Pictures from La Canada Flintridge - two cute kids and a handsome (?) grandpa.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
8/30/2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
You have missed an exciting week in La Canada Flintridge. It is the kind of exciting that I would have liked to miss myself. It took a few days, but I think the fire has made the national and international news. The fire started small on Wednesday afternoon a few miles up Angeles Crest Highway near the ranger station. It did not appear to really flare up until Thursday, and then it started to attach La Canada. When I was at the John Ferraro soccer fields near the 134 -5 Freeway interchange on Thursday for my soccer game, I could see the fire seem to explode, with high plumes of smoke and red flames shooting high into the air. The fire was on the north side of the hill, so the mountain ridge glowed red from behind. The next day, the fire started burning down the hill. Since there was no wind (thanks be to God), the fire did not whip down the mountainside. Friday evening and night, the fire reached the base of the mountain next to the Johnsons and others in La Canada, including the Bishop. Saturday, the fire continued to explode east and west into Altadena, and west into La Crescenta and Tujunga. In addition, the fire is burning north through the mountains toward the antelope valley. Today, the fire still rages. The valley was covered with smoke. It was like fog. The sun made its way through the smoke only as a red ball. By the end of church, enough of a breeze had occurred that it cleared the smoke out of the valley. I do think that our clothing is likely to retain some smoky smell. We can still see flames tonight. But everyone in our Stake seems to be safe. One consequence of the fires and smoke is the cancellation of school tomorrow. La Canada High School has been used as an evacuation center.
Soccer report time. I wanted to be in shape for the game, after missing last week. I rode my bike to the Rose Bowl Monday evening, and ran Tuesday and Wednesday. So I was okay for the game on Thursday. In fact, I am probably in better running shape than anyone on my team. By the end, I was the only really sprinting from both teams, and I won a lot of 50-50 balls that I was not winning in the first half. Nevertheless, the game ended in a 0-0- tie. We were not too disappointed, since it was against the third place team. Then I sent out a notice on Thursday night for a Saturday afternoon game. Friday night, with the fires and smoke in the valley, I almost sent an email canceling the game. In fact, the smoke was no bad on Friday that I decided not to ride my bike to the Rose Bowl and back. But Saturday morning, the breeze had pushed the smoke out of the valley, and I decided to play. The temperature was about 100 degrees, but cooled a few degrees by 4pm. A slight on-shore breeze kept the smoke out of the valley. We had a good game, with about 13 people, but we only played on ¼ of the field, so we did not do all out running.
Saturday morning, Mama went to a CES training that lasted until she returned at 2:00 PM. But her responsibilities were not yet over. She then had to drive to Victorville in the afternoon to speak to a single adult conference. She finally returned about 9:30 pm in the evening. So she had a very full day.
But the best part of this week has been the arrival of Rosalynde and Naomi, with their new babies. At first, they were a bit reluctant to come to me, but that has certainly worn-off now. I think they are my friends now. One time when Polly wanted to cry, I went out in the backyard, like I did with many of you, to walk around. I sat in the swing, but that meant I was too comfortable, so Polly insisted that I get up and walk around. So I did, but I got a soccer ball and started kicking it into the net. That fascinated her – so I know she likes soccer. It is so fun to have two babies in the house again. I even held both of them like I used to hold Rachel and Jacob. I’ll attach a couple of pictures. I have enjoyed talking to Rosalynde and Naomi. This evening, Naomi took my big truck – the Megacab – to pick up her colleagues at the airport and drive them to Palmdale, where they have presentations this coming week. I told her that her colleagues would be very impressed when she drove up in the truck! So I think she will be commuting to Palmdale in my truck for a couple of days – reimbursed by her employer. She has enjoyed driving the truck, so Dave, you know what to get her for Christmas.
Eva has been recovering from her lingering bout of the flu, and then the fire came. So she has not yet been training with the cross country team. I assume that will come later this week.
At Sunday dinner, John Gardner, who had just returned from attending the Studio City ward with a friend of his who is a girl, and then thereafter attending the Glendale Singles Ward, told us about living in Sacramento. Then, when Rosalynde finished her conversation with John and her kids, we got into a discussion the necessary and sufficient conditions for exaltation. I told Mama that I would be clinging to her apron strings.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
You have missed an exciting week in La Canada Flintridge. It is the kind of exciting that I would have liked to miss myself. It took a few days, but I think the fire has made the national and international news. The fire started small on Wednesday afternoon a few miles up Angeles Crest Highway near the ranger station. It did not appear to really flare up until Thursday, and then it started to attach La Canada. When I was at the John Ferraro soccer fields near the 134 -5 Freeway interchange on Thursday for my soccer game, I could see the fire seem to explode, with high plumes of smoke and red flames shooting high into the air. The fire was on the north side of the hill, so the mountain ridge glowed red from behind. The next day, the fire started burning down the hill. Since there was no wind (thanks be to God), the fire did not whip down the mountainside. Friday evening and night, the fire reached the base of the mountain next to the Johnsons and others in La Canada, including the Bishop. Saturday, the fire continued to explode east and west into Altadena, and west into La Crescenta and Tujunga. In addition, the fire is burning north through the mountains toward the antelope valley. Today, the fire still rages. The valley was covered with smoke. It was like fog. The sun made its way through the smoke only as a red ball. By the end of church, enough of a breeze had occurred that it cleared the smoke out of the valley. I do think that our clothing is likely to retain some smoky smell. We can still see flames tonight. But everyone in our Stake seems to be safe. One consequence of the fires and smoke is the cancellation of school tomorrow. La Canada High School has been used as an evacuation center.
Soccer report time. I wanted to be in shape for the game, after missing last week. I rode my bike to the Rose Bowl Monday evening, and ran Tuesday and Wednesday. So I was okay for the game on Thursday. In fact, I am probably in better running shape than anyone on my team. By the end, I was the only really sprinting from both teams, and I won a lot of 50-50 balls that I was not winning in the first half. Nevertheless, the game ended in a 0-0- tie. We were not too disappointed, since it was against the third place team. Then I sent out a notice on Thursday night for a Saturday afternoon game. Friday night, with the fires and smoke in the valley, I almost sent an email canceling the game. In fact, the smoke was no bad on Friday that I decided not to ride my bike to the Rose Bowl and back. But Saturday morning, the breeze had pushed the smoke out of the valley, and I decided to play. The temperature was about 100 degrees, but cooled a few degrees by 4pm. A slight on-shore breeze kept the smoke out of the valley. We had a good game, with about 13 people, but we only played on ¼ of the field, so we did not do all out running.
Saturday morning, Mama went to a CES training that lasted until she returned at 2:00 PM. But her responsibilities were not yet over. She then had to drive to Victorville in the afternoon to speak to a single adult conference. She finally returned about 9:30 pm in the evening. So she had a very full day.
But the best part of this week has been the arrival of Rosalynde and Naomi, with their new babies. At first, they were a bit reluctant to come to me, but that has certainly worn-off now. I think they are my friends now. One time when Polly wanted to cry, I went out in the backyard, like I did with many of you, to walk around. I sat in the swing, but that meant I was too comfortable, so Polly insisted that I get up and walk around. So I did, but I got a soccer ball and started kicking it into the net. That fascinated her – so I know she likes soccer. It is so fun to have two babies in the house again. I even held both of them like I used to hold Rachel and Jacob. I’ll attach a couple of pictures. I have enjoyed talking to Rosalynde and Naomi. This evening, Naomi took my big truck – the Megacab – to pick up her colleagues at the airport and drive them to Palmdale, where they have presentations this coming week. I told her that her colleagues would be very impressed when she drove up in the truck! So I think she will be commuting to Palmdale in my truck for a couple of days – reimbursed by her employer. She has enjoyed driving the truck, so Dave, you know what to get her for Christmas.
Eva has been recovering from her lingering bout of the flu, and then the fire came. So she has not yet been training with the cross country team. I assume that will come later this week.
At Sunday dinner, John Gardner, who had just returned from attending the Studio City ward with a friend of his who is a girl, and then thereafter attending the Glendale Singles Ward, told us about living in Sacramento. Then, when Rosalynde finished her conversation with John and her kids, we got into a discussion the necessary and sufficient conditions for exaltation. I told Mama that I would be clinging to her apron strings.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Monday, August 24, 2009
Fabulous Trip to Utah
August 23, 2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
We are now returning from a wonderful few days in taking Christian to BYU for late summer honors and the beginning of his BYU career. You will enjoy his letter that I just received and read.
We left Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm or so. We listened to the Sirius satellite Broadway channel almost the entire way up, except near the end when I was driving at night and we listened to the classical channel. If any of you ever needs a Broadway musical question answered, please give Christian a call. Fortunately, we had an uneventful trip up. We did stop at In’n’Out in Washington, the last outpost of civilization on the way to Provo. I worked on legal projects most of the way. Unfortunately, I did not have enough sense to put away the legal work and have great conversation with Mama and Christian on the way to Provo. Do any of you think I could have given any good advice? I would like to take the drive over again so I could use the time more wisely.
We left Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm or so. We listened to the Sirius satellite Broadway channel almost the entire way up, except near the end when I was driving at night and we listened to the classical channel. If any of you ever needs a Broadway musical question answered, please give Christian a call. Fortunately, we had an uneventful trip up. We did stop at In’n’Out in Washington, the last outpost of civilization on the way to Provo. I worked on legal projects most of the way. Unfortunately, I did not have enough sense to put away the legal work and have great conversation with Mama and Christian on the way to Provo. Do any of you think I could have given any good advice? I would like to take the drive over again so I could use the time more wisely.
Thursday morning came early enough. We were over on campus before 9:00 am at Taylor Hall for Christian to check in for Late Summer Honors. He was surrounded by a lot of bright kids and their parents. We dropped Christian off at his room, and then took him to the bookstore to open his bank account and get a few essential items. We then left him on campus and we drove to Salt Lake City. I met with a client for 90 minutes while mama went to the airport to pick up Eva. On the way back, we stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few more things for Christian, and price the bicycles. Then we went to Super Target to try to find things (file hangers) we did not find at Wal-Mart. Then we stopped at Best Buy to get a printer for Christian. Then we went to a bike shop on Freedom Avenue. I was hoping they would have a 50% of sale. No luck. This year, BYU did not have a sale (like BYU did when Benjamin got his bike.) so Eva and mama went to the bookstore again while I went back to Wal-Mart and got a nice bike for Christian.
I then met mama and Eva on campus. We had a great experience – at least great for me. (Mama and Eva profess to have been a little bit bored – but that might have been coy posturing – how could anyone not have been fascinated.) We went to visit Prof. Granton Campbell, the physics professor that Benjamin assists in research. He raved about Benjamin – in his seven years at BYU, perhaps only one has been as good as Benjamin, and Benjamin was only a sophomore at BYU at the time. Prof. Campbell expects great things from Benjamin. He showed us the beautiful data that he and Benjamin gathered at Chicago. I would like a wall poster of it. He pointed out the phonon waves to us. (Despite all my physics, I was not familiar with phonon waves. This is the Wikipedia definition: In physics, a phonon is a quantized mode of vibration occurring in a rigid crystal lattice, such as the atomic lattice of a solid.[1] The study of phonons is an important part of solid state physics, because phonons play a major role in many of the physical properties of solids, including a material's thermal and electrical conductivities. In particular, the properties of long-wavelength phonons give rise to sound in solids—hence the name phonon from the Greek φωνή (phonē) = voice.[2] In insulating solids, phonons are also the primary mechanism by which heat conduction takes place. Phonons are a quantum mechanical version of a special type of vibrational motion, known as normal modes in classical mechanics, in which each part of a lattice oscillates with the same frequency. These normal modes are important because, according to a well-known result in classical mechanics, any arbitrary vibrational motion of a lattice can be considered as a superposition of normal modes with various frequencies (compare Fourier transform); in this sense, the normal modes are the elementary vibrations of the lattice. Although normal modes are wave-like phenomena in classical mechanics, they acquire certain particle-like properties when the lattice is analysed using quantum mechanics (see wave-particle duality.)) We spent at least an hour with Dr. Campbell, perhaps more. He took us down below ground in one of the best state of the art academic physics labs in the country. He showed us many other professors’ labs, the electron microscopes, laser setups, and Benjamin’s work area, including the power supply that Benjamin rescued from an old Geiger counter, which, with tools, was still scattered across Benjamin’s work bench. I would sure like to be a physics student again.
After our physics lesson, We went to hogi yogi on bulldog blvd for dinner. Since we wanted to hike Mt. Nebo the next day, and since I had forgotten to bring Eva’s shoes, we h hurried over to Big Five to get some shoes. Eva did not think it was worth the cost, but I promised not to buy books this trip so we could get her some shoes. Then we went to see Harry potter and the half-blood prince.
Friday morning, after a generous breakfast from Aunt Pat (eggs and hash browns), and staying late talking, we set of for Mt. Nebo. Unfortunately, Eva started feeling sick with the flu the previous evening at the movie. She was still sick Friday morning, so she did not go hiking with us. We were following the directions from Google – which directed us to exit 252. (There is no exit 252, but there is an exit 250.) So I got off on an exit to far, and cut through Payson, thinking it would be easy to determine the main road going up the canyon. It was not. I went too far. I stopped to ask a lady for directions, but did not trust her on it. I went the way I thought was more likely, but after a half mile, it became clear I was wrong. Of course, Mama appropriately chastised me for being so proud and arrogant. I went back and followed the directions, and they were precisely right. We drove up a very pretty canyon, past Payson Lakes, and on and on! Finally we came to Monument trailhead, and the Google directions were good her. We started hiking at 8,000-9,000 feet. It was beautiful. The air was clear. It was not hot. The trail started steep, and except for two shorter relatively flat places, the trail was relentlessly steep. Mama soon out-distanced me. She cannot hike as slowly as I hike. However, she finally waited for me in a beautiful little valley, and we hiked together through the aspens and pine trees, with beautiful little wild flowers, fragrant grass, and mountain shrubbery. We passed several cows and calves, and they just looked at us in a way suggesting annoyance that we would intrude on their serenity (generally, cows are not smart enough to have those thoughts). We saw only two people the entire way on the trail. I saw no other sign of humans, except one small piece of half-buried trash. So it was very clean. We hiked on together, climbing higher and higher and getting closer to the summit. As we approached the highest elevations, I could not go much faster. My heart would beat, I would work up a sweat, and I became a bit nauseous with associated bowel activity. (I am in shape – how does this happen? I just hiked Half Dome – 17 miles round trip, 5,000 feet elevation gain to 8,900 feet – with Rachel with no problem. Of course I did not bring my hiking pole, which would really have helped.) So Mama went on ahead a bit. I continued on at a slower pace, and ascended a very high peak, which I think is the slightly lower peak just north a few hundred yards from the highest peak. As I got to the top, I saw mama coming back from the highest peak. She had made it within 100-200 linear feet of top, but that linear last distance was extremely steep on loose shall, with a sharp drop off in either side of the trail. The trail was right along the spine of the mountain, and literally just a rounded edge from 3-6 feet wide – perhaps narrower in some places. The trail faded right at the top where Mama was, so she came back to me. However, I think we were close enough to claim victory in hiking to the top of Mt. Nebo. Does anyone want to dispute that? (One can dispute my claim, but Mama’s claim seems legit.)
We sat there a while and just gloried in the 360 degree view. We took some pictures – attached. Then we headed back. It was tough going down – although I did go down quite a bit faster than going up. Still after ¾ of a mile, I stopped to rest and retch, and then continued on. We also met the two hikers. We had a good conversation. One of the them – Dr. Parkinson – has a daughter living in the Glendale Second Ward, whom Mama knows, who had just been to girls camp in Santa Barbara. What a small world. They gave us a bottle of water. (We had brought four liters between us, but we should have brought 5.) They gave us a peach – we had graham crackers and candy – not a great choice. The peach really helped Mama but with my stomach, it did not go too well. But we continued on down – I could tell by the tone of her voice that Mama had some concern for me. But we eventually made it to the truck – and mama only arrived at the truck about 200 yards ahead of me. So I do not know if I was sick from altitude or whether I had a touch of the flu that Eva had.) I want to try Mt. Nebo again. Who wants to go with me? I’ll bring my hiking pole, more water, and some bananas and other better hiking food. We then drove south from the trailhead down into Salt Creek, and then into Nephi and back to Spanish Fork on the freeway.
Benjamin and Christian, you should go on a double or triple date this fall – when all the aspen trees are brilliant gold – by taking a picnic lunch, driving up through Payson canyon, continuing past the monument trailhead toward the Nephi side of Mt. Nebo, stop for lunch and a nice hike at Hell’s Kitchen (a mini Bryce canyon), and continue down to Nephi. It is a very romantic trip. Mama and I had a great romantic time. However, Benjamin, don’t take a girl on a hike to the top of Mt. Nebo, unless you have previously vetted her – if she is like your sisters, she will be tough enough to do it – but if not, it could be a disaster. But if you find someone up to it, you will have a wonderful and romantic time. I had a great time on a date on a hike up the Timpanookie trail to Mt. Timpanogos one year at BYU. But Mt. Nebo would be even more special, because it is the trail so seldom taken. The Mt. Nebo trail was only about 9 miles round trip, but it had a 3,000 foot or more vertical ascent at altitude – it is probably overall steeper than the Mt. Timpanogos hike. Mt. Nebo is a few hundred feet taller than Mt. Timpanogos.
Back in Spanish Fork, mama cleaned up, ate some supper, and went to spend the evening with Aunt Susan. Eva and I watched “National Treasure”, which I had not watched before. It was a fun movie to watch while I was really tired. I guessed all the plot lines, and the guy ends up with the girl in the end after surviving all the harrowing close calls and ingeniously figuring out the clues.
Saturday morning came too soon. We rushed over to meet Christian at 8:30 AM or so to help him move out and to show him his new bike, etc. then he was off to his Squaw Peak hike. We went back to Spanish Fork and ate Aunt Pat’s delicious waffles and picked up Eva. Then we did a few more errands for Christian. We walked through the Harris Fine Arts Center – looking at the faculty art work on display (I was not that impressed over-all. There were a few good pieces.) Then we walked into the Museum of Art for the real treat. There is a fabulous display of Victorian Art. I could have spent a lot more time there, but my body was telling me that it is easier to hike Mt. Nebo than stand around in an art gallery for 90 minutes. After the Victorian gallery, we went into the Religious Art gallery. I loved the pieces, but of course the outstanding piece was a Rembrandt of the head of Christ. It is fabulous – you are just drawn to it. So I bought a print of it for Mama – a late birthday gift – that we will have framed. Then we went outside, found some shade on the grass near the art museum, and took a nap. Finally, it was about 3:00 PM, and we returned to May Hall to assist Christian in moving in – after first finding a very nice man in charge of the process who helped us out at 3:00 PM, rather than making us wait until 5:00 PM. Christian returned just in time from his Squaw Peak hike to help us move his gear in. Eva was a great help to us. Finally, it came time for me to give Christian a fathers blessing before going to the creamery. We had 10 minutes to get ice cream. As we walked in, there was at least a 20 minute wait. So we got 5 brownies for $2.00 instead. We dropped Christian off at his room, and we left for Centerfield.
We made it just in time for Grandpa’s surprise birthday celebration of 90 years. He was very surprised. My Aunt Edna, Aunt Marian and Aunt Louise were all there, together with all the children and spouses. We had a fine time talking and reminiscing and view photos. I am glad we were there. After the dinner, we retired from the church to Grandma and Grandpa’s house where they divided up the football tickets. After logging on to Christian’s BYU account and providing health insurance information, we went to bed and slept very soundly.
Today, we didn’t get up until about 8:30 AM, and we were then soon on our way to La Canada. See mama’s letter for the details. Eva slept in the back seat a good deal of the way. Mama and I got to hold hands for hours as we drove. The sky had many clouds, and we had a few rain drops. The varying clouds made the sky and landscape very interesting and beautiful. I enjoyed the drive until we reached Las Vegas. Then it was bad after that. But we are home now and glad to be home.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
PS - trouble uploading pictures. i'll try later.
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
We are now returning from a wonderful few days in taking Christian to BYU for late summer honors and the beginning of his BYU career. You will enjoy his letter that I just received and read.
We left Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm or so. We listened to the Sirius satellite Broadway channel almost the entire way up, except near the end when I was driving at night and we listened to the classical channel. If any of you ever needs a Broadway musical question answered, please give Christian a call. Fortunately, we had an uneventful trip up. We did stop at In’n’Out in Washington, the last outpost of civilization on the way to Provo. I worked on legal projects most of the way. Unfortunately, I did not have enough sense to put away the legal work and have great conversation with Mama and Christian on the way to Provo. Do any of you think I could have given any good advice? I would like to take the drive over again so I could use the time more wisely.
We left Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm or so. We listened to the Sirius satellite Broadway channel almost the entire way up, except near the end when I was driving at night and we listened to the classical channel. If any of you ever needs a Broadway musical question answered, please give Christian a call. Fortunately, we had an uneventful trip up. We did stop at In’n’Out in Washington, the last outpost of civilization on the way to Provo. I worked on legal projects most of the way. Unfortunately, I did not have enough sense to put away the legal work and have great conversation with Mama and Christian on the way to Provo. Do any of you think I could have given any good advice? I would like to take the drive over again so I could use the time more wisely.
Thursday morning came early enough. We were over on campus before 9:00 am at Taylor Hall for Christian to check in for Late Summer Honors. He was surrounded by a lot of bright kids and their parents. We dropped Christian off at his room, and then took him to the bookstore to open his bank account and get a few essential items. We then left him on campus and we drove to Salt Lake City. I met with a client for 90 minutes while mama went to the airport to pick up Eva. On the way back, we stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few more things for Christian, and price the bicycles. Then we went to Super Target to try to find things (file hangers) we did not find at Wal-Mart. Then we stopped at Best Buy to get a printer for Christian. Then we went to a bike shop on Freedom Avenue. I was hoping they would have a 50% of sale. No luck. This year, BYU did not have a sale (like BYU did when Benjamin got his bike.) so Eva and mama went to the bookstore again while I went back to Wal-Mart and got a nice bike for Christian.
I then met mama and Eva on campus. We had a great experience – at least great for me. (Mama and Eva profess to have been a little bit bored – but that might have been coy posturing – how could anyone not have been fascinated.) We went to visit Prof. Granton Campbell, the physics professor that Benjamin assists in research. He raved about Benjamin – in his seven years at BYU, perhaps only one has been as good as Benjamin, and Benjamin was only a sophomore at BYU at the time. Prof. Campbell expects great things from Benjamin. He showed us the beautiful data that he and Benjamin gathered at Chicago. I would like a wall poster of it. He pointed out the phonon waves to us. (Despite all my physics, I was not familiar with phonon waves. This is the Wikipedia definition: In physics, a phonon is a quantized mode of vibration occurring in a rigid crystal lattice, such as the atomic lattice of a solid.[1] The study of phonons is an important part of solid state physics, because phonons play a major role in many of the physical properties of solids, including a material's thermal and electrical conductivities. In particular, the properties of long-wavelength phonons give rise to sound in solids—hence the name phonon from the Greek φωνή (phonē) = voice.[2] In insulating solids, phonons are also the primary mechanism by which heat conduction takes place. Phonons are a quantum mechanical version of a special type of vibrational motion, known as normal modes in classical mechanics, in which each part of a lattice oscillates with the same frequency. These normal modes are important because, according to a well-known result in classical mechanics, any arbitrary vibrational motion of a lattice can be considered as a superposition of normal modes with various frequencies (compare Fourier transform); in this sense, the normal modes are the elementary vibrations of the lattice. Although normal modes are wave-like phenomena in classical mechanics, they acquire certain particle-like properties when the lattice is analysed using quantum mechanics (see wave-particle duality.)) We spent at least an hour with Dr. Campbell, perhaps more. He took us down below ground in one of the best state of the art academic physics labs in the country. He showed us many other professors’ labs, the electron microscopes, laser setups, and Benjamin’s work area, including the power supply that Benjamin rescued from an old Geiger counter, which, with tools, was still scattered across Benjamin’s work bench. I would sure like to be a physics student again.
After our physics lesson, We went to hogi yogi on bulldog blvd for dinner. Since we wanted to hike Mt. Nebo the next day, and since I had forgotten to bring Eva’s shoes, we h hurried over to Big Five to get some shoes. Eva did not think it was worth the cost, but I promised not to buy books this trip so we could get her some shoes. Then we went to see Harry potter and the half-blood prince.
Friday morning, after a generous breakfast from Aunt Pat (eggs and hash browns), and staying late talking, we set of for Mt. Nebo. Unfortunately, Eva started feeling sick with the flu the previous evening at the movie. She was still sick Friday morning, so she did not go hiking with us. We were following the directions from Google – which directed us to exit 252. (There is no exit 252, but there is an exit 250.) So I got off on an exit to far, and cut through Payson, thinking it would be easy to determine the main road going up the canyon. It was not. I went too far. I stopped to ask a lady for directions, but did not trust her on it. I went the way I thought was more likely, but after a half mile, it became clear I was wrong. Of course, Mama appropriately chastised me for being so proud and arrogant. I went back and followed the directions, and they were precisely right. We drove up a very pretty canyon, past Payson Lakes, and on and on! Finally we came to Monument trailhead, and the Google directions were good her. We started hiking at 8,000-9,000 feet. It was beautiful. The air was clear. It was not hot. The trail started steep, and except for two shorter relatively flat places, the trail was relentlessly steep. Mama soon out-distanced me. She cannot hike as slowly as I hike. However, she finally waited for me in a beautiful little valley, and we hiked together through the aspens and pine trees, with beautiful little wild flowers, fragrant grass, and mountain shrubbery. We passed several cows and calves, and they just looked at us in a way suggesting annoyance that we would intrude on their serenity (generally, cows are not smart enough to have those thoughts). We saw only two people the entire way on the trail. I saw no other sign of humans, except one small piece of half-buried trash. So it was very clean. We hiked on together, climbing higher and higher and getting closer to the summit. As we approached the highest elevations, I could not go much faster. My heart would beat, I would work up a sweat, and I became a bit nauseous with associated bowel activity. (I am in shape – how does this happen? I just hiked Half Dome – 17 miles round trip, 5,000 feet elevation gain to 8,900 feet – with Rachel with no problem. Of course I did not bring my hiking pole, which would really have helped.) So Mama went on ahead a bit. I continued on at a slower pace, and ascended a very high peak, which I think is the slightly lower peak just north a few hundred yards from the highest peak. As I got to the top, I saw mama coming back from the highest peak. She had made it within 100-200 linear feet of top, but that linear last distance was extremely steep on loose shall, with a sharp drop off in either side of the trail. The trail was right along the spine of the mountain, and literally just a rounded edge from 3-6 feet wide – perhaps narrower in some places. The trail faded right at the top where Mama was, so she came back to me. However, I think we were close enough to claim victory in hiking to the top of Mt. Nebo. Does anyone want to dispute that? (One can dispute my claim, but Mama’s claim seems legit.)
We sat there a while and just gloried in the 360 degree view. We took some pictures – attached. Then we headed back. It was tough going down – although I did go down quite a bit faster than going up. Still after ¾ of a mile, I stopped to rest and retch, and then continued on. We also met the two hikers. We had a good conversation. One of the them – Dr. Parkinson – has a daughter living in the Glendale Second Ward, whom Mama knows, who had just been to girls camp in Santa Barbara. What a small world. They gave us a bottle of water. (We had brought four liters between us, but we should have brought 5.) They gave us a peach – we had graham crackers and candy – not a great choice. The peach really helped Mama but with my stomach, it did not go too well. But we continued on down – I could tell by the tone of her voice that Mama had some concern for me. But we eventually made it to the truck – and mama only arrived at the truck about 200 yards ahead of me. So I do not know if I was sick from altitude or whether I had a touch of the flu that Eva had.) I want to try Mt. Nebo again. Who wants to go with me? I’ll bring my hiking pole, more water, and some bananas and other better hiking food. We then drove south from the trailhead down into Salt Creek, and then into Nephi and back to Spanish Fork on the freeway.
Benjamin and Christian, you should go on a double or triple date this fall – when all the aspen trees are brilliant gold – by taking a picnic lunch, driving up through Payson canyon, continuing past the monument trailhead toward the Nephi side of Mt. Nebo, stop for lunch and a nice hike at Hell’s Kitchen (a mini Bryce canyon), and continue down to Nephi. It is a very romantic trip. Mama and I had a great romantic time. However, Benjamin, don’t take a girl on a hike to the top of Mt. Nebo, unless you have previously vetted her – if she is like your sisters, she will be tough enough to do it – but if not, it could be a disaster. But if you find someone up to it, you will have a wonderful and romantic time. I had a great time on a date on a hike up the Timpanookie trail to Mt. Timpanogos one year at BYU. But Mt. Nebo would be even more special, because it is the trail so seldom taken. The Mt. Nebo trail was only about 9 miles round trip, but it had a 3,000 foot or more vertical ascent at altitude – it is probably overall steeper than the Mt. Timpanogos hike. Mt. Nebo is a few hundred feet taller than Mt. Timpanogos.
Back in Spanish Fork, mama cleaned up, ate some supper, and went to spend the evening with Aunt Susan. Eva and I watched “National Treasure”, which I had not watched before. It was a fun movie to watch while I was really tired. I guessed all the plot lines, and the guy ends up with the girl in the end after surviving all the harrowing close calls and ingeniously figuring out the clues.
Saturday morning came too soon. We rushed over to meet Christian at 8:30 AM or so to help him move out and to show him his new bike, etc. then he was off to his Squaw Peak hike. We went back to Spanish Fork and ate Aunt Pat’s delicious waffles and picked up Eva. Then we did a few more errands for Christian. We walked through the Harris Fine Arts Center – looking at the faculty art work on display (I was not that impressed over-all. There were a few good pieces.) Then we walked into the Museum of Art for the real treat. There is a fabulous display of Victorian Art. I could have spent a lot more time there, but my body was telling me that it is easier to hike Mt. Nebo than stand around in an art gallery for 90 minutes. After the Victorian gallery, we went into the Religious Art gallery. I loved the pieces, but of course the outstanding piece was a Rembrandt of the head of Christ. It is fabulous – you are just drawn to it. So I bought a print of it for Mama – a late birthday gift – that we will have framed. Then we went outside, found some shade on the grass near the art museum, and took a nap. Finally, it was about 3:00 PM, and we returned to May Hall to assist Christian in moving in – after first finding a very nice man in charge of the process who helped us out at 3:00 PM, rather than making us wait until 5:00 PM. Christian returned just in time from his Squaw Peak hike to help us move his gear in. Eva was a great help to us. Finally, it came time for me to give Christian a fathers blessing before going to the creamery. We had 10 minutes to get ice cream. As we walked in, there was at least a 20 minute wait. So we got 5 brownies for $2.00 instead. We dropped Christian off at his room, and we left for Centerfield.
We made it just in time for Grandpa’s surprise birthday celebration of 90 years. He was very surprised. My Aunt Edna, Aunt Marian and Aunt Louise were all there, together with all the children and spouses. We had a fine time talking and reminiscing and view photos. I am glad we were there. After the dinner, we retired from the church to Grandma and Grandpa’s house where they divided up the football tickets. After logging on to Christian’s BYU account and providing health insurance information, we went to bed and slept very soundly.
Today, we didn’t get up until about 8:30 AM, and we were then soon on our way to La Canada. See mama’s letter for the details. Eva slept in the back seat a good deal of the way. Mama and I got to hold hands for hours as we drove. The sky had many clouds, and we had a few rain drops. The varying clouds made the sky and landscape very interesting and beautiful. I enjoyed the drive until we reached Las Vegas. Then it was bad after that. But we are home now and glad to be home.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
PS - trouble uploading pictures. i'll try later.
Monday, August 17, 2009
9/16/2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
I have had two wonderful days, Friday 3:00 pm – Sunday 3:00 pm. Friday, I came home from work early! I gathered my things, threw them in the truck, said goodbye to Mama, Gabrielle, Joseph, Brigham and Mosey, and took off for Yosemite! I made several work related telephone calls, finally finished the business, and set the truck on cruise and pointed it to Yosemite National Park. I managed to get out of Los Angeles country before rush hour slowed the traffic. I drove all the way to Oakhurst, before stopping for gas. Then I drove on to Yosemite, entered the south entrance, and then drove into the park. I arrived sometime after 9 pm. I registered for the cabin, found it in the dark, made up the beds, brushed my teeth, called Rachel, read a book, then about 10:30, after calling Rachel and finding out that she was just entering into the Valley loop, I met her at the Registration building. It was good to see her, but I missed two of my favorite persons – Mama and Jonathan. When we had set the date, we did not take into account Gabrielle’s visit. She needed to return to Austin on Saturday. Jonathan had received an important assignment within the past week, and had to work Saturday and today. We finally turned the light out about 11:30 PM.
Well, both of us needed sleep, since I did not have enough the last few nights. We slept until about 7:30 AM, we hurried, at some breakfast, finished packing our day pack, and then left our tent cabin about 8:00 AM. The day was completely cloudless and the temperature was moderate. We hiked up the mist trail, up the stairs of Mordor, and to Nevada Falls. A mile on, we stopped at the river to pump a liter of water, before we started up the mountain side. We stopped at the spring, refreshed our water supply. We stopped to eat a little a couple of times. We then pushed on up to the base of Half Dome. We reached the base about 1:50 PM. There was quite a crowd at the cables, most going up, some coming down. We entered into the cable, selecting some nice gloves at the bottom. The going was slow. Eventually, we just went around people in front of us who were too placid to go up two abreast. Finally, when we neared the top quarter and the slope moderated significantly, we ducked outside the dual cables, and walked up the outside and up on to the top. The ascent took us 45 minutes, it should have take 15 minutes. We loved the top. Rachel called Jonathan and Mama via cell phone. We ate food, took pictures, and admired the view. We then started down about 3:40 PM. This was so frustrating, the line hardly advanced. Quite a few people were so frustrated, that they went down outside the cables, holding on to just one. I felt this was too dangerous. However, as the time went by, my frustration level increased. Eventually, I said to Rachel, when we were about half-way down, let’s go. No one was willing to pass anyone else in line. There were few coming up, so as I did before, I went down two abreast, passing those who didn’t do that. We soon saw the problem. A couple of individuals, one lady in particular, were panicking and could not find the strength or courage to just go down. There were freezing up. As I made my way past this lady, I asked if I could help; she refused, and I moved on. Many others were also quite exasperated. Nevertheless, I certainly agreed that we should not push anyone that could result in an accident, which if happened high enough, would certainly be fatal. We hurried down the trail. We stopped at the spring to refill our water bottle, and set off at a good pace. We found some German’s and French to talk to. We took the John Muir trail down, and had some great vistas that you do not have on the stairs of Mordor. When we reached the bridge below Vernal Falls, we really felt beat up. But we finished the last 1e3 miles to the camp. We had a great time. We talked about many things going both up and down. Thus, although we returned about 8:30 PM, it didn’t seem to me that it took 12 hours round-trip. Our bodies, however, told up it was 17 miles round trip. It is such a great hike and wonderful scenery. We hurried to the showers, and we were both lucky that we each found one. Rachel even returned to the tent cabin before I did. We then drove over to the Ahwanahee Hotel. Our favorite little restaurant, with piano player, was still open. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, with romantic music, allowing our beat-up bodies to relax and refresh. It was hard to get my legs and knees going after we finished. After we got back to our tent cabin, we did not spend too much time talking, we sank straight into bed. Well, this description does not do justice to the hike, the scenery, the granite mountains, the high sierra skyline, etc. If one of you wants a private hike to the top of half dome with me, just let me know!
A wonderful two weeks came to an end this week – two weeks with wonderful grandchildren. We sent Jack and Elena back last Saturday with Eva, and we sent Gabrielle with her boys back on Saturday. I played soccer with the boys again during the week. I saw their excitement as they told me about their visit to JPL. Wednesday evening, Mama and Gabrielle went to a movie – Julie and Julia. They enjoyed it. I hope Mama has the energy every summer for a Grandma Camp. I enjoyed having Gabrielle here. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time together.
I went biking Monday and Wednesday, and I went running with my soccer ball on Tuesday. I had another soccer game on Thursday at 8:45 pm. This team we played was also primarily Hispanic, and they were good technically. However, we were faster. We scored the first goal, a great combination play. The other team scored an equalizer, when a clearance by the keeper (a fist punch) went high in the air. When it came down, two players jostled to head the ball, and it unfortunately fell to an unmarked opponent, who shot and scored. I suppose I should have been marking the player. Instead, I was watching the ball and being alert so that if it came in my direction, I could clear it. However, I should have looked around for an opponent, and marked anyone near me who was in a dangerous position. In that case, I would have marked the player. But that comes with experience, and I haven’t played enough for it to be instinctive with me to mark the opponent’s player first. We scored another fine goal, and took a one goal lead at half. We held the lead until about the 80 minute mark. In the meantime, we missed several platinum chances for another goal. Then, as one of our players chested down a cross in front of our goal, his feet slipped, and as he fell, the ball hit his arm. The silly referee called a hand ball and the other team scored on the penalty kick. So the game ended in a 2-2 tie. I played the defensive mid-field position. We had about 4 subs, but since I am in the best shape, I played the full time but 5 minutes. Their best player kept trying to do something with the ball, but every time he turned toward the goal, I was in front of him, or if he looked for a pass, a teammate would not pass it to him because I was on his shoulder, or whenever he tried to make a penetrating run looking for a pass, I always cut off the passing lane. He was getting frustrated. Finally, as he went for a ball, and I challenged him closely, he viciously swung his elbow, hit me in the chest, and knocked me to the ground (with a little embellishment on my part). It deserved a red card, but the player only received a yellow card. Then he gave me a yellow card. I asked him why. He said I had been holding the opponent’s shirt. (That was not the case.) Except for these two bad calls, the referee did a good job.
We have also been lucky enough to host three nephews in the last three weeks. This week, Sam came by to stay for a day or two. He brought some delicious sweet corn. He is a handsome young man, tall, muscular, curly hair, great smile. I think he stayed just over night. Then yesterday, John Gardner arrived. He has been working this summer for the last few weeks in southern California installing security systems. After starting in Vancouver, this company asked him to come down here. The company provided an apartment, however the company didn’t pay the rent recently, and John had to move. But thankfully, they are paying him what the owe him. I had a fine talk with him. He will work here for a few more weeks before returning to Rexburg ad BYU-Idaho. He has two more semesters, and then hopefully he will be accepted at pharmacy school.
I also had a nice conversation with Eva. I have not seen too much of her this summer. She completed a wonderful EFY in Nauvoo. She said about 400 young people attended. It was help primarily in the stake center there in Nauvoo. So she will spend a few more days with Rosalynde, and meet us Salt Lake next Thursday.
Christian appears to have been busy this week preparing for departure for BYU. He has been sorting and packing for the past few days. It must be a big job, since he has been at it for some time! The preferred packing containers are think trash bags. He has asked Mama to repair some buttons for him. Christian also went camping with a friend – David Hill – I think – at Chilao on Thursday evening. They took tin foil dinners to cook at Chilao.
Please enjoy the pictures I am attaching, or see it at our blog at http://christie-russ.blogspot.com/. However, I had Gabrielle take a picture of my black eye, which is attached. To get a decent picture, she set my camera on “manual” and I forgot to change it back. So my picture quality is not great. Sorry rachel. I have just confirmed my photographic reputation.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
I have had two wonderful days, Friday 3:00 pm – Sunday 3:00 pm. Friday, I came home from work early! I gathered my things, threw them in the truck, said goodbye to Mama, Gabrielle, Joseph, Brigham and Mosey, and took off for Yosemite! I made several work related telephone calls, finally finished the business, and set the truck on cruise and pointed it to Yosemite National Park. I managed to get out of Los Angeles country before rush hour slowed the traffic. I drove all the way to Oakhurst, before stopping for gas. Then I drove on to Yosemite, entered the south entrance, and then drove into the park. I arrived sometime after 9 pm. I registered for the cabin, found it in the dark, made up the beds, brushed my teeth, called Rachel, read a book, then about 10:30, after calling Rachel and finding out that she was just entering into the Valley loop, I met her at the Registration building. It was good to see her, but I missed two of my favorite persons – Mama and Jonathan. When we had set the date, we did not take into account Gabrielle’s visit. She needed to return to Austin on Saturday. Jonathan had received an important assignment within the past week, and had to work Saturday and today. We finally turned the light out about 11:30 PM.
Well, both of us needed sleep, since I did not have enough the last few nights. We slept until about 7:30 AM, we hurried, at some breakfast, finished packing our day pack, and then left our tent cabin about 8:00 AM. The day was completely cloudless and the temperature was moderate. We hiked up the mist trail, up the stairs of Mordor, and to Nevada Falls. A mile on, we stopped at the river to pump a liter of water, before we started up the mountain side. We stopped at the spring, refreshed our water supply. We stopped to eat a little a couple of times. We then pushed on up to the base of Half Dome. We reached the base about 1:50 PM. There was quite a crowd at the cables, most going up, some coming down. We entered into the cable, selecting some nice gloves at the bottom. The going was slow. Eventually, we just went around people in front of us who were too placid to go up two abreast. Finally, when we neared the top quarter and the slope moderated significantly, we ducked outside the dual cables, and walked up the outside and up on to the top. The ascent took us 45 minutes, it should have take 15 minutes. We loved the top. Rachel called Jonathan and Mama via cell phone. We ate food, took pictures, and admired the view. We then started down about 3:40 PM. This was so frustrating, the line hardly advanced. Quite a few people were so frustrated, that they went down outside the cables, holding on to just one. I felt this was too dangerous. However, as the time went by, my frustration level increased. Eventually, I said to Rachel, when we were about half-way down, let’s go. No one was willing to pass anyone else in line. There were few coming up, so as I did before, I went down two abreast, passing those who didn’t do that. We soon saw the problem. A couple of individuals, one lady in particular, were panicking and could not find the strength or courage to just go down. There were freezing up. As I made my way past this lady, I asked if I could help; she refused, and I moved on. Many others were also quite exasperated. Nevertheless, I certainly agreed that we should not push anyone that could result in an accident, which if happened high enough, would certainly be fatal. We hurried down the trail. We stopped at the spring to refill our water bottle, and set off at a good pace. We found some German’s and French to talk to. We took the John Muir trail down, and had some great vistas that you do not have on the stairs of Mordor. When we reached the bridge below Vernal Falls, we really felt beat up. But we finished the last 1e3 miles to the camp. We had a great time. We talked about many things going both up and down. Thus, although we returned about 8:30 PM, it didn’t seem to me that it took 12 hours round-trip. Our bodies, however, told up it was 17 miles round trip. It is such a great hike and wonderful scenery. We hurried to the showers, and we were both lucky that we each found one. Rachel even returned to the tent cabin before I did. We then drove over to the Ahwanahee Hotel. Our favorite little restaurant, with piano player, was still open. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, with romantic music, allowing our beat-up bodies to relax and refresh. It was hard to get my legs and knees going after we finished. After we got back to our tent cabin, we did not spend too much time talking, we sank straight into bed. Well, this description does not do justice to the hike, the scenery, the granite mountains, the high sierra skyline, etc. If one of you wants a private hike to the top of half dome with me, just let me know!
A wonderful two weeks came to an end this week – two weeks with wonderful grandchildren. We sent Jack and Elena back last Saturday with Eva, and we sent Gabrielle with her boys back on Saturday. I played soccer with the boys again during the week. I saw their excitement as they told me about their visit to JPL. Wednesday evening, Mama and Gabrielle went to a movie – Julie and Julia. They enjoyed it. I hope Mama has the energy every summer for a Grandma Camp. I enjoyed having Gabrielle here. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time together.
I went biking Monday and Wednesday, and I went running with my soccer ball on Tuesday. I had another soccer game on Thursday at 8:45 pm. This team we played was also primarily Hispanic, and they were good technically. However, we were faster. We scored the first goal, a great combination play. The other team scored an equalizer, when a clearance by the keeper (a fist punch) went high in the air. When it came down, two players jostled to head the ball, and it unfortunately fell to an unmarked opponent, who shot and scored. I suppose I should have been marking the player. Instead, I was watching the ball and being alert so that if it came in my direction, I could clear it. However, I should have looked around for an opponent, and marked anyone near me who was in a dangerous position. In that case, I would have marked the player. But that comes with experience, and I haven’t played enough for it to be instinctive with me to mark the opponent’s player first. We scored another fine goal, and took a one goal lead at half. We held the lead until about the 80 minute mark. In the meantime, we missed several platinum chances for another goal. Then, as one of our players chested down a cross in front of our goal, his feet slipped, and as he fell, the ball hit his arm. The silly referee called a hand ball and the other team scored on the penalty kick. So the game ended in a 2-2 tie. I played the defensive mid-field position. We had about 4 subs, but since I am in the best shape, I played the full time but 5 minutes. Their best player kept trying to do something with the ball, but every time he turned toward the goal, I was in front of him, or if he looked for a pass, a teammate would not pass it to him because I was on his shoulder, or whenever he tried to make a penetrating run looking for a pass, I always cut off the passing lane. He was getting frustrated. Finally, as he went for a ball, and I challenged him closely, he viciously swung his elbow, hit me in the chest, and knocked me to the ground (with a little embellishment on my part). It deserved a red card, but the player only received a yellow card. Then he gave me a yellow card. I asked him why. He said I had been holding the opponent’s shirt. (That was not the case.) Except for these two bad calls, the referee did a good job.
We have also been lucky enough to host three nephews in the last three weeks. This week, Sam came by to stay for a day or two. He brought some delicious sweet corn. He is a handsome young man, tall, muscular, curly hair, great smile. I think he stayed just over night. Then yesterday, John Gardner arrived. He has been working this summer for the last few weeks in southern California installing security systems. After starting in Vancouver, this company asked him to come down here. The company provided an apartment, however the company didn’t pay the rent recently, and John had to move. But thankfully, they are paying him what the owe him. I had a fine talk with him. He will work here for a few more weeks before returning to Rexburg ad BYU-Idaho. He has two more semesters, and then hopefully he will be accepted at pharmacy school.
I also had a nice conversation with Eva. I have not seen too much of her this summer. She completed a wonderful EFY in Nauvoo. She said about 400 young people attended. It was help primarily in the stake center there in Nauvoo. So she will spend a few more days with Rosalynde, and meet us Salt Lake next Thursday.
Christian appears to have been busy this week preparing for departure for BYU. He has been sorting and packing for the past few days. It must be a big job, since he has been at it for some time! The preferred packing containers are think trash bags. He has asked Mama to repair some buttons for him. Christian also went camping with a friend – David Hill – I think – at Chilao on Thursday evening. They took tin foil dinners to cook at Chilao.
Please enjoy the pictures I am attaching, or see it at our blog at http://christie-russ.blogspot.com/. However, I had Gabrielle take a picture of my black eye, which is attached. To get a decent picture, she set my camera on “manual” and I forgot to change it back. So my picture quality is not great. Sorry rachel. I have just confirmed my photographic reputation.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Sunday, August 9, 2009
August 9 2009 letter from Daddy
7/6/2008
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
Happy birthday to Rosalynde! (I’ll be saying happy birthday every week for a while, now.) What a delight to have children in each wonderful stage of life, from Rosalynde to Eva. I wish I could go back and be a classmate or colleague with each one of you in your current circumstances. I would love it. What a delight to have such wonderful children, overflowing with talent and personality like Christian, to personality like Eva and Brigham, to brilliance like Abraham and Benjamin, to charm and beauty like Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi and Rachel. (Of course I could exchange names and adjectives and everything would fit just as well – Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Rachel, Christian, and Eva are as brilliant as Benjamin and Abraham, and you all have such outstanding talent as Christian, etc., etc.)
Hip Hip Hooray! For Mama. The instigator and protagonist of Grandma Camp. And lucky me – the beneficiary of it all. I am sure Elena, Joseph, Brigham, Jack and Mosey all loved it. I will keep the kids here forever – I do not want to send them back! Mama worked very hard at it – even though it was delightful. With Camp, there is always a fun activity to do – whereas for kids just at home, the expectations are different – chores, reading, etc., but camp is something special. Well, Mama made sure they got something special! I didn’t get to be part of too much of it. It was about bed time for the kids by the time I returned from work. But I did come home early Wednesday and went with Mama and the grandkids camping at Chilao. Little boys and fires are a great combination. They just enjoyed being outdoors. They helped start the fire, they put the wood on the fire, they roasted their hot dogs and marshmallows without too much help from us, they played in the dirt without any help from us. Brigham, Mosey and I saw a couple of deer as we drove up in my truck. They each got a brief look at the moon and Jupiter with its 5 visible moons. I couldn’t find Saturn, or we would have been able to see the rings of Saturn. (I just looked up the position of Saturn – it is near the sun – the rings are edge on toward the sun, so we would not have seen much. I said to Mama that I should have taken you kids camping at Chilao more during the summer seasons midweek, when the campgrounds are essentially empty. Can I somehow recall those years? I drove home Thursday morning, and I was still in my office by 10:00 AM.
I just walked back in to the house after a rousing game of soccer with Joseph, Brigham and mosey. Joseph was the keeper, Brigham the field player, and mosey was just around. He hadn’t quite got the concept yet, so he would pick up the ball and throw into the goal, somewhat to the dismay of Brigham. They had a lot of fun and I am all sweaty.
I haven’t seen much of Eva this week. What a lovely sight to see her Friday evening at the talent show. Then she helped me with the canoeing and kayaking trip to Santa Fe dam. When I loaded the 13 foot canoe into the back of my truck with an 8 foot bed (including tailgate), Eva told me that I was illegal – nothing could extend beyond the back of the vehicle more than 4 feet. (As you can tell, Eva has certainly learned the rules of the road in studying for her learners permit.) So what could I do? I said, “Oh”, and ignored the comment. What kind of example am I setting? Fortunately, the several police and highway patrol cars I passed didn’t bother me. We took all five kayaks, but we only set up four when we got there. Elena, Joseph, Brigham, and Eva were in the kayaks, and I took Mosey and Jack in the canoe. We spent about two hours on the lake or right nearby. Elena really liked the kayak and was soon paddling very well. Brigham also really liked it. Joseph didn’t quite get the hang of it too well, and was not quite as happy. He later came in the canoe with me. Jack wanted to try the kayak. He did quite well, but the kayak and paddle are pretty big for him, so several times when he got tired, he grabbed the rope on the front of the canoe and hitched a ride with me. When we were about finished, two older teen Hispanic girls walked by with their dog and cell phones. They looked at the kayaks as if they would really enjoy it. I told them to get in. they asked me how much it would cost. I said nothing, they were my kayaks. After several urgings, they handed me their cell phones and the dog on a leash, and climbed into the kayaks. They went out with Elena and Brigham, but they didn’t really do to well – but they had fun. I put their dog in the canoe and went out by them. The dog never really liked the canoe too much. Then some curious teenaged boys came by. I knew they wanted to try it out, but I was already disassembling the kayaks to leave. I told them that if they had come by earlier, I would have been happy to let them take the kayaks out. When we returned, they wanted to swim and to take the kayak in the pool. So I put one of the kayaks in the pool and they had a great time.
Today, people at church looked at me and asked, “What happened?” I replied, “Which story do you want me to tell? I could tell you that I fought off a force of 500 terrorists at LAX single-handedly yesterday. Or I could tell you I got into a barroom brawl like the scene out of the latest star trek movie. Or I could tell you Christie told me to say, I was acting like a juvenile out on the soccer field. But at least I won the header.” About 5 minutes into the game, the attacking team sent a high ball over the defense. I rushed back with the inside track on the ball just outside the goal area. I leapt high and headed the ball to safety. Unfortunately, an attacker, one of the high school boys, came flying in too late and I received the full brunt of his missed header on my left eyebrow. I crumpled to the ground and just lay there. I can still hear the sound of our head colliding. People asked me if I were dizzy. Fortunately, there was no dizziness, so I know there was no internal problem. I lay there for several minutes, then got up. As I started to walk, I almost crumpled again – I had tweaked the outside ligament in my right knee. So I hobbled to the other end of the field, lay down in the shade, and put ice on my eyebrow. Several of the players were very solicitous and helpful. I feel rugged. Do people perceive a different level of anxiety when I go down, compared to an 18 year old? I rested for 5-7 minutes, then put on a little brace on my right knee, and got back into the game. At half time, since we had about 33 players, we divided into three teams, each playing two 15 minute periods, with another 10 minute period with all players back on the field. Abraham and Benjamin, we had Alex, Kyle Danielson, Ernie, and J.T. out to play, along with our usual contingent of high school and club players, and the others. It was enjoyable, although I did come back a bit beat up and worn-out.
But that is not the only soccer story. Thursday evening, I played in our LA City muni league. The game started at 8:45 PM in the dirt at the John Ferraro fields near the 134 – 5 interchange. We only had 8 players show up, and we were playing the top team in the league standings. Needless to say, I did a lot of running in my defensive mid-field position. We felt pretty good that at the half, we were only down 1-0. But in the second half, the other team finally figured out how to attack us, and they put a lot more people into the attack. By the end of the game, it was 4-0. But we still had fun. With a full time, I am quite confident we could beat them. One of the referees was a silver-haired gentleman, with a short hair cut. He complimented me on my hair color. I told him he had good taste. I said, however, that I am only 39 years old, I mean 40 years old (it is a 40+ league). He said he was only a year older than I.
I am attaching some photos in Mama’s new blog spot I created for her. The blog spot is:
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
Happy birthday to Rosalynde! (I’ll be saying happy birthday every week for a while, now.) What a delight to have children in each wonderful stage of life, from Rosalynde to Eva. I wish I could go back and be a classmate or colleague with each one of you in your current circumstances. I would love it. What a delight to have such wonderful children, overflowing with talent and personality like Christian, to personality like Eva and Brigham, to brilliance like Abraham and Benjamin, to charm and beauty like Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi and Rachel. (Of course I could exchange names and adjectives and everything would fit just as well – Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Rachel, Christian, and Eva are as brilliant as Benjamin and Abraham, and you all have such outstanding talent as Christian, etc., etc.)
Hip Hip Hooray! For Mama. The instigator and protagonist of Grandma Camp. And lucky me – the beneficiary of it all. I am sure Elena, Joseph, Brigham, Jack and Mosey all loved it. I will keep the kids here forever – I do not want to send them back! Mama worked very hard at it – even though it was delightful. With Camp, there is always a fun activity to do – whereas for kids just at home, the expectations are different – chores, reading, etc., but camp is something special. Well, Mama made sure they got something special! I didn’t get to be part of too much of it. It was about bed time for the kids by the time I returned from work. But I did come home early Wednesday and went with Mama and the grandkids camping at Chilao. Little boys and fires are a great combination. They just enjoyed being outdoors. They helped start the fire, they put the wood on the fire, they roasted their hot dogs and marshmallows without too much help from us, they played in the dirt without any help from us. Brigham, Mosey and I saw a couple of deer as we drove up in my truck. They each got a brief look at the moon and Jupiter with its 5 visible moons. I couldn’t find Saturn, or we would have been able to see the rings of Saturn. (I just looked up the position of Saturn – it is near the sun – the rings are edge on toward the sun, so we would not have seen much. I said to Mama that I should have taken you kids camping at Chilao more during the summer seasons midweek, when the campgrounds are essentially empty. Can I somehow recall those years? I drove home Thursday morning, and I was still in my office by 10:00 AM.
I just walked back in to the house after a rousing game of soccer with Joseph, Brigham and mosey. Joseph was the keeper, Brigham the field player, and mosey was just around. He hadn’t quite got the concept yet, so he would pick up the ball and throw into the goal, somewhat to the dismay of Brigham. They had a lot of fun and I am all sweaty.
I haven’t seen much of Eva this week. What a lovely sight to see her Friday evening at the talent show. Then she helped me with the canoeing and kayaking trip to Santa Fe dam. When I loaded the 13 foot canoe into the back of my truck with an 8 foot bed (including tailgate), Eva told me that I was illegal – nothing could extend beyond the back of the vehicle more than 4 feet. (As you can tell, Eva has certainly learned the rules of the road in studying for her learners permit.) So what could I do? I said, “Oh”, and ignored the comment. What kind of example am I setting? Fortunately, the several police and highway patrol cars I passed didn’t bother me. We took all five kayaks, but we only set up four when we got there. Elena, Joseph, Brigham, and Eva were in the kayaks, and I took Mosey and Jack in the canoe. We spent about two hours on the lake or right nearby. Elena really liked the kayak and was soon paddling very well. Brigham also really liked it. Joseph didn’t quite get the hang of it too well, and was not quite as happy. He later came in the canoe with me. Jack wanted to try the kayak. He did quite well, but the kayak and paddle are pretty big for him, so several times when he got tired, he grabbed the rope on the front of the canoe and hitched a ride with me. When we were about finished, two older teen Hispanic girls walked by with their dog and cell phones. They looked at the kayaks as if they would really enjoy it. I told them to get in. they asked me how much it would cost. I said nothing, they were my kayaks. After several urgings, they handed me their cell phones and the dog on a leash, and climbed into the kayaks. They went out with Elena and Brigham, but they didn’t really do to well – but they had fun. I put their dog in the canoe and went out by them. The dog never really liked the canoe too much. Then some curious teenaged boys came by. I knew they wanted to try it out, but I was already disassembling the kayaks to leave. I told them that if they had come by earlier, I would have been happy to let them take the kayaks out. When we returned, they wanted to swim and to take the kayak in the pool. So I put one of the kayaks in the pool and they had a great time.
Today, people at church looked at me and asked, “What happened?” I replied, “Which story do you want me to tell? I could tell you that I fought off a force of 500 terrorists at LAX single-handedly yesterday. Or I could tell you I got into a barroom brawl like the scene out of the latest star trek movie. Or I could tell you Christie told me to say, I was acting like a juvenile out on the soccer field. But at least I won the header.” About 5 minutes into the game, the attacking team sent a high ball over the defense. I rushed back with the inside track on the ball just outside the goal area. I leapt high and headed the ball to safety. Unfortunately, an attacker, one of the high school boys, came flying in too late and I received the full brunt of his missed header on my left eyebrow. I crumpled to the ground and just lay there. I can still hear the sound of our head colliding. People asked me if I were dizzy. Fortunately, there was no dizziness, so I know there was no internal problem. I lay there for several minutes, then got up. As I started to walk, I almost crumpled again – I had tweaked the outside ligament in my right knee. So I hobbled to the other end of the field, lay down in the shade, and put ice on my eyebrow. Several of the players were very solicitous and helpful. I feel rugged. Do people perceive a different level of anxiety when I go down, compared to an 18 year old? I rested for 5-7 minutes, then put on a little brace on my right knee, and got back into the game. At half time, since we had about 33 players, we divided into three teams, each playing two 15 minute periods, with another 10 minute period with all players back on the field. Abraham and Benjamin, we had Alex, Kyle Danielson, Ernie, and J.T. out to play, along with our usual contingent of high school and club players, and the others. It was enjoyable, although I did come back a bit beat up and worn-out.
But that is not the only soccer story. Thursday evening, I played in our LA City muni league. The game started at 8:45 PM in the dirt at the John Ferraro fields near the 134 – 5 interchange. We only had 8 players show up, and we were playing the top team in the league standings. Needless to say, I did a lot of running in my defensive mid-field position. We felt pretty good that at the half, we were only down 1-0. But in the second half, the other team finally figured out how to attack us, and they put a lot more people into the attack. By the end of the game, it was 4-0. But we still had fun. With a full time, I am quite confident we could beat them. One of the referees was a silver-haired gentleman, with a short hair cut. He complimented me on my hair color. I told him he had good taste. I said, however, that I am only 39 years old, I mean 40 years old (it is a 40+ league). He said he was only a year older than I.
I am attaching some photos in Mama’s new blog spot I created for her. The blog spot is:
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
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