Last week in April

It was a rather quiet week here.  Elder Campbell, one of our assistants to the President, turned 21 on Monday so I baked and decorated a cake for him and the office folks to enjoy.  There was no orchestra on Tuesday night so I cleaned.  No painting with neighbor Janet on Wednesday night so I worked on finances.  Regular grocery shopping on Thursday night.  The work at the office was really slow at the end of the week so I spent much of my time uploading old photos from one of my Google drive folders to Family Search.  Here is just a sampler:

This is my grandfather (on the right) with his brother (Henry and Edward)

this is my great grandfather and mother (Julius and Bertha)  with their oldest three children.  The two boys in the above photo were not born, yet.  

Here is my grandfather, Edward, with his bride, Mabel on their wedding day.

Here is my mother and father (Florin and Ike) with Jerri and Judy.

On Friday, Steve and I took my cousin, Harriet Fraedrich Dimon out to dinner at a Golden Corral.  She is about nine years older than me and has had a difficult life.  She is widowed and has two adult children - a son who has issues and a daughter who has taken Harriet out of her life.  So sad.  But, we had a nice dinner and visit and we plan to get together again a few times before our mission is over. 



Saturday started with a piano lesson with Noah.  Then Steve and I went to the temple.  After lunch and a nap, we drove up to the New River area just north of Anthem and explored for about an hour.  That night and this afternoon, we had stake conference. I had a chance to play my cello this morning down in Phoenix for the Rose Lane ward.  We had my ProMusica stand partner, Malcolm and his wife and two kids over for gluten-free cookies this afternoon after conference so, yeah, it was a busy Sunday. 

Elise Came To Visit!

After some stressful car issues as she was driving out of Columbia, Elise arrive Wednesday night.  We returned her to the airport this afternoon.  In between, we had a GREAT visit!

Thursday - I played hookie from the mission office in the afternoon and Elise and I checked out the Desert Botanical Gardens.  The cactus are all blooming (well, not the saguaro yet - just buds) and there were butterflies in their habitat house.

She got to see all her aunts and uncle:  Dinner with Jim and Joan Thursday night, Friday in Sedona and Payson that night and Saturday morning with Juli, and lunch on Saturday with Jerri.

Sedona was chilly and cloudy but we still had fun together.

(this cairn was NOT built by us)

Our first stop in Sedona was the Frank Lloyd Wright designed chapel on the hill...




And, we stopped at a souvenir shop on the way out of town.


Saturday, on the way to see Jerri in Mesa, we watched the Fountain Hills famous fountain erupt at noon.  It was very impressive.



After seeing Jerri, we took Elise to the Rare Earth Gallery (where we first took with Juli two weeks ago)

Fossils (above) and perfect, naturally square cubes of malachite (below)

Not much else to write about this past week.  I will close with a photo of the mission office staff plus President and Sister Collins (and their son Scott) modeling the Townsend Honey Farm t-shirts given to us by Elder Townsend.  And a photo of me getting ready for last Sunday's ProMusica concert.

What a week!

It was a rather quiet week here.  Elder Campbell, one of our assistants to the President, turned 21 on Monday so I baked and decorated a cake for him and the office folks to enjoy.  There was no orchestra on Tuesday night so I cleaned.  No painting with neighbor Janet on Wednesday night so I worked on finances.  Regular grocery shopping on Thursday night.  The work at the office was really slow at the end of the week so I spent much of my time uploading old photos from one of my Google drive folders to Family Search.  Here is just a sampler:

This is my grandfather (on the right) with his brother (Henry and Edward)

this is my great grandfather and mother (Julius and Bertha)  with their oldest three children.  The two boys in the above photo were not born, yet.  

Here is my grandfather, Edward, with his bride, Mabel on their wedding day.

Here is my mother and father (Florin and Ike) with Jerri and Judy.

On Friday, Steve and I took my cousin, Harriet Fraedrich Dimon out to dinner at a Golden Corral.  She is about nine years older than me and has had a difficult life.  She is widowed and has two adult children - a son who has issues and a daughter who has taken Harriet out of her life.  So sad.  But, we had a nice dinner and visit and we plan to get together again a few times before our mission is over. 



Saturday started with a piano lesson with Noah.  Then Steve and I went to the temple.  After lunch and a nap, we drove up to the New River area just north of Anthem and explored for about an hour.  That night and this afternoon, we had stake conference. I had a chance to play my cello this morning down in Phoenix for the Rose Lane ward.  We had my ProMusica stand partner, Malcolm and his wife and two kids over for gluten-free cookies this afternoon after conference so, yeah, it was a busy Sunday. 

Juli's birthday

My sister turned 60 years old on Saturday and she came down to Anthem so we could celebrate.  When I asked her what kind of birthday cake she wanted, she commented that no one had asked her that for a long time.  Ever since Mom passed away in 2002.  So sad.  SO, I was delighted to be able to spoil her a bit and bake her requested carrot cake (with nuts) and a lasagne.  AND, I was very happy that the new oven was delivered on Wednesday so I could bake all of the above!  We made an excursion to Cave Creek and Carefree - two side-by-side bergs quite close to Anthem but somewhat out of the way for anyone in Payson so Juli had never been to either place.  We visited a nice little museum in Cave Creek and an amazing shop called Rare Earth Gallery.  The museum had lots of Native American artifacts as well as items from when it was a mining town and close to a military outpost (Fort McDowell).  It also had a little cabin-like building that was used early in the 20th century for individuals with tuberculosis. My grandfather Fraedrich contracted the disease while he and his family lived in Canada and, since dry climate was the recommended treatment, he came down to Arizona for a winter - initially by himself - and then moved his whole family down to Tucson a year later.  He might have stayed in a cabin like the one we saw.  It is the only one left in the state and it is on the National Historic Registery.   The Rare Earth Gallery was just amazing.  It is a store but it really feels like a museum with row after row of enormous geodes, giant crystals, bowls carved out of rock and on and on.  It was just incredible and will be a must-see for anyone visiting us here.

We had a Leadership Training Meeting in the mission - bringing missionaries from all over the mission and, of course, they come to the office afterwards to pick up mail and teaching supplies as well as cleaning and cooking utensils.  So the office is just full of missionaries.  They all love it and I do too!


Look!  The stove has a griddle in the middle!



Juli and me at the Cave Creek Museum



close-ups of the blooming prickly pear


Steve found a horned toad at the Cave Creek Museum



Juli standing next to one of the geodes



This geode was cool because it not only had purple amethyst crystals but you can see the white "poking out" crystals, too


This is a children's slide in Carefree!  I think it is terrifying.



Juli with her birthday cake.

Elder Thebaud, from French Polynesia, is so happy he finally has a driver's license!

My Christmas cactus has decided to bloom again!