A List of Lasts

 

So, this week was a bunch of last times doing things for a long time.  We went to Cafe Rio for our last time. We had our last dinner party.  I took in my last items to the antique store and priced them, we went to our last play at the Ruth, we hosted our last former Finnish missionary for dinner, I had my last visit with Janie, I hosted my last book club, we drove to Colorado so Dad could participate in his last Barbershop Competition. And last of all, in the first department, we were set apart as the first official act of being fulltime missionaries.  Also in the first department, we are the first senior couple to be called on a full-time mission in the newly created Arrowhead Stake, which is now a year old.

Another wonderful week starring amazing people, like Janie.  Janie and I used to go kayaking on Salem Pond once a week, before my hip got too bad.  She also hikes with Ann and is friends with Ann's and my common friend Liz.  She stopped by to drop off a very kind thank you note for some small thing I did a while back and had completely forgotten about.  We had a great chat, and did some catching up.  BTW it was because of a friend she hooked me up with that we have that super cool window above our carriage doors that face main street. I sent her home with some seeds from the giant zinnias we are posing in front of.  I got them from the flowers at Mosida a couple of years ago.  

On Tuesday it was off to Cafe Rio with Jeff and Robin ....

Before attending The Adams Family at the Ruth in PG.

Dad, of course, ran into someone he knows, Mike Holm who owns the Market in Park City, who he got to know when he worked at Associated. 

It was fun to see several girls who were dressed at Wednesday Adams.  Do you know what her middle name is?  I do, because Jeff caught it in the one episode where it was mentioned, and he has THAT kind of memory.  Her name is Wednesday Friday Adams.

At work on Wednesday this cute GQ kind of guy bought this antique advertising poster.  He offered to run to his car to get his suit coat.  I loved it.

This customer was the most methodical shopper I have ever met.  She was in my booths down the first isle for a full half hour.  We evidently have similar taste.  In all she took 5 hours to shop the store, she was delightful to visit with.  I do have to say, it is the slow shoppers who find the best stuff.

I got off an hour early to finish up the salmon soup I'd started that morning, because this former Finnish missionary was coming to dinner with his new bride.  Luke Pabst actually came to Finland at the same time we left from our second mission, however we had been in touch with him sending out his pre-mission letters, and his mom was very active on the missionary mom page.  They are from Arkansas, and Dad got to know first her on the Mom's page, and then him on face book, as he turned out to be a runner. He got married in June and Dad wanted to go to his wedding as their receptions were in Idaho and Arkansas, but they had too much family to allow for that.  However, he did go over to the Saratoga Springs Temple to greet them as they came out.  Unfortunately, he got the wrong day and felt thwarted.  So, he's been bugging Luke and Sheradan to come to dinner.  He was relieved to pull it off before we left.  Great young people and we enjoyed them tremendously.

Part in my Finnish mode, while also in my English mode, we had trifle for dessert. 

Here are the Pabsts.

On Thursday it was Madi's birthday, as well as being my Mom's 109th birthday, Madi is 11.

My friend Shirley took the picture Dad posted announcing our farewell (A picture taken during our cruise with the Mohokins that ended in England 2 years ago) and put us in 40's period clothing.  I thought that was so fun.

Here's what our dear Sister Perkins was doing on her P-day.  I think it is a tiny frog.  She better not kiss it, cause it's not time for her prince charming yet.

On Thursday morning I made the petite fours for my book club that night and got the table set.  Dad would later put the silverware on for me.

And here goes J Scott as he starts his 18th grade.  Yep, he's that good at school. 

At work Clint, another dealer came in with one of my lace dolls.  It turns out he had bought an estate from the family of a good shopper, and it was in her sewing stuff.  I've been selling those on and off for 15 years,

I was sad to see that Cheryl had passed away.  She used to come in when she came to south county to buy double yolker eggs.  I was never clear where she got them, but we loved her and her daughter and granddaughter who often came with her.

Tiffany bought this amazing painting from Robby Lamb.  He does have the best stuff, and she has the best taste.

I didn't spend the whole day chatting, but actually put together this Halloweenish display.  I bought the butterflies as they were mounted on cardboard and covered with saran wrap.  I finally got around to giving them each a frame of their own.  The topmost red one sold before the day was out.

This is what Dad was doing on Thursday.  Almost halfway, and hopefully in our late afternoons evenings this week, while were in the MTC we'll be able to gt it done.

Here we all are at out book club meeting that night.

The place settings.

The book was 9 Carriages Waiting, a sort of a Cinderella story that has a Midnight feast, where the Cinderella character, and the Prince character take food being served at a ball up to the Nanny/Cinderella's charge in the nursery.  It takes place in France and I made our 'Midnight feast' from foods mentioned in the book.

So, we started with cream of asparagus soup.

Then mushrooms in gravy on croissants.

Last of all the Petite fours, strawberries and tiny goodies.

I used the antique coach I had rebuilt from parts for the centerpiece.  The pumpkins, of course represent the Cinderella theme of pumpkins to carriage.

I bought the coach candy containers online for the favors.

Dad and I were thrilled to hear the announcement of the building of a Stake Center in Espoo on a lot adjacent to the temple.  The Finns have sought to meet the goals necessary to build it since we were there on our first mission, we are so thrilled for them. It won't be finished until after our mission, but we may get a chance to see it under construction.

First thing on Friday we headed to Colorado Springs for Dad to participate in the chorus competition there.  We got there in time to see more than half of the quartet contest on Friday.  You can see how much Dad is enjoying himself.

We headed to an AirBNB that 5 other guys had gone in together to get for accommodations.  I thought they were nice to let Dad and I share for a 7th, of the total and have the master bedroom. Then first thing on Saturday we headed to the store to get some good protein foods for our drive home, as it had been junk and more junk on our way out Friday. I was amazed how missing my antioxidants that morning along with the junk food effected how stiff I was during the long ride. 

Then at the store it was interesting to hear that the State Legislative has outlawed plastic bags and makes the stores charge 10c each for paper bags.  One of the managers pointed out that it's just another tax, because the store pays 2.5c a bag, and the state takes 7c a bag.   I thought that was interesting.

Then we headed back to the large church where the competition was being held, it was Dad's turn to sing with his chorus.

He so loves this hobby.

The whole chorus.  They qualified for international and took second place out of Eight Choruses. 

We left right after his chorus sang, a bit after noon, and got home by 10:30.

When we got to church today it was fun to see two of my former Primary students passing out programs.  Gosh it's amazing how connected you feel to kids you've taught in Primary.

After Church the bishop directed us to see our Missionary plaque that is now in place.

After church the Binfords came over to see the house.  They've been going to the Spanish ward so he could learn Spanish, but they decided to go to their home ward, which is ours.  Dad knows him from his being on the High Council and we were welcoming them to the ward, when she said, she has always wanted to see our house.  So. Voila!  They were lovely and she brought us chicken tamales ... dang, we are going to give them to President and Sister Phillips when he comes to set us apart tonight. 

I thought this was pretty amazing.  Trevor has a friend he met while tailgating at BYU games. Sang Kim is a resident of Yuba City and has been traveling up a couple of times a year to attend BYU games, on his motorcycle, always hooking up with Trevor. Add the Facebook friend element, and you've got their friendship.  So. when Eva got her call, Trevor let him know, and Sang Kim said, "If she ever serves in Yuba City, I'll look out for her."  As you know that was her first area.  He sent Trevor this picture today, telling him that she bore her testimony.

Tonight the Stake President and his wife Cheryl came over to set us apart for our mission. 

Here we are with them.

Trevor and his girls (including Nell, of whom I did not get a picture) also came to support us.

It was fun to realize that Cheryl had taught Eleanor in Primary 10 years ago when they lived in our house on our first mission.  How fun is that.  Cheryl went on and on about what a great student Lu was.  I thought that was super fun too.

So that was our week.  Lots of last times for things, that we'll miss.  Like all of you.  We go in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo tomorrow.  We'll find out our schedule for the week, and hopefully we can figure out how to fit in some reunions without former Mission President and his wife. Ilkka and Paula Aura, as they are here for conference.  They've been great about making it easy to get to see them by planning multiple meals and meet and greets this week.  Wish us well.  Next week will be our first Missionary Post.  We can hardly wait.  We love you all and want to thank you for your great support. 

The countdown begins as we prepare to say goodbye to neighbors and get to know some new neighbors.

Another week of wonderful friends and family. It started with me going to see Liesel at work, Making Space, I loved the subtitle "Craft and Fabric Rescue" (it is actually in the same building the Kew's Camera was in Provo but on the west side)

I thought this mini shelf of sewing goods was cute.

And here we are.  She is wearing the Marimekko top that I gave her after our farewell the day before.  I bought it from one of those places that buys pallets of misdelivered items, so it was brand new.  I bought it for the fabric, but just never got around to using it, and it got caught up in the "i don't have room for everything' cleanup that is going on here.  And voila' it fits her perfectly.

Elias got to celebrate his 16th birthday on Monday also.

I managed to get a letter off to our missionary that day too.

Happy Birthday Bekie, who turned 15 on Tuesday the 15th, her golden birthday.

On Tuesday evening we got together with Nadine for one last Hallmark movie night and Curry too.  Nadine grew up in Zimbabwe, as many of you know, and there was a lot of Indian Food, as the Brits love their curry, thanks to Queen Victoria's love of the fare there are more Indian Restaurants in London than in New Delhi.  Yeah us. She taught us the joys of eating it with bananas, cashews, raisins and coconut.  We watched The Senior.

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AI helped out with making this picture as I forgot to take one.

In fact, my friend Shirley, who is the person who taught me to use Chat GPT for making faux pics, just got back from Scotland, and made this picture ...

into this picture.

Then while I was at work on Wednesday Dad got together with Jussi Kemppainen for lunch and talked about Church history and finding out which ship the first Finn to be baptized was sailing on.

 

I ran across this video of a realtor who shares local businesses.

This is the first isle.

and this is my book booth.

I also ran across this picture of me 10 years ago, at the airport eating Cafe Rio in SLC before heading out on our first mission to Finland. Is that really me?  I did grow out my dyed hair on that mission and afterwards became vegetarian which led to there being only 2/3s of me left.

After work we went to Clair and Raylene Christensen's for dinner.  What a beautiful table. It was perfect eye candy, and the food was delicious.  She went to so much trouble to make things we could eat, and it was simply delightful.  We also go to know their oldest daughter Raquel, who reminded us a lot of Emily, so that was a sweet bonus.

Here we are ready for our feast.

At work on Thursday, a gal came in who is a decorator and who was doing a Mad Hatter Tea Party for a client.  I thought the little chest of drawers with the keys for handles was absolutely perfect.

And guess who celebrated their 16th anniversary just days after Bekie's 15th birthday. Yep, it was the Texas branch of the family.

On Saturday Dad took in a big donation of craft supplies and fabrics to Making Space and got to see Liesel again.

On Saturday, while Dad was working on the Wall, I was saving the Wisteria over the garden arch by pulling out Virginia Creeper. 

Another interesting fact as we help the church hit 90,000 missionaries, but mostly it was Eva and her friends.

I loved this picture of a ribbon shelf at the Art at The Park at This is the Place State Park.

I went with my cousin Debbie, on my right and met up with Dad's cousin Eric's daughter, Franchesca.  They are both our first cousins once removed.  Franchesca's job is to run the special events at the park, and she just happened to have her boys at work with her after school as their dad is traveling at the moment.  It was so good to see her, she is really a charming young woman.

As we were coming out, I thought that God's art was pretty amazing too.

Not to mention a homeowner who painted this mushroom mural on her fence on East 27th south.

Here's the secret garden phone case I am waiting for.

And here is Dad's work of art, it's the wall to our own secret garden that Dad has been working on. We're hoping to have pictures of the finished wall for you next week.  Wish us well.

After I got home, he put on the rest of the cinderblocks before heading to Trevor's to watch the BYU football team winning another game.

These are the pictures I bought at the Art at The Park, this one is a print.  I bought 3 paintings from the same gal.  This is my fourth or fifth time buying from her, I have a total of 9 of her paintings. I like some of the other work, but most were over $500 each, so I was unmoved.

This is the largest of hers I have ever bought.  I love her interiors, especially when they feature bookcases.

I actually went back to get this set of Tudor houses.  I moved things around so that they are placed above Shakespeare's Tudor house. I ended up spending $489.88 at the show.

In the hall after sacrament meeting, I noticed that Sandy Thomas' eyes are turquoise, I took this picture to show her.  Sooo beautiful.

Then in Relief Society Cristie Peterson gave out Forget Me Not seeds as a reminder to remember the Savior and his gift to us.  I thought it was a perfect reminder.

Here she is teaching.

We sat behind the Shumways (Scott and Haley) at church and found out that they live in Joel and Jane Johnson's house.  We made the old, I'll show you mine if you show me yours deal with them.

Here is their home, I was amazed at how big it is.  Four bedrooms, laundry room, and two baths on the second floor.  Plus, a bedroom, dining, kitchen, parlor and bath on the main. And the first butler's pantry I have ever seen in an actual old home. They also have a little house behind the main house that the people who built this house lived in while building the main house.  The owner between the Johnsons and the Shumways, actually added on 2 additions to the small house to make it bigger.  The lady who owned the house had one of her sons, his wife and 3 children living there. 

I love this incredibly fat book called Vitalology.  It was an old medical book that came down in Haley's family, and she loved reading it at her grandparents' house.  I'm wondering if this jump started her into becoming an obgyn.  What an amazing couple. (He got his nursing degree after his wife graduated)

So I decided to make them a portrait of their house, considering doing an actually painting for a hot minute before approaching AI.  Here's the progression.

I will frame this and give it to them before we leave.  How fun is that?