AUTUMN HAS COME TO THE GORGE

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all they might...
Ecclesiastes 9:10

Autumn has come to the Gorge, and we're settling in!! The rock wall has really come along. When I go out to check on Dad, I have to go to the far end of the deck. The wall is almost to the old shed. You can tell by the rock wall below him, my sweet "Romeo" is propped on a twelve foot ladder in the picture!! Although I love that he climbed the ladder to help me with the lens of his camera, it makes my knees weak to even look at this picture!!

Autumn has come to the Gorge and our backyard. I threw in at least one picture from our trip through the Yakima River area!!

My project is still Heather's quilt AND Santa's Workshop will soon be open. Life is complete and wonderful!! Love to You all. Mom

"The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired." — Gordon B. Hinckley

Dad's Cat and Other Summer Fun

Summer seems to be drawing to its close, in spite of 90 degree weather today. Our summer acquisition has been Dad's Cat. Now, Dad will not own up to having a cat, calls it my cat. The fact, however, remains that the cat spends most of his day sitting on the rock pile watching Dad. The little black yard cat chases birds he can only dream of catching, intimidates squirrels into hiding in their rock wall homes, and sniffs around the bird feeders and bird houses. Dad won't claim an attachment to the little guy, but he's planning to buy some cat food tomorrow.

Uncle Garth and Aunt Joan are doing well on their mission, learning to love the east. Aunt Joan and I have had some fun experiences, involving our "twinness," even though we're separated by 3000 miles. As is our custom, we've begun to talk to each other about Christmas projects in our daily emails. One day, I described in detail a beautiful Christmas wall hanging that involved the use of a popular quilt design called feathering. I had just ordered a book, so that I could learn the technique. I no sooner sent the message into cyberspace, than I received

her daily email, which said: "I'm going to have to learn how to do feathering on the quilt I'm working on because it's a feathered star." One or two days later, I wrote her a long email about my plans for family Christmas gifts. I felt that Tom and I had come up with a very unique idea, and I was excited to tell her. (Sorry, can't reveal the plan.) Once again, our emails winged past each other in cyberspace, and I received her email, which revealed a plan she and Garth had cooked up, which is exactly like ours!! What a hoot!

Dad's project is finished. Our enclosed back porch!!
My projects include making the squares for Heather's quilt. The angel is brown--a tribute to Heather's little sister, Julianna. I have the little square halfway quilted. The other photo isn't clear enough, but there are six pieces of material. I spotted the material a few days ago and had to have them!! Now, being who I am, I haven't thought through how, but I plan to make them into Kobe's and Connor's quilts. Any ideas to share???

Fall is Dad's favorite season, and we're anticipating a month or two of glorious weather. We hope all of you will anticipate and enjoy as well. We love all of you. Mom

"Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." - J. K. Rowling

Burning Issues and Moving On

Hello Everyone,
I have been trying all afternoon to solve a puzzle. About May, I found a great cross-stitch kit that I thought would be a perfect birthday gift for Aunt Joan. I worked on the project all during my stay at Marie's and most of May and June and finally finished it. I've spent almost three weeks now, trying to find a way to adequately display the crazy thing!! It's an awkward size, and most of my ideas just haven't worked!! I've even enlisted Dad in my project. Many of you may not know, but your father is quite an artist. He has a real eye for design and excellent suggestions, but....in this instance, nothing has worked. I tell you all this because I intend to put what I've done into a box and send it to Aunt Joan and MOVE ON. Well, truth be told, I'm going to try one more idea, and, if that doesn't work, I'll move on. This experience has had me thinking, once again, about the fact that sometimes, in our every day life, we simply must pull ourselves out of our ruts of guilt, anger, frustration, and ineffective thinking, forgive ourselves and others if necessary, and move on.

Life has been pretty quiet since our company left. I've found a few hilarious souvenirs from our latest company: the big stuffed dog lassoed by one of my big quilting hoops by two little big-eyed cowboys, and Molly Bear and Elder What's-his-name's bear sitting in the living room where they were rescued by my heroic little fi-o-men. We're making plans for the coming school year for our Institute class. I'm still working on quilts and starting to plan Christmas gifts. Dad's working on the rock wall and beginning the fall weeding, etc. The many pictures of the back-to-schoolers is a reminder of the not-so-long ago days when it was the parents of this batch who were begging for Swatch watches, Silver tab jeans, a certain notebook and wondering which friend would be in their class!! I always think of Tommy who got a pink slip on the first day of kindergarten. He saw a large light bulb laying on the top of a garbage can heap and smashed it on the wall to see why it rattled. He came home very excitedly saying, "And if I get another pink slip tomorrow, I get to go see the principal. Mom, do I know the principal?" You guessed it. He figured out a way to get to see the principal!! Mark began his first day in WS schools in 100 degree weather wearing a leather fringed western jacket and cowboy boots!! Being an outsider with a "funny way of talking," Mark suffered the indignity of having the tires let out on his bike by a group of hooligans who later became some of his best buddies. Darla and Jothan played follow the leader and jumped, hopped, marched, and played their first day and were, consequently, late for their first day of kindergarten. I must confess that I get a lumpy throat and make a run by the schools on the first day.

There's a big wildfire up around Mosier. It's always dramatic to see the airplanes dipping their huge buckets into the Columbia to put out fires. Our neighbor told us that the hills around Mosier are aglow all evening. We pray for the firefighters and for those whose homes are threatened. (These pictures were taken at the Lyle rest area.)

Please, Everyone, keep yourselves well. Not only physically but spiritually and emotionally as well.

Isn't it strange how princes and kings,and clowns that caper in sawdust rings,and common people, like you and me,are builders for eternity?Each is given a list of rules;a shapeless mass; a bag of tools.And each must fashion, ere life is flown,A stumbling block, or a Stepping-Stone.by R. Lee Sharpe

BUILDING

One of the older buildings in town burned not long ago. Within a day or so, the building was boarded up, and the owners of the shops were already busy re-building and renovating. In a funny little twist, Tom showed me a quirky little sight at the side of the house, and the sight of this little honeysuckle vine climbing up a wire lead me to think about how much our family loves to build! Kevin and Debbie are building children's books about animal care; Mark and Jennifer build and decorate houses; DeAnne designs sets for plays; Tobin cooks scrumptuous goodies; Darla, information/computer systems; Susan, book blogs and adoption websites; Steve restores cars; Ben builds furniture and Marie,recipes, organizational ideas and blogs. Tom is restoring a huge 1801 church pulpit for his employer; Nicole sells her own concoctions of salves and herbs. Dad is back to working on the rock wall, and I'm building a quilt for Heather. We love to build, and I hope that 99% of what we love to build is our own character, patience, and a sense of the service our building can bring to others.

This summer has been, once again, about family, and we're so pleased that between Dad and me we've seen every member of the family except Tom. Last night I sat downstairs, listening to Wyatt and Kahlil playing in the bathtub, and could hear the echo of 35+ years of kids, grandkids, and great grandkids laughing and splashing in that old tub. Have I remembered to use the word blessed in this blog yet?

All is well here. Yesterday we were strolling around in Craft Warehouse, and I pointed out all the art supplies on display and said, "I think for your winter project, you should do some painting." I had heard that in his younger years, Dad did some excellent sketching and painting, but he's never done any since. He looked incredulous!! Sit down?? Vegetate in front of an easel?? How could I suggest such a thing?? He has too many remodeling projects in mind for any of that kind of nonsense!! I have begun to think about Christmas and Christmas gifts...It's so powerful and empowering to have projects in mind to dream about and DO.

Wishing all of you some enjoyment through these dog days of summer and hoping that we're all building SOMETHING. Let's see--where did I put my quilting needles??

"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision."
- Helen Keller

I'm Back

It was difficult to leave Guam, but it was time to give Marie to adjust to what she calls her reality, and for me to get back to mine!! I enjoyed being on a tropical island and took a quick shot of the lush green park around Marie's house.
My flight from Guam to Tokyo proved to be an interesting one!! In spite of all that puny man has created, Mother Nature always does him one or two better! We passed through the edge of a solar eclipse. The view out one side of the plane was total blackness; outside the other it was light. We all oohed and ahhed. I finished reading a book Marie had loaned me--Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows. I have to confess that I enjoyed it.





I spent an hour in the Tokyo Airport. I enjoyed this display of origami warriors in a shop which specialized in all sorts of origami. Fascinating. As I waited for my flight, I was almost horrified to see over 100 Japanese middle-school age children walk in. Besides a few miscellaneous passengers like myself, there were the 100 children, a group of high school evangelists who'd just completed a humanitarian mission in the Philippines, and a group of high schoolers who had done a study abroad in Japan. It made for a noisy, busy flight, since the electronics in the coach part of the plane was down, so no inflight movie, radio, video games, etc. to keep the group entertained!! Eight hours of teenage angst!! The Japanese children were fun to watch. They screeched with delight when the plane took off and when it landed. They visited and chatted and hugged each other; some of the girls sitting 4 or 5 deep in the seats designed for 3. For some reason, they took pictures of their meals on the plane. Pre-teenage excitement about every little thing is the same in any language! The evangelical group seemed to be exhausted; they were quiet and asleep for most of the nine hour flight; service to others can be tiring. I found the study abroad group who sat closest to me to be the most obnoxious. Most of them were flaunting their newly acquired language skills to Japanese native speakers and to impress any of the rest of us around them. I thought of the old song: "Puttin' on the agony, puttin' on the style. That's what all the young folks are doing all the while."

I was amazed to greet a teenage giant named Vale calling "Grandma" in a low voice!!

The final fun of my first day home was a breakfast at Shari's with Mark's family, who were all headed in separte directions after a fun reunion at our house.

All in all, a good time had been had by all--except perhaps Tom who spent many, many hours building a beautiful, beautiful new deck and gathering wood for our winter's pleasure. Life at is best!!

Love to all. Mom

"Love is like the North Star. In a changing world, it's always constant." — Gordon B. Hinckley

Hanging Out and Hanging On

Little Mason is nine days old....

This tray came to Grandma with the request, "Will you pix it?"

Ethan made a pet of a tiny gecko we found in a bedroom.

Legos, Legos, and more Legos.

Ready for church

A funny Mohawk to tease Mom.
The main attraction.

There is no doubt that summertime in Guam is a study in contrasts. I'm still in Guam and enjoying the grandkids, old and new, but....I'm so looking forward to seeing my sweetheart on Wednesday--stateside Wednesday. What's interesting about missing a loved one is that you find that what you really, truly miss is not so much the big things, but the million of small, minute images, feelings, memories that make up 38 years of being with someone. I miss the crinkles/crow's feet in Tom's eyes when he laughs at a private joke we've shared. I miss looking at his hands, every inch of which I know and love, I miss his "I'm home....where are you?" when he's been gone even for just a few minutes. I miss seeing the blue light of his watch when he checks it in the middle of the night.....and a million other things. So, I'm hanging on for Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm enjoying all the quirkiness, silliness, foolishness of five little children. We're hanging out in a land where one minute there's thunder, lightning, sleeting,slanting rain and a few minutes after the storm, there's not trace of a drop of moisture....

INTRODUCING...MASTER MASON CHARLES TURNER

After waiting nearly an hour, while nurses weighed, measured, and bathed the two hour old baby, Mason Charles Turner was greeted with oohs and ahs by his big brothers and sister. So much joy fills a room during such events!! I always think of Wordsworth's words: "

" But trailing clouds of glory do we come/From God who is our home. Heaven lies about us in our infancy..."

Heaven indeed. It was as enthralling to greet Number 16 grandchild as it was to greet Number 1 20 plus years ago. A privilege indeed--in the midst of a storm on a tropical island!! Mason Charles Turner born July 10 (I know what you're thinking, but remember we're in Guam) at 4:45 pm, a whopping 8 lbs and 2 ounces

Welcome to the world, Mason.