The books = les livres = los libros = 도서 of January/Janvier/Enero/1월 2023

 I set a loose goal of how many books I might want to read in a year based on the previous year's reading. In 2021, I read 108 books, so I thought 100 books was a reasonable goal for 2022. I only read 93, which was pretty close. There is no reward or penalty for reaching what is a very loose goal, but based on not reaching 100 books in 2022, I decided that maybe 60 books is a good enough goal for 2023. (More time to watch Korean dramas and grow my Korean vocabulary beyond 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo) and ~하지메 (hajime) which I learned years ago when we had FOUR Korean exchange students staying in our house. That was an experience! But my point is, watching Korean dramas is fun AND educational!)

So, to read 60 books in a year, that is an average of five per month. And this month, I am right on the money because I read five books. All fiction. I am going to put the publication year in each entry this year.

1. Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (2022). YA. The way the various booksellers describe it: "One magical inn, two kids with supernatural powers, and an ancient Celtic creature trying to destroy their world by Halloween night." That sums it up nicely. It is a story well told, and is planned to be the first in a series. Probably worth reading the second book one day.

2. The case of the missing marquess by Nancy Springer (2007). YA. This was me, having watched Enola Holmes, wanting to read the book! Only it is books -- seven books and one short story. It was good. The movie was good. They were both good.

3. Drive me crazy by Terra Elan McVoy (2016). YA. Cassie's grandma married Lana's grandpa. Lana is excited to have a cousin her age! Cassie not so much. Can a long driving holiday help the girls to form a friendship? Or will it drive a wedge between them?

4. Shadow by Karin Alvtegen (2010). An actual adult book! An Amazon reviewer named Anne Mills wrote, "A powerful story of the gradual unravelling of mysteries from the past. The author creates a convincingly brooding atmosphere, and the story emerges from the characters, rather than vice versa. Why not five stars -- the book after all won "Best Crime Novel" awards in both Sweden and Denmark? My problem is personal; it is just too sad, and it left me with a feeling of futility." Yes, reviewer. Me too. My own review on my spreadsheet is more succinct: "Powerful book but ultimately terrifying." I like my mysteries to be mysterious, but not terrifying. But that is just me.

5. The very secret society of irregular witches by Sangu Mandanna (2022). Also an adult book. I really liked this sweet and kind story. I liked the characters, and the witchiness, and the setting near Norfolk. I told Josie the library should get it for a book club book--it has book club questions in it--but then there was this one chapter of gratuitous sex. Like, it just seemed unnecessary to me. Like, I did not need a play by play of Mika and Jamie's first roll in the hay. I knew it was going to happen. I knew they were very, very attracted to each other. I even wanted them to get together. I just didn't want to be in the bedroom with them, you know? 

And there you have it! The five = cinq = cinco = 다섯 books = les livres = los libros = 도서 of January/Janvier/Enero/1월 2023!

PS Margaret Pounds died today. The end of an earlier story. I am sad/not sad. Happy/not happy.

TCB

Stop whatever you're doing! Hold it right there! Drop whatever you're doing, There's not a minute to spare! Time is flying, grab it!, Shake that no way habit and TCB!

This was a week of Taking Care of Business. (Every day!) Taking Care of Business. (Every way.) 

Monday: Shovel snow.

                Go to Social Security Office to register for Part A of Medicare. Now that I am old.

                Go to Big O for a tire rotation, oil change, emissions check, and car registration.

                Oops--make that only an oil change. Tires too old. Emissions isn't going to pass. Car                              registration cannot happen. Mechanic offers to buy old car.

                Go to several different car dealerships and do some test drives. Decide on a car. Make a down                    payment.

Tuesday: Shovel snow.

                TCB at work. All-day interviews with Candidate A for a faculty position.

Wednesday: Shovel snow.

                    TCB at work. All day interviews with Candidate B for a faculty position.

Thursday: No snow today!

                  Go to bank and get cashier's check

                  Get dropped off at car dealership. Buy new car.

                  Attempt to go to work. Visitor parking is a nightmare!

                  Go home, get on the BYU parking site and register new car.

                  Go back to work and park in the last faculty spot in the lot.

Friday: Shovel snow.

              Go to Social Security Office with passport to finish what I started on Monday.

            Go to Insurance office and get new car on policy.

I was so proud of myself, taking care of all that business this week. By myself. It was scary and stressful, but I did it. And I feel really great about it. I think I got a good car, and I am actually kind of happy to have less worry while driving that my 18 year old car is going to fall apart on me. 

(Who can identify the two songs (or the creators thereof) that come to my mind whenever I think about taking care of business!)

Dr. D's Funeral Program

 As a supplement to the earlier post, here is the program from Dr. Dalton's funeral, posted on today, what would have been his 89th birthday here on earth.

Time for Sweden (Jan. 9-10)

 The real purpose of my sister Colleen's visit was to see Helena, their friend from Sweden. While C and L were on their mission to Sweden, they had the opportunity to be of help to Helena while she was going through chemotherapy. They call her their Swedish daughter.

Helena came to Utah because her daughter Julia is entering UVU this semester, so Helena came to see that she was safe and help her to settle in. Colleen's plan was that they would fly Helena to either Great Falls or Calgary, and visit with her at their home. But prices and airline craziness forced a change in plans. It would have cost $1200 plus a 3-4 hour drive to the airport (both are about the same distance from Grassy Lake). They decided, despite not liking to drive in winter, that driving down was a better choice. Also, they could drop Craig off at the Amtrak station in Shelby MT so he could go to Chicago and help Heather out with work needed on her house.

So you know about Sunday. Before they came, they asked me if on Monday, they could have a Swedish mission reunion at my house. They said it would be about 16-20 people, and they would provide pizza for dinner, and ice cream for dessert. I said sure! They set the beginning time for 6 pm. This was why we needed Josie's piano upstairs--their habit in the mission was to sing around the piano with the missionaries. As a mission office couple, they lived in the same building with about six missionaries at a time, and over their 18 months, they had cycled through many missionaries. And also they got to know other missionaries, too. Based on the RSVPs Colleen had received, she thought the maximum number of guests would be about 24, but she doubted it would be that high.

Holy Doodle!!! By the time there were 35 guests, not counting the five of us (B, M, J, C and L) it was too much for me!! I had to hide out in my room. Josie had to hide out downstairs. The cats all went into hiding, even though they were already downstairs and so safe(r) from the noise and confusion. Bruce left for work an hour earlier than usual. It was nuts!! Josie got the idea to put a sign on the door so we didn't have to wade swim through the crowds to get to the door. 

Don't get me wrong--it was clearly FUN. It was clearly positive and uplifting for the young people who came. (Also one other senior couple came.) But wowsers!! There were 40 people milling about, eventually. They just kept coming!! I would sneak out to the kitchen occasionally and clean up empty boxes and dirty paper goods that kids would forget about as they saw someone new to talk to.

We mostly survived. Someone did knock Josie's Appalachian Dulcimer to the floor--it was probably not where it should have been. But it was fine. It didn't get damaged. During the very hearty (and beautiful singing) one young man was standing up on one of our chairs and fell into the egg tree, but only one egg was destroyed. Uncle LeRon felt so bad!! He loves Josie's eggs! "It is an egg," Josie said, "It is not the end of the world."

When they were singing "Army of Helaman" with vigor and vim, I thought I should call JKP and let her hear her music sung with such enthusiasm. But--kind of an overwhelming crowd, crowded into a house that was not designed for such a large gathering. I mean, our house is pretty big, but not THAT big! I am hoping that Helena will share the video of their singing that she took. It was quite wonderful.

So, while that was stressful for me, I was amazed. My sister and her husband are sooooo loved. That was a cool thing to see. 

Tuesday was more low-key. Colleen invited me to attend the temple with her, LeRon and Helena. We went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple. I was surprised that C and L had not been there before, since it was our assigned temple when we lived in Orem, and was opened in 1996. So it isn't new. They thought it was beautiful, which it is. We had a lovely time, and LeRon took us out to eat at the Black Bear Diner after. This is where I got to hear a bit of Helena's life story. 

Helena is a tall woman, and I was very shocked to find out that she is half Chinese! Her mom is a very short little Chinese woman, and her dad is a tall Swede. This is how it happened--Helena's grandfather was quite important in the government of China pre-communism. When things changed, he and her grandmother had to flee the country. Somehow, she ended up in Hong Kong, while he ended up in Taiwan. Her grandmother's mother lived in Hong Kong, and her grandmother would leave the children with her mother while she worked. As a smuggler. She smuggled all kinds of things, using her baby in a carrier as a prop so that she was not stopped.

She was a very good smuggler. Her smuggling career next took her to Mexico, and she smuggled things there, and had somehow two more children, whom she sent back to Hong Kong to be raised by her mother. She managed to earn a healthy living by smuggling, and decided Sweden looked like a good place to live. When she got there, she sent for her children, who were now all teenagers. The children were all fluent Chinese speakers, and at least Helena's mother never really learned Swedish, though she did learn English. The grandmother must not have liked the climate--she moved to Spain. But the kids, four of them, stayed in Sweden. Helena's parents met, using English as their lingua franca.

Helena grew up speaking English, the language of their home. When she was still young, her parents split up, and they began spending more time with her mother's relatives, so Chinese was Helena's second language. She only learned Swedish at school--even though she was born a Swedish citizen--and it was a hard language for her. She struggled in school because of it. I just found her story so interesting and unexpected!! People move all around the world, and they always have! I don't know why it surprises me so much. Well--the smuggler part--that is definitely surprising!

Then we drove home through terrible weather--it was raining like crazy, and it is so hard to see the lines of the roads! I was glad that I was only a passenger.

Here are some pictures we took on our way into the temple. It was dark when we came out, but Helena took pictures then, too. LeRon and Colleen were running to their vehicle because Colleen didn't wear a coat, and I was waiting for Helena. I turned to look where the car was, and while my back was turned, Helena slipped on the edge of the sidewalk, and fell into the wet puddles in the plants beside the sidewalk! She hopped right up, unhurt, unembarrassed and quite wet!

Promised pictures follow:

Far

Zoom in

Zoom in more

Sisters

Another Pleasant V[alley]iew Sunday (Jan. 8)

 Josie and I needed to do the late night Target run because on Sunday, Colleen and LeRon were coming to our house for some Conrad family fun. We had invited Bruce and Sara, Kelli and Allen, and Rosie and Austin as well, for dinner in the evening. Then also Mike and Carlie, Judy and Wally, and Ash for dessert later on. 

On a sibling group e-mail, I had volunteered to have the gathering at my house, but I did not know what to cook!! In recent years, whenever I have had a gathering at my house, Patrick has been here, and he has planned and cooked the meal. I would pay for the groceries, but the planning and the work was his. So I didn't know what to do. Bruce then wrote to volunteer Sara's kitchen wizardry to make roast and mashed potatoes. She was doing carrots and onions with the roast. So Josie wanted to roast asparagus, and then we were going to get rolls and a veggie platter. Also a variety of cookies for dessert.

As Josie and I were driving to the store, we were chatting with Abra, who said, "Don't you want advice from the chef?" Well, I responded that advice is good, but we really needed the chef for the proper execution of the advice!! Which we didn't have. However, since we were going to Target specifically so we could get madeleines, Josie did follow the advice the chef gave to dip part of them in chocolate.

But first things first! Colleen and LeRon were going to meet me at my ward. I always walk--to the Pleasant View building, here in Happy Valley. (Hence, the title of this post.) They arrived before me because I left accidentally three minutes later than I should have. 

After Relief Society, I took the opportunity to introduce my sister to my friend JKP. Colleen was totally fan-girling on her, which was very cute and funny, but Janice did not mind a bit! She happily chatted with Colleen, and then I asked if we could take a picture. Afterwards, Colleen said this was something she wanted but would not have asked for, so she was thrilled that I asked. I was not afraid to ask because I have known JKP for twenty years.  (We actually met in a Spanish class, conversational Spanish, that I took, and so did Jan and Doug, for many years. Since then, of course, library music stuff has kept us connected. And now we are in the same ward these past few years.) Anyways, here we are:

That is actually a very nice picture of all three of us! Thanks, random man in the hall who was nice enough to take our picture. I have no idea who you are, but you managed to capture us very nicely!

What was really funny was when we met up with LeRon, and by then Jan and Jacob, her caregiver, were walking out to their ride home, and Colleen wanted him to meet her, too! She was hurrying LeRon along to chase after them, and it was funny to me because Jan doesn't walk very fast these days, so they didn't need to run! They would just be able to catch up! Well, they had a nice chat with Jan again, but I was talking to Roger Sorensen, whose son Josh was one of my students twenty years ago. So I missed their conversation.

C and L hung out with us all day. I did not expect them to--I did not know their plans. Abra had asked Josie and I to please Facetime with her while Colleen and LeRon were here, so we did that. Then we just chatted, and they took a nap in the spare bedroom, and then when they woke up, and Josie came upstairs, they were all interested in Josie's eggs. 

Colleen took a picture of the egg tree, which is a good thing, because our guests took some eggs home, so it is less full. No worries, it will get filled again!

Bruce and I and the egg tree. Pretty good pictures of both of us, I think!

LeRon was very interested in the tools of the pysanky trade. It was his turn to be a fan boy! He was very excited by Josie's egg lathe and her kiskas and all of the things!

Then Josie carried her piano upstairs, because we would need it on Monday. But also, LeRon is happiest when he can play a piano, which he did. And then they got into her other musical instruments too, like her santur (hammered dulcimer) and her Appalachian dulcimer.

Then we got ready for Bruce and Sara to come. I forgot to say that Kelli and Allen could not come--Kelli had to work, and wow! With all the snow, she was putting in long days of 14-16 hours, and chains on her semi and stuff. And the Barkers were ill, so they didn't come. Rosie and Ireland are still sick today, a week later!

The dinner was very good. Sara and Josie both did a great job on the cooking. And all of us were pretty good at eating! We finished, cleaned up, and then our guests arrived. Also Ash could not come, but the Purkeys and Breitensteins came. We had a lot of fun visiting, and we also took pictures. Because that is what we Conrads do. Our mother trained us.

First Josie took a picture of the couples from the sibling group. Notice that Sara, Colleen and I are color-coded? We did not plan it, but we were all in shades of pinkish and navy.

Josie, Judy, Mike, Carlie, Colleen, LeRon, Bruce, Sara, Me

Same, only Wally instead of Josie. They took turns taking the picture.

The end of the evening!

What were you doing last weekend?

 Ahahaha. That title reminded me of my old talking Ken doll. I can’t remember if he only “knew” the one sentence, or if it is just the only one I can remember, but when you pulled on the little string at the back of his neck, he would say: “What are you doing next weekend?” But this post is really about what I did last weekend. And I did a lot. So much that it spilled into the week!

In my last post, I said “Tomorrow I am doing funeral stuff all day.” And that is where this post begins, the Saturday after the Friday when I wrote that. I got up and ready (planking, scriptures included) and took Josie to work, then drove to 800 North in Orem to Ted Wight’s viewing. I got there so early that they weren’t really set up yet, but I just wanted to visit with Lysa, and I found her tuning the harp, after her sisters pointed me in that direction. I had a great conversation with Lysa and her son Chris, and then Lysa's sister-in-law grabbed me because I looked familiar to her--I explained that I am Nancy Heiss's mom, and this family of Wights and the Heisses were in the same ward for many years. After those fast but fun interactions, I headed off to Grandview Hill in Orem for Dr. Dalton’s funeral.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Tom Tatton, so I parked close to him and walked into the church with him. He was actually walking back in, having forgotten something. His wife Polly was already inside. I was so glad to see them! They are also in their eighties, and drove up from their home in Morro Bay, CA. They had been hesitant to come, because of night driving. They decided to drive only as far as Beaver, which is a ten hour drive, so they could get there in one daylight of driving. Then on the morning of the funeral, they drove up for two hours, and after the funeral back for two hours, so they could get all that done in daylight hours.

When I saw and hugged Donna, she invited me to the family dinner, but I told her “I don’t think I can—I have to go to the viola event.” (Which I thought she knew about.) She said, “There is a viola event today?” I said, “Yes—for all the violists who came here. It was Aaron’s idea.” Aaron is, of course, her son. He may have told her, but she may have forgotten about it. She had a lot on her plate.

The funeral was wonderful. It was also unusual. For one, the organist for the funeral was Richard Elliot. They do have a pipe organ in their church building, but it was not at all as great an organ as he is used to playing on. However, the prelude music was wonderful! There were no congregational hymns. Instead, there was instrumental music (and one singer/piano number) throughout. Music-speaker-music-speaker, etc. All of the speeches were timed to ten minutes. 

The music was all exquisite. The speaking was all so good. The postlude was magnificent. Once the reverent music was played, and the family was walking out of the funeral, Rick Elliot pulled out the stops and wow. It was so good. But it was long!! Over two hours of what was a very polished performance really. 

I sat beside Polly, and she kept saying, "I am so glad we came to this. I am so glad I will have this to remember." She said, "I have never been to a funeral like this before! I don't know if it is because I have never been to an LDS funeral before, or if this funeral is unusual." I said, "Oh, this funeral is unusual." 

The Tattons and I took pictures together before they got in their car and got on the road to Beaver, for a return trip that went according to plan--until the next day, as they could not get home to Morro Bay due to bad weather there, and had to stay the night at a motel in San Luis Obispo.

Claudine and I drove to the cemetery, with me totally failing as navigator. (Mapquest took us to where a cemetery wasn’t.) So Claudine got her phone to guide us, and it was still a bit sketchy, but we got there in time for the dedication of the grave. Then Claudine drove me back to my car, and I went to the library to get ready for the viola event.

There were already people there when I got there, though I still had a bit of setting up to do. Which I did! I saw them standing in the hall and thought, “I need to get them to sign the guest book. David won’t be happy if they don’t sign it!” And then I had the little sad thought that he would not be coming to check the book—something he did regularly for twenty years!

I took pictures of people to share with the Daltons—and with the people, of course!

LeeAnn Morgan had recently had an article published on violinist.com about moving from violin to viola. So they contacted her to ask her to do a funeral piece. She wanted to get quotes from former Dalton students. So I had paper and pencils/pens ready for them. Here is a link to LeeAnn's article, which is awesome, and includes part of Dwight's excellent eulogy (which was delivered by Emily Brown, since Dwight was home with Margaret) and the photo is by me!! I do not get credit for it, but hey, I have a published photo, still! Which is totally funny, because I am not known as a good photographer at all!

We also had food—a charcuterie board of crackers and cheeses provided by Claudine, with Aaron paying for it.

The viola event was wonderful. Really fun to share memories. It was supposed to last from 3:30 until 4:30, and the library was closing at 6 pm that night, so the security guard had to come and remind us, and we were all out the door by six. Here are a bunch of pictures:

Caryn, LeeAnn, Megan, Kristina, Madison

I was taking this picture for Dwight, so I wanted the poster he had made, which is beside Megan, to appear in the picture. Caryn lives in North Carolina, LeeAnn teaches at BYU, Megan teaches at Southern Virginia University, Kristina teaches at BYUI, and Madison is still a student. She was David's last student.

Claudine came, so we added her, but I accidentally cut off Caryn!

So I had to take the picture again!! And do it right!! This is the picture that appears in the violinist.com article.

Alan deVeritch and two of his DMA students at Indiana. They had been sent there after studying at BYU with David. Haleigh Vance and Jenny Jackson.

LeeAnn Morgan with Dianna Rhodes

One of David's students, Haleigh Gustaveson Vance, took some pictures earlier in the day, and I will also share those here. She gave me permission to use them.

Kate Marriott Mitchell (Yes, those Marriotts. She is the daughter of David and Neill Marriott. The wikipedia article about her doesn't mention that Neill is Jimmy Carter's cousin. I have a beautiful article written by David Dalton about a visit he and Donna had with Jimmy Carter which was orchestrated by Neill Marriott.)

Haleigh and Kate both studied with Alan D. So they took this picture like the picture of him, above their heads, taken by Dwight and hanging in PIVA.

Haleigh with the bust of David, which Donna commissioned just before their mission to Switzerland. Daniel Fairbanks is the sculptor.

Fun fact about the sign: The library PR people put the dates, but not the - . I cut that out of a piece of a stick-on label. I should have made it thinner!

After the viola event,  I had to go home and unwind a bit before Josie and I went to the store to buy some supplies for Sunday! And I had not done my walk, so she very nicely walked around Target with me for twenty minutes before we actually shopped!

Edited on 4/15/2024 to add the other poster Dwight had made, which I neglected to include in any photos on the day itself.

The rest of the story...

 The title makes me think of Paul Harvey's radio broadcasts back in the day: "And now for...the rest of the story..." Those were always very interesting!

My story endings will probably be much less interesting, but here goes:

1. Our house break-in--probably it was teenagers who were seeking thrills by seeing how many doors they could kick in. Apparently, they tried it on with my department assistant's brother-in-law, a former cop who is well-connected and no-nonsense. They got caught red-handed (red-footed) about a block from his house. They were all kids in his ward. He knew all their parents. He planned to have a chat with them about how people like him, gun owners, will shoot first and ask questions later, so their little thrill-seeking adventures could turn nasty quickly.

2. Margaret Pounds -- she did not die! Yet. She began to rally enough that she was moved home, still on hospice, but her time is not yet at the very door. This made her husband both happy and sad. He felt bad about his mixed emotions, but I get it. It is very hard to watch someone suffer almost to the point of death, and then have to watch them do it all over again, which is of necessity the way it will be, given her age and precarious health.

3. Last year's new year's resolutions: I did indeed walk for at least 20 minutes every day (sometimes I shoveled for twice as long, which is an even better cardio workout!) and I still am planking, but I cannot get past 2 minutes 10 seconds. And it is still painfully difficult. Like, all the practice is not making me "good" at it! I have added balancing for 10 seconds on each foot. I read part of a study about the importance of balance, so I am giving it a try. When I started, I was worse than I thought I would be--it has been a couple of months now. I was surprised at how bad I was, but I am improving. 10 seconds of balancing is not nearly as awful as 2:10 of planking!

Tomorrow I am doing funeral stuff all day. Another former BYU music faculty member died, Ted Wight, and his funeral and David Dalton's are at exactly the same time. Ted is also my friend Lysa's dad. So I am going to drive Josie to work, go to Ted's viewing, go to David's viewing, stay for all of the things, then head to the library to set up for a violist event there for violists who wish to gather after the funeral. Will finish in time to pick Josie up from work. (Links to the obituaries are included. Ted's is, in my opinion, pretty funny! I actually really enjoy reading funny obituaries. He was a character!)