I love sharing stories about my children on their birthdays. I could write a book on Ryan so it was hard to just pick a few. Here are my picks this year:
Ryan has an amazing mind. In Kindergarten, he held his pencil and scissors wrong and it freaked out his teacher and she sent him to counseling. The tests showed that his motor skills were behind but that he reasoned like a 14-year-old. And he didn’t learn to read until about two weeks before the second parent-teacher conference in his first grade year. The teacher suggested we hold him back. Can I say, we didn't and he graduated with top grades from high school and BYU. Duh, I regret that I was so "influenced" by teacher’s opinions rather than trusting my own instincts about my child.
When our son, Ben, was little, he was obsessed with the movie "Annie." He had to have it on all of the time. He would freak out if we would change the channel, even if he were in the other room. One day Ryan and I were upstairs. We could hear commotion downstairs because someone changed the video from Annie. Ryan said, "I think it is funny how Ben flips out when someone changes the channel from Annie." I agreed. Then he said, "I guess it's kind of like these mountains around us." I paused and wondered, "What in the heck is he thinking about?" Then he said (he’s 10 years old at the time), "Some days I don’t even notice them (the mountains)....but it is just nice knowing that they’re there!"
Oh...
So profound.....
I’ve shared an experience about Ryan in the mission field in part but I’ll put the whole story here and then post a poem I wrote about him, as a young missionary, which was one of my first poems published (BYU Studies) and I was also asked to read at BYU Women’s Conference (when they used to feature poetry.)
Malaria
"Sending a child on a mission is almost a little scarey. Our first son, Ryan, received his call to Guatemala, I was concerned about his safety because on the internet I learned the country was still in a civil war. And just before he was getting ready to leave, a well-meaning friend called to tell me that since her daughter was also being sent to Guatemala, she had been doing some research and found that a large number of missionaries were getting malaria in Guatemala and that the Church wasn’t giving them the necessary medication to prevent infection. If I was stirred up before, I REALLY was concerned about my son’s safety then! I called all over to see if I could find some pills to send with Ryan before he left. They don’t have malaria in Salt Lake so I was out of luck. Finally I found a source in Florida. I had really worked myself into a tizzy until David said, "Marilyn, you need to stop this and turn our son over to the Lord in faith." Of course. Why hadn’t I thought of that! So I did. I sent him in faith. About a year into his mission, he contacted not just malaria but den gay also and was deathly sick in the hospital for a couple of weeks. When I found out, I was angry. Heavenly Father knew that I was worried about that and I turned him over in faith and He hadn’t taken care of him at all! I really felt like Heavenly Father had let me down. Luckily, although I was mad at God, I continued to read my scriptures.
One night as I was reading, I just opened the book and a verse jumped out at me while the scripture taught me verbally in my heart and mind, truth. The scripture, as it came to mind was, "Why do you weep because you suffer for my sake? How much better it is that you suffer for my sake than you suffer for your sins." What an incredible thought. Bad things happen to good people all the time, there is much suffering in the world but there is a difference between "righteous" and "unrighteous" suffering. How much better it is that our suffering is done through no fault of our own rather than the suffering that comes from sin. I later learned that the reason why the Church doesn’t give the missionaries malaria medication is because the government has asked them not to. If the missionary was to get malaria, then there would be nothing to treat it with. What an important lesson the Lord taught me. How thankful I am that even though I wasn’t happy with the Lord, I continued to read my scriptures so I could received his comfort and instruction...and forgiveness."
Dancing Cow Story
One evening during this time, before I found the scripture where I was taught, I was upstairs working in the den, feeling sad, tired and worried. Someone rang the doorbell and I called for one of the boys to answer the door. Finally Tanner did and as he opened the door, I could hear all this funny "La Bamba" music. He said there was a dancing cow on the doorstep and I said to call his brothers, probably one of them was being invited to a dance. He said no, that there was a sign that said it was for me. I went downstairs to find, indeed, a mechanical cow dancing around the front porch playing "La Bamba." There was also a large basket filled with chips and salsa and all sorts of goodies. The cow was holding a sign that was taped to his hoof in large letters saying, "MAM- mothers against malaria!" I started to laugh. Friends had anonymously dropped the surprise package off to cheer me up. They were saying that they understood I was hurting and that as my friends, they wanted to share the burden. Girlfriends. Aren’t they the best. I love how girlfriends, friends and family can share one another’s burdens and sustain each other with love.
When Ryan first arrived in Guatemala, many of his letters described the water. The rain, the horrible water from his taps, the muddy water everywhere. I started thinking about water, and how the scriptures are filled with images of water....mostly symbolizing "the living water" of Christ and his scriptures, that "pure water" and I thought of the "water" of baptism. And how while serving a mission is also so much of a "coming of age" story. So I put them all together in this poem.
WAITING FOR ALEJENDRO...for the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea-Isaiah 11:9
The alley was filled with weather-beaten shacks,
little more than lean-tos with tin roofs,
dirt floors, fire pits at the entrances
where beans continually cooked in blackened pots.
The street was littered with chickens,
goats, ragged children. And here he sat,
on an orange crate, in a slightly damp suit,
scraping mud off his Rockports with an old tin lid.
He was thirsty but didn’t dare ask for water.
He picked up a smooth pebble from the ground.
The faucet in his room seldom had pressure,
but when it did, the water ran a thick, reddish
brown.
A bus screeched to a clumsy stop and then,
with gears grinding, lumbered off, spewing fumes.
The smells were another thing.
A child, dressed mostly in dust,
wandered over, chewing on a tortilla.
Her eyes were black, unblinking.
He smiled, quickly withdrew a balloon
from his pocket, blew it up, twisted it
into the shape of a dog. The child took the balloon
without smiling, continued to stand there,
chewing, watching him.
He could see his companion coming out
of the corner store with two Cokes.
It was always Coke they would drink
while they waited,
waited for Alejendro who wanted to know more.
He threw the pebble into the brackish puddle
next to his foot. It looked like the same water
that came from his tap.
He peered into the puddle, searching
for the face of God on the water.
After a while, it was his face he found.
Marilyn Darley Williams
Saturday, June 30, 2007
The Week In Review
Did some visiting teaching this week. When I visited Mama Bawden, they were doing re-carpeting in their home, so she had prepared brownies and sweet lemonade and we sat under a little canopy by the side of her pool and chatted. How cool was that? She was worried about Freddie the Frog back stroking in our pool thinking we must not have enough chlorine but it has chlorine in it...we decided he must has mutated to withstand chlorine...no wonder he’s so big! Now I can say, we’re the proud "caretakers" of a mutant frog.
I still can’t figure out what is going on with the baby deer. We keep finding one by itself and I’ve worried the mother has abandoned it. But it looks healthy and thriving so that must not be the case. But what in the heck is Mama Deer thinking, letting her newborn just go off on its own? I might have to report it to social services....
I’m still thinking about our wonderful evening with Julie Rogers. Everything was perfect. And it makes me ache to want to capture that kind of emotion in painting. Thursday evening I was able to attend David Evan’s class, which I have put on hold since beginning Marilyn Gandre’s portrait class. It was great to be back and I finished the picture I had been doing there, a barn scene from Liberty, Utah. I love how it turned out but it is a rendition of a Randall Lake painting so it’s not my own composition.
Friday, my husband’s extended family had a family reunion at Lava Hot Springs. It was a full day and Ryan and Marci’s family were the only one of our kids that could 
attend. But there were lots of in-laws there, and I was especially happy to see my nieces (6, some with spouses, some not married) and to see my nephew, Dee and his family (including Kyle, his brother whom I have not seen since he was a little boy and he’s now a Junior in high school). Dee lived with us before he was married and I haven’t seen him since then. It’s hard to have people intricately involved while living with our family and then never 
having much contact with them afterwards. But niece, Ashley was there (and she lived with us for almost a year) and her darling husband, Wes, and it just makes me SO HAPPY that they are so happy! They are all such beautiful kids! Because of time, we didn’t even swim at the heated pools of Lava, but we rented giant rafting tubes and David and Ryan and Marci and cousin Mallorie and kiddo’s all did the river. Poor Marci got beat up a little (I’m glad I got baby duty!) but they all had a great adventure. A catered dinner was held at a church there, with family videos, pictures, a talent program and silent auction. It was awesome to get to visit with David’s cousins and their wives, and everyone else. We got home last night about 12:30 and David leaned over to me in bed and said thanks for being a good sport. I’m going to add that to my resume. I like the sound of it.
attend. But there were lots of in-laws there, and I was especially happy to see my nieces (6, some with spouses, some not married) and to see my nephew, Dee and his family (including Kyle, his brother whom I have not seen since he was a little boy and he’s now a Junior in high school). Dee lived with us before he was married and I haven’t seen him since then. It’s hard to have people intricately involved while living with our family and then never 
having much contact with them afterwards. But niece, Ashley was there (and she lived with us for almost a year) and her darling husband, Wes, and it just makes me SO HAPPY that they are so happy! They are all such beautiful kids! Because of time, we didn’t even swim at the heated pools of Lava, but we rented giant rafting tubes and David and Ryan and Marci and cousin Mallorie and kiddo’s all did the river. Poor Marci got beat up a little (I’m glad I got baby duty!) but they all had a great adventure. A catered dinner was held at a church there, with family videos, pictures, a talent program and silent auction. It was awesome to get to visit with David’s cousins and their wives, and everyone else. We got home last night about 12:30 and David leaned over to me in bed and said thanks for being a good sport. I’m going to add that to my resume. I like the sound of it. David was in trial all last week so he was MIA (missing in action) and exhausted but the outcome was good. The case was a dental one, a gal suing the dentist. I was glad that the jury could see through this one....she really is a professional sue-er. If that is a word. She’s received settlements from many doctors and companies from one thing or another and had been to 9 dentists in a couple of years, just trying to find one to sue, I think. So today, Sat. he is down team roping with friends and relaxing. Here it is, 10:22 a.m. and I’m still in my jammies, with work to do putting away picnic stuff from yesterday. The sun is shining, the sprinklers puttin' outside. I have a few "have-to" errands to run today but all in all, a good day to just breathe.
Oh my gosh, as soon as I typed that last word, "breathe", the phone rang. It was my b.f. Cathy, calling me to tell me that her mom just died this morning! Can you believe it...her dad died just 2 ½ months ago! (see My friend Cathy.... ) But Cathy was there and although I’m just crying, she’s telling me how tender and spiritual and beautiful it was! Kevin, Tanner’s b.f., had gone done with her (to Orangeville) and had given Cathy's mom (Kevin's grandma) a blessing to release her. (Cathy’s mom basically started really failing as soon as her husband died. She’s been in a care center, with medical attention this whole time.) Cathy just said it was so awesome. I felt so blessed that Cathy would call me and share with me those feelings. I wish I were there but I realize this is a sacred time for her and her siblings.
As devastating as it would be to lose my parents, I see the beauty in their going together, because I honestly can’t imagine my mom or dad living without the other. My parents are just a comedy team, a duo. I jokingly (maybe not) have my own "demise" ordered. David and I have been on a cruise or some fabulous trip. The plane while coming over the ocean, has a mechanical error and explodes. We feed the fishes (that coordinates with my new "green" image!) We go together, after having filled ourselves with shrimp and chocolate and good worldly stuff...and there is no viewing. I’m not sure I’ve posted this, but at the end of my obituary...which I’ve already written and update each year (because I always love the last word) .... I’ve added a detailed list of do’s and don’ts.....I don’t want an open casket...I think the practice is archaic and morbid....and if my family doesn’t follow my wishes, I will haunt them in not a nice way, and because David and I are together, he can’t marry a 30-year-old and live happily-ever-after. People say, "I can’t believe you would wish that on all those innocent people on the plane." I have to remind them that I am a kind person and "only" people who have the same demise wish as I would be onboard. My daughter does not think this whole fantasy is funny and is quite a bit of selfishness on my part. But heh, I am a "good sport." That does not mean I’m not selfish! (and Brandi, I know you couldn't deal with that....but maybe you could in another 25 years....)
Since I’ve flippantly shared this "fantasy", I'm reminded of a funny thing that happened once. David and Kirk were in Las Vegas...maybe we were going to the Rodeo Finals. Cathy and I, for some reason, couldn’t come until later, so we took a plane. We were between St. George and Las Vegas when we hit turbulence. And I mean, BIG TIME turbulence! Everyone’s drinks hit the ceiling, a stewardess was hurt, the men sitting across from us had horrific looks on their faces, and the plane drops, shakes, rattles and rolls and drops again. It really was terrifying and I remember Cathy and I looking at each other, wide-eyed, and I thought, "I'm going to die...with her? Instead of David?!" It was almost funny.
(other instructions on my funeral list- the speakers, the songs, even the refreshments -fabulous appetizers, lots of funeral potatoes, great desserts. I want people to laugh and cry and laugh and cry.....and then have fabulous food. It gets me teary just thinking about it. And yes, I am that dramatic!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Julie Rogers and Flavored Waters
My art friends (they are actually my friends regardless of art) attended a three-day art workshop in Kanab and St. George in March but I couldn’t attend because of Kevin Olsen’s wedding (Cathy’s son and Tanner’s B.F.) The artist was Julie Rogers and I was so bummed to miss it. I had attended an art show at the Church museum last year that highlighted the handcart companies and I remember standing
before one piece of art and being totally moved to tears. The artist was Julie Rogers. Well, the friends had so much fun and bonded so well with Julie and also Jane Juber, who has the Authentique Gallery in St. George, that they wanted to invited them here so more people could experience what they experienced. It wasn’t so much about doing the art as hearing about the art. So last night Kathy Wilson hosted an evening with Julie in her gorgeous backyard. Kathy really is THE gardener and her backyard is over the top beautiful. She asked me to be in charge of the food which is liking asking a camel if they would like a drink. Everyone helped but I just kind of supervised. Linda Madsen did the table presentation and she’s better than Martha S. We ate and browsed Julie’s amazing artwork, and then we sat and listened to her tell the stories behind each of the handcart series paintings she had done. I wish I could box up even a portion of the spirit that was there so you, reading this, would know how incredible it was. I hadn’t met Julie before, but as I arrived at Kathy’s, early for the food, Julie and Jane were also arriving at the same time. I gave Julie a hug and said, "I know you’ve done this amazing series on the Handcart companies but I really have a story of my ancestor that you need to paint, who was in the Willy company." She asked who the relative was, and I replied, "Archibald McPhail." They both about exploded and Jane whispered, "He’s here." I questioned, "What do you mean?" and Jane replied, "He’s here. Julie has already painted him and tells his amazing story!" I couldn’t believe it. We all were a little teary and had goose bumps. And the painting was magnificent! Here is his story:
before one piece of art and being totally moved to tears. The artist was Julie Rogers. Well, the friends had so much fun and bonded so well with Julie and also Jane Juber, who has the Authentique Gallery in St. George, that they wanted to invited them here so more people could experience what they experienced. It wasn’t so much about doing the art as hearing about the art. So last night Kathy Wilson hosted an evening with Julie in her gorgeous backyard. Kathy really is THE gardener and her backyard is over the top beautiful. She asked me to be in charge of the food which is liking asking a camel if they would like a drink. Everyone helped but I just kind of supervised. Linda Madsen did the table presentation and she’s better than Martha S. We ate and browsed Julie’s amazing artwork, and then we sat and listened to her tell the stories behind each of the handcart series paintings she had done. I wish I could box up even a portion of the spirit that was there so you, reading this, would know how incredible it was. I hadn’t met Julie before, but as I arrived at Kathy’s, early for the food, Julie and Jane were also arriving at the same time. I gave Julie a hug and said, "I know you’ve done this amazing series on the Handcart companies but I really have a story of my ancestor that you need to paint, who was in the Willy company." She asked who the relative was, and I replied, "Archibald McPhail." They both about exploded and Jane whispered, "He’s here." I questioned, "What do you mean?" and Jane replied, "He’s here. Julie has already painted him and tells his amazing story!" I couldn’t believe it. We all were a little teary and had goose bumps. And the painting was magnificent! Here is his story:
Archibald was in his forties, traveling with his daughter, Henrietta, and second wife, Jane and their little girl, Jane. He was over several handcarts, which included a lot of widowed women or women traveling alone. After passing through Rocky Ridge, which was the most treacherous part of the journey, they were all in very bad shape. After a long day’s travel, they stopped for the night. Archibald discovered that one woman, who lagged behind quite often, was no where to be found. He knew he would have to go back on the trail to find her. He finally, in the dark, could see her on the other side of another frozen river. She was slumped under a tree, just waiting to die. He urged her to walk across the frozen river but she was afraid and just gave up. Finally, he walked across to get her, knowing that if he had to carry her, the ice would not be able to carry their combined weight. But the woman would not move on her own so he picked her up and carried her. Of course, he fell through the ice into the freezing water, but carried his charge to safety. She lived but he died from exposure. His wife stayed at his side, while he lay dying, with a portion of tallow candle. She prayed that the candle would not go out before he died. Her prayer was granted and just as the candle flickered out, Archibald took his last breath. He was my Great-great-great-grandpa.
Although my father is a member of the church, he has never been active since a youth, and my mother isn't a member so I wasn't raised with the gospel in my home. I didn't even know about this marvelous part of my heritage until about a year ago. It has been a tender mercy in my life and last night just reiterated that blessing.
And, a fun gift, I got to meet Janet, my friend Valene’s younger sister, who reads this blog and said she wanted to surprise me and email and say, "You don’t know me but I read your blog and I want to take you to my favorite restaurant and then I want you to teach me how to write poetry!" Okay! You had me at "taking me to your favorite restaurant!" Just kidding, but how awesome was that sweet surprise? And yes, I can’t wait. I would love to help anyone with a few tips on poetry writing. And Janet is going to spend a year in France with her family so I might have to just invite myself to HER HOUSE so we can eat and paint our way through France! Anyway, thank you, Janet, for the gift and compliment!
If any of you have not made Jean Rasmussen’s brownie recipe that I have posted before, trust me. They were the hit of the evening. (see Daffodil Days at Red Butte Garden ) One other recipe that was requested last night numerous times is another that I am happy to share. I have made it for many weddings and receptions and I always get people calling from all over the country wanting it. I call it Flavored Waters, and you can do it any fruit flavor that you wish. It is nice because it is so light, more than just plain ice water, but not heavy and sweet like a punch. I have those large glass jars (maybe about 3 gallon?) that you can get at Wal-Mart or Target. They have a glass lid on them but I just discard the lids. They make a lovely water container. You can decorate with ribbon or raffia around the neck of the jar. I then do layers of crushed ice, fruit of choice (like whole strawberries or if I am doing orange water, then whole oranges and sliced oranges, etc.), then more ice, more fruit. I fill the jug up with about 2/3 water to 1 third the flavored water syrup. Make sure you taste it...you don’t want it flat and dull, but you do want a light, sweet fruity taste. De-lee-ci-sos!
Flavored Waters3 c. sugar
1 quart water
2 T. citric acid
2 T. lemon, orange or strawberry extract
fruit of choice for garnish
1 quart water
2 T. citric acid
2 T. lemon, orange or strawberry extract
fruit of choice for garnish
Make a simple syrup with 3 cups sugar to 1 quart water. I used to cook it until the sugar dissolves but now I just put it in a pitcher with a lid and shake it up really well. Add the citric acid (I buy it at Jolley’s Pharmacy in Sandy or Gygi’s in Salt Lake.) (It is basically Vitamin C) and the extract. Pack your jars with ice and fruit, then put about 1 part syrup to 3 parts water. If it tastes too strong, add a little more water. We’re looking for light sweet, not flat flavor. I promise you, you’ll get rave reviews! One of my favorites is to mix strawberry and orange together!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Just The Facts
I get many emails with mimes, tags, question/answer things. They may seem like trivial things but since I teach lots of journaling classes, I think they are really good at hitting information you might not share in an everyday journal or life story. So here's my pick from many I've received. Anyone, reading this, answer these questions for yourself. I'd love to hear your answers! Anyone?
What zodiac sign are you? Aquarius
Do you regularly read a horoscope? Nope
If not, why not? Have the scriptures and prayer
Married or single? Definitely married. Happily-ever-after married.
What do you like to do with your spare time? Family, friends, journal, poetry, paint, eat, gab, read or study , cook up a storm
Is your life worse, better or about the same as you imagined it would be someday? Oh, much, much better.
Is your family larger or smaller than you expected? Maybe larger
What do you collect? Years ago I collected angels, paper dolls, Santas. I do collect Pez candy thingies for Ben, who no longer collects them since he has me. Probably the only thing I really collect now is retold fairy tales- I have a whole collection of The Three Little Pigs (like "The Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and The Magic Shark, "The Three Little Wolves and the Big, Bad Pig," etc) and variations on Cinderella and also The Princess and the Pea.
What are three major turning points in your life? testimony, attending Rick’s College, marrying my husband
What do you think your greatest talents are? I "love" easily, I’m creative,I'm a good "idea" person, I desire and seek for the Spirit in my life, I’m happy, I forgive.
What do you think your greatest weaknesses are? Struggle to stay on task with things I’m not interested in, a little undisciplined (with things I’m not interested in), when I was younger- I was too concerned with how much I weighed. And although I am a good listener, I still jabber too much.
What books have affected you the most? Besides the scriptures, Magnificent Obsession (which was the original "play it forward"), The Peacegiver, Follow The River (because it was about human determination) and Shell Seekers (because it was about a woman making hard choices) I know I’m missing out on others, but I’ll have to ponder this some more. The Secret Life of Bees is one of my favorite books although it hasn't really affected my life. And I love Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees and "Pigs In Heaven." Laugh out loud. Great dialogue. Loved the book "Gideon" although not everyone does. I just finished "Twilight" and I loved it so much, I want to run out and bite someone’s neck.
Are you left- or right- brained? Totally right. Without one left-brain cell. That is why I married David. Together we are a full brain.
What magazines do you subscribe to, if any? You’ll be sorry you asked this one. Ensign, New Era, The Friend, Cottage Living, Mary Engelbreit Home Companion, American Art Collections and The Garden Gate. My mother sends me A Taste of Home each year for Christmas. I used to subscribe to Martha Stewart Living, and I loved the pictures but seldom loved the recipes (and I love to cook!) I usually buy her holiday editions, and usually Country Living. I buy a lot of gardening magazines. When my friend, Pretty Patty Petty comes, I always put chocolates and a People magazine (I call it a trashy magazine) on her pillow. It’s an inside joke/tradition.
What’s playing on your C.D. player right now? See my "about me" list, but I like a variety of music. I like current music, like Jack Johnson, Coldplay, John Mayer, Foo Fighters and my favorite song right now is, I know this is weird, Gwen Stephani’s "Sweet Escape." I like a lot of sound tracks. Love all the semi-classical-pop guys out there like Josh Groban, Mario Frangoulis, El Divo, Andre Bocelli, Michael Buble. For painting, I love Tim Janis. I love to listen to Sounds of the Sabbath and love contemporary LDS musicians (especially my daughter-in-law, Marci.) Like new country like Shania, Brooks and Dunn, G. Strait, Carrie Underwood, Allyson Krauss, Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts. My husband torments me in the car with old country, like Chris LeDeux and the real old guys. David wants "Copenhagen Angel" sung at his funeral, and it’s not talking about heavenly angels. He thinks he’s funny. My dad likes to bug me whenever I get in his car, so he’ll have a yodeling tape on for me to enjoy. Now, I like, even love a good yodel. I wish I could yodel. I wish I had learned to yodel. But one or two yodeling songs is enough. Unless you are at Swiss Days in Midway or Leavenworth, WA. or Switzerland. But my dad has several whole yodeling CDS. That is over-the-top, head-banging crazy!
What are some of your accomplishment you’re most proud of? Besides my kids and marriage, I would say having a book of poetry published and poems published in magazines or journals, the many guest speaking opportunities I’ve been given, decorating a happy home, many assignments through the Church, "getting over" some stuff. Being a good friend. Learning to make my bed everyday.
What are some things you still want to accomplish? Publish a novel. Get ahead of the laundry instead of chasing it all the time. Mission (how can I leave my kiddo’s?!) Traveling. I really would love to speak Spanish but I doubt I’ll ever really do it. I speak "un poco." Maybe finish my degree at BYU (I’m sooo close!) And to become a good painter. Have a collection of spiritual poems. Take a name of an ancestor, that I uncovered, to the temple. Learn to tell the difference between a string bean and a pole bean, a girl bean and a boy bean. Okay, I just made that last one up. (Well, not really. I think it was Ogden Nash....)
What kind of athletic activity do you like? Well, I used to be athletic when I was young. I don’t know what happened. I was surprised at a later age to realize I’m kind of a spaz. I can hit a ball pretty good, but I can’t catch worth beans. (There are those "beans" again....) My husband excels at all sports but I’m pretty clueless about the rules of any game except baseball. I wish I could find a raquetball partner. It was a happy day when I gave up water skiing (my aneurysm- inside family joke) (and I have water skied since I was a kid) but I DO love snow skiing! But I ski just the years I can fit in my ski clothes which is usually every other year. I was a bowling babe when I was young. Heh! I grew up in a small town and there wasn’t much else to do! I do love walking, but not running, floating in the pool or doing exercises in the water to music turned really loud. I’m sure I’m quite comical. An athlete, I’m not.
What zodiac sign are you? Aquarius
Do you regularly read a horoscope? Nope
If not, why not? Have the scriptures and prayer
Married or single? Definitely married. Happily-ever-after married.
What do you like to do with your spare time? Family, friends, journal, poetry, paint, eat, gab, read or study , cook up a storm
Is your life worse, better or about the same as you imagined it would be someday? Oh, much, much better.
Is your family larger or smaller than you expected? Maybe larger
What do you collect? Years ago I collected angels, paper dolls, Santas. I do collect Pez candy thingies for Ben, who no longer collects them since he has me. Probably the only thing I really collect now is retold fairy tales- I have a whole collection of The Three Little Pigs (like "The Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and The Magic Shark, "The Three Little Wolves and the Big, Bad Pig," etc) and variations on Cinderella and also The Princess and the Pea.
What are three major turning points in your life? testimony, attending Rick’s College, marrying my husband
What do you think your greatest talents are? I "love" easily, I’m creative,I'm a good "idea" person, I desire and seek for the Spirit in my life, I’m happy, I forgive.
What do you think your greatest weaknesses are? Struggle to stay on task with things I’m not interested in, a little undisciplined (with things I’m not interested in), when I was younger- I was too concerned with how much I weighed. And although I am a good listener, I still jabber too much.
What books have affected you the most? Besides the scriptures, Magnificent Obsession (which was the original "play it forward"), The Peacegiver, Follow The River (because it was about human determination) and Shell Seekers (because it was about a woman making hard choices) I know I’m missing out on others, but I’ll have to ponder this some more. The Secret Life of Bees is one of my favorite books although it hasn't really affected my life. And I love Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees and "Pigs In Heaven." Laugh out loud. Great dialogue. Loved the book "Gideon" although not everyone does. I just finished "Twilight" and I loved it so much, I want to run out and bite someone’s neck.
Are you left- or right- brained? Totally right. Without one left-brain cell. That is why I married David. Together we are a full brain.
What magazines do you subscribe to, if any? You’ll be sorry you asked this one. Ensign, New Era, The Friend, Cottage Living, Mary Engelbreit Home Companion, American Art Collections and The Garden Gate. My mother sends me A Taste of Home each year for Christmas. I used to subscribe to Martha Stewart Living, and I loved the pictures but seldom loved the recipes (and I love to cook!) I usually buy her holiday editions, and usually Country Living. I buy a lot of gardening magazines. When my friend, Pretty Patty Petty comes, I always put chocolates and a People magazine (I call it a trashy magazine) on her pillow. It’s an inside joke/tradition.
What’s playing on your C.D. player right now? See my "about me" list, but I like a variety of music. I like current music, like Jack Johnson, Coldplay, John Mayer, Foo Fighters and my favorite song right now is, I know this is weird, Gwen Stephani’s "Sweet Escape." I like a lot of sound tracks. Love all the semi-classical-pop guys out there like Josh Groban, Mario Frangoulis, El Divo, Andre Bocelli, Michael Buble. For painting, I love Tim Janis. I love to listen to Sounds of the Sabbath and love contemporary LDS musicians (especially my daughter-in-law, Marci.) Like new country like Shania, Brooks and Dunn, G. Strait, Carrie Underwood, Allyson Krauss, Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts. My husband torments me in the car with old country, like Chris LeDeux and the real old guys. David wants "Copenhagen Angel" sung at his funeral, and it’s not talking about heavenly angels. He thinks he’s funny. My dad likes to bug me whenever I get in his car, so he’ll have a yodeling tape on for me to enjoy. Now, I like, even love a good yodel. I wish I could yodel. I wish I had learned to yodel. But one or two yodeling songs is enough. Unless you are at Swiss Days in Midway or Leavenworth, WA. or Switzerland. But my dad has several whole yodeling CDS. That is over-the-top, head-banging crazy!
What are some of your accomplishment you’re most proud of? Besides my kids and marriage, I would say having a book of poetry published and poems published in magazines or journals, the many guest speaking opportunities I’ve been given, decorating a happy home, many assignments through the Church, "getting over" some stuff. Being a good friend. Learning to make my bed everyday.
What are some things you still want to accomplish? Publish a novel. Get ahead of the laundry instead of chasing it all the time. Mission (how can I leave my kiddo’s?!) Traveling. I really would love to speak Spanish but I doubt I’ll ever really do it. I speak "un poco." Maybe finish my degree at BYU (I’m sooo close!) And to become a good painter. Have a collection of spiritual poems. Take a name of an ancestor, that I uncovered, to the temple. Learn to tell the difference between a string bean and a pole bean, a girl bean and a boy bean. Okay, I just made that last one up. (Well, not really. I think it was Ogden Nash....)
What kind of athletic activity do you like? Well, I used to be athletic when I was young. I don’t know what happened. I was surprised at a later age to realize I’m kind of a spaz. I can hit a ball pretty good, but I can’t catch worth beans. (There are those "beans" again....) My husband excels at all sports but I’m pretty clueless about the rules of any game except baseball. I wish I could find a raquetball partner. It was a happy day when I gave up water skiing (my aneurysm- inside family joke) (and I have water skied since I was a kid) but I DO love snow skiing! But I ski just the years I can fit in my ski clothes which is usually every other year. I was a bowling babe when I was young. Heh! I grew up in a small town and there wasn’t much else to do! I do love walking, but not running, floating in the pool or doing exercises in the water to music turned really loud. I’m sure I’m quite comical. An athlete, I’m not.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Happy Birthday, President Hinckley
I have received several emails this week from friends, urging everyone to go to the temple during the week for President Hinckley's 97th birthday! I wish! Our temple (and maybe all?) is closed until July 5th! I tried to go the other day with my father-in-law but found out the bad news. So, we are trying to find out if Timpanogas is open, but in the meantime, I'll post a testimony of temple work that I wrote in my book of Small Plates a couple of years ago to support Pres. Hinckley's vision of temples.
One time, a few years ago, we went to the Jordan River Temple. I was one of the last ones to enter the session room and after they closed the doors, I realized that I had dropped the piece of paper with the name of the person I was doing temple work for. I was sitting on the last row of the room and quickly got the attention of one of the temple matrons. I told her I had dropped my name slip and asked if I should go out and look for it. She told me to stay in the session and she would go and look. I felt kind of a panic as the session began because I knew that I would need the correct name during the session. I closed my eyes and just prayed that I could remember the name, which was probably the longest name I had ever had- 5 names long! I really concentrated and just tried to see the name in my mind. That part of the endowment was getting closer and I was so relieved when I could see the name in my mind and felt good that it was correct. But then, the Spirit quickly came to my mind and said, "Look again!" I closed my eyes and looked and saw the error I had made and the name correctly right at the moment that I needed it. As soon as that part of the endowment was over, the back door opened and the temple matron handed me the lost slip of paper. Of course it was the exact name the Spirit had quickened my mind with. Just a simple little thing but it taught me a great lesson. What we do in the temple MATTERS. These truly are REAL people that we are doing the work for and the details in doing that work matters. What a great lesson to me in a simple way to remind me of the importance of doing the Lord’s work properly.
One time, a few years ago, we went to the Jordan River Temple. I was one of the last ones to enter the session room and after they closed the doors, I realized that I had dropped the piece of paper with the name of the person I was doing temple work for. I was sitting on the last row of the room and quickly got the attention of one of the temple matrons. I told her I had dropped my name slip and asked if I should go out and look for it. She told me to stay in the session and she would go and look. I felt kind of a panic as the session began because I knew that I would need the correct name during the session. I closed my eyes and just prayed that I could remember the name, which was probably the longest name I had ever had- 5 names long! I really concentrated and just tried to see the name in my mind. That part of the endowment was getting closer and I was so relieved when I could see the name in my mind and felt good that it was correct. But then, the Spirit quickly came to my mind and said, "Look again!" I closed my eyes and looked and saw the error I had made and the name correctly right at the moment that I needed it. As soon as that part of the endowment was over, the back door opened and the temple matron handed me the lost slip of paper. Of course it was the exact name the Spirit had quickened my mind with. Just a simple little thing but it taught me a great lesson. What we do in the temple MATTERS. These truly are REAL people that we are doing the work for and the details in doing that work matters. What a great lesson to me in a simple way to remind me of the importance of doing the Lord’s work properly.
The Last of the Princesses
This little princess was Cinderella in her dance concert. Her mommy took this picture for me!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
This past week, our Relief Society had an evening of "favorite things." Each sister was asked to bring something (couldn’t be pictures of kids or husband) to share during the evening. I couldn’t decide on what to take because I’m a girl of a million favorite things. Which was okay, because then I remembered that was the evening of Rylee’s dance performance. But I’ve loved asking people what they took, which has varied from someone’s favorite "chopper" (like for veggies or salsa) or a book containing love letters from her husband. It is a fun exercise in gratitude....so besides hubbie, kids and kiddo’s, friends, fam, all the normal stuff, here’s my top ten list at this moment:
I’m grateful for, because I love,
1. My new green, which is really blue, garbage can! I know that sounds weird, but we haven’t been green. It is hard to be green when one member of the family doesn’t see the need. I faithfully recycle newspapers (boxing them up and hauling them to the elementary school drop box) and, if you have readTHE LAST FEW DAYS April 29,2007 You know I’ve collected those pesky pop cans. But now I can just dump them in my blue (but green) can, plus plastic and tin cans. I feel so....I don’t know, patriotic? So new enviromentalist? I hope the fever lasts but I know there will be "issues." As Kermit used to say, "It ain’t easy being green!"
4. Baby deer. I love them. I love their mommas too. We have never been "pet" people. I know that seems sad but David was raised on a ranch and pets weren’t really needed because they had horses (or what pets they had were "outside" pets.) And we have horses....4 and ½ (the half is another story) plus friends leave their horses here as well. But I was so traumatized by my dog’s death as a teenager, and David didn’t li
ke the idea of a dog in the house and I could hardly keep up after my kiddos so it has made sense for us. Tenille, as a teenager, gave a bunny to Travis for Easter. What are kids thinking? Travis could have cared less about the bunny but I fell in love. And the bunny LOVED me so unconditionally. Unfortunately, the reason he was the runt of the litter and so tiny and cute was there was something wrong. His little horrible death about put me into the ground. I had to practice calling vets, because I couldn’t just ask if they accepted bunnies as patients without sobbing hysterically. I finally found a bunny doctor and was crying so hard in the waiting room, they invited me into a private room because I was upsetting the other people and animals. So, now I have deer. Cute little deer and cute big deer. I talk to them each day. I used to love the squirrels but now I just tolerate them. They are kind of juvenile delinquents. And I do love Freddie, the giant frog that lives in our pool greenhouse. Last night, after we all swam (Marci and Ryan and the kids came), Marci went back to the pool to find something and it was dark except someone hadn’t turned off the pool lights so just the inside of the pool was lit. There was Freddie, just doing the backstroke across the pool. Any day I see Freddie, is a day of good luck.
5. My computer and the internet. Can I just say, it is my classroom, my friend, my free time. It has accepted my poetry, helped me make lists, invitations, lets me crop pictures, keep in touch with friends, work on family history and my journals, find interesting stuff, lets me shop in my jammies, makes me laugh (or makes me frustrated...grrr!), entertains. I can hardly function without it. It’s my buddy. Another best friend.
6. My trumpet vine tree. It is so glorious in the backyard and will bloom until September. People are always stunned by it and want to know what kind of tree it is. They are surprised when I tell them it’s a dead tree! It is a dead tree, totally covered in trumpet vine with glorious brilliant flowers. It is the favorite tree in my Eden.
9. Food. I love to read about it. Love to fix it. Love to eat it. Love to share it. Enough said!
10. Sleep. I know I overdo but I feel like it is make-up time for all the years of sleep deprivation I felt as a young mother (and a mother of teenagers!) I need, love, relish, delight in 8 ½ hours of sleep a night!
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things(second verse, These Are a Few of My Favorite Things)
This past week, our Relief Society had an evening of "favorite things." Each sister was asked to bring something (couldn’t be pictures of kids or husband) to share during the evening. I couldn’t decide on what to take because I’m a girl of a million favorite things. Which was okay, because then I remembered that was the evening of Rylee’s dance performance. But I’ve loved asking people what they took, which has varied from someone’s favorite "chopper" (like for veggies or salsa) or a book containing love letters from her husband. It is a fun exercise in gratitude....so besides hubbie, kids and kiddo’s, friends, fam, all the normal stuff, here’s my top ten list at this moment:
I’m grateful for, because I love,
1. My new green, which is really blue, garbage can! I know that sounds weird, but we haven’t been green. It is hard to be green when one member of the family doesn’t see the need. I faithfully recycle newspapers (boxing them up and hauling them to the elementary school drop box) and, if you have readTHE LAST FEW DAYS April 29,2007 You know I’ve collected those pesky pop cans. But now I can just dump them in my blue (but green) can, plus plastic and tin cans. I feel so....I don’t know, patriotic? So new enviromentalist? I hope the fever lasts but I know there will be "issues." As Kermit used to say, "It ain’t easy being green!"
2. Pond’s Nightime Rejuvenation lotion. I use it all the time. I have used Mary Kay mositurizer for years but then, when I was in a pinch, bought Pond’s (and it is at a fraction of the cost). My skin is so happy when I put it on, it actually slurps then burps. Grateful to have happy skin!
3. Mr. Clean Eraser sponge. What can I say. I think it is the greatest cleaning product on the market. I would even write a fan letter, but I think they would just erase it!
4. Baby deer. I love them. I love their mommas too. We have never been "pet" people. I know that seems sad but David was raised on a ranch and pets weren’t really needed because they had horses (or what pets they had were "outside" pets.) And we have horses....4 and ½ (the half is another story) plus friends leave their horses here as well. But I was so traumatized by my dog’s death as a teenager, and David didn’t li
ke the idea of a dog in the house and I could hardly keep up after my kiddos so it has made sense for us. Tenille, as a teenager, gave a bunny to Travis for Easter. What are kids thinking? Travis could have cared less about the bunny but I fell in love. And the bunny LOVED me so unconditionally. Unfortunately, the reason he was the runt of the litter and so tiny and cute was there was something wrong. His little horrible death about put me into the ground. I had to practice calling vets, because I couldn’t just ask if they accepted bunnies as patients without sobbing hysterically. I finally found a bunny doctor and was crying so hard in the waiting room, they invited me into a private room because I was upsetting the other people and animals. So, now I have deer. Cute little deer and cute big deer. I talk to them each day. I used to love the squirrels but now I just tolerate them. They are kind of juvenile delinquents. And I do love Freddie, the giant frog that lives in our pool greenhouse. Last night, after we all swam (Marci and Ryan and the kids came), Marci went back to the pool to find something and it was dark except someone hadn’t turned off the pool lights so just the inside of the pool was lit. There was Freddie, just doing the backstroke across the pool. Any day I see Freddie, is a day of good luck. 5. My computer and the internet. Can I just say, it is my classroom, my friend, my free time. It has accepted my poetry, helped me make lists, invitations, lets me crop pictures, keep in touch with friends, work on family history and my journals, find interesting stuff, lets me shop in my jammies, makes me laugh (or makes me frustrated...grrr!), entertains. I can hardly function without it. It’s my buddy. Another best friend.
6. My trumpet vine tree. It is so glorious in the backyard and will bloom until September. People are always stunned by it and want to know what kind of tree it is. They are surprised when I tell them it’s a dead tree! It is a dead tree, totally covered in trumpet vine with glorious brilliant flowers. It is the favorite tree in my Eden.
7. My digital camera! It has been out of commission, but last night my son,Ryan (back from a successful trip to Brazil and several other countries....) figured out the problem and fixed it. I’m back in business. I love to snap, snap, snap away, then crop, and fix or delete. I love it when I take a picture, and without fail, the kiddo’s say, "Let me see it." I’ve been using a disposable for months and "seeing it" doesn’t work!
8. The scriptures. I can’t imagine my life without them. I was stunned when a friend blurted out the other day that she didn’t believe in God. It was like a stab to 
my heart and I also felt such sorrow for my friend, that she misses out on the wonderful relationship with the Spirit, to lead and guide and comfort and enlighten.
my heart and I also felt such sorrow for my friend, that she misses out on the wonderful relationship with the Spirit, to lead and guide and comfort and enlighten. 
9. Food. I love to read about it. Love to fix it. Love to eat it. Love to share it. Enough said!
10. Sleep. I know I overdo but I feel like it is make-up time for all the years of sleep deprivation I felt as a young mother (and a mother of teenagers!) I need, love, relish, delight in 8 ½ hours of sleep a night!
Jamaica
I shared a poem last week for David’s birthday- my love poem to him called "Rowing."
(A Birthday and A Poem ) It talked about our first awesome trip together, which was to Jamaica. David had purchased a new Blazer and with it came two tickets to fly any where Continental flew. We had such fun pouring over traveling brochures..."Aruba, Jamaica, where we gonna take ya...." and the brochure of Jamaica, especially pictures of Dunne River Falls, sealed the deal. The brochure made the Falls look like the most romantic place in the world....a couple embracing under the waterfalls...oh man! We were ready to get on the next plane. David’s mother came and stayed with the kids- she's the best! I’ll share some other highlights of our trip there some other time but it is Dunne River Falls that I want to talk about today.
First of all, we drove to the Falls in a rental car. Driving in Jamaica is truly putting your life into someone else’s hands. The narrow roads wind back and forth, back and forth. Have I mentioned how terribly car sick I get, even as an adult? Cars are contimually beeping and passing like crazy roadrunners with zero visibility. After hours of driving, winding back and forth, back and forth, we finally arrive at the parking lot at the bottom of the Falls. We found it at the same time 3 large tourist buses found it. Then we discovered that you had to climb up the river, which is rocky and slippery and churning....you have to wear your shoes and you and all the members of the tour bus, hold hands to keep from losing each other in the rapids as you climb to the top of this mountain!
This wasn’t quite the romantic adventure that I had envisioned but, heh, I’m a good sport.
Then the cloud burst hit.
Not a fine little "singing in the rain" drizzle but an out-and-out cloud burst. It was raining so hard, my sun glasses kept swishing off my nose. Then the congo line ran into a snag. There was a lady, older and heavyset (probably about my age now!) who resembled Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure. She just gave up. Of course we couldn’t leave her, we had seen the movie. (Oh, I do have something to interject here. We did see the original Poseidon Adventure when we were at BYU. Shelley Winters really is a problem the whole movie until the end, when, because she is such a good swimmer, she swims underground to do something I can't remember, but in doing so, loses her life to save everyone else. Red Buttons or whoever was there, gazed at her rather large dead body ...and you have to remember this is the emotional CLIMAX of the movie...Red says with much admiration, "Boy, she sure had a lot of guts!" to which my dear husband whispers very loudly so I'm sure most of the audience heard, "Boy, she SURE DOES!" Much laughter spoiled that tender moment for all the sobbing women in the theater. ) Back to the Falls. So we’re all yelling encouragements to the Shelley person, pulling her like a dead weight oxen dragging her heels. Upstream. During the cloud burst. Did I mention how rocky the river was and the rapids? So we climbed uphill, and pulled and slipped and heaved and hoed....and by the time we finally made it to the top of the mountain and hence, the Falls, I remember collapsing with the dozens of other people like we had just pulled our handcarts across the plains. Finally, this is the place.I lay panting on the bank, totally soaked, hair a mangled mess, muddy, scratched, exhausted. Let me just say, there was no one embracing under the Falls with that magical kiss. We didn't have the energy!
But... the wonderful thing about poetry is....you can create a poem the way you wished it had been. It is like a second chance! Here is the poem I wrote, much later, when I had dry clothes, blown out hair-do and recovered from the sunburn that caused my feet to swell up so large, I couldn’t wear shoes. But that is another story. This is the romantic poem from Dunne River Falls, that happened... only in my imagination.
JAMAICA
We bathed in the clear pool
of Dunne River Falls,
ate and slept on banks
where heart-shaped philodendron leaves,
vines, entangled our feet.
If you are taken from me,
I shall picture the Green Tody,
its chartreuse feathers, yellow chest,
the song that warbled from its ruby throat
as it flitted from tree to tree,
the fragrance of wild orchids
upon its wings.
Marilyn Darley Williams
(A Birthday and A Poem ) It talked about our first awesome trip together, which was to Jamaica. David had purchased a new Blazer and with it came two tickets to fly any where Continental flew. We had such fun pouring over traveling brochures..."Aruba, Jamaica, where we gonna take ya...." and the brochure of Jamaica, especially pictures of Dunne River Falls, sealed the deal. The brochure made the Falls look like the most romantic place in the world....a couple embracing under the waterfalls...oh man! We were ready to get on the next plane. David’s mother came and stayed with the kids- she's the best! I’ll share some other highlights of our trip there some other time but it is Dunne River Falls that I want to talk about today.
First of all, we drove to the Falls in a rental car. Driving in Jamaica is truly putting your life into someone else’s hands. The narrow roads wind back and forth, back and forth. Have I mentioned how terribly car sick I get, even as an adult? Cars are contimually beeping and passing like crazy roadrunners with zero visibility. After hours of driving, winding back and forth, back and forth, we finally arrive at the parking lot at the bottom of the Falls. We found it at the same time 3 large tourist buses found it. Then we discovered that you had to climb up the river, which is rocky and slippery and churning....you have to wear your shoes and you and all the members of the tour bus, hold hands to keep from losing each other in the rapids as you climb to the top of this mountain!
This wasn’t quite the romantic adventure that I had envisioned but, heh, I’m a good sport.
Then the cloud burst hit.
Not a fine little "singing in the rain" drizzle but an out-and-out cloud burst. It was raining so hard, my sun glasses kept swishing off my nose. Then the congo line ran into a snag. There was a lady, older and heavyset (probably about my age now!) who resembled Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure. She just gave up. Of course we couldn’t leave her, we had seen the movie. (Oh, I do have something to interject here. We did see the original Poseidon Adventure when we were at BYU. Shelley Winters really is a problem the whole movie until the end, when, because she is such a good swimmer, she swims underground to do something I can't remember, but in doing so, loses her life to save everyone else. Red Buttons or whoever was there, gazed at her rather large dead body ...and you have to remember this is the emotional CLIMAX of the movie...Red says with much admiration, "Boy, she sure had a lot of guts!" to which my dear husband whispers very loudly so I'm sure most of the audience heard, "Boy, she SURE DOES!" Much laughter spoiled that tender moment for all the sobbing women in the theater. ) Back to the Falls. So we’re all yelling encouragements to the Shelley person, pulling her like a dead weight oxen dragging her heels. Upstream. During the cloud burst. Did I mention how rocky the river was and the rapids? So we climbed uphill, and pulled and slipped and heaved and hoed....and by the time we finally made it to the top of the mountain and hence, the Falls, I remember collapsing with the dozens of other people like we had just pulled our handcarts across the plains. Finally, this is the place.I lay panting on the bank, totally soaked, hair a mangled mess, muddy, scratched, exhausted. Let me just say, there was no one embracing under the Falls with that magical kiss. We didn't have the energy!
But... the wonderful thing about poetry is....you can create a poem the way you wished it had been. It is like a second chance! Here is the poem I wrote, much later, when I had dry clothes, blown out hair-do and recovered from the sunburn that caused my feet to swell up so large, I couldn’t wear shoes. But that is another story. This is the romantic poem from Dunne River Falls, that happened... only in my imagination.
JAMAICA
We bathed in the clear pool
of Dunne River Falls,
ate and slept on banks
where heart-shaped philodendron leaves,
vines, entangled our feet.
If you are taken from me,
I shall picture the Green Tody,
its chartreuse feathers, yellow chest,
the song that warbled from its ruby throat
as it flitted from tree to tree,
the fragrance of wild orchids
upon its wings.
Marilyn Darley Williams
Friday, June 22, 2007
Just for laughs...
Two and a half years ago, when we bought this property, we did a full remodel. I had many plumbing fixtures to buy and bought half at a "real" plumbing supply place and the other half at Home Depot or Lowes. My kitchen faucet sprung a leak two weeks ago, and the plumber, of course, could not find a cartridge replacement....since I probably got it at Home Depot or Lowes. So I headed out to buy a new kitchen faucet. I went to the 'real" plumbing place and had to pick myself up on the floor. Kitchen sink faucets went up into the $2,000 mark! The median price was $475.....and I quickly realized why I went to the discount, big box stores! I ended up getting one of the lower priced models, but stopped by the discounts on the way home to make sure my old model wasn't there. That is how they make money. They discontinue a product months after carrying it and replacement parts are not available, thus you buy a new product. When we were doing the remodel, I got a price for replacement windows. I immediately called Pella since they are who we used in the last home that we built (Cathy's home now.) The bid was like $50,000 dollars for replacements, and our home is 1000 sq. feet smaller than our last ! Well, I hope Cathy is enjoying her Pella's cause this girl doesn't have'em! So, when mom sent me this today, I had a good laugh.
Dear Lowes,
Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive double pane energy efficient kind. But this week I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I hadn't paid for them. Helloooo? Now just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am automatically stupid. So, I told him just what his fast talking sales person at Lowe's had told ME last year. Namely, that in just ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves! Hellooooo? It's been a year, I told him. There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up ... He didn't call back. Guess I won that stupid argument
Sincerely Not so Dumb Blonde
NOT!!!
Dear Lowes,
Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive double pane energy efficient kind. But this week I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I hadn't paid for them. Helloooo? Now just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am automatically stupid. So, I told him just what his fast talking sales person at Lowe's had told ME last year. Namely, that in just ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves! Hellooooo? It's been a year, I told him. There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up ... He didn't call back. Guess I won that stupid argument
Sincerely Not so Dumb Blonde
NOT!!!
Jackpot!
For many years, David and I have gone to Las Vegas, with friends, to see the National rodeo finals. At first, I thought it was kind of weird but then you get into the game. It is like the Olympics of the rodeo world. They are always held at the first of December, but because you are in Vegas, you never expect snow but one time that is exactly what we got. I thought of how it must have felt to the people who lived there- like an unexpected “jackpot” of sorts.
JACKPOT
On holiday to Vegas, we woke
to a curdled desert sky,
thick with snow flurries.
Our car crept along the paralyzed freeway,
past the red-tiled row houses,
where dozens of Hispanic children,
barefoot, in shorts,
were making snow angels.
Their parents sat on stoops, watching,
while grandparents, in shirt sleeves,
walked arm in arm,
their ruddy faces laughing.
Even teenagers with spiked hair
pranced in the keen air with open mouths,
delicate white coins glistening
on their cactus tongues.
JACKPOT
On holiday to Vegas, we woke
to a curdled desert sky,
thick with snow flurries.
Our car crept along the paralyzed freeway,
past the red-tiled row houses,
where dozens of Hispanic children,
barefoot, in shorts,
were making snow angels.
Their parents sat on stoops, watching,
while grandparents, in shirt sleeves,
walked arm in arm,
their ruddy faces laughing.
Even teenagers with spiked hair
pranced in the keen air with open mouths,
delicate white coins glistening
on their cactus tongues.
Marilyn Darley Williams
I’ve been thinking about jackpots lately. The many things in my life where I have “hit” gold. My husband, my children, my parents and in-laws, even the gospel (I was baptized when I was ten.) But lately, and actually always, I reflect on my friends. I have the most incredible friends and am surrounded people who are so amazing. I told my daughter the other day on the phone that I “just have too many friends” to which she wholeheartedly agreed. That is why I couldn’t fit in last year’s swimming suit...too many friends, too many lunches. Wednesday was Field Trip and lunch at the Porcupine. Yesterday, I had lunch with my two old (I always have to clarify this...not “old” as in old but “old” as in previous (seeTigers and Friends ) writing friends at Carolyn Campbell’s home. Linda didn't think it was very funny that I have made fun of her obsession/fear of tigers in her garage. She said, "Well, it is certainly something to be fearful of....look at the bear attack this week!" The bear attack was anything but funny but the tiger thing is pretty weird (as in funny/ha-ha-weird!) We laughed and talked and shared and the time just whizzed by. Carolyn made the chipped beef chicken that she had made at the first dinner when we met (see Tigers and Friends ). It’s been revised during the years but it is a classic. I’ll post it later.
Then today, after art I was just putting around and the phone rang. It was my friend Debbie Stowell calling to see if I had forgotten lunch. Yes! I had! My cute visiting teachers, Birdi and Linda R. had Debbie and I to lunch. Birdi just built this house above us on the mountain about a year ago. I honestly think four or five of my houses could fit in it. And I've been exited to tour it and today was the day! And I almost spaced it! The house tour was incredible. You felt like you’ve just entered a grand home in Europe with a little Park City thrown in. And although the house was unbelievably big, it was still cozy and inviting. They did a fabulous job. She had a darling playroom off the kitchen area, and her sewing room (she’s a quilter...like gorgeous pieced-quilting), bathrooms to die for....our favorite was the basin in one bath. It was a large boulder, that they had found on the property and had it halved and hollowed and then polished the inside of the rock, and finished for a sink (The kind that sits above the cabinet.) Her kitchen upstairs had 4 ovens plus a warming oven, and full refrigerator (no freezer in that one) and then a refrigerator drawer and a freezer drawer, a full pantry and then a pantry for her extra dishes, serving pieces, and the various sinks were copper with designs engraved in them. The kitchen downstairs was my favorite and someday I would like to have a televised cooking show (of course I would be the tv chef) and we would film there. The family room downstairs was probably about, I don’t know, maybe 600 sq. feet. It had like a theatre area, which had a simulated golfing thing set up, where different golf courses around the world show on a screen, and you tee off and hit into the curtain and it is actually looks like you are playing on that course! Then the golf screen goes up and they have a regular movie screen. I could go on and on but it was just too over the top for me to describe. Yesterday I drove my in-laws up and around our new temple under construction in Draper and I could tell my father-in-law was disgusted by the big homes being built around the temple. But I learned long ago that size is relative. What we might call a modest home around here would be luxurious anywhere else in the world. A track home down the street would be a mansion in Cambodia. It is all relative. And most people I know also look at their home for an investment so you can either live in it and enjoy it or put it into something else. And we have to be careful not to make judgements about how other people spend their money, because we don’t know where their heart is or the service or the donations they make to the world. Birdi is such a loving, giving person- working on many boards in the valley (Festival of the Trees for Primary Children’s for one), she and her husband work in the temple, and they are caregivers for one of their daughters who has a child and is not married. It is pretty hard for something to be more wonderful than lunch for me, but touring her lovely home really got my juices going. I love to see beautiful, creative things. The scenes out her many outstanding windows showcased the mountains (MY mountains) and the valley. It was all just breathtaking!
So, reflecting again on all the wonderful women I get to associate with, I give thanks and am filled with gratitude. Again, I hit the jackpot. My cup overfloweth!
Here is Carolyn's email with the recipes (and thank you, Carolyn! I still have your original!)
Carolyn's Party Chicken
When my Mom was a Primary teacher, a very popular recipe circulated. It was called Party Chicken. Here is that recipe
Six boneless chicken breast halves
1 packet of Buddig dried beef,
Six slices bacon
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 8 ounce carton sour cream
Grease 9 x 13 pan. Line the greased pan with single slices of Buddig dried beef. Place chicken breasts on top of dried beef. Place one slice bacon on top of each chicken breast. Blend mushroom soup and sour cream. Spread over all and bake for three hours at 275 degrees
We had this recipe at many family dinners for lots of years. When I became my ward newsletter editor (for the second time--the first time I was editor of that famous ward newsletter, The Crescent Roll. This time I was editor of Brighton Tenth Times) anyway, when I became editor, I wondered what would happen if I ran the Party Chicken recipe in the paper. Would everyone say, how could you publish such an old, well-known recipe that is old news for any woman who ever attended Relief Society or taught Primary?
Just the opposite happened. People started calling me to ask where I got this amazing recipe. And they started revising the ingredients. Several people said cream of chicken soup would be better than cream of mushroom. Others said that placing single slices of swiss cheese on top of the chicken soup and sour cream mixture during the last ten minutes made this recipe into an easy recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu. And Nila Merchant, my wonderful assistant den leader, said that a small dab of Dijon mustard really accented the flavors in the recipe.
So the revised recipe now reads:
Mock Chicken Cordon Bleu
Six boneless chicken breast halves
1 packet of Buddig dried beef,
Six slices bacon
1 can of cream of chicken soup
8 ounce carton sour cream
6 slices swiss cheese
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard or to taste
Grease 9 x 13 pan. Line the greased pan with single slices of Buddig dried beef. Place chicken breasts on top of dried beef. Place one slice bacon on top of each chicken breast. Blend chicken soup and and sour cream and add Dijon mustard to taste (or 1/4 teas.) . Spread over all and bake for three hours at 275 degrees. During the last ten minutes, top chicken breasts with swiss cheese slices. Remove casserole from oven when cheese slices are melted.
1-2 cups seedless grapes, halved
or
1 can drained pineapple tidbits or both
3 chopped green onions
1 cup diced celery
1 can drained mandarin oranges (soup can size)
5-6 oz. (half of a 10 oz. can) cashews
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 pkg. (3 oz..) craisins
4 chicken breasts, cooked, diced
I usually add the nuts just before serving but the salad tastes
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
I'll Never Grow Up!
Peter Pan is a fairy play. There isn't a thing in it which could ever happen in real life. That is as it should be. It is consistently beautiful, sweet, clean, fascinating, satisfying, charming, and impossible from beginning to end. Mark Twain
Last night my granddaughter, Rylee, age almost 5, danced in Peter Pan at Kingsbury Hall on the U of U campus. Each year, the dance studio she attends (Utah Dance Center in Sandy), puts on a full length play. I’ve been to enough dance recitals to kind of understand how they run so I was totally unprepared for this production. Their studio is apparently so large -I bet there were several hundred dancers last night and they have 3 nights with different dancers! It was a totally professional production with fabulous sets, beautiful costumes and even a flying Peter Pan. I had a date with granddaughter, Gracie, already 5 (Gracie and Rylee had this conversation on the way home from the production...who was "almost" and who was "already" along with comparing their foot sizes and other interesting stuff...pretty funny.) First of all, I told Gracie she could choose where she wanted to go for dinner and then I got worried. When her mother, Brandi, asked her where sh
e would choose, Gracie said, "That depends. If they have a playland, then McDonalds. If they don’t have a playland, then Wendy’s or IHOP. Thank goodness for IHOP. We both love waffles, plain with butter and syrup with a side of links. While we waited for our food, I taught her how to make snakes with the paper off the straws. (That was Rylee’s favorite thing when we went out to lunch.) You squish the paper up on the straw by pushing the ends together and then taking the squished up paper off the straw. Fill the end of your straw with water by holding your finger on the end of the straw and carefully dabbing the water on the crunched up paper. It starts moving like a snake! I also conducted a short interview. Here are the results:
What is your favorite color? "Orange (that was a surprise) then pink then blue."
What is your favorite sport you play? "Soccer. Grandma, it is the only sport I play!"
How many goals did you make this year? "Well, maybe 5 or 9. I don’t think I made 19." (I’m sure she made 19! She was amazing! Once, only 4 people showed up on her team (they play with only 3 players at a time) so she didn’t get many breaks. She was kind of horsing around, getting right by the goal then kicking it out of bounds. When her coach asked her what she was doing, she said she was tired and wanted to go out. He said, "Gracie, you make a goal and then you can go out." She immediately made a goal and then made a funny face at her coach as she ran off the field! She really IS good.
Who are your best friends and why?
Cassie, because we play Game Cube and sometimes we "are" game cube. (?)
Lizzy because when someone gets hurts, she helps me take care of them.
Taylor: (a girl) because when we play Star Wars, sometimes she will be the boy.
Rylee was so darling in her dance number. Her number was
Last night my granddaughter, Rylee, age almost 5, danced in Peter Pan at Kingsbury Hall on the U of U campus. Each year, the dance studio she attends (Utah Dance Center in Sandy), puts on a full length play. I’ve been to enough dance recitals to kind of understand how they run so I was totally unprepared for this production. Their studio is apparently so large -I bet there were several hundred dancers last night and they have 3 nights with different dancers! It was a totally professional production with fabulous sets, beautiful costumes and even a flying Peter Pan. I had a date with granddaughter, Gracie, already 5 (Gracie and Rylee had this conversation on the way home from the production...who was "almost" and who was "already" along with comparing their foot sizes and other interesting stuff...pretty funny.) First of all, I told Gracie she could choose where she wanted to go for dinner and then I got worried. When her mother, Brandi, asked her where sh
e would choose, Gracie said, "That depends. If they have a playland, then McDonalds. If they don’t have a playland, then Wendy’s or IHOP. Thank goodness for IHOP. We both love waffles, plain with butter and syrup with a side of links. While we waited for our food, I taught her how to make snakes with the paper off the straws. (That was Rylee’s favorite thing when we went out to lunch.) You squish the paper up on the straw by pushing the ends together and then taking the squished up paper off the straw. Fill the end of your straw with water by holding your finger on the end of the straw and carefully dabbing the water on the crunched up paper. It starts moving like a snake! I also conducted a short interview. Here are the results:What is your favorite color? "Orange (that was a surprise) then pink then blue."
What is your favorite sport you play? "Soccer. Grandma, it is the only sport I play!"
How many goals did you make this year? "Well, maybe 5 or 9. I don’t think I made 19." (I’m sure she made 19! She was amazing! Once, only 4 people showed up on her team (they play with only 3 players at a time) so she didn’t get many breaks. She was kind of horsing around, getting right by the goal then kicking it out of bounds. When her coach asked her what she was doing, she said she was tired and wanted to go out. He said, "Gracie, you make a goal and then you can go out." She immediately made a goal and then made a funny face at her coach as she ran off the field! She really IS good.
Who are your best friends and why?
Cassie, because we play Game Cube and sometimes we "are" game cube. (?)
Lizzy because when someone gets hurts, she helps me take care of them.
Taylor: (a girl) because when we play Star Wars, sometimes she will be the boy.
Rylee was so darling in her dance number. Her number was
"Don’t Smile at a Crocodile."
She really did a cute job (and this just isn’t her grandma talking!) She is such a .jpg)
number....half teenager, half imp, looks like Cameron Diaz as a little girl. She is always giggling and is really a crack-up. Of course, the girls wanted a sleepover after the performance, so although it was late, we had to hit a Smith’s on the way home to get a movie to watch (Jump In) and Root Beer Float ice cream bars (our favorite) and chocolate milk. They ran all over the house giggling when we got here and finally I got their beds made on the sofa so they could watch the movie. They lasted about 45 minutes til they zonked. Do I love them?!!!
This morning was our Utah Field Trip focus group. We usually meet at my house, then car pool to our destination together. Today we traveled to the little Granite cemetery. I had arranged for Rosemary Fairborne, who lives in our Stake but in another Ward, to meet us there and give us a little history of pioneers in our community buried there. It was so awesome because many of those pioneer’s posterity still live in our Stake and it was fun to hear their family stories. Then we got to tour the "White Chapel" which is an old historic church here in Granite. Rumors are that it is haunted. Unfortuantely, it has also been the target of severe vandalisms over the years. Avard Fairbanks bought it from the church in the 60's and has used it as his art and sculpting studio. Avard did the angel Moroni on 4 of the temples, I think, and has sculptures in Wash. D.C. and throughout the world. He died several years ago. His grandson, Lance,who is also an artist (the son of Grant who is a plastic surgeon but also an artist) was there working on some restoration work and he gave us the tour and some great history. I have always wanted to go through the old church so today was a highlight. Eve Mortensen, whose home we bought, was an avid painter. I was lucky enough to get two of her paintings, and one of them was of the old white church. It hangs in David's office. The funny thing about the "white church" (that is how it was dedicated) was that it was really red brick. It took almost 30 years for it to be dedicated because it had to be paid for before dedication and by that time, some of the brick had started to deterioate, so it was whitewashed to look more holy! After that, we went to the temple quarry site at Little Cottonwood canyon and talked more about the building of the temple and the granite that came from our canyon. I didn’t know that all the granite for the temple was just sitting in the mouth of the canyon,huge house-sized boulders, some three stories high, being pushed there how many years ago by a giant glacier. I always thought the granite had been mined or chisled from the mountains. Interesting how God works. He never ceases to amaze me!
Then lunch at the Porcupine Grill. Porcupine Grill has a fabulous house salad...greens with spiced pecans, mandarin orange, pear slices, feta and purple onion. The dressing is described as a creamy balsamic dressing and I literally stayed up nights trying to figure out the recipe. I think I’ve mastered it and whenever I fix it for people, they love it too. Here’s my version of their house salad dressing:
Porcupine Grill Balsamic Dressing
1/2 cup honey
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
½ tsp. sesame oil
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
.jpg)
number....half teenager, half imp, looks like Cameron Diaz as a little girl. She is always giggling and is really a crack-up. Of course, the girls wanted a sleepover after the performance, so although it was late, we had to hit a Smith’s on the way home to get a movie to watch (Jump In) and Root Beer Float ice cream bars (our favorite) and chocolate milk. They ran all over the house giggling when we got here and finally I got their beds made on the sofa so they could watch the movie. They lasted about 45 minutes til they zonked. Do I love them?!!!This morning was our Utah Field Trip focus group. We usually meet at my house, then car pool to our destination together. Today we traveled to the little Granite cemetery. I had arranged for Rosemary Fairborne, who lives in our Stake but in another Ward, to meet us there and give us a little history of pioneers in our community buried there. It was so awesome because many of those pioneer’s posterity still live in our Stake and it was fun to hear their family stories. Then we got to tour the "White Chapel" which is an old historic church here in Granite. Rumors are that it is haunted. Unfortuantely, it has also been the target of severe vandalisms over the years. Avard Fairbanks bought it from the church in the 60's and has used it as his art and sculpting studio. Avard did the angel Moroni on 4 of the temples, I think, and has sculptures in Wash. D.C. and throughout the world. He died several years ago. His grandson, Lance,who is also an artist (the son of Grant who is a plastic surgeon but also an artist) was there working on some restoration work and he gave us the tour and some great history. I have always wanted to go through the old church so today was a highlight. Eve Mortensen, whose home we bought, was an avid painter. I was lucky enough to get two of her paintings, and one of them was of the old white church. It hangs in David's office. The funny thing about the "white church" (that is how it was dedicated) was that it was really red brick. It took almost 30 years for it to be dedicated because it had to be paid for before dedication and by that time, some of the brick had started to deterioate, so it was whitewashed to look more holy! After that, we went to the temple quarry site at Little Cottonwood canyon and talked more about the building of the temple and the granite that came from our canyon. I didn’t know that all the granite for the temple was just sitting in the mouth of the canyon,huge house-sized boulders, some three stories high, being pushed there how many years ago by a giant glacier. I always thought the granite had been mined or chisled from the mountains. Interesting how God works. He never ceases to amaze me!
Then lunch at the Porcupine Grill. Porcupine Grill has a fabulous house salad...greens with spiced pecans, mandarin orange, pear slices, feta and purple onion. The dressing is described as a creamy balsamic dressing and I literally stayed up nights trying to figure out the recipe. I think I’ve mastered it and whenever I fix it for people, they love it too. Here’s my version of their house salad dressing:
Porcupine Grill Balsamic Dressing
1/2 cup honey
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
½ tsp. sesame oil
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
I'll end tonight with one thought from one of the women we heard about today. I can't remember her first name but she was the oldest person in the cemetery (a Despain.) She said in her memoirs: "There are always so many things to worry about, you could worry your life away. So I decided I would set aside Thursdays to worry and then really enjoy myself every other day!" What a great attitude! (Well, except tomorrow is Thursday!)
And good news! Two, maybe three new babies born here yesterday. Got you curious? Tomorrow I'll have pictures!
Monday, June 18, 2007
"Happy Birthday, Mother" and a Poem
The best academy, a mother's knee.
J.R. Lowell
I have one of those moms friends were jealous of. She’s that awesome. Her birthday was Sunday, Father’s Day, so this is a belated tribute to her. I have so many stories about her but this is one of my favorites that I have shared, I bet, in at least 50 talks that I’ve given through the years, all around the valley and at BYU Women’s Conference. It is my favorite “mother story.”
My mom and I were so close when I was growing up. We loved to be together. But there was one thing we always fought about...I wanted to get my ears pierced...and she said “only floosies have their ears pierced!” It was a constant battle. Then I went to Rick’s College. I don’t think I was there two days when I had a friend pierce my ears! You know, the old do-it-yourself method (ice cube and a needle.) And of course, I didn’t say a thing to my mom. A few days later, a package came in the mail addressed to me, from my mom. I opened the package and inside were 7 pair of pierced earrings! My mother knew me like a book! At first I squealed, then I laughed, then I cried. There was no note to read but I knew my mother was quietly saying I was on my own now, making my own decisions, and that she would support me in those choices.
Yeah, she was that awesome. About 10 years later, I was a young mother with children of my own. I got an envelope in the mail, from my mom. No note. Just a picture. She had gone on a bowling trip with her buddies, and the picture was of her in a chair in a jewelry shop, getting her ears pierced! How funny was that! The floosie!
When I started writing poetry, I had dozens of things I wanted to say about my great mom. But when I thought about her, I just had this mental picture that I wanted to capture. I was so excited to share it with her. She read it...and said, “Thanks a lot!” (Sarcastically.)
Here’s the poem:
MOSTLY I SEE
( for Mother)
It is not what she would want me
to remember
but I picture her
fresh-washed hair
done up in brush rollers,
crisp white sleeveless blouse
with denim shorts.
If I squint real hard,
I can see her in a party dress,
hair bouffant, straight from the salon,
rhinestones dangling;
but
mostly I see
the hair rollers,
see her sitting at the piano.
With the washer jumping out of tune
in the other room,
I watch her play Sunrise Serenadethen Nola.
I hear her long painted nails
clicking on the keys.
Marilyn Darley Williams
I just remembered something else that kind of goes along with this poem. When Tanner was little, I took piano lessons. David had given me a piano for Christmas (I remember saying, "I feel like we're a real family now!" We had 5 kids at the time, I hope we were a real family!) I was so excited to learn to play and carefully grew out my fingernails. At the first lesson, my piano teacher said those nails had to go! "Oh no," I said. That was one of the reasons I wanted to learn to play the piano...because one of my favorite memories was my mother's fingernails clicking on the piano keys!
J.R. Lowell
I have one of those moms friends were jealous of. She’s that awesome. Her birthday was Sunday, Father’s Day, so this is a belated tribute to her. I have so many stories about her but this is one of my favorites that I have shared, I bet, in at least 50 talks that I’ve given through the years, all around the valley and at BYU Women’s Conference. It is my favorite “mother story.”
My mom and I were so close when I was growing up. We loved to be together. But there was one thing we always fought about...I wanted to get my ears pierced...and she said “only floosies have their ears pierced!” It was a constant battle. Then I went to Rick’s College. I don’t think I was there two days when I had a friend pierce my ears! You know, the old do-it-yourself method (ice cube and a needle.) And of course, I didn’t say a thing to my mom. A few days later, a package came in the mail addressed to me, from my mom. I opened the package and inside were 7 pair of pierced earrings! My mother knew me like a book! At first I squealed, then I laughed, then I cried. There was no note to read but I knew my mother was quietly saying I was on my own now, making my own decisions, and that she would support me in those choices.
Yeah, she was that awesome. About 10 years later, I was a young mother with children of my own. I got an envelope in the mail, from my mom. No note. Just a picture. She had gone on a bowling trip with her buddies, and the picture was of her in a chair in a jewelry shop, getting her ears pierced! How funny was that! The floosie!
When I started writing poetry, I had dozens of things I wanted to say about my great mom. But when I thought about her, I just had this mental picture that I wanted to capture. I was so excited to share it with her. She read it...and said, “Thanks a lot!” (Sarcastically.)
Here’s the poem:
MOSTLY I SEE
( for Mother)
It is not what she would want me
to remember
but I picture her
fresh-washed hair
done up in brush rollers,
crisp white sleeveless blouse
with denim shorts.
If I squint real hard,
I can see her in a party dress,
hair bouffant, straight from the salon,
rhinestones dangling;
but
mostly I see
the hair rollers,
see her sitting at the piano.
With the washer jumping out of tune
in the other room,
I watch her play Sunrise Serenadethen Nola.
I hear her long painted nails
clicking on the keys.
Marilyn Darley Williams
I just remembered something else that kind of goes along with this poem. When Tanner was little, I took piano lessons. David had given me a piano for Christmas (I remember saying, "I feel like we're a real family now!" We had 5 kids at the time, I hope we were a real family!) I was so excited to learn to play and carefully grew out my fingernails. At the first lesson, my piano teacher said those nails had to go! "Oh no," I said. That was one of the reasons I wanted to learn to play the piano...because one of my favorite memories was my mother's fingernails clicking on the piano keys!
A Birthday and A Poem
Old age is always 15 years older than I am. Bernard Baruch
Every year while we are at Lake Powell, we celebrate David's birthday. And that is perfect since he'd rather be at Lake Powell than anywhere else. Except maybe on the back of a horse.
For birthdays, at dinner, we always go around the table and tell the things we love about that person. Since we have done this for years, my family usually mocks me and moans and groans about this tradition. So, yesterday, we are sitting at the table (David, son Tanner, Cousin Casey and myself.) If you have read any other entries from me (
THE TOP TEN LIST 8 ridiculous things my family said- ), you know how hard it is for me to carry on a serious conversation with these folk. So, I start out.
Me: "Here are some things I love about your dad. He has really good looking legs. And I'm so glad that he married me instead of that physco girl who was stalking him. "
Tanner: "Oh, wait, he didn't marry a physco girl?"
Me: "Real funny, I mean a more physco girl."
Tanner: "Oh, I'm glad you clarified that."
See what I mean. They are impossible.
Love poems are the hardest to write. The first one I wrote to David, he didn't appreciate. I consider it a love poem, because I didn't put it in my published book of poetry.
I’M WIDE AWAKE,
MY HUSBAND SLUMBERS
He is the King Salmon,
a Big Kahauna.
Flip-flopping, maneuvering
the river bed,
the roar of all oceans
rumbles through his gills.
Okay, even I realize that wasn't a very good love poem. One day I was reading Billy Collins, one of my favorite poets. I read the phrase (the dead) are looking down through the glass-bottom boats of heaven as they row themselves slowly through eternity. I loved that image. As I thought about it, I remembered David's and my first big trip, which was to Jamaica. The big feature there was glass-bottomed boats but I soon learned that the water was so clear, you didn't even need a glass-bottomed boat to look down to see all the fish. And for those of you who have been to Jamaica, you know everything is also "No problem!" As I reflected on these images, I put them together and wrote my very first love poem to my husband, who I have loved all these many years. Heaven wouldn't be heaven without him!
ROWING(the dead) are looking down through the
glass-bottom boats of heaven as they
row themselves slowly through eternity.Billy Collins
She remembers the brochures
about Jamaica, Paradise
and glass-bottom boats.
With three scurrying children
hammering the senses,
floating in the cool waters
of a turquoise Caribbean,
a honeymoon of sorts,
they discovered each other,
everything made new again.
She doesn’t remember rowing, though.
Probably a black Jamaican
with glistening pearl teeth glided
them through Paradise.
"No problem," he would say. Everything
in Paradise was no problem.
With rowing, practicing
probably would not have helped.
Sometimes she spots the children below,
grown now and multiplied.
They sparkle like a school
of blue chromis,
the sun splintering
off their beautiful skin.
Once, she parted the clouds
and whispered "no problem,"
but with their earthbound,
startled faces, she quickly cloaked
herself and gently rowed away,
all the while searching,
waiting to see his face,
his arms reaching,
rowing toward her.
Paradise.
Marilyn Darley Williams
This is one of my favorite pictures of the happy duo. You can tell it is before 9/11 because that is the day I turned my 15 year old haircut into my spikie-poki-uppi-do.
Every year while we are at Lake Powell, we celebrate David's birthday. And that is perfect since he'd rather be at Lake Powell than anywhere else. Except maybe on the back of a horse.
For birthdays, at dinner, we always go around the table and tell the things we love about that person. Since we have done this for years, my family usually mocks me and moans and groans about this tradition. So, yesterday, we are sitting at the table (David, son Tanner, Cousin Casey and myself.) If you have read any other entries from me (
Me: "Here are some things I love about your dad. He has really good looking legs. And I'm so glad that he married me instead of that physco girl who was stalking him. "
Tanner: "Oh, wait, he didn't marry a physco girl?"
Me: "Real funny, I mean a more physco girl."
Tanner: "Oh, I'm glad you clarified that."
See what I mean. They are impossible.
Love poems are the hardest to write. The first one I wrote to David, he didn't appreciate. I consider it a love poem, because I didn't put it in my published book of poetry.
I’M WIDE AWAKE,
MY HUSBAND SLUMBERS
He is the King Salmon,
a Big Kahauna.
Flip-flopping, maneuvering
the river bed,
the roar of all oceans
rumbles through his gills.
Okay, even I realize that wasn't a very good love poem. One day I was reading Billy Collins, one of my favorite poets. I read the phrase (the dead) are looking down through the glass-bottom boats of heaven as they row themselves slowly through eternity. I loved that image. As I thought about it, I remembered David's and my first big trip, which was to Jamaica. The big feature there was glass-bottomed boats but I soon learned that the water was so clear, you didn't even need a glass-bottomed boat to look down to see all the fish. And for those of you who have been to Jamaica, you know everything is also "No problem!" As I reflected on these images, I put them together and wrote my very first love poem to my husband, who I have loved all these many years. Heaven wouldn't be heaven without him!
ROWING(the dead) are looking down through the
glass-bottom boats of heaven as they
row themselves slowly through eternity.Billy Collins
She remembers the brochures
about Jamaica, Paradise
and glass-bottom boats.
With three scurrying children
hammering the senses,
floating in the cool waters
of a turquoise Caribbean,
a honeymoon of sorts,
they discovered each other,
everything made new again.
She doesn’t remember rowing, though.
Probably a black Jamaican
with glistening pearl teeth glided
them through Paradise.
"No problem," he would say. Everything
in Paradise was no problem.
With rowing, practicing
probably would not have helped.
Sometimes she spots the children below,
grown now and multiplied.
They sparkle like a school
of blue chromis,
the sun splintering
off their beautiful skin.
Once, she parted the clouds
and whispered "no problem,"
but with their earthbound,
startled faces, she quickly cloaked
herself and gently rowed away,
all the while searching,
waiting to see his face,
his arms reaching,
rowing toward her.
Paradise.
Marilyn Darley Williams
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)