Month: April 2021

Toast

Jeanne 1 Comment

My daughter sent me a heart-warming text one Saturday morning: “I made Jim toast with butter and jam for breakfast. It made me think of Grandma. and miss her. Isn’t it a lovely thing how the people we love always stay with us somehow?” And then, another daughter replied, “Yeah, I think of her whenever I eat toast and jam too.”

Then I nostalgically added memories of her homemade Bear Lake raspberry jam, preserved in tiny canning bottles, to which one replied, “I had forgotten about her little bottles, I remember now. And so delicious! The butter makes the jam better.”

And then we all got sentimental and talked of traditions and families, and little things that make such an impact on kids growing up….and how love wraps around us all like a timeless, warm blanket..

She would spread the butter thick
And remove the crust
From the perfectly toasted bread
And spread the precious homemade raspberry jam
From her tiny bottles--
Her way of loving
In a way that stayed
Within grand-babies memories
Long after her passing.

And now, each piece of toast
Takes us back to her warm kitchen
To her love
And we are warmed
And we belong.

A piece of toast
Such a small thing
To wrap us together so tightly.

A couple of scriptures come to mind:  D&C 64:33--"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work."  and Alma 37:6--"....by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."

Teton Respite

Jeanne 1 Comment

I had forgotten that Spring Break would provide a window of a few extra days without obligations, and, on a snap decision, we decided to extend our trip to Twin Falls to see Kids and GrandKids. We drove on roads we had never seen before. New vistas were so refreshing after so much isolation. We drove back into winter in Teton National Park. It was relaxing to have no schedule to follow. No set plans. And we were richly rewarded with a surprising variety of wildlife sightings. Bob penned this poem:

We decide to take a trip to our children and beyond.
We load up our golden van and then we're gone.
We look for all the miracles of life along our way-
Of birds & deer & antelope.  Then family makes our day.

We celebrate birthdays with those we love.  Then we are gone
On the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is our song.
We fly across the valleys, mounts, canyons, lakes & streams.
We watch all the living miracles along lakes as rivers sing.

We find a special place at Antler Inn to stay 3 days.
We took off to see the Elk Refuge.   To our surprise that day
Thousands of Elk spotted the meadow right in front of us.
Swans, geese & big horn sheep came close within their trust.

We then drove to the Tetons and saw moose, deer & fox,
Coyotes and bald eagles in 3 days in different spots.
We looked for the buffalo & bear (our summer friends).
We left before we saw them, but we will come again.

Debris

Jeanne 1 Comment

Last weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I was impressed with a challenge given by Russell M. Nelson, President and Prophet. He spoke of the renovation taking place on the Salt Lake Temple. Apparently there is considerable excavation as they dig down to the foundation, and much debris to be screened for historical finds and then the remainder to be throw out as trash.

Our lives accumulate debris. I hope it’s not as bad as I sometimes see in every corner of my house…lurking unfinished projects, ‘things’ I’ve long forgotten why I saved them in the first place. Going through them is usually overwhelming, and exhausting to be prioritizing so many things at once. Do I really have time for this? Am I still interested in that? Why do I have so many of those? and, Oh, is that where that is!

President Nelson challenged us to identify debris in our lives and eliminate it. Just like cleaning up a discouragingly cluttered room, the thought of looking inward for a clean-up, is not exactly exciting. It would be interesting to see how we spend our time each day. We all have things we consider of supreme importance, and I suspect they aren’t cleaning the house, or games on our phone, or watching TV, or reading facebook posts.

I suppose the first step would be to identify what those really important things are and if we are really getting around to them, or, are you like me, and keep saying, “I’ll get to it next week….” I’ve said that about a couple of projects for more than a year now. So, I’m going to try to clean up. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to involve some habit breaking and changing, and that’s hard.

I need to post a poem about it. But I don’t have one. Do you? Somebody post us some lines about our debris.

Listen to the General Conference message on www.churchofjesuschrist.org