Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Well deserved winner of the 2011 Newbery Award.

Excellent writing, captivating story.

For a few years it seemed a book couldn't be a Newbery Award winner unless it was drenched in the Depression or a depressing topic. That got old fast for me. This book takes place during the Depression, but the time period is a setting, not the theme of the book.

I loved it.

Another New Memory

The other day my mother and mother-in-law were having a conversation. During the course of the conversation my mother related a story about her past that was completely erroneous. My dad looked at me and said, "Another new memory!"

My mom is in what I would say is the good news/bad news stage of Alzheimer's.

The good news is that most people who meet my mom and have a brief conversation with her would never know that she has Alzheimer's.

The bad news is that that actually makes my life harder right now.

True, Alzheimer's is no party for my mom, but this blog is mine, and this post is all about me. Right now her Alzheimer's is no party for me either.

So back to the bad news. The reality of life is that I take care of my parents' finances, and set their calendar. I'm their chauffeur, and process all paperwork. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind that part at all - in fact it's an  honor to help them. Where it gets hard is that I am constantly having to prove that I need to be the one who is contacted and communicated with if something is going to happen. My Dad does okay most of the time, but there are a lot of things he doesn't remember either.

Because my mom appears competent, people look at me like I am trying to take over and control her life. If they were to spend 20 minutes with her and just let her do the talking, they would discover the problem themselves. However, that does not usually happen. Other people drive the conversation and she responds appropriately most of the time. The fact is that she won't necessarily remember any of that conversation.

She has also become obsessed with dogs, babies, and stuffed animals. These obsessions are a new development that arrived with the Alzheimer's. She detours for any of them. I had to move her away from very, very large stuffed animals in Costco, while she protested loudly that she really wanted one. She went backwards through Security at the airport to see a baby that was a few places behind her. (That caused all kinds of problems.) These are just a couple highlights of our new adventures together.

I have it easy. My dad is with her 24 hours a day, and is the ultimate in patience. Fifty-six years of devotion has never been put to the test like now, and there is no end in sight until she dies. I'm ready to petition the pope. My dad is a saint.

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall

Excellent, just like the former two. These are books your children can dive into as well.

The Silence of God by Gale Sears

Loosely based on the lives of the Lindlof family in revolutionary Russia, this historical novel has its ups and downs.

The Lindlof's were the first known members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia. This is the projected story of what may have happened to them during the opening days of the revolution.

The writing was not compelling at first. I enjoyed the chapter end notes sometimes more than the chapter itself. But as the story progressed either the writing got better, or I was just more engrossed and it didn't bother me as much. It doesn't really matter, because I ended up liking it.

I liked it better before I read the few facts of what is known about the family in the final end notes. That was discouraging for me, and I had felt encouraged by the conclusion of the book. I wish I hadn't read that last end note.

Hale Theater's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

We just got back from seeing this tonight. It was a blast.

We have season tickets to the Hale Theater in West Valley, and we've been happy with their productions. They usually have very good leads, and great use of their rotating stage. The one area they lack in sometimes in their musical productions is the choral dancing.

With Joseph, the chorus and dancing were a lot better than usual, and this is a play where you can really have fun with all that.

It ranks as one of the best things I've seen there, and I think probably the most fun production. I think it's worth seeing if you're a local. Heck, it's worth seeing if you're here visiting from out of town!

The Help - Movie

Ray and I ventured out yesterday afternoon to see The Help movie. I thought it was fantastic. 

I loved the book, so was a little worried about whether the movie would hold up. I think it is the best screen adaptation of a book that I've ever seen (for a movie where I have read the book). I got caught up emotionally  more than I thought I would. 

I wondered if Ray would like it. He hasn't read the book. He thought it was very well done, and really liked it.

There you have it, our two cents worth: two thumbs up, four stars.

See it.

The Greater Journey Americans in Paris by David McCullough

Sigh.

One David McCullough book with its intricate research and exquisitely written story redeems several months of book candy and trash that I have read this year.

The very first paragraph wrapped me in delicious writing, and I was sad to have the book finished. How does he do it?

This book is the account of various Americans who lived in Paris from the early 1830's until the turn of the twentieth century. Some of these people only lived there a few years, and some spent the majority of their lives in Paris.

David McCullough has perfected the art of the biography and this book is a keen variation of that. Rather than writing about only one person's life, he chronicles several lives through the years of influential Americans who spent time in Paris. Not only did I learn about several people I knew of only vaguely, I also learned much about people I'd never heard of before. In and amongst these people's lives is woven the history of Paris.

Silly me, I didn't know all of the government ups and downs that plagued France and Paris during the 1800's. I knew about the revolution in 1789, and Napoleon Bonaparte, and that was about it. Shameful, seeing as I was a French minor in college. So I had a little history lesson in there too.

David McCullough is never a fast read. In fact some would say he is not for the faint of reading heart. I however say that I have never read anything of his that has not improved my mind while at the same time keeping me fascinated with the people and events I am reading about. In my opinion, that is the perfect combination.

A Friend in Need...

...became my friend in deed and indeed.

Once upon a time (yes, it was that long ago) when Beth was about 2 months old, I was at the end of my rope.  I had four small children, a husband in a brand new job (working at home), a brother-in-law living with us, and all the various every day things that life throws at us. I was barely hanging on.

One day Ray arranged for us to have a weekend away in Vancouver, BC (just a couple of hours up the road from Kirkland, WA). Our friend Inge agreed to have Audrey and Debra for the weekend, and Austin (who was living with us) said he'd be happy to keep our two-year-old Ray. We would take the baby with us.

I was packing our things and getting everyone ready to go when Ray asked me if there wasn't anyone I knew who would take Beth for the weekend. I thought he was crazy. Who leaves their two month old with someone she hardly knows? Who leaves their two month old, period? How hard is a tiny baby like that to cart around? I told him I didn't know anyone. He really pushed me to think of someone. He doesn't usually do that, but he sure did this time. I finally thought of Betty Olcott, whom I had seen at church, always holding someone's baby for them. He said, "Give her a call."

I was mortified. I didn't think there was any way she would do it, and I was so embarrassed to ask. But I did call anyway. Miracle of miracles, she said she'd be happy to. Now, who in the world is really happy to have a two month old who is not a grandchild for an entire weekend? She told me her husband was working a lot of overtime, and she'd be happy to have Beth for company.

Yes, I left Beth with her. We left for the weekend, and it was the most rest I'd had in months and months. I truly believe that it kept me from having a nervous breakdown. I regard Betty as my own personal angel.

That weekend spawned a friendship that has lasted the twenty-three years since then. 

About  seventeen years ago Trish arranged for four of us to go to lunch together. Trish, Betty Olcott, Jaimee Hansen, and me. At first we went to lunch on our birthday months. Then we decided that wasn't often enough, and we began going to lunch once a month. A couple of other women joined us once in a while, Janice Thorne and Andrea Wootten in particular, but I don't think the original four ever missed a month!

Betty moved up north about an hour away and still came for lunch every month. Then Jaimee got married and moved to Utah. Then Trish moved to Utah. Then I moved to Utah.  Poor Betty was left alone in the Northwest. We began meeting for lunch here in Utah with a few other friends that moved here from our neighborhood in Washington. We still have lunch every month, and I always look forward to it.

But I miss Betty. It's not the same without her. Luckily she comes to town once in a while, and usually calls. A couple of weeks ago Trish and I met Betty for lunch here in Sandy. What a treat!

Diane, Betty, Trish

She's still an angel in my life. Wisdom and life skills have come my way because of her. I have learned how to serve cheerfully and quietly from her. I can't even begin to list all the ways she has enriched my life. But I can tell you the very first time she made a difference: that weekend in February 1988.

Thank you Betty!

Movie Marathon

All Jane Austens. It was wonderful. I spent a couple of days doing hand work and other things where I could sit and watch the television (and hear it) at the same time. I pulled out the Jane Austens and watched one after another. I didn't make it to Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice this time around. Next time I'll start with those.

Comments: Catherine (with a c or k? I haven't read it) seemed very young. I mean Felicity Jones looked like she was about 14. Other than that, fun. Jane Austen lite.

Comment: Billie Piper is not the typical Jane Austen heroine look. Her performance was great, I just had to battle the image in my own mind. I have not read this book for at least 10 years. Really liked the movie.

Comment: years ago Debra and I tried to watch another version of Persuasion, and couldn't get past the first 15 minutes. I like this version much better. The only problem is the kiss at the end. He looks like he is resisting  having to kiss her with all his might. Really??  This is a man who has been pining for her for over seven years. Get real. Almost wrecks the rest of the movie (almost).

Comment: My favorite of the four films watched. In my opinion this is far superior to the Gwyneth Paltrow version. I have nothing negative to say. Jonny Lee Miller is great as George Knightley.

BBC really knows how to do Jane Austen.

Optimist or Ostrich?

I think I was the last person on the planet to admit that perhaps Richard Nixon was guilty. Even after he resigned I wanted to believe he only resigned for the sake of the country. 

I don't always like change. I want things to stay how I like them. I don't want to be one of those "the world's going to hell in a hand basket" pessimists. I like to think things will all work out for the best in the long run.

I read the newspaper pretty regularly, if not daily. But I realized yesterday that I was skimming over all the parts I didn't like. All the parts that might cause worry or problems.

Does that make me an ostrich? Perhaps. But sometimes it's mental-survival-mode too.

In my fifty-plus years of living I have learned that most things do work out in the long run. Maybe not perfectly, but the world settles back down and gets on with life.

That's what I'm banking on this time around. (Forgive the pun.)

Wool Applique and Embroidery

Another hand worked project completed. I have not done this much handwork in years, and I must say I'm enjoying it. It's a nice change of pace.

My friend Marilyn made herself new a scripture cover last winter. It is beautiful hand appliqued wool. Well, when the rest of our presidency saw that cover we wanted new covers for ourselves. Marilyn was more than willing to help. So the project began. 

I started with a completely different idea in mind than what I ended up with - but here's how I came to do what I did.

First I went shopping for wool. I thought a nice gray would be pretty. Then when I couldn't find gray, a nice cream. I did find a beautiful cream with a very faint houndstooth woven in, and as I reached for the bolt my eye caught a glimpse of the most beautiful red you can imagine. And imagine it you will have to do, because all my photos make the red look orangey. No. It is a deep blue-red. To die for. Instantly I knew I had to have it. So that's what I got.

I wanted flowers. I asked Audrey to draw some for me, taken from a bridal shower invitation I had received. She did a great job and I was ready to go with fabric and my design.

Then I took a little break while we went to China. It was there I found my final inspiration for what I wanted on my scripture covers. It was a lacquered table top that I saw in Xi'An. I took a few pictures of it:

Those flowers have a little bit of a dogwood flavor to them (and never forget I love dogwoods!). I knew that's what I really wanted.

I came home and went begging to Marilyn. I knew there was no way I could translate those flowers into a pattern for wool applique. Marilyn sat down with pencil and paper and in a few seconds drew up a plan for me:

Two months later I've finally finished. It's hard to tell, but the cover itself is a deep red, and the flowers are pink and cream with crimson (in two shades) centers. The tiny leaves are a pale spring green.

There is a lot of room for improvement, but I must say I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. And I have to admit to just sitting and staring at them. They're not perfect, but I'm perfectly happy with them.

I Love Lucy!

August 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989

At 7:00 p.m. every night I dropped whatever I was doing, dashed into our family room, turned on the TV to Channel 11, and sat down to be entertained by America's greatest comedienne. Almost nothing got in the way of my watching I Love Lucy.

In my little world of worries as a junior high and high school student, Lucy transported me into another world. In that thirty minutes my concerns were limited to "what mess will she get herself into this time?" and "how in the world will she extricate herself from this?"

I  laughed with abandon at her pranks and pitfalls. I wondered how she was going to manage to sing with Ricky's band this time, keep her friendship with Ethel even though she put Ethel into such awkward situations, and ultimately keep Ricky from being really mad at her. I've seen every episode several times.

 Fast forward 25 years, and my daughter Debra discovered I Love Lucy. I relived my own Lucy obsession affection through her.

Happy Birthday Lucy - 100 years today. Thanks for the memories!