bentley blog

newnews

2006-02-04T22:44:00.000-05:00

this is a photograph of a ghost. a ghost that i created on an adobe wall in the backyard of the old meyer ave house that nancy and i rented last year. lets just say the bathroom was occupied. any who...i have a new blog/music space on the web. i've sent e-invites to all of you so you can check it out. the email should be from 'myspace' and the person inviting you will be 'ben telly', that's me new moniker! there are some songs to listen to and some photos that i've taken over the last year or so. come and see! :
http://www.myspace.com/bentelly
you can join 'myspace' and post things there, comments etc.
things here in tucson are going well. i have this great class this semester. it's a cultural geography/documentary film class. we're making a short documentary on border issues that will be shown at a small semi-film festival in flagstaff this april. we have access to all this great gear including a top shelf digital camera that we can use at our disposal. my professor is encouraging us to take risks, e.g. filming over the border, interviewing unstable individuals (like members of the minute men or other vigilante groups). good times.
do ya'll still check this blog?
you should you know.

love, love, love, love
chris

dispatch from 5th ave

2006-01-17T20:57:00.000-05:00

'ello...
i'm still here. i've been trying all day to post some music of mine here on this ol' blog but to no avail. bummer. i'll have to set up a little website or something. i always think of myself as computer savvy but things have changed since my computer class at usu only 3 years ago. i'll let ya'll know when i figure something out, maybe i'll follow aaron hatch and jer bowen's lead and post my music on garageband.com. if you haven't heard aaron's stuff on that website you should. it's good. i know mom has, and matt too i believe, and i played it for nancy the other day, so that leaves annie and dad! he goes by freshbigmouf, so you can search his name or the song which is 'did it for no one'. read the reviews and awards, its pretty entertaining.
mom, dad and i had a good christmas. it was strange to be the only sibling back for the holidays, but its a reflection of the evolution of our family. mom took the classic picture of christmas morning: me, descending the stairs into the bountiful booty that santa had left. mom played the harp at church on christmas morning which was beautiful as always. she played with that skinny flutist, that one i always forget the name of. dad, and mom, sang in the choir as well, which left me there...on the front row of the chapel....alone, amongst many familiar and new faces. it was very strange to be in back in church, but i enjoyed it. my old friend elijah bush was there (he was in peter pan and oliver with me), and i realized from our conversation (and his newborn) that he and i are men now...strange. i guess that's not a totally new revelation but it really sunk in during my stay in logan. it was great to see matt for the few days he stayed before christmas. many laughs and great conversations.
schools back in session and i'm excited and anxious as always. i'm anticipating a fall graduation if everything goes accordingly. anyway, i'll write more later, just wanted to keep the blog alive.
the photo isn't mine, i just like it.
love, love, love
chris

'ello?

2005-12-14T16:55:00.000-05:00

Just wondering if everyone's still checking the blog. How are things for y'all? I miss you!
Annie

2005-11-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

My friend Jen flew out from SLC to run in the NY marathon on Sunday. Her daughter Laura and Maddy were great friends in Virginia so Maddy and I drove down for the weekend. The marathon is AMAZING. It was really warm that day so most of the runners had a harder time than they usually would have. But I'm in awe of the self control and motivation needed to run 26.2 miles. We had such a great time rooting for the runners. Many of them have taped or markered their name to the front of their jersey. Maddy was especially great at calling to people by name, saying "You can do it! You're doing great!" Wonderful to feel a part of it, even if it was standing by the side and yelling. Jen finished but a little longer than she'd hoped. We had pizza with her and her family and Sam & Deirdre, who were in town on business. FUN.

2005-11-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

Perfect autumn day in Central Park! Maddy's a great travel companion...non-complaining and game for anything.

2005-11-12T15:31:00.000-05:00

So, don't be alarmed by this picture--we're fine--but on Sunday night we had our second encounter with a deer this year. Late at night, coming home from the NYC marathon (and, ahem, going 80 mph on the freeway) I hit a deer. Amazingly, Maddy and I were fine (but shaken) although the deer came through the windshield. It flew up over our car and the car behind us swerved and rolled their car into the median. Stupid deer! We ended up with shards of glass all over ourselves. In fact, when I got home I found I also had deer fur and deer ticks under my clothes on my skin. (Too much information?) Anyway, I'm convinced the deer mafia has a hit out on us....

2005-11-12T15:29:00.000-05:00

AAAARGH! She's a pirate. Maddy knew for quite some time that she wanted to be a pirate. She realized later that she wanted to have her sword and earring for the picture but by then my batteries had died. Imagine if you will.....

2005-11-12T15:26:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the fuzzy, ill-lit picture of angelic Lauren! Lauren was planning on going as a witch but then her friend persuaded her to be an angel and her friend would be a devil. As luck would have it, her friend was sick on Halloween so she went with another friend, who was dressed as a toilet. As hard as we tried, we couldn't come up with a cute, duo connection for an angel and a toilet!

2005-11-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

It was a no-brainer for Sam to choose Harry Potter for his Halloween character, since this has been his Year of Potter. He's whizzed through the first four books this summer and has been begging to read the fifth, which Lauren protests is too mature for him.

SW x SW

2005-11-03T14:38:00.000-05:00

These pics are from the Tumacácori mission just north of Nogales.
A very peaceful and haunting place. I think it may be the oldest in the US.
The court yard here is amazing, complete with a ceramicist and a tortilla lady.
Happy days to all! God Speed and Fare thee well.
- xo'z christopher

2005-10-14T17:09:00.000-04:00

Go Rebels!

2005-10-14T17:08:00.000-04:00

Maddy in the huddle getting coached

Shout out from the east

2005-10-14T16:39:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Life has gotten really busy for us. How does that happen? One minute we're enjoying the pace and the next--suddenly--we're over committed. I started my "part-time" job in September and really like it. But I've realized that, although they agreed to make it a part-time job, they haven't taken anything off of the full-time job description! Right now, I'm working on new curricula on bullying, grandparenting (for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren), friendship, bringing out the best in your child, and parenting children with special needs. It's challenging but I like the idea that it's giving preventive help and skills to families and parents, especially since we serve a lot of the homeless shelters and other parents who didn't have the chance to receive good parenting themselves, as well as good parents who just need a little support. Anyway, it's going fine. Although I have noticed that the laundry fairy doesn't show up nearly as often as she used to. If any of you happen to see her, send her our way :).

Greg just finished with his busiest week at work, where they were laboring to finish the bid for a big government contract. But it's done and submitted, and I think he's happy to see his bed before 2:30 a.m. now. To his credit, he still showed up with a smile to coach Sam's soccer practice and game last week. I don't think I would have been as engaged or up to it. I have a good man, there.

The kids are immersed in school and activities. Even keeping them to one music and one sport each, we're still pretty booked. Lauren started playing field hockey this year at school and really loves it, although she does come home with some pretty ugly bruises. She's getting great at the flute and started with a new teacher this fall. Maddy, much to our surprise, decided to play flag football, one of only four girls in the town league. She completely loves it, though. She especially loves playing defensive back...her interpretation is that she "only has to stand back there and pull someone's flag before they make a touchdown." I think she's been trying to get some playground credibility; someone called her a "girly girl" last year and she's been trying to prove them wrong ever since. (I asked her what's wrong with being a girly girl but apparently it's an insult to 3rd and 4th grade girls. On the other hand, she still loves her baby Emily and is asking for another doll for her birthday so she's probably a good blend of girly and sporty.) Sam's playing soccer still and loves having Greg coach. We had his belated birthday party a couple of weekends ago and there was an abundance of 7-year-old boy energy bouncing around the house!

Freaky weather here. It's been pretty warm and all the trees are still green, even though this is typically peak color weekend in October. No color yet.

I'm reading Wicked right now & enjoying it, although it is a little atypical for me to get into fantasy-type stuff (kind of like Matt and horse stories). The author Gregory Maguire's son was in Sam's 1st grade class last year...our little brush with greatness. Of course, I've never spoken to him because my response to encountering anyone remotely famous is to pretend I don't know they're famous. Maybe I can give Nancy's great line she spoke to Alec Baldwin--"Oh, to be famous...."

So that's us. Life is good. Love your blogs. And your guts.
xoxo, Annie

Sam and birthday crew--silliness aplenty!

autumn-omy

2005-10-05T16:50:00.000-04:00

Hello Family

another picture of lyle. i love this dog. he didn't want to be in the picture so i made him......
so, thought i'd send a shout out to all me peeps. lets hear it indiana! now you utah, yeah! bring in the massachusetts! oh yeah.
ok. as nancy has indicated it is still summer here in the sonora desert, big surprise. the light is very autumn though...you know that filtered light? i'm all moved in to a little one bedroom apt in the downtown area not too far from nancy and dave and lyle. schools in full swing and alot of my time is focused on studies. when i do get free time i write songs (i picked up a used xylaphone at a thrift store, now all the songs i record have xylaphonic accompaniment), read or bike around town reading plaquards and going to local museums (inspired by sarah vowells 'assasignation vaction). the museum downtown has john dillingers arsenal and bulletproof vest. yeah, its pretty cool. he and his crew got busted here in tucson, afterwhich dillinger escaped from prision and then was shot and killed outside of a movie theater in East Chicago. there's also a big statue in the presidio of the mormon battalion gang. i didn't know that the President, Wilson i believe, organized the battalion to appease brigham's requests for financial aid to move out west. the mormon battalion reached tucson in 1846 and after a short time in San Diego returned to Utah. alot of them were then sent back to arizona to settle in towns like young, snowflake, and thatcher, the latter being the death place of great great great grandfather James Monroe Moody who died in 1886. small world, or more like small west. i'm planning a trip out to see GGGGrampa's grave in a couple of days, its only an hour or two to the east. JM Moody if ya'll care to know or didn't know was Grandpa pax's grandmother's (Urilda Pool) father. Urilda married William Reed Horizon Paxman, and they popped out William Monroe Paxman, etc. alrighty, enough geneology.
I went to philly to visit my friend sochi who is quite ill. she just moved there a couple of months ago from NYC and before that she was in Portland. anyway, she doesn't really have family to help her out and she was lonely and sounded like she was giving up, so i found a cheap ticket and flew out for a visit over labor day weekend. i kept thinking: this is so grown up of me. we had a great time and i was gaoot (that's 'happy' if your right hands drifts one position to the left on the keyboard), to see her in good spirits. we went to the mütter museum in downtown philly otherwise known as the medical oddity museum, which coincidentally is mentioned in s. vowell's recent book because they have a piece of charles guiteau's - pres. garfield's not very famous assasin - brain in a bottle AND a piece of john wilkes booth's thorasic vertebae, who is supposedly related to us through grandma paxman's side but i can't find any evidence yet, and i've been looking pretty hard. Philadelphia is a beautiful city and so is sochi (not a city though, she's a girl). i want to go back soon. i love you all!
ok bye
-chris

May as well be summer

2005-10-02T22:20:00.000-04:00

Good tidings, all family...

Been meaning to do this for a while, seems as though I refrained due to my feeling that I'm perhaps a real bore right now. Nevertheless, here is an update from this side of the desert.

Firstly, here are some visual aids...

FRONT PORCH OF OUR HOUSE

ANOTHER ONE OF LYLE, THE DOG IN MY LIFE (in Chris' van):

AND ANOTHER ONE OF MY RECENT HAIR (I can't seem to keep my hands off the scissors):

Ok, so with that out of the way....

It's still hot here in Tucson. This week featured such temperatures as 100, 99, 103 degrees. It hardly feels like fall...with the exception of a subtle hint of cool in the night air. The stubborn summer tends to play strange tricks on my psyche...I'm usually confused about what time of year it is, as though the months reversed around August. And mentally I know it's Autumn. I'm like clockwork that way.

I'm working full time for Vy & Elle (recycled billboard bags), serving as the multi-faceted employee. I don't mind the work at all, which ranges from shipping to graphic designing to P.R. types of tasks. But it's certainly temporary. I have to remind myself of this regularly because it would be easy to wake up 10 years from now, forgetting my plan to...well, that tends to get re-interpreted frequently. But as for down the road and around the corner:

*Dave & I plan to get married sometime near the end of the year (sad, it's come down to conflicting work schedules!). We both want something low key as far as actual ceremony, so we're thinking of getting away to either Casablanca, Istanbul or Tel Aviv. I've actually found some pretty good airfare deals, and we are obviously craving something exotic. So, TBA...
*My good friend Kandus and I are in the process of writing/creating a film. We both share a similar enthusiasm and understanding for movies, and I can't think of a better partner for the project, of course other than my siblings. Hint, hint. I'd go into exhausting detail if I had the details. In short, we're abiding by the DOGME95 vow of chastity (a director's group/organization established 10 years ago by a couple of Danish filmmakers), i'm saving $$ to buy a digital video camera, and every second of the film will take place in a car.
*We (Dave & I) are seriously considering selling the house and buying a warehouse/studio space to live in, work in. Much needed for dave and his work (both storage and fabrication). Then, we hope, in a couple of years we'll try re-establishing ourselves in NYC. who the heck knows?
*Cathy Rivers, a dear friend of dave's and a new friend of mine, is one of the more successful local musicians here. She's putting together a music project under the name "Little Black Cloud" which will feature a shifting and roaming cast of contributors with each album, and she insisted that Chris and I get on board (although I told her that i've been unsuccessful at learning an instrument). But it sounds like just the kind of thing I'd like to be a part of, so we'll see. She's gonna round up a posse in the next couple of months at Howe Gelb's little studio to play around and feel it out.

So meanwhile, I'll continue humoring myself with making lists of anagrammed James Joyce book titles, converting ill-fitting thrift store clothing into sewing disasters, filing the 10+ year paper trail I've allowed myself to build & carry, and watching DVDs.

Some recommendations, if you would be so obliged:

READING: The Believer magazine, Jonathan Safran Foer, Harper's Index (in Harper's Magazine)
WATCHING: All the President's Men (I'd forgotten the entire thing! And consequently just learned that Redford's production company is named Wildwood Enterprises), Broken Flowers, The Paper Chase, Barton Fink, Ghost Dog, The Parallax View
LISTENING: Sufjan Stevens "Come on Feel the Illinoise", Smog "A River Ain't Too Much to Love", Broken Flowers Soundtrack, and you must must must, just for a laugh or two...check out www.wingtunes.com. Wing is a novelty. She has several albums out, covering ABBA, The Beatles and the entire Sound of Music soundtrack. It's so bad it's good.

Ok, my loved ones. Miss you all terribly. Over and out.

Nancy

Falling into Fall

2005-09-18T22:03:00.000-04:00

Great pictures, Waddoups! I can remember that first day of school excitement mixed with trepidation. Who will I sit by? Will the teacher like me? Am I smart? Why do I have to wear these blasted thick long brown stockings held up with a garter belt? (Seriously.) I'm sure I have told you before that I grew up attending school, from kindergarten(belt) to college, wearing a skirt (no, not the same skirt, come on - that would have been a real problem! I would have been asked to go home and change into something longer, like a full length gown, by the time I was in junior high). Such oppression - such nonsense. Remember the story about Susie, when she was about 10 and my ma and pa took her to a movie playing at the Varsity Movie Theatre at BYU? It was winter, and she had on pants under her winter coat, but when they got to the ticket counter the cashier told them that she wouldn't be allowed in because she had pants on. Mom took her hand and they went into the restroom close by in the hall. Susie removed her pants, showed up at the counter again and was welcomed into the theatre. But enough of that. All water under the bridge, or wet pants in the dryer.
We went down to SLC Friday. I went to Day Murray music and spent a blissful unrushed 2 1/2 hours perusing choir music. I had a list of songs for Thanksgiving and Christmas that I had one copy of, hoping to find a dozen of them there, but found some great arrangements and surprises while I tried out several on their muted piano. Our theme this year for Christmas program will be "Let Every Nation Welcome Him" - a global Christmas carol program. I have always wanted to do The Carol of the Birds, taken from the Pablo Casals melody, and this is the year. Then we will sing a Welsh carol, a French carol (Ile ne la divin enfant (sp?), Silent Night woven with a contemporary song Carol Him Softly and some others I am waiting to see if they have in publication. We went out to dinner at Monsoon Thai (very good) and to see Junebug the movie (very good). And, of course, I did stop off at Xocolate for our usual small box of chocolates. Duh.
We are watching the Emmys tonight, although I don't watch Lost or Desparate Housewives. But we enjoyed the Johnny Carson tribute alot. And Jon Stewart's show won several awards, which we applaud. We don't get HBO, so we will have to rent Huff, Empire Falls, Warm Springs, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
You may not know that Sarah McGee's wedding is off. Her boyfriend Chris called it off and went back to his former girlfriend. I feel for Sarah, such a heartbreak. Mary says she is handling is fairly well, but, oh, that hurts.
Also, Dad is doing well. (My dad, your grand/greatgrandfather.) He says he has a steady pulse, and they are putting him on a medication to regulate it. He wrote "I Got Rhythm, I got music. I got my gal, who could ask for anything more?" We are so relieved. They have bought their season tickets for every series of concerts, lectures, plays and bowling tournaments offered within 60 miles of Provo.
Well, that's the news. Love goes out to you all. Let's talk! Warm thoughts, Ma

First day o' school

2005-09-07T14:09:00.000-04:00

(Hooray for digital cameras...this year you'll see first day of school photos before January!)
Just thought I'd send along the traditional and tolerated first day of school photos. Much excitement and adrenaline all around...I think everyone woke up at least a half hour before they had to.

Lauren: preoccupied with wearing just the right thing ("I just realized that I need to look like I didn't try too hard but still look cool"...ah, middle school) and broke a record by 8 a.m., already phoning me from school to bring some forgotten money.

Maddy: aiming for "sporty girl" comfort in t-shirt and shorts, painstakingly prepared her lunch and snack last night and slept in the longest this morning.

Sam: wearing summer clothes & no new school clothes at all, sporting a fresh-cut hair trim, and had his backpack on, ready to go at least an hour before the bus came. The bunch of them will home in an hour or so.

I have to admit I miss them today! (Although I did get many errands done today it is .) It's a delicious, warm-with-a bit-of-breeze day here and I've just visited my favorite farm stand...gorgeous peaches, raspberries, tomatoes, and apples. Don't you love September?

A.

Awesome Awgust

2005-09-04T21:21:00.000-04:00

I so enjoyed hearing from Annie on the blogspot. I am very familiar with the surge of resolve that comes with being away from home, then returning. Ready to shake things up, redo a few rooms, build a spa and hire a masseuse, build a better computer, declutter (yeah, right), start a traveling harp ensemble complete with a dance troupe, take in several families from the Katrina disaster. (We could put them up next door in that big house that has been vacant for going on five years. What a waste!) Then I settle down and settle in and rent a video and get over it.
We did have lovely visits from the waddoups, nancy and dave, and chris in August, and that was so enjoyable. We did alot but not nearly all we wanted to do. Loved being with the grandkids and their parents. Such a good time with such oustanding people. A brief visit with the lovebirds from Tucson. Nancy says she is still moving in and is feeling quite domestic. Chris reports that he is in Philadelphia to see Sochi, his good friend, who is very ill and they can't seem to find the cause or cure. Good man.
We had a great stay with Matt and Frank in their beautiful home. It has such great features with its old wood sliding doors, moldings, and a plaster floral/garland decoration on the ceiling int he dining room. Frank has been working on remodeling and restoring. He finished the upstairs bathroom while Matt was in Italy, which entailed some emergency plumbing in the process of tiling and putting up fixtures. He is getting into woodworking with an eye to making some fine wood furniture. Leona, Marcel and Juan were great, if somewhat laidback hosts. Cats. Sleep, eat, nap, be cool, bring grasshoppers and crickets inside to entertain and eventually eat, sleep, eat, nap, etc. They drew the lucky card.
We loved the concert where Matt played with a trio of pianist/harpsichordist and recordist (recorder player). Tellemann to Vaughan Williams. Very nice program. And Matt certainly does well on the cello (thanks, Frank, for having one). It was pure enjoyment. So Matt specializes in strings, and Frank specializes in pipes (water). Good combination. There was a lovely gathering at the pianist's home afterward for a select group of friends. Such warm and loving people. Gracious and effusive, generous and kind. And they adore Matt and Frank. So gratifying. We had to get to Cincinnati that night to catch and 7 .a.m. flight out. But we did have a wonderful time in the guy's good care. Thanks, you two.
We are going to Holdaway's tomorrow, for a barbeque. And that will bring summer to a proper close. We have to go to choir practice right now for the dedication of the chapel next Sunday evening. I will try to start up ward choir next week and see what we have here. We lost virtually all of our basses, and all but one alto in the new division.
Currently cinema deprived, but fall is here, and we can safely go back into the theatres for more than explosions and horror or silliness. We have rented Downfall, which is about Hitler (German made) but haven't watched it yet. Your dad heads for Baltimore on Tuesday for the week.
We would like to do something as a family for the hurricane victims. Do you each want to send a check into the Red Cross in your neighborhood? We could do a matching fund thing. If you will tell us what you send in, we will match it all. So sad, and so disheartening. Those who have the least seem to get the least attention. Our hearts are aching for them all. Contrary to what some may say, I don't think God has anything to do with natural disasters, but watches to see how we represent Him in the aftermath. Love you so, Ma

2005-08-30T19:00:00.000-04:00

Hello all you loved 'uns,

It's been long enough since we returned from our Logan Holiday that I've lost all the momentum and energy to improve everything in my life. Do you do that? I always get so inspired and motivated from the perspective and extra time that being away brings. Then I implement it for about four and a half days, dwindling quickly back into old habits and lethargy. But it's good while it lasts! On our recent return, I planned to repaint our whole house and redo the pantry! How manic and unrealistic! I got as far as picking out colors & sighing over the pathetic state of our 1890's pantry, then decided it was good enough. Plus reading books and watching movies is so much more satisfying, if not as useful. I did call some contractors about finishing our attic and engaged a landscape designer to overhaul our yard. So I'm good at getting other people to do things, I guess.

We had a great time in Utah:

spent a good couple of weeks in Logan, doing the opera and parks and playing and watching cable tv, and attending Greg's 20th HS reunion

did Lagoon, swearing off the Mouse Trap once and for all (Lauren's the most adventurous of us so she'll probably do it again)
stayed with Greg's family at a great house in Deer Valley
spent a fun few days with our friends the Whites at their place near Kamas--horse riding, four-wheeling, water-skiing, and staying up too late at night talking

The night we got back we arrived home at about midnight to a very mysterious, high-pitched noise in our house. We could hear it outside from the cab so we hurried in to investigate. It sounded like it was coming from beneath us but when we went in the basement, it was more up in the floor. We spent about a half an hour moving throughout the house, testing different locations. I lamented that our poor neighbors who share a wall with us had to live with this noise for weeks! Finally Lauren tracked it down to our luggage and, sure enough, it was. Sam's helicopter launcher (bday from Mom) had been activated and was whirring away in there. I wonder what the baggage handlers on the plane thought.

We're all getting geared up for school's start on Sept. 7. Maddy went to the school today to help her teacher from last year unpack all the boxes and get set up. We've done the clothes and school supply shopping and each has already anxiously packed their backpacks. Doesn't September make you feel like getting new pens and paper?

Sam has started keeping a tally of how many burps he's done, both per day and week...great statistician, he. So if anyone's interested in his data..... He's also (in his spare, non-burping time) anxiously awaiting Halloween and keeps saying, "MOM, it's almost SEPTEMBER, shouldn't we be thinking of costumes?" It's hard to believe, but yes, it's coming (although unfortunately for him I'm much more of a spur-of-the-moment costume mom). But he wants to be Harry Potter so I should be able to manage that.

Matt, thanks for your reading list...what a good idea. I've been pretty eclectic in my reading with some markedly beachy escape reads (very Brit chick lit). Here's the reading I'll admit to (or can remember):

read Dad's copy of The Historian. Really enjoyable DaVinci Code-like novel with a Dracula theme.
Kent Haruf's Plainsong. It's been out a while and received (or was nominated for?) a National Book Award. I love his sparse prose and character depth.
I read Over Sea, Under Stone (Susan Cooper) to the kids. Didn't ever read it when I was younger but we all liked the mystery and setting. Four kids searching for the Holy Grail in Cornwall England. It's part of her Dark is Rising series & we're moving on to that one now. Anybody remember these?
To add to Matt's books about writing: Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write...although it's hard to beat Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones.

Well, I've gone on long enough. How's your world? Sending love to you, A.

Dog days of summer. Woof.

2005-08-22T23:34:00.001-04:00

Thanks for the great entries from Matt recently. Maybe we should have a gathering there in Nova Scotia sometime. How much was the house you rented? Your photos were wonderful, and I am getting used to the new look of your pared pate. You are looking good, though, with your outstanding (?) jawline, and great brow. You remind me of someone. A cross between Jeremy Bowen and my dad maybe. And a little Brig thrown in, too. Isn't it nice to have someone describe you through a patchwork of other people? The picture of you and the other cosmonauts (I guess that would be argonauts) is impressive. The few, the proud, the orange. Send it in to your local paper and tell them you were in N.Sc. for some special training prior to your inner seaspace expedition. Or maybe " Local men make the cut for the next Star Trek movie: Star Trek 14, Beyond the Sea - Whales, Tails and Nightingales. Okay, that didn't work. So sue me.
My trip to Ireland is a distant memory now, but it was fabulous while it lasted. A week of being very busy with lectures and three recitals a day plus a major concert every night at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, with very little down time or even time to eat. My dorm room was almost a mile away from the venues, so I walked int every morning prepared to spend the day, then hop the bus to the concert hall. Let me say this about the food at the cafeteria on campus - worse than any elementary or high school cafeteria. Luckily, I didn't sign up or pay for more than one meal a day there, and even then, I passed on two of those. I did take a bus in one early evening with a couple of women (sisters) from Illinois and we found some good food by St. Stephen's Green, then we just walked to the concert hall. Most of the music performed was great, but we heard some new music, very avant garde, where the performers did what would amount to instrument abuse, using the harp to make horrible sounds, literally striking the harp, doing everything but smash the poor thing at the end. Some of these new composers are trying way too hard to be original. I can appreciate abstract art, but give me something in the way of form, or at least take the music somewhere. Groans and whimpers and sounds of torture coming from the harp just don't do it for me. There was a fantastic Brazilian jazz harpist the last night, and along with a very fine Paraguayan harpist that same night, it was an amazing concert. The Braz. harpist came out in a black dress that had a long sort of train in the back, but not glitzy or fancy, and she had bare feet and played bossa nova, Jobim, blues, etc.
I took the bus over to Cork on Saturday, then a minivan to Sue's place, arriving around 5:00 p.m. where I was greeted by Sue and Erik. Jonathan was in Londond for a few days, but arrived on Monday. We had some great discussions and lots of laughter. Jonathan can make up a song at the drop of a hat, or rather a word. We left Sue's little haven on Tuesday to take Erik to the Shannon airport, then toured with Jonathan until Thurs., when he was to fly out. We had a great time at pubs, especially in Doolin, where the music was wonderful, all local musicians, and the food was good. We took a boat out to the Aran Islands the next morning, and enjoyed the beautiful island of Inisheen, seeing much of it by horse and cart. We had read that there was a beach there that was considered one of the most beautiful anywhere on the western seaboard. We got there, and had to laugh, because it amounted to about a 50 yard stretch of gray sand. They are very proud of their "beautiful, tropical beach" nonetheless. Lots of music in the restaurants and pubs, lots of interesting faces, and really lovely people. They call us darlin' and luv, etc. They were always surprised to learn that Sue lives in Ireland, and isn't an American tourist. She is always such good company and so good and friendly with people.
Hey, this is way too long. Sorry. Anyway, Sue and I had one day on our own before I left on Friday. Had a great bird experience outside Bunratty Castle, while we were eating in a restaurant overlooking the castle. It was dusk, and we looked out from our table by the window and say hundreds of birds flying in a swirl formation, around and around, sometimes turning and bumping into each other. But, oh, it was spectacular and went on for about ten minutes, when they settled in the silhouetted trees and the top of the castle walls. It was like a blessing for my last night in Ireland.
Of course, the fun just continued after I returned home, because Annie and the kids were here and we had some great times together: Went to Annie Get Your Gun (everyone), Kismet (Annie, Greg, Chris and your dad and I. Wonderful.), bowling for Sam's birthday, with his favorite birthday food: hot dogs, french fries and fruit (ah, the simple delights. It will be in later years that he will ask for duck with juniper berry and honey/quince glaze with baby beets and artichoke hearts with cranberry/wasabi coulis. We did discover a new restaurant here in Logan The Painted Table, which has a wonderful chef who loves to create unique and delicious things and we managed to eat there (Don't tell anyone, but I have been there four times. I took Erin Betz there on Friday for a little getaway and chat. She started her radiation and chemo treatments last week and has five weeks to go, five days a week. She had to give up her job and apartment in SLC and move home for the foreseeable future. She is amazing, though, and such a good person. She loves everyone and accepts everyone. A good heart in that woman. But her tumors are malignant, and they said they don't know if treatment will work, and that they will likely come back at some time even if they can reduce them. Such a horrible prospect. She says she has had some emotional meltdowns, but, my word, that is only natural, and she has a great attitude.She told me to tell Matt and Nancy hi, since she remembers you better.
We attended the great Kay Webber/Brockbank Education Fund walkathon on the 13th. Such a great event, with so many cousins and second cousins, etc. and a few friends of Kay and Bob as well. I know Kay was pleased with all the discussion and chatter, which she loved herself. Lots of good feelings and memories and goodwill.
Oh, I forgot to mention the exciting news of Nancy and Dave's engagement. It was so sweet. We were standing around the kitchen late at night (Annie, Dad, me, and N and D) and Davd said, "Sooooooo. Nancy and I are thinking of eloping." Only on eloping, the inflection went up, like he was asking a question. Which he wasn't, just asking for our blessing. We are so happy for them, and they are so good to each other and for each other. Happiness. It's a good thing.
Well, that's the good and the bad of it here in our little valley. Fall is coming, and as you know,
it is my favorite time of year. Susie has invited Nancy T and me to PG (Pacific Grova Scotia) which she has rented the last of September, first of October. So now I have that essential "thing to look forward to that keeps me going. Why does it always involve travel outside of northern Utah? Your dad and I are starting to think about where we want to live when he (and I) retire. And we aren't sure we will stay here. In fact, I don't expect to stay here.
Love you all, dear ones.

More pictures - Canadian style

2005-08-09T09:29:00.000-04:00

Hello dear ones,

Happy August! I'm very unready for the semester to start again, but since that always seems to be the case, why panic? I'll be teaching two beginning Spanish classes (one accelerated) and a course on Love and Marriage in Golden Age Spanish literature.

We had a great time in Nova Scotia - the cottage we rented for the week was Pacific Grovish, both in its couldn't-be-better ocean views as well as its wonderfully kitsch (bordering on tacky) humble decor. Lots of reading and Scrabble-playing. Highlights:

The Bay of Fundy's tides. They have the biggest tides in the world, so much so that in narrow inlets, there is a phenomenon called the "tidal bore", which is basically a wave produced by the incoming tide. Here is a picture of the mud left behind at low tide (as well as someone's foot, also left behind by the tide?).
Whale watching. We were able to see three humpback whales, several porpoises, and a bunch of seals. The whales were playing in the seaweed on the surface of the ocean, rolling around, occasionally showing us a fin or a back or a head or a tail. It was hard to time picture-taking, but I finally got a brochure- or poster-worthy shot of the tail. Also, we went on a "zodiac", which is a smaller moter-driven raft, instead of the larger, more imposing (to the whales) boats. The way we were dressed though, you'd think we had signed up for a space shuttle launch by mistake:
Sea kayaking.
The harbor towns, especially Lunenberg (a World Heritage site) and Blue Rocks. Pictures below. (Followed by a few pictures of Frank in Wilmot, Nova Scotia, which we can only imagine was named after him.)

What else? How were the Utah visits? What's going on?
Frank and I are toying with the idea of starting some kind of business (after we move from Indiana), perhaps a bed and breakfast or a bookstore. I really want to take a stab at writing, too. All pipe dreams at this point, but Frank has the business background and savvy (which I definitely don't have, but I'm a willing student). We've raided the libraries and used bookstores and now have an knee-high pile of books on both industries.
Speaking of which, have you all seen the book about "The King's English" (independent bookstore in Salt Lake)? It's a great memoir about the passion for books, the struggles of staying alive in the shadow of Barnes and Noble/Borders, and every chapter ends with lists of recommended books.
Speaking of which (part II), here is what I've read / am reading lately:

Books about writing

Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird; I'd give anything to be able to write like her.
Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones; Have any of you read this? Really beautiful.

Novels about Henry James (I don't know why I stumbled upon this genre within a genre within a genre, but there were at least three that came out in the last year or two)

Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty; About a young graduate student studying Henry James in the Margaret Thatcher era in London. Won the Booker Prize, but I was underwhelmed by it.
Colm Toibin, The Master; a historical/biographical novel about Henry James in his last writing years. Toibin really gets into Henry James as a deeply observant, conflicted individual. Very good.

Really popular, arcane mysteries

Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Matthew Pearl, The Dante Club; I preferred this one much more than the Da Vinci Code, partly because I just read the Divine Comedy in Italy.

Well, I should get my day started. Love you all - keep in touch.

Matt

Pictures

2005-07-29T08:53:00.000-04:00

Hey famm damily,

I've been back on terra firma for a few days, after a comedy of errors involving:

a surreal ten hour layover at Heathrow (from 10pm to 8am, which don't happen do be good bookstore-browsing hours). I found myself wishing I had my camera with me, just to take pictures of the odd, contorted sleeping people scattered throughout the terminal. They have no idea how funny they look at 3am and when I've had no sleep!

yet another delayed baggage fiasco. This time, I got into Chicago and was told by an American Airlines rep that only one of my bags made it on to my flight, and that the other would be delivered to my home. So I waited until all the bags were on the carousel, only to discover that neither of my bags made it. Frustrating! (I have both now, so I can do important things like wear shorts and shave.)

We leave tomorrow for Nova Scotia for a week, which I'm looking forward to. We're going with Frank's friend Nancy and her husband Eric. I think I've spent the whole summer preparing for and recovering from trips.

Here are some pictures from Italy. For some reason I've kind of become obsessed with taking arm-length shots of myself.
Oh, and the first is actually from Ecuador. Me and my llama. And our tour guide.

The second: Guinea Pigs! from Ecuador! They eat them! (In fact, in retrospect, the spoon-like thing on the right looks suspiciously like a ladle.)

This is me in Pompeii. (With an extreme summer haircut, you'll notice.)

Me in Naples, with Vesuvius in the background.

And finally, to prove that I don't just take pictures of myself, here is a photo of one of the Albanian hill towns in Calabria, followed by one of a procession for Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Well, that's it for now. By the way, on August 28th I'll be doing a recital with my friends Diane Norton (a harpsichordist) and Amanda Ingram (a recorder player). We've called ourselves the Eponymous 3 (a riff off of the Anonymous 4). A little Vivaldi and Telemann together, then I'll be doing a Vaughan Williams Cello/Piano thing. Should be either really beautiful or really hilarious. Maybe a little of both!?

My love to all. Keep the posts coming! They make me laugh.

Finally! I made it here through the ether....

2005-07-22T02:36:00.000-04:00

hello everyone! yay! I had trouble with this blogging thing, three times i tried to post and turns out i was trying to create a whole new blog. silly me.

well, here i am in tucson. this week finally birthed the monsoons. i haven't figured out if it's technically refered to as 'the monsoon' or 'the monsoons', but either way, i'm convinced it's (they're) the only reason people actually live here during the summer. you'd be amazed by all the many things that can and will melt if left in the car during a 110 degree afternoon. i'm looking to take a trip to logan here soon, joining many of you. it's all i'm looking forward to! and you know how important it is to have something to look forward to.

i'm sad to admit i'm so very out of the loop with all your heres and nows, but it's nice to be able to read the blather if i can't get it in person. people. in people?

what else? here's some recent photos of whatnot:

that's rosa the dog, my temporary dog. she's verrry peculiar. this is typically what she does, sits and stares at me like she's about to ask me something. she also does not like open cupboards, especially ones at her eye level, and will avoid passing them even if it means taking the long route all the way around the house through the kid's room and bedroom. (side note: i'm housesitting for a family with two young kids) she also has to leave the room when i'm pouring dog food into her bowl, then she'll approach her bowl but then surpass it by about 3 feet, then she'll take a sharp u-turn back to the bowl, stare at the food for a minute, and finally she'll eat, but only if i'm not watching. weird. but hot dogs are a whole different story. she worships the hot dog. i wish i could bring her to logan, cause she reeeeealy hates it when i leave without her.

the most recent picture of me (2 days ago) in my favorite t shirt and my toddler haircut.

and this is dave (human) and lyle (dog). you may not be able to see lyle back there in the distance...he's the greatest dog. dave's not bad either, ha ha. dave (not lyle, sad) is accompanying me to logan for the first couple of days, so he'll be returning to tucson with a healthy dose of bentley. this picture was taken at the 'playa' in willcox arizona, which is this dry lake bed that makes you experience space and expanse in a totally surreal and cinematic way. it's like the bonneville salt flat's little brother. one day i'll walk all the way across it, but as of yet i get too distracted by the random objects i find there, like a pair of socks stuck like someone walked right out of them, a gallon jug full of dead bees, and a whole lot of ammo.

well, i just looked at the clock and noticed it's nearing half past midnight, so i'm about to hit the sack if it doesn't hit me first...
more later.
love you all...

nancy

2005-07-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

White Pond Trio--June 2005

Counting down to Utah....

2005-07-18T17:21:00.001-04:00

Hello my good family (as opposed to my bad one?)---

I'm loving the new posts from my brothers! Bravo to Chris for pictures, too. We are very soggy with humidity here...looking forward to some good Utah aridity next week. Nothing escapes the damp: cereal, book pages, pretzels, hair, wet towels staying wet, moods. You get the picture. We've been enjoying going to White Pond almost daily. It's a small, hidden, tree-ringed pond a couple of miles away with a sand beach, dock, and lifeguards...also where the kids do swim lessons. It's our little piece of bliss each summer day. Aah, small pleasures.

We had some good happenings this week. Greg was promoted at work, which was a well-deserved recognition for all he does there. I sent a resume to a non-profit in Cambridge last month and--there's a long story behind this that I'll spare you here--they've offered me a position and agreed to scale it to part time for now. I'm thrilled because I've admired their work in the Boston area and will be able to do what I'd hoped: bridge the gap between research and application. They provide parenting education and support...seminars, classes, consulatations. I'll be developing and managing curricula, etc. Should be challenging and rewarding. Anyhoooo.

Greatly looking forward to seeing Dad, Mom, Nancy (& Dave?) in the coming weeks....Love to you all, A.

Buon giorno!

2005-07-11T03:45:00.000-04:00

Hey famiglia,
A hearty greeting from Italy! We don't have frequent, consistent, or dependable email access, so this post may be either short, interrupted, or nonexistent by the time I send it. Anyway, I've been here for two weeks, and we just got back from a weekend trip to Naples and Pompeii. Highlights of the trip so far:

San Demetrio Corone (the small town where we are all living) is perched in the Calabrian hills just as the toe of the boot is forming - it's about twenty minutes from the Ionian Sea, and probably about forty from the Tyrrenian (?) Sea. It was settled by Albanians fleeing their country in the 15th century, and against all odds in this day and age, people still speak it. Though they are dyed-to-the-wool Catholics and Italians, they are quick to point out why their culture is different. The local church, for example, is topped with a Greek Orthodox cross, and contains Byzantine icons inside. The mass is performed partly in Italian, and partly in Greek, and their priests can be married. I have no idea how they swing that deal with the Vatican, but apparently that's how it is.
I love the random encounters with local people - the other day I walked up into the winding streets of the old medieval quarters, and an old man named Carlo invited me to come pick some figs - delicious, juicy, sinful figs - from his trees.
Pompeii is a totally haunting experience - especially the preserved volcanic castings of writhing bodies that were preserved by Vesuvius's lava. Some cover their mouths and noses in an effort to avoid breathing in the fumes that eventually killed them. Others form a protective shield around their children. Bone-chilling, but beautiful.

And some lowlights:

My luggage didn't get to San Demetrio until five days after I did. I had a really quick connection between Manchester, England, and London (also England), and I don't think my luggage made it. Unfortunately, though, BMI only paid for my stuff to be flown from Naples to a nearby (2 hours away) airport. So I had to hire someone to get it, to the tune of $100.
This group of students is way too big, and only a handful are interested in the slightest about absorbing the language and culture. It's also extremely poorly managed (rules that are not enforced, little to no information given about important things).
The classes, too, are unfortunately very disappointing. This, again, has to do with not managing details very well. The director of the program, for example, wrote all of the course syllabi, but others - not used to such things as administering quizzes and creating conversation activities (very American things) - are teaching the courses.

OK, I should sign off now. More later, most likely. Love you all!

what we find

2005-07-10T17:32:00.000-04:00

2005-07-10T17:03:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
so...this is what i do up here in the plains. well, sort of. this is a test pit that we excavated a while ago on a late prehistoric site near the wyoming-montana border. its just my size. we joke about putting this photo in the report and indicate that we found a caucasian male in a test pit, his boots are diagnostic and we date him to be from the early 21st century, right at the height of the digital revolution.
i just returned from lolo and missoula montana. Lolo is the actual town that is mentioned in the novel and the movie 'a river runs through it', where brad pitts character goes to gamble all the time. it wasn't filmed there though. missoula is a great city (about 10 mi from lolo). many young folks and lots to do (reminds me of flagstaff). my friend emmanuel and i rented a raft and floated the blackfoot and the bitter root rivers over the weekend. another buddy that i work with has a place in lolo where we stayed.
i'm back in buffalo wyo for the night then off to lander wyo for a couple of weeks. all is well. i'm content just lounging in my van down by the river reading and drinking tea, or hiking around the mtns where ever i end up. i just finished 'demian' by h. hesse. i read it once before when i was 18 or 19 but didn't quite absorb the message. kind of an existential catcher in the rye.
i hope everyone is swell and smiling alot. i love you all. chris

Hot July

2005-07-09T16:24:00.000-04:00

Hey, everyone!
Whew! The summer that was in hiding has come out and breathed hot air on us. That is, if the air is actually moving. Otherwise it is like a dead heat. As still as a bat cave. The flowers are gasping and the lawn is depressed.
Last night we went to the couples' book group, where the discussion was about the book Endurance, the account of Ernest Shackleton's expedition across the south pole. Amazing how they survived with all odds against. Everything went wrong, and when it didn't, it was even worse. But what a testimony to trust and leadership.. Must rent the documentary and the movie with Kenneth Branaugh.( sp?) We left at nine o'clock and saw Howl's Moving Castle, which is a real trip. Wonderful animation and clever story. Voiced by Christian Bale, Blythe Danner and Emily Mortimer, I think. What was she in recently? We also saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith the other night. Entertaining, tongue in cheek, a little heavy on the posturing and posing on the part of Angelina Jolie, but kind of fun, if you like violence, explosions, murdering, executions, etc. You know, the things that make a marriage work.
I play at Brad Skousen's reception tonite. It will be at Edgewood Hall, George and Mindy Daines' place. Then tomorrow we meet in our new chapel, and I will play a duet with Kathy Betz' mom, Dorisse who is a professional violinist, and is up from Tucson for Susan Betz's wedding. We learned last Sunday that Erin Betz has a brain tumor. They don't know if it is malignant, but after the wedding they will do some more tests. Pray for her. She is on an anti-convulsion medication, and they say the growth isn't growing very quickly, but is in two areas of the brain. Always a very scary prospect.
We had a very nice 4th, complete with the sing-along at the Gray cabin. Did I already write that in my last blog? I can't remember when I was on last. It took me about 20 minutes to get into my e-mail today, not counting the 10 minutes it took to close down twice. This computer is as slow as I am, and we don't understand each other at all. We saw my cousin Jim Fillmore's family at Wildwood, and talked to his son Jon, who lives up here still, and works for a computer company. We told him we would hire him when we get a new computer, for a couple of one-on=one training sessions.
News: Nickolee Zollinger is getting married the last week of July, then will immediately move to Indiana for her doctorate. Jamie Balls is expecting, and will be moving back here with her husband, since his military obligation is completed. Lexi Balls husband will deploy to Iraq in a month or so.
Hoping Matt is enjoying Italy. How about some notes from the field, Matt? We enjoyed your Ecuador communiques. And Chris, do you get online? Thanks for the phone call. We like the fact that you are in LoLo? Wyoming. Low Low? where A River Runs Through It was filmed. We know that they couldn't film it in the actual area where the story took place because the river was so polluted.
Nancy reports heat and work, and some play. She does have a cooler at the Gelb's house, so she won't perish from 105 degree heat. I believe that is close to the temperature of the oven for a slow cooking brisket or something. Maybe for drying fruit? Anyway, it is certainly not pleasant for human beings, unless you are going for the beef jerky look. Nancy, I saw Kandis twice this week and had a good visit. She says that eventually, she would like to end up in Tucson, after her son finishes elementary school.
Annie and family will be here on the 25th. How was your ward breakfast, Annie? We are excited about having you here for awhile. The kids look like they have grown since I saw them in February! Slow down, you guys! What's the rush?
Can anyone else come during that time? Annie and Greg will be away with the Waddoups from the 10th to the 14th, and they will leave for Concord on the 17th. We plan to attend a couple of the opera offerings: Annie Get Your Gun (naturally) and Kismet. It would be fun to have even a couple of days together. Think about it.
I send my love to everyone. You are everything to me. Love, Ma

Happy Fourth of July!

2005-07-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody near and far - let's see, that would be Mom in Logan, and Matt in Italy with everybody else jockeying for pretty far. We had a great cruise to the Mexican Riviera with stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Our cabin had an ocean view with a balcony, which was nice, and there was non-stop food available pretty much 24 hours a day. Very good food, I might add. We had a lot of fun with grandparents and those Paxman brother and sisters who chose to travel together - trivial pursuit, karaoke, semi-organized book discussions, eating at those non-stop food stations, and the like. I think our favorite stop was Puerto Vallarta. Your Mom and I got off the ship, caught a local bus into town and conducted our own excursion of the city which included the best authentic Mexican food we've eaten for awhile. We think we ought to start planning some similar cruise experience for our family, that is, all of us. We got home Sunday evening (June 26) and turned right around and headed back to SLC for Nathan and Sara Jane's wedding Monday (dinner) and Tuesday(wedding and reception). Very nice and nice to see family gathered for something other than a funeral which was the case last summer with Elinor and Kay. Your Mom will tell you mucho mas about both the cruise and wedding if she wins her battle with the computer gremlins that are determined to keep her off the blog site. She may log in with my name and password if that battle drags on. We went to see Batman Begins last night and enjoyed it. I liked it better than what I remember of the earlier Batman movies. I would love to hear from you all - summer plans, current events, and what the heck you're up to. Meanwhile, Happy Fourth of July to you all. Much love, Dad/G'pa

Love The Pictures

2005-06-16T11:45:00.000-04:00

Thanks Annie for the great pictures of Waddoups/Bentley experiences in NYC. I have seen pictures from the girls-in-New York trip in February but hadn't seen these. Mom is in SLC at a Harp Therapy Conference until Friday and we're sort of getting ready for our cruise down the Mexican Riviera with the Paxman grandparents and some of the siblings. We leave on Sunday and will be back the following Sunday. We went to Park Valley (do you remember Park Valley on our trips to Pacific Grove? Park Valley was where we hit rabbits and dodged owls and hawks) at Kathe and Con's request for a fireside on Transitions in Eastern Europe Since the Fall of the Soviet Union. It actually went OK; your Mom played several numbers on the harp and talked about the bugler of Cracow and the Brockbank Education Fund; and I talked about the economic transitions occurring in that region in the past 10 years, the project I was involved with, and from the perspective of the LDS Church, the importance of supporting humanitarian and educational initiatives like the Brockbank Education Fund (there are dozens). We want to hear about Mat's trip to Ecuador and upcoming trip to Italy, Chris' experiences in Wyoming, Nancy in Tucson, and more about Annie and family's summer plans, including your trip to Utah. I think Mom will get back on our blog site, but it turns out in her frustration getting on, she created about twelve user names and has trouble matching up her user name and password. I love you all dearly, hope to hear from you soon. Dad/G'pa

2005-06-09T15:36:00.000-04:00

Afternoon in Central Park NYC, Memorial Day 2005 (apparently I'm usually the photographer!)

2005-06-09T15:35:00.000-04:00

Lauren, Maddy & Gran/Mom at the Singing Diner in NY--February 2005

2005-06-09T15:33:00.000-04:00

Maddy and Sam on Madison Avenue, NYC

More from the Middle of the World . . .

2005-05-27T10:09:00.000-04:00

Just a few highlights for now (I´ll post pictures once I´m back in the homeland, but we get to [have to?] meet with the archbishop of Cuenca, Ecuador, in a little bit).

- Wabash College is treating us very well down here. The hotel we stayed in last night welcomed us with a hot, mint-scented damp washcloth, a welcome drink, turndown service, hot water bottles tucked between the sheets and blanket to make sure that everything was warm and toasty, rose petals scattered on the bed, and a beautiful colonial house setting.
- Yesterday we went to some Incan ruins, among which several llamas were chilling out, chewing their (or someone else´s) cud. I got my picture taken with one of them. Frank put me on an alpaca mailing list a while ago, and so it seems oddly appropriate to make acquaintances with the creatures that have been inhabiting our mailbox in the form of pamphlets, alpaca festival notices, and purchasing catalogs.
- Ecuadorean food uses a lot of banana (fried plantains), yucca (breaded and fried), hominy and popcorn, and seafood. I told some of the other professors that I grew up putting popcorn in my tomato soup just like Ecuadoreans do. Did I grow up in Ecuador, and just never know it? Or is that something that Mom and Dad learned in Peru?

More later! My love to all.

Happy Birthday, Bo!

2005-05-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

I don't know why I remember this but today's Bo's birthday. I think it was because it was the same day as Play Day at Wilson School the year we got him and it just stuck in my head...I don't know, the brain's a funny thing (and terrible thing to waste, I hear). Correct or not, I remember it every year. So happy birthday, Bo! Remember when he used to get all worked up and race around the circle created by the kitchen, dining room, and front room at 55 East? Remember how he ran, ran, ran right into the closed sliding glass door (I think at both Wildwood and Lamplighter)? What are your favorite Bo memories?

It was really wonderful to have Dad here to celebrate graduation with us; thanks, Dad....but too short (the trip, not you...you're just the right size). I've been enjoying my new relaxed schedule. Eventually I'm sure it will get old but for now I've been enjoying a few matinee movies, reading (for pleasure!gasp!), just slowing down and noticing. (Oh, and also doing laundry, cleaning up, puttering, and even ironing.) Having said that, I'm already on the search for the next Plan, next Thing, next Trip to look forward to, craving adventure, newness, change. Where does that come from? Is it genetic? A strength or a fault? Dunno.

Hope Chris made it safely to his destination and that Matt managed to get out of the bird jungle alive! More details please, both of you!

Sending love to you all,
Annie

Yay! I'm In!

2005-05-26T14:24:00.000-04:00

It took all my persuasive powers, OK admittedly they are quite modest, to persuade the blogmaster that I had a legitimate username. I had to try several times, and now I'm thinking that if I would have used "empty" instead of "mt..." I would have had better results. Truth in advertising, you know. I had an interesting time in Kosovo last week, and a wonderful, nearly 24 hours with Annie, Greg and kids on part of Saturday/part of Sunday on the occasion of Annie's graduation. I liked it all including the commencement address by the Prime Minister of Greece, the actual awarding of degrees in Annie's college, and the open house in her department, a kind of Edith Bowen School facility. I also liked the Danish that we picked up after dropping Annie off to que up for the commencement procession. It got us through a long day. My sister Kathe has asked your Mom and I to do a fireside at her ward in Park Valley where she and Con are homesteading, and wanted something on "what you've been doing in eastern Europe." Or maybe it was "what in the world you've been doing..." So, my thought is that I'll actually put something together and post it for you to see as well. Hope all is well with all of you, especially Chris and Matt who are still on travel status. Love you all,
Mario/Dad/GPa

Update from the Ranch

2005-05-25T00:47:00.000-04:00

We just went to see the film The Upside of Anger. Interesting and good and surprising. I don't usually like Kevin Costner, at least in the last few years, but this role fits him, or he fits it.
Chris is on the road again, after a breakdown in his new van in The Middle of Nowhere, Arizona. He had to be towed into Show Low, after driving for four or five hours. Bad timing (like there is good timing for breakdowns). He was on his way to Wyoming for his summer job, but something with the clutch system blew. But it is fixed now and he is on his way again. Praying for his safe journey to Wyo., and that this is the only trouble he has with his new/used van. Very frustrating for him. He'll tell you more about it. Two words: surly mechanic.
I think we will go down to Provo for Mem. Day, with a stop in SLC at David T.'s grave. Mom says the Webbers will be at Wildwood and we would like to see them. My Aunt Patty had surgery for lung cancer last week, but it hadn't spread to the lymph nodes or anything, so they are optimistic. That is three aunts who have had cancer. Yikes. Makes me feel good that I had my mammogram(sp?) and colon test. I really studied for that one, and it paid off.
Thanks, Annie, for setting up the family blog site. It's a great boon for the family. And congratulations on you Master's Degree. So proud.
I had a great stay in Tucson. We did alot of eating, went to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was entertaining, saw Dave's exhibit (very impressive), gabbed, napped, had a birthday celebration for Nancy, but no cake. Just dinner out with dessert. We did sing to her back at the house. A very slow, kind of lounge act version of Happy Birthday, and a few of the other songs. Dave was a good sport. There is alot of love there, between those two sweethearts. The Betz let me stay in their condo, which was generous. They have offered it anytime we want it, so sometime, maybe we should meet in Tucson - all of us. Preferably in the winter months.
Signing off now. Sure do love you all. Yes, that means you. Love, Ma/Gma

From the Equator . . .

2005-05-24T19:20:00.000-04:00

I´m sitting in an Internet Café in Quito, Ecuador right now. We spent the last two days in a Cloud Rainforest region, staying in a very comfortable lodge with all of the appropriate accessories: hummingbirds, views of the canopy of the forest, interesting plants, and (today) a breathtakingly beautiful day. We got up early to go birdwatching, and it ended up being a bit more interesting and exciting than I expected.
I´ve got my default trying-to-blend-in-with-the-locals outfit on, but I think it only works in Europe.
Well, I hope all you dear ones are well . . .

Great picture!

2005-05-18T19:54:00.000-04:00

I like how you caught my silly face spelling bee picture. I think I should be in the middle though. I would appresheate if you got a picture of me playing soft ball.
Love,
Maddy

Good idea Annie! ... and congraduations!

2005-05-18T16:51:00.000-04:00

I always fancy myself as computer savvy, but my recent attempt at starting a bentley website (at the request of Ma and Pa Bentley) was a complete and utter failure. so, way to go annie!
I like to play my guitar, play chess against my computer (me:2 computer:102), ride my bike around town, hike in the desert, e também eu gosto de falar português com minha amiga, Leslie Cho. I'm going to try to save some money this summer so I can go to Brasil next summer for the intensive language program in Fortaleza. Mom informed me that Maryann and Ralph Degn will be very close to there.
I am now the proud owner of a volkswagon vanagon! My truck got really sick, then was broken into and torn apart, then got even more sick. sad. The VW won't give me any problems though(ha ha). No, it really is in good shape and I look super cool driving it, plus the backseat folds into a full size double bed. My truck is going to Dave Lewis. He's going to make a sculpture out of it.
I'm off to Wyo-South Dak-tana in a couple of days. My job was postponed for a week or so which gives me more time to pack up and see friends before i go. Also allows my arm to heal up to 100% before I start working (oh ya, i broke my wrist about a month ago trying to push start my dead truck).
Nancy and I had a wonderful visit from Mom-Grandma B. Always good to see the madre. We went to the San Xavier del Bac mission on Sunday and lit a candle for Nancy Thomas and stroked St. Francis's head. Went to dinner with Nancy, Dave and Mom on monday for Nancy's 30th b-day. Good times.
That's a great picture of you and the lightbulbs Maddy! It looks like you have alot of fun with your friends.
And I want to be an astronaut too, Sam, or a rockstar or an archaeologist or just a good man.
OK, enough for now.
Love you all

great website!

2005-05-17T18:59:00.000-04:00

this is a great website.I'll try to go on it when I can.
I love books,jokes,playing outside and board games but after that I will go on.
I am in first grade and soon second.I want to be a astronaut.
Sam

Great Idea!

2005-05-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

Annie,

What a great idea . . . I read a bunch of blogs somewhat regularly, always with the thought in the back of my mind that I should do something more than just passively read them. More to come from me, I'm sure!

Hello Bentley famdamily

2005-05-17T14:41:00.000-04:00

I am emerging from my school-study cocoon and decided to start a family website. Let's communicate!

2005-05-17T12:36:00.000-04:00

Maddy and her team ("the lightbulbs") of ace spellers in March 2005