A night at the opera

Last night, my friend Nancy Braithewaite and I went to BYU's production of The Marriage of Figaro.  I was motivated to go because my cousin Sharon Mitchell Martin's son-in-law Ben  was playing in the title role. Ben did a great job! They all did--it was a superb cast.  I took a couple of pictures afterwards, mainly because I know that this family is very unlikely to send this event in to the Hancock Hummer, but I can...unfortunately, I am not a great photographer, so my pictures are not wonderful. Maybe they will post some of theirs eventually... But here are a couple:

Ben and his in-laws, the Martins from B.C.

Doug Martin, Ben Kramer, Adria Kramer, Sharon Martin

 Many people I knew were at the opera. Janice Kapp Perry and her husband Doug--Janice and Nancy B. had played together in the orchestra when they were BYU students, Janice on percussion and Nancy on French horn. Irene and Ron Halliday were there, and Irene told me the strangest story.

She had read Martine Leavitt's books, and liked them, so she wanted to read the books that Marti had written under the Bates name. But when she tried to find copies to buy, they were all out of print. So, she found one (she did not tell me which one) for sale through a small independent used book store in Arizona. She ordered the book. When it came, she opened it, and inside it was signed by Marti to one of my children, and there was a picture of our family inside, too.

So...who lost their book? I know that one of you did, and I think I gave my copy to one of you to make up for that loss. Because I am thinking that I should ask Marti if she has some copies, and have her sign them to Irene, and then trade Irene for the missing book that actually should belong to one of my children? What say you?

It is just so randomly odd that a book published and given to someone in our family in Alberta would be purchased by Irene, of all people, in Arizona of all places!

Scripture Power

Looking for scriptures to use in Primary last week, I found a couple that surprised me. For example, D&C 90: 25 -- "Let your families be small"--of course, small is relative! Compared to 15, 6 is pretty small, right? 

Also, this one: Leviticus 19:28 "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh" and "nor print any marks upon you"-- pretty specific.  When people cutting themselves became a thing, I was like, who would want to do that?  But...apparently it was a thing before, too. Who knew?

Quick trip to California : Monday

Monday morning it was time to go! Alexia had early morning seminary, and Arlene went to pick her up when it was over at about 7. We let J and P sleep until about 8:20, and then they got up and we loaded our stuff in the car and we hugged them and waved to them and we were out of there.

First stop, Von's. For snacks and water for the trip. And....my credit card was declined. My bank is soooooooo Big Brother. I did not file a travel plan. My bad.  Even though they told me that if you leave a trail, it is usually fine. Apparently gas in Provo, St. George, Primm, La Mesa and food a couple of times was not a good enough trail. Or they just could not BELIEVE the whole Saturday night shopping at Ross. In any case, my debit card still worked. So, not a big deal.

I drove to Mindy's house in the former Sun City, now officially Menifee. They put some of the towns together and incorporated, and it is all Menifee now. Mindy's big kids were at school; just she and Abby were at home.

Mindy told us that they are planning to stay in California because Jim has a really nice 20 year contract with the parks department for the development of parks all over the place, so he doesn't want to move, which has kind of been their plan for a few years.

But...they are planning to move. When they moved into the house with zero children, it was plenty big. But with three children, it has gotten a bit crowded. "Do you want to go and look at the show home model?" she asked. And of course, we did. Looking at show home models is fun!

Show home view of the living room and stairs (4 bedrooms, laundry room, 2 bathrooms and family room are up)

Melinda and the view into the kitchen

The house is very nice. Theirs will be just like it, only different floors and in a different location but nearby.

And then we went home and took pictures in Melinda's actual house.

The road home was uneventful except for this weird thing that happened in the under construction zone. They are rebuilding the highway where flooding ruined it a few weeks ago.  All the cars were going sooo slow according to our speedometer. Cars would be in the fast lane going slow, and Patrick was driving still a few miles under the speed limit but passing everyone. It got to have a very Twilight Zone feel to it.

We finally decided the speedometer was not working properly when we got to St. George and we were staying up with traffic but the speedometer said we were going forty. Weird.

We stopped for gas and a general rest, and when we got going again, the speedometer was normal. Maybe there was a UFO hovering over us? I don't know, but we got home just fine!

Quick Trip to California : Sunday

Sunday was a lazy, watch general conference kind of day. Uncle Michael had a business trip with his friend Bill, so he left early, and Arlene and I and P and J settled in to listen. We were taking notes, too, which helps with the soothing-voice-falling-to-sleep problem. And also it was super hot, and while the house didn't get hot, it did get warm, which when coupled with soothing voices could be a problem! We snacked on apple wedges.

Between sessions, Josie helped Auntie Arlene with more Halloween decorating: putting up bloody hand prints and foot prints and dripping blood on mirrors and the microwave, etc.

Their most difficult task was hanging the great big guy who takes up two stories or so.

The the kids had to try out the coffin. A few years ago, when A & M had the contract for county clean-up (which means, if someone got a letter that said "Clean up your yard or else!", A & M's company was the or else) Michael and Lance found a couple of coffins in the yard they were cleaning. So Michael called Arlene to ask if he should bring them home, and she said, "YES!" So they replaced a fake coffin they had been using for Halloween with a real one. (Michael said he sure got some funny looks driving home with his truck carrying two coffins!)

After all that Halloween creepiness, it was back to conference. Lance joined us for the afternoon session. During which Oh Brother (Richard G. Scott) soothed us all to sleep at different times for a moment or two. I gave myself away by dropping the book in which I was carefully taking notes! "You can't tell me you didn't doze off!" Arlene teased.

Bobby stopped by with A, S and V. They had been doing a volunteer fundraiser. The girls had served meals, breakfast and lunch, to 300 volunteers and they were pretty wiped, but very proud of themselves!

After Lance and Bobby and the kids left, we rushed to get down to Ocean Beach because we wanted to see the sun set over the water. We had looked up the time for sunset earlier, and thought that it would set at 6:45, so we thought that leaving by 6:00 would be plenty enough time to park, walk on the beach for a couple of minutes, and then watch the sunset. There have been many green flashes lately, so we hoped to see one.

But it was not to be! The sun was a big reddish pink circle sitting low in the sky as we hurried down interstate 8 towards the beaches, with me driving.  And then...boom...where did the sun go? Was it behind the houses? Nope. It was gone! We missed it! However, there were low-lying clouds along the horizon, which meant there would have been no green flash.  We still had fun wading in the water, and enjoying the beautiful red sky at night, sailor's delight. The water was the most lovely shade of light blue, described by Josie as a light periwinkle blue. And breathing in ocean air...I just can't get enough of it. So richly satisfying.

On the way back, we planned to stop and visit Grandma L. She had been having a hard time the past few days with constipation and other issues. In fact when Michael went to visit her on Friday night, this conversation happened:

Kathleen: Oh, Michael. I'm so glad you are here! Will you please kill me?
Michael: What?! No, mom, I am not going to kill you!
Kathleen: Oh, please do. It won't be hard. Just go into the kitchen and get a knife and kill me.
Michael: Mom, no. I'm not going to do that.
Kathleen: Well then, will you at least call the doctor?
Michael: Well, what do you want the doctor for?
Kathleen: To ask him to give me a pill.
Michael: A pill to make you feel better?
Kathleen: No! Something to kill me...like poison.
Michael: The doctor isn't going to do that.
Kathleen: Well then, will you please just kill me?
etc.

Patrick did not want to share this visiting old person delight, so he walked up the hill to the house. As Arlene, Josie and I got to the door, Arlene said, "Oh no! I am wearing the wrong wig!" We almost drove up to the house then and there so she could change wigs, but she decided that with Halloween coming, she could just say that she is going to wear a different wig every day! (Grandma knows nothing about the cancer or the chemo or the surgeries.)

Well, Grandma was in a very pleasant mood. She was actually hilarious to talk to. I should have recorded it! It was very funny, but very twilight zone-ish.  Another girl was there visiting, and as she left, Grandma said, "Please tell your parents to stop in and visit me. I know that your dad is not so busy anymore now that he is not the bishop." The girl smiled at Josie and I and said quietly, "Yes because stake presidents have nothing to do!"

Kathleen told Josie and I that she would love to see us at church but can't now that I am in the other ward, and Josie is in the new ward--never mind that she can't get out of bed and has not been to church for a couple of years! She scolded Arlene because she heard that everyone in the family wants her to just stay in bed, but the family should want her to be walking because if she can't walk, how can she be independent? She told us that her careworker is her prisoner--and we all, including the caretaker, Bernadette, laughed very hard at that and Bernadette said, "That is more true than you realize!"  She did not notice the wig AT ALL, so Arlene is relieved to think that she won't have to worry about which wig she is wearing anymore.

Her conversation was too bizarre to remember--different topics and times and places and people all jammed into the same sentences. She was not terribly coherent, but was definitely NOT suicidal. Arlene teased that she didn't think Kathleen would live to 100, and Kathleen said "Oh yes I will! I am too ornery to die any sooner!" (Crossing my fingers that isn't so...she is very yellow and very weak. I hope she doesn't have five more years of suffering.)

Arlene told me that last week they had this conversation:

Kathleen: Do you know my husband's address?
Arlene: Well...why do you need it?
Kathleen: Well, he is my husband, and I don't even know where he lives. You would think that I am entitled to know where my own husband lives!
Arlene: Well...he lives in heaven.
Kathleen: You mean...he is DEAD?

So, after Kathleen regally dismissed us, which was nice because sometimes it is hard to leave gracefully, we went home and then Jenna, Isaac and McKenna came. And we talked and poor McKenna was subjected to too many scary things that she did not like, and then the company went home and we all went to bed!

Quick Trip to California: Saturday

I have been wanting to go to San Diego to see for myself how my sister is doing as she recovers from breast cancer treatment, and this weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity. I didn't have to do primary music, Arlene was feeling pretty good, and Patrick and Josie were game to go with me.  Arlene was supposed to be having her next surgery, but they were too booked, so she is scheduled for mid-November, although on the waiting list in case of cancellations. Otherwise, she would be having surgery about now, so a visit would have been poorly timed. So, we seized the day and went!

We could not leave early on Friday because I teach a class, Josie and I have gamelan, and I had promised Daelene (Lavon's daughter) weeks ago that we would take her son Layton around campus on that day. They were driving down from Calgary for conference.  Layton wants to study musical theatre at BYU, so I set up a time for Josie to take him to meet with Brooklyn P., our gamelan friend since Josie was 13, who is now an adjunct vocal instructor for MDT. Then he came to gamelan rehearsal with us, and then Josie took him to meet with Rory S., my cousin Deanna's husband, who is a theatre faculty member. Then we met with D and L briefly, and they gave us some chocolate bars and ketchup chips and then we ran home, packed our stuff in the car and drove all night.  I drove to Saint George, then Patrick drove to Primm, then I drove to Baker, then he drove to Mira Mesa, and I drove into La Mesa, where Arlene had left a key in a hiding place, and we let ourselves in. The kids slept in the game room and I slept in the bedroom that used to be Jenna's.

I only slept about three hours, because I didn't want to waste any time sleeping. Eventually J and P got up, too. We were supposed to listen to conference, but I got completely mixed up about the time! Arlene had the DVR record it, because she wanted to let the kids sleep. Then Josie and I headed to the beach, and Patrick took a book, his notebook and phone outside to read and listen to conference poolside.

There was actually sky-writing going on at the beach! It said something about Geico saving you money--which I thought was oxymoronic or maybe just plain moronic because what a waste of money to fly up there and write all those words that were actually not that easy to read!

That was the only picture that turned out--I thought I took some of Josie, but apparently I did not.  Actually--I did! Here is one.

I put a towel down and sat down to read my book while Josie took a boogie board out to sea.  She put her ziploc bag full of trailmix and a makeup bag containing her phone and her camera under two towels. We had two water bottles sitting there, too.  I read, she played. She came and left the boogie board and went back into the water. I read some more.  I was getting cramped sitting there, so I decided to take a walk. I of course took my purse with me, but I left everything else on our towel, including my book.

I walked north for 100 paces, and then I turned around and walked back at the edge of the water, getting my feet wet. I could see our stuff the whole time I was walking back. I sat back down where it looked exactly the same as it had when I left.  Josie came back from swimming. She sat on the boogie board, grabbed her water and opened it.  Then she reached under the towels for the food. I was reading, just vaguely aware of what she was doing.

"Where's the food?" she asked.

"Right there under the towels where you put it," I said. "I didn't move it."

But it was gone. We moved everything. No food. Her phone and camera were both in the makeup bag where she left them. Nothing else was missing, but the little bag of food was gone.

Did seagulls take it?  Not likely--there was no sign of a mess, and I don't think birds would put the towels back so neatly.  So...was someone watching where we put the food, someone who was hungry?  Who knows? We were just really glad that they didn't help themselves to her phone and camera.

Arlene told us later that once when Lance was surfing in Costa Rica, he was worried that someone would take his sandals, so he dug a hole in the sand and buried them...but when he was ready to leave, his shoes were gone. Someone had been watching and dug them up.

When we got home, Auntie Arlene got out her mummified cat. A year or two ago, Michael was on a jobsite. They moved a shed, and underneath it was a cat mummy. The conditions were just right so that the dead cat, instead of the skin wasting away leaving a skeleton, turned into a mummy. So we had a photo opportunity with the cat mummy.

 The poor spook across the porch from the cat was jealous of all the attention, so we had a photo opportunity with him, too. Or her? I am not sure...

We were going to listen to priesthood session, but that didn't happen. We got pizza and then went to Octoberfest. We walked and walked and it was very crowded. But Uncle Michael bought us some funnelcake to share.And motorcycle cops rode by through the crowd and confused us all by telling us to go left, and when we did he got mad because actually he meant right. I am glad I am not the only one who does that! But...I was not comfortable with having a possibly shoot-happy copper getting irritated because we could not read his dyslexic mind!

When Arlene and I picked up the pizza, I noticed a Ross store across the street...and that was cool because I had brought one too few shirts for the weekend. So when we got back from Octoberfest, we ran over to Ross, the kids and I, and actually met up with Jenna and McKenna there for a few minutes. Then I bought the shirt I needed (plus more) and Josie bought the pants (plus more) she needed (she forgot pants) and Patrick got some dress shirts that actually fit.

Jenna and I laughed, because how often when we go to California does Josie forget something, and we end up clothes shopping on a Saturday night? "It's the only way I ever get new clothes," Josie said.

And then we went and fell exhausted into bed! (At least I did!)