September 27, 2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
Christian, I hope you have everything set for your MRI. I believe the insurance information went through to Uncle Tracey’s office with the updated fax number you gave me. I have purchased basically “catastrophic” health insurance, meaning that I pay a deductible of up to $3,500 per person, $7,000 per family (the premiums are lower). So I pay out of pocket most routine medical care. Our family has been blessed with very little “routine” medical care, but I am grateful for the “catastrophic” health care coverage – without which Jacob’s illness would have been overwhelming. And I am grateful that Gabrielle has good health insurance as well. In any event, I will have to write to Uncle Tracy to ask him to schedule the least expensive yet competent MRI that he can find.
For us in La Canada Flintridge, we seem to have had another typical late September week. The Santa Ana conditions (without the winds) have made it very hot here. I wish for the return of early August weather! I think it has been in the 100’s.
The air conditioner in Mama’s car has not been working. So she drives her car to seminary I the morning when it is still cool, but drives my truck in the day time when she goes to teach or has to go elsewhere. On the subject of cars, mama took her car to the smog check station (required for license renewal) and it did not pass. So she took it to Advance Auto to get it tuned up to pass the smog test. I hope she will get the air conditioner fixed at the same time. While on the subject of vehicles, we will soon be down to a two vehicle family. My lease on the Laramie expires on Oct. 5. I have about 200 miles left to drive, and I might not make the full complement of 48,765 miles. So I told Mama if she has to drive long distances this week, to take the Laramie so we get full use of the miles for which I have paid. I am not planning to exercise the option to buy it – unless I have a change of mind. The exercise price I think is currently above the fmv. I looked at a used Kia Borrego a couple of weeks ago, but it was not at the right price. So I guess I’ll be driving the Megacab for a while to work – although I will not be able to fit into my parking garage – I have to go down to the next block in the Macy’s parking structure. And finally, I believe Eva will take her written driving test next Tuesday, after which she can sign up for on the road driving training.
Even though it is a month away, I am getting excited about our Zions Narrows hike with Eva. Hopefully Mama, Benjamin and Christian can make it, but if not, Eva and I will have a great time. It will be October 23-25, with the hike on Saturday Oct. 24, and travel late Friday and early Sunday morning.
Do any of you remember the Hamburger Hamlet chain of restaurants? It features hamburgers (and other entrees) and double chocolate fudge cake. My client just bought the chain of restaurants this week, which has been keeping my quite busy for awhile. (I should have put into my engagement letter that I get free meals for a year!) So next time you are here, I will have to take you out to dinner there.
Friday evening, Mama sponsored a social for her occidental students. Mark Whitlock, who was at occidental before his mission, also attended. He said Mama is a great lady and really helped the students there. They were a diverse group, bright, and good kids. I didn’t get home until after 8:00 PM, but they had had pizza and other food. I am glad they came. I wanted to ride my bike, but it had a flat tire. So I changed into my riding clothes and went into the garage to patch or replace the inner tube. I fixed it up, put the tire and wheel back on the bike and went to ride. For some reason, the wheel warped, and the tire no rubs against the frame on every revolution. I couldn’t ride it. Instead, I came inside and ate. Saturday evening I took the bike to Sport Chalet to see if the bike person there can “true” the wheel so I do not have to replace it.
Saturday morning, I worked at my desk here at home for awhile, waiting for Eva to arise so we could play tennis. However, she needed to sleep until 9:00 am. So I went to my office and worked until after 3:00 PM. I came home, looked at the score of the BYU football game, then I got ready to play soccer. It was lower 90’s by the time we arrived at the field, and it cooled a bit thereafter. We had a fun game. We started with about 17 (at 4:40 pm – when everyone should have arrived at 4:00 PM), but soon we had well over 30 players. So I stopped the game and divided the group into three teams, and we rotated in. speaking of soccer, I also played Thursday evening. We started with 10 players, and then eventually two more came. We made two silly defensive mistakes (keeper, mainly) and trailed at half 0-2. But we dominated the 2nd half and scored two goals to end the match in a draw. But we still have not won enough to make the “play-offs”. So my last game for the summer-fall season will be October 10.
After soccer on Saturday afternoon, Eva met me at the Cornish on tennis courts. We played tennis for another35-40 minutes before it began to get too dark. Eva is improving with each outing, as she is mastering both the forehand and now the backhand. Hopefully, we can do this every week.
I changed by running and biking time to the mornings this week. I will continue it until we have more daylight next spring.
I finished reading Robert Millet’s book, A Different Christ? The Christ of the Latter-day Saints. I have now started to re-read Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, which I did not finish the first time around. I also managed a few articles in Scientific American, National Geographic, The Atlantic (on-line – I did not subscribe – this comment for Mama’s benefit) and First Things.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
September 23, 2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
This evening, I went to Eva’s back to school night. I have been doing this for 30 years! Eva is fortunate that you have all created a wonderful legacy for her – although it is intimidating to live up to it. But Eva is doing well in carrying the torch. In Honors Chemistry, Mr. Weld remembered you fondly. He remembered that he taught Rosalynde in about his first year at LCHS. In Mrs. Barker’s English Honors Class, she said she was delighted to have Eva, as she had had Rachel and everyone else at sometime. She remembers Rachel as the Rose Princess, and she remembered Christian in 6th or 7th grade, as well as Abe and I think Benjamin. Frau Sos remembered Abraham fondly, and I think Benjamin as well. We spoke German. She seems so young. I sat down in Mrs. Leu’s class, and she looked at me, and she said she recognized me as the father of the Frandsen children and Eva. She loved teaching you math. (Abraham and Benjamin, are you the ones who had her?) Mrs. Chahine raved about all of you. She told the whole classroom of parents that she had taught each of my children, that she loves them all, they were all model students, and she even has essays to this day by some of you as models she uses for her students. In her explanation of European history, in speaking of the transition between the middle ages and the renaissance, she mentioned that the middle ages was about scholasticism, group think and theology. With the renaissance, there began to be independent thinking. After, I told Mrs. Chahine about Rosalynde’s dissertation on the development of private conscience. Mrs. Chahine said she would love to read it.
So Rosalynde, if you have an electronic copy, perhaps you would like to send it to Mrs. Chahine, or tell her how to get a copy.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
This evening, I went to Eva’s back to school night. I have been doing this for 30 years! Eva is fortunate that you have all created a wonderful legacy for her – although it is intimidating to live up to it. But Eva is doing well in carrying the torch. In Honors Chemistry, Mr. Weld remembered you fondly. He remembered that he taught Rosalynde in about his first year at LCHS. In Mrs. Barker’s English Honors Class, she said she was delighted to have Eva, as she had had Rachel and everyone else at sometime. She remembers Rachel as the Rose Princess, and she remembered Christian in 6th or 7th grade, as well as Abe and I think Benjamin. Frau Sos remembered Abraham fondly, and I think Benjamin as well. We spoke German. She seems so young. I sat down in Mrs. Leu’s class, and she looked at me, and she said she recognized me as the father of the Frandsen children and Eva. She loved teaching you math. (Abraham and Benjamin, are you the ones who had her?) Mrs. Chahine raved about all of you. She told the whole classroom of parents that she had taught each of my children, that she loves them all, they were all model students, and she even has essays to this day by some of you as models she uses for her students. In her explanation of European history, in speaking of the transition between the middle ages and the renaissance, she mentioned that the middle ages was about scholasticism, group think and theology. With the renaissance, there began to be independent thinking. After, I told Mrs. Chahine about Rosalynde’s dissertation on the development of private conscience. Mrs. Chahine said she would love to read it.
So Rosalynde, if you have an electronic copy, perhaps you would like to send it to Mrs. Chahine, or tell her how to get a copy.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
9/20/2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham and Christian!
Two weeks ago on Sunday afternoon, I listened to the Blind Boys of Alabama. Last week I listened to Mozart’s Masses # K317, K337, K257, K139, and K167. Today a listened to Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite. I asked Mama, who was sitting at the adjacent computer, to identify the composer. She said she didn’t particularly like him, he is a bit tacky. I have to admit that in naming the 10 greatest composers I would not name Grofe. But still, how many of you think Grofe is tacky? When is tacky a matter of substance and when is tacky a matter of taste? I am now listening to the Essential Joshua Bell. Do you think a joint concert featuring Joshua Bell and me (on the trombone) would be tacky?
Last night at the Miller Eccles Study Group, I asked if anyone knew where to find the phrase, “Do not rely on the arm of flesh” is to be found. They identified the Book of Mormon (it is actually in the Psalm of Nephi – 2 Ne 4). But no one else identified 2 Ch 32:8. In any event, I said there is a modern day analogy. “Do not put your trust in the arm of Max Hall.” In my fantasy, I had BYU beating Florida State 54-28. At least I had the score right. Since USC also lost yesterday, no one mentioned football in Priesthood meeting today. (In the long run, talent usually wins, especially when talent also works hard. Florida State simply has more blue chip football players. And actually, but for the turnovers, the game was closer than the score in terms of offense.)
Kristine Haglund, the new editor of Dialogue, spoke at Miller Eccles last night. (Rosaylnde had suggested her.) Among the points she made, she described how there are now very many very bright LDS graduate students and young LDS scholars in the academy in many branches – anthropology, humanities, sociology, religion, biblical studies, etc., who are doing Mormon Studies from the many different disciplines, now moving beyond simply history. She believes that in the past decade or so, in the academy it is now acceptable for scholars to be believers, and this bodes well for LDS scholars. She also described the challenge of and the big possibilities of the online community of Mormon scholars. The subscribers to Dialogue, for instance, has held steady, but the average age of subscribers in the last 20 years has gone up by 20 years. So how will the younger generation become subscribers to the “dead tree journals”? Yet she is also a fan of the new media. The community of LDS scholars and intellectuals is much more robust because of the on-line community and forums (I prefer this form of plural of ‘forum’). Mormon blogging is very robust. Younger mormon women and mothers are very active bloggers. One issue is that so much of the blogging can be boring and repetitive. I said one reason that is so is that each cadre of 18-25 year olds often have to discover for themselves the historical artifacts that can be disturbing – such as the Priesthood policy and folklore rationales behind it, polygamy, and Mountain Meadows, just to mention the perennial ones. One other issue is that at least currently, the blogs do not lend themselves to longer scholarly articles – people will just not read them on line. And of course there is no peer review or editing – which is both a good thing and a bad thing – on-line is much more immediate. The new Mormon Review, an on-line journal, might be a prototype for a rigorous on-line journal. Of course, not just Mormons are learning the great possibilities of electronic communications and figuring out what works. She made other points that I will not entirely summarize here.
Rosalynde, I think a wide range of voices should be heard, even the left leaning voices who are almost always wrong. Often these voices through their distortions can and do serve as a corrective and check on the errors of the conservatives, who are more often right. (I do not mean the anti-intellectual conservatives – I am talking about the intellectual community.) Having said that, I think that Kaimi is far too much influenced by the political and secular left in the academy, although in his published scholarship, I have not had too much quarrel with Kaimi. Perhaps he is not quite old enough to acquire the wisdom that will temper his views.
Eva and I played tennis Saturday morning. It was not great – but we hope it will be better. Playing tennis is a bit like learning the piano (on any new skill) – it is frustrating at first and the enjoyment factor only really kicks in after a modicum of proficiency has been attained. It has been a long time since I have really played tennis (kids and soccer have taken priority) and I have to re-acquire my skills, but I know I will enjoy playing with Eva.
Yes I did play soccer this week. Thursday in our LA City league, we scored a first half goal. We had a goal called back because of a handball call – the ball actually bounced off our player’s abdomen, but the referee was behind the play and from his angle, I suppose looked like a handball. But being behind the play, he should not have called it. Unfortunately, the other team’s best player scored on a header (while I was out watching from the sideline), and the game ended in a draw. I still had fun. We had 19 players, so I did not get to play as much as I like, but we all played and had fun.
Saturday afternoon, we played, and had about30-32 players there. A bit too many for two sides, but we all played anyway. It does require skill I the short game – short passes, trapping, skillful dribbling, so that was fine.
The sunset is coming earlier each day, so I can no longer return home from work early enough to take my ball to cornishon and run and practice there. So I will now resume my running of my 5 mile loop through Flintridge – in the mornings, including 4 full speed sprints during the 5 mile run – I still want to keep in game shape, plus biking to the Rose Bowl and back. I started the biking this morning.
I finished reading Robert Millet’s A Different Christ? The Christ of the Latter-day Saints. It is worth reading. I also just re-read Reed Durham’s 1974 MHA address on the influence of Masonry on Joseph Smith and how Masonry, much like Joseph’s “translation” of the Bible, stimulated a number of ideas and inquiries of the Lord, with the resulting revelations.
I attended Mama’s class on Wednesday evening on the Lectures on Faith. Mama was fabulous. Her introduction reminded me again how much Joseph and his colleagues thirsted for “light and knowledge” with their ambitious program of learning, study and instruction. Many wonderful parts of the D&C came from this effort – including of course Section 88. So I will try to attend as often as I can. This Wednesday I have a conflict with the Verdugo Hills Council opening barbecue and meeting for the Board.
I very much enjoyed the Tujunga Ward Fiesta dinner and latin dance show. The costumes were fabulous, and all the Tujunga Ward members seemed to participate. I enjoyed seeing the different ethnic costumes, music and rhythms from the various latin American countries and cultures.
I am planning on hiking the Zions Narrows on October 23-24. I hope Mama can make it. In any event, Eva and I will drive up Friday afternoon, and stay near the entrance of the park. Saturday morning, we will drive to the east and north part of the park to the trailhead for he day hike through the narrows. It will be an all day hike. Then the next morning, Sunday, we will return to La Canada (perhaps taking in church in Springdale first.) If Benjamin’s and Christian’s schedules will permit, I would love to have them join us – and any of the rest of you as well!
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham and Christian!
Two weeks ago on Sunday afternoon, I listened to the Blind Boys of Alabama. Last week I listened to Mozart’s Masses # K317, K337, K257, K139, and K167. Today a listened to Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite. I asked Mama, who was sitting at the adjacent computer, to identify the composer. She said she didn’t particularly like him, he is a bit tacky. I have to admit that in naming the 10 greatest composers I would not name Grofe. But still, how many of you think Grofe is tacky? When is tacky a matter of substance and when is tacky a matter of taste? I am now listening to the Essential Joshua Bell. Do you think a joint concert featuring Joshua Bell and me (on the trombone) would be tacky?
Last night at the Miller Eccles Study Group, I asked if anyone knew where to find the phrase, “Do not rely on the arm of flesh” is to be found. They identified the Book of Mormon (it is actually in the Psalm of Nephi – 2 Ne 4). But no one else identified 2 Ch 32:8. In any event, I said there is a modern day analogy. “Do not put your trust in the arm of Max Hall.” In my fantasy, I had BYU beating Florida State 54-28. At least I had the score right. Since USC also lost yesterday, no one mentioned football in Priesthood meeting today. (In the long run, talent usually wins, especially when talent also works hard. Florida State simply has more blue chip football players. And actually, but for the turnovers, the game was closer than the score in terms of offense.)
Kristine Haglund, the new editor of Dialogue, spoke at Miller Eccles last night. (Rosaylnde had suggested her.) Among the points she made, she described how there are now very many very bright LDS graduate students and young LDS scholars in the academy in many branches – anthropology, humanities, sociology, religion, biblical studies, etc., who are doing Mormon Studies from the many different disciplines, now moving beyond simply history. She believes that in the past decade or so, in the academy it is now acceptable for scholars to be believers, and this bodes well for LDS scholars. She also described the challenge of and the big possibilities of the online community of Mormon scholars. The subscribers to Dialogue, for instance, has held steady, but the average age of subscribers in the last 20 years has gone up by 20 years. So how will the younger generation become subscribers to the “dead tree journals”? Yet she is also a fan of the new media. The community of LDS scholars and intellectuals is much more robust because of the on-line community and forums (I prefer this form of plural of ‘forum’). Mormon blogging is very robust. Younger mormon women and mothers are very active bloggers. One issue is that so much of the blogging can be boring and repetitive. I said one reason that is so is that each cadre of 18-25 year olds often have to discover for themselves the historical artifacts that can be disturbing – such as the Priesthood policy and folklore rationales behind it, polygamy, and Mountain Meadows, just to mention the perennial ones. One other issue is that at least currently, the blogs do not lend themselves to longer scholarly articles – people will just not read them on line. And of course there is no peer review or editing – which is both a good thing and a bad thing – on-line is much more immediate. The new Mormon Review, an on-line journal, might be a prototype for a rigorous on-line journal. Of course, not just Mormons are learning the great possibilities of electronic communications and figuring out what works. She made other points that I will not entirely summarize here.
Rosalynde, I think a wide range of voices should be heard, even the left leaning voices who are almost always wrong. Often these voices through their distortions can and do serve as a corrective and check on the errors of the conservatives, who are more often right. (I do not mean the anti-intellectual conservatives – I am talking about the intellectual community.) Having said that, I think that Kaimi is far too much influenced by the political and secular left in the academy, although in his published scholarship, I have not had too much quarrel with Kaimi. Perhaps he is not quite old enough to acquire the wisdom that will temper his views.
Eva and I played tennis Saturday morning. It was not great – but we hope it will be better. Playing tennis is a bit like learning the piano (on any new skill) – it is frustrating at first and the enjoyment factor only really kicks in after a modicum of proficiency has been attained. It has been a long time since I have really played tennis (kids and soccer have taken priority) and I have to re-acquire my skills, but I know I will enjoy playing with Eva.
Yes I did play soccer this week. Thursday in our LA City league, we scored a first half goal. We had a goal called back because of a handball call – the ball actually bounced off our player’s abdomen, but the referee was behind the play and from his angle, I suppose looked like a handball. But being behind the play, he should not have called it. Unfortunately, the other team’s best player scored on a header (while I was out watching from the sideline), and the game ended in a draw. I still had fun. We had 19 players, so I did not get to play as much as I like, but we all played and had fun.
Saturday afternoon, we played, and had about30-32 players there. A bit too many for two sides, but we all played anyway. It does require skill I the short game – short passes, trapping, skillful dribbling, so that was fine.
The sunset is coming earlier each day, so I can no longer return home from work early enough to take my ball to cornishon and run and practice there. So I will now resume my running of my 5 mile loop through Flintridge – in the mornings, including 4 full speed sprints during the 5 mile run – I still want to keep in game shape, plus biking to the Rose Bowl and back. I started the biking this morning.
I finished reading Robert Millet’s A Different Christ? The Christ of the Latter-day Saints. It is worth reading. I also just re-read Reed Durham’s 1974 MHA address on the influence of Masonry on Joseph Smith and how Masonry, much like Joseph’s “translation” of the Bible, stimulated a number of ideas and inquiries of the Lord, with the resulting revelations.
I attended Mama’s class on Wednesday evening on the Lectures on Faith. Mama was fabulous. Her introduction reminded me again how much Joseph and his colleagues thirsted for “light and knowledge” with their ambitious program of learning, study and instruction. Many wonderful parts of the D&C came from this effort – including of course Section 88. So I will try to attend as often as I can. This Wednesday I have a conflict with the Verdugo Hills Council opening barbecue and meeting for the Board.
I very much enjoyed the Tujunga Ward Fiesta dinner and latin dance show. The costumes were fabulous, and all the Tujunga Ward members seemed to participate. I enjoyed seeing the different ethnic costumes, music and rhythms from the various latin American countries and cultures.
I am planning on hiking the Zions Narrows on October 23-24. I hope Mama can make it. In any event, Eva and I will drive up Friday afternoon, and stay near the entrance of the park. Saturday morning, we will drive to the east and north part of the park to the trailhead for he day hike through the narrows. It will be an all day hike. Then the next morning, Sunday, we will return to La Canada (perhaps taking in church in Springdale first.) If Benjamin’s and Christian’s schedules will permit, I would love to have them join us – and any of the rest of you as well!
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Fascinating news from La Canada Flintridge Sept 13 2009
9/13/2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
Good news for Eva! Perhaps you have already heard. On Thursday, Mr. Brookey asked eva to joint Chamber Singers, thus vindicating her intitial selection last spring. Eva was so excited. She called me Thursday afternoon while I was at my office. She had her first performance Friday morning at a back to school assembly. She was so nervous Friday morning during seminary and as she went to a warm-up before school started. But she is so happy to be there. She had to rearrange her schedule, and she now has another English teacher, although she really liked the English teacher that she had for the first week. Eva has also been studying diligently, as I see every night when she comes home. I know that both Mama and eva have been working hard this week. When I returned from work Friday evening about 9:00 PM, they were both in bed.
I asked Eva if she would like to play tennis with during the week, but she wanted to make sure she finished her homework, but she did say she would like to play with me on Saturday. Since I had a meeting Saturday morning, we decided to play late afternoon after my soccer game. She rode her bike up to the courts, and waited a few minutes for me after I saw her. Then we walked on to the tennis court. After we went through the gate, a 13 year old girl came after us, and went to our same court, the only one available, and started to get ready to play. I was a bit perturbed, but eva and I let it go. We went to the high school and found a court, but we only had about 20 minutes before it was too dark. But we had fun and we will do it again.
Labor day was a little bit of a holiday. I went to my office an hour or two later and came back home about 3-4 pm. In the evening, Eva and I went to the ward barbecue picnic at Montrose Park. Eva had fun ice blocking down the grassy slope. I wish they had had a homemade ice cream festival again this year, but we had brownies and cookies instead.
During the week, I went to work early and came home between 7 pm and 9 pm. I either went running or biking each evening. On Thursday, I went to my LA City league soccer game. We were schedule do play a team two places below us. I expected we would win. When we lined up, the other team had too many guys with beer bellies, and only two substitutes. However, they ended up beating us convincingly. They were not fast, but they had individual skills, and they played smart soccer, passing well whenever pressure came, and with their 20-30-40 pound advantage, they would knock (and foul us) at every opportunity. So the score was 5-2. That loss pretty well knocks us out of the play-off picture, so my season will end in early October. I also played Saturday afternoon. We had about 30 players come out, and had a fun game. I scored more goals than I have in a long time – unfortunately they were both own goals that counted for the other team. One of the players on the other team (George), who played a central mid-field, was instructing one of the high school players (Leon) to stay forward and look for the through pass, saying he could out run me. (He said, “Sorry, Russ, but I think he can run faster than you.) I said, “Come on, Leon, take me on. I want to see you out run me.” But they never did connect on a pass that challenged me straight up down the field.
I downloaded a pdf file from the National Review website that contained the motion for summary judgment filed by the proponents of Prop. 8 in the lawsuit challenging Prop. 8 on U.S. Constitutional grounds. (Unfortunately, Ted Olsen, one of the leading lights in the Federalist Society, joined _____ Bois, a prominent New York trial attorney, in challenging Prop. 8 on Federal grounds.) The brief is a fascinating summary of important aspects of U.S. constitutional law, the origins of common law, the definition of fundamental rights, and a legal history of marriage. To me the brief is unassailable. I will wait until the plaintiffs’ opposition brief is filed to see how they counter it.
Saturday, I went to the Mormon Council Meeting for the Howard W. Hunter Chair at Claremont. The program seems to be doing very well. Richard and Claudia Bushman have integrated very well into the faculty and university life, the student association is very alive, the public lectures are well-attended, and the Mormon Council is probably the most successful council that has been established at Claremont. Of the 41 entering students into the School of Religion graduate program, 10 are Latter-day Saints. I asked former Dean Torjeson whether this is too high a percentage. She said it wasn’t. Richard Bushman thought the percentage ought not to get too much higher, however. A number of the Mormon Academic Associations, such as Mormon scholars in the humanities, and others, including Sunstone, all want to hold their annual meetings at Claremont (not every year, but nevertheless, every three years or so).
Rachel, Dean Torjeson, who recently stepped down as dean but continues as a faculty member, is involved in a world-wide project in women studies – I think women and politics – and is helping to establish a chair and foundation in Cairo, Egypt, which is the center of Muslim scholarship. She also is looking to Africa – specifically in Namibia. I mentioned that BYU has held Semester Abroad programs in Namibia and I said I would introduce the appropriate contacts at BYU. Would you please send me the appropriate information?
I am trying to wrap up the Friends of Scouting Fundraising Drive within the next week. The recommended donation is $250. So it Priesthood meeting today, when the Bishop announced it, I raised my hand and said we should mention the suggested donation. I said for BYU fans, it would be $5 for every point in the margin of victory in Saturday’s football game. For USC, I said it should be $100 per point of margin of victory.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
Good news for Eva! Perhaps you have already heard. On Thursday, Mr. Brookey asked eva to joint Chamber Singers, thus vindicating her intitial selection last spring. Eva was so excited. She called me Thursday afternoon while I was at my office. She had her first performance Friday morning at a back to school assembly. She was so nervous Friday morning during seminary and as she went to a warm-up before school started. But she is so happy to be there. She had to rearrange her schedule, and she now has another English teacher, although she really liked the English teacher that she had for the first week. Eva has also been studying diligently, as I see every night when she comes home. I know that both Mama and eva have been working hard this week. When I returned from work Friday evening about 9:00 PM, they were both in bed.
I asked Eva if she would like to play tennis with during the week, but she wanted to make sure she finished her homework, but she did say she would like to play with me on Saturday. Since I had a meeting Saturday morning, we decided to play late afternoon after my soccer game. She rode her bike up to the courts, and waited a few minutes for me after I saw her. Then we walked on to the tennis court. After we went through the gate, a 13 year old girl came after us, and went to our same court, the only one available, and started to get ready to play. I was a bit perturbed, but eva and I let it go. We went to the high school and found a court, but we only had about 20 minutes before it was too dark. But we had fun and we will do it again.
Labor day was a little bit of a holiday. I went to my office an hour or two later and came back home about 3-4 pm. In the evening, Eva and I went to the ward barbecue picnic at Montrose Park. Eva had fun ice blocking down the grassy slope. I wish they had had a homemade ice cream festival again this year, but we had brownies and cookies instead.
During the week, I went to work early and came home between 7 pm and 9 pm. I either went running or biking each evening. On Thursday, I went to my LA City league soccer game. We were schedule do play a team two places below us. I expected we would win. When we lined up, the other team had too many guys with beer bellies, and only two substitutes. However, they ended up beating us convincingly. They were not fast, but they had individual skills, and they played smart soccer, passing well whenever pressure came, and with their 20-30-40 pound advantage, they would knock (and foul us) at every opportunity. So the score was 5-2. That loss pretty well knocks us out of the play-off picture, so my season will end in early October. I also played Saturday afternoon. We had about 30 players come out, and had a fun game. I scored more goals than I have in a long time – unfortunately they were both own goals that counted for the other team. One of the players on the other team (George), who played a central mid-field, was instructing one of the high school players (Leon) to stay forward and look for the through pass, saying he could out run me. (He said, “Sorry, Russ, but I think he can run faster than you.) I said, “Come on, Leon, take me on. I want to see you out run me.” But they never did connect on a pass that challenged me straight up down the field.
I downloaded a pdf file from the National Review website that contained the motion for summary judgment filed by the proponents of Prop. 8 in the lawsuit challenging Prop. 8 on U.S. Constitutional grounds. (Unfortunately, Ted Olsen, one of the leading lights in the Federalist Society, joined _____ Bois, a prominent New York trial attorney, in challenging Prop. 8 on Federal grounds.) The brief is a fascinating summary of important aspects of U.S. constitutional law, the origins of common law, the definition of fundamental rights, and a legal history of marriage. To me the brief is unassailable. I will wait until the plaintiffs’ opposition brief is filed to see how they counter it.
Saturday, I went to the Mormon Council Meeting for the Howard W. Hunter Chair at Claremont. The program seems to be doing very well. Richard and Claudia Bushman have integrated very well into the faculty and university life, the student association is very alive, the public lectures are well-attended, and the Mormon Council is probably the most successful council that has been established at Claremont. Of the 41 entering students into the School of Religion graduate program, 10 are Latter-day Saints. I asked former Dean Torjeson whether this is too high a percentage. She said it wasn’t. Richard Bushman thought the percentage ought not to get too much higher, however. A number of the Mormon Academic Associations, such as Mormon scholars in the humanities, and others, including Sunstone, all want to hold their annual meetings at Claremont (not every year, but nevertheless, every three years or so).
Rachel, Dean Torjeson, who recently stepped down as dean but continues as a faculty member, is involved in a world-wide project in women studies – I think women and politics – and is helping to establish a chair and foundation in Cairo, Egypt, which is the center of Muslim scholarship. She also is looking to Africa – specifically in Namibia. I mentioned that BYU has held Semester Abroad programs in Namibia and I said I would introduce the appropriate contacts at BYU. Would you please send me the appropriate information?
I am trying to wrap up the Friends of Scouting Fundraising Drive within the next week. The recommended donation is $250. So it Priesthood meeting today, when the Bishop announced it, I raised my hand and said we should mention the suggested donation. I said for BYU fans, it would be $5 for every point in the margin of victory in Saturday’s football game. For USC, I said it should be $100 per point of margin of victory.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Monday, September 7, 2009
Fires and Blessings
9/6/2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham and Christian!
Fire dominated the week and the news. We continued to have ash rain down on us throughout the week. The smoke has not been so thick at our house, but we could definitely smell it. However, ward members who lived up against the mountains still have the smoke smell in their homes and on their clothes. The hillsides are barren. We would like to see rain to completely extinguish the fires, but a heavy rain would send floods down the mountain sides. When the winds come, if the winds come before a rainstorm, the wind will send ash and dust from the mountains throughout the Los Angeles basin, making the air filled with dangerous particulate. So we will have some ongoing consequences for awhile. The highway up Angeles Crest is still closed, so I do not know what it looks like. I do not know what the hike down from Switzers will be like. I sure hope that the fire didn’t actually scorch the bottoms of the canyon. During Fast Meeting today, the testimonies were mainly centered around the fire, the help of ward members and neighbors, and the blessings of God in protecting them. The fire was apparently arson, so we cannot blame God for this one (unless we want him to interfere in the exercise of agency), and the weather has been normal, so we cannot blame Him for not changing the weather, in fact we should be thankful the wind was not accompanied by a Santa Ana wind – that would have been catastrophic.
As a result of the fires, the first two days of school were cancelled. I wonder if the two days will be made up the week of thanksgiving. Speaking of school, please the picture of a very attractive and pretty young woman on the first day back to school that I have attached to this email. While mama was driving Naomi to the airport, I drove Eva to school. When I returned home Wednesday evening, I found Eva at her favorite place in the house – the kitchen table with her homework. It was a lovely sight. The past week, Eva has been reading the two Sherlock Holmes volumes. She has really been enjoying them. I told her that I think I have short-changed her. When you older kids were young, I read those stories to you. I do not think the younger kids had that pleasure.
I enjoyed very much having Rosalynde and Naomi visit us. I wish they had more time to spend with us. The babies hardly had the opportunity to become acquainted with me. Naomi drove the MegaCab to Palmdale every day. She liked it – so Dave now you know the kind of vehicle she would like – quite a contrast to the Hyundai Tucson that she drove for a long time.
Also as a result of the fires, my 40+ league game was cancelled Thursday evening, and I know you are missing the game report. So I simply ran or rode my bike in the evenings to keep in shape. We did have our Saturday afternoon game, an hour early, to allow us to return home for the USA- El Salvador game. We had 14-16, so in the heat, we played half field. Then at 4:30 PM, about 6 more game. I left, and the other expanded the field more and played on. I watched the USA v. El Salvador in World Cup Qualifying. The US won 2-1, after El Salvador scored the 1st goal. Realistically, the USA should have won 5-0, but the team squandered a number of chances.
The USA game and the BYU game overlapped, and I watched soccer. I initially did not watch the BYU game, since I did not want to see a 35-7 blowout. But then when I saw the live scores, I started switching occasionally to follow the BYU game. It was a very fine result, and I noticed that BYU won every statistical category but rushing yards. ESPN360.com is a great service, and I have watched the 4th quarter of the game twice.
Despite Obama’s continuing economic slow-down in the US, I have been very busy, for which I am thankful. So I have been working many hours, including hours I will be working on Labor Day.
The lease on my Laramie expires in October. I have the option of buying it, but I think I will look for a used vehicle – not a truck – that will get better mileage and I can drive to work or other office buildings and fit in the parking structures – my MegaCab does not fit in all parking structures.
I have a proposal for Benjamin and Christian, together with Mama and Eva. Let’s choose a weekend from Sept. 26, Oct. 3 or Oct 10. We’ll leave from La Canada Friday afternoon as soon as Mama finishes Institute. We drive to Zions Park, or Hurricane, that evening and meet you there. Saturday morning, we will leave early for Zions Park. We’ll drive to the trailhead back into the park so that we can take a day hike down through the Zions Narrows, which I have never done. Then I’ll treat you all to dinner at Zions Lodge, and you can head back to Provo. You may invite friends to come with you – male or female. I’ll spring for motel rooms – one for the females and one for the alpha males. Do you like that idea?
Saturday morning, I went to the 5:30 AM session at the Los Angeles Temple. There was a pretty good attendance, most Samoan. The session was in Samoan, so I used headphones for the English. Nevertheless, the passage through the veil was in English.
Since the news has been dominated by the fires, and I have been working hard, I do not have too much news to share otherwise.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
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