Eighty-Five

85 years ago! Happy Birthday sweet Daddy!

Graves of the Prophets

Last evening my friend Harold and I took a drive up to the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Neither of us had ever seen the prophet's graves, all but 4 buried there ( Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Lorenzo Snow and Ezra Taft Benson), so we brought along a map and our cameras and set to work searching. 

What an amazing thing to be where so many prophets and apostles have stood, and walked, and where their mortal remains lay. Some of the stones were almost too worn to read, that of John Taylor for instance, but some, like my President Hinckley's were new and clear. 

Brigham Young's grave is located in a tiny cemetery just off of First Ave. with several of his wives and some lovely gardens, just set there between some old homes. I must have passed it a hundred times and never knew it was there. 

I've always been fascinated with death, and graveyards, never feeling the morbid or scary feeling often associated. 

To visit these beautiful places makes me feel even more grateful and excited, for knowledge that these great men and women are very much alive, just in another place for now, and that one day, I will see these and others I love.

                                                              Beside his beloved Marjorie.

 Loved this carved stone of Orrin Porter Rockwell.

 A beloved husband and wife who left Scotland for their new home in Zion. Beautiful carved stones.

Someone's darling baby boy.

And lastly, sweet Harold who loves these kinds of things, as I do.

Golden Plates

Our church recently held a Book of Mormon Gala, and asked members to create pieces of art to share. I knew immediately that I wanted to create an authentic (almost) reproduction of the plates as described by the Prophet Joseph and others who saw and held them. My friend cut a block of wood to the described measurements and I went to work scoring and creating the Reformed Egyptian with a wood burning tool. Wire hangers made the rings, which were "D" shaped, and gold paint finished them off. Check out this site to read all about the original plates and testimony of those who actually saw and held them:

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=aef870cb7de63110VgnVCM100000176f620a____

The End of Summer

I can't seem to get enough of these gorgeous late-summer/early-autumn days. They are so beautiful! We've enjoyed a very hot, dry summer, and now, finally the weather is cooling a bit.
But here's the rub! I'm having to spend so much time indoors bottling and preserving summer's bounty, I haven't been able to enjoy it much yet! Tomatoes, plums and apples have been provided by our lush back yard garden for preserving. The apple part has been a bit slow going however, simply because our tree is still a wee thing and learning how to make good fruit. The apples however, are anything but wee! (see below)

Yesterday before church I made an apple pie to die for!! All from our heavenly Jonagold apples! I also used one of my Pie Birds, an old-fashioned pie-making device said to be the secret to perfect apple pie. I must say I believe it is!! My sweet dad, knowing my love of all baking, sent me a set of the birds a while ago, and I am sorry to say, I hadn't tried them until now! Forgot about them actually, up in my kitchen cupboard. They are a ceramic hollow bird-shape, baked into the pie in the center, allowing the steam to escape and preserving the juices inside! "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie..." Below are some photos.

Heavenly tasting too, and so light and high! And now, back to the kitchen. The bounty awaits!