The Heart

 

“And now here is my secret, a very

Simple secret:  It is only with

The heart that one

Can see rightly;

What is essential is invisible

To the Eye.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery,The Little Prince,

Yes, Heidi, there is a Santa Claus

The Santa letters are complete.

Here is one from Heidi.

Thanksgiving 2011

I thought I had lost

my Thanksgiving decorations.

It is a long boring story

so I will spare you.

The colors of fall, Halloween,

and Thanksgiving are the

warmest of all.  (I know

the day after Thanksgiving

orange is out!)

I have had a lot of Thanksgiving

decorations but don't

do big anymore.  

 My friend, Leslee, gave me a gift card

to Hallmark once and this is what I bought.

I have loved it for years.  This is the first

year I have thought to hang it on the

corner cabinet in the dining room.

I like it there.

 I do think I would get more of these 

people and continue to set them together.

The orange pilgrim woman has a man

he is behind them all.  They were the

first ones I bought.  We were in the valley

at a state football game and had a minute

for Michaels.  I thought I was so cool

to buy them for my house.

 When we lived in Joseph City there was a lady

that made plaster characters.  I bought these

and painted them.  So they are 35+ years

old.  I have to add greenery to them because

the girl's basket is broken off.  This happened

the second year we lived here.  Jill had

started climbing and I had these out 

on the counter in the kitchen and

she climbed up and bumped the girl

and she fell to the floor.  Come to think

of it it was that same fall that Jill

climbed up the counter again and

I had a large bowl of water, yeast,

and sugar proofing and she spilled

that all over the floor.  Was I patient?

No.  No, not at all.

 When she grew up she gave me these 

blocks.  All is forgiven.  They are

so nice on the piano.  I got that

idea from Lee.  She has them

on her piano.

 The mantle is cute.  Heidi made these

for me a couple years ago. It

was a surprise and a happy surprise.

I flew to Illinois and rode home

from there with Beverly about

12 years ago and I bought these

in Arkansas on our way home.

They are on my table as the

center piece.  They  are sweet.

Side note:  I am not sure David

has even noticed they are all up.

He put up with me when I

moped around here thinking

I had lost them.  But I 'm not

sure it really mattered to him.

It doesn't have to.

Magic Beans

Summer is in the can.  

Really.  I have canned everything

that grew here that could be canned....

bottled.  

I don't know the term for

removing dried beans from

their pods but I did that too.

It isn't very fun to do.  

Pretty plant to look at in

the summer.

This pretty vine produces big purple beans.

We have been fascinated with them but

have never actually eaten any we planted

in the last three years.  So I cooked some.

They are so pretty....until they

are cooked.

Sorry it's fuzzy but look at the size.

It almost made me sick to eat that

big of a bean.  Taste was so so.

Not as good as a pinto or black bean.

And they turned brown when cooked.

Memoribilia

David made me some shelf dividers in

our closet.  I took everything off the existing

shelves for him to work.  There was one

box of there that I opened and here

was all this stuff.  Just things I am

hanging onto and eventually forget.  (the post

before this one is a good example of this)

So I thought I would write a few thoughts

on a couple of the items in the box.

This is a picture of two handkerchiefs

that belonged to my mom.  I don't remember

her using them but I remember them in her

purse.  I actually thought they were in

one of my drawers and I looked for them

a while back.  I thought I would put

one in my purse.  But then again they

are really old and would get treated

quite roughly so they went back in

the box.

I

 This wasn't in the box but it surfaced the

at the same time.  It is a box that Jill

sent me from NAU when she was

engaged to John.  It had black picture

corner things in it.  It was still full.  It was

a good find.  We used those corner things

to put the picture of her and John

in her wedding announcement.  

We made her announcements.  It was

spring break and we had our nieces up

staying with Heidi and Lee so the five

of us made them.  And Jill who knew

where Jill was.  She says that she

wishes she had been more involved

in the making of her wedding.  I don't know

where she was that day.

 We bought these overalls in Flagstaff when Peter 

was about 2 years old.  Everyone of our

children wore these.  Lee probably wore them

for about 10 minutes just to say she did.

I don't have pictures of them all, if any.

(oh, if I had only had a digital camera)

 I made this top for Jill when she was 2-3 months old.

We had gone to St. David to visit David's parents

and I remember sitting there doing the smocking 

(which was very popular at the time) and talking

to David's mom.  I made sure my other girls

wore it at least once.  It is tiny.

 This is David's tie from our wedding.  You can

find pictures of us posted somewhere in

this blog. 

 I wrote "Tricia loves David" on the

underside of his tie.  I had a cousin who

was complimenting David and this great

tie and asked if he could have it (he was

the Stake Pres. at the time so there was

some pressure there to give it to him)

and then he flipped it over and saw

those words and said something about

it being too sentimental to give away.

 This was David's bib.  Can you imagine

someone taking the time to crochet this?

I had all of my children wear it at least

once.  What I wish I had a picture of

would be the bassinet that my babies

slept in.  It was made for David's mom

and all of her babies were in it.  So my babies

all slept in the same bassinet at their father.

We gave it to one of the nieces

in the valley and that was the 

last of it.  

These are simple things and

some very worn out but

they are memories.  Here in

this month of Thanksgiving

I AM so grateful for my

family.  These things bring back

great feelings for me. I love these

people.

Time

Time Is Too Slow
by Henry Van Dyke
 

Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity.

I woke up one morning about six weeks

ago and it was October.  That is what the

calendar said but my mind and heart

were in shock.  It's November now

and I am still trying to soak in the

season.  These are my favorite months

I wait for them all year.  

We are busy.  Months come

and go so fast.  It should be August!

Oh, please, let me feel the season

before it completely gone.

It is the best.

Letters

These are the best letters!  I was looking for something 

else and ran across them.  I don't know the

exact dates or how old everyone was 

but they make me laugh.  

This first one is a card Peter wrote 

in the first grade.  He is left handed

and I thought his handwriting was

outstanding. . . .that was short lived.
There is a card a couple pictures
down that shows the change.  Amazing.

I do remember this.  I am sure we had

a light bulb shortage and it was the only

one she could find.  Funny.

Tim~very faithful to write to Santa.  This is an envelope and letter. 

I thought it was sweet that he asked Lee what she 

wanted and represented her in his letter. 

   (Lee for short....makes me laugh.)

This is how Lee thanked him.....")  I actually

think this after he came home from his

mission. 

.  

Lee being creative.  On the back side are cut out pictures

of the doll she wanted.  She wanted a
new pair of "Genes".  I am sure there
were days that that was true.

This one wins the prize.  Jill 

must have been hopping mad

at something. 

This one is very well thought out and

very thoughtful.  Way to go Lee.

Pictures also on the back to

help Santa.

I like how Jill "flat out sorry" in this letter.

She obviously saw Christmas presents

she wasn't supposed to see.  But it

is a sweet letter.

Yes, Tim, you were a good boy!

Jill~way over thinking things. LOL

This is heartbreaking.  Lee was going on 11 for sure

and I was beginning to think she would

always believe in Santa.  I mentioned 

to David that we needed to have a

sit down talk about the facts of Christmas.

Well, he took Lee with him somewhere

in the truck and just said, "Lee, there

isn't a Santa Claus".  It wasn't a

sensitive moment.  

We had a clothes line then and I was

out by it and saw this note folded

up lying on the ground.  So sad. 

So sorry, Lee.

 

Here's the note

from Pete.  I had teachers tell me that

he said the most with the

fewest words possible.  

That is ok but the handwriting

went down the tubes.

The interesting thing about this

letter (it is from Jill)  is David

was a Nazi about good shoes.

I always wanted to go to Kmart

and buy their best but he  said no

and would take kids to the valley 

or Flagstaff and buy name brand

shoes.  Something in his childhood

made him sensitive to this one issue.

So here is Jill pleading her case

for a good pair of shoes which I

am certain were in the works.

I read this letter to Jill's husband

and he laughed and laughed.

I wish I had more.  They are so telling.
I love them and the people who wrote them.

Quotes of November

"...We are faced with a choice. We

can be satisfied with a diminished experience....and settle for

experiences far below our privileges.  Or we can partake of an

abundant feast of spiritual

opportunity and universal...blessings."

Pres. Echtdorf, Priesthood Session April 2011

How To Build Strength To Endure To The End

1) "...form a habit of pushing on through the fatigue

and fear that might make you think of quitting."

2) "...spiritual staying power comes from working past

the point when others would have taken a rest."

Pres. Henry B. Eyring, Priesthood Session Oct. 2011

Never say NO to snow.

I wonder if this will be one of those

winters where there is snow on snow.

After the ugly wildfire in the mountains

this past summer I'll take it.

David told me "he had a good eye" for taking pictures so this is the shot we used!

Just playing

As my husband, David, left tonight he asked me what

I was going to do.  I said I was going to play.  What I

meant was I was going to sew....which is one of my

play time activities.  

Tonight I tried to make a pin cushion that I saw

and fell in love with.  Mine is a sorry imitation. I would

like to say it was the free online instructions but

it was probably me.

This is the real thing.  Isn't that just so dang cute?

My poor imitation.

I think I will break down and buy

the real pattern from the gal in Norway.

(OK, I used some of my pins for the

eyes just because I wasn't going to waste

my time with embellishments.  They look

like a mouse in a mouse trap...fitting.

Winter Gardening

I thought seriously about trying to do a winter garden.

It can be done with the right boxes and protection.

But as I finish up my apples and start work on

my Hubbard squash I can hardly fathom the idea

of more gardening.  Maybe next year.

But!!! I can grow sprouts!  These are so easy

and I love how they taste. 

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

David always wished he had had a brother.

I wonder how that would have changed him...

if at all.  

I misunderstood this scripture for along time.

I think what it means is friends are good

but a brother will be there for you during

your troubled and hard times.

David would have liked the strength of a brother

during some of the hard times.  

I'm glad these boys have each other.

Wood cutting

Here are two boys I am so grateful for.

They came up a couple weekends ago and 

helped David get our wood for the winter.

This is them after it was completely stacked in

the back yard.  I can't explain how good and secure

I feel with a pile like that.

 Casualty.....ant bite.  There are really big ants

in those trees.

 Dave would have gone to get wood but

having his boys there working with him

was a pleasure.

   I love our truck.  It was meant to haul wood.

 The splitting and loading crew.

 

 I understand now why old men have one of everything.

It makes work easier.  But then, again, so do young sons.

 Boo was glad to get out of the house.

 

 Love these men!

 

 And that man.

Thank you, Pete and Tim!  It meant so much to

both of us for you to take time and come and

get wood with Dad.