New Year's Eve

Another year is about to bite the dust. Most people, at the beginning of a new year, find New Year's resolutions to challenge them for the next 365 days. I used to do that; now I do not. I think it is a good idea. I just don't do it.

One thing I have been doing as this year draws to a close is looking at Top Ten Lists. Time Magazine had a bunch of lists for the year, such as the ten most influential people of the year, the top ten scandals, the top ten movies, etc. I was thinking today about my own top ten list: my ten favorite things to do.

Number one on my list is reading. I absolutely love to read!! From the time I was in junior high school, I read as often as possible--not only boring textbooks from classes, but interesting fiction or biographies. During my 8th and 9th grade years, instead of taking P.E. classes, I had the privilege of being the librarian for the school for one period of each day. Kids came into the library and frequently asked me for books I thought were good. Back then, I think I recommended Nancy Drew, Sue Barton--Student Nurse, and other cheesy titles! During the breaks I had in the library, I would, of course, read.

Now I hopefully have a little bit more discernment in my choice of books. I belong to two bookclubs, both keeping me busy reading a novel and a short story every month. In these bookclubs, I find like-minded women who also have an obsession for reading.

I am not sure why I like to read so much. Part of it, I think, has to do with going into other people's worlds and watching their reactions to problems and the challenges they face. Reading has opened a whole world of thinking to me. In my mind, I move out of my Draper neighborhood, the state of Utah, and often our country of the United States. I get to see others cultures, religions, etc.

A down side to my reading obsession is my lack of focus on any other part of my life when I am reading. As a young mother, I remember locking myself in the bathroom to get away from busy toddlers to read for awhile. It didn't take long before the tolddlers found me and were banging on the door for Mommy. After my sweet toddlers were finally asleep at night, I would pick up my book again for a few hours of peace and quiet.

If I do not have a current novel that I am reading, I feel lost. If an especially engaging novel is coming to the end, I am sad that I no longer will be a part of the lives of the characters any more.

After lasagna and salad with friends tonight and the horn blowing of toasting a new year at midnight, when everyone is gone and the house shuts down, I will get out my book again and feel the immense satisfaction of my favorite hobby.

Christmas Day

Do you recognize this Arctic Mystery Man? When it is as cold and windy as it was today and the snow is very deep, Paul dresses for the occasion with care! Even though we live in a "carefree" community where snow is shoveled for us, the deck is still there for Paul to clear. He also usually ends up doing a lot of the driveway and walkway while waiting for the workers to get here.

This photo pretty much sums up what we did on Christmas Day. We were literally socked in by the weather. Mother Nature dumped about eight or nine inches of snow. We had planned to visit my dad in Spanish Fork and Paul's son in Bountiful. Instead, we stayed home and made phone calls.

I'm sure there are braver souls than we out there on the roads. We're not among them, however. Instead, we are home enjoying the warm fireplace and a video.

Christmas ornament from India

This Christmas ornament was given to me by one of my piano students. His name is Sachin Sundar. He and his parents and sister spent last summer in India. His parents grew up in India, and all of their families still live there.

Sachin (who is five years old) was so excited to give me the ornament. After his piano lesson one day, I took Sachin and his sister downstairs to see our Christmas tree. They were proud to see their ornament on our tree.

These little kids are adorable. I told Sachin's mom Sue that if they ever had "Grandparents Day" at Sachin or Divya's school, I would love to be the substitute grandma.

Moore Family Christmas Party - 2008

The weather cooperated for our Christmas party, and everyone drove to our home in safety. All of the family were present with the exception of Chad and his fiancee Andrea. Of course Paul's youngest son Mike, his wife Patti, and their two sons are still in Oregon (with as much snow as we have here in Utah and an ice storm thrown in as well).

The tiny grandchildren whom I first met ten years ago when Paul and I were married are now entering (or will soon be) their teenage years. Some grandchildren are even moving into adulthood as college students. One grandson, Bryce, has grown six inches in one year! At age 14, he is towering over most of us.

We also had relatives from California at our party. Paul's first wife (Nancy) has a brother named Pat who flew in with his wife Toddy and their son Travis to spend the Christmas holdiays with family. I think they will spend some of their time here on the ski slopes.

It was a great party. Sharing with family during the holidays makes Christmas time special.

Marilyn's Family Christmas Party

Good food, good friends and family, and really neat gifts! Once a year I dust off my special Christmas plates for a family dinner. It is predictably the same--turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, salads, green bean casserole, and dessert (Melanie brought cupcakes and I made peach cobbler).

We always have a good time. This year I noticed how grown-up Natalie and Alan's kids look. Time flies by so quickly, and before you know it, you have a teenager (Jake) at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas dinner.

Doesn't my dad look incredible for a 90 year old? We miss my mom at dinners like this. She used to make Christmas dinners from scratch--wonderful rolls, various homemade pies, delicious stuffing, etc. I make something similar, but not nearly as good, mostly from boxes or packages!

My cousin Sharalyn came to the party and gave each person a gift from a different country where she had vacationed on our Mediterranean cruise. Her gifts were thoughtful and beautifully unique.

This next Tuesday will be Paul's family Christmas party at our house. We are expecting 20 people. We'll cross our fingers for the weather to cooperate for the celebration.

My Handsome Husband

Paul and I went to a Christmas concert on Sunday. He wore his new navy blazer and grey pants with a pin-striped shirt and blue tie. He looked very sharp!

Draper Temple

A storm is moving in. These photos are taken from the deck in our backyard.



You can see in the foreground the homes in our area.


This is a close-up of the newly finished Draper Temple. Tours will start on January 15th and last through March 15th. The next time the night lights are on, I'll try to take another picture. The lighting has been tested on several nights, and it is beautiful. Today is a cold, snowy day.

Winter

Winter can be beautiful. Right now I can see the mountains and valley covered in snow and the snow swirling around in the air. It is pretty. I don't mind snow one bit--if I don't need to go anywhere.

However, the location of our house makes driving anywhere except next door in a snowstorm an adventure that I am not always up for. We live in Corner Canyon in Draper, right next to the new Draper Temple. We are sitting up on a hill, so if we drive, we need to go down the hill to get to stores, appointments, etc. Then, of course, when we are ready to go home, we drive up the hill.

I have had some pretty scary experiences on these hills. Sometimes the roads are clear after a snow storm. During a snow storm, it proves to be a real challenge. We have front wheel drive, not four wheel drive. In icy places, it doesn't matter what "drive" we have.

I planned to go to Riverton High School this morning to take lunch and a Christmas gift to a teacher friend. No problem in cancelling that. My friend understood. My hair appointment at one o'clock is another matter and is not debatable. I forgot my last appointment two weeks ago, so Linda worked me in for today. My hair has a similar look to the Illinois governor who will soon be impeached (kind of a shaggy dog look). Paul says he will get me to my appointment if we have to snowshoe down the hill.

I have definitely become a pansy since I have been retired. While teaching school, I faced snowstorms and slick roads all the time. (By the way, why does Jordan School District never call a snow day--even when it is clearly dangerous to drive?)

Last week Melanie told me something funny that her husband Wally said. She had to do something she didn't want to, and Wally said to her, "Well, just put on your big-girl pants and go for it." So that is what I will do too!

Gratitude

I have had an experience today that makes this jaded, negative old lady think that there really are honest, trustworthy people still left in this world after all.

I don't know if other people my age sometimes tend to see the world and all its problems in a somewhat gloomy way or not. I am not the same idealitic person that I was as a young girl. The problems of life tend to take some of the bouyancy and charm of the younger years away, and in their place make a darker, meaner world.

Anyway, today we met Paul's sister Alice and her husband Willard at Archibald's Restaurant in Gardner Village for lunch. As we sat down in a booth, I felt around my neck for the necklace I thought I had put on. I then assumed that I had just forgotten to wear it.

When I got home, the first thing I did was look in my jewelry case for the necklace. It wasn't there. I knew that I had lost it. The clasp must have sprung open, and the necklace must have fallen to the ground. We looked all over the house and in the car with no results. I called the restaurant with the slim hope that someone had found the necklace and given it to an employee at the restaurant. I was shocked that someone had found it and turned it in!

This is a special necklace that Paul bought me on our recent cruise in the Mediterranean. He saw it in the window of a jewelry shop, and even though it cost $500.00, he loved it and bought it for me. I have worn it almost daily since we have been home from our trip.

To think that an honest person found this treasured necklace and didn't just pocket it gives me a glow of happiness. Maybe my focus on the few crooks, terrorists, Wall Street thugs, etc. that we see each day on the TV news and read about in the newspaper should be refocused to a more optimistic view that most people, after all, are pretty decent.

THANK YOU, KIND PERSON, for giving me not only my treasured necklace back, but also giving me a heartfelt smile to carry throughout this Christmas season of love and giving.

Megan

This cropped photo does a better job of showing Megan at her recital.

Megan's Recital

Our granddaughter, Megan Peterson, attends gymnastics lessons each week. Tonight she performed some of her best work on the stage at a recital. She flipped and cartwheeled her way down the mats with precision and style. Her family (Melanie, Jacob, Mom and Dad, and Grandpa and Grandma) cheered her on.

Her mom, Natalie, thought it might be nice next year to enroll Megan in ballet lessons. Megan says no way! She wants to join the hip-hop and jazz class.

Whatever Megan does, she shows lots of enthusiasm and confidence. We are proud of her and pleased to be her grandparents.

Memories of Christmas

Natalie thought she was too old to sit on Santa's lap as a teenager. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus disagreed! As a small girl, Natalie performed in a dance recital at Christmas time in this costume and with the guitar.

Melanie loved Christmas as a child, and she still loves it today. She gives a lot of thought to the gifts she buys for the family, and she gets as excited as her neices and nephews for Christmas morning.

In our Sandy neighborhood, we lived in a cul-de-sac of five families. All five families had children the same ages. Each year we took turns having the annual Christmas party. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus visited and brought presents for the children.

The neighborhood group grew too large to have the Christmas party for everyone. We still meet as couples for dinner every Christmas to reminisce about the fun we all had together in the neighborhood. It was a great place for kids to grow up!

Madeira, Portugal

Sorry about the upside-down market picture above! What I wanted to show about Madeira was how well everything here grows. The Farmer's Market sold every fruit and vegetable imaginable plus lots of beautiful flowers (some varieties I had not seen before). This market was flourishing in the middle of November!

Madeira is an island owned by Portugal. This is the last place we visited before setting sail across the Atlantic Ocean for home. It is one of our favorite places. The temperature during the entire year does not vary more than 10 degrees, and that includes day and night temperatures. People do not have furnaces for heating or air conditioners for cooling their homes. The temperature when we were in Madeira was around 70 degrees.

We strolled through the Botanical Gardens of Madeira that are beautifully laid out across terraces that climb from 600 to 900 feet in elevation. The island of Madeira almost had a quality of a storybook land. We decided that this would be a great place to live if you didn't mind living on an island and you didn't mind being very far away from family members. We mind both, so it wouldn't work for us!

The Canary Islands

We are in the Canary Islands, which is a part of Spain. Geographically, however, the Canary Islands are off the northeast coast of Africa.

The first island we visited is called Arrecife. The three photos above were taken in a volcanic grotto and lava tube formed when the lava met the Atlantic Ocean. It created an outdoor pool surrounded by subtropical vegetation. This place was so beautiful! The water, along with the lush vegetation, created an incredibly lovely setting.

Other things I remember about the island are driving by field after field of cactuses. They grow well in the climate here, with little rain falling throughout the year. I also remember looking out the windows of the bus and seeing volcanic rock everywhere.

The second island we visited in the Canary Islands was called Tenerife. This island is more heavily populated than Arrecife, especially in the city of Santa Cruz. After driving through the city, we ascended far into the hills so we could stop and get out of the bus to see a panaramic view of it all.

Last on our agenda, we traveled to the Pyramid Park (first photo) on the island. The world-famous adventurer Thor Heyerdahl discovered this pyramid site on one of his voyages .

An interesting sidelight about the Canary Islands is the origin of their name. They are named for dogs, not for songbirds. Romans called the grouping Insulae Canariae (islands of the dogs).

Casa Blanca, Morocco

This picture is one of my favorite photos from the trip. This little old man was at the cash register of a shop where we purchased some souvenirs.

This mosque is the second largest mosque in the world. It is called the Hassan II Mosque.

The Muslim women are visiting the Hassan Mosque. The mosque is open 24 hours a day and can contain up to 8,000 people who come to pray at the the same time.

Here is a building in Casa Blanca that at one time was a private residence. Now it is a building of city offices. We are out in the courtyard where the women of the house could walk outside and get a breath of fresh air. The house had no windows because windows would make it possible for passersby to see inside where the women lived. The windowless home made the women "safer" from prying eyes.

Well, Casa Blanca, Morocco, had to be the most interesting of all the places we visited. It is probably because the culture is so very different from ours. In order for our bus to get into the city, we had to pass through a large gate with guards. When we came into the city, we saw soldiers (with guns) walking the streets. In several cafes, we saw groups of men talking together, but the women who were on the street were going directly to a destination and walked together in groups.

Everything about the city seemed to shout "Stay your distance. You are a foreigner." People were not unfriendly, but they certainly were not relaxed and open with us. It was quite an eye opener to be here. I am very glad I don't live as a women in this cluture. The restrictions of the clothing alone would be awful.

Cadiz, Spain

For some reason I can't remember a lot about Cadiz. I do remember taking the above photo from a high point in the city. I also remember our fascination with the roots of the tree Paul is standing next to.

We visited another beautiful church. My camera doesn't do too well with the insides of the churches, which is too bad, because they are so lovely. The windows at the top of the ceiling of this church let in some natural light for better viewing.

Flamengo dancers II were actually even better than the first group we saw in Barcelona. The incredible energy of these dancers is amazing. For refreshments while watching the show, we tasted tapas. These are kind of like turnovers, except they are filled with a delicious spicy meat.