Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spring is coming to Nauvoo!!

The trees are starting to bud...

The geese are starting to pair off...
and the grass is greening up on the path in the wood! Spring, wonderful Spring!!! I love it!!
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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Missionary Party & Service project


On Monday, March 22, we had our Missionary party/service project that we were in charge of. We decided to pattern it after the Relief Society Commemoration and wear our period clothing once more and call it a Old Fashioned Quilting Bee/Work Meeting. Of course the husbands were all invited to this Relief Society Meeting and they had a grand time. It was held at the Stake Center on our P-day and we had decorated with various quilts we had borrowed from sisters in the 2 Nauvoo wards. We first had a delicious brunch , followed by a short program and then got to work! We made 48 fleece baby blankets, and 72 baby hats for the Carthage Hospital. We also tied several quilts.
Elder & Sister Rawlinson. They are Site Missionaries and came as Joseph and Emma to sing at our program. They have beautiful voices!
The Temple missionary sisters in our period dresses. Sister Peterson is in the center in the black and white. Notice the table decorations. They were so darling. They are actually pioneer dolls that you store your extra grocery sacks in.
Listening to the program. See the beautiful quilt in the back ground. It is made by the Amish in the area.
Elder and Sister Coons working on a blanket. She was on my committee and was a wonderful help.





























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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Relief Society Commemoration

On Wednesday, March 17th, we had the wonderful experience of attending a commemoration of the organization of the Relief Society in the VERY PLACE WHERE THE ORGANIZATION TOOK PLACE - JOSEPH SMITH'S RED BRICK STORE!!
The site missionaries put on a wonderful program there and they did an extra performance for all the Temple missionary sisters. We also were able to borrow period dresses from the sewing room and ride there in the wagon pulled by two very beautiful horses. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

Brother Williams and Leishman, our drivers
on the wagon, headed for the Store. It was cold...about 40 degrees! The day before it had been 60!!
President and Sister Ludwig greeting us as we arrived...also Brother Seville (as John Taylor)
Some of the Site missionaries who participated in the play
.
John Taylor and Joseph Smith

Sisters Cutler, Jorgenson, Drebot, Whitaker, and Riffey

Sisters Baca and Eichbush

Sisters Evans & Coons


The Mission President and his wife - The Ludwigs &
The Temple President and his wife _ The PetersonsPosted by Picasa

All the Temple missionary Sisters plus "Emma and Joseph", The Ludwigs and the Petersons, and "John Taylor"



Yes...I WAS THERE!!  on March 17th, 2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The River is Melted!!

February 24th...still completely frozen!
March 3rd...melted out in the channel..still lots of snow on the ground.
All the geese and ducks are happy about that...there were thousands out there this day!
March 10th. An overcast day...but the Mississipii is all melted!! It happened so fast! But SPRING IS REALLY HERE!!
You can see there is just a little bit of ice and snow along the bank in some places.
The Geese are so happy the river is back!

Thesse containers full of straw are for some kind of bird to hatch their eggs in.  I will find out more about them!Posted by Picasa


Joseph showing the melted river to Brigham :)  Notice ALL THE SNOW IS GONE!  It only took a week.

Awesome experience!


This is an excerpt from my journal almost a month ago, but I wanted to save it on my blog along with the pictures
Tuesday was a beautiful day here….sunny and clear the whole day…which is quite unusual for Nauvoo in the winter, we have discovered. It often is clear early in the morning, but then becomes hazy and cloudy as the day goes on. We get out of the Temple early on Tuesday, so I decided to walk down to the river along Parley’s street and get some pictures of the sunset. Well, unfortunately I did not leave soon enough and by the time I reached the river the sun was gone, but the river and the sky looked so beautiful, I took several pictures anyway. As I was walking down Parley’s I could hear the geese somewhere north of me, but I couldn't see them. Their honking became louder and louder while I was at the river, so I decided to walk north through the wooded area and see if I could find them. By now it was getting a little dark, but I could still see my way through the trees. There is a little pioneer grave yard over there too that I had been to before so I knew where I was going. As I got to the edge of the woods where the corn fields begin (all the corn has been cut down of course …just about 8-10 inches of the stalk left) I could see them….hundreds again and all honking…they are such noisy birds…I often wonder what they are talking about all the time . I crouched down to get a picture, and they apparently heard or saw me and ALL STARTED TO FLY!! It was an incredible site. I took a little video, but of course it doesn't capture the sight or the feeling. THERE WERE SO MANY!! And as they began to fly, they began to honk and squawk every LOUDER!! For a moment I was a little frightened. I knew they were upset with me and I thought of the film The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock…where the birds begin to attack people! I thought with all their numbers and their size, if they wanted to attack me, they could peck me apart in minutes!!!


Lovely thought, huh? But of course, they didn't…they just keep honking and circling around and around. I really didn't see how they could see me because it was pretty dark by now and I was in the trees and being very still…so I thought I will just wait a little while and see if they land again. So I waited and waited about 5 -10 minutes, BUT they didn't land…they just kept circling and honking, and finally began to fly away. While I was waiting, however, I did see another fun thing…several deer came out of the trees and bounded across the corn field. I counted about 8-10 of them and it was so fun to watch them. I then decided I had better get home, because I knew Rick would be worried about me. I didn't want to walk all the way back to Parley’s St. and besides our apt was just due east from where I was, so I just started walking east to the edge of the trees and into the corn field. This corn field is huge…about the size of 3-4 football fields, but since the corn was cut down, I just walked in the snow between the rows. I did have on my snow boots of course, because there were several inches of snow on the ground. Anyway as I walked, I could see the lighted Temple ahead of me on the bluff…the red sky behind me on the horizon through the trees, the sliver of a new moon overhead, the deer off in the distance and the geese overhead!!! IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!! I felt like shouting or singing praises or something! I felt so grateful for the beauties of this Earth, and for the blessing of being here in Nauvoo! It is indeed a blessing on so many levels!






I didn't quite make it to the river before the sunset but it was beautiful from here along Parley's

The frozen river .


The woods close by the little grave yard where all the geese were.
The cornfield I walked through...looking towards the Temple
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This video is really dark, but you can still hear the geese and see how MANY there were if you look closely. It was truly amazing!