if he could suspend himself from this bar for 100 seconds (He couldn't).

 And where but at the fair could you buy a concealed weapon handbag?

 To raise our cultural experience at the fair a notch, we visited the pigs.

 I was eyed intently by this sheep.

 This is a "show cow", raised, its owner said, solely for its beauty.

 And this cow was displayed solely for its hugeness--it is eight years old and weighs more than a ton.

 As I researched my father's biography, there were many references to the animals that the Calder boys showed at the county fair, and the awards they won.  I imagine those contests looked a bit like this one, but with smaller contestants.

 Dave and I always wander through the fine arts pavilion.  The guest artist this year was Scott Rogers, who created wonderful Western sculptures.

 With my interest in ethnic food, I have also developed an interest in ethnic crafts, such as this display of Norwegian rosewaling.  I would like a piece or two for my Scandinavian dinners!

 As I admired the beautiful handwork in the home arts pavilion, I remembered the days when Camille and Lisa were in 4-H and displayed their dresses at the county and state fairs.

And, of course, what is a sprawling state fair without some military might?  This huge truck was parked next to the Marine recruiting station.