Sprint, 1993
I am leaving tomorrow morning with Sarah Cope and the two children for California to see Marilyn in ‘No No Nanette’ musical in which she tap dances. We hope we don’t hit too much snow.
This has been a Winter to remember and while we are glad that our drought is finally over, everyone is sick of snow. We just finished one big storm and in comes another one, and California is still getting rain and it is doing much damage to beautiful homes there.
Now it is Spring and next week Donna and I are leaving for Europe. My 12th trip over if I have counted right. We are going like the usual gypsies, and while we have a few places we want to visit again, we are going to find some new ones we haven’t seen and hope to have a wonderful time.
Linda’s Hip Surgery
The big news for this month is that Linda is here and is going to be operated on for a hip replacement in a couple of weeks. She came a week ago Wednesday to record at the usual studio, but was suffering even more with her hip, as she has been for a year now. She couldn’t even sleep at night. It got worse and worse, so I researched the doctors in our area and came up with one I thought was the best, Dr. Robert Jackson. There are twins and another brother who are all doctors and got her an appointment with him. She was here in Provo recording at a studio here as usual. She liked the doctor very much and he scheduled the operation in 12 1/2 weeks, hence so he could build up her blood. Her boss told her to go ahead with the surgery while here. The boss said to do her work by telephone and that they would put an extra telephone line in my home and also a fax machine. So, she is here and the pain goes on, but she goes ahead and work with her lap computer on her tummy. Then this morning, she said once she had had something that sat on her lap or chest or something and I remembered a large metal tray with legs on it to use in bed and she said it was just what she needed. So now her lap computer sits on that and she works away at her job. In between, she has constant phone calls that go on and on, but she is surviving. I will be concerned about her when I leave in the morning, but I’m sure she will get along okay. She says that if an emergency comes along, she will call one of the family that lives here.
Steve, Joan and Marilyn came up to be with her for the operation and the night before Steve gave her a wonderful blessing. The operation was exceptionally successful and everything went well. They had her up and walking in two days. She was in the hospital for a week, and she had me take her laptop computer to the hospital and she held in on her lap and worked and two days after she came home, she was back at the recording studio that night, in spite of my protests, and has been working since until this very minute. Two weeks later she was off her crutches and is doing find until last weekend when she got the flu. But, even that is over and the doctor will release her to fly home on the 20th and the wonderful thing is that she is out of pain for the first time in two years.
(Mother’s Europe trip on her computer was not complete. I included this because it was a more detailed trip from her day by day journal. Joan wondered where this trip went when she read the history. I could only go by what mother wrote. Sorry if it’s confusing.)
We stopped at a P (like the U.S. rest stops) and had a good lunch. Back at the hostel, we went to bed, but I wasn’t sleepy so I played Old Sol and then King on the Corner until it was 10 o’clock. I also read by my flashlight because neither of the lights on our beds worked. Finally went to sleep but woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep for hours.
May 11
Finally went to sleep and got up around 7:00 a.m. Got ready to go to the Temple. Had breakfast and went over. I forgot to mention that it was Spanish week and there were a lot of them here and were noisy. We did one session and waited a half hour for lunch. It was delicious. Did another session and fought sleep through two more session, and by then the Temple was closing. We went back to our room and rested a while and then went for a walk in the beautiful forest by the Hostel. Had dinner of soup, sandwich and cookies. Donna is trying to cut my long toe nails. After dinner we went to the dining room and she gave me a new manicure. My hair is terrible. Donna is going to wash her hair in the morning and I will put it up and she’ll wear a scarf tomorrow as we head slowly for Munich. We are probably going to Oberammagau and stay for at least two nights.
May 12
A WONDERFUL DAY! Used a curling iron on my hair and with Donna’s help, it looks quite good. We had our usual bad time finding out way out of Bern, but made it.
We drove to Zurich and decided to get on a highway through the alps that we hadn’t been on before. It was somewhere south of Zurich in a little town and made for the road to Innsbruck. We were by a beautiful river and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. We went first to Interlaken and finally found the road to Innsbruck. This was through the Alps and was so beautiful. We had another little problem getting on the wrong road, but went back. We enjoyed this day to the fullest. Donna drove slower so we could see the countryside. It took us all day except for stopping at a P for lunch. We enjoyed every moment. Finally go to Oberammagau at 7:00 p.m. and tried the Zimmer we stayed in before, but no one was home fortunately. I tried another place down the street but it was very expensive. There were Zimmer signs all the way down the street. I tried a third place and we loved it. Maybe the price is a little more than where we stayed before, but it was still reasonable. $21. each if we stay for three days. The room is larger than the first and we had a private bath and toilet.
May 13
We shopped in Oberammagau and then left for Munich. We got money changed and found a lot of things for the family. We went to Ettal on the way to Munich. It was a former monastery. The girl who served us breakfast told us about it. It is now a music school and has about 400 students and as we walked up toward the magnificent DOM, we could hear practicing going on all sides. We went into the DOM and it was the usual mass of beautiful things. We took some pictures and looked all around and saw big silver vases and Donna took a picture to show Steve what it might be like to polish them.
We sat down on a bench to rest for a few minutes and were about ready to leave when a chorus of young people came in and stood on the steps and sang two songs. They sang A Capella. One o the girls came and sat near us and we asked her about the group. They were from Albion, Michigan and on a tour with 9 concerts in this area. We enjoyed their singing very much. We felt especially lucky to hear such good music in this beautiful cathedral. Then several German fellows got up and sang and they were wonderful. What an unexpected treat.
Leaving there, we headed for Linderhof, another of Mad King Ludwig’s castles that he almost bankrupted Bavaria to build. He built the one at Neuswainstein up on the mountain in the Alps, Linderhof where we were and several miles down the road another called Chemsee. At Linderhof, we didn’t go in the castle because we had been there several times before, but we wondered around the beautiful grounds and took several pictures in front. Then back to our Zimmer and to bed. Another wonderful day.
May 14
Still at Oberammagau. We want to find out how to get from Munich to the airport, but we needn’t have worried because when we got near Munich the airplane sign appeared on the big overhead signs and we kept following them. The traffic was quite heavy so it was slow going. It seemed we followed these airport signs for miles and miles. We finally got to the turn that is by the airport and started looking for a Zimmer. We didn’t see a single one. We left and started back for Munich and saw two signs for Zimmers, but one was full for Saturday and no one answered at the other one. We drove on a few more ‘k’s’ and saw another sign and turned toward it, but found ourselves out in the country among the farms. Donna said we had missed it because there wouldn’t be one way out in the fields, but I was driving and could see a farmhouse in the distance and drove until we got there. There was the Zimmer sign and it was an excellent place. Brand new and a fair price. Clean as a pin and a beautiful shower and bath. We made arrangement in my poor German to come back Saturday. We hoped the landlady understood because I said Saturday in German.
Then began the trauma of the day. We wanted to shop in Munich because right beside the big building with the clock tower is that main attraction of the whole place with clock figures going around and around on the hour. We had seen this several times before, but we also thought there was good shopping near there. When I was there with the Young Ambassadors, I went into a large department store close by and got the material for my kitchen curtains that I like so much. There is also a Woolworth store nearby. The square is called the Marianplaz. We had no idea it would be so hard to find. We asked and asked and ‘no find’. Donna was driving and pretty soon I thought she was going to have cardiac arrest. We stopped one fellow to find out way and he said to park the car and take a street car, but we knew we would never find the car again if we did. We almost decided to forget the whole thing, but got to a place that was familiar to me. I found it on the map and knew we were very close. We found underground parking and drove in and then went up to the street and sat on something and ate lunch. Then we asked about the Marianplatz and a lady pointed to about a block away and there it was.
We found some stores we thought were there, but felt the shopping was better in Oberammagau so we got the car, paid 10 Deutschmarks and started driving. Donna is still fighting the gears and it really hard for her to drive where there is so much stopping and starting. She says I drive too slow, so I really haven’t done anywhere near half the driving. We found our way to the freeway with only one ’bobble.’
Soon we were back in Oberammagau. We decided to spurge and eat out and ended up in a fancy hotel where the food was delicious. We had fish and fancy little potatoes and a glass of water at about $10. each. Very good food and we enjoyed it. Now after our rough day, we were ready for sleep. In fact, Donna is off to Dreamland. Tomorrow we will finish shopping here, pack the car and head for the Zimmer near the airport. There we’ll repack for the trip home.
May 15
Saturday and we are at the Zimmer. The lady was waiting for us and beamed all over. She was very good to us and helpful. It took us quite a few trips up the stairs to get all our purchases in our room. We are now in our room surrounded by packages of all shapes and sizes and wondering how we will ever get them all packed into our bags. We bought a sort of carry-all bag for Mark and will pack it full and give the bag to him when home. Cagey aren’t we? Donna remembered she hadn’t bought anything for Cory so decided to get something at the airport. The dining room for the Zimmer is just outside our door and the nice lady said for us to use it for our meals and help ourselves to food in the refrigerator. We sorted and packed and sorted and kept packing. Much to our great surprise, we got everything in our suitcases and the extra bag. Donna is also packing tight the big and wonderful lunch bag from which we have eaten everything. What a joy this bag was to us day after day, carrying bread. cheeses, rolls, meat from our various breakfasts.
After lunch and a little rest, we walked to a little village and looked around. We rested on a bench and walked back. Quite a walk! Just as we reached the Zimmer it started to rain and pour for quite a few minutes. We looked out the windows of our room at the poor horses in the field beside the house standing in the rain. That night we played Rummy and Donna beat me as usual. Then to bed.
May 18
Nearly homeward bound. The nice landlady gave us a nice breakfast and yogurts for lunch. She didn’t know we had already made two sandwiches for our lunch at the airport from the leftovers for breakfast. There were rolls, ham, cheese, etc. After finishing packing, we said a fond farewell to our landlady and took off for the airport. It didn’t take long and we turned in the car. They gave us credit for the garage bill in Italy. We were amused to see a sign by the desk there which had a list of places which we should not go, or if we did, they would not be responsible for the insurance and GUESS WHAT? CHECKISLOVAKIA was on the list. We were glad we hadn’t seen it before we took our little trip through that beautiful country. We had quite a wait for the plane so we looked around. Almost no shops. Just outside the airport there was a tall hill or big mount of dirt. There were dozens of people walking up and down. We finally inquired about it and were told that it just for people who come to watch the planes take off and come in. Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of people.
Shortly after finishing out lunch it was time to take off. Meantime we had quite a few small German coins which wouldn’t be of any use at home and couldn’t be traded in for U.S. money. While wandering around the airport we saw a sign and a box on the wall which asked us to put our small coins in before we took off to help children. It was put there by the Lions Club. We thought that was a great idea so in went our coins.
The plane came and we boarded if for the 12 hour flight. Our plane had to go out of the way some because British Royalty was on another plane coming in and we had to get out of their air space. We saw two movies, one terrible and the other excellent. They also had the neatest thing on the movie screen all the time. When we left it told the time we left, how far we had to go and there was a map with a little red plane oozing along, and this came on every few minutes and gave us all kinds of information about where we were. I didn’t sleep as much this trip as I usually do on a plane but the time went past.
Steve and Cameron were waiting for us at the airport. Steve talked on the way about how Donna and I would have to go to Romania with them. I had said for months that this was my last overseas trip.
Summer, 1993
The rest of the summer was spent working in the garden, picking raspberries and entertaining members of the family who came.
My health is still very good and I continue to work on community projects and I enjoy everything I do, even the hard work.
One change in my life is that sometime last year they released all the teachers in Relief Society and it was a relief for me. I had done it for so long and felt that it was a good time for someone else to have the opportunity. The other teachers were very good and I was sorry to see some of them go. But the new ones have been surprisingly good except for maybe one or two exceptions and I welcome the change.
Then they asked me to play the piano for Relief Society and I decided I should because then I would practice. But, I really didn’t realize how out of practice I was. I really hadn’t touched the piano for at least ten years and I found that I stumbled even over the hymns that I had played all my life. So, I started practicing. And I started going through books to get interesting music to play before opening and after the closing. I have chosen mostly appropriate music from the classics, Beethoven, Bach and Brahms and others. And people are very often telling me what beautiful music I play, so it has been rewarding. But, I even have to practice the hymns still. However, I find that slowly my technique is improving. It will never be what it was when I was young and ‘in me prime.’ but at least it is better than it was. One day in going through a book looking for music for R.S. I happened upon a very difficult number that I had memorized years ago, and I was delighted that my fingers went right to the music I played. I’m going to work on that until I can really play it again.
From summer into Fall I can’t remember anything out of the ordinary happening. Michelle is pregnant with her second. Jana got pregnant and sent out darling announcements about their expecting a member of her firm, etc., but at two or 2 1/2 months she miscarried the baby and was home alone at the time and didn’t realize that her doctor could have given her something for the pain, but she just laid there in terrible pain until finally she miscarried. She took it to Salt Lake to the doctor and he told her that the baby wasn’t growing and probably would not have been normal had she carried it full term. So, we were somewhat less sad, but, we all felt terrible. We are hoping she will get pregnant soon. Her flower business continues to prosper by leaps and bounds.
Cameron and Chance are growing rapidly and are a joy and delight. They were here a couple of times during the summer and I had tricycles for both of them and they rode them around the block like mad. One day they headed down the sidewalk and I was alone with them and didn’t want them to go by themselves, but they wouldn’t turn back and I ran behind them completely around the block but finally headed them in toward the garage. They love to come to Grandma’s. I love to have them.
Before long it was time to begin the meetings for the Christmas program in the tabernacle. The Women’s Division has asked a woman to take it over as the chairman late in the summer. I waited for her to call me asking about it, but she didn’t so I finally called the president and she said that this woman had called and said she wasn’t going to do it. But, the president said that if I wanted her to she would take over. I had known for some time that she wanted to do it, but the entire committee felt that this woman didn’t really have the know-how to do it and she irritated some people.
But I was desperate so I said if she wanted to do it, it was okay with me. Before this happened we had one meeting at my house that I had called with Max Golightly and he said that he had asked a certain person to direct. He had just moved to Utah Valley and building a home in Provo. I was delighted because he had been a drama teacher and director in high school, so I presumed that he would know what he was doing. Then after the Women’s Division President said she would take over, she decided that we shouldn’t have the meetings at my house because of the parking so we went to Georgia Fox’s home. She lives in my ward and she and Myrth Burr are the ones who had done the Nativity for so long. However, before this happened, we were having tryout for the children’s part and at the appointed time for the tryouts, Ruth, the new chairman came along with Kathryn, the secretary to the Arts Council, who gives us $1,000 each year for expenses. The two of them began talking about Ruth taking over the finances since she was Chairman and the director Carl said rather snappishly, “This is a tryout not a business meeting.” and there ensued a shouting match between the two of them that was about the worst I have ever heard. In the middle of it, Max Golightly came in and tried to be mediator and finally asked Ruth to go out in the hall with him and they talked there and he came back alone and said that Ruth was no longer chairman. Well, I wasn’t surprised at what happened because I had known that every time Ruth and Carl even talked on the telephone there were problems. So, once again, I took over. We continued to have problems with the director however. He rewrote the show, which had been so successful last year, ‘A DICKENS OF A CHRISTMAS’ and had wanted to do exactly the same show this year. He was a terrible writer and we were aghast at what he was doing. It seemed that at every turn he thwarted us in what we wanted to do, but finally I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I would sit down with him at every rehearsal and point out what we felt was bad, and much to my surprise, he agreed with me and took the offensive parts out.
The only problem was that we ran out of time before it was time for the presentation and there was still one part that was awful and I didn’t have time to talk with him, so it stayed in. Meantime he asked if my Linda could write a song for Joseph and Mary to sing to the baby Jesus and she said she would, but it was just a few days before the performance that she finally set it faxes and the two learned it were beautiful performers and did a beautiful job with it. However, in all the bru-ha-ha we never did have a complete run-through. Then when the time came for the first performance and the Tabernacle was full, someone had turned off the main switch on the spotlights and it was some time before we found the problem. Other things happened and I was beginning to just wish I could live through it. Then the second show went like clockwork, but it was not as good as it could have been.
We invited the director, Carl, to come for our dinner party we have a few days after the show is over and tried to be as kind as possible to him, but just to be sure…we’ll have him stay 40 miles away next year.
It was not Thanksgiving time, of course, and Steve and family were here. Also, for dinner was David, Lari and brood, and Todd. I had to be at rehearsals, but everyone else was here including Donna who took over and got all the preparations for Thanksgiving dinner taken care of. I had that day off and everyone was here and we had a wonderful dinner. Then the next morning I had to be at the Tabernacle all day.
All the family left on Monday and I picked myself up and started finishing my Christmas shopping. It was a hectic time but come December 17th or thereabouts, I went to Salt Lake and Flew to California. This time I stayed healthy all through and had a wonderful time. Christmas Eve there was the usual celebration of my birthday at Donna’s with all the family except or Marilyn, Chris and Mark who had come to Provo for Christmas, but returned a few days after. Christmas morning, Donna and I went to Steve and Cheryl’s and woke them up and there was the usual opening of gifts. However, there weren’t as many this year because at the moment California is in a terrible state financially and it finally affected Steve’s business. Along with that he didn’t get the VIP luncheon for the Pasadena Tournament on New Year’s Day worth over $30,00 in revenue which really put him behind to start the year.
I left to return to Provo on New Year’s Day and found there was no snow, and hadn’t been since I left.