HAPPY EASTER!!! Spring has arrived, even with snowy mountains as a daily backdrop, it has warmed up and crocuses are blooming!

Because some of us will be away over Easter weekend, our family celebrated early with an Easter egg hunt and potluck..

Easter, next to Christmas, is my favorite holiday, as I feel a renewed sense of peace and joy and the promise of eternal life with our families and friends, made possible for all of God's children everywhere and throughout time, by the Resurrection and Atonement of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.

I invite you to listen to a brief Easter message from Russell M. Nelson, our wonderful President, leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. On this site are also captivating and beautiful short Easter videos.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/this-easter-find-peace-in-jesus-christ?lang=eng

This Easter coincides with our twice-annual General Conference April 3-4, 10 and 1-3 MDT. You can listen to inspiring messages by clicking the link below:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/events/april-2021-general-conference?lang=e

                                *************************

I enjoy my walks, especially with my grand-daughter Kelly

And a walk around downtown Provo with Deanne Welch, who also moved to Provo very recently. We expect to know Provo better, and await the reopening of temples, soon we hope, as more and more get vaccinated!

The view from my son Marc's home in Daybreak is spectacular, too!(Salt Lake City is to the north, Provo to the south)

Today's world is fraught with many troubles, but I feel hopeful when I see, hear, and read about the many kind, thoughtful, generous, loving and good people throughout the world who work constantly for solutions, for justice, for peace, for those we meet daily, or those far away, unknown to us. One of my favorite missionaries from Palo Alto, Sister Camille Jacobsen, wrote from her mission in Washington state:

"Loving our neighbor requires getting close to our neighbor and giving of ourselves. In Spanish, the term for “love of neighbor” is amor al prójimo, or “love of the one who is in proximity.” The term prójimo connotes a physical closeness and personal touch that neighbor simply fails to capture for me. We follow the good Samaritan’s example not by abstractly loving from afar but by truly connecting and spending time with each other, by genuinely giving of ourselves. This is not always easy: getting close often involves sacrifice and discomfort. It can be awkward, time consuming, and emotionally draining. Surely the Samaritan had other plans for his day, but he stopped to love someone who needed him." May we make the effort and follow His example as best we can. 

Also in March we have celebrated Women's History month. I am grateful for the many women throughout the world and throughout history who have valiantly fought for the vote and women's rights and for the well-being of all, especially children and the disadvantaged. 

Some amazing women:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwLtGnvcrxPCjBfvKZZCWXlMkTh

 

First weeks of March

It's been snowing today. It looks beautiful, but I miss the early California spring with new blossoms and bulbs.

I'm enjoying my new adventure in Utah. My daughter Julie and I enjoyed a great exhibition of African-American art and some from their permanent collection at the University of Utah. 

Here are a few of the variety of works and messages...see what you make of them!

This is the Place (Salt Lake Valley)

Noah Davis' 2008 "Black Wall Street" refers to the once-prosperous African-American neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma known as Black Wall Street. In 1921 a white mob burned Greenwood to the ground in what is known as the "Tulsa Race Riot" or the "Tulsa Massacre."

Immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago, Leroy Clarke's "Now,"a call for equality and the freedom from colonialism

An unusual/ironical elaborate tapestry, symbolic?

Isaac Julien's 2003 "Incognito" is a prop used in his film "Baltimore" portraying Black cultural icons

Jordan Casteel's 2016 "The Kiteman" portrays a man he observed across the street from his studio in the Adam Clayton Powell courtyard in Harlem, NYC, expressing his joy by dancing and flying kites.

Mickalene Thomas' 2002 Panthera, rhinestones on acrylic on birch panel. The panther is a symbol of Black femininity. Beauty can accompany strength, as in my daughter and youngest grand-daughter!

1917 Bingham Canyon (known as Kennecott) copper mine, opened in 1906, the world's largest excavation at the time. The Chuquicamata copper mine I visited in northern Chile is the world's largest open pit mine (opened in 1882) today.

I love so many of the Utah landscape paintings

all of them!

I'm anxious to see Utah in the spring, summer and fall, too. Fortunately masks cover mouth and nose, not the eyes! 

(Salt Lake City) But keep wearing yours!!

                                          

Phoebe loves steps and stairs

So fun to finally be with family, enjoying hikes, food, games, songs

whether it be outdoors on a nice day, or indoors now that I've been fully vaccinated. Nick, Hannah, Simon, and Evie (children of my son Marc and Fernanda) invited me to say good-bye to their Brazilian great-grandparents returning to Brazil.

This month, particularly this week celebrating International Women's Day, we have many amazing women to acknowledge. One is commemorated by a plaque in Rock Canyon Park. I'm grateful for all my courageous, and mostly unsung female ancestors, as well as my sisters and daughters alive today. The Lord loves his daughters!

And I hope we all love the beauties of nature and all the small blessings of everyday life, which include you, my friends and family, near and far. May you all be well.