Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

The third book in the Maisie Dobbs series. I'm still really liking these books. I stayed up too late last night to finish this book.

Maybe it's time to get back to real life...

...maybe when I've finished the last two of these books that I've got - still sitting right at the side of my bed.

Draper Utah Temple

The Draper Utah temple open house for the general public began today. Our stake was assigned to serve today, and Ray and I were both able to do so. What a wonderful experience!

They needed several hundred people to do the various jobs today - so we only saw how one little piece of it worked - and it worked beautifully. It makes you realize how much work and coordination goes into something like this. Our job was to be "bus ushers".

There is no parking available at the temple itself for the tours (except ADA and some VIP parking), so the general public is assigned to one of three stake centers on their ticket reservations. A short video is shown at the stake center, then the patrons board the bus (this is where we come in) to go to the temple. We helped people on the bus, and had a script we read while riding to the temple. Then the people were let off the bus right at the entrance to the tour. Once the bus was empty, we went around the corner to pick up a group who had finished the tour to come back to our assigned stake center. We did this for our entire shift. It was so fun to meet people. We had a lot of people from Spanish Fork (it was their stake's day to come), and people from a lot of other places as well. This was an ideal assignment for me and Ray: we could talk the whole time. I don't know if I could be one of the people inside the temple. They are instructed to smile and direct. No talking unless absolutely necessary. Although I was willing to serve where asked, this was much more pleasant for me.

After our shift we took the tour ourselves. What a beautiful temple! It has a similar feeling somehow to the Timpanogos and Bountiful temples. Maybe because of the windows and how the light comes through. It is smaller than I expected. I love the simplicity of it, and artwork is especially beautiful.

If you live locally, take the tour! I recommend you see it sooner rather than later if possible. I think it will get very crowded.

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

It's book candy time! This is another mystery in the Maisie Dobbs series. I'm really enjoying this series.

The Snow Turtle

My sister's kids loved the snow when they were here. So after skiing one day (oops - they snowboard), they spent some time out playing in the snow. When finished they called us all to see what they had fashioned: a snow turtle. It was at least 4 feet in diameter - maybe more, and two to three feet high. I tried to get a picture of it, but it just looks like a giant white mound in the picture. In real life there is a head, and flippers. It's very well done.

I thought to myself - interesting that they would build a turtle (they live in Hawaii).  Of course that's something familiar to them. Then I thought - we build snowmen that bear no resemblance to a man.  Theirs was more fun.  

The turtle is still out in the yard in pretty good shape, although most of the snow around it is melted. I hope it lasts a long time, because I think of them everytime I see it.

Vacation response: Dr. Mario is temporarily out of the office

My kids have been playing video games since the first Nintendo set came out. I never really caught the fever (pun intended) except for the game Dr. Mario. It's an old game - much too plain and simple for most gamers these days. I have always had fun playing it with my children, but most of all with my sisters. Every time we get together, whether in Washington, Hawaii, or Utah, we break out the old school Nintendo box, plug in the game, and play for hours. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of maneuvering to get the game to work, but we always manage to get it going. 

This winter break both my sisters were here for a visit. Tweeter was here with her family to ski, and Cheryl came for a few days so we could all be together. Every day we'd look at each other, flex our thumbs,  say "ready for a game?", and we were off and running. We're pretty evenly matched, so no one really came out the champion. We just had a great time talking and playing. 

It was a little sad last night to play the last game, and put it all away. So, while Dr. Mario is temporarily out of the office, he'll be back the next time we get together. Hopefully it won't be too long!

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Another mystery series for me to fall in love with. Audrey discovered it, and I finally had time to read it. I liked it quite a bit.

It takes place in England - 1929, with lots of flashbacks to WWI. I thought it was well written, and it kept me interested the whole time.  (When you don't feel well it's easier to find time to read). 

There are five more books in the series so far - four of them are sitting by the side of my bed, just waiting for me to have a little spare time. 

'Tis the Season! by Lorna Landvik

Cute Christmas story. Light and fun. Just what I needed.

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland

I liked this book quite a bit. I have been so busy lately that I was only able to read about 3 pages at a time for quite a while (It took me about a month to read this book I just read back in my blog - it was only two weeks - it felt like a month). I think had I been able to really delve into it immediately I would have liked it even more. By the end I had more time to devote to it, and really enjoyed it.

This book is the story (fiction, but based on known facts) of the painting of Renoir's Les dejeuner des canotiers. (Luncheon of the Boating Party).

I also liked Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which I read a few years ago.