gathering for Sunday dinner

This is today, September 28. We are all hungry. I looked across the table at five young faces in a row, but as soon as I thought of taking a picture they started moving around. It is fun to have family come. We said 5:00 and they all came. We missed John, but would have had room for him. I borrowed back from Becca my gold folding table that allows us to seat three more in the same room on the same level.


After dinner we played ping pong. They were surprised that I could hit the ball. It is different playing in front of an audience even if they don't pay attention to the game.


Jen is talking to John on the phone.

I forgot to ask her where he is.






Steven got out his legos for the girls to play with upstairs. And then he went to a church fireside with a friend. He didn't tell me she was a girl, but Daddy asked.

Evelyn is often the star of the show.

Michael does a good job of playing with children. It was fun watching him teach Evelyn how to hit balls with a ping pong paddle.

blowing in the wind

The wind was strong and fresh but not cold.

Simon and the Viking had already looked at each other when this picture was taken.



It is good to be able to look out over the valley. We are just now beginning to see the red colors of fall high on the hills. September is a beautiful time of year.

hanging from the trees

Hanging from the trees in the park below Ensign Peak.

being amazed

This morning Ken and I joined Steven and some his friends in the NAMI walk in support of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It was a beautiful morning for a three mile walk and a lot of talk. I was amazed at the level of support and caring that was demonstrated in groups and between individuals. I was also amazed at how many people know Steven.

The ball park has a beautiful view of the mountains. It almost made me think I'd be willing to go to a baseball game if I was given free tickets. Sponsors had provided drinks, apples, bananas, glazed doughnuts, sweet bread, and churros as well as raffle prizes. Steven was kindly willing to finish off my doughnut and churro after I took a taste. It was nice to have the apples and flavored water.

I am determined to start counting calories again and lose a final ten pounds. I can maintain current weight without counting, but that's as good as I get food choice wise.

changing

I am still learning that I don't listen well enough. It is easy to react to what a person says instead of providing the kind of response that will strengthen and encourage him in his own good thoughts. Listening for need and responding with love is more important than expressing my reactions.

I need to have fun and enjoy the blessings of the moment. And encourage those around me to have fun. And laugh. And cry if we need to.

needing flowers

Summer is gone. The front yard is over-flowing. The garden is slow. I should be planting the back yard now. I bought two clematis a week or so ago. The pink one is Comtesse de Bouchaud and the white lavender one is Claire de Lune. I planted them by the back deck and the Claire de Lune has a blossom at the moment. It wasn't what I expected, but I hope they survive anyway.

being grateful and remembering Christ

Being grateful seems to be one solution to the problem of pride and riches mentioned so frequently in the Book of Mormon. It has been interesting to hear comments in my Sunday School class as we revisit the topic. Some class members kind of gets stuck in the same kind of thinking they started with. I tried a different focus today and there were some very sensitive comments. I realized that it is probably important for us to deal with the problem even though it comes up over and over in our lessons -- maybe because it comes up over and over.

walking talking sitting

On Wednesday Steven and I went for a walking talking walk. I was trying to explain how import patience is, that life is set up to teach it to us. "There is seed time and harvest."

At that moment we passed by a yard where an old man was sitting in a kitchen chair just on the other side of the fence. He was wearing an old garden hat and holding a pair of clippers. He seemed to be working with berry vines, a late summer task in anticipation of spring.

Steven and I looked at each other and figured the whole walk was worth that image. I wished I had a camera, but how do you take a picture of an old man sitting in a chair in his garden -- without changing the moment. Especially since he is facing you front on.

A good image. A good lesson. It is okay to sit in a chair to do an important task. Even if it isn't something "people" sit in a chair to do. The willingness to do matters. The doing matters. The chair is no problem. It was a good solid chair. He sat well in it.

He may not be sitting in his chair next Spring. But Spring will come. There is seed time and harvest.

juicing the red grape

John and Jen found a neighbor with red grapes they weren't going to use and had a picking party. We came home from the temple Saturday to find John in our basement kitchen filling bottles with juice . I was still in the middle of my home reorganizing project, so I didn't help him at all except to put the unfinished fruit in the fridge when they left for an Elders quorum BBQ. John had done well with no BBQed grape juice or burned up pans and lids.

When the we served some of the unsealed juice at Alice's birthday dinner, I discovered Sunday that John had made my favorite grape juice, the best in the whole world. We used to have some red grapes on the Howell fence, but those vines were lost when the neighbor put in a new fence.

Yesterday when I realized John he had no time to finish the project, I put up another 28 quarts. I was glad to do it. John's canning system was actually an improvement on the one I had been using for 28 years. He had the juice drain off sideways into a bottle on a countertop to the side of the stove instead of to a container in front of the stove. Much more secure and less messy. Once again I had a child following my example, but doing it better than I had done.

relating to relatives

I have recently felt the challenge of relating to the younger generation, trying to think about the effect of my words and how they will be understood before I say them. Being so careful can be exhausting. Sometimes I am amazed at how wise I sound. I am very happy when it comes out right.

This afternoon I was taking my oldest granddaughter to her Uncle Bob's house for a Koehler family party. She was being enthusiastic about the possibility of getting tickets to General Conference and offered to try to get some extra ones for us. I love General Conference, but I don't like getting up early, the traffic, the standing in line, and trying to stay awake when the room warms up. Watching Conference on TV is very enjoyable to me. I can stay in my pajamas. I can leave the room to go to the bathroom if I need to and be generally very comfortable watching the four sessions in my own home. I wasn't sure how to explain all that and still show respect for her youthful enthusiasm. After a stumbling start, I found the right words, ones she could understand.

"I have senioritis," I said.

The air lit up and she knew her old gramajane had made a joke she could understand as one who has so recently been a senior in high school. A memorable bloggable moment. A reminder that connection is possible.

organizing

I love rearranging and organizing much more than I love cleaning. It gets a similar result in the end, but it is messier in process. Time to go. I'll edit this later.

I spent the "later" organizing and rearranging instead of editing. We still have much to do. Steven now has the upstairs corner bedroom and the downstairs is library, family space, and guest rooms.

trusting

Sometimes I start to feel afraid for my family, concerned about the problems and evils in the world. Last night as Ken and I were praying, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and trust in Heavenly Father. I know that He knows us. I know that He loves us. He knows what experiences will be best for us and for our families. Jesus Christ can heal all pain and help us come home.

waiting with Steven

When we talked you didn't know how long it would take me
To come to the place you chose.
You were already there so the wait was too long
Made longer by mistakes I made in finding it.
You didn't know I would come and wait for you
To figure out you should have waited.

It takes much waiting to learn to trust
That one of us will return eventually
To the place of waiting.

Cell phones help but can be left behind
Or fade away powerless.
I feel like a cell phone
Left behind and powerless.

Waiting

Until you borrowed a cell phone
And called to let me know
We could meet in a new place.

I'm glad I found you

Waiting.

progress

I dislike dentist appointments. But I am glad I have a good dentist and that he is close and available and doesn't make me feel like I have a terrible mouth. Today he did a filling and seated a crown. Daddy Ken is prepping for a colonoscopy he is having tomorrow. That would be worse. Clear liquids makes one hungry.

I am grateful for health. We enjoyed an hour walk this morning. Mount Olympus had snow on Monday. Fall temperatures have arrived. I could work in the yard today. Actually I did for a bit and have a sense of what I will do to finish up my backyard project. But I will be picking up grandchildren from school in a half hour while John and Jen go to an appointment. It is easier to work on finishing my book than starting home projects. I have paint sample cards taped to the hallway. Some projects take a lot of thinking time as well as a lot of doing time. Finding the paint store was my paint project accomplishment for the day.

getting married

Forty four years ago we made a decision that was right, beginning a family with Kenneth Lynn Babcock that I love with all my heart. I am slowly learning to love him better, to have more heart and more love. We look forward to an eternity together.

laboring

It rained hard yesterday for the first time this summer, so it is time to pull weeds, my baby drought tolerant plants in the front yard. A good way to labor on Labor Day. My previous plan was to go shopping and to freeze peaches from Becca's tree. They are wonderful peaches, very ripe. We still wake up early even though Ken doesn't have to go to work. He was up at 5:00 AM and I got up at 6:30. I wonder what we will do when he retires. He may have slept in if he hadn't taken a Sunday nap.

I also plan to read "my book." I was tempted to read it on Sunday because I had spent Friday afternoon and Saturday in Sunday mode. But I listened to the audio file made by my great uncle Jim Davidson and got the Internet link sent on to my brothers and sisters. I had heard pieces of the information it contained, but not the full clear story from two generations past. I am also grateful for the clear MP3 file of my Grandma Jane Davidson reciting the 23rd Psalm. It is so wonderful that recording made the transition to modern technology. Interesting too that both of these files have been a means of linking the current generation of cousins to each other.