November 2024, a Month of Reckoning

  We have a beautiful fresh layer of snow on the mountains this     eventful week of the 2024 Presidential election.

I love my neighborhood (complete with llamas as well as horses, cows and chickens) and the last bright colors of fall.

Yesterday we celebrated three family birthdays: Ken Taylor, Ben and Fernanda de Schweinitz. Fernanda's mom made yummy flan and cake

   Evie, Hannah de Schweinitz and Sandra, who made a delicious flan and cake, and Gil Lima (Fernanda's parents)

Marc, Fernanda and Ken. A competition: "Know the birthday kids"

   Marc, Rebecca, Peter watching their home Halloween extravaganza. Peter was a frightening ghoul, scaring away a lot of trick-or-treaters!

              Ben's dog "Sir Pancakes" entranced with Ben's music!

At church Ken chaired a party (on his birthday) to honor ancestors (antepasados).People brought a food dish passed down in the family.

  Members set up colorful ofrendas, Mexican way to honor ancestors

I made a small display of some of my American forebears' contributions, and Emily of her German ancestry

    Another table had photos of ward members who have passed on. We also did a matching game of current members and a grandparent, and, using the Family Search app on our phones, "Relatives around You" found out who in our group were related (often distant cousins). Try it!

At UVU is a fabulous stained glass panel "Roots of Knowledge" by the Holdman studio, which does the stained glass windows of many of our temples around the world. I recently saw the one at the visitors' center in Rome. Timely, considering our appreciation of Founding Fathers, explorers (Lewis and Clark and many others), and leaders for peace and goodwill around the world. 

Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Mary McLeod Bethune an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womens'and civil rights activist).       Below, Gandhi and others

And our most perfect example, Jesus Christ. May we honor Him as we try to live according to His example and principles. 

Emily, who works in the conflict and peace center in Orem, at Utah Valley University (the largest university in Utah) and I were privileged to hear a presentation by Hani Almadoun, living in Virginia, who is senior director of philanthropy at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a group that Donald Trump defunded. This week, Israel designated UNRWA a “terrorist organization,” so the volunteers and any humanitarian trucks may be attacked. Hani, ( BYU M.A. and B.A) and his family have headed the Gaza Soup Kitchen, which mostly has made soup from Kale-like weeds that grow wild. All but one of his brother’s family were killed on Nov. 23, 2023. Hani was awarded The (BYU) Kennedy Center Distinguished Service Award this week and gave a talk there: ”Perfect Love Casteth out Fear.”

I share a few slides from his UVU presentation:

Where is the compassion needed to stop the genocide of Palestinians and to negotiate peace? Isn't unity better than power and greed?

This elderly man has lost his whole family but continues to bake bread

If you as an American citizen have not yet voted, please make your voice heard. Stand for the Constitution, correct principles, and the  character traits required for leadership of our great democracy and the world.

 Beautiful Utah County Fall 2024 and lots of Art!

Provo Canyon on the Alpine Loop with golden aspens. Not quite as bright as other years, as it has been hot. Freeze is needed to bring out the colors.

Bridal Veil Falls, waiting for the first rains and snows this week

Rock Canyon trail in Provo was a bit past its prime, but still colorful, a good hike just before the snow today!

My Fair Lady at the Orem Theatre, as wonderful as all their shows!

The BYU Ballroom dancers are incredibly talented and professional
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Fernanda & Marc de S, Emily de S.Taylor, Julie de S.and Pete Carlston at fundraising "A Taste of Bethlehem" shawarma dinner at Taylors, cooked by Ken T and Mario, visiting from the middle east. It was delicious!

My daughter Julie and I spent a few hours at the Church History Museum in SLC for excellent exhibition "Work and Wonder." This exhibition is the largest and most comprehensive attempt to show the variety of works by Latter-day Saint artists around the world from the Church’s founding to the present. It includes art and objects from a broad array of cultural backgrounds, materials, and styles, and it invites audiences to consider both the historical traditions and future trajectories of Latter-day Saint art. Here are a few favorites! 

One of many things purchased from the Community of Christ (formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Christ from 1872-2001) who split off from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after Joseph Smith's martyrdom, and owned the Kirtland Temple and many of the objects and lands of the original Church.

Actual characters copied by one of the 8 witnesses of gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith

Painting of the Brooklyn, which brought early Mormons from New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco with items too heavy for the pioneers to carry in their wagons from Illinois. These members went on to Utah the next year in 1847.

Marlene Wilding painted this portrait, All are Alike unto God (2021) of Isaac Lewis Manning. Isaac and his sister and other family members joined the church in the 1840's in Nauvoo, IL. He cooked for the Smith family, taught dance, served in the Nauvoo Legion, quarried stone for the temple, and dug the graves of Joseph and Hyrum Smith after their martyrdom in 1844.

I love this batik by Joni Susan (1990) of Joseph Smith's prayer and  vision of God the Father and his son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove, Palmyra, NY in 1820.

Brian Kershisnik's (1962-) prolific works include many which explore the dynamic between earthly mortals and heavenly spirits, and the interconnectedness of pre- and post-mortal existence. In She will find What is Lost angelic figures descend to support a solitary woman.

Joseph and Oliver Cowdery receive the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James and John. Below, Jesus heals the blind man, by Walter Rane (1949-)

      This is one of my favorite portrayals of Jesus by Michael Malm 

             The Prodigal Son.         Beautiful bronze of Christ, below.

       The Second Coming of Christ by Harry Anderson (1916-96)

                 African bead art of Adam and Eve is so intricate

The original model for the Angel Moroni to be placed atop the Salt Lake Temple and many other temples. 

President Russell M. Nelson, still going strong and leading the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 100. He is a world renowned Heart surgeon, very loving and beloved world leader. Painted 10 years ago.

     Great special exhibition. Much in the permanent collection, also!

Julie, too, is showing her developing talent at oil painting! I love it!

She always helps her 5 children enjoy hiking and the outdoors, too!

Wild turkeys (most of the flock was chased away by a dog before I got the photo!). Thanksgiving will arrive before we know it! But each day can be a chance to feel gratitude for so much, and also a reminder that we can all be an influence for good in our sphere of influence and that each person and every creation is unique, such as these berries/ seeds. Fall is a time of transition, putting the growing season to rest for a few months.