Oh oven, Suzanne and Stephan, where art thou?

A week ago Friday, our gas oven died.  The stove and broiler work - just not the oven.  Repair people from the church looked at it last Tuesday and diagnosed a dead motherboard with a plan to just buy a new stove/oven rather than repair it.  And, so we wait and eat thanks to a crockpot, a stovetop, and a microwave.  I had committed to bring two gluten-free desserts to a senior zone conference on Friday (that's a zone conference for all the senior missionaries serving in inner-city Phoenix) and I needed to bake pie crusts for two Sunday desserts and I needed more granola so, what to do????  Happily, neighbors Janet and George Wells are out of town this week and they graciously allowed me to walk down the street to use their oven.  But, it messed with our well-tuned weekly schedule. We perservered, however, and everything got baked in a timely manner.

Steve and I sing in our ward choir and today we took part in a special Easter-themed Sacrament meeting - a mini Easter cantata so to speak.   I admit I have to compare this experience with all the years singing in the Columbia Stake Easter Cantata with Suzanne Kitchen and it has sort of come up short.   First of all, the literature we sang today is not even close to the caliber of music Suzanne has had us sing.  Sally Deford is OK but not for an almost entire program.  Second of all, Rochelle, our director, never mentions diction so who knows what the congregation actually heard us sing today.  Third, the program was just us singing.  No speaking.  Although, thankfully, we did finish early enough that the Bishopric counselor was able to say a few words about Christ and Easter.  All this being said, it is still a joy for Steve and I to sing in the Gavalon Peak Ward choir.  It is a small way for us to serve a great group of people. 

Finally, the ProMusic rehearsal on Tuesday was just sad.  We are playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto and we rehearsed with the soloist that evening with a skeleton crew of musicians (2 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos, 1 flute, one clarinet, one trumpet).  This concerto is probably the most well known violin concertos of all time - at least to a string player.  But, our rehearsal conductor is a trombonist and it was pretty clear early on that he really didn't know this music very well.  I could have conducted it better than he did.  The soloist is a fine musician but she sounded a tad rusty with this piece, too.  I am sure she will sound super for our mid-April performance, though.  Oh, and no extra cellists besides Malcomb and me for this upcoming concert, again.  I guess our dates conflict with all the other community orchestra concerts in April.  I just can't help but to compare the well-oiled machine of Columbia Civic Orchestra and the amazing conducting of Stephan Freund with the ProMusica model.  All these things are leading me to decide to NOT play in an orchestra here next year. I just don't have the time or patience with all of this anymore.

Otherwise, the Fraedrich cousin reunion was a bright spot in the week.  As was the senior zone conference.  And the beautiful weather.  (sorry, kids back in snowsville).  We have enjoyed our open windows almost all week.

Our Fraedrich cousin reunion

Yesterday was an historic occasion.  For the first time ever, many Fraedrich cousins met together in Mesa at Amy and Cory's home.  Of Ed and Mabel's children we had:

Florin's - Jerri, Jim, Juli, and me

Edward's - Neil (we just missed Paul and Harriet couldn't come

Cleo - Kay and Jan (Jan lives in Georgia and flew out to visit Kay specifically at this reunion time)

Doran - Dave

Gladys - only one of her children are left and she lives in Wisconsin. 

Plus, we had two more distant cousins - one whose grandfather was Ed's oldest brother (Linda).  And another whose great-grandfather was brothers with our great-grandfather (Beverly).  

It was just wonderful to have everyone come.  I fixed pulled pork and Amy provided buns and everyone else brought side dishes.  Weather was lovely enough to eat out back on the covered patio.  Afterwards, we went to the family room to share photos and stories before everyone left.  

This is Steve with Linda and Rod Dale.  They live in Iowa during the summer and pull their 5th wheel to Yuma every winter.  I met Linda through FamilySearch.  She is not a member of our church.

Here is Juli speaking with Beverly Martin.  She and her husband Chuck live in Eager, Arizona.  Beverly was born a Fraedrich - and had contact throughout her whole life with her birth-mother's sister - but, at the age of two, she was adopted by an LDS family so she and her husband are members.  Chuck and Beverly were in the the Ivory Coast in the 90's where her husband was mission president.  

This is Dave with Neil.  The last time they ever saw each other was sometime back in the 60's.  Neil grew up in Phoenix but moved to Oregon as an adult.  He and his wife, Gloria, are now retired and this is their second year wintering in Arizona.  Dave grew up in Virginia and moved to Arizona in the early 90's.  Dave is just now recovering from throat cancer.  

Here are sisters Jan and Kay. They both grew up with their third sister, Betty, in Tucson.  Kay lives here in Sun City, Jan lives in Georgia and hadn't seen Kay in about 10 years.  Betty lives in Washington.   Kay has a son who lives in Kirksville and whom I met about seven years ago.

Here is Cory with twin granddaughters, Sophie and Eva 

Here is Atley, the twins' mom.

After returning to Anthem yesterday afternoon, Steve and I watched "Coco".   So, the whole day was all about remembering our ancestors.  Pretty cool.

Green all week

Steve and I found this sign on the side of the road on one of our morning walks.

Do you think he as a future as a pan-handler? 

Elders Hewlett (left) and Egan (right) visited the office and took some selfies with us.

That is Sister Parker also in the picture

Work at the mission office was really slow this week so I had a chance to do some family history.  Check out the "What do you get...." blog for some of my entries.

Thursday night through Sunday morning, we had a house guest:  David Palmer.  I have known him since high school and have kept in touch through the years. 

 He lost his wife to a long-lasting illness last summer so he is working out the rest of his life and decided to take advantage of our invitation to catch some spring training games.  

He and Steve caught a San Diego Padres (Dave's from there) vs. Kansas City Royals game on Fiday afternoon.  I held down the fort at the mission office.  But, on Saturday, we all three went to a Padre's vs. Arizona Diamondbacks game.  It was so fun.  The crowds were decked out not only in baseball-wear but in their St. Patrick's Day green as well.  The smells from the concessions were intoxicating.  All the players from both teams plus the umpires all wore green ball caps.   

Before the game, we ate lunch at the Grassroots Kitchen and Tap in Scottsdale where I had delicious prosciuto wrapped asparagus with a honey-type glaze.  Steve had an amazing hamburger.  Dave had a lovely chopped veggie salad.

That evening, we enjoyed corned beef and cabbage that had been cooking in the crockpot all day.  It was a great, relaxed visit.  He loves to travel so he pointed out some "must see" spots in Arizona.  And, we have a standing invitation to visit him in San Diego.   

Finally, I had a fasting lipid bloodtest a few weeks ago (for my high cholesterol) and the glucose was high so they also did an A1c and it came back at 6.6!  This is diabetic territory, folks.  So, I am not not only celiac but also diabetic and on Metformin.  I now get to live in the world of counting carbs, proteins, and fats.  Sigh.......

Creative Endeavors

I needed a lighter weight bed cover than the red and white quilt I made a while back.  So, I bought a queen sheet set (white) from Deseret Industries and some assorted green fabrics at Wal-mart and this is what I made.  Our summer bedspread, if you will.

Our bike-repair elder was throwing out a bend bike wheel and I decided I wanted to hang it on one of our many bare walls here at the seminary house.  And, then, Emily sent me a pile of grandkid photos and I thought I needed to make a bulletin board.  But, thanks to Pinterest, I found a way to "kill two birds with one stone" and.... viola!

These bare walls were driving me crazy so I bought some stretched canvas at Michaels (50% off) and some acrylic paint at Wal-mart and created these two "masterpieces" (not!)  But, they were fun and quick to do.....

My friend and neighbor and fellow ward-member, Janet Wells, is extremely skilled at rosemaling and she helped me paint this wooden bowl!  Currently, we are working on a wooden bread box.  And, I am finally getting the hang of how to manipulate the brush - which is really the hugest part of this style of art.  

The Desert Hills Stake (our stake) had the "Music In The Park" yesterday and guess what???? It rained!!!  Go figure in a land that has perpetual sunshine.  However, Arizonans are a tough bunch and we proceeded with the show.  You can see the gazebos - two more eventually were set up on stage -  and there were over 250 people in attendance!  Good thing it was a light drizzle with no wind.  The string quartet (which I named the Daisy Mountain String Quartet in honor of a nearby mountain) did very well.  We ended up cutting What A Wonderful World because there were so many acts.  And, the stake has some incredibly talented musicians - particularly singers.  And, not surprisingly, most of them sang songs from Greatest Showman.  

Steve and I watched "War Horse" Friday night.  I'd forgotten what a good movie it was.  We went to the temple Saturday morning.  The rest of the week was same old same old.  

Loose ends to tie up and Zone Conference

Remember that old people luncheon in mid-February?  Here is a photo from the event. You can see Steve and me sitting at the back table.

Here are two photos taken at Stratton's robotics state-level competition

Steve and I attended the Eagle court of honor last Sunday night for these two brothers - Ethan and Dallin Lucas.  I teach cello to their younger brother, Erik.  Their dad is the Gospel Essentials teacher whose class we attend every Sunday.  Their mom is a good friend.  

It was a Zone Conference week and a vehicle inspection one on top of that.  I attended Friday's conference.  The photos are:   Steve (and Elder Brady) tackling some of the cleaning trash.  This was on Friday in Surprise with mild temperatures.  Imagine Steve on Tuesday up in Flagstaff.  It was quite chilly.  Thankfully, the predicted snow didn't happen until the evening! Me in the game "Never Have I Ever". Zones 7 and 8 singing the mission song (Steve and I in the back). Around the lunch table are me, Elder Thebaud, Sisters Tooley, Crowther, Christenson, and Hall and Brother and Sister Waldron of the mission presidency.  Steve presenting cleanest car awards.

Vehicle inspection zone conferences really alter our routine.  Steve has to leave extra early and he drives the mission van loaded with cleaning supplies so we don't do any of our exercising.  And, in the evening, Steve usually has to make Wal-mart runs to re-stock on cleaning supplies.  While it is tiring, zone conferences are so great because we get to see all the missionaries who are such terrific kids.  At the end of the week, we treated ourselves to dinner  - Culvers -  and a movie - we finally saw Greatest Showman which we just loved. 

Saturday was ..... good but exhausting.  That is because I drove all over the valley.  First, I drove Sue Hall, a fellow seamstress, to Goodyear for a Days for Girls meeting.  But, I didn't stay.  I then drove to east Mesa to visit my sister Jerri in the hospital.  She developed a urinary track infection that was not treated so it went into her kidney - the left one is very swollen - and ultimately caused a blood infection.  She has been in the hospital since Thursday and by the time I saw her, they had a drain in her side into her kidney and she had been on IV antibiotics for two days and she still looked pretty rough.  At least she was awake and coherent.  After my visit, I drove back to pick up Sue in Goodyear and then back up to Anthem.  I was driving for over three hours - in Phoenix traffic amid Phoenix drivers!  That makes it feel like five hours, at least!  I got home but not to rest but to rehearse the music for next week's stake Music In The Park event.  It is a string quartet comprised of me and three teen violinists playing What A Wonderful World and Concerning Hobbits.  Steve was my hero because he fixed dinner (cream of asparagus soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit cup, and a lovely garden salad).