Beauty for the Christmas Season

After two nights of fog, the natural decorations for Christmas have formed. They may be dissolved by Christmas as I hear a change in the weather pattern is due on Tuesday. But we will take it as it comes. I hope that you enjoy these pictures.

Evelyn arrived here yesterday from Japan where she teaches school in the military dependents' system. On Monday Diane will arrive from her teaching endeavors in southwestern Arizona. It will add a lot to our Christmas to have them here. gwh

Lucherinis

Can you spell Lucherini? Maybe I can't. Kim and Chris will let me know. Sunday they came for a visit with the boys, Elliott and Quinn. We had our evening meal with them. Jalayne was going to come too, but stomach distress and the weather dissuaded her. It was nice to have the visit.

I tried twice earlier to post this blog with some narrative, but both times the computer opted to make the decisions and it posted my blogs sans any narrative. (It's bad when computers start taking over.) Well, there isn't a lot of narrative here, but I want to put what I want in the blog, not what the computer wants. gwh

Alex

Today I remembered that at Thanksgiving time I had taken a picture of my grandson , Alex. He stayed with us Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday before he joined his friend for a ride back to Ephraim and Snow College. Alex is maturing into a young adult. He is making plans and decisions that will help establish him as a productive person. He is taking control of his life instead of just letting life happen. Thanks for the visit, Alex. gwh

Indian Summer

Indian Summer came after all this year. It is a little late in the season to start, but yesterday and today were nice mild fall days. There is a nice full harvest moon the last two nights. Clarine and I went to the temple on the morning shift today substituting for another couple who will repay us on a Saturday some time. We finished about noon. The weather was so nice that we decided to take a sandwich and eat our lunch at the Great Salt Lake Marina. They have even started charging a fee to go into the marina. Taxes don't cover anything anymore, but they keep increasing. We enjoyed our sandwich and the view. At the temple today, Clarine saw Rodney Clark at the recommend desk. Tuesdays must be the days of his shift. I have included a couple of photos that depict the niceness of the weather. gwh

The End of an Era

Yesterday was a significant date to me. It actually was the end of a seven year oddessy for me. The end of an era happened when I was released after seven years - more or less - teaching the Gospel Doctrine Class in Sunday School. I had actually gotten to where there was a weekly satisfaction to the process of preparing and teaching. I taught three of the manuals twice and the other one one time. Though many of the lessons were given the second time, I did not use the same notes the second time. I think that was likely because of a process that I call "maturation." Experience and changing times, I think, caused the Holy Spirit to prompt me to vary from what I presented the first time. Though the subject matter did not change, the emphasis did materialize differently in most lessons. I feel a little bit vacated with no lesson to prepare for next Sunday. Upon telling me of my pending release, the counselor in the Bishopric assured me that it "was just time," and that I had not been tendered a release for cause. Now a question sort of arises, "What do you assign an eighty-one year old high priest to do to keep him providing a useful gospel service with the limiting processes that are encroaching due to age?" Thankfully, I do a shift in the Salt Lake Temple twice a week Monday mornings and Saturday mid day. Clarine and I also do a two-hour stint in the Humanitarian Center at the Tooele Deseret Industries on Thursdays putting such things as school kits, hygiene kits, and quilts together for those around the world needing humanitarian support.

Yesterday there was a temple devotional held in the Salt Lake Temple (two different meetings so that everyone could have a chance to attend). It was an extraordinarily spiritual meeting. Clarine and I attended the one at 8:00 AM. Elder Dallin Oaks was the featured guest. President Uchdorf was present for the 11:00 AM meeting. By attending the earlier session Clarine and I were home for our meeting block, and I taught the Sunday School Class for the final time. There were well over 3,000 temple workers and their partners that were accommodated in the two meetings. gwh

Visitors

We had visitors yesterday. Clarine did not come outside when I was taking pictures, so she is not shown in any of the poses. All of the rest of us are included in one photo or another. We ate pizza, soda, whipped cream and Jello, and sour dough biscuits. Some of your may not recognize the people by their photos, so I will name them. Beside Clarine and I, Jalayne Hatch, my granddaughter in the red shirt was there. The other visitors were the Lucherinis - Chris, Kim (my granddaughter) Elliott and Quinn. With that much information, a good detective could identify every one. One more clue - Quinn is the littlest and youngest. Hey gang, it was nice of you to come and see us. By the way in the fire pit you can see a fire is glowing. gwh

Pics - Wayne Morgan Funeral

Fascination

Last evening I was fascinated with the light, color (or lack thereof) and the actual beauty of the outdoors from my backyard during a thirty second interval. There was an ever so slight tint from the setting sun. One must look closely to discern the effects of the sunset. The lighting circumstances made some nice silhouettes. I found the pics enjoyable. I hope you do too. gwh

General Conference

General Conference has been most wonderful. Those who have attended at our place are shown in the pictures. In addition to Clarine and I, it amounts to a trio of Russell girls -Hannah, Beth and Carol - a quintet of the Lisa and Phil Hatch family, Sheridan, Zack and Max included. It was nice to have family around. The speakers have been very uplifting as well. I think I am not able to adequately express the way that I am not the same as I was before conference started. It is a process that happens every six months that is among the most significant things that I experience at this stage of my life. It even brings a type of sweetness and happiness that is unsurpassed. I hope that each of you have feasted fully at this same wonderful "table." gwh

Indian Summer

Today, 2 October 2009, Clarine and I decided to go for an easy, relaxing drive. I thought of several places - even to Mirror Lake in the Uintahs. Making "easy" the controlling word, we went to Brighton. It turned out to be a good choice, because we both enjoyed it a lot. Early Wednesday morning, a lot of moisture fell around this part of the state. There were some reports of more than a foot of snow in the mountains. I think we got more than one half inch of rain here at Stansbury Park. That was probably true of Brighten as there was still lots of snow today - especially in shady spots. We noticed that the leaves on the trees had hardly started to turn. Hence there was a lot of green contrast with the white of the snow. Today the skies were very blue which added to the colors and contrasts. I think it not too apt to title this blog, "Indian Summer," as most of the bright colors have not even shown yet. gwh

Wisteria

Each of my companions from Carol to the present had something for wisteria vines - especially when they bloom in large clusters that hang down like an over productive grape vine. Consequently, I made several attempts to grow wisteria - quite unsuccessfully, may I add. I now have achieved partial success in great measure. That is, I have a vine that seemingly could take over anything. It appears one should be very careful around it because of tendrils that reach out in many directions - some a half inch in diameter. (Maybe a boa constrictor would be safer to have around. I'll ask Emily.) The two half inch-diameter tendrils ran along the ground in opposite directions and were about eight feet long when I discovered them and brought them upon to the porch and aimed them around a couple of columns. Now, here is my question for any and all of you "would be," "wanna be" horticulturists. I have had this robust vine for probably five years, WHY DOESN'T IT BLOOM? It appears to me that the vine could support thousands (maybe a slight exaggeration) of blooms. gwh

Bloody Nose

You have already read the narrative. Here is a picture to go with it. gwh

Dear Family and Friends,
I hemmorhaged from the nose this morning, I was down on my hands and knees looking at a sprinkler head. Blood came out in copious amounts. After fifteen to twenty minutes I got it staunched and things cleaned up. Clarine was not here. I sat in my chair for about half an hour. It started bleeding again. While I was in the bathroom trying to stop it, Clarine came home. She insisted on an immediate visit to the emergency room. They stuffed a little gauze cylinder up my nose. It had a pump on the end hanging out of my nose and was connected to a balloon inside of the cylinder. The doctor pumped up the balloon. It hurt a lot. They had me sit in the emergency room for an hour to see if the blood was coming from higher up. There just seemed to be some seepage, so now I am home, very uncomfortable, wearing this cylinder and pump for two days. Then I go in for them to remove it. They said this treatment leaves less scarring than cauterizing the wound. It is certainly a less invasive and easier process for the doctor. I hurt and am quite uncomfortable. My nose is terribly out of shape with that balloon inflated, and it is quite unsightly with that pump taped to the side of my face. Love, Dad/Grandpa/George.

St. George

Before I went to Ferris' funeral in Kennewick, Washington, Deanna and Dan Allred joined us at the timeshare in St. George. Clarine and I had to leave on Wednesday, so I could get to the funeral.

Dan and Deanna stayed on until Friday. We did get to do a few things in the short time we were there. Photos included with this blog show Deanna picking cotton at the Jacob Hamblin home; statuary around the St. George library that emphasizes reading with children; Deanna and the Tuacahn Theater; Dan, Deanna and I at the Tuacahn Theater; (Clarine took the picture); and Dan on the deck of the timeshare. With the funeral, timeshare and temple shifts it was quite a busy week. gwh

Ferris Funeral # 2

Pictures include Carol, Paul, Bonnie and husband, (sorry about my memory); Blake?, Dan and Mike; Ferris' and Pauline's Bishop (Law); I and my brother, Paul - Dean with dark glasses in background; one picture is a rerun from #1, but I failed to identify Kevin and Holly who are on the front row with their mother. There are others to be identified but my eyes and memory are not that sharp. This will be all of the pictures I send on the funeral crowd. gwh