Happy 70th to Linda!!

Linda and I go way back - back to the births of our sons Noah and Andrew.  And it was a wonderful relationship for those mothering years to have a daily debriefing as Linda dropped Andrew off each morning.  And someone to commiserate with at the end of each day.

These two photos are from a visit to SLC a few years ago - I miss seeing Linda - we mostly just exchange Christmas cards - but I love her as a friend - and so glad she's a "Girl of '45" too!

 

It's fun to see Andrew now and again on the pages of FB.  And fun to sift through old photos and see his elfin face pop up!!

Those boys were lots of fun.

Linda probably won't even read this, but happy day to you Linda!!

May the year ahead be the best ever!

On a sad note

Sad to note that Norma Anderton, Julie Clayton's mother, died today.  She had been ill, and her death was not a surprise.  However, I think we sorrow for the loss of what once was.  

Norma was our neighbor in Centerville when we lived in the Harris' house.  She invited us over to strip her apricot tree - lots of lovely fruit for us!  And she had a marvelous contralto voice - she sang "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" with such fervor and beauty.  I have never forgotten how she sounded.

I am glad I got to say hi and hug her at Robynn's funeral.  She was somewhat diminished, but she remembered the Terrills.  And during the service, as we sang the opening and closing songs, she belted them out with gusto and fervor.

I'm sure she's part of a heavenly chorus somewhere!

Friendship - and little girls!

I have a group of high school friends I get together with several times a year.  We have known one another since elementary school days.  I have not been in contact with them the entire 50 years since I graduated, but for the last 30 years, we have been in contact at various levels.

We have gathered for lunch and dinner.  We have met up at one another's "ancestral homes."  We have gathered at restaurants.  We have taken road trips together - at least two of us did once!  We have organized and held a few mini-reunions.  And we do "group chats" on gmail - and that is definitely fun - and often the high point of my computer time!

So when I saw this photo I had snapped of my granddaughter with two little friends - who happen to be twin sisters - I wondered if they would have lifelong friendships.

For their sakes, I hope they do!

Wonderful friends!!

After we left Phoebe's, we headed for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and Hayden, where Pam and Jerry live.  Hayden is not as "backward" and "country" as I had supposed, but it is a lovely setting - woods and water and flowers and wildlife that was not always welcome - namely the turkeys that seem to consume Pam and Jerry's garden!!

We ate and talked and walked and ate and talked and walked some more - nothing quite as nice as hanging out with old friends!!  We went to their ward with them, and afterwards drove around and soaked up the scenery.

 

This lake is close to their home.  No wonder their kids and grandkids love to come visit!

 

The weather was fine - it had been hotter earlier, but we got in on the "cooling trend."

 

Pam and I could have talked for another week or two - but finally we had to bid adieu and head for Montana - next stop on our "road trip!"

"Let's hear it for the boy - and the girl too!"

Pam and Jerry's kids threw them a 50th anniversary party - it was fun to be with all the Meiers in one spot!!

 

Great to see Robbie!!

 

Emma, Molly, and Jen - a lovely trio - Emma sporting a new 'do!!

 

So, it took a minute to recognize Doug!!  He did a great job as emcee! (His line that drew the most laughs:  "Jack would be thrilled to see how much weight I have gained!")

 

Manny and Tricia had made a great video - food, friends, film - a great combination.

Congrats to the happy couple!!

Sometimes you can go home again - at least for a little while!

Met up with some good friends - Carol, Sharon and I went from K through 12 together.  Melba Sue and Laurie came in about 3rd grade.  Melba Sue left after 9th grade - but we've stayed in touch.  Laurie graduated about a semester before the rest of us.  

We'd been trying to get together a 50 year class reunion - but it was dragging on - so we at least decided to meet for lunch at Carol's house.  And spent the day talking and telling stories and having a wonderful time.

 

This is Laurie - and the sketch below is one she drew of me back in 11th grade Economics class!!

 

Friendship is so precious.  I had not seen anyone from my school years until the 20 year reunion in 1983 - and since then I've been trying to make up for lost time.  The others had all stayed in touch over the years.  Something I should have done.  The shot below is from the late 90's - includes Carol, me and Laurie.  Kathy is on the end - she lives across the country, so we don't get to see her as much.

And this is from a reunion we pulled off in 1985 - when I was pregnant with Hannah - Laurie was also pregnant - Melba Sue is next to me and Sharon is in the red striped top.

 

Today was a lovely trip down Memory Lane - but what is even better is that we have much to talk about that is current too!!

You CAN go home again! At least partway!!

Saturday morning I met up with two friends from high school, and we set out to walk around Granada Hills.  We weren't exactly sure of every place we wanted to go, so we started out by walking to our old elementary school.  Some aspects were quite different - mainly the strong fences all around, and the missing pepper tree in the middle of the playground - but our old classrooms were there, and the lunch area looked as foreboding as ever!!

 

We walked to the homes of other old friends to see if they looked the same.  They mostly did not look the same, but we felt like we were evoking another time by talking about how it used to look, or how we remembered it, or specific memories we had of the various locales.

 

After we headed to the junior high - which was a HUGE disappointment - we wandered around some more until we came to our old high school.  (The disappointment in the junior high was mostly due to the fact that there were no buildings there now that were there when we were there!  We definitely had to use our imaginations!!)

But the disappointment in Patrick Henry Junior High School - now known as Patrick Henry Middle School - was more than offset by the joy and pleasure we found at the high school.  GHHS was there and didn't appear to have changed much at all.  And lucky for us, some kind of band competition was going on, so the campus was open!!  

It was so great to wander into the girls' gym where a group of cheerleaders were practicing, to find our old lockers, to visit classrooms that still seemed to house the same subject matters we had had 50 years ago, to sit in the lunch area that had new tables, yes, but everything was in the same place it had been 50 years ago - even the vending machines - although now they were housed in vandal-proof cages!!

The above photo is an outdoor stage where we met up every morning before classes started to check in with each other, lament the scope of last night's homework, see if there was any news or gossip of note, and get ready to face another day in the trenches.  (All three photos are from GHHS.)

We used the girls' restroom  and swore that the floor tiles and stall doors were original!!

We started at GHHS in February of 1960 - and that was the first day of GHHS - we were the first graduating class to go all the way through.  (It was a 10th through 12th grade high school.)  Since the school was brand new, the trees were pretty small and new too - and that's the biggest difference we noted.  After all, 50 years of tree growth is pretty significant!

My high school years were happy years, so it was quite satisfying to wander about the campus and relive old memories, talk about teachers we had, kids we knew, dreams we had, crushes we cherished.  Maybe everyone wouldn't enjoy this experience, but we did.

Afterwards we walked down Chatsworth and headed back to my mom's house, where we had met and started out.  Walking down Chatsworth and noting where things used to be was a delightful "Memory Lane" kind of experience.  When we got back in to the residential areas, we found more homes of friends and more memories.

We ended with lunch at Brent's Deli in Northridge - and plans to get together in February for more reminiscing anyway!!

Maybe you CAN go partway home again - at least sometimes!!

Good friends, good times!

Joy and I have been good friends since high school days.  We haven't lived near each other for over 30 years, and we don't see each other very often.  We correspond in spurts it seems.

But we are still BFF!!

That's what true friendship is!

Happy Birthday Best Friend!!

My "BFF" - that would be Joy!

Happy Birthday today to my BFF and former roommate, Joy.

We go back over 53 years!!

Now that's a friendship!!

Happy Birthday Ry!!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful friend Ry Nebeker - shown here in a previously unpublished photograph.

The year was probably 1963 or 4, since I believe it was a pre-mission photo. The location was the infamous "Hole" where Harry and Ry and others lived in penury. But they were happy - and when they all talk about it, they make it sound positively desirable!

Here's Ry two years ago. In their lovely beachside home in Oregon. And I will tell you that it's a positively desirable setting.

Here's to a happy day and a great year ahead for a wonderful friend!!

Thinking back on old days, old times!

Found this shot of Kaye - really the quintessential Kaye I remember so well. Thought I'd post it.

Kaye is holding a glass of water!!

It was from Phoebe and Chad's 1995 high school graduation. I was thinking about how Chad was so at home at our house. How he'd come over after church and just start making himself a sandwich. I'm glad he felt so at home. In fact, I'm usually glad when folks feel at home that way!

I know that Chad and his family are still in regular touch with Phoebe - like any good brother and sister!! And we enjoy seeing him when he pops into Monrovia now and then.

Good friends, good times, good memories!

"When such a friend from us departs, . . ."

Learned via Facebook and Phoebe that our good friend Kaye Burdette passed away today. This was indeed sad news. She had been in ill health for a very long time - and seemed to handle it with grace and aplomb. I think when that happens, we forget about the ill health and think that it won't make a difference, that the person we love will just always be there.

Bonny's briday shower - November 1990 - in the photo - Kaye, Sue C., Margaret M. and part of Phoebe is showing. Kaye was always put together perfectly!!

I worked closely with Kaye in Relief Society, Chad and Phoebe were in the same age group, and Dad served as counselor with Bishop Burdette. We had lots of connections. After they moved to Utah, we did visit them one time - while Chad was on his mission.

Kaye and I went together to Women's Conference one year. There's nothing quite like a road trip to cement your relationship with a friend!!

Even though we had not been in contact for many years, I just assumed that Kaye would always be there to at least send a Christmas card to! We truly need to treasure our friends - and the here and now.

To finish the song I started, "we hold forever in our hearts, a sweet and hallowed memory, bringing us nearer Lord to thee."

Goodbye, sweet friend.

Another good-bye

I'm not sure how many of you knew or remember Denys Lytton - the mom of Tiffany and Sayde - but she died Monday, and the funeral service was today. She had battled breast cancer a few years ago, and she seemed to have beaten it. However, she was diagnosed with bone cancer just a week before she died. Her older daughter speculated that she just got tired of fighting. At least she did not suffer - and the family was grateful for that.

Tiffany and Sayde were good friends with the Moore girls - who were there today too - and they both joined the church. They are not active today, but they have good memories of their times attending our ward. And Tiffany's son is one of my students.

When her girls were attending church, Denys enjoyed having visiting teachers - and for many years that was my assignment. I loved visiting Denys - I used to note that many active member sisters were hard to pin down for a visit, but Denys was always open to my coming!!

They asked Dad to officiate at the funeral - which was held in the Zook chapel. It was a nice service, and Dad did his usual great job. He quoted William Butler Yeats - doesn't get much better than that! They had a time when anyone in the audience could come up and speak, and Helen M. and Michael M. both spoke. That was like old times!

I will miss Denys. I saw her often when she came to Clifton to pick up Arthur, her grandson. And we'd see them at different weddings or in the line at Pavilions - Monrovia is a small town!

At the funeral, I learned that Denys had been born and raised in Monrovia - lived here all her life!

Melissa sang "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good," and I thought that was a fitting way to close this chapter in our lives.

Nothing quite like a visit from a good friend!

Pam, my dear friend who moved to Idaho some years ago, was in town visiting her family - and stopped by to visit me. It was a treat!

There is nothing quite like a wonderful visit with an old and dear friend!!

Dinner for 25!

So we were asked as a Stake R.S. Presidency to put on a meal for a visiting member of the Seventy - who was also a mission president here back in '92-95 - and Stake Presidents and their wives - 25 total.

Preparing and serving food may still be what LDS women do best - at least they excel at it.
(They can do lots of other stuff too!)

Of course, I excel at getting the best people on my team!! My helpers included Dad, Noah, John and Yvonne, Amy, Elizabeth - and the next best thing to Julia Child - our own Sue Cornwall!!

I should have gotten pics of Elizabeth, but she's so busy working all the time, you don't think about stopping her to take a picture!!

Sue is a true friend - who happily and willingly shares her skill and expertise!!

I got a new apron at the apron store - just for the occasion. It's very nice and comfy. Just what an apron should be.

I had Dad take a picture when we got home. I forgot to take pictures of how lovely everything looked. You will just have to believe me!

And I'm glad to get that item checked off my list!! (Now I just have to write thank you notes!)

Going back in time

If I were a young mother expecting a baby soon, my actions would be called "nesting." I'm not sure what you call the clearing, and cleaning, and sorting that I am doing these days. Maybe "mucking out the stalls!!"

At any rate, while clearing out some files - and dispensing with what seemed like veritable reams of paper, I came across three Friend magazines. I didn't instantly toss them but just set them on a counter. A few days later, I picked them up, intending to think of a place to put them. It occurred to me that maybe I'd saved them for a particular purpose, so I sat down and began paging through them.

First I came across this poem that Eliza had submitted - it was published in the December 1991 issue. She's always been a writer!

The other two, the May '92 issue and the October '91 issue, turned out to contain our own Hester and Hannah as "Friends in the News." I had actually totally forgotten about that - but then remembered how excited we'd been when they both showed up!!

Once I almost tossed a box that had been in the Peugeot - we used to use it as a storage container - the car, not the box - and then thought I'd go through the contents. What did I find? Some of my silver!!

Now I go through things.

But I still toss a lot.

(Be sure to click on the pics so you can actually see what is written!)

Only in Downtown Monrovia . . .

do you stand at the red light and hear someone shout "Mrs. Terrill, it's Mrs. Terrill!"

Turns out some people are in town for the 20 year reunion of the class of 1989 - and so here we have La Vesta Flucker, someone named Jenny I think, Wendy Dequer, yours truly, and Tammy Jackson - our old neighbor!!

The girl Jenny something wasn't sure if she knew who Bonny was. So Tammy said, "Oh, you know her, she was in everything, always bringing sunshine in!" I thought that was a nice tribute. Harry didn't remember La Vesta until she indicated she was Damien Flucker's little sister. And of course he did know Wendy. And remembered Tammy when she talked about being our neighbor.

I was on my way to the Krikorian to see Where the Wild Things Are with Harry, Dawn and fam.

Check here for my review of the film. My review of the meeting: 2 thumbs up!! It is such fun to find your old school chums!!

"One is silver, and the other is gold"

Jennifer M. contacted me on Facebook - what a treat to hear from her after all these years. I know I have other photos of her, but this group shot from Girls' Camp 1997 was the first one I could lay my hands on. The shot above is from a YW outing to the Huntington Library in July of 1997. I loved working with Joan and Hailey. I think Diane was helping us out with driving that day.

Looking at this camp photo reminded me of how we have pretty much stayed in touch with or at least have knowledge of all the other girls in the picture. Chelsea J. is even a teacher at Eve's school!

A while ago I posted a shot of a Young Women temple trip - and Christina C. was in that photo. She found me through my blog, and I've enjoyed corresponding with her - she sent me this photo of herself - in a Grannybabs apron of course - and her new little daughter. (She requested the apron on LRS, so I thought I'd send her one even though she didn't win.)

Before she left for Paris, we walked over to deliver a farewell gift to Rachel C. and noted that "The So and So's used to live right there," - and neither one of us could remember their names - but we remembered them. Then two days later a wedding announcement from Michael B. came - and we made the connection. He looks the same to me - just a mite older!! (His mom, Irene, worked with me in Young Women - I'm sure I could find a photo of her too if I looked hard.)


This is a very long ago Girls' Camp - as in Paris R. was there!! But what I love is that Tiffany L's son is now one of my students!

My years in Young Women were rich and rewarding, and I feel a strong connection to the youth and adults with whom I worked and served. It's nice to reconnect with them - whenever and however that occurs. If I were thorough, I'd include photos of Pam M., Sue Z., Kacy F., Connie W., Linda R., Erin J., Tricia M., - the list goes on - and on - especially if I start thinking of the women in the stake who were part of my Young Women and Camp years - all the women I worked with were a great blessing in my life. And so were all the wonderful Young Women - all of them hold a special place in my heart.

Makes me think that Heaven is a bit like that!

Birthday Celebrations in the morning/Women's Broadcast in the evening

Dad worked at the temple, but Noah and I went to Jenny and Allen's house to be part of the Dequer Family Birthday Celebration for Wayne and Christian, Van and Wendy's son, who turned 12. Wayne didn't mention what age he was turning - but Jenny gave him an iPod that you can use while swimming! (We gave him a Jerry Garcia tie!!)

It was a Birthday Breakfast - better than IHOP too!! Maybe this can be a new trend!! Lots of good breakfast food - and lots of good company!

Here are Van and Wendy with their kids. They live in Lancaster and had come down Friday night. Allen and Jenny bought a house in Sierra Madre, so there was lots of room - and a big new dining room table - and a new billiard table to break in !!

This is obviously Wayne with Noah and Scott - it was fun to see Scott again - sounds like he's some sort of favorite uncle!!

And me with the Dequer Women!! I have always loved all the Dequers, but I especially enjoy maintaining a relationship with Dawn, Wendy and Jenny - in spite of years and distance.

Speaking of years and distance, we had our now traditional dinner before the Women's Broadcast - prepared, served and cleaned up by the Stake Presidency and High Council!!

And Melissa and Mary Grace came - Helen did too, but I didn't get a shot of her - I thought this group photo would make some of you smile!! All those long-ago Young Women are now some great Relief Society sisters!!

The busy brethren in the kitchen. John H. is moving - to Yosemite - so we are now scrambling for a replacement!! He has been the key player in getting these meals to happen - the hunt starts now!

The broadcast was great - I'm thinking that the new buzzword among the women of the church just might be "Mind the gap!" If you didn't hear the broadcast, go to LDS.org and you can view the meeting.

But "Mind the gap" will be quoted often I am sure - and for good reason.

Maybe we'll meet at some Relief Society meetings one of these days!!! (speaking of "meeting" - got several emails from the new Stake Relief Society President in Phoebe's stake - we shared notes - and I sent her a photo of Phoebe so she could pick her out of the crowd - and we all know Phoebe is a real stand out - so that should be easy enough. Phoebe really manages to "connect" with everyone!! It's a gift.)

Note: Eliza successfully completed the Ragnar Relay she ran in this weekend - we will look forward to a report from her soon - maybe I will wake up to one even! (She usually wakes up before we do!!)

And of course, we will be interested in the new ward configurations that will be taking place in her stake this Sunday too.

The news never stops around here!