Old Cemeteries

My husband and I enjoy traveling and seeing new sites. When we travel by car, we always end up going through many small towns. Each town is unique but there are usually some similarities.

One thing I have noticed is that most have one or several churches and connected to each church is usually an old cemetery.

Since I am a family historian, it is very hard for me to pass up an old cemetery. Of course, we don't stop at all of the cemeteries--only the ones we think we have family buried. But I still can't help being drawn to an old cemetery. Maybe some think this is creepy. But cemeteries hold many bits of information very important to family history research.

As we drive by an old church, I always hope someone locally has taken some effort and posted a picture or at least some information found on the headstones. I know when I help people at the family history library their faces always light up when they see a picture of a headstone of a loved one.

Old churches with cemeteries are on my list of favorite things.

Prince Edward Island, Canada

The vacation Kevin and I are enjoying in the northeast of the United States and Canada has been so great!

On July 24, 2011, as I sit by our pool at the bed and breakfast in Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, Canada where we are staying, I can also see the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. The sun is starting to set at 6:40 p.m. and we are enjoying 72 degree weather. Sailboats, tugboats, Sea-doos, cruise ships and merchant vessels occasionally are moving across my view.

I have never had the opportunity to ride in a sailboat, but there are few things more calming to me than watching a sailboat glide over the water. I am going to add this to my favorite things list and remember this scene next winter.

I think Christopher Cross sang it best.

We May Never Pass This Way Again

Many know that I walk each morning that I can for about three miles. This gives me alot of time to think and look around at the beauties of nature.

My husband and I are taking a trip in the next little while back to Boston and up into Canada. I have dreamed about visiting Boston for many years. Many have asked me why I have had such a dream. Well, I am not sure--I guess it is because I love history so much. I am not really sure. As I was contemplating those sites we will be seeing while we are back East, I looked up at the beautiful mountains surrounding the valley in Springville, Utah in which I now live.

I almost said aloud, "What could be more beautiful than this." The magestic mountains practically in my backyard were really green but still had their snow caps. I haven't seen the Swiss Alps, but I really don't think they could be better. I turned myself 360 degrees and noted all of the beauty. Sometimes I am very ungrateful for the wonders of life that are around me each day.

In the book of Moses of the Pearl of Great Price it reads in chapter 2 verse 31, "And I, God, saw everything that I had made, and, behold, all things which I had made were very good."

I am more determined to enjoy the beauties of life all around me. Below is a song I loved years ago. I should have begun to put the lyrics to work in my life way back then.

Amazing Grace

I really like the sound of bagpipes. To me they have a very calming sound. I have always liked the hymn Amazing Grace although it is not within our LDS hymn book. Please enjoy the music to the hymn while viewing scenes of Scotland.

Fourteen Rules for Making Every Day a Great Day!

Well over ten years ago I found an article in the Parade Magazine about making our days "great."

The article listed ten things of which I have tried and found to work, but I want to add four more things that I know work too:

• Daily prayer
• Daily scripture study
• Tell someone that you love them
• Exercise

Have a great day!

The Ice Cream Truck

The other day I heard a sound I had not heard in many decades . . . an ice cream truck. These trucks are very uncommon these days, but in my neighborhood in the 1960s its inviting, tinkling sound coming up the street was more than a small child could bear.

In the summertime, Mom had us children napping every afternoon until we were older--maybe 7 or 8. It seemed that just as I was trying to nod off, I heard the slow moving ice cream truck's music coming from a long way away. My anxiety grew everytime I could tell it had stopped for a child who had purchased a special frozen treat. My mom hardly ever let me go out and buy an ice cream, but sometimes if the tooth fairy had recently come and left me a nickle, she would let me run out.

The sound of the ice cream truck brought back happy memories for me. Maybe next time I hear the musicbox-like tunes coming again, I will run out and treat myself to a cone. I am sure it will cost more than a nickle.

Russian Olive Trees

I love the smell of the Russian Olive tree whose fragrance only lasts for about one week each season. Most years I plan on its scent in late May or early June. But because of our late Spring, this year it happened on about the 12th of June.

When I first detect the fragrance of this silver-green, small-leaved Russian olive tree, I insist that my husband drive slowly through the areas they grow. He does not share my love for them but is very patient with me.

The not-so-pretty Russian olives were brought to the United States from Eurasia in the late 18th century, have few natural enemies and can survive almost anything. They grow fast, in almost any soil, and are more drought-resistant than most native trees.

They were planted often during the 1930s Dust Bowl as shelter belts. But now Russian olives have crept to the river banks and invaded irrigation canals and create other nuisances for land owners. They thrive and multiply where native plants sometimes cannot.

Once I mentioned to a group of friends that I was enjoying the smell in the air of the Russian Olive tree. Many in the blurry-eyed group almost cursed me as they recounted their extreme allergic reactions to the tree.

So . . . it appears I am in the minority as far as a love of the Russian Olive tree. This week I will enjoy in silence!