I got tagged by Danette

I got tagged by Danette and I didn't understand what that meant. She explained that she had tagged me to put the fourth picture from my file on an entry. I have lots of picture files, but this one was forth in one of the folders.

When we took this trip, we went with my cousin, Randy Vance to California. We stopped at Mesa Verde, the Grand Canon, Disneyland, Universal Studios, the Pacific Ocean, and San Diego. We visited my Sister, Bonnie. We visited my cousin, Gordon.

This picture was taken at the Grand Canon. Andi and Robert's shirts say "Generic Kid". I was wearing one labeled "Generic Male" and their mother was wearing "Generic Female". Randy was just wearing a regular old shirt.

Friends that are always welcome

This morning, we had a visit from some very dear friends. The picture above is of Betty and her dear friend, Esther. When we lived in Longmont, they were studying together. Esther was teaching Betty Spanish and Betty was teaching Esther English. Neither could speak the other's language, but they would have the best time with each other. They were actually getting to the point that they could have a good conversation with one another.

We visit with one another occasionally, but not as often as we would like.

They came here from Honduras to visit their first grandchild and have been here since. For a couple of years, I sat beside Orlando and translated sacrament meeting, Sunday school and priesthood meetings for him. With time, I began wearing translation gear and was translating meetings for other Spanish speaking brothers and sisters each week. We had a lot of fun with each other and have become very dear friends.


After they had been here for a while, their other children joined them in Longmont. Edwin is the son pictured above.

They needed to go to the Honduranian consulate. The nearest one is in Arizona, but the consulate travels to Colorado one day a year. Today was the day. It was so nice to spend a few minutes visiting with them this morning.

Orlando was a bishop in Honduras. Here he has been a branch president and is currently serving as an assistant to the High Priest's group in the ward they attend. Esther is a teacher in the Relief Society.

This is a family that is welcome in our home any time they care to visit. Our skin is a different color, our cultures are different, but the gospel makes us brothers and sisters. Our love for each other transcends the differences.

I found a wonderful qote.

I've been reading The Story of Roland written by James Baldwin and published in 1917. The book has had quite a history with me. At some time, the ragged old volume belonged to the Free Public Library of Newark, RI. It was discarded by them and it came into the possession of the Capulin, Colorado School District 13. This school district was disbanded in 1966 when I was as student and working in the Library at Centauri High School. The worn old book was going to be destroyed. I was interested in it because of my first name and I was allowed to take it home as my own. I never got around to reading it. I have kept it for over 40 years and have carried it from home to home letting it collect dust.

A month ago, I was talking to a co-worker from Raliegh, NC. He commented that my name was not listed in the company directory as "Kent" and he had had some difficulty finding me in the company directory. He told me he was reading "The Story of Roland" and asked me if I had ever read it. He was reading it and told me about the wonderful characteristics of the story. I decided it was time open its covers.

Tonight, I was reading in chapter 13 of the book, "The Princes of Cathay". I found this wonderful quote by Malagis, the wizard:
"Did you ever think, my children, that there is magic in every book, and that when you open the pages, good fairies or wicked elves come and whisper to you? The words are the mysterious creatures that salute the magician who reads; and they tell him of the wonderful past, and lay bare for him the secrets of the present and the future."

That's true for more than Malagis' book of enchantments. This morning, I had a rare opportunity to read the opening chapter of a work in progress. What an opportunity! Words can be so powerful! They can invoke emotions. They can make us feel warm and secure or afraid and anxious. They can create images in our mind's eye. They can debase us, or they can motivate us to be better people.

I am not a Catholic but ...

This little film applies to any religion. I enjoyed it and hope you will as well.



Enjoying it is not enough.

A Saturday Outing to the Denver Temple

This morning at 7:30am we met our friends, the Greenbergs, and headed to Denver for a trip to visit the temple. I am afraid I'm not the best photographer, but here are a few of the photos we took.

It was a beautiful morning and the skies were blue and the sun was shining. I should have gone back a few feet to get the entire building, but I'm not the best at planning ahead.

David pointed out the moon near the figure of Moroni atop the temple. He's really good at pointing out the detail.

The fall colors were beautiful.




The lighting is not the best for this shot. It's taken toward the East where the sun is coming up.

We enjoyed the flower gardens around the temple that are always perfectly clean and well cared for. David took this shot.

I really love the calming sound of the fountain in front of the temple.

This is Patty Greenberg and Betty in the garden behind the temple.

David and I were obliged to pose as well. I feel so short next to him.

Don't I look cook in the Sunglasses?

David is a BIG man. I struggle to shake his hand because his hand is so large compared to mine.

I didn't get this shot very straight did I?

There is a peace around the temple grounds that I really enjoy. I always feel revitalized when we visit the temple and I feel really blessed to have one so close. It was fun today to share that experience with some friends. We hope to go again soon.

Buttons and Memories

When I was growing up, my Mother had an abalone shell that she used to catch buttons. When we lost a button from a shirt or coat, we could always find a close match in Mom's button collection. I loved to play with those buttons.

When we were little, Mom would take one of the large buttons and run a string through the holes and into a loop. It would make a type of children's toy that was like a yo-yo. They were fun to play with and when we were tired of our homemade toys, the string was removed and the buttons found their way back into the collection in the shell

When I was teaching school, I had a metal tin in the closet that I used to teach lessons. Buttons of different sizes, colors, textures, and materials were rich resources for the kids to divide into piles by some classification and then they would explain what that classification was. I taught a unit on prejudice and we would exclude some bunch of buttons from our collection based on some arbitrary trait. It was easier to understand fractions if the students could see 2/3 or 1/2 with buttons. We used them when we worked with percentages. My favorite activity though was creative writing using buttons. Each student would take a button, then would write a description of the person who wore the button or a story about how the button was lost. I saw some really creative stories.

When I left teaching, I kept the button collection because I had enjoyed them so much.

After I married Betty, I was introduced to her Mother's button jar. She really had a huge jar, shown to the left. There was really a wide variety of buttons in the jar. As I sat and visited with Grace, she enjoyed telling me about some of the people that wore the buttons in her jar. I enjoyed it so much, that she gave me her jar.

My grandchildren and I have enjoyed playing with the button collections together. When Matthew was little, we used the buttons in Home Evening Lessons. They made a lesson on tithing more interesting and easier to understand.

I'm no longer a school teacher, and my grandchildren have grown, but I still have the button collections. They have been played with so much that I'm not sure which buttons started in which collection. I still enjoy looking at some of the buttons and remembering. I can't remember any more who wore which ones, but I can put them in different eras and in different styles.

Take a look at the pictures and see if you can find a button or two that you recognize. If you see one, tell us about it.

Potted trees and relationships

Because of my love for trees, I took on a hobby that has been around for a long time. The history of Bonsai trees begins in China and extends to our time. I love houseplants because they give life to a home, but I have a special affinity to the Bonsai tree because it is a miniature of something larger and more powerful.



A Bonsai can actually mimic a whole forrest. These groupings have a special formula. They should be created in groupings of five or seven. Because they are in such shallow soil, they must be cared for daily. They cannot be left alone, or they will die of thirst. Both the top of the tree and its roots must be pruned must be pruned regularly to maintain it's proper porportions.

A few years ago, Robert gave me a money tree. It looked very similar to the one to the left. There were five trees braided together and there was a cloud of leaves above the trunks. The picture to the left is not the one that Robert gave me, but it is similar to the one I got from him.

I'm no bonsai artist, but I have enjoyed taking care of Robert's little tree. We've had it now for several years. I've lost three of the five trunks and the branches are getting quite leggy. I don't know how to prune them back without killing the plant.

When Eddie passed away, someone gave us a potted plant. Betty has cared for it and it has grown from a table top arrangement to a plant that is thre to four feet tall and stands on the floor. I took a snipping of the plant and put it in a bonsai pot. I've enjoyed pruning it and shaping it. You can see from the picture at the right that I have a wild branch that I either need to wire or snip to bring it back to a better shape. I think I'll try bending it first.

The plant at the right is a jade. I stuck a clipping in a bonsai pot and have been keeping it for about a year. For a while I thought it would never be more than a couple of leaves. In the last couple of months, it has started branching. This plant is quite easy to prune. It can be done with a sharp fingernail and a pinch. The oriental statuette was a gift from one of my home teaching families. One of their boys served a mission in China.

My trees have taught me a lot of lessons. For the last five years, I have taken care this little tree and have watched it flourish. As the spruce trees in the neighborhood were producing buds, this little tree did too. It stayed outside during the winter and endured just as its larger cousins. When we moved into this house, there was no shade tree we could put it under, so we put it on a table under the patio cover. While we cared for it, it did well, but when we neglected it it could not survive. Because of the small pot, it didn't take long for the tree to die from thirst.

I'll replace the little tree, but I'll be a bit wiser. I will remember this experience and care for the tree as I should.

Relationships are like these trees. They flourish with the proper amount of care, and if they don't get the care they need they grow sick and die.

Bermejillo

Toward the end of my mission in Mexico, I was living and working in Torreon, Coahuila. I met and worked with a very special family. The picture to the left is of David and Tomasa Castaneda, Tomasa's brother Pablito and three of their children. They were a humble, hard working family. When Elder Fillmore and I worked with them so many years ago, they lived in the desert near Bermejillo, Durango, Mexico. They were eager to hear our message and accepted it completely.

When the time came for their baptism, we had a difficult time getting them to the chapel to baptize them. Finally one day, after a rainstorm, we found enough water in a deep hole in the desert floor to baptize them. David dropped a rotting tree down into the hole so that he could use it to climb down into the hole. As he lowered himself into the muddy water in his pure white clothing, a scorpion scurried out from under the loosened bark and stung him. He had a painful hand and got very ill, but his spirits were not dampened.
At the same time, the other elders were working with a local community leader. He and his entire congregation joined the church.

I came home from my mission, and many years later, I decided to call Elder George Fillmore. We visited and he told me that he was still in contact with the Castaneda family. They were in the United States for October conference. George made arrangements and we were able to meet with David and Tomasa.
What a wonderful treat! They had one of their sons, Benito and his wife Alma, with them. We laughed and cried and got caught up with one another's lives.

As we were saying our goodbyes, Benito and I traded neckties. The tie he gave me is faded, but I dearly love it. I told him that even though we had just met, I felt that we had always known one another. "Brother Vance", he told me, "we knew each other in the preexistance"

I really hope that the time comes that we can visit again.