So Many Wonderful Fall Activities

Timpview High School has wonderful performing arts programs.

Two of my grandchildren, Kelly and George, sing with the  Madrigals.Their brother Aaron (on the right) plays cello in the Philharmonic.

BYU's Homecoming "Spectacular" in the Marriott Center lived up to its name. Guest star was Michael Stokes performing with all the talented campus groups.

My daughter Emily has worked at BYU's Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution. She recently moderated a discussion /presentation of their new book "Proclaim Peace: The Restoration's Answer to an Age of Conflict,"by Patrick Mason and David Pulsipher (on the right)..Proclaim Peace examines what it means to follow the Prince of Peace in a world of violence. The book seeks not to promote any particular ideology, but rather to invite readers, especially the rising generation, to reflect seriously on the interpersonal, ethical, and social dimensions of Christian discipleship.

BYU has many talented performers. This small group did a nice rendition of Luna, the story of a young migrant who learns to make friends in a life that is constantly being uprooted.

My son Marc has a YouTube series called the Ice Cream Meltdown. If you, too, love ice-cream, check out his ratings of MANY brands and flavors at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NzDgY-6b-A

My younger grand-daughters love eating in their little willow corral and enjoy playing in the ash tree leaves....

 This past week has brought snow to the mountains (transforming them from the brilliant yellows of 2 weeks ago), last night to the lower hills, and hopefully not to my elevation quite yet..

Along the Alpine Loop. Drive the narrow road at your own risk!

From my back fence.. before the snow and after...

From the BYU campus

I prefer to look up at a soft dusting of snow behind the temple in the Provo Canyon

At the BYU Art Museum there is always an interesting special exhibit. As a Francophile I love the current "Affichomania"(passion for French Posters). In the late 1870's, Parisians strolling the streets of their city witnessed a brilliant new art form-- the color poster. The success of the color poster is indebted to the 5 masters of the medium. Thanks to collectors (bought or torn stealthily from walls) many have survived until today.

Jules Cheret pioneered the 3-color lithography technique and elevated the poster into the realm of fine art. Printed before the addition of text, this version was intended for collectors rather than for use on the street.

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Eugene Grasset (French, born in Switzerland, 1841-1917) worked in bold Arts and Crafts style. He worked in a wide variety of media and designed stained glass, jewelry, ceramics, postage stamps, etc.

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Alphonse Mucha (Czech., 1860-1939... Prague is filled with his creations, which presented Slavic culture, and was also chosen as Sarah Bernhardt's (reigning queen of the Paris stage), favorite designer...He created the iconic female type of the era with haloed head and windswept tresses.

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Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen created ads from milk to salacious novels, and caricatures of the famous of the avant-garde. This famous poster advertises Chat Noir, first cabaret in Montmartre, where Jane Avril, Aristide Bruant, Yvette Gulbert, Toulouse Lautrec and others performed and gathered. He mocks Mucha by putting a halo on the cat's head. The model for his milk ad is his daughter.

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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec drew upon friends, performers and patrons of Montmartre, often not at their most flattering, but very recognizable to their Paris audiences.

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Whether it's art, or music, or fall colors, or a good book, there is always something to enrich my new life. I'm grateful for family, friends, my faith, my health, a warm home (with the cold and snow outside), and happy memories of other good times and hope for the future of our crazy world. May you find peace and joy in small things, in brief moments. 

 

Rain finally came today, but I was fortunate on Monday to be able to enjoy the Alpine Loop above Sundance in the Provo Canyon behind Mt. Timpanogos. It was spectacular! Here are a few photos.

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                             Rock Canyon in Provo is pretty, too.

                                                            

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Last week Senior missionary friends who have served in the Dominican Republic gathered in Saint George, Utah, for a fun 3-day reunion, packed with lectures, site visits and conversation. One of the first places Brigham Young sent early settlers was to Pine Valley where we visited the oldest, in continuous use chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, built of pine in 1868. The settlers of Pine Valley logging and saw-milling community wanted a church that would also function as a school and community building. Discoverer of Bryce Canyon, Ebenezer Bryce, a shipbuilder from Australia, designed and supervised construction of the chapel, the attic of which is a ship's hull turned upside down. Bryce Canyon National Park was named after him in the 1920's. The chapel is on the second floor, the school and recreational functions used the bottom floor. It was constructed with round pegs and green rawhide on the ground and then lifted into place.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Sept.7-11, 1857, was a series of attacks, resulting in mass slaughter of most of the Baker-Faucher emigrant wagon train, mostly families from Arkansas bound for California, by members of the Utah Territorial Militia together with some Paiute Native Americans. Today historians attribute the massacre to a combination of factors, including war hysteria about a possible invasion of Mormon territory. Mormons had suffered so many evictions and so much persecution, but this was no excuse. Nine men were indicted but only John D. Lee was tried and convicted, executed by a Utah firing squad in 1877. The massacre, never sanctioned by church leader Brigham Young, is a real blot on church history. Very sad!

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A few of us visited Jacob Hamblin's home in Santa Clara, near Saint George. Hamblin was a gentle soul, friend to all the surrounding native Americans. Ann Holdman, on the left, my roommate in SG, is the mother of Tom Holdman's studio, under whose leadership, has created most of the magnificent stained glass windows for modern temples and visitors centers and "Roots of Knowledge" at UVU. Below is his window in Rome.

It was especially interesting and fun to meet and hear stories from Nancy and John Rappleye. John was sent to head up Firestone Tires for the Caribbean. When they went to retrieve their belongings in Santo Domingo, they met a Dominican family, the Amparos, who were relocating from California, where they had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The two families began inviting neighbors to gatherings in their Santo Domingo home in the spring of 1978. By November the president of the Fort Lauderdale, Florida mission sent the first 10 young missionaries (2 of whom joined our reunion), and the church grew exponentially from there. There are now 1000's of members in the DR. The Rappleyes recently served as Santo Domingo Temple President and matron. I served in the temple there in 2010-11.

                               Amparos and Rappleyes in 1978

Friends Dave and Joy Atkinson and Nancy and John Rappleye

I really enjoyed three very professional shows in Tuacahn, outside Saint George: School of Rock, Count of Monte Cristo, and Beauty and the Beast. The amphitheater is set against the red rock cliffs.

We saw the beginnings of the new Saint George Temple. The old one, now under reconstruction, was dedicated in 1877.

It was thrilling to hear President Russell M. Nelson announce 13 new temples in: Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Philippines; Monrovia, Liberia; DR Congo; Madagascar; Culiacan, Mexico; Vitoria, Brazil, La Paz, Bolivia; Santiago West, Chile; Fort Worth, Texas; Cody, WY; Rexburg, Idaho; Heber Valley, Utah.

Each of the Church’s temples is a “house of the Lord,” where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed. These are most sacred places of worship on the earth. Temples differ from the Church’s chapels. All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local chapels. The primary purpose of temples, however, is for Latter-day Saints to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity while living.

Today, October 6, Sara and Paul Gilman and I braved the rain and drove up through Provo Canyon and on to Midway and Guardsman Pass, Blood Lake Trail, near Brighton (we got soaked and muddy as we hiked through the gorgeous aspen and oak groves, flaming yellow and red!) and back down Big Cottonwood Canyon. The sun came out after our hike.

We even saw 2 big black moose along this road.

Happy Fall! It is supposed to rain, and then snow here next week.