Help, please

I have just finished my books and am looking for more to read. I loved The Thirteenth Tale (for the second time). It is a book for people who love to read. I read Buckingham Palace Gardens (by Anne Perry) about a murder in Buckingham Palace, solved by Thomas Pitt and his spunky housekeeper, Gracy. I love Anne Perry's period novels. They are quite good. I also finished Pillars of the Earth, and while it is really good, it is really graphic. I think that everybody in middle ages was just awful. Too much pillaging and raping of peasants, too much consensual sex in most graphic and vulgar terms. All this about building a cathedral. Still, it was compelling.

So here I am trying to figure out what to read next. I would love suggestions from anyone about what I should check out. I am always a little leery of contempory fiction because it is so often salacious, simply for shock value. I was going to read Memory Keeper's Daughter until I saw that it was made into a Lifetime Movie of the Week. That is when I was sure I wouldn't like it. Other than that, I'm not real picky. It just has to be good. I've read the new Richard Patterson (7th Heaven -- good) and the new Patricia Cornwell (Book of the Dead -- not good).

Please, help me out. Make suggestions.

Good Morning, NYC

I’m not sure what it is about my memory, but I can’t seem to remember that the red eye to JFK is not the best way to start out a trip. The last time I flew overnight to New York it was for a whirlwind 24 hour visit to the Big Apple. I flew with Sarah and Emily for just a day. We went to the Manhattan Temple at 6:00 am (because it is the only thing open that early). Afterwards, we found a small deli/café and changed out of our dresses in the bathroom. I left my skirt in the trash, because I didn’t really like it and didn’t want to carry it all day. We then went to Canal street and bought purses, saw Ground Zero, wandered through the shops on 5th Avenue and finally dragged ourselves to Rockefeller Center where we decided that we would rather sit in the airport for 4 hours than try to make ourselves do anything else. At that point, I swore I would never do such a crazy thing again. Well, I haven’t, but I did take another red eye to JFK.

On Thursday April 17th (OK, just barely Thursday; it was 12:30 am) Sarah, Stacy, Kathleen and I flew to JFK. I was sure that I would be able to sleep since the plane wasn’t crowded and I had the window seat. That wasn’t going to happen. Kathleen managed to curl up with her head in my lap and sleep most of the way. I was left with trying to read in the dark and watch the map and flight info switch back and forth from English to Espanol. When you are watching, it seems that 5 hours is a really long time. I now know how to read about altitude, ground speed, tale wind, and air temperature in Spanish. El fin – we are at the end of the flight.

Since we are basically cheapskates, we took the train/subway into the city. While I thought I was booking us into the Time Square Courtyard by Marriot, which is a pretty swanky hotel, I was actually getting us into the 5th Avenue Courtyard, which was OK. We got off the subway too soon and dragged our suitcases 13 blocks down 5th Avenue to 40th Street. We later discovered that Grand Central Station was only a couple of blocks away. Anyway, we checked into the hotel, but could not get into a room until 2 pm. So being the righteous young women (and old) that we are, we went to the Temple and did baptisms for the dead. The Manhattan Temple is a marvel. It must be the cleanest, most serene, blessed place in the entire city. You leave all the hustle and bustle and noise and troubles at the door. It was great to be there.

Afterwards, we still had time to kill so we went to the Natural History Museum and went to a star show. I don’t remember what it was about because we all fell asleep. Back to the hotel, take a nap, get a shower and head out for Mary Poppins. Great stuff.

This was a fast trip – in the remaining 3 days we did the Empire State Building, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Moma, Chinatown, Ground Zero, 5th Avenue shopping, stake conference, and a fabulous Harbor Tour at night. We walked 100 miles and got caught up in the circus that was the visit of El Grande Papa (the Holy Father Benedict XVI not la grande papa - the big potato). We discovered Century 21, a department store that is like Big Lots for designer goods. Lots of fun. Kathleen had to see designer stores so she could figure out how to make the clothes at a lower cost. Really, a $6,000 dress with matching shoes for $1,950!!

Finally, Sunday arrived and we flew home on the longest flight I seem to remember. It is probably because we started out so tired and just never stopped.

I love NY!! But, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home. Oh, and like before, I left some personal items behind in the trash -- my black dress shoes. They have holes in them. Maybe I should have bought those $1,900 ones.

P.S. This is strumpet Hello Kitty most appropriately found in Times Square (at the Sanrio shop)

Watch This Movie!!

My picture disappeared, but it is for the movie -- On clear day!!

This movie is so great. It is very funny, like only the Brits can be, but also very tender and poignant. I wonder if all Brits are as funny as these guys. Actually, they are supposed to be Scots. The main guy gets "made redundant" as loses his job at the shipyard in Glasgow. To over come his depression, he decides to swim the English Channel. It also helps him get over the loss of his son in a drowning accident many years before and reconcile with the son he still has. I laughed myself silly, and then cried and then went back and watched it all again. If you watch any BBC or PBS dramas, you'll recognize some of these actors and there is the Hobbit, Pippin.

Our New Neighbor

This past weekend, we were up in HV for just overnight and a day so we could listen to General Conference without any distractions. I always look forward to this time. When I am in SLC, there is always yard work, laundry, stuff like that to keep me away from the wonderful messages. I always tell myself I'll get back to them on the dvr, but I never do. Anyway, great conference, wonderful spirit, President Monson has stepped up so beautifully. He even sounds different, more prophetly.

Anyway, the really exciting thing is that we finally found the culprit for the bird doodoo on the garbage can and all the pellets full of mouse bones. And here he is (actually, this is from Google images, because the picture Bob took is too dark to see and his camera is in his office and he has clients in there). He is a great horned owl, growing to the huge size of 18" tall with a

wing span of 4 feet. His name is Stanton

Now the owl pellets are even more interesting. Owls don't seem to digest the bones of their prey (mice, small rodents, cats, skunks, and an occaisional bat). They just seem to collect them in their gut and then urp them up in a nice little ball of feathers and bones and stuff that I don't know what it is and am not going to ask. (for a picture of them, go to www.owlpellets.com/uploads/images/lb.jpg) You know, there are sites where you can buy them for $5.00+. Maybe I should collect them and make a small fortune. We seem to have an unending supply.

I wish he would move so my garbage can is not such a mess. I guess I'll have to move the can.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Stanton.

Spring Break

Kathleen and I decided to take a road trip for Spring Break. Now before you jump to any conclusions and have horrifying mental pictures of me in Ft Lauderdale or Mazatlan partying with Girls Gone Wild, let me inform you that I was invited to Vashon Island to rummage through my dead sister's things. How is that for fun? It is an island, and it is Spring, and Kathleen and her friend, Heather, were able to go down to the beach, but this is the weather we encountered:



It looked like a scene from Snow Falling on Cedars. This was a whirlwind (and snowy) trip. Dick Gordon asked Aunty Kate and I to come up because he was ready to go through some of Fran's things and needed help identifying family heirlooms so that David would know what they were someday when he became interested in them.


We left Wednesday morning with relatively nice weather, but by about Burley encountered quite a bit of rain. We reached my usual stopping point on these Seattle jaunts, Baker city Oregon, but it was only 5 pm so we decided to go on for a while. After we drove past La Grande and were emotionally and vehicularly committed to Pendleton, we encountered a blizzard in the Blue Mountains and it was especially treacherous in Deadman Pass. Yes, Deadman. Kathleen did a great job driving through this. We finally got to Vashon on Thursday and we got right to work.

I went through the boxes of patterns, sewing equipment, sewing machines (4) -- I brought one home for Sarah -- and books. We cleaned up the guest room, had Mexican food, and bedded down for the night.


On Friday, we went through Fran's clothes and jewelry. I was hoping to find pieces of Mom's costume jewelry of which I have such fond memories. Unfortunately, I came up empty handed. We did find Grandpa Dibble's 20 and 25 year commerative pins from Salt Lake Hardware and Charlie's 25 and 30 year pins from his work with USAF. We also found Mom's bracelet with a pendant with the Minute Man Missle on it. That is a strange piece of jewelry to be sure, but Mom worked as a secretary to one of the engineering crews that worked on the missle at Hill AFB in the 60's. She really liked it. I hope David will appreciate those little items. I think he has a bit of a pack rat nature like his mom, I just hope he developes her love of family heritage. After the clothes and jewelry, we tackled the camera equipment. The only thing I recognized that was a real blast from the past was Polaroid camera that we bought Mom in the early 1970's. We were so sneaky and she was so surprised. We still have some very good looking pictures that were taken with that camera. All the camera equipment went to the Jr. High School. Fran would have liked that. She was always involved in the schools.


We went to dinner at the Backbay Inn on Vashon where Dick was playing with his blue grass band. I have eaten way too much on this trip.


Saturday we decided that we needed to get on the road quickly because the weather looked threatening. However, there was time to look at one more box. We found the lovely colored pencil sketch of my grandmother. I must have looked like I was going to cry because Dick told my I could have it. Fran probably would have slapped him if she were able. This is truly a family prize.


On the way home, the girls wanted to stop at the best Nordstrom Rack in the world so we did. That put us behind about 2 hours but Kathleen found an adorable pair of Betsey Johnson shoes for only $47 dollars. It was worth it. We got to Pendleton again about 930 pm.


Sunday we woke to snow. Please reference the paragraph above about Deadman Pass. We decided to go to church in La Grand and drove through the pass in white out conditions. I figured we would be blessed for making the effort to get to Sacrament meeting under such awful conditions. We were. It was a wonderful ward, with a great spirit. We split fast, though, hoping to get ahead of the weather, and only getting in the middle of another white out. I thought this was spring.

We did get home safely. The doggies and Bob missed us. The house was in great shape.

Aunty Kate, you missed an eventful trip. Hope you can come next time.

Snow Bunnies and Snow Drifts

In honor of the first days of spring, here is a little retrospective on winter.

These are just a few views of the kind of snow whe have had this year. You will note the height of the snow piles. Now some of these are just piles that fell off the roof after the snow had built up 3-4 feet and then slid down. but in the yard, we have an actual 4 feet. Hallelujah -- it is starting to melt.

All winter long, I have been avoiding going skiing with Bob. I have nothing against spending they day with Bob; I actually enjoy it. However, I'm not crazy about skiing. It's cold, it's scary, there are to many people and I can't seem to manuever around them and I am sure I will hit someone and will be arrested for reckless skiing. Oh, wait, that's only in Park City. There is something about speeding down an ice covered hill with nothing to protect you but some puffy bib overalls and a jacket with a fake chinchilla collar. And I am sure that I go at least 100 miles an hour. Finally, I gave in (I had made all kinds of excuses the entire winter -- too tired, too ill, condo remodeling stuff, just didn't want to).

When Bob used to take the kids skiing when they were really little, he told them they couldn't consider themselves real skiers until they could do up there own boots. Well, I am not a real skier. Bob, or Rachel, or Sarah, all had to help me with my boots at one time or another yesterday. It's is quite pathetic that a full grown adult can't seem to bend over and fasten her own footwear.

Anyway, I went to Snowbasin with the fam and actually had a good time. I never did get off the bunny hill, but did it 6 times, which is 4 more times than I went last year. The entire time I was on the slopes I kept thinking, "I can't believe I'd doing this!" I even did the harder easy hill (2x!!). And then came my favorite part of skiing, lunch!!

I may actually go again someday. Perhaps in another 3-10 years I will be able to go on the upper mountain. It is amazing how much easier this is to do 40 lbs lighter. However, with those poofy pants, it is hard to tell that I'm lighter. Now if I can only learn to buckle my own boots.

PS -- Went again and came home with a whiplash!! I fell and hit my head on the ground. Thank goodness Bob forgot his camera!!

Tag, I'm it.

Ten Years Ago: At the hospital with Sarah a bazillion times as she had knee/ankle/heart/knee/ovary surgery. Not all at once.

Five places I have lived:
1. Portsmouth, Virginia (where life began for me)
2. Ogden, UT
3. Seattle, WA
4. Beavercreek, Ohio – yes, the home of the Battling Beavers (our HS mascot)
5. Salt Lake City, UT

Five things on my to do list:
1. Finish my taxes by April 15, since I’ve never gotten them done before Oct. 15 in years.
2. Finish the Aunty Fran t-shirt quilt before David graduates from HS – oh, wait, he’s done that – before he goes on his mission.
3. Go to Paris with Rachel.
4. Lose 60 more lbs. It is kind of overwhelming that I have lost 40 lbs and am still over 200.
5. Be awesome

I enjoy: Going to Huntsville, when I can just sit out under my beautiful trees and do nothing.

Two bad habits:
1. Cussing. Even though Em’s has gone down significantly, I think I found her extra words. Otto makes me do it.
2. Playing Jewel Quest, Jewel Quest II, and now Jewel Quest solitare.

Five things you may not know about me:
1. I always read the last pages of a book before I finish. I have to make sure I am going to like how it ends – even if it is a sad ending. It must not be a stupid ending.
2. I have seen the movie Casablanca 25 times since high school. No it did not come out when I was in High School. I saw it at a film festival.
3. I love Dancing with the Stars. I am voting for Kristi Yamaguchi.
4. I wanted to be a cop when I was in college. Maybe that is why I love crime shows.
5. I have this sick fascination with serial killers. When I was a kid, I read True Crime magazine.

Five jobs I've had:
1. Czarina of Robert B Sykes & Associates
2. Ironing – but only long enough to make money for youth conference.
3. Teaching Assistant in BYU Political Science department
4. Kelly girl – temp work during the summer during college.
5. Secretary at BYU – Chemistry department

OK, Rachsticle, you are it. Also, Aunty Kate and Deborah you can send in e-mail.