June is a fun month!

 June is a Fun and Busy Month! The roses are at their peak, some trees are still blossoming, and tiny pears, apples, cherries are appearing. The tops of the mountains got a dusting of snow this week, which has since melted...

It was fun to attend a bridal shower for Francesca (center), soon to be daughter in law of Nicole Ricks (back center), daughter of Hank and Colette (right)Taylor. Most here are cousins and aunts.

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The Provo recreation center was a fun place on a hot day for 4 of my grand daughters          ***************

                                                                     
Rodeos are a tradition with my daughter Julie's in-laws and cousins. 

The kids are racing to see who can grab a dollar bill from the bodies of two cows! Crazy events! It rained off and on, but did not stop the roping, barrel racing, the bucking bronco and bull (very dangerous!) riding...

    My twin granddaughters Stephanie and Elise and cousin Christian

      This huge flag was brought out by and to remember and to honor          veterans, first responders and others who have sacrificed much.

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I hosted a farewell lunch for Jim and Deanne Welch who will be leaving this week (after two years' delay thanks to the pandemic) to serve as tour guides, organist and music leaders at the BYU Jerusalem Center. Unfortunately Jim, Deanne, son Nicholas, and a few others left before I thought to take a photo of our Palo Alto friends!

Pictured below: Paul Gilman, Hank Taylor, Mike Buckner, Yoko Buckner, Colette Taylor, Sara Gilman, Katy Taylor

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Some of our Relief Society (church women's organization) enjoyed finger foods and conversation at Jill Moulton's beautiful home around the corner from mine. We are of different ages, situations, political views, etc. but I love and appreciate these new friends in my ward.

Laurie King, Stephanie Collette (RS pres.), Kathleen Ianziti, Jill Moulton (hostess), Cassie Kennedy (my next door neighbor)

                    Kerstin Grimmer, Ann Olsen, Elaine Smith

Elaine Smith, Gloria Westphal, Shelly Massey, Diane Buckley, Laura Nixon

Nancy Austen, Laurie King

Marty Evans, Brooke and Becky Hill, Lisa Hoelzer, Michaela Shallenberger    

            Ramona Miller, Gae Rose, Kristin Rose, Cassie Kennedy

                     Ramona Miller, Wiebeke Larsen, Marty Evans

    Susan Hoelzer, Kate Patterson, Kathleen Ianziti, Meredith Stanley

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Juneteenth is now an official holiday celebrating the final end of slavery in 1865, 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. But we must continue to make better efforts to treat all with respect and compassion. As we approach our Independence Day, July 4th, let us work to be more united and grateful as a country. Most of us are so blessed. And we need to try harder to understand those who struggle.

The January 6, 2021 capitol insurrection hearings, racism, gun violence, abortion rights, floods, tornadoes, draughts, fires, immigration injustice, and the continuing war in Ukraine remind us that much needs to be resolved, that life is filled with ongoing challenges and suffering. We need to speak out and stand for justice.

With all the sobering and tragic events happening to people around the world, I am grateful to believe all will be resolved eventually. God is mindful of each and every one of us, whoever and wherever we are.

I am grateful for small daily miracles. Let us not lose hope that we can find peace, that we can remember precious moments and people in our lives, and look ahead more often than backwards, go forward with optimism, feel more empathy, and bring others into our circles.

England

 From Sicily I flew to England, not knowing I was bringing along a guest (Covid)! My daughter and son-in-law were great hosts at their home in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds and in Yorkshire. Here are few photos and links for the rest if you are interested. I know, I know, there are too many! But it is all so gorgeous!

In and around Chipping Campden, a very old sheep/wool market town in the Cotswolds, not far from Stratford, west of London about 1 1/2 hours. My grandparents' home at Stanford and even my house in Provo were inspired somewhat by the English homes in the Cotswolds.

 

A visit to Sudeley Castle, originally built in about the 10th century, home associated with many monarchs, including Richard III, Henry VIII, Lady Jane Gray, Elizabeth I, Charles I, and the only private home where a royal person (Katherine Parr, last wife of Henry VIII) is buried.

               One of the Mitford family homes is in Batsford

My daughter Anne and her husband Neil have created a gorgeous garden behing their 17th century home on High Street, Chipping Campden. Below is the town hall.

The thatched rooves are so charming, and possible in raining but fairly temperate climate.

The gate to the Manor house (burned down when Henry VIII had all the abbeys and many Catholic churches destroyed as he espoused Protestantism. St. James church is lovely and is the venue for the annual classical concert series, some of which we were able to attend.  Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942), founding architect of the Arts and Crafts movement, invited  skilled craftsmen to the area, where for several years they created homes, jewelry, articles and furnishings. There is a small museum next door.

               

The alms houses associated with the manor house. Below, the church and banqueting house, which can be rented, as my family did for Anne and Neil's wedding 4 years ago.

      Richard Goode performed in 2 of the concerts which I enjoyed

So many National Trust homes and gardens. This, Bourton on the Hill.

Sezincote is built with an Indian motif. The orangerie is now a tea house. The grounds are spectacular.

                                    Bourton on the Water   

Chipping Campden        Below, their house: The Stapler's House (Wool Merchant) is probably 3 houses put together (or 2 with place for animals behind: current front door was passage for animals)

  Hidcote house and gardens a few miles away are quite amazing, too!

Cirencester, an old Roman town called Corinium, with a fabulous museum of all the different English peoples: Celts, Romans, Saxons, Angles, etc.

Northleach "Cathedral of the Cotswolds" with unusual altar window glass, brass memorials on the floor. I was struck by one commemorating the family of a John Taylor, who with his wife and 15 children all died in 1509-10. Below, view of Chipping Campden.

       A barn with dovecote.      Fields of barley

We drove to Yorkshire to the beautiful town of Ilkley, where they have an apartment where we stayed for a few days. Its moor is popular with hikers. The large rock is the "cow" and the small rock is the "calf." 

     Bolton Abbey ruins and the small settlements nearby are lovely

Their apartment used to be a nice Victorian hotel. Next door is  the home (below) where Charles Darwin and his family stayed in 1859 while waiting for the publication of "Origin of the Species."

We visited an amazing old textile mill in Saltaire. The cotton trade dried up with the American Civil War. Titus Salt discovered that if he wove Peruvian alpaca with Yorkshire wool a beautiful new and very popular worsted fabric could be created. A devout Congregationalist, he also dreamed of creating a Utopian community along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. Disgusted with the bad conditions for people during the Industrial Revolution, he built schools, homes, hospital, sports facility, church, etc. for his workers and called it Saltaire.

The mill today houses an art library and the prolific art of current artist David Hockney. His "Arrival of Spring" and "A year in Normandy" series are wonderful. 

Sizergh Manor/Castle has been in the Strickland family continuously for 800 years. A descendant living in the home told the "Story of Tom," researched and written by his father.

From Yorkshire we drove to the Lake District to visit poet William Wordsworth's Dove Cottage, where he lived with his sister Dorothy (below) (who published her wonderful journals of their walks and reflections) and his wife Mary, their children, and at times the poet Samuel Coleridge.

The unusual Grasmere church and the graves of the Wordsworth family. William Wordsworth is especially well known for his Daffodil poem.

This is also Beatrix Potter country. Besides Peter Rabbit and other stories, she owned a lot of gorgeous land.

I reread Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre while in England and felt a special connection when we visited the Bronte home(the parsonage below), village and church in Haworth. Charlotte died at age 41, one year after marriage, during pregnancy or childbirth, the last survivor of the 6 children. Patrick Bronte, father, at 81, far outlived them all.

                        The locks were very interesting...

I was able to attend church the morning of the day we drove back to Chipping. I was pleased to meet one of the speakers, a lovely Chilean woman who had served amission and attended the same ward I had in Santiago. She has lived in England for 7 years and teaches very low functioning autistic children. Monday Anne drove me to London, where I battled the very congested Heathrow airport, barely making my flight. The day before I got a covid test at the Birmingham airport, which, to my relief, was negative. What a wonderful 3 weeks! I will miss the beautiful green wheat and barley fields, lush flower gardens, the walls and stone buildings, and of course my family there. 

But I was pleased that my Provo garden had come to life while I was gone. My fruit trees are alive and most of my dormant plants survived and roses and other flowers are blooming. Utah is drier, but beautiful.