Mormon Helping Hands

Yesterday we participated in a tri-state/interfaith day of service to fill the shelves of many of the food pantries around the area.  We were given empty boxes to fill and bring to this day of service.  Lincoln took charge of our family's donations and took boxes to work and around to our neighborhood to be filled.  He was able to fill 12 boxes . . . . . I thought that was a good donation.

In this picture are some of the boxes of food waiting to be sorted.

This was the table I worked at . . . . The peanut butter and jelly table.  We checked the expiration dates and then boxed them up.

Here is a view of some of the other tables, with cute little Riley helping us out at our table.  LeeAnn and I needed her young eyes to see some of those expiration dates!

LeeAnn DID have her reading glasses though.  She was so sweet to offer them to me, but decided it was best if she kept her own glasses!  Hey! You could almost have a lesson about the wise woman who brought her glasses to the party and the unwise woman who left her reading glasses at home . . . . LOL!

Here is a picture of most of the boxes that were donated . . . . the boxes go all the way to the edge of the cultural hall.  One of my piano students (the blond haired boy) is in this picture, along with one of our bishopric members in the foreground.

The human chain that loaded the donation truck.  Even the little ones got involved!  (another piano student is in this picture, the blond girl in the pink . . . . sister of the blond boy!)  I was working in the kitchen and so I got to wander and take pictures of the "working" people!!

A closer look . . . . . too cute!

Me and my table partner . . . . ours was the slow table. . . . not much peanut butter and jelly when compared to the other donations!

Didn't get any picture of my hubby or my son, who mostly worked outside.  When I tried to get a picture of McKay he offered to take my picture, a sneaky way to get out of a picture.

It was a fun . . . fulfilling day!

PS . . . Thanks Kiersten for this picture of Lincoln!

Joy in the Journey

Unbeknownst to me,
my mother-in-law has been searching for a traveling companion.
Someone to go on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise with her.
Tough duty :)

That traveling companion is going to be me!
I'm sooooooo excited!
Even though she had already asked all her neighbors, friends and family
(and probably the family pets)
and had even CANCELLED the cruise before she talked to me.
Even though I'm her LAST choice . . . .
I still was a choice!
It's not quite like being picked last for a baseball team
or something of that sort . . . . .

We've been booking plane flights,
and excursions.
Deciding which plan of action is best for the exchange of
Dollars to Euros.

Deciding what to wear.
What kind of purse to bring.
Should we climb the Tower of Pisa?
What will the weather be like?
Will we need a skirt to go into the Sistine Chapel?
The French Riviera?
Should I learn a few words of
Spanish, French or Italian?
Perfume factory or wine tasting?
Easy choice when you are a Mormon!
(Although I know the perfume will make me sick)
Don't forget your passport . . . .
or the camera . . .
shopping!

It's kinda hard to pack for a cruise with their
"formal, semi formal and casual" themes for the day or night.
(I know you feel sorry for me)

Decisions, Decisions!  What's a girl to do? 
(Two weeks until we embark upon our journey!)



A conundrum

The past few weeks have been very different for me.

I've felt sadness,

 gladness,

joy,

pain,

sorrow,

despair,

hope

and excitement!

"There must be needs be opposition in all things."

(2 Nephi 2:11)

Can you feel all these feelings at once?

I'm here to say

YES!

Things are looking up.

Scabs that I had developed have been ripped open

And are healing again.

Things will be well.

And my soul is beginning to find peace again.

Phew! that felt good.

And as Scarlett O'Hara would say,

"Tomorrow is another day."

(and tomorrow I'll share what I'm excited about :)

Living in nature

I love living in our house nestled in trees,

BUT

those trees sure do keep us busy!

We rake,

we sweep,

we power blow,

we hope for wind!

In the early spring it starts with pollen,

LITERALLY everything is coated with a green sheen.

Literally!

And then come the seed pods,

and then the leaves that didn't quite fall from the year before,

then the evergreen Holly trees start to lose their leaves.

Storms come and make messes.

Dead limbs fall off, some of them quite big!  

OH MY!

And now, 

right before the big leaf drop

we are getting acorns.  

It has been raining acorns!

Literally! (really!)

I sweep, and then another layer falls.

Last year the acorns were LARGE and there were fewer of them.

This year they are small and they are abundant.

I went outside to take a picture of the deck and realized

that my entire yard was covered with blackbirds.

I wonder,

are they eating the acorns 

or bugs?

One of them seems to have an acorn in its beak in the picture.

I thought the squirrels were going to be in fat city this year.

The birds are beating them to it.

The flocks of these birds flying around are quite a site to behold.

These are very healthy birds!!!!

A Good Read

I am always looking for a good read and this book delivered.  

Thank you to my niece Hope, who put me onto it.

My love of reading has been nurtured by authors such as

Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew)

Victoria Holt along with her 3 other pen names (historical fiction)

Louis L'Amour (western)

and

many many others!!!

Book Club has helped me to expand my verizons into other genres,

but the Gothic novel and historical fiction are still near and dear to me.

(love a good true-to-life story also)

This book, "The Forgotten Garden" is modern with a Gothic feel. 

Gothic=set in a castle, woman in distress, intrigue, 

mystery, a little romance, some hint of horror or distress . . . . 

Rebecca, and Jane Eyre would fall into this category.

This book has many facets though, three time periods: 1900, 1975, and 2005.

At times I had a hard time switching and keeping up with the time period changes,

it was complicated, but not so much that I needed to chart it out!

There were 478 pages on my e-reader and I could have stood more!!

From Book Depository:

 A lost child …

On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. 

A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her –

but has disappeared without a trace.

A terrible secret …

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell Andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

A mysterious inheritance …

On Nell’s death, her granddaughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. 

Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold — secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace,

 a writer of dark Victorian fairytales.

 It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family,

 and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.