Happy Pioneer Day

 How good it is to be with friends, including Russ and Marguerite!
To work in my garden.
To have time to read good books
To live in a friendly, safe, quiet         neighborhood
To smell the dry summer grass
To attend beautiful concerts
To share my home with five     wonderful young women (2 of them are pictured below: Yeram is Korean American and served a mission in Zimbabwe, Rachel served in Texas, Spanish-speaking).
It's good to attend the Oakland Temple, though I miss living next door to the Santiago Temple..
I treasure memories of my mission and special friends in Chile and elsewhere.

The Aldouses both speak Spanish, but I am helping her learn some French and he is studying Italian on his own for their trip next week to Rome and Paris.

I've reported to the High Council on my mission, given my homecoming talk, had a small open house, mostly put my house back in order, attended my family reunion, spent time with family and friends here and there, and am about to visit my siblings in southern California. Life is good, the summer weather is perfect, I've gone back to swimming almost every day, and have lots of fun plans for the rest of the summer. How blessed I am. 

Allied Arts is a lovely old Spanish hacienda where artists have workshops and where I had lunch with a friend.

I framed my Nieto watercolors bought in Santiago's Plaza de Armas. They represent several of Chile's beautiful regions: Andes northeast of Santiago, volcanoes and araucaria trees of the south, Santiago's old San Francisco Church, the River region and Chiloe Island...all near and dear to my heart!

Pioneer Day!
We owe a deep debt of gratitude to the many pioneers who forged our country, and are especially mindful of their sacrifice, as we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ commemorate each July 24th, the arrival of early pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, where they could finally be safer from persecution. The last painting is of the Pilgrims (my ancestors) who also escaped persecution, finding a new life in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1623.
(These are some of the paintings I enjoyed in the BYU Art Museum)

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Even when challenges arise, I know I am very fortunate, a daughter of a loving heavenly father. My young friend Jameson Welch included a wonderful quote in his weekly missionary report from London which I share with you and hope to remember always on darker days as we journey through life:
"The grace of Christ is not the light at the end of the tunnel, it is the light guiding you through the tunnel." As we work our hardest and access the Atonement, our lives will be significantly blessed. 

I love living close to the wetlands by the San Francisco Bay. It's a great walk! There are always snowy egrets, but not always a snake (which scared me a little as I had to pass close by, but I guess he slithered out of my photo)... and never so many huge white pelicans spreading their wings...



The American white pelican, second largest bird in North America, is readily distinguished from its smaller brown cousin, the only other American representative of the eight species of pelican worldwide. Brown pelicans are easy to spot along the coast, fishing by diving into the surf, gliding in small groups just above the water. American white pelicans don't dive for their fish, and seeing them is a less common experience in most places along the coast. When white pelicans move from one place to another, they generally do so at a considerable altitude rather than their cousins' four or five feet above sea level. Also, tellingly, brown pelicans are brown, at least on their top halves. White pelicans aren't. They're mainly white, with bold black markings on the undersides of their wings (which can reach 9 feet)- which color scheme explains the flock changing from white to black, as the birds pivot and turn more or less in unison, flashing first top side and them underside.