Spring Has Sprung

June 16-30

Showing our Float with Pres. & Sister Stoker

SATURDAY   Morning came before I was ready but we were scheduled to open the Memorial this morning.  The first thing I did was vacuum the home as they were getting ready for a Senior Missionary dinner at noon.  As soon as I finished with the vacuum, people started arriving for tours.  Mixed in between the tours was an “interview” or just talk with the Mission President.  President Stoker is really a good, understanding man.  It was great to just visit with him for a while. Once the Seniors started arriving for the dinner, so did the guests so I didn’t get to visit much nor did I get to eat my dinner with them.  I ended up taking my plate of food to the apartment about 4:00pm and eating part of it there.

I designed the banner for the back of the float

Elder Mooney, Wilsons, Polls

Skidmores, Pettingills, Mooneys

Egans & Makensie, Pres. Stoker (back of Sis. Campbell)

Makensie, Stokers, Harmons

Osborns, Polls, (back of Likes)

Shortly after, we headed grocery shopping via Quechee to see the balloon festival.  There were no balloons so we just drove on for the groceries.  After getting our groceries and our stop at Wendy’s we headed for home.  MISSIONARY BLESSING   Just as we were to turn on to the freeway, we were hit from the car behind.  A 15 yr. old girl was driving with her mother and just ran into the back of us.  It sent us for a jolt forward.  Luckily there weren’t any cars ahead of us and none turning onto the freeway.  The car had a couple of places where the paint was scraped off.  We were certainly blessed as it could have been so much worse.  The mother thanked me for being so calm with her daughter who was in tears and could hardly talk.     
SUNDAY -  Sacrament meeting at 10:00am.  I was just sitting there when the organist came and asked me to lead the music for sacrament meeting.  The organist (Sister Doyle) got sick and Rhonda ended up playing the closing song.  The Relief Society president made a 7oz chocolate milk shake in recognition of Father’s Day, kinda nice and thoughtful.  From the Church we went directly to the Memorial and opened for the afternoon.  For several hours there was a steady stream of visitors who came to visit with us.  Then a little lull and then as usual, a “swarm”  (if I counted right there were 5 groups) who showed up the last 45 minutes of the day so we were quite late in getting home.  All of our children checked in by phone and wished me a Happy Fathers Day.It was good to hear from all of them.  We have certainly been blessed with a good family.     

Played the accordion for FHE "sing-along"

 
MONDAY -  Once we got to the Memorial there was a steady flow of visitors.  That kept us pretty well busy until time for family home evening.  There were 35 of us here for that so we had a room full.  Sometimes I wonder if there is going to be enough food to go around but it always works out.

Trish Hawkins brought her girls for a visit.

TUESDAY - We had over 25 visitors come during our shift which kept us busy most of the day, especially in the early part. One of the visitors who I took on a tour said he had been the Executive Secretary to the Area Authority of the New England Area for 17 years.  He was never able to talk them into holding their meetings at the JSBM.  When I took his family down to the old foundations he said it was like “Heaven” to get to see all the early history of the Church in this area.  He was a large guy but very humble and grateful.  Mixed in with the tours, Rhonda did her weekly teaching of Sara Dunkle on the piano.    

The kid-size bag works alright--just a little top heavy

WEDNESDAY    -   Our morning shift started right of with several visitors.  Trish Hawkins from A.F. (Beverly Meyers daughter) came by.  She lived in New Hampshire for several years but has just moved to Virginia.     After getting home we decided to go shopping so we could do other things tomorrow.  We even went shopping at “Listen”(comparable to our DI). Rhonda bought a kid's golf bag (only choice) for her few clubs that we brought out.  It was such a nice day we decided to hit a few golf balls out on our grass before dark.

THURSDAY   I got up fairly early and decided to rotate the left side of the car tires as the back one is wearing on the outside corner.  After that, I went to the Memorial to our garden to weed.  I weeded about as much as I dared as some of the veggies are not big enough to dig around them yet.   Later, we decided to drive to a place called Texas Falls.  It was kind of a neat place and it was amazing how the water had washed various whirlpools as it would swirl around the rocks.  From there we backtracked to the White River Golf Course between Rochester and Killington.   

Hole #6 with the WHITE RIVER behind the Tee

We got there just after 4:00pm which started their twilight hour so we paid for 1 round and got to golf two rounds.  It was kind of a hard course and we were walking.  So after the first 9, we were a little tired but decided to go again and look for Rhonda’s watch which she discovered she had lost.  She thought it was on the 1^st tee but we were not able to locate it so we played 6 holes and by then we were near the club house and very tired so we decided to call it quits.  These 15 holes took us three hours.   The course reminded us of Wasatch State Park as we were about the only ones on the course and lots of trees, etc.  I left a card at the club house with our phone number on it in case someone would find the watch and turn it in.


FRIDAY -  I hadn’t been up very long before my phone rang and it was the guy at the golf course saying he had Rhonda’s watch.  Blessed again!   I took a short walk and then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon washing and ironing.  I decided to wash my Temple clothes.  Pressing all those pleats was a little different but I managed to make it.   We had the afternoon shift at the Memorial and happened to drive in right behind a car of visitors.  Starting with those people and for most of all the rest of the afternoon, we were kept busy greeting and escorting visitors through the Memorial.   I wore a short sleeve shirt to work for the first time.  However, the evening was cool, even had to put on a sweat shirt to sit around the house.    
SATURDAY  We had the morning shift and there were people waiting for us to open up as we arrived.  Several groups came before the Spanish contingent. (A group from a Spanish speaking ward in MA, about 35 people in the group). 
Rhonda directed the tour thru an interpreter so she had to improvise a little but did a great job of giving them the essential facts and story of the monument.  The missionaries said that over half of the group were non-members.  It was back to the long sleeves today and in the evening, I put on the sweat shirt again to just sit around the apartment.    
SUNDAY - Today was our Sunday off at the Memorial.  Rhonda had to play the organ and accompany the special musical number as well.   Then she had to teach the Sunbeam class in primary.  They keep her busy with all her talents.  After lunch, we relaxed for a while then took a walk.  It felt so good to be out that we decided to go for a little relaxing drive in the car.  We drove through some beautiful back roads.  There were “farm stands” along the way and I would figure they were so far from the “beaten path” than no one would find them. One thing for certain, it sure is beautiful country !  
Sister Osborn gave me the book Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling as she just finished reading it.  It is pretty long with small print and is hard to read but I will give it a go.

The flowers add such color and beauty to the site!

The newly-planted flowers and beautiful peonies

MONDAY -  Today I hardly had time to do anything except give tours of the Memorial.  Several large groups came as well as the individuals/small groups.  I missed everything of the family home evening except the eats.  By the time it was time for dinner, it was well passed time to close the Memorial but we never close if there are people here to see/listen even if it is past closing time.  We were quite late getting home.  We did receive another MISSIONARY BLESSING today.  While Rhonda was out taking pictures of the Spring Flowers around the monument, she somehow fell backwards off one of the steps and fell flat on the walk way to the Monument.  Apparently Elder Harman saw her fall and rushed over to assist her.  We were blessed as she didn’t get any large bruises or cuts and she was able to bounce right back up and was OK. 
TUESDAY-  I got up earlier than usual and watched a little of Wimbledon on TV before going for my walk. The afternoon shift was pretty slow today.  It seems like a dismal day outside and I guess not much is stirring. 

WEDNESDAY -   We are on our usual early shift today.  Once we got home and had lunch, it started a light rain.  We were supposed to go golfing with the Harman’s.  When they got home, Kent came over and said he was game if I was so we decided to at least go and see (Rhonda & Tammy were not game).  If nothing else, we could pick up Rhonda’s watch.  Once we got to White River and picked up the watch, it was raining pretty good but Kent wanted to give it a try so we headed out.  They were supposed to have league later on and some of the guys had gone early and picked up their golf cart so all that was available was the “convertible” variety.  Before too long we were soaked to the bone but still having fun so we kept going.  At the end of the first nine we checked in and the owner said the league was cancelled so we could play any holes we desired.  So, we played another round plus an extra hole.  I must say, after you get soooooo wet, you can’t get any wetter.  My club grips got pretty slippery but in spite of the weather, we had a great time! Surprisingly enough, I was even playing quite well.   We didn’t get home until dark and it took a while to get dried out.  Everything we took was completely soaked and is taking a while to dry out.  Too bad Rhonda and Tammy missed all the fun!!    
THURSDAY - Spent most of the morning watching the tennis recordings I had missed.  After noon, we headed out in the car driving on the back roads toward Barnard, VT.  All of a sudden out in the middle of nowhere, we were stopped on a one lane road.  There were a couple of ambulance vehicles ahead of us and soon the State Trooper passed us by. We eventually saw a couple of pedal bikes (front tires bent in a figure eight shape) being loaded into a pickup truck.  I didn’t find out more than that.  The guy that stopped us on the road wasn’t very nice so I didn’t dare ask many questions.   We eventuall arrived at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Museum, Farm and Rockefeller Mansion-- part of the National Park System.  We walked around the grounds for a while before moving on.  Our travels then took us to the Sugarbush Maple Farm.  (Wrong time of year for Syrup). About the only thing they did with the cheese is cut it and then wrap it in their own label.  It was processed elsewhere as part of the co-op.  They had a few animals outside in some pens but nothing too interesting.  After that, we finally made it to W. Lebanon and did our grocery shopping for the week.  It was nearly 7:00pm when we finally got home.  
FRIDAY  - Today marks the 170^th anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.   Saw some early tennis on TV then for my morning walk and back in time to watch a couple of the tennis matches I wanted to see.  Once we got to the Memorial, they had been busy all morning and continued for a while. Then things tapered off until the end of the day (as usual).    
SATURDAY - Osborn’s asked us to change to the afternoon shift today.  We started off busy and seemed to stay that way the rest of the afternoon.  I had one interesting thing happen during one of the tours.  I was explaining about Joseph’s leg operation when a little eight year boy just blacked out and fell backwards flat on the floor.  His Dad broke his fall and was at his side and he soon recovered and was OK.  One of the reasons Osborn’s asked us to change was they had invited the Olado and Oparowski families for dinner as well as us.  As usual, we were on shift and visitors came so most of the party went on without me.  By the time I finally got to my dinner (warmed in the microwave) I was more than ready for it.  It was a delicious dinner but the visitation lasted too long for me.  It was after 9:00pm when we finally got back to the apartment.

Spring planting is finally done.  It is going to be exciting to watch the colorful flowers take hold and spread!