The First Day of School

The day we knew would come at last, has come at last. It's the first day of school and campus is buzzing. I have always loved the first day of class and today is no exception. There is always a frisson in the air and everyone and everything is still fresh and new. So here's to a great 2009-2010 school year.

My home away from home in JFSB 2056

The Joseph F. Smith Building quad:
this is the exact direction of the view
from my window one floor above

Northeast view from the JFSB roof

B 062 JFSB where I teach on M/W

Picture me at the lectern on the right

B071 where I teach on T/Th

It is a foods room where we can spill paint with impunity

Christmas will here before you know it. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

This and That

Here are a few of the thing that went on during the last week: JLynn Hastings, Rob's mom, spent the week with us while she attended Education Week at BYU. It is always nice to have her come. Rob and Anna came down a couple of times and on Friday they all went to the Bombay House for supper.

JLynn checking out of the Happiness Hotel

Pile on Clara!

Anders strikes a martial-arts pose

Mark and Nancy were also in town during the week. The dropped Rachel off at Utah State and then spent the week with Nancy's dad in Provo. We met them and Rod and Vicki at the Bombay House for supper on Friday, too. Nancy was reticent because the last Indian food they ate in AZ was not so good. They were very pleasantly surprised by the by the excellent food here. We really are lucky to have such a good Indian restaurant in little ol' Provo. Jocelyn was with them and she is on her way to Japan to stay with Matthew and Kim in Tokyo. After dinner we all came back to the house to eat ice cream and visit for a couple of hours. It was really nice to see them.

Rod, Vic, Jocelyn, Nancy, Mark, Katy, and Kris
with scenes of India behind them

A random shot of Winnie and Dickie

On Sunday we had delicious breakfast-like dinner at Emily's. It is always fun to be together as you can see in the following photo. Kris lost it after sharing a good joke she heard in the Mail Room.

Katy smoothing Kris's feathers at Emily's

Good luck to all the binkers who started school last week and to those who will jump into the fray this week.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

The End of Summer

Provo public schools start Wednesday, Katy and Zoe have returned from Wales, Education Week starts Monday, preschool conferences at BYU start a week from Monday, there has been a nip of fall in the air, and it feels like summer is gone.

Will and Jamie spent the week here and Ann and Stephen put together a small fete for them last weekend. The Hastings came down to visit because they were headed out for Rob's family reunion in Idaho this week and would be unable to see the NC Taylors any other time.

The happy welcoming committee for Will and Jamie

The binkers enjoying Uncle's water feature

Monday evening was the final "group" picnic of the summer, so now its back to monthly dinners. Vern and Jerry, we miss you.

The final summer picnic: Millers and Ostergars

Liz and Phil

Phillip and Meagan invited us to pick berries with them on a West-Mountain farm, but Saturday dawned cool and rainy. We, however, loved the weather and picked a gallon of blackberries and two gallons of raspberries. P&M and their binkers picked about 3 or 4 gallons of blackberries. They are now either made into jam or frozen. We also went with them on their traditional Saturday visit to the Farmers' Market for lunch. It was such a fun morning; it was as good as a London adventure. That afternoon we went to see Julie and Julia with Hank and Colette, and after the film we went with them to La Casita for supper. What a day! No shopping, no laundry, just lots of fun adventures. The Saturday chores will keep.

Timp brooding on a cool and rainy Saturday morning

Ready to pick

The picking has begun

Katy gently plucking the ripe raspberries

Raspberry fields forever (w/ apologies to the Beatles)

Enjoying the fruits of their labors

Grammy keeping Ollie warm at the Farmers' Market

Good eats and treats

Crepes for dessert

Tonight, Sunday, we drove to Salt Lake City with Stephen and Ann to have dinner at Kreg and HB, our Calder (Hansen) cousins. HB and Norma are visiting and Dorothy and Kreg made a delicious meal. We had dessert on the roof terrace of Kreg's condominium on 3rd Avenue. It was a beautiful evening and a great finish to a fun week and weekend.

The first siting of Katy and Zoe Sunday afternoon

Norma, HB, Dorothy, and Kreg

A spectacular, cool August evening on Kreg's roof with its
incomparable view of the Utah State Capitol and Ensign Peak

Good times, but that's all for now.

OXO

D.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily, thirty-six years ago we welcomed you into our lives and the rest, as they say, has been history. You were the best thing ever; I never wanted to leave home. I only wanted to stay and play with you. When I did go to work or school, your happy welcome when I returned always filled me with joy. Such a bright and happy little sucker you were. As a matter of fact, you still are (bright and happy).

The apartment at Wymount Terrace,
circa 1974

Tonight was Emily's birthday party and the family joined her at the Bombay House for supper followed by birthday cake and ice cream at the Ensign's house. It was a beautiful evening and we stayed outside. The kids ran footraces, danced, and piled on Grammy and Auntie Katy. Fun times.

Circa 2009 at the Bombay House

The diners

Piling on Grammy and Katy

Puffy cheeks

You are a great daughter and we love you very much. Happy birthday!

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Saving History

During the last school year, I acquired a Canon scanner. At Katy's urging, I recently brought it home and she has been scanning our slide collection. I also, somehow, ended up with many of my father's slides. We watched them as youngsters and thought they were super. In the age of digital photography, however, they seem quite rough. Taking pictures was a bit of a crapshoot for amateurs. One had to estimate distance for focus and determine how wide to open the aperture as well as guess how long to keep the shutter open. As a result, the images are a bit wonky. Thanks to the clever features of iPhoto, most of the problems, except for focus, can be ameliorated. Following are a couple of before-and-after examples.

Katy Kathryn hard at work scanning some
Hastings' reunion slides for Anna

Father's original slide image of the house on the hill in
Provo where we lived when I was born

The same image after a bit of work with iPhoto

A family trip to Bryce Canyon
Hank, Tony, me, Mother, and Stephen

Same image after a bit of readjustment
and cleanup

It will be a long and tedious job to scan approximately 7,000 slides, four at a time. But it will be nice to have them in digital form to share with the kids and their families. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Pioneer-Day Week

On Tuesday, two days before Pioneer Day, we had a quick visit from some of the cousins. They were here for various reasons, including a kids camp for their offspring at Hank and Colette's cabin. That same day Anna and kids were in town for some swimming at Emily's. She was joined by Jennette Smith Fennimore who popped in for a short visit after the swim. Probably because of the swim, the binkers were STARVING! So we whipped up a big batch of pancakes, which were devoured instantly (they each ate at least six), necessitating a second batch.

Matt, Michelle, Katy, Megan and Bronwen (sp.?)

Jennette and Anna

On Wednesday, the day before Pioneer Day, Debby and Alison flew back into town. They were anxious for supper at La Casita, and we are not ones to complain about that. We were joined by Hilary's mother-in-law, Chris Brown, who is here caring for her son James who is recovering from an accident. Katie Brown, Hilary's sister-in-law also joined us.

Alison, Chris, Kris, Katy, Katie, and Debby

On Thursday, 24 July, Pioneer day, we hung the British flag to celebrate our British pioneer ancestors -- they were, after all, leaving the USA behind, and the US flag didn't seem quite right. We had a late pancake breakfast before heading to SLC with the Gibbs to see Moon at the Broadway. The movie was good and we topped the outing off with supper at Greek Souvlaki. Katy and Alison headed to Logan to do some organizing in Alison's room there. Debby, Kris, and I returned to Provo. Arriving home, we found all the chilluns waiting for us in the front yard, and the rest of the evening was spent visiting with them and inspecting the chickens at Millie and Colton's house.

Pancakes twice in one week

Debby and Kris ready to roll

The Broadway Theater in SLC

I liked this film

A lovely Pioneer-Day evening

Checking out and feeding the chickens

Saturday afternoon we drove to Perry (Brigham City) to meet Katy and Alison for supper at Maddox after their organization project. The food was very delicious, especially the rolls and corn pones. After supper we swapped car contents: we loaded Alison's discards (destined for DI) into our car and transferred luggage to Debby's rental car as we parted company. Deb and Alison were headed north to Boise for a gathering of Debby's family, and we returned home to Provo via Ogden. We stopped to have a look at Ogden's temple square. The temple is almost like Provo's, and the Tabernacle looks more like a temple. The tabernacle, designed by Fred L. Markham, was dedicated in 1956. Fred was father's lifelong missionary friend, school friend, and back-door relative as he married father's cousin.

Ready to head north and south

Ogden Temple: Provo's twin

Ogden Tabernacle looks more like a temple
than the temple

Sunday the family gathered at Phillip and Meagan's house for dinner. It was delicious with chicken penne pesto and shrimp scampi. At 7:00 we dashed off before their home teachers arrived. After all, who wants more than one home teaching message in a month?

Meagan was much happier than she appears

The binkers enjoying the Sunday meal

All things considered, it was a pretty fun week. Things should be slower now, but I will keep you posted.

That's all for now.

OXO,

D.