September 9, 2001 Farmington, Utah

We are finally having beautiful COOL weather and I love it - my condo is almost too cool but after such a hot Summer I don't want to turn the furnace on. I still have the swimming pool open but we will probably close it this next week unless it gets REALLY hot again. One of my friends went swimming yesterday morning and she said Kerry had forgotten to turn the heater on and the water temperature was 72 and she about froze. I thought the temple was cold yesterday so I didn't want to get colder by going swimming.

What a thrill it is to hear about Russell and Michaels' missions - I think about them all the time and I'm proud of the work they are doing. I simply can't believe the story Russell told about in his letter about his graveyard experience called "famidiamama" - that is SO weird!!! I thought the culture in Thailand of not burying some of their dead for a year or more was weird!!! I wonder what significance the red cloth has. I imagine there would be some concern for diseases with digging up bodies that had been buried for thirty years - YUCK!!! Do they put a great deal of value on human life? I hope so. I have been watching the television special, "The Lost Boys" about the large group of young men who escaped from Sudan and suffered a great deal before they were finally rescued and brought to America and now they are trying to become adjusted to modern life. I am surprised at their good English. I looked up Sudan on my map and it is close to Egypt so it is far away from Madagascar but I'm sure much of the African culture is similar. I hope Michael is having good success as he is teaching the Father of that young student at Utah State. We had a missionary home

Jeannie - thank you SO much for the delicious dinner today!!! I came home from church to find a huge dinner of salmon and rice and a salad of tomatoes with feta cheese and dressing - it was SO good!!! I just devoured it and came upstairs and got warm with a blanket and slept for almost two hours - I am SO lazy!!! I believe that is what old people in rest homes do, isn't it??? It was fun yesterday to look out my window and see Jeannie and Rick by my back fence in a golf cart - Rick had shot a ball on my neighbor's lawn so I got it for him. There are many golfers out playing all the time and it's fun to watch them and Jeannie says she likes it - Rick has always enjoyed golf. One of the things I like about the Oakridge golf course is that it is very family oriented - young family members are out with their parents quite often. I'm looking forward to going to the Davis High School Homecoming on Friday to see Sarah perform with the D'Ettes.

Bob and Claire are in Colorado for a few days where Bob is attending some medical meetings. Laura came home to stay with Katie and Brett and she will go back to school tomorrow after Katie leaves for school. I am looking forward to spending the nights with them tomorrow and Tuesday nights and then Bob and Claire will be home on Wednesday - it's good to be needed for a change. The Weinerts and Woolleys' children are too old for me to stay with them so it has been a long time since I have been needed. This is a pretty time to be in Colorado.

John - thank you for your little messages through the week. I haven't heard from the Roys this week - I can just imagine how busy they are as they are getting settled back into their school and work activities. I'll bet the Arkansas Arts Center is busy at this time of year too. I read an advertisement for a new book on anesthesiology but already I can't think of the name of it - it had something to do with what it is made of and it sounds interesting.

Annie - I hope you have had a good time in Deer Valley this weekend for the School Board retreat or something. That is such a beautiful place - where did you stay? Has Susanna started back in her classes yet? I feel sad that I keep forgetting to tell Jessie how much I LOVE the poem she wrote when Daddy died? I hope she knows how much it means to me. I wish I could go see Jimmy play football - I probably need to change my temple schedule from Saturday mornings to a time during the week. Has Lee Anna's friend left the MTC yet?

I went to my 58th High School Reunion on Friday night and it was WONDERFUL!!! I have thought about it a lot and I'm kinda' sad that none of my children will ever attend their high school reunions that long - maybe Roy will if he stays in Arkansas. My class of '43 has had a reunion every year since we graduated but I haven't been able to attend many of them because I have lived so far away. There were about 80 in attendance but of course that includes students and their spouses if they are still alive. It was held at Sherwood Hills and we had dinner, a program and visiting. Ellen Mae and Mel took me - they are so good to me!!! One of the things that was special for me was that my former boyfriend and his wife were there and he performed with my sweet friend, Helen Jane as they played a VERY difficult and beautiful piano duet. My friend's name is Arthur Murphy and they live in Fort Worth, Texas and have lived there for fifty years. He is a professional musician and a retired engineer and VERY good looking - Ha!!! This weekend has been "Peach Days" in Brigham City and many of the people attending the reunion went to the parade and festivities on Saturday. I am going to Brigham City tomorrow to go to a luncheon with friends who have come from California.

I went to Salt Lake last Wednesday to go to dinner with my former Thai missionary companions and that was WONDERFUL too. Many of you met Janet, Darlene, Ruth and Virginia when you were in Bangkok. Janet and Darlene left the next day to go to Turkey to teach English for a Semester - they will be home before Christmas and they were excited to go. Darlene lives in Arizona and she had flown up to go with Janet. None of us had seen Darlene since we came home almost three years ago so it was a happy reunion. Virginia had just returned from the "Sea Trek" trip and she had lots of pictures to show us and it was fun to hear about her trip. She didn't want to cross the Atlantic so she came home after three weeks - that would have been long enough for me too. Roy and Patrice probably have not heard about the "Sea Trek" trip. It was a trip planned to honor the Mormon pioneers who made that trek when they joined the church in England over a hundred years. Virginia has many members of her family who were among that group. We had our little reunion in the Tiffin room at Meier & Frank in Salt Lake and we didn't know they closed at 5 p.m. - we finally noticed all the tables were empty about 5:45 and decided we had better leave. The cashier had been waiting for us all that time but she said she could tell we were so involved in our visiting we weren't aware the restaurant was closed. She was SO nice and when we told her about our missionary activities she gave us a personal drawing of Jesus Christ that she had done - a memorable experience.

I have season tickets for the Roger Memorial Theatre here in Centerville and they performed "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" on Thursday night. I talked Jeannie into going with me and we both enjoyed it SO much. That is a small theatre but they do fabulous things - Margaret practically finances it so the condo group goes to support her but it is well worth it. I have seen that play about four times and there is a different interpretation of it each time - this one used a lot of young people in it which is typical of this area.