Week ending May 27 2012

My thoughts are again on Memorial Weekend and all the past ones.  Memorial Day has always been a big day in my life.  We always went to the cemetery to decorate the graves of loved ones.  Mom and Grandma had flowers from their garden that we would cut and take with us.  Dad would find the cans and we would cover them with aluminum foil or other wrappings.  We would go over the hill to Soda and stop and get wild flowers along the way.  When we got to Soda and had picked Grandma up, we would head to the cemetery. We would clean off the headstones and make them look nice. We would arrange the flowers, and dad would stake them down with coat hanger wire or other wire.  As we went from grave to grave we would hear about that person and why we were putting flowers there.  Memorial Day was always on the 30^th of May.  It was on Grandma Oberg’s birthday.  We always saw lots of relatives and friends there also and it was a great day for visiting with people we hadn’t seen for a while and those we saw all the time.  We would spend most of the morning there.  Although I never met my Grandfather Oberg or my Great Grandparents, I learned about them.  Now how I wish I had asked more questions and got to know them better.  We always decorated their graves, and then over the years added more and more to the list.  Sometimes we would just add a flower or two to a vase that was already there, as the number grew of those we wanted to remember.  There were always more than we had flowers for, but as we walked by their plot memories were shared.

After we finished we would go either to the park or Grandma’s to have a picnic lunch and celebrate Grandma’s birthday.  This was the beginning of summer for me, although many a times it still felt like winter and would even snow on us.

When they changed Memorial Day to the last Monday in the month of May it changed the tone.  Then people would decide which day they wanted to come, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday because it was now a three day weekend and more of a vacation day.  We didn’t see as many people when we went.  It wasn’t Grandma’s birthday most of the time.  Yet it was better because we were able to get more family together as it was a 3 day holiday.  We still remember it as a day to honor our loved ones.  I miss being there this year, but I am still remembering and honoring them here.

This week began with a Standards Night on Sunday evening.  Our Stake President was the speaker and said it was the most difficult talk he had ever prepared.  He did an excellent job with it and hopefully the youth were listening and learning.  He used the song Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes to help illustrate a point.  You may touch between the head and shoulders, and the knees and toes, but avoid touch between the shoulders and knees.  We were spiritually fed that night as youth and adults.

Tuesday we practiced and decorated for our “Falkirk Has Talent Night” to raise money for the youth week temple trip in July.  They do have talent.  Wednesday we had all kinds of talent displayed.  One lady played the spoons clicking them together and hitting different parts of her body…we loved it.  We also had the youth singing, dancing, playing the drums and guitar.  Our Elders even got in the act.  One did a yo-yo demonstration and then they also had a wheelbarrow Jell-O slurping contest.  They supported their upper body up with their arms while another person held up their legs.  Then they slurped Jell-O out of a container to see which one could finish first.  We heard from Barbara who was our MC and then she sang.  She was the one who was recently on the TV program “The Voice” competing to become the Voice for the United Kingdom.  It is like our program, America has Talent.  She didn’t make it all the way to the top but made it a long way.  The night ended with most of the youth dancing to the song Thriller.                                    

My talent was baking Cinnabuns, rice krispie treats, and cookies, and taking them to sell for refreshments.  Cinnabuns were new to them and didn’t sell at first.  I had taken five round cake pans with seven rolls in it.  One man bought one and took it to his car to take home and eat.  He tasted it outside and came in and bought another one, getting down on his knees and bowing to me saying one pan wasn’t enough.  Then the rest went quickly.  I had made 11 pans and baked them at the Mission Home.  So we ate one there, I gave one to the Grahams, our cleaning lady Frances, The Mission President, and the Elders.  One pan got too brown so we kept it and took five to sell. .

Saturday we left at 6:30 to make our run to the west coast to do flat inspections.  We do them once every transfer.  We enjoy it so much because we get to visit with the Elders and our one apartment of Sisters. Then we are off to explore the area.  This time we went to a beautiful area.  Adell and Lee you have to come back and see it.  It is the Culzean Castle and Country Park.  There is something for everyone to see.  The place is advertised this way in the brochure.

“Welcome to Culzean, former home to the powerful Kennedy family and Scottish masterpiece of architect Robert Adam.  Enjoy being outdoors in a family friendly place with stunning views, great walks and over 6,000 years of history”.

The castle reminded me some of the colors and design in Mount Vernon.  Each room the ceiling and fireplace were designed to show what the room was to be used for.  There were grapevines and flowers in the décor of the dining room, women’s head silhouettes in the bedroom, etc.  It was three stories high and the view from many of the windows was of the sea.

There was the magnificent Oval Staircase which can be used today for your wedding if you want to rent the home and wait until after five and the visitors leave to have your wedding.  For children they have hidden Lego people in most of the rooms to entertain the children on their way through.  They call it the Lego Man Hunt and you get a Lego Man sticker at the end of the tour for finding where they are hidden.

Outside there are gardens to explore and miles of paths to walk through, mixed and historic woodland, along a scenic coastline, and through the woodland garden to the Swan Pond which now is only the home of ducks and cranes.  Here there is also a pagoda where the family kept exotic animals and birds.  There is also a playground for the children, picnic tables, and wonderful ice cream.  There is also a section for camping and trailers.  We were there on one of the hottest, sunniest days we have had here.  In fact it was almost too hot and we were seeking the shady areas.  There were many more areas to explore, but time had run out and we had to be on our way back home.  It was a delightful day.  So from 6:30 to 11:00 we were busy doing our job and from 11:00 until 5:00 we went sightseeing.

Now today we get to go into the Office this afternoon and fix dinner for two sets of Missionary couples that arrived yesterday from the England MTC and are staying here over the weekend and then heading out to their 6 month assignment of serving on the Northern Islands of Scotland with reactivation and teaching new people.  They feel it is too harsh of an environment to keep them there year round.  President and Sister Griffiths are away for a Stake Conference and so the Grahams took Saturday dinner and we have Sunday dinner to serve them and visit with them.  The Mission now is giving us a wide variety of experiences and we love it.