Who's Who in Nauvoo

We started our week with this production, called Songs of the Heart at the former Community of Christ Visitor's Center.  It was really lovely, and heart felt.  It's amazing how touching music can be. In fact in listening to the Sunday School lesson on Follow Him today, the guest pointed out that when the Kings at the time of Elijah, went to ask for his guidance, he called a minstrel, to help him prepare to receive revelation to share with the 3 kings as they went to war.  I thought that was super interesting.

After the production we met up with this couple who we'd run into at the Old Visitor's Center that morning.  They are from Arizona. Later in the week we went back to the Old Visitor's Center again to find out exactly where Philo's land was and realized that the auditorium in which we had joined the Missionary Fireside last Sunday, is right on the spot where he lived.

Next. we headed over to see the churches new acquisitions, including the cabin Joseph was living in when his house and yard were full of malaria victims, and the mansion house too.  There was one other, shown here that was not finished until after the saints left Nauvoo.

We asked around where we could find frames in Nauvoo, and were sent to Eborn Books, where they had none, and then to a store named Berlin's, which turned out to be an antique store, where I got a lot of well-priced items in addition to the frames for the Crumps.  I also met this lovely gal, who had served a mission in England as a Young Woman, that was fun too. She said that she served in Hyde Park, which is where my Great Grandfather Thomas Clark first heard the gospel.

Later in the day we stopped by this bag piping exhibition, which is good since we ended up missing the Scottish Festival at home. 

Then we went to see the Nauvoo Pageant that night, 

I loved how they built the wood framed and fabric covered temple as part of the pageant.

which ended with the lighting of the real Nauvoo temple.

On Wednesday morning we went to print the pictures I had AI'ed for the Crumps as a Thank You. I put the pictures into the frames on the way back across the Mississippi.  I was able to give the pictures I'd done to LaVern when we met up for our fun day.  The first item on our list was shopping for antiques.

We drove down to Hamilton, just south of Nauvoo to go to a couple of antique stores.  The proprietor of the first one was testy and grumpy too.  But the prices were great and we managed to both get Treasures. 

The Crumps had gotten us reservations for the Elders Program in the 70's Hall. It was really a lot of fun, as the missionaries portrayed the early apostle/missionaries, telling the story of the early church. It was nice to be guided by the Crumps, who have seen all the programs, and helped us cherry pick the most popular ones, and even got us reservations.

We were beyond delight when we looked over and saw the Shurtz.  We'd just seen them in June at the Finnish Mission Reunion and Mid-Summer Celebration, but they had not known at that time that they'd be coming here.  I guess they'd been at a family reunion somewhere in the south, and one of their kids. who lives in Utah said they'd be stopping in Nauvoo for a couple of days, so Jane and Steve decided to join them ... what are the chances?

We got back in time to go to an endowment session at the Nauvoo temple, our first time to do so.  We figured out that we had gone to Nauvoo 3 times before.  In 1983, when Ben was a baby, along with Scott's folks, then in 1998, when we continued on to New York Church Sites, where Trevor Baptized Spencer in the Susquehanna River, and then in 2002, when Becca got a bee in her bonnet that we all needed to go to the Nauvoo Temple Open House.  Thank Goodness for amazing children.  

We drove into Keokuk to have dinner after the temple.

That night we headed back to the Pageant area to see the British Pageant ... and here are our bag piping friends again.

As well as our Finnish Mission friends. Our seats were just a row apart.

The British Pageant portrayed the first Apostles who came to England to teach the gospel, and were met at the docks with this sign, that was a slogan being used for a man's political campaign but was the perfect backdrop for what would happen as the missionaries taught the people.

It really was a beautiful pageant, definitely my favorite of the two.

They even had a May Pole.

At the end all of the senior missionaries joined them in the wings, you can see Ron and LaVern basically in the middle here.

Here's the grand finale just before they lit the temple.

On Thursday, we drove back over to Nauvoo and met these Sisters who were at Lucy Mack Smith's house.  The smaller Sister is from England.  So fun to visit about our upcoming mission.

Then in the other room was LaVern, as she does a portrayal of Lucy Mack Smith.  She is really great at doing these vignettes, I guess all that acting we did at Mosida helped her hone her skills, and they had one more year that we did, as they ended up being directors and serving a 3rd year.

I had her pose looking out the window afterward, so I could do a companion piece to the AI'ed one I did of her as Sarah Granger Kimball.

Then it was time to say goodbye, we would not see them again, before leaving town.

These are the three pictures I made for the Crumps.

  

I like these two as a pair, and I think I will print them off and put them in matching frames as my souvenir of Nauvoo.

We went to the New Visitor's Center across from the temple, and saw the beautiful Tiffany Stained Glass window, which is about the age of our house.  What a stunning center piece.  We also saw a huge model of old Nauvoo and a movie.

It was so fun to drive by the temple every time we went anywhere.  I really do have a special feeling about this temple, even though none of my ancestors went through it. Dad has 10 ancestors who went through this temple for their endowments. I did look up my great grandmother, Sarah Neal Clark, and found a story in her stories, where her daughter said that Sarah's Mother Amelia Brittingham, my Jewish Great-Great grandmother, who lived in St. Louis was actually living in Nauvoo at the time of Joseph and Hyrum's martyrdom. 

Later we went to another show, that Ron had gotten us tickets for, at the Cultural Hall, and was called Sisters in Zion.  In the middle here, we have a young sister portraying Sarah Granger Kimball.

So, Dad checked out his relationship to her.  

We were up and off for an hour and a half drive to the Rutledge Flea Market on Friday Morning. 

It started 65 years ago as a swap for guns and animals ... both of which were still there.

It was kind of crazy, but unfortunately there wasn't much in the way of antiques.  It's just good that we were stopping at antique malls along the way, and I did find the things I was looking for for the store. 

These dinosaurs were pretty cool.

As was this outlaw cut out face board at the Jesse James Mall, so Dad can pose as a different kind of historic figure than those we had focused on all week. 

We didn't take nary a picture of our last day driving, Saturday ... but we got home around 8!!

In the meantime McKenna was busy winning first place for her engineering in designing this bridge. Thanks for posting Bri.

And Emily sent a video of Bekie at her Cheer Camp, which I screen shotted. I talked to her on the phone and she said she had a blast.

I also got a chance to talk to Ben today on their new house phone.  What a smart guy he is. I asked him if a new friend of his had told him something, and he said, "He's pretty quiet, he only talks about 20% of the time and is quiet 80% of the time."  Not bad for a 7 year old, and since I quantify things the same way, it makes me feel connected.

Because we got home earlier than expected, I didn't teach my primary class and got to go to a lovely RS meeting.  Dad was pretty involved in the creation of a new ward today in the stake, which meant I saw very little of him.

It was a wonderful and memorable week.  We are so grateful for the sacrifices our ancestors made for us.  I in particular am very grateful for the Gospel Plan, that I have been taught my whole life.  I know that without it, I would not be as happy a person as I am.  I am basically grateful that Heavenly Father shared the play book with us, so that if we choose, we can find joy, not just in the life to come, but in this life as well.

The Week That Went Down in History

This is the week we will always remember, as will many others.  It started at the Olive Garden for dinner with the Moes, but I forgot to take a picture.... thus at the theater later, I had someone take this picture of us and used AI to put us in front of the 'Olive Garden'.  hahahaha

This picture was at the 'photo booth', at the Hale Theater, before we went in to see My Fair Lady, one of my favorite stories, I've even read the book, that is just the script of the play.

I thought Barb looked good sitting on this huge flower arrangement, the like of which were all over.  So many, many flowers, but then Eliza did start out as a flower girl. As often happens at this theater, the stage is the star of the show, but the actors came in as a close second.  Dad even spotted an equity actor playing Eliza's dad.

The next day my first nasturtium was in bloom.  We got these seeds on our cruise last fall in Canada.  They are a creeping variety of nasturtium, I am hoping they will droop off the sides of this fountain eventually.

Meanwhile Kai continues on his western adventure. 

On Tuesday we headed north again, this time to hook up with Alysa.  Here she is shown with her therapist, who she adores.

Another worker stopped by after I saw his hat and asked if he is a big fan of Japan.  He said, not especially, but his mom is a flight attendant, and he has hundreds of hats she's brought him back from her trips.  He even has one from Cape Agulhas, the furthest point south in Africa.

We played Zilch with Alysa after finishing our lunch at the Cottage Cafe on campus.  It was really cool because we ran into Dianna and Randy Grahm who had brought a friend to lunch.  They offered to meet Alysa for lunch here every other Thursday after we leave on our mission. Alysa seemed delighted by the prospect.  I just loved this expression on her face as she didn't know what to do about her next roll..

Then we went and saw Toy Story 5, which was actually pretty entertaining.  Here we are as Wilma, Fred and Pebbles.

On Wednesday I actually sold this little tin.  I priced it kind of high, $20, hoping no one would buy it ... in fact it worked for months, people would bring it up and decide not to get it when they looked at the price.  But that was my hope, because it was such a good prop for my sewing booth.  Dang.

This gal is a trained decorator who had been at the Grove for 6 or 8 months and is doing well there.  When she got this booth, she set up slowly and had a sign saying the booth opened Wednesday, the 1st.  They'd had the ribbon across, and I wondered if they'd do a ribbon cutting, so here it is.  She had several dedicated media followers come in and buy from her, without looking at anything else.  Eventually I think they'll buy other stuff too, but she is a great asset to the store.

I had book club that night and asked my friend Tina (Short for Betina) to come and meet the new gal in my book club, Bitsy, a nickname for her given name Bettina.  One of them had never met another person with her given name, but I don't remember which one.  Tina just came to meet Bitsy but didn't stay for the discussion.

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the spread, and it was beautiful.  I used large wooden cutting boards and set them up with Naan in the middle surrounded by a total of about 12 or 14 toppings all in my little red bowl collection.  I included 2 different curries, some Raita, a traditional yogurt and cucumber dip served with naan.  But also honey butter, and garlic butter, pineapple salsa, olive tapenade, melted cheese, curry hummus, lemon and orange cream cheese (Someone asked for the recipe), chili bean cream cheese and green chutney with corn (cilantro and mint leaves chopped) which everyone loved. 

This is an AI version of the first Charcuterie Board.

It's always fun chatting with these girls.

The girls said it was a tasting adventure.  Our book was The Secret War of Julia Child, and in the book she serves in India for a time.  When she first gets there, she is told to not eat street food, but then others admitted that most of them had.  Of Course, Julia went at her first chance, so I was trying to reinvent the experience Julia was always likely to seek for us.

Bitsy is Jewish and asked questions about why 'Mormon's' had so many British members early on.  Of course, I said, "Probably because the missionaries didn't have to learn a language," the next wave started in Scandinavia some 30 years later, I am blessed to have ancestors of both persuasions.

I think everyone loved the book and the club meeting, we were 11 in all.

On Thursday we drove out of the driveway around 9:30 and headed east.  When we were in Kansas, we ran into a tremendous storm which ended the hail that made such banging noises we thought we would have dents. It all started with such interesting clouds, the kind that are perfect for finding people and animals shapes in.

After the two-day drive, we checked into our hotel near downtown St Louis. on Friday night.  Saturday morning when we were looking for parking I noticed these fabulous corbels.  Each is holding a drama mask, as the building is a theater.

The arch

We registered and got our tickets for the Barbershop finals that would happen that day.  Then we headed out to find the house that Mary Engelbriet bought and remodeled into her dream home.  She lived there for 10 years.  I was shocked to see it was a huge, fairly modern house, built in the 1940s I still have her book about the remodel, and thought it was crazy that this was actually the house. It really looks cozy and cottagy in the book.

We got the house number from this picture that appears in Mary's book, Home Sweet Home, and this is what I expected to see.

Here's a shot from the other side of the house, aren't the clouds amazing?

This is the quartet that sang at Dad's chorus' show a few weeks back.  They won 6th place last year and 4th place this year.

Dad managed to run into just one of the members of the British Chorus from London, and of course he lucked into the membership secretary that he has been in correspondence with.  The chorus is pretty young, by in large, so I hope he gets his dream.  I told him, after seeing their performance, that he should take some dancing lessons before we head out.

This chorus from Tennessee dresses for "Mormon Missionaries", but they are really Barbershop missionaries. They sang a song about how they are converting people to the Barbershop lifestyle that will eat up all your time and money.

Three guys from Dad's chorus also belong to this chorus, including the man in the middle at the bottom.

Dad thought it was all hilarious.

I believe this is the Brit Chorus.

After the chorus contest there was a break, and we went out in the concourse and sat at a table with strangers, eating a bite of dinner.  I decided people might be interested to know that I had gone and seen Mary Englebriet's Dream House.  As I was telling about it the man next to me, said.  "Oh, we used to live by Mary and Phil when we were all young marrieds."  He said, "there were four couples who hung out together.  In fact," he said, "she used my kitchen floor when she did her illustration, just a Chair of Bowlies." It turns out his kitchen was black and white checkered, the use of which pattern by Mary E., I have always loved best.  Wow, what are the chances.  His wife has since passed, and he had remarried a gal in his church, who was with him, and who was also charming.   It was kind of fun to visit with him.  He was a lawyer, but after retiring he went on to teach in a junior high and worked with mentally handicapped students.  Yep, those are the people that get to go to the first tier of Heaven.   

So, to Quote my sister Julie, "What Joy."

And this is the moment that history was made.  Woman have been allowed to sing in choruses and quartets in 2018.  This year, this group, GQ (Girl's Quartet, not Gentlemen's Quarterly) took first place.  Pretty amazing.

It was an amazing weekend, as we recalled the beginnings of our country 250years before.  Here are a few things we saw over the weekend as we celebrated.  And yes, the center picture is Trevor, we did not see it in person.  But after the show as we drove the 6 miles through town to our hotel, there were literally unending fireworks, the sound was continuous, no pauses at all, we could see them when driving home, but the following couple of hours we just hear them, continuously. 

Around 5 on Sunday morning we headed out for a three-hour trip to Nauvoo.  The first steeple is the building we met up with the Crumps at, the second is the catholic church, and the third is the Nauvoo temple. After church we followed the Crumps to see their place right on the river.  It was beautiful.  Then we headed back into main Nauvoo where we ...

Found these beautiful flowers at the original visitor's center, they are called Fan Flowers and are from Australia.  Google says they'd love to grow in Utah, so I need to find seeds for after our mission.

We walked through the Women's sculpture garden at the visitor's center that is built over the property that was owned by your ancestor Philo Dibble.

When we went to Nauvoo in 1982, and Ben was a baby, Dad and I reenacted this statue scene with him.  It's a sweet memory.  Ben was just shy of 1 and was the best traveler ever, on that trip.

We walked through the beautiful sculpture garden then we went to see the Crumps as they performed their Sunday Assignment.

Here we see LaVern as Sarah Granger Kimball, in one of the homes of early members where LaVern tells her history.  Ron did the part of her husband, both of them in first person. They did a great job. I was very inspired by the stories.

And Dad wants you to know that Sarah Melissa Granger Kimball Smith is actually Dad's 3rd Cousin 4 times removed, through his Dibble line, her mother was a Dibble.

Here I am on steps, awaiting our turn for the tour.

Here are LaVern and Ron in front of the house,

Here we are with them.

The Grangers stayed in Nauvoo after the saints were driven out and were there to see the temple burn and later to see the tornado that destroyed what was left. This picture was taken from their front porch.  A couple of years later she took the children to Salt Lake, while her husband finished up their financial affairs in Nauvoo.

These are the portraits of the pair that hang in the house.

Afterward we drove by Parley P. Pratt's home and store, which is currently the vicarage for the Catholic Church next door.

When we went to the Crumps for really delicious dinner that night, they told us about this Tiffany window that was made in 1896. (Just two years younger than our house) The Church of Jesus Christ of LDS, purchased it at auction, after the owner had purchased it and stored it for 50 years.  They don't know what church it was in before that.  I can't wait to see it.  We hope to go to the new visitor's center this coming week.

And this is the bridge, a former railroad bridge that takes us across the river to Fort Madison, where we are staying.  We got 'barged', on our first trip over.  Later talking to another missionary, we found that she had yet had to wait for the piece of the bridge to rotate to allow barges through, but we got to see two barges cross, on our first time over.

Here she is with Dad, she has been serving doing the high quality sewing as one of 7 seamstresses who make the missionaries clothing.  She'd been here over a year and grew up next door to Dad as a kid.  Her name Joanne Bingham.  We met up at a missionary fireside where Gerrit Dirkmaat, He's a BYU professor, and one of the original writer involve with the Joseph Smith Papers.  Its funny because just this week, while driving out and listening to Marco Polos with Barb and Robin they mention his weekly podcast, and Robin told us a funny story from his history.  If you google the Follow Him Broadcast with his name, you can see it too.

And in news from other travels, Darby got to meet Willow for the first time, as she was in Salt Lake this weekend, where the baby was born.

and in other traveling news, Trevor et al headed up to see Scott, as we showed last week.  On their way home they stopped and hung out with Trevor's sister Britt and her family, and Janell's sister Leslie and her family.  How fun is this.

Here are Alex and Eva, who are of an age.

Here we see Alex's girlfriend, Alex, Charley and Trevor.

Sibs

Our first girl and our first boy.

And most importantly it was Addie's birthday, she is now 14!l  Congrats Addie girl!

And last of all the natural beauties I saw this week

The bumble bee was at home, while the glossy green bug was at a gas station, I mentioned the clouds, and flowers, and the middle bottom piece looks like a bit of dragon skin but is really a bit of the built-up spray paint from our garbage can which broke off, which reminds us of the paint on the half buried Cadillacs in Amarillo where we met up with Becca's family once. 

So, stay tuned for more of the wonders of Nauvoo and a Flea Market in Missouri.