Merriment for Perspective...

This last weekend Andie, Hayden and Bailey came for a brief visit. They wanted to be sure I had a birthday surprise from them. So amidst all the previous posts introspection, we added the laughter of little ones and a full house. That keeps life in balance and perspective.
They arrived Friday afternoon. With the heat wave across the United States, this would be a mostly inside weekend.

I prepared and had ready pigs-in-a-blanket for lunch. We had a little bounce time after the Mini's long car journey. Then we enjoyed a nice lunch together.

We played the afternoon away and then Claude and I had to get ready for the visitation. I headed to the bathroom to put on make-up. Miss Bailey followed close on my heels. She was ready to do exactly what I did. Being the firm grandmother that I am, I pulled up a step stool and let her have at it. We have a little Diva-in-Training.

After applying her make-up, Bailey accessorized. It makes me think of a line from "Steel Magnolia's". It was something like "the difference between us and animals is our ability to accessorize". You must say it with a lovely Southern accent.

Claude and I headed off to the visitation for Karen. Andie wrangled the Mini's and shuttled them off to bed. We returned before Hayden was asleep and got to give him good night loves.

Saturday morning I found Andie smothered in little ones on the love seat when I came out of my bedroom. So, to help I asked, "Who wants to help me make cinnamon rolls?" Off bounded cherubs, onto foot stools in the kitchen, out came the cake pans, pop when the roll tubes and into the oven we place cinnamon and orange rolls. Eggs were scrambled and a good breakfast was had by all.

Claude and I headed to the church for Karen's funeral leaving Andie, Hayden and Bailey to their mysterious devices.

When Claude and I returned, the Mini's were very excited to shuttle me into the dining room to see the beginnings of an early birthday celebration for Ma (me).

Hayden and Bailey made a great birthday banner that read "Happy Birthday Ma".

Andie had prepared some homemade wheat bread in a design that struck right with the chords of my heart.

Before we sat down to lunch, Andie put dessert out to cook. That's right...out to cook. She found a plan for using a pizza box as an oven providing the sun is hot enough. Well, let me assure you, it was hot enough. According to the thermometer tucked in the shade by our bedroom door to the deck it was 102 degrees. And, Michael had purchased pizza for them that week. All the stars were in alignment to try this idea. S'more were going to be our dessert and they would heat up in the pizza box oven on the deck.

And Hayden and Bailey would enjoy a taste of them before we had dinner just to be sure that practice batch Andie made before we got home worked out just right.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch of BLT's made out of my turtle wheat bread, pasta salad and fruit. Then it was time to open a present.  Hayden loves this part. He gets so excited.

My gifts were a PeeWee Turtle Pillow Pet and a turtle mat to kneel on when I work while on my knees by the flower beds. I was one happy Gramma to add these turtles to my ever growing collection. Later in the day, Hayden and I would play a round of Pillow Pets using our imagination. Great fun.

Hayden is trying to earn money to save for a toy he really, really wants. He is doing chores and being paid for chores that are not the normal things a family should do to function. Claude found two things he could do for him. Hayden watered the tomatos and shined Claude's shoes.

Bailey and Andie played beauty shop.  That simply means they both got hair cuts.

It was a great visit and we are so happy they came. You never know what those little ones will think of. For instance, here is a lovely door knocker they made while we were at the funeral. It is still hanging on our bedroom door.

Thanks Marx's for another wonderful visit!!

Turning Off Lights...

What a thought filled week I had last week.

Our friend, Karen, passed away after her battle with pancreatic cancer. I teach the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School and the lesson two Sunday's ago was on the Garden of Gethsemane experience and last Sunday's lesson was on the trials and crucifixion of the Savior.

Having these two events coincide provided my brain and heart with lots to think and ponder.  I found myself reaffirming truths I hold dear and sacred.

First, a calendar of events, then my feelings.

Friday, July 15th, Karen went into a coma. Hospice was already caring for her in her home. They said it would be a few days until she would pass. We were grateful for the coma because it provided a way for her to slip quietly away.

Monday, July 18th, at 3pm Karen's spirit quietly left her tired body.

Jim has conscientiously provided eMail's on Karen's ups and downs since the diagnosis. These eMail's were much appreciated. Monday evening, Jim sent an eMail letting everyone know his beloved eternal companion had ended her earthly sojourn.

Interestingly, I was sitting at my computer typing quotes from the most recent Ensign magazine into my computer for easy future reference. I had just typed a quote from a General Conference talk given in April by Elder Richard G. Scott. I felt a strong impression to share that quote with Jim. Here is the quote:

“I know what it is to love a daughter of Father in Heaven who with grace and devotion lived the full feminine splendor of her righteous womanhood. I am confident that when, in our future, I see her again beyond the veil, we will recognize that we have become even more deeply in love. We will appreciate each other even more, having spent this time separated by the veil.”

I eMailed the quote to Jim. He responded that he agreed with that sentiment and was grateful for the thought.

Tuesday, July 19th, I had to be in Georgetown early to take Papa for a shot. He has disk issues with his back and artheritis. After seeing a specialist, it was determined to try cordizone injections and see if they would provide him relief. They don't cure, they just take the pain away in most cases. Papa needed someone to drive him as the injection can sometime cause numbness in the legs for a bit.

After his injection and getting him home and finding he was doing great, I left to run an errand. My errand was to go to Johnson's funeral home and finish paying for my father's funeral expenses. Ironic, isn't it.

Tony was the only person in the office of the funeral home. I explained to him the purpose of my visit and hoped we could set up an appointment for me. Tony stated he had an 11am appointment and that gave him plenty of time to take care of me before they arrived. He pulled Papa's file and we set to work.

I told Tony he had a dear friend of mine at the funeral home and her name was Karen. He then told me his 11am appointment was with the Parker family. Amazing.

The phone rang at the funeral home and Tony was the only one there to take the call. He went to the receptionist desk and took the call. I waited in the conference room. I could hear him state he didn't know the address of the church and has not been there before. I knew he was speaking of Karen's funeral and called out the address of the church around the corner. He chuckled and gave the person on the call the address.

Thursday was a very tender experience for me. Karen was to be dressed in the white clothing she would wear when going to the Temple. The sacredness of this means only those who are also temple attending ladies could dress her in these clothes. I was one of six ladies who would provide this service for Karen. I have never done this before and had assumed my first time to do this would be with my mother. Love Karen's heart for giving me a time to practice before then.

Tony led the six of us to the embalming room where Karen's body was, we said a prayer, then we proceeded to dress this dear mother (her two daughters participated) and friend. As we left the embalming room, I was the last one out and looked back one last time and said a quiet little, "Good-bye Karen" as I turned out the lights.

The ladies then joined with Jim and some other family to set up quilts in the mortuary in preparation for Karen's visitation on Friday.  This mortuary is an old craftsman style home. So it already has a wonderful home like quality to it. However, after placing quilts in every room, it just felt even more like a warm, inviting home.

I was to play the organ for the funeral. I really needed to practice and determine what to play for the prelude and postlude. One of the ladies in our group had a key to the church building and let me in to practice. I practiced for about an hour and a half. Then I closed up the organ, gathered my books and headed out of the chapel. As I left the chapel, I once again paused, looked at the podium and organ, and then turned out the lights.

Friday, July 22nd, Claude and I went to the mortuary for the visitation. These can be difficult experiences but it is also a chance to visit with friends that live in other areas that you don't see very often. So, while it was a quiet and reverent occasion, it was also a time of renewing old friendships and confirming others.

Saturday, July 23rd was the funeral. Claude got me to the church early, he dropped the salad I prepared for their meal in the kitchen and I headed to play prelude. I love to play the organ. It was just calming to sit there and play for about 40 minutes before the service began. I played from a book that has LDS hymns in it arranged one right after the other with a short modulation into the next key for the next hymn. I was amazed that the hymns I was playing near the end as the family entered had words, if sung, that would fit their situation. The timing turned out to be perfect for those hymns.

Sunday, July 24th I gave my lesson on the trials and crucifixion of the Savior. My lesson time is only 40 minutes at most. I had, and the lesson manual suggested I use, a video that lasts about 15 minutes titled "To This End Was I Born". It is a very moving video and I knew it was one I really wanted to use.

After prayerful consideration, I felt impressed to give each member of the class a card with a diagram of the last 24 hours of the Savior's life. I made two charts. One was of the people before whom Jesus was brought for trials. The second was of the last seven statements made by the Savior as he hung on the cross. I also put up my huge map of the city of Jerusalem during the time of Christ with Gethesemane, Caiaphas' palace, Antonia Fortress, Herod's palace, Golgotha and the Garden Tomb marked on it. Since Claude and I have been to Israel, I bring a thin white notebook with pictures that are appropriate to the material covered in that Sunday's lesson. This weeks notebook I divided and inserted pictures in the order of the events of this lesson.

I began the lesson by having us read John 3:16-17.  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosover believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For god sent not his Son into the world to condem the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Then I told of a wonderful experience I had the last time I was a seminary teacher and taught the New Testament. We had our youth meet at the church, we gave them bread marked "Bread of Life" and water marked "Living Water". We talked about these being names for the Savior and why they are used. Then we loaded the kids up and took them to the Washington DC Temple Visitor's Center. They were shown the video I would show my Gospel Doctrine class. Then we had a testimony meeting following the video. Some of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard were given that evening.

I told my Gospel Doctrine class I wanted to try and have that kind of an experience on Sunday. I pointed out the locations on the map as I told the story of the betrayal, arrest, trials, sentencing and crucifixion. Then I showed the beautiful video.

During and near the end of the video, they place Jesus in the sepulchre provided by Joseph of Arimathaea. Then the stone is rolled over the entrance and the lights go out.

It was a poignant lesson and the Spirit was strongly felt.

Monday, Claude and I drove to Camp Nelson National Cemetary where Karen was to be interred. The family gathered and a few friends. The grave was dedicated and after some final hugs with family, we left to find a quiet spot for Claude to take a 10:45am telephone call.

My feelings have been many.

Before Karen's passing and as I studied for Sunday School, I had it reaffirmed in my heart that our spirit continues to live after our body stops. As I was driving into Georgetown on Thursday to help with dressing Karen, the most powerful but calm feeling came over me as I turned onto Hwy. 32 outside of Eagle Bend. I knew that I would be dressing a body without a spirit. I knew my hubby was concerned about my emotions as I did this, especially with my caring for my parents and watching for this time in there lives. But I knew, with all my heart, as I left to take the roads to Georgetown that I was going to be just fine. I was providing a tender service for a dear friend's body. She would appreciate it. I would grow from that experience. And all would be okay in my world.

I found myself wondering during the last week as I looked at beautiful clouds what in the world life was like now for Karen. Suddenly that process seemed very real to me. I could picture Karen with family and friends who have gone before and the joy they felt together again. And the realization was a good feeling. I felt joy in the next step in her progression. No tears, just joy and positive feelings.

I realized anew the importance of all that the Savior did for us. His very life, a perfect, sinless example and life. Sentenced by such illegal arrest and trials. Judgment on him executed in a most awful manner but one that was foretold by Old Testament prophets. It was a commitment he made in the Grand Council in Heaven before we all came to this earth. He committed to it, he lived that perfect life, he prepared his disciples, then he obediently followed through with that commitment. He did it for me and for you. A 'sinless ransom for our sakes.'

I closed my Sunday School class by reading the words found in Isaiah 53:3-5:

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrow: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But we was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed."

What an amazing week. I love my Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost to testify of the truthfulness of these things. I am grateful for the Atonement, for the healing feelings it provides for me both in repentance and in times of difficulties and trials. I am grateful for the resurrection of which everyone who has had a body will be a receiver. I am also grateful for the opportunity that is mine to inherit eternal life if I am valiant in those covenants I have made and in the manner in which I choose to live my life. This is truth. This is sustaining, uplifting and comforting truth for which I am ever so grateful.

Those lights were turned out at times when stages of life were being left and new stages of our eternal progression were being entered. I am grateful for that little bit of recognition of 'Sandi's Journey'.

Museum of Appalachia...

While driving to Wing Ding along I-75 in Tennessee, Claude noted signs for the Museum of Appalachia. He mentioned it to me. Then, while having dinner Friday night with friends at Wing Ding, the Crawfords mentioned they went there during the day on Friday and enjoyed it. Hmmm...maybe we should make a stop there on the way home.  We did stop there and had a wonderful tourist visit.

The setting is vintage back country America in these parts. Green trees, green grass, old frame homes and the laid back feel of being in the country. It doesn't take long for one to relax and understand the term 'down home'.

I took 50,000,000 pictures (that is an exaggeration). But I did take a lot and will not share them all on this blog entry.

This museum was founded in 1969 and portrays an authentic mountain farm/village with three dozen historic log structures, exhibit buildings, gardens, split rail fences and farm animals. John Rice Irwin is the founder and he traveled the back roads to collect thousands of everyday items from the mountain folk of Southern Appalachia to use in this museum. The village is set to be authentic in every detail. Cabins are furnished as the families would have used them.

The entrance building is set by the parking lot. You pay your entry fee here, there is a great gift shop and a little place to get something to eat and drink. You are given a map of the museum, which is very helpful, and you just follow it for your own self-guided tour.

After passing the Stewart Cabin and the Gwen Sharp Playhouse (a playhouse built for a little girl) we entered the Appalachian Hall of Fame. This building is two story and houses lots of different types of exhibits. One of my favorite sections was devoted to the music and musical instruments of the mountain people. I'm telling you...these people could make an instrument out of anything, and they did, and here is pictoral proof.

Let's look at banjos made of lots of interesting things.  Hub caps, jaw bones, toilet seat, bed pan, cookie can, ham can and plain old wood.

Now let's view some other interesting musical instruments. The first is a 'courting dulcimer'. It was called that because two people could play at one time, one on each side, and their knees could touch while they were play. Oh the joy of it all!!! The second is an ironing board steel guitar. I told you, they make instruments out of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g!!!

Not only musical instruments were made from whatever was at hand, they made wheelchairs out of what they had on hand as well.

There were items in this particular building that were fun for me to see. The original music score for the "Tennessee Waltz", the story of the music for "Under the Double Eagle", a beautiful clay pot with a poppy painted on the front, interesting caskets, lots of things carved out of wood, some pottery, a very old dentist chair and drill (ouch!!), and the list goes on.

From the Hall of Fame we walked past the re-enactors drilling on the field. We ached for them in those heavy itchy looking wool clothes out in the hot sunshine. But they are doing what they enjoy. And, it is always interesting to watch and learn from those who really study these things and then re-enact them for those of us who don't study those things quite as much. I get to sort of enjoy the Reader's Digest Condensed version of history.

We passed these awful looking jail cells. They are literally metal cubes built like a box car. Inside attached to the walls are four bunks. They could be left up on the walls during the day and four prisoners could have that tiny floor space to be in. At night, the four bunks would come down and fill the entire interior of these cells. Now, that is enough to make one behave so one does not have to live in such unelegance (I think I just made up a word!).

The Display Barn was our next stop. It houses a collection of frontier and pioneer memorabilia. There is an old country song titled, "The Letter Edged in Black". In this building was a replica of a very small post office space and on the wall was this picture of a letter, literally edged in black. It seems they really sent you a letter with black edges upon the death of a love one.

I also found the 'trap' for little pesky animals amusing. It is simply a post with a hinge mounted on it. One side of the hinge has a rope tied to it with a corn cob attached to the other end of the rope. One top of the opened hinge is a rock. The pesky little animal sees the corn, desires the corn, grabs the corn and yanks, the hinge closes, the rock falls and oopsy daisy the little critter is at minimum stunned and at maximum meets it is bleedin' demised as they say in Monty Python. The things that I found most cute was the museum placing an animal pelt on the ground under this exhibit. Cracked me right up.

Over our 41 years of marriage, Claude and I have toured lots of old homes and museums with old things and old ways of doing things. In all those tours I have never seen the following item. It is a 'marble mill'. It is a huge stone with a hole in it. The person would place a rock in that hole and move the stone under a waterfall. Over time the water would pour over that hole and the rock inside would roll around eventually smoothing out the edges of the rock. The end result after enough time was a marble. Hence, 'marble mill' . I found this very clever and then thought as I walked away... "I wonder who gets to move that heavy rock under the water fall?" Just wondering.

Our next stop was the People's Building. There was a man named Harrison Mayes. He was a coal miner and he made huge stone crosses which he placed all across the United States and even some other countries around the world. This was his life's work and he felt very strongly about it. A collection of these crosses can be found beside and under the porch of this building.

Inside is the bicycle he used to ride around on to get his message out to people. He would put the initial PAE on items he made. He would not tell anyone what those initials stood for. However, prior to his death he confided to a close relative that they stood for 'Planetary, Aviational, Evangelistic'. He had aspirations of one of his crosses being placed on the moon. I think he was an eccentric fellow who had a passion for something in his life and he truly gave it his all.

The rest of the museum is individual homes and buildings, furnished to period. I'm only going to share a few in this blog entry. The first is the Mark Twain Family Cabin. It was moved to the Museum of Appalachia from'Possum Trot, Tennessee. Mark Twain never lived in this house but his family did. He was born five months after the family left Tennessee.

There is a blacksmith shop,

and Sharp's Corn Mill,

and General Bunch's house. General Bunch helped to build this home when he was eight years old. Here is what he said on a visit to Museum of Appalachia and seeing his old childhood home, "The old house was built by my daddy, Pryor Bunch. He had twelve children and we was all raised in them two rooms. I was just eight years old, but I drug the logs in from the mountains with a yoke of oxen. We had to walk twelve miles across the mountains to the nearest store where we could buy a bag of salt." (And here I sit in my lovely home with air conditioning and a hubby cooking dinner on a nice electric stove!)

There was the McClung House which I felt a special attachment to for it reminded me of my Grampa and Gramma Fisch's home in Louisiana. Their home had a long front porch across the front like this. It was made of wood boards just like this. It had wooden shingles on top just like this. AND...it had a hallway down the middle just like this. Gramma and Grampa Fisch's home had big double wooden doors at each end of the hall through the middle. These doors were closed at night but during the day they opened into the hallway. In the afternoons, my mother took handmade old quilts and laid them on the floor. We were expected to lay down and rest on these pallets as we called them. I remember those lovely southern breezes that came through those hall ways and brushed over my little kid cheeks. It felt so good. A gentle breeze still takes me back to those hallway naps on pallets and that feeling of peace and comfort I felt then. In the Fisch home the left side of the house has a bedroom on the front and the back of the house with a door between them. On the right side of the hallway was a large room used as the living room and my grandparents bedroom. There was a door on the right side of that room into the big room along that right outside wall of their house. It was the kitchen and there was a window looking out onto the front yard. There was also a door to the back porch from this long kitchen. In front of their living room/bedroom was a pantry for home canned foods. I loved this old home place. Lots of very good memories were made here.

This building is the Cox Corn Crib. There are several corn cribs in the museum. These were used to store corn to be used during the winter. They are usually raised from the ground and you might often find where mice and other animals gnawed to get inside for the grain. That food was precious to the residents as well as the animals and it was a constant struggle to keep the little critters out of your food storage. This corn crib happens to also have a covered place for the wagon.

"Dan'l Boone" has his home in this museum. The cabin is undergoing some restoration work at this time. It was actually built in the early 1800's and is a one room dirt floor construction. It was really used in the CBS TV series Young Dan'l Boone.

There is just something reverent about the mountain churches. Even in their poverty, they built places of worship. They are simple structures with lots of heart and soul to them. They may be one of my favorite buildings in the rural areas. I loved the ones we found in Cades Cove a few years ago. Papa and I sing a song titled "There's a Chapel in the Hills" about these little buildings and the faith of the people who lived and worshipped in them. I always have a picture of these lovely buildings in my head when we sing that song.

I just love the name of this building. It is the Big Tater Valley Schoolhouse. What do you have for a mascot when you are from the Big Tater Valley? The other cute thing about this building, besides its name, were the outhouse on either side. They are not in the picture. They have one for the boys and one for the girls.

This is an underground dairy. There was no refrigeration and digging under the ground was the best way to keep milk and eggs and things like that cool.

And some of those villages had their still to make their spirits.

The Joe Diehl Saw Mill is still operable. They saw logs here on special occasions.

This type of barn is called an 'overhang' or 'cantilever' barn. It was moved to the Museum from Sevier County, Tennessee. That part of Tennessee is one of the few places to see this style of barn which originated in Switzerland. There were several of these in Cade Cove also.

Claude held the gate for me, as every gentleman should for his lady, and we both were amused at the use of a kettle as the weight to help the gate stay closed. Doesn't Claude make a cute Vanna White?

You just need mountain music by mountain people when you visit the mountains. We were not to be disappointed. These people sang away and I harmonized with them as I toured. I did pause and listen to a great rendition of 'Orange Blossom Special'. The lady of this group had CD's set up and I purchased two of them. One is of old county songs and one is of old gospel songs. I knew a lot of the songs on each CD...hmmmm...I'm either old or I grew up with someone who is old and still sings those songs each Wednesday at the nursing home and I sing with him. I think it might be a bit of both. The ladies voice is not the best as far as vocalists go. But I truly enjoyed it because it was a real mountain voice with accents that are just right. I've listened to them each once in my car and I'll now share them with Papa. 

The other thing that made this visit such great fun was...peacocks...that's right, peacocks. I'm not sure they are authentic Appalachian peacocks. But I was pretty sure that was the sound I was hearing as we toured one end of the museum. When we got to the other end of the museum, sure enough, there were two male peacocks with their tail feathers spread and making quite a display. One stayed with tail feathers spread while I sat on the rock wall and talked and took picture after picture. They were beautiful birds. Here are a couple of my favorite shots of these birds. The first picture is of the peacock turning his head and listening as I talked to him.

The Museum of Appalachia is set around a beautiful green, grassy field. Here are a couple of shots across the field.

I'm including this picture, well, cause I love it and it is the kind of picture I love to take, and it is my blog and I can.

Claude and I totally enjoyed visiting the Museum of Appalachia in Tennessee. There is a lot of heart in this place. As we exited my final pictures were of the chicken crossing sign and the peach tree in front of our car laden with peaches. How Southern can you get?  I mean really.