Day #11 - Happy Halloween!

Hope your day was full of Spooky Fun!!!

Day #10 - A four legged visitor

This is Jackson, Scott's friend's dog. It was nice to hear the pitter patter of dog feet in our house today when Jackson came to visit! And to be greeted enthusiastically at the door! He has balls on the brain. He'll sit and look at a ball forever waiting for someone to throw it for him. When someone does and he runs after it, I hear the scratch, scratch, scratch on the recently redone hardwood floors! Oh well! He is a guest in our home and we aim to make guests happy. Don't you want to come and visit??

Day #9 SNOW

It snowed today!

If you don't believe me look closer!

Today also happens to be my 34th wedding anniversary! Time flies when you're having fun!!!

Day #8 A Fall Walk

I love the weather we are having now. It is cold at night and crisp and clear and beautiful all day. Fall is my favorite season. I'm glad we are having days like this and not just going right to winter!

Day #7 - A photo of the photography teachers

Tonight they were showing us how to use different graphics programs. Both either now work for HP or worked for HP in the past so they talk like engineers, but then I'm used to that. I'm enjoying the class. Now I really want to go on a trip and take pictures.

Day #6 - All I Ask of You

Occasionally I am privileged to attend a recital or concert or athletic event of one of my Young Women. Tonight I went to a voice recital. It was doubly fun because not only did I get to hear Emily's beautiful voice, she sang one of my favorite songs from Phantom of the Opera, "All I Ask of You." Loved it! She also sang a part of the "Angel of Music" duet. Loved that too!

I practiced taking pictures without a flash. That is hard with the lighting that wasn't the best anyway causing shadows across the faces and not being on the front row. But I think they turned out OK!

Day #5 - Bon Dia!

Bon dia is the Catalan way of saying, "Good day!" Spain has 4 official languages. Everywhere in the country they speak Spanish or as they would say, "Castellano". In the north central area they speak Basque, in the far north west Gallego or Galician and around Barcelona in the north east the language is Catalan. These are not dialects of Spanish but are distinct languages with their own grammar rules & pronunciations. Spanish, Gallego, and Catalan are Latin based languages but Basque is not. In fact linguists can't pinpoint the origins of the Basque language.

Here's a little example of the 4 languages. In Spanish cheese is queso, in Basque it is gazta, in Catalan it is formatge and in Gallego queixo.

During the years of the dictator Franco, speaking Catalan was against the law so in Barcelona the street names as well as the names of people were switched to Castellano...at least publicly! After Franco's death the proud Catalans were thrilled to be able to again speak their 'mother tongue'. During our years in Barcelona, our church meetings were in Spanish and the members tried hard to remember to speak Spanish to me. It was strange when I'd be in a conversation with a group from church, understanding most of what was said, until suddenly and without warning they would switch to Catalan. They didn't even realize they were making the switch & could never tell me what the trigger was.

I never learned much Catalan except how to read a menu but I did greet people with a polite, "Bon Dia"! I've had people ask me about my email address, wondering what "bondia" means....now you know! I hope you have a 'bon dia'!

Soccer - Day 4

Spent part of the day taking some action shots on the soccer field & even had lunch with a very good looking referee!

Pictures from Day 3

Today I visited with my friend and her daughter who just had her 4th baby...and the oldest child is 4! Talk about a busy Mom!

This little 4 year old, the big sister, is just as vivacious and full of life as she looks! I know these aren't prize winning pictures but they are sure fun to take!

Pictures from Day 2

From my walk today.....

Picture of the Day

Last night my photography teacher challenged the class to take a picture a day for a month. I'm ok with my camera on all the automatic modes so I'm trying to learn all the F-stop and shutter speeds stuff. It confuses me but I'm determined to learn. So.....I'm going to attempt to post a picture a day for 30 days. Ok maybe two pictures on some days!

Soccer Fan

Ever since Mary was a little girl, soccer has been a huge part of our lives. All four kids played. On some Saturdays before we moved to Spain we had 6 games!!! During our five years in Barcelona the season went from September to June with at least one game every Saturday. I've watched soccer in 105 degree heat at Regionals in Las Vegas. I've watched in pouring rain and wind that was so strong I could barely stand up. I've watched in drizzle and snow and sleet and while freezing even though I have on all my ski gear & I'm covered with a blanket. I've spent Mother's Day and Labor Day and Memorial Day and Fourth of July on soccer fields and traveling with teams. People always ask me if I'm not so excited and happy to be done with it. The answer to that is NO! I miss it. So I was thrilled when three little girls from church invited me to their game. They are killer soccer players! I'm no biased Mom or grandma and I think they are three of the best on their team...and they just look so darned cute! I remember a t-shirt that said, "The difference between girls soccer and boys soccer - girls make it look good" So true with these three cuties!

Happy Fall!

Happy Birthday Johnny!

A few things I love about Jonathan Montgomery Lewis:

• He still lets me call him "Johnny"!
• He is a problem solver when I have a computer glitch.
• His sense of humor is amazing. One example, once in Italy we were at a hotel that had a dinner included in the price. George was patiently going over the choices with Johnny and when George said that one choice was mussels Johnny quickly replied, "That 's a little too strong for me!" He has kept us laughing since he was a little boy.
• He loves traveling almost as much as I do!
• He is organized, studies hard, works hard, and just in general does the things he needs to do.
• Loyal is one word that accurately describes Johnny.
• He is careful with his money and even with my money. Most of the time if I offer to buy him some clothes he says that he doesn't need anything.
• He is sensitive and kind.

I'm glad to be his mom. The birthday card we gave him this year says "Any family would be proud to have you! But please don't go and join one of those families. We need you here!" A perfect sentiment for this young man!

Magnolia

The house that my Great-great Grandfather, Q.T. Webster built sometime around 1896 in my hometown of Lonoke, Arkansas is in the process of being restored.

It takes a visionary person to look past the vast amount of work that needs to be done to see the great potential in this house. I love the metal roof and all the ornate Victorian trim around the porch and the windows & doors. Notice that it is about 3 feet off the ground. That is to help with termite control. My mother always said that the wooden foundation is from hand hewn logs and the nails of the original house are square. The house has been added to over the years of course, as modern conveniences like indoor plumbing became available!

I remember visiting my Great-great Aunt Blanche in this house when I was a little girl. All the Webster women were extremely talented & Aunt Blanche was no exception. She was a writer and a seamstress and a painter. She painted the china I mentioned in another post for her brother's wedding, my Great Grandfather S.E. Webster. http://bondia2000.blogspot.com/2009/03/heirlooms.html

The woman who is restoring the house read this excerpt from our weekly paper the Lonoke Democrat dated May 10, 1934.

"Mrs. Blanche W. Edwards has opened a book and gift shoppe in the office of the late J.M.Gates in the McCrary building. In her display she has a doll named Magnolia and she takes orders for these dolls which are originally clever & any girl would love to have one for her boudoir. She made three dozen for the M.M. Cohn company to be used during Cotton Week."

M.M. Cohn was the "Nordstroms" of Little Rock. And Cotton Week was a big celebration held annually back when cotton was still 'king' in the south.

After reading about the Magnolia doll the current owner of the house asked me if I had ever seen one and in fact I have one that Aunt Blanche made for my mother. I also have a handwritten card from Aunt Blanche explaining the origins of the doll.

The Webster family is of early English origin and arrived from England to South Carolina about 1785, moving to Lonoke County, Arkansas in 1852. The Websters brought their slaves along and much loved was their black Mammy "Aunt Caroline" and this little Negro doll, Magnolia is a copy of her grandchild.

I know she isn't politically correct these days but I still love her. I love the little braids and ribbons in her hair and the pantaloons. In her pocket is a sachet with a little tiny silk flower attached. I love the sense of family history in this little heirloom. I'm proud to have her in my boudoir!

Happy Birthday George!

For George's birthday I thought I'd list a few things you might not have known about him:

• According to George's mother, he taught himself to read before he was 3.
• She also says that he was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen.
• While wearing white clothes, he could go outside and play and come back in as clean as when he went out.
• On a dare he climbed a tree in the backyard and sat on the birdhouse, not knowing that bees, not birds, called it home. The bee attack ended in a draw with 5 stings for George and 5 dead bees!
• When he was in kindergarten, George's Mom was called to see the teacher because he was being uncooperative. She was totally shocked because he was always the easiest, politest child. The teacher's complaint was that he refused to draw a picture of himself. He said that he couldn't draw a picture that looked just like he looked. He didn't want to draw the typical kindergarten picture of a person because that wasn't how he really looked.
• George skipped 1st grade so he started high school at age 12 and college at age 16.
• So you won't think I'm just bragging.....his grades that first semester were bad enough that his extremely frugal father, who never flew anywhere, flew out to Utah to have a talk with his son & found him taking a nap in the afternoon because he had stayed up late playing cards the night before. His Dad was not amused...but the grades improved.
• After college George really only ever wanted to work for Hewlett Packard and that is the only place where he seriously applied.
• He's worked at Loveland HP, HP Labs in Palo Alto, HP in Fort Collins, Boise, and Barcelona...and for a brief time, worked for HP Italy where we ALMOST moved in 1992!
• In the Oakland Temple, George received a strong impression that I was pregnant with Mary before I even suspected.
• He played for several years on a Multi Regional Championship Volleyball team.
• Riding his bike was once his passion and he rode several hundred miles through central Idaho as part of a fundraiser for the Idaho Lung Association.
• Now he gets his exercise by being a referee for youth soccer.
• George has a gift for languages and was our interpreter in Spain for most of the time we were there. He managed to stay focused during the 10:00 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. (yes, I do mean 2:30 in the morning) Friday night Bishopric meetings which were all in Spanish .
• He loves to travel and lets me plan trips!
• George does all the ironing at our house. He always irons the tablecloth before we have a dinner party!
• Every night he relaxes and 'turns off his mind' by playing "Killer Sudoku".
• The dog held a really soft spot in his heart, although he tried to act like she really didn't.
• He is in a rut with ice cream....thin mint, thin mint everytime!
• He doesn't like fudge but he and his whole family love Frango Mints! They were an expensive treat from Marshall Fields in Chicago.

I bet you know more about George than you ever wanted to know! So I'll end by saying Happy Birthday to my sweetheart!