This and That

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love reading my kids blogs! I miss you less when I know what is going on in your lives. So, hoping that goes both ways, here is a little about what is going on in my life.


I have now attended 3 Bikram Yoga classes and I really like it. If you haven't heard about this kind of yoga, it is the one that you do in the heat. And it is hot!! I like it though, you can feel the heat relaxing your muscles and you can stretch more. Also, it helps bring up the heart rate. Some of the poses are really hard, but the entire class is done in a positive way and they explain the reason for the different poses. I wish I could go more frequently, but as always there are things that make it difficult.



At school we are getting ready for this years musical. We have a great cast. I am not only acting as the vocal coach this year, but also as the rehearsal pianist. We often use minus tracks during rehearsals so the kids can dance and sing to those. The problem is that when we add live music the kids have a horrible time making the transition. So, I'm hoping that by playing during rehearsals they will be better prepared when we add the pit orchestra. This means that I am doing vocal rehearsals, going to as many dance rehearsals as I can, and also attending the afternoon play rehearsals. I know, I did it to myself and it is fun. If I can't get anything else done it is my own fault.


Last week was homecoming. Probably the biggest event for us is the pep rally the night before the game. We have never had a great football team, although we keep hoping. As far as I know we have only won 1 Homecoming game in the 15 years of the school's history and that was the year before I started working there. This year we played an undefeated team and it was not a pretty picture. So we all look forward to the other activities involved in homecoming; the parade, pep rally, tailgate party and of course the dance. As far as I am concerned the highlight of it all is the burning of the CH at the pep rally. Every year the science club tie strips of denim to a metal CH and fill it with the appropriate chemicals so that it will burn blue and green. Then the city of West Jordan pays for us to have fireworks (we trade by letting them use the school for free for 2 city events a year). This year I traded with the Drama teacher (so he could go out of town) and I chaperoned for the dance. Really that means that I helped take tickets and money. As always the Madrigals sang the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of the game and choir participated by building a float and giving away candy at the tailgate party. It was a busy time.

Anyway, I also got my hair colored, went to all state rehearsals, got a sump pump put in the basement so it can stop cracking and leaking water, got cement pumped under the back patio, taught classes, attended the symphony with Scott, taught nursery at church, held ward choir practice, read a book (The Chocolate Chip Murders by Joanne Fluke) watched some TV (Biggest Loser and Castle) and played with my dog.

A pretty normal week!

Thoughts before I leave

I promised Amy I'd put up some stories about my family history. She says her boys are getting tons of stories from Grandma Nelson but not much from my side, so....

My grandfather Chester Allen Black was a flour miller. His father built many of the flour mills that sit throughout Utah. He would build a mill, have one of his sons run it and move on to another mill. So for many years my grandfather ran the flour mill in Grayson, Ut, which is now known as Monticello, UT.

One Sunday morning, grandpa had just come home from priesthood meeting, which in those days was held Sunday mornings usually around 7 AM, then Sunday school was around 10 am and Sacrament meeting would be somewhere between 5 and 7 pm depending on the place. Anyway, he was standing at the kitchen sink, ( which would not have had running water, but grandpa had rigged up a pump in the kitchen - he was very handy that way) drinking a glass of water. As he looked out the window he could see a hill in the distance and just over that hill was the flour mill. On this particular morning he saw smoke coming up over the hill. He dropped the glass in the sink (as I remember my mother telling the story) and ran out the door shouting "The mill is on fire."

The whole town turned out, but all they could do was watch it burn to the ground. Flour is very flammable and the didn't have a fire truck or running water. I don't think anyone made it to Sunday school that morning.

Well, this was grandpa's livelihood. It was how he supported his family and now he had no work. This was during the great depression so there wasn't a lot of work out there and lots of people were in need. Also, many families in the town had flour in the mill and they lost all of it as did grandpa's family.

Grandpa decided that he would rebuild the mill. Now, grandpa was a hard worker, but he was one of those people who you didn't always see working. As my mother used to say "When there was a job to do, dad would sit down and think about the best way to do it. Then when he had it all figured out, he'd quietly get up and do the job, while everyone else was running around trying to solve the problem. By the time they came up with a way to make it work, dad was sitting back down, because he'd finished the job." And grandpa could do anything. He fixed any kind of engine or new fangled electronic. He could repair clocks, build houses, do just about anything he "turned his hand to." But the people in the town pictured him as lazy.

They also weren't crazy about my grandma, Sarah Clarrissa Hancock Black. She had grown up in old mexico (I'll tell that story another time, but it is pretty close to the story as she told it in "Strangers on earth.") She had trained to be a school teacher and she was smart. She loved to read and she taught her children to be smart. People in the town were kind of intimidated by how smart she was and so they weren't always very kind to her.

I always thought this was strange, because the town had been settled by the Black family and the Redd family and most of those people were related. How can you live in a town full of family and have them not like you? This was all the reason my mother ever gave me though.

So when Grandpa announced he was going to rebuild the mill no one believed he could do it. It had been quite a while since his dad had built the mills and he was dead and buried. For some reason none of grandpa's brothers were willing to help so he was on his own. Also, things had changed quite a bit since the old mill had been built and if grandpa was going to build a mill he was going to use some of the new technology.

In the mean time, he took on all the jobs around town he could find. He ran the electric plant which stood on the side of the mountain. This meant that someone had to be there 24/7 so he had the oldest of his 7 children take turns staying up there, then they could run and get him if there was a problem and he could fix it. He fixed things for other people in the town. I know there were other jobs he did during this time, but I don't know what they were. I do know that my mom worked at the telephone office in town and I know that grandpa always had a garden.

Anyway, grandpa and his son Roy sat down and planned out how they would rebuild the mill. They decided to build it in the back of the house where they lived so it would be closer to home. They also decided they were going to get a used diesel engine it. They weren't rich, but they heard of one down in "Old Mexico" that they could get for a price they could afford. It needed to be fixed up, but grandpa could fix anything. So the whole family piled into the car (he was the first one in town to get one.) and they drove to Mexico. (In those days it was always "old Mexico" not just Mexico, I guess to differentiate from the state of New Mexico.) I remember that they had quite an adventure getting there and back, the car broke down several times, I think the engine came on the train, but I don't remember for sure. They visited where grandma Sarah had grown up, and they ate mexican food and had a great adventure.

Eventually grandpa did rebuild the mill. Everyone was amazed that it worked and it was even better than the old one. That mill still stands in Monticello Utah. Now it has been converted to a bed and breakfast, called the "Grist Mill Inn." Their web site states that it was built in 1933, but they don't credit grandpa Black. My aunts have assured me that this is "The" mill.

Just a few more notes. Much later grandma and grandpa moved to Salt Lake City and since grandpa couldn't get work, the church had him help build the flour mill that stands on welfare square. For some reason the church decided that it was better for the family to be on welfare and grandpa help with the mill, than it was to just hire him to help build the mill. My mother was always a little put out that it had been done that way, but I doubt grandpa minded. He was a kind, gentle and happy man. He loved his family, he loved the church and life was great.

Not only was grandpa the first one in town to get a car, but also a radio. Whatever new gadget came out he was interested in it and found a way to purchase one.
Here is a picture of the Grist Mill Inn that I found on line. I don't know how much if any of the outside is original. It is up for sale!

Summer

I love summer! I have always loved summer. I like the heat, I love the sunshine and I like that I don't have to work during the summer - or at least if I work it is because I choose to, cause I don't get paid for that time.

I remember as a child growing up, mostly in Georgia, that summer was the time when you ran around barefoot all the time. It didn't matter that those asphalt roads got hot or that there were pine cones on the ground. At the beginning of the summer your feet wouldn't like those hot roads or pine cones, but by the end you didn't even notice them anymore. It was time to play outside, make forts, ride bikes, learn silly songs like "Mares eat oats and does (as in female deer) eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid will eat ivy too, wouldn't you?" (It took me a long time to figure out that the kid referred to was a young goat not a human child. I knew I wouldn't eat ivy.) One summer was the summer of bike riding, we rode our bikes everywhere. Another summer we spent long hours roller skating. What ever we did it was great fun and low stress. It was the best! Do kids get this kind of summer any more?



With my own children it seemed like we spent a lot of the summer going from one lesson to another. I wonder if they had enough time to just play and be kids. Did we enjoy those "lazy days" enough? I hope we did. I hope they had time to read books and play with friends and sit in the sun. I hope I didn't make their summers too busy.

Now with all the children gone summers often mean traveling. Now, I want to go see my grandchildren or visit some place exciting, like my trip to Europe this year. But I still want days of sitting in the sun and reading books and taking long walks with my dog. I still want there to be days when I don't HAVE TO DO anything. I wonder if we are so busy these days that we forget to enjoy life. I want to sit on the front porch and watch the neighborhood kids play. I want to play the piano and the guitar and my ukulele. I want to eat popsicles and throw frisbees and play ball. I want summer to be just like I remember it being in my childhood.

Work to Live

My graduate degree is finished. I have learned many things during this time. I have learned about conducting, music history, music theory, performances and increased my musical repertoire. However, some of the things I learned have little to do with the curriculum I was taught. In fact, in some ways these things are much more important than the curriculum. But there is a difference between knowing these things cognitively and putting them into actual practice.

I have learned that I cannot just push through stressful situations until it is over. I used to do that, but now I get sick or worse shingles. I need to learn to listen to my body and be aware of stress as it increases. I think ultimately learning to exercise more regularly will help me deal with stress in a more positive way, but I have yet to put that into practice. I need to make sure that I get enough sleep and that I plan some "down" time into every day.

I have learned that I am an introvert. During this time I was introduced to a book called "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencione. One of the things he advocates is taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test. Introvert vs. Extrovert is one of the 4 different areas. I learned that introverts may enjoy people but they get tired and regain their energy by being alone. This is me. I enjoy people a great deal, but I need time away from almost everyone to recuperate and recharge so that I can go out again and face the world. Time at home with my dog, Molly, is really good for me. It doesn't matter if I cuddle up with her and read a book, or watch TV. I just need this down time.

Along with down time, I've learned that I need time alone with my own thoughts. Even when I come home I tend to "do" things that keep my mind busy. Sometimes I just need to listen to my thoughts and allow the Holy Ghost a time to speak to me.

I have learned that I enjoy sunshine and long walks with my dog(s). I have learned that I enjoy playing with my grandchildren and interestingly enough with my nursery kids who sometimes act as substitutes for the grandchildren who don't live close enough to cuddle frequently.

I have learned that I LOVE playing the piano. When I get so busy with other aspects of music that I don't come home and play the piano for fun, I start to miss it. For years and year I would spend an hour or more every day just playing the piano for fun. When I started teaching music, I stopped playing the piano at home. I was doing so much music, that I didn't feel the need to play the piano any more. But now I have remembered how much I love playing the piano. I love accompanying people, I love (I know this is harsh) playing scales and doing Hanon exercises. I need to play more frequently.

I love the temple. I want to be there more frequently and regularly than I have this past year! There is no place on earth that is more peaceful. When I took tai chi, I learned about packing strength into your bones. I think about this when I am in the temple, only I think about packing peace and serenity and the spirit of the temple into my bones. I visualize packing the feeling of the temple into every pour and every cell of my body so that I am literally armed with power when I leave the building. I love the temple!
I have learned that I need to remember to slow down and enjoy life. I think that after Brian died, I decided that the best way not to be lonely was to keep so busy that I didn't have time to be lonely. Having a father who packed every waking minute of his life gave me a predisposition to this type of living anyway. Now I have learned that I don't want to live this way. I want and need time to enjoy life. I want to smell the flowers and decorate my house, and quilt and crochet and spend time with friends and walk my dog and read a books and take long baths, and spend lots of time at the temple and enjoy life.

I don't know if I can put all of these things into practice, but I'm going to work on it. Probably for the rest of my life. If is time to live. And if I get lonely, I'll learn to live with that too. Maybe, it will even give me the courage to go out and meet some men. Who knows?

Thoughts for a Saturday

I know I haven't blogged for a while, but I think it is time I did it again.

I'm so glad it's Saturday. I love the weekends. I'm kind of a loner. I really enjoy the opportunity to spend some time at home. I like to read, play games, take baths, and spend time with the dogs. It also gives me time to think. I can't just sit down and say, "okay, now I'm going to think about..." It has to just happen as I'm doing other quiet activities. The best time is in the shower. But, then it is more like "how do I solve this teaching problem," or " I really need to spend some time cleaning house" or "I need to do this part of my homework." Church is also a good time to think. I've been pondering some book ideas and the best ones seem to come while I'm at church which isn't really convenient. However, over all, I do my best thinking while I'm at home just doing stuff.

I do have several book ideas. I've been thinking about writing some books for the grandkids, that maybe I could get published as well. I wrote a story about Tyler that I think is pretty good. It is "Tyler the Brave." It talks about how Tyler is brave doing things he is comfortable doing, like at home, but maybe not so brave about doing new things. I imagined what it might be like for him when he gives his first talk in Primary. My idea is to put some pictures with it and give it to him for his birthday. I know he's enjoy having a book about himself. If I did try to sell the story, I would get an artist to draw the pictures. I would never put a book out there with real details about my grandson. Jena Richards who used to work with Linda in St. George is interested in working with me. Then eventually, I would follow with stories about the other grandkids. They are a little young for me to really know what trait to develop.

I've also had thoughts about writing some books about Molly and Tara. I think that could be fun and cute. I could use actual pictures of the dogs to do that. I think I need to get a camera and take a photography class. Of course, that will have to wait a while. In the mean time I'm pondering ideas. I've thought of doing the story from Molly's point of view, since she is the younger dog. That gives her Tara as kind of a role model. (Not that Tara is a very good role model in most ways, but this is fiction after all.)

Grad school continues to be stressful. My graduate recital is scheduled for February 27th. Things are beginning to come together, but can I just say "arrrrrrgh!" If everything goes as I hope, graduation is May 7th. I hope I survive.

Now, I'm going to get ready to go to the temple. I love going to the temple, but it is sometimes hard to get there. My goal is to go every Saturday that I can. Usually, it doesn't work out, but today it will. At Oquirrh Mountain you have to have a "reservation" to go. So if I have one, it commits me to going and is a good thing. If I don't have one, then I have an excuse not to go. Today I have one, so I'm off and running!

I don't say it often enough, or keep in touch very well, but I love you all and I think about you frequently. I talk about you all the time as my students can tell you. Take care of yourselves, remember who you are and that your mother loves you very much!

Mom and Grandma