Funeral #2

Monday Deborah and family left. It was so nice to have them come and visit us.

We “hot-sheeted” the beds. In military parlance, to “hot seat” means that one guy hops out of the pilot seat and another takes his place. Here, the Reck family moved out of downstairs and we opened the rooms for the children of Larry Baize who came for his funeral.

That early evening we watched “Meet the Mormons.” Tom had seen it… I think… but I had not. We now had the DVD and I think it’s on Netflix. Good movie. I just gives outsiders an inside look at how some Mormons live—A female kick boxer from Costa Rica,  A black bishop from Atlanta, an Indian philanthropist, an Annapolis football coach, and the Utah mother of a missionary.

I was still a little under the weather, so I kind of took it easy this week.

Tuesday was Larry Baize’s funeral. Tom officiated and he really spent a lot of time struggling with the right things to say. They played a video of pictures from his life. It was nice to see pictures of doing ordinary things. I wondered, do we have pictures like that?  Sad, sad for the widow and family.

Wednesday I had an eye exam. They dilated my eyes this time, ugh. Then I looked SO stylish in the sunglasses as we went to Home Depot for a light fixture. Tom was replacing one in the S. College house. He also refinished one if the bedroom floors. The hardwood now matches the rest of the house. (It had been carpeted.)

I did some Donop family history. It’s fun and rewarding to put in the names from Walter’s extensive family pedigree chart. I hope I’m reading the German names correctly. But when Family Search says there are duplicates, I seldom have enough information to know for sure if they are really the same person… or not.

We’ve had a tremendous amount of rain. Since we had parts of a dry day or two, I decided I’d better tackle the garden before it was a total weed patch.  Thursday I hacked down the going-to-seed green onion patch and removed some volunteers encroaching into the rest of the garden. Friday I rototilled. Did you know that when the tiller bounces, it can go high enough to grab the fence?

Amazingly, Tom loosened it without much damage to the fence… and it proceeded to rototill quite nicely again. I however, didn’t try to turn narrow corners near the fence again.

Thursday we visited our attorney. We need to decide to what degree we want to protect our assets from law suits or from loss if we go into nursing homes, and what kind of control are we willing to give up. Oh… and how much do we want to play for the “insurance.”

Friday Tom and I went to see the new Avenger movie. Lots if gratuitous destruction and violence against robots… of course the robots were trying to kill everyone. It was sort of like the bad dream where you never really kill the bad guy. He always resurrects and comes back. While we were in the theater we could hear the rain pounding down.

It cleared up enough for Tom to mow the yard. It needed it. Now it looks beautiful.

Today, Church was nice. Good speakers. Soon we’ll drive to West Plains for a zone conference for the missionaries and the stake. They are always good experiences. We’ll take two cars. Tom will leave with the truck and head to Jonathan and Kristy’s to help them with their last moving trip. I have a carful of people to take up.

A quieter week

This has been a quieter week.

I came home tired from the conference last week and mostly took Monday off.  Tom took me out for a Birthday lunch.  We were also going to do a movie... but the theater was closed on Monday.  We went to visit Larry Baize in hospice house.  He is declining.  It's hard to watch.

Tuesday and Wednesday I tried to follow up on the contacts I made at Clayton's event.  I hope good things come out of it.  On Wednesday afternoon I was able to install Ancestry.com and work on Bernhard Donop.  I sent a bunch of documents to Cousin Walt.

Thursday I finished an article for my business coach and sent that off.

Friday I just felt blah.  Achy, sore throat, headache and lethargic.  So I spent most of the day sleeping.  I felt a little better on Saturday and cleaned the house and got food ready for a picnic for that night.

Larry Baise died on Friday.  So hard for his sweet widow. We agreed to open our home to family members to stay.  But they'll have to wait until Monday to move in.  It had been scheduled for later next week.  But I suppose you can't schedule a death.  The funeral will be on Tuesday.

We'd invited Deborah and Ian over to visit with a couple (with two kids) from church. He works for HR and we thought Ian might enjoy learning more about that career.  It was a nice evening outside chatting.

Today-- lots of rain.  We sat in the suite for a little while when we had a tornado warning with chance of hail.  But it passed ups by with little rain and no damage.

For those of you who don't know, Andy and Kera received an offer on their house and put an offer in on a house in Russellville. They should close mid June.  Miranda and Dan had about decided to take their house off the market because it wasn't moving.  Then they got an offer... so it looks like they will be moving, too.

I had great hopes that with the Mission Office moving to Bentonville, they might be able to move closer.  Dan says no.  Sigh.  But we are happy they are as close as they are.

Clayton Makepeace Financial Intensive

Immediately after Saturday's Women's Conference, I needed to turn my attention to this week. I was to spend  4 days in Atlanta and then the next day attend Ward Conference in Ava and teach the lesson.

So on Monday and Tuesday I needed to prep my lesson for Sunday. I also had to pack and decide what clothes I needed at the financial workshop and what clothes I needed for Sunday. The ward Relief Society president had kindly invited me to stay at her house-- saving me three hours of driving.

I also really wanted to have written a financial spec assignment to take to the workshop. I had planned on writing it earlier, but other things kept getting in the way. I got it started... but that was all.

Saturday, Alyssa, a 13 year old in our ward, died of leukemia. It's been very hard on the family. The funeral was Tuesday evening. It was attended by many school friends and Tom turned time over for anyone who wanted to share a story about Alyssa. Many of the school friends spoke. It was amazing the number of lives Alyssa touched. It was also amazing the struggles and tough lives kids live.

One spoke about wanting to commit suicide, but Alyssa helped her feel better. Another spoke about hating the strange new school and how Alyssa welcomed her and wouldn't be put off by her standoffishness. They spoke of being bullied and supporting one another through the bullying. They spoke of depression and being able to feel better because of the kindness of Alyssa. And the school kids had made perhaps 30 posters saying goodbye to Alyssa.

I came home and finished packing. Wednesday I left a little after 7:30 for Springfield and the airport.  Delta had a direct flight to Atlanta.  I arrive there without problem and took a shuttle to the hotel. I could have taken the MARTA-- public transportation for about 1/10th of the price... but I was just a little leery.  So I shuttled it.

The conference was awesome! First, I've gotten to know people, so I knew perhaps 10% of the 70 or so people there. Then I networked and met other copywriters-- some starting out, some in the thick of things. And there were 9 publishing houses represented who were looking for copywriting talent.

I was happy that my book was published and I had received the order of books before I left. We had an evening of "speed-dating" where we got to spend 5 minutes with a company representative and I was able to give them my book. Many were receptive to the idea of needing someone to help with retention and renewal.

The last person I visited, said, "Sandy Fox!  I'm so glad to meet you!  I'm sorry I haven't responded to your emails. Can we talk?" So the next day, my roommate and I went out to lunch with her. Nice time. I think it will lead to work.

I wish I were like Rebecca and Savannah about taking pictures. I take a camera... and then never take it out.  I think I got one picture of the whole event.  It's of Clayton Makepeace on the right and Paris Lampropoulos-- another great copywriter-- on the left.

It was a bit like drinking out of a fire hose. We went into depth on the elements of a long form sales letter, video sales letter, or video. We learned how to get an increase in response by tweaking subject lines and other specific areas. We learned how to present numbers in a meaningful way and we heard from the publishers about their background and journey, about their companies, and about what it was like to work for them. I'm sure it sounds incredibly boring to you, but I found it very interesting.

They had great food. One morning our women's group, the Titanides went to breakfast together and learned more about some of our members and connected with job opportunities. All in all, it was a very enjoyable, informative, and encouraging event.

I had to duck out of the last class and good-byes to get to the airport on time. The shuttle driver was from Ethiopia so we had an interesting conversation before we picked up other passengers. There was a Five Guy's hamburger place there, so I grabbed one before my 7:15 flight.

When I arrived in Springfield, my luggage did not come to the baggage carousel. I'm thinking, AKK! Where can I buy a skirt at 9pm? Can I teach this lesson wearing pants? Can I borrow a skirt? Fortunately, after complaining to Delta, the bag appeared on the carousel by the time we got back over there.

I had a easy drive to Ava. I found the little road to the RS presidents house, had a lovely visit, and a good sleep-- except for the weather radio going off twice with a severe weather warning-- hail, not a tornado. And while we had strong rain and wind... I don't think we had hail either.

I taught Pres. Benson's lesson on Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson on the blessings of the book-- it's power and it's value for our time. I think how all those poor, clueless kids at the funeral would be blessed with peace and comfort if they could read and believe the Book of Mormon.

What a difference it makes in your life when you understand you are a son or daughter of God. That he loves you and wants to bless you.

I got home about 3:45-- just a few minutes after Tom left to go visit people at hospice, in the hospital, and those who lost their daughter.  We had a late dinner.

Busy Week

This week was a crazy busy week.

Tom left Monday to go to Jonathan’s new house to help Jonathan and Isabelle. They were doing some fixing and fencing. I guess some post hole digging went on along with mowing where the new fence needed to go and then laying out the fence and then lifting it, stretching it, and fastening it onto the T-posts.

It also involved conversations with plumbers, moving a HUGE refrigerator and something with a ladder in the middle of the living room floor.

On my side I spent much of the week gearing up for the Stake Relief Society Retreat that was held on Saturday from 10-2 in West Plains. Last Sunday I went to West Plains where my first Counselor was… a little unexpectedly… released. I knew she would soon be released because she was getting ready to move. But I had hoped she would be released AFTER the retreat instead of before. But it was not to be.

It was a little disappointing that I had finally printed the program. Ah well, we can make changes from the stand as needed. My second counselor really stepped up. She agreed to make ALL the chicken quinoa salad!!! I was so grateful. And to give the small part the first counselor was going to say.

I had the young women help me fold 150 of the 200 programs I made. Mom and I had found some wall paper that was yellow and flowery. I printed the program on plain paper and then put an outer cover of the wall paper over it and stapled them together. The wall paper curled just a little, so I taped the paper program to the wall paper and it worked out well. They were each a ½ sheet of 81/2x11 paper.

On Tuesday, I finally hit the published button on my book. I had ordered a proof copy and reviewed it again for errors. I hope it’s good to go. You can see the finished book on Amazon. It’s called Growing Customer Lifetime Value: Retention & Renewal. Clearly it’s written toward a specific audience. It’s for financial newsletter marketers and others who have a membership site who want to keep their members active, using their products, and renewing their continuity program.

I was able to delve into family history and try to eliminate some of the duplicate people in our line. I worked mostly in the Donop direction. I was able to get some names of ancestors for Nathan and Katie to take to the temple and some for Tom to take when he took the youth on Saturday (yesterday.)

I had two quick jobs for Newsmax. They are getting a little easier to do. I also wanted to write some spec copy for the Financial Intensive I’m going to in Atlanta next week. But it kept getting pushed back each day by other events. I finally did a little research on Thursday, but that’s all.

Friday Tom left early from Mt. Vernon and drove back home. He got here about 10:30 and unpacked the truck. Then we re-loaded it with all the things I needed to take to the Women’s Retreat. I was on the road by 12:50. I needed the truck so I could bring the tables we loaned to the event back to Mountain Home after we were done. My counselor and Secretary and I decorated from 2-6. The men had kindly put up all the tables and chairs. We arranged the rooms where teachers would do the break-out groups. My counselor decorated the chapel. She had the brilliant idea to cut a colorful plastic tablecloth in thirds and use it as a table runner. It added a lot of color to the white tablecloths. My counselor and I went out to dinner and then the Stake President and his wife put us up for the night. She is such a lovely lady. We really enjoyed visiting with her.

Then we had colored cups to put on and the napkins and silverware. We had painted baskets for the rolls and we put a cloth covered journal at each place. The wonderful priesthood from West Plains volunteered to finish fixing the food and serve it. They created pudding cups—“dirt cups” with chocolate pudding on the bottom covered with a layer of crumbled Oreo cookies (that looked like dirt) with a flower on a toothpick and a gummy worm coming out of the “dirt.”  They looked cute and festive. Rolls went into the baskets, and each plate had a piece of lettuce with Chicken Quinoa salad, 5 bean salad, and some carrots and dip. It looked festive.

We had lovely music, speakers and classes. My favorite was “From Seed to Sequoia” that talked about growing your testimony and becoming converted. She used great analogies. I hadn’t realized how small a sequoia seed is. And that they need fire to propagate. The seeds need fire to open the cones and to clear away the underbrush, and they like an ashy soil. It tied in well that we need adversity to become strong and grow.

I spoke about setting an example and helping other find joy and peace. After the event we needed to clean up quickly. There was a funeral set for 3pm and a baptism at 5. A busy day for the chapel.

I think I left about 3:30. I stopped on the way home to give some leftover chicken salad to a friend whose husband is dying of cancer. We visited for a while. I then unpacked my things from the truck and drove it to the church so when Tom returned from the temple trip he could unload the tables.

All in all it was a long day. That evening I finished preparing my talk for Sunday. I’d volunteered to speak on Mother’s Day. Tom always struggles with how to do that best. This time he had all the men and children and youth sing for the women. It was very nice.

After church I went to the hospital to visit with the sister with the sick husband. He was back in the ER. It doesn’t look good for him and it’s a hard time for her.

Tom was sweet today. He fixed me breakfast and a chocolate cake. We invited the missionaries over to be able to Skype their families for Mother’s Day. We fed them leftover chicken salad and grilled cheese sandwiches. It was nice to get to know them. They were both new to the ward as of about 3 days ago.

All my children called on Mother’s Day. It was so nice to talk to them.

Mud Anyone?

This past Saturday there was a Warrior Dash just across the Oklahoma border.  This of course meant a visit to Dan and Miranda's house for the night.  Two of the youth from Mountain Home joined us for this exciting adventure; unfortunately Dan was not able to run so we were a foursome.  The pictures hopefully tell the story.

 

Busy busy

Oh dear. Once again it’s been two weeks since I last wrote. I hope I’m not creating a habit here.

On Monday the 16^th I officially signed up for Medicare. I got my card yesterday and on the first of May I will be eligible. I haven’t needed a doctor for a while… and I hope that continues. When I do, I’ll have to learn to navigate this system.

That week was just an amazingly crazy week. We came back from Jonathan’s and I had TONS of stuff I needed to catch up on and do. One of the major ones was that I had a Clayton Makepeace webinar on Monday. I’m going to his pricy Financial Intensive in May and I’d turned in homework for him to review. I was pleased that he liked my ideas. I now have to work on it more… but it’s been nearly two weeks and I have not touched it again.

I had some work for Newsmax I was doing with some pretty short deadlines—like 48 hours. It was the first time I’d done this kind of email, but after one revision, she thought it was great.

I had agreed to sing at our ward’s Visiting Teaching convention on Thursday. They should have been simple songs, but the harmony was a bit odd. So we practiced Sunday, Tuesday and then Thursday before the program. And I practiced some at home as well. It was lovely haunting music and I think the program went well. I had invited two people to go with me and they both said they would. I was trying to figure out how I could take them and still practice. But then they both dropped out. I was sad. But it made it easier to go to the practice.

I have been working on a book on customer retention and renewals for continuity programs—especially financial newsletters. I’d like to have it finished, printed and ready to take when I go to the financial intensive in May. So I’ve been finishing it. Tom has been great to proof read it for me. This week I finally got it mostly formatted and if I can get the cover finished, I think it may be able to go to the printer (create space print on demand) on Monday. I will be glad to have it done… but even published is not done. When I get the first copy, I’ll find all the mistakes I didn’t track done in the many revisions I’ve already done.

I bought a book layout that I thought would make things very simple. But since I’ve spent about 16 hours putting the book into the format and working on the cover layout, I don’t think it’s very simple at all. It does look lovely, though.

For our Women’s retreat, we are making fabric covered journals for each sister (200). We want to give her a chance to record the miracles, blessings and tender mercies that come into her life each day. I’ve been cutting out fabric—using scraps that I have. A sister gave me some of her scraps, too. Then on Tuesday of this week, three of us got together and pasted. Ugh. I think we did about 60 in two hours. They each took about 18 home to finish. I finished my 18. And my poor secretary has nearly 100 to do.

Saturday, Tom was trying out his new tractor and took a load of dirt and rocks over to Ernie’s house to put in a big dip in his driveway. He decided to come around from the side to dump it. Unfortunately, he forgot there is a swale or a seasonal bog there and got the tractor well stuck in the mud. We tried to pull it out with the truck, but no luck. And they were predicting more rain. So I called a neighbor and he came over with his little tractor. But he had a longer chain, so he was mostly on the drive and with some tire spinning, he was able to pull Tom’s big tractor out. It was a little exciting!

 Lilac's blooming and fountain flowing.

We have been having rain and our tulips and phlox have been magnificent. We planted the garden and have little heads of broccoli now. Our asparagus is growing and we are feasting on that. But our little sugar snap peas are only an inch or so tall. If the weather gets hot, we may not have any of them. Still, it’s fun to get the garden started again.

Last Sunday we had a ward conference in Houston. It’s about 2 hours north east of us. I ended up being gone over 12 hours that day. The day started with training at 8:30 am. Then I taught the lesson in Relief Society. It was on a great topic—the blessing of the Word of God. After church we were to have lunch and go visiting. But the visitee’s fell through so we just chatted. Then at 3pm we had Stake Council. It’s always interesting.

This week was a little less hectic. I continued work on the journals and the book project. I got a quick assignment from Newsmax and I need to work on my HVAC newsletter. I have the article ideas approved. I also got the article outline approved for my 1/month executive coach article and got that written.

I’ve been trying to work on my family history—going back on the Donop line. I found where two sisters—Pauline and Antoniette (sisters to Franz Anton) married two brothers—Otto and Joachim Roder. When I was given options of “is this the same person?” on Family Search, they seemed to connect into to a Roeder family with lots of children, two of whom married Pauline and Antoniette Donop. But the marriage dates are different… and Pauline is married to a different brother. So I think they ARE connected… I just need to straighten out the pieces.

Thursday and Friday Tom and I went to St. Louis to the temple. It was a nice trip. We took some of the Donop family names and were able to do 6 endowments and about the same number of sealings.

Saturday Tom had a primary activity where the bishopric went to breakfast with the primary children and then played church jeopardy. Tom’s team won. The primary presidency was pleased with what the children knew. The questions were all taken from Primary sharing times for the past 18 months. And the children knew most all the answers.

Cute story: Pam’s autistic great-grandson has just been going to church for perhaps the past 6 months. He was riding the bus home from school. One kid said, “I’m the Avenger!”  Another kid said, “I’m Iron Man!”  Her grandson pipes up, “I’m the Prophet Moses!”

After the activity, Tom joined other men helping to put in 150’ of fence line for one of our members who was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had just built a new house and needed this part fenced off as part of an easement agreement. I’m glad they were able to put his mind at rest on this point at least.

We had great Sacrament talks today. Really, good lessons all around. Now I need to finish letters to missionaries, finalize plans for our RS Women’s Retreat, and visit with family!

Two Weeks!

Sorry that I took a break last week. So here is a two week update.

Deborah and family came to visit over her children's Spring Break. I went home with Deborah on Sunday March 29^th and spent two nights at her house. It was lovely to spend more time with her family. I did go to ½ of ½ and do some therapeutic shopping.

Early Tuesday morning Deborah drove me to the airport. I didn’t realize that a flight that got me to LA about noon and left at 6am meant I had to be up by 4AM!  Nevertheless, the flights were uneventful and Cynthia was waiting at the airport for me. We stopped by her office to collect some of her things—as she was moving to a home office. And then we went out for a nice lunch. It was fun to chat and catch up.

It was so nice to see Mom (GG). She is doing well. She says her vision is not as good as it was and sometimes she is tired, but she did a good job keeping up with us all. I settled in on Tuesday.

Wednesday we went to dinner at Cynthia and Jim’s house. Thursday Steve and Kathy came to visit. He had a meeting in California the following week and flew out to spend some time with Mom. He introduced me to the Atkins diet and I tried it for a few days. I loved eating all the fat and protein I wanted. Doing without sugar and carbs was a bit harder. I did learn how to eat a hamburger with a “lettuce bun.”  It actually tasted pretty good… as did a LTB sandwich wrapped in lettuce.

One day we took Mom shopping and got a new toaster oven for her. I was on the lookout for wall paper that I could use as the exterior for programs for our spring stake women’s retreat. It seemed like we passed the time in a maze of eating, talking, shopping and such.  One day Cynthia came over and we decorated Easter eggs. 

 Here are the eggs wrapped and ready to be dyed.

We dyed them in natural dyes-- onion, eggplant, orange peels, and beets.  The onion ones turned out nicely.  The beets-- not so much. I think we left them in too long. The other were quite pale, too.

One evening—noon time???-- Sally drove down with Walter Donop, Jr. and we had a meal at Cynthia’s house. He seemed pleased to see us and to be included in the visit. Sally brought a bunch of Donop genealogy down to look at.

I was able to watch both sessions of Saturday General Conference. Then on Sunday, I got most of the first session before taking Mom to Easter Sunday at her church. I watched the afternoon session and then we went to Sherrill Macur’s (my cousin) house for Easter dinner. She had decorated her house very nicely and has such a beautiful house with a great view. It was fun to visit with her and her husband Roger, Aunt Ruth (her mom) Cynthia and Jim and Steve and Kathy.

We talked politics and religion which was quite interesting as the group ranged from liberal to conservative, religious to not very. It did get a little lively… but I don’t know that anyone was mortally offended.

Monday Sally came down again and we looked at the Donop genealogy. We tried to see if we put in some names in the family tree on LDS.org if we would find someone else who was also working on the line… but we could not. We spent some time reviewing some of the things Mom had on her list from when she first moved. Who had asked for what?  Had they gotten it?  Did she have things she was ready to give away that people wanted?  It was pretty complicated. I think we may have to create a new list and try again. She did divide up some bracelets and earrings she no longer had a use for. I got a wonderful clunky copper one. Then when I packed, it was so tight, I had no place for it. So I wore it home. I found it matched what I was wearing that day… and the next. So I guess it really is my color.

Monday afternoon we went to the Department of Motor Vehicles and turned in mom’s license for an ID card. It was a bit of a process, but everyone was very nice. And in a few weeks she should have her ID card.

Tuesday Mom and I went on a marathon shopping trip. I found some wall paper that would do for my program covers. Mom wanted greeting cards so we found a dollar store. Jim had foot surgery that day so we wanted some get well cards for him.

Then we hit Trader Joes, had lunch at a nice little bakery, and looked for some clothes for mom at Marshalls and Nordstrom’s off the Rack. We found a few things for her.  We left about 10:30 am and got home about 4 pm. We were both tired. Had an easy meal and I packed my bags.

Wednesday Cynthia came for breakfast and we chatted. Jim’s surgery went well and he seemed to be pain free at least at that time. Then mom had a friend from church take me to the airport. He was a Kenyan, so we had a lovely chat as we drove to the airport. His manner of speech took me back to our mission.

I did some work on the plane, then succumbed to a book. I got to Fayetteville about 10pm and there was my sweet daughter waiting to pick me up!  I love my family!  The next morning, Deborah and all the non-school children (Simon, Christopher, and Samantha) and I drove up to Mt. Vernon, MO to Jonathan’s new house.

Jonathan had driven down with a U-Haul full of food storage and furniture. We spent the next few days assembling furniture and cleaning. He had the floors sanded and stained. They had not applied the finish coat yet because we were going to be there before it had a chance to dry. However the dust had gone all over the place. So we cleaned and dusted and wiped out cupboards. We weeded their small garden patch and Jonathan planted some seeds. We walked the perimeter of the 40 acres and got a feel for the property and where fencing was needed. It was nice to spend time with Jonathan.

We left Jonathan's about noon on Saturday. The freeway was lined with redbud trees.

We came home in time for me to fix chicken salad (for Sunday) and then go to a baptism. Tom was doing the baptizing and I was leading music. We had this sweet woman in our home for lessons, so we were excited for her.

Once we came home, I needed to finish some writing homework, plan Relief Society Training, and practice some songs. Sunday I needed to train the RS, and practice these songs… all at the same time! AKK. I was also supposed to go to another meeting—but got excused from that.

I had my counselors and secretary start the training, while I went and practiced with 6 other sisters for the Relief Society visiting teaching event on Thursday. Then I came back and participated in the training. This is a new RS presidency and they were very attentive to the training. That took longer than I thought it would, but it was good.

Afterwards, about 3pm, my counselor and secretary came over to my house. Tom had Bishop’s Youth Discussion just about over as we arrived. I served the meal I thought we might do for the Stake Women’s Retreat and they pronounced it good. We discussed how to fix it and what we should do for desert. We covered programs and decorations and I think have finalized most things. We inventoried our paper supplies and made lists of things to shop for and price. We finally got done with that about 5 pm. Phew!  What a day.

Tom took me on a walk around the property to see the dogwood in bloom. My phlox are so lovely and showy in front and my flowering quince bush is glorious. Tulips are blooming and so is the lilac bush. Spring is a wonderful time.

Now I’ve written to missionaries and to grandchildren. I have other notes to write. But I think I may be done for the night.