Ok, it's been awhile but I hope you watched the movie I recommended. I've been having lots of 4 AM early-mornings when I can hear my name in the stillness. Our lives are about to change! We've been talking about moving seems like forever. I hate the process like shell-shock, we've just moved too many times. The good thing about every move is the newness of dwellings, neighbors, new friends, and resolutions. The bad thing is losing time and forgetting where important treasures were packed and fearing the loss. I have recovered some lately and I'm really happy! It is not decided yet who will buy our house or when, but we have a few interested buyers so we may not need realtors or the hassle of keeping the place ready to show. If we get an offer we can't refuse, we are moving. On the advice of so many our age or older they say move while you can still think, drive yourself and carry your own boxes-- lol! Don't wait too long or you will be vulnerable, feel lost & 'stuck'. Tomorrow is our first private showing, then we have another on Tuesday. Please forgive me for the short entries and for recommending yet another movie. I haven't had time to watch very many, but finally saw HUGO. It's slow & frustrating (like real life), but when it comes together, it IS clockwork perfect & glorious! It spoke painfully to my heart revisiting the pain of losing my dad, but in a healing good way-- I LOVED it! More later---

If you haven't seen this stunning production yet, I highly recommend it because it is FREE (and legal), high-quality and carries powerful observations. Just click the link below and ENJOY"LIFE IN A DAY" (approximately 95 minutes long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaFVr_cJJIY

4-Zayah

This post comes a little early because I need to report to family as well as fill a special request from my grandson before his bedtime tonight. So, I went to the doctor and the doctor said--- "No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed!" Really! Well, maybe it was more like "Put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning"... or more like, "put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping fellow passengers", etc! I did not get clearance for Bolivia... but may be back to good levels in time for Peru.

So, I'm back-- all the way back to 1996, but in a lot worse shape, 15 years older (and no wiser for the wear...) I have become a bit of a hermit, selectively answering the phone, doing the most very basic stuff AND house-hunting-- LOL! (Ironic, isn't it?) It is not full tilt, mostly on the computer and a few open houses and showhome discussions. Doctor's orders to simplify life requires the move.

Since restoring me to proper prescription, I have been sleeping through the night and most of the day for the first time in over a year-- lots of winks to catch up on! I still manage to get to Ammon's games and 1:00 PM Sacrament meetings in Cranston. Strater and I hope to find 'the place' for us within the next several months and help the right family find this awesome home as God has helped us before. Just to let family know, we will most likely give away what we can't sell for a song or carry, so if you've been storing or wanting anything specifically, you may want to visit us at your earliest convenience.

Special thanks to Derochies and Beazleys for their kindnesses over the past few weeks.

Now for the FUN stuff!

My grandson has asked me to tell him about my favorite music group of all time, The Beatles! We rented a farm house on Danby Road in Ithaca, New York Christmas, 1963. I will never forget it! My dad was in law school at Cornell University. We had an old piano with a few missing keys that I was learning to play on, one big family car (no seat belts), only 3 black and white tv channels and the screen was 24 inches wide. I was 7 with a few missing teeth. Aunt Julia had just turned 6 and Aunt Merriam was 2 and still in diapers (the flannel cloth kind--ewww!) That year for Christmas we got a puppy, Taffy-girl and our first portable record player that opened up like a suitcase. I think we each got a record to play on it-- mine was the Beatles single-hit "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" on the flip-side! I don't know why, but I went crazy! I also got a store-bought red wrap-around skirt! It was the first new store-bought article of clothing I remember owning with a new tag and everything. All I did for weeks after school was come home and play it over and over, twisting & shouting, running & sliding over the polished wood floors in my wrap-around skirt with Taffy yapping & trying to keep up. It was the best Christmas, January, February, March, April and May! We used to watch the Ed Sullivan show every Sunday evening before bed and winding down after seeing the Beatles perform in 'living black and white' with no reruns was like a lick of candy in a starving world! I was SO hungry for MORE! Here are some clips and interviews that show the 'times' in the world I grew up in. SO FUNNY & dorky! Within the next 2 years, my whole world changed. My dad died in a plane crash, my baby brother died and we moved clear across the country into Southern California. I'm SOOO glad the Beatles came when they did, their music was a happy backdrop/ diversion from all my troubles...! Hope I hooked the links up right and that you get to enjoy them too!... If you can watch their movies (A Hard Day's Night and HELP!), they are more fun than these clips! Love & MISS you! XO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNOurraQAdw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeDrgNUXxz4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM34IbQ3MS8&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JILsCPSyI0


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=755368613918481310


http://www.veoh.com/watch/v6413373fzZAYjdK?h1=The+Beatles+Concert+at+Shea+Stadium+1965+(entire+show+%2B+bonus)

So, killing time before the highly anticipated doctor's visit I've been catching up on my friends' and family's blogs-- inspiring and conscious-spurring to post again. I have still not found my camera cord to upload photos, so I may buy another if I remember the right kind TO buy... I have refrained from doing so because my house is like a black hole and just because I have lost something is no reason to go out and buy more of the same. I'll give it another month... Confession time: we have been house-hunting... I know, I KNOW just when I get My Sunny Porch done! So first the rationale of why we are moving and downsizing-- we HAVE to! There are just not enough of us left here to share the chores associated in keeping up a large home with 4.7 acres and still have strength and time to study, 'craft', putter and play, no matter how perfect the location. We own water rights, first rights of refusal and living here has been like owning our own private park with tons of parking. No one has ever complained when caravans of friends, teams, and family in motorhomes come to call, etc., etc., etc. I ADORE the star-filled sky and will miss lone night trains echoing from the next valley. City lights, night-life motorists and sirens are not fair trade-offs! I had always hoped we'd be here until my dying day but staying may bring that on sooner, so at the front door this moment waiting to be dropped at Value Village are boxes & bins of extra clothing, coats, shoes, books, binders and lamps. The purging has begun and all the memories associated with each one will begin to fade away. Alas, I wish the technology to digitally record our lives was available when our large family was little! I wish I could find my cord! Time to load all the stuff up now and see what the doctor orders........

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Wishing my mother, Arvilla Summers Cook Parson, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! She was born January 17th, 1934 in Oneida, Outagamie County, Wisconsin to Milton & Mildred (Elm) Summers. The picture above was taken in 1958 and is one of my favorites. It was a perfectly sunny day in Wisconsin, represented by all she loves in life-- Sundays, home, family, corn & pretty dresses! (She is holding my hand & pinching my sweater gently keeping me in place... as ever!) Where would I be without her? She fed our bodies, minds and spirits, made our clothes & ironed everything-- ALWAYS-- even the pillow cases! No doubt as she reads this, there is still an iron on somewhere:)! This kind of attention takes vigilance and hints toward her desires for perfection. If there are wrinkles in her life (or relationships) she does all she can to smooth them away! Happy Birthday, Mommy! May every wish come true!

The year 2011 was rough--lots of sleepless nights and I gained 20 unwanted pounds (ok-- it is more like 25!) I don't look anything like my picture-- but it will inspire me to get back on track, I am really SO tired!

By year's end we with others were grieving for so many reasons (lost money, opportunity, memory, friends and family) feeling weather-beaten but not necessarily wiser for the wear... One day Strater came home & said "I've decided to stop counting the wrongs and start counting what is still right, what there's time for & what we may yet help happen!" I love this good man!

2011 did bring a world of good, including 2 wonderful new daughters into our family circle, a returned missionary safely home (though not for long), our youngest son's 1st year of college (with basketball scholarship) & the  overdue healthy visit of my mother. We've been buoyed by old and dear friends, new recruits to the hobby team and new converts to our congregation. We've enjoyed unseasonably warm sunny holidays & good roads to travel (in spite of illness), lots of good company complete with Becca Woodruff's magic harp and the completion of My Sunny Porch!

Strater & I are also looking forward to the birth of another grandson in April bringing the total 2nd generation to 6 (as many as the first)! We're gearing up to travel to Bolivia & Vietnam, as well as another trip to Madison Wisconsin for Sam's UW Law School Convocation (eligible lawyer for hire)! Don't know if we can squeeze in Vancouver's Tough Mudder for 2012...it could be tight! We're also looking forward to the Calgary Stampede's 100th Anniversary and the opening of the Calgary Temple! The angel Moroni was placed atop a spire today! Sleep is always good while we can get it, so I hope more of us will bank on that!

Facebook can be hazardous so I will pursue less of it & blog more instead. It takes a lot more effort but is less confusing. If others need me (really REALLY need me), they'll find me (& others) here on My Sunny Porch. It is finally a real place (as well as twin blogs with Blogspot & Stampin' Up!) Yes, the calendar is tight so even members of my own family may need to make an appointment 'D! It's ready to furnish and photograph, now to find that cord to upload.......!

I'm grateful for the collaboration & inspiration of other bloggers! Check those who link with me in 2012! We're pretty much all in it for the party, but profits keep projects coming, so please support our blogs whenever you can!

Each month I've committed to learn something new about the world. This January, my focus is on EGYPT! I'm thrilled with what I've learned thus far! One comes from ancient Egypt found in the account of Ahnni (sp?) in the Book of the Dead and the Negative Confession/judgement day when one's heart will be weighed against the weight of a feather. It doesn't matter who or what station one has attained, but what the heart weighs in the end. If regret, anger, greed, bitterness, pride or offence weigh it down, it is not free for the journey of eternity! Realizing others sought balance anciently connects with me. In spite of so many demands it is wise to be still from time to time and simply enjoy the song of a bird, blue skies, gentle breezes, streams and laughing children!

Another is the Islamic belief that while we may not take comforts into the next life, we may create peace knowing that #1) we have helped to raise a child well; #2) we have become accomplished in a useful vocation or field of study; and #3) our community has benefitted by our contributions to and participation in it. It is good to study other cultures, faiths & histories and to appreciate those who go before as well as others who share insight and solutions by their own earth experience through art, invention & text.

This year, some of our dearest friends & family passed or moved away and I cannot call them back! I wish I had been more thoughtful, better at communicating my affection for them. I appreciate more the treasures in just a 'regular day' and realize those still within my reach have been there simply for me to love! Happy, Healthy New Year, all year and lots of love!

Surprises

If you know my husband, you know he often surprises me with changes he has made to my calendar (sigh...), so I did not get into Calgary, but will visit Sarah at Calgary's Ronald McDonald House on Monday with the cards. Good news! My Sunny Porch was insulated today and my mother received the go-ahead from her cardiologist to come! She will fly in from SLC seated across the aisle from our returning missionary son Oct. 27th (but he doesn't know it, yet-- shhhhh!) He surprised all of us showing up unannounced to his brother's wedding last May-- now it is his turn-- surprise, SURPRISE! :D