Fun Day in Providence, RI

 Last week, Clyde's sister, Celeste Collins emailed us to tell us her son, Garrett would be in Providence performing with his Church choir on June 19 at noon.  It was at The First Baptist Church of America (started by Roger Williams).  We got to see a landmark, listen to beautiful music and have a wonderful visit too.  Garrett is an amazing young man with a very good spirit about him.  We were able to spend over an hour with him - one on one - for lunch at the Providence Place mall. 

I have come to the conclusion that some things are just inherited in the Bailey Family.  Garrett and Clyde went to Popeye's for lunch and Garrett ordered the shrimp and a Dr Pepper.  That was what Clyde had intended to order so all  he had to say was, "Make that 2."  They had a great time talking about Grandpa Bill and other family history.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  Garrett has inherited some of the other Bailey quirks too - just like his Uncle Clyde.  Oh and by the way, Garrett is 6'3".  I am thinking he is still growing too!

Old Fashioned Expressions

When I was a little girl, people tended to used funny expressions.  I have been collecting some of them for a while and I thought I would share my memories.

Don't go barking up the wrong tree.  I occasionally even hear this one from my dad now, but this was one of his father's favorite expressions. 

Running around like a chicken with its head cut-off.  First of all - chickens do run around after their heads are cut-off if you don't have the body restrained somehow.  This was one that my parents used and both sets of grandparents.  In fact it was commonly used everywhere - and still on occasion today.

Even a blind mule finds an acorn once in a while.  This was one of Clyde's step-fathers favorite expressions.  He always said it in a very derogatory tone.

Sometimes the tail wags the dog.  This is one that Granny Rose, Clyde's grandmother used a lot.  I am still a bit puzzled about what it means though.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.  This is one that Clyde still uses and I do too on occasion.  It is mostly a reminder to myself not push my agenda on someone else.

Go hog wild.  This was very common expression when I was growing up.

Live high off the hog - this is another one that everyone used when I was growing up.

Happier than a pig in sunshine (or slop or mud).  This was one that depending on where I lived the last word changed.  My mother's maid in Texas when the girls were growing up, Leola, used this expression a lot and she changed between sunshine and slop.  Clyde uses this expression and says slop when he is being silly.

It might be a coon's age before you get what you are looking for.  This one was another that was used a lot when I was growing up.  I still don't know how long a 'coon' lives.

________ is as scarce as hen's teeth.  My mother used to say this when something was hard to find.  The word could be money, silk, or even a food item - changing to what she was looking for at the time.

Don't look hang-dog - This is another expression that Leola used a lot when someone was down or disappointed.

Don't get your feathers ruffled - this is one I remember from my Grandpa Tuttle.  Others used it but he said it the most.

Feeling lower than a snakes belly - An expression used all of my growing up years.

You are finer than frog hair.  This one was one used by people when I was really young and living in San Antonio the first time.  Since I knew that frog's didn't have hair, I felt like it was an insult no matter how nicely said it!

He's all hat and no cattle.  Grandpa Tuttle said this about farmers and ranchers that were more show than work.  Grandpa also always carried 2 handkerchiefs - one for show and one for blow.  In truth one was for wiping his face and the other 'for blow'.

When push comes to shove - is an expression that I still use.  It has been used my whole life.

Nobody knows you from Adam's house cat.  This is one that I heard different variations on but Clyde's mother always said/says, Adam's house cat.

Don't get mad as an old (and/or wet) setting hen.  This is another one that was said a lot when I was little.

Every dog has his day. This is one that my grandfathers said a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down my memory lane.  Maybe they triggered some memories with you.

The Fathers in My Life

Yesterday was Father's Day and I thought all day long about the special 'father's' in my life.  I seriously thought of putting the pictures of Clyde and me with our grandchildren from last summer to thank our son-in-laws for being amazing fathers and husbands.  We are very blessed that we have such great men in our daughters lives.

I am thankful for Clyde and the father he was to our daughters.  Their Daddy Daughter birthday dates are still something that is special to each of the girls and him.  We - our family - for the most part had a pretty great time growing up together!

I am thankful for my father and for being there for me all of my life.  I am so blessed to have such a great man for my father.  Marianne, Bob and I had a pretty incredible childhood and even our teenage years were special because of Dad and his outings that were always educational and wonderful.  I have been blessed to have a father that is so firm in the gospel and truly gives his all for the Lord's work.

I had 2 incredible grandfathers.  Grandpa Brugger was amazingly patient.  He was a man that knew the Book of Mormon so well that when he was blind, he could tell you where he was in his old set of scriptures - and he would be right.  To know by feel is a pretty intimate knowledge of that sacred book.  He was the only one who tried and tried to help me with my math (we didn't know it was a learning disability until long after his death).  Grandpa Brugger is also the one that patiently sat with me as I learned to read.  He would actually suggest that we read together everyday that they visited.  For some reason, I could not read 'look'.  I had a picked up reading really quickly but that was one word that stumped me.  When I brought a worksheet home from school one time with that word on it - Grandpa drew glasses on the two o's of every look on the paper .  For the first time it made sense to me and I remembered.  It was such a simple thing and yet so filled with love.

My Grandpa Tuttle was also incredibly patient - but where I never saw Grandpa Brugger  mad - made Grandpa Tuttle got so mad at me that he lost it.  I don't blame him.  When I was 4 years old, I was on his shoulders and saw his bald head and bit it!  I think he was startled more than anything else.  He threw me on the couch in the kitchen and stormed outside.  About an hour later, he came in and apologized to me.  I had been lectured by every adult in the room about how horrible I was - but Grandpa said he kind of understood.  He would probably want to know what a shiny bald head tasted like too!  Both of my grandfathers were active in the gospel and frequently went to the temple. 

My father and grandfathers set the benchmark on the kind of man that I would want to marry.  I am blessed to have a found a man that to him the Gospel is an essential part of his life.  I am blessed to have these incredible men in my life.

Fun words in Danish

We have been taking Danish lessons for about 2 months now.  Clyde and I study a minimum of 2 hours a day on the language.  This week we are supposed to talk about an experience we had - but put it all in Danish.  Just before we went to Denmark as a family in 1972, the statue of The Little Mermaid had been beheaded.  It had only been back in the harbor a week when we got there.  (She has had a lot of vandalism done to her over the years, so they have moved her farther out into the water.  You used to be able to reach her from land.  This has saved her).  I have been trying to put things together in my head - but I keep coming up with fun words to say or the meanings are not what they seem.

Gift - pronounced GEEFT - This word can mean marriage or poison, depending on how you use the word it in a sentence.  If you are not careful you could say you were poisoned instead of married.

skriftsted  - pronounced as it looks - Scriptures
genoprettelsen - pronounced GAY-NO-PRAWTTELSEN- the Restoration
Mormor - pronounced more-more - Matriarchal grandmother (Marianne and I would only be Mormor in Danish).
Bestemor - pronounced BESTA-MORE - Patriarchal Grandmother
Mor - pronounced MORE - is mother
Bestefar - Pronounced BEST-FAIR - Grandfather (They don't differentiate).
I can't write the word for grandchild but it is pronounced BURNABURN.
The Danish language has 3 additional letters to ours.  There is the Ae letter (the a and e loop into each other to become one letter).  It is pronounced like eh.  The O with a line through it (which is how borneborn should be spelled) and you end up with oo like in door.   However it more often that not ends up sounding in a way cannot describe well.  Angel A - as we have come to call it is the letter A with a 'halo' above it.  There is a tiny circle above the A and it becomes ah or eh depending on the word.  Ande - which means holy spirit - has an angel A at the beginning.  In this case Ande  become Ahnah.

This has become a fun thing to do.  We carried on conversation with a volunteer for 30 minutes during our tutorial yesterday.  We are getting better.  Now to just have it connect to the point that it becomes second nature.  The problem with Danish is it is very rarely pronounced like German.  I am astonished at the amount of German I am remembering - when I shouldn't.  On occasion our tutor will say that my German is coming through better than my Danish.  There are times when I can't think anything but German.  I have had to completely stay away from it for my own sanity.  One of these days this will all pay off.  Starting in July, Clyde and I are going to converse in Danish only to each other.  Please - if you hear us - it is just our way of practicing and not us trying to shut you out.

Around Newport

When I first got my new camera, I was playing with it and these are the pictures that I took.  We are better friends now.  I had just upgraded from a VW bug to a Cadillac and didn't know what I was doing.  This is a picture of the Newport Bridge from the park by Clyde's office.  Since it is on base - this view is not what people usually see.

 These are some of the flowers that bloomed in our apartment complex.

 Trees in bloom by the old Naval Hospital.  The hospital is just an abandoned building now.  It is a pity no one can come up with a use for it and since it is on Naval Property - it can't be sold.

 There is an old military fort - Fort Adams - in Newport.  It is from the Revolutionary War era.  This is an old bridge taken from the fort and across the bay.

 A view of the Newport Bridge from the other side.  Just as I snapped this picture, someone popped up from below the seawall.

 Another view of the Newport bridge.  This is from Clyde's office park.

 This city of Newport from Fort Adams.

 One of the harbor's in Newport.  Clyde and I have dubbed this picture - the busy picture.  The one above could qualify too.  I am going to miss the beautiful bridge but the traffic and the bustle that will now go on until almost October - I will not miss.  We will see how the traffic, etc. play out in Denmark.  I know they encourage bikes and public transportation there.

Boston Temple and Goodbyes!

 This is a view of the Boston Temple from the parking lot.  We were able to attend a session on Memorial Day and say good-bye to several friends we won't be seeing again before we leave or they leave.

 Two of the many elders that we have grown close too.  We live in the same apartment complex as the missionaries - so if they need anything, they automatically come to us.  This has been the pattern from the beginning - even when Clyde wasn't/isn't bishop.  The above elders are Elder McQueen from Christchurch, New Zealand and Elder Escobar from Houston, Texas.  Elder McQueen leaves the mission tomorrow.  It was fun going through a session with them and spending a little time before we had to say our final goodbye's.  They are both now serving the Hartford, Connecticut area - helping build goodwill for the temple that is being built there.

 The Boston Temple.  The grounds - like all temples are beautiful.

 The front door.  Clyde is standing next to the elders just left of the door.  His white head is in the middle.

The angel Moroni.  We are going to miss our many friendships we have made with patrons and Ordinance Workers in this temple.

Grandin's Press #2

 There were several original paintings on the 3rd floor of the Grandin Press.  These are the 3 by C.C.A. Christensen.  We lived in the house he designed for his son when we lived in Ephraim.  Most all of the Christensen family had been born in that house. 

 I think that the paintings are self-explanatory - at least if you know your Book of Mormon.  The other thing we found out is that Danish was the first translated language for the Book of Mormon.  Mormons Bog was the only book aside from English for many years.  The Dane's are very proud of that.

There were other paintings there but everyone has seen them all of their lives.  These were the unique ones.  This ends the posts of our trip to Palmyra.  I hope I haven't bored you too much.

Grandin's Press

 For some reason my pictures are almost in reverse order.  Oh well.  After we had visited the Hill Cumorah, we went to Grandin's Press.  It was raining so hard that people that had lived in the area for years said that they hadn't ever seen it rain like that.   This will be the first of 2 posts on the press.  This is the actual 'book press' that was used to press the books to dry the glue.

 This is the Elder that took us through the press.  He was a history teacher in a High School in Idaho before retiring.  We heard little things about the Smith Family and the press that we would have only gotten from him.  For example, I had no idea that Emma Hale Smith was 5 feet 9 inches tall.  That is very tall for that day and age.  Here is our guide showing us the book making process.

 The printing press.  We have an actual copy made from this press - of the first few pages.  It is of the original printing, so no verses and no very little punctuation.

 One of the larger 'presses'.  Grandin had just bought the presses he needed for book publishing 3 months before Joseph Smith's request.  There are no coincidences in the Church, I've decided.

 Typesetting station and pages drying.


This is another view of the actual press and drying sheets.

The front of the shop.  I guess this is fitting because we saw this after we had finished our tour.  Grandin shared the space with a lawyer.  The lawyer's offices were on the 3rd floor. 

The Hill Cumorah

 After visiting the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center, we actually climbed the hill.  There are tiers with these asphalt roads all the way up but they are actually there to help the pageant have a level area for their performance. This is the tier just below the top.  There are 4 in all.

 I took this one just to show the footlight generators they have all the way up for the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

 The Statue of Moroni that stands at the top of the hill.

 A closer view - at the top of the hill.

 

 I think this hill is steeper than Manti's for its pageant.  It is definitely higher.  This is taken from the mid-tier.

 The walk to the statue.  That is Clyde's back

 A view from the top tier.

 This is a plaque at the base.  There is a different picture on each side, one with Joseph and Moroni, this one with the 3 witnesses and one with the 8 witnesses and the 4th is a scripture.

This trek up the to the top was wonderful.  We walked up the asphalt and then Clyde had the good idea of walking down the 'path in the woods'.  It was steep but much cooler.  The temperature was in the low 90's and the humidity was about 100% because of the rain.  As soon as we hit the bottom of the hill and were walking to the car it started raining hard.  It lightened up enough for us to get out of the car and go into Grandin's Press and then poured again.

Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center

 In one of my other posts I wrote about 'the Christus'.  You see the Christus through a beautiful window from the street as you drive by.  It is really inspiring.  By the time we got down from the Hill Cumorah, it was raining, so I didn't get any outside shots of the building.

 There is an exhibit room with the story of the First Vision, the collection of the plates from the Hill Cumorah, and 110 copies of the Book of Mormon (representing each language it is translated in currently), etc.  This is one of the statues in the room. I wish it had turned out better but such is life.

This is a stained glass window that is in the exhibit hall.  While we were in the building, we watched a new film on the family that was just beautiful. After we had attended the temple that morning, it rained intermittently all day.  We were lucky enough that it seemed to rain just as we headed inside or to the car.  We stayed in the Visitor's Center until the rain passed and then head the actual hill.  I will post pictures of that tomorrow.

Palmyra Temple

 While we were in Palmyra, Clyde and I decided to do a session at the temple.  It was a wonderful experience.  People in Boston are very proud of the fact that they are the 100th dedicated temple.  Palmyra was supposed to have that distinction but was finished sooner, so it became the 99th.  It is beautiful little temple but I see where they improved on the design to make San Antonio more 'user friendly.' 

 The gardens are beautiful and look out onto the Sacred Grove and the Smith Farm.  It was a very special morning.  Going to the temple first thing in the morning, made the rest of the day extra special.