April 29, 2012
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham, Christian, and Eva!
Both Mama and I missed our letters last week. Christian, I hope you had emails waiting for you otherwise.
A week ago Saturday, I had a busy day. I worked at home for awhile. I set up the chairs for the Miller Eccles study group, although Mama had brought down more than half the chairs for a girl scout meet the previous Thursday. Then I went to a function at the Jonathan Club where my client was presenting. The client is B&R Liquid Adventure LLC, that is making and marketing kombucha tea under the trade name “Bucha’”. They are running substantially ahead of their projections and are quite enthusiastic about it. The Jonathan Club sponsored an early afternoon of food and beverage on Fremont Street on the back side of the Jonathan Club. Various restaurants and food vendors set up. The tickets were $70 per person, but since I was assisting my client, it did not cost me anything. The food was delicious. I did not have any wine, but there was a smoothie available. So I just enjoyed the time and encourage people to visit the kombucha booth.
I then came home in time to go to our church in La Canada for the start of the soccer league on the ball field. I had striped the field and I brought the big soccer goals. We played Sunland Ward, who came out in force. They played mostly high school kids, and a few 20 somethings, and half were young women. I was happy to see the participation. Of course the game was no contest, so we ended up switching positions and allowed Sunland a couple of goals. Riley and Grant Owen played. Two of the Broberg boys played. Neville and his two boys played. And I played. The next game was the Tujunga Ward. They also came out in force, with family members to support them and cheer them on. I didn’t stay, but they had a spirited game. I think everyone considered it a great success. After our game, I went to FIS and joined my regular pick-up game in progress. Later, at 7:00 pm, I went back to the Church to retrieve my gear.
This past Saturday, I went over to FIS to stripe the field for our soccer game later that day. I had started the job on Friday night, but it was too dark to finish it. When it was too dark to finish striping, I decided to just run. So I would sprint at top speed the entire length of the grass field, then jog back around on the track. I did this repeatedly, until I was soaking with sweat. But I thought I would not overdo it because I wanted to play the next day. So I went back to FIS Saturday morning to finish the job. When I stripe the field by myself, I am running all over the field, because I have to stake down the tape measure on one side of the field, pull it across the field to measure and mark the lines, then run back to the striping machine, and push it along to spray paint on the line, then sprint back to the beginning and pull out the stake, then run back to the other end of the tape measure, and wind the tape measure up, then do the same things for the next line. So it is a work out itself. I also striped the field at the Church and took the soccer gear over to the Church at 3:00 pm. However, we had a bye this week, so LCI did not play. The second week of the Stake League seemed to be as successful as the first week. I did play in my regular pick-up game at 5:00 pm. By the end of the day, I was very tired, and I went to bed shortly after 11:00 pm. I also played in two LA Muni League games, one this past week and one the week before. We won one game and lost the other. Still, it is fun. I am probably near the bottom on the depth chart, but I still play almost half the game. If I am playing, at least people know I will be running.
This past Saturday, we had our Stake Service project at Brand Park in Glendale. The project was to clear the hiking trail that goes up into the Verdugo Hills behind Brand Park. It had become clogged with fallen palm fronds, other undergrowth, and particularly bamboo. Bamboo is not non-native and terribly invasive. So it was hard work. We had a very good and large turn-out. Glendale City was absolutely amazed. I worked hard cutting bamboo and pulling each bamboo stalk, about 30 feet long, out of the thicket into a pile.
I was in court twice this past week. Monday I was in court early asking for a temporary restraining order. However, the trial court turned it down because the trial court said it had no jurisdiction, since I had previously filed a notice of appeal of an earlier adverse decision by the court sustaining the demurrer. At the court of appeal, the next day on Tuesday, the justice granted the TRO, subject to allowing the other side to submit an opposition due tomorrow by 10:00 am. So we will see whether the court changes its mind. As a result, I was up very late Sunday night finishing the papers for Monday morning, and I was up until 3:00 am Monday night – Tuesday morning finishing the papers for the Court of Appeal.
Friday evening, Eva attended the Mormon Prom held in the Science Center near the USC campus. She invited Brandon Chung as her date. He sings in Chamber Singers with her. He is a delightful young man. He is the one who invited Eva to make a presentation on the Latter-day Saints at his Korean Baptist Church in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. He is also popular among the LDS kids, so he was hugging everyone that evening at the Church where we all met for pictures before they departed on busses to the Science Center. Brandon came by the house about 5:30 pm for Eva. We took some pictures in our house. Then we met them again at the Church, together with everyone else from the Stake. After 30-45 minutes of picture taking, the young people boarded the two busses and left. Eva really enjoyed it. The Mormon Prom featured a nice buffet line, with tables set up at various points in the museum. They had a nice picture booth, they could visit the displays, they had “Rock Band” – a karaoke type set-up, a caricature artist, and of course music. Eva looked beautiful. She was home a bit after midnight, happy after enjoying a good time. I will attach a couple of pictures to this letter, but you should visit our blog for more pictures. See: http://christie-russ.blogspot.com/.
A week ago, we had a wonderful evening with Janice Kapp Perry. (I will admit a faux paux – two in fact – at the outset. I didn’t realize that “I’m a Mormon”, and “I hope they call me on a mission” are Janeen Jacobs Brady songs, not Janice Kapp Perry, and I attributed them to her. But Janice was so nice, she did not point that out to me.) for all of her success, and for all the contact she has had with high church authorities, and for singing in the tabernacle choir for 5 years, she maintained a humble and grateful personality. She gave a retrospective on her life and music. She performed a few numbers with her niece, including some sing-alongs. Her description of her own financial struggles in the last four years after the economy went into recession, and particularly after Deseret Book purchased Bookcraft and Seagull Book, illustrated the perhaps devastating consequences on LDS artists. Now there is no outlet if Deseret Book does not order, and no competition. Have you noticed a dearth of recent LDS artistic output? You would all have enjoyed it.
A week ago Friday, I went to the temple. Friday is a good night. I can go to the last session at 7:30 pm. The session room was about two thirds filled, but still manageable. The traffic on Friday evening from Pasadena to downtown and to the west side is surprisingly light (but very crowded going into Hollywood). So it is a good night to go.
Otherwise, my intellectual stimulation has been doing legal work (which exercises the brain, and can be interesting, even if not profound) and listening to the great courses as I am commuting. I am just finishing the 12 lecture course on Christianity as a world religion. Before that I listened to Judaism as a world religion. Up next will be Islam, followed by Hinduism and Buddhism.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
David Beckham and Landon Donovan agreed to pose with us.
