May 17, 2015
Dear Riley,
Was it just seven days ago that we were enjoying a chat with you? Honestly, May is just about as crazy as December and I can’t believe how much we fit into each day. By the way, it was wonderful to visit with you and it was good to see you.
This week has been all about rain. We had a really mild, dry winter and there were predictions of needing to ration water in early April. And then we hit monsoon season. We have had so much rain that the ground has difficulty accepting it all. But everything looks so green and alive. The mountains are lush like I don’t think I’ve ever seen.
We had so much rain Thursday that we had postpone the carnival until the last week of school. While I don’t relish having another even that week, it was a windfall for us as we had Elise’s choir concert and Parker had special needs mutual and it was going to be quite difficult to manage carnival as well.
Elise sang a special solo part in her choir concert Thursday night. She was in a trio which sang the descant in “Do, Re, Mi” from the Sound of Music (a needle pulling thread, a note to follow So, jam and bread.) She was nervous and had to audition multiple times for the part. When her part was over, I could see relief wash over her expression. I was happy to be there and not worried about getting back to the elementary school to help with carnival.
Elise also made a special appointment with me to go to Barnes and Noble Saturday to spend $15 in gift cards. The place was totally full because of the rainy day. And Elise didn’t know specifically what she wanted but she didn’t really want to buy a book she hadn’t read and she didn’t want to buy a book Cambry already had and… it was kind of long, actually. She bought a Shannon Hale book she’s read and loved and a book of a different author she hasn’t read but that is rated high on Goodreads. I just hope it’s clean, that’s the gamble.
Aleah finished testing in school. She was pretty nervous about it. But she did well. She was disappointed about the carnival postponement, but she was glad when she was at Elise’s concert that she didn’t have to worry about missing things at the carnival and could just enjoy the music.
Parker is almost done with special needs mutual. In fact he is done with the special needs kids, he just has a closing fireside with the youth counselors this week. Dad asked him from the pulpit today to share his experiences and the things he learned in that calling today. He did a nice job and I saw the Spirit descend upon him as he articulated the things that had touched him. Parker made an appointment with Bro P and he will get his patriarchal blessing next Sunday. Probably Parker’s highlight of the week was nurturing some ducklings that somehow got separated from their momma duck. Bro B came over with Bro F wanting to use the gate to get the family of ducks into the canal. It took a couple hours, but they did find the momma and Parker released them into her care.
I went to CY this week to go over my test results. My hormones are off and it looks like I’m headed to menopause as I thought. She put me on a low dose of thyroid while we support my adrenals and hope that I don’t have to go back on thyroid full on again. But I don’t have Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease which causes hypothyroidism. Perhaps the stress of the shingles depleted my adrenals. Maybe just life. I don’t yet feel relief at all, but I’m hopeful.
Dad planted Sis S’s flowerbeds this week. And he had to get a new queen bee for his hive, there were no eggs or brood and his bees were getting old and ready to die. Bro P gave his a frame with brood and eggs on it and he went and bought a new queen from the people he bought the original bees from. She was ¼ of the cost of the initial bee packet. There are so many things to learn and understand about bees. Dad has been very busy and a little bummed about the weather because it makes it impossible to do the things he’s working to get done.
Cambry was touring the lower coast of the UK this week. Her favorite place was Land’s End and she hiked all over. She also saw the ruins of King Arthur’s castle. Did I know that he wasn’t just a myth? No. Cambry posts to her blog and the pictures from this week all look postcard-worthy.
SN reported on her mission today. I guess I didn’t realize that she was called to teach in Mandarin but of course her native language is Cantonese. She spoke of overcoming fear by applying faith. The Spirit was strong in the meeting.
Grandpa Bramwell had to go back in for surgery this week. He had a salivary gland removed the week before and it was draining into his cheek so they had to put a drain in. Grandma is still recovering from her hip surgery.
Grandma and Grandpa Parish are here for apple crisp. With the cool weather, I’m hungry for squash and apples and Fallish things.
Have a wonderful week. I’m looking forward to hearing how your work is going and how you’re coming toward your high goals. Don’t get too hot out there. I love you like crazy.
Love you,
Mom
PS -- Friday morning started like this. Dad went to work early and I got up to exercise. (Did I tell you he fixed my elliptical for my Mother's day gift and it is silent again! And I bought a new little clamp fan which is super quiet.) I heated the oven for German pancakes while I began ellipticalling. I went up to add the batter and... the small pan exploded on me. What a mess. And I still had hungry kids and a whole lot of mess to clean up. Glass was everywhere. This was not how I planned for my day to start. But it led to something good.
Cambry had told me that she had tried lemon crepes in England. They made a huge crepe and sprinkled it with granulated sugar and drizzled it with lemon juice. So once I cleaned up enough to shut the oven, I thinned down the batter with milk and tried this yummy rendition. They were a hit! Aleah now wants these for her birthday breakfast. Dad ate 10 when he came home for breakfast later in the morning. Moral: when your pancakes spill in your oven, make lemon crepes!
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