Pioneer Day

Yesterday was Pioneer Day, the day when the Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley, the end of their destination. That was in 1847, over one hundred and sixty years ago.
I'm very grateful for the pioneers and that they were willing to leave their homes, in some cases many times over, in order to practice the religion they knew to be true. I know this religion to be true as well and I'm grateful for the sacrifices they made for me and all the others who would come after them.
I got to go on a pioneer trek in 2005, we went some of the same places where the Willy and Martin hand cart companies went. The Willy and Martin companies are rather well known to members of the LDS faith these days, these were poorer members who had traveled from England in order to join the rest of the Saints in Utah. The companies started out late in the year and eventually needed rescue from the frozen areas of Wyoming where they were stranded. Many people died before reaching the Salt Lake Valley and many more had health problems or lost toes, etc. from the trip.
When we went on our trek it was summer and we were well watered and fed, in contrast to the companies who were literally freezing and starving to death. One of the remarkable things about the companies though, is that they were not sorry that they'd been through that ordeal, it brought them closer to their Heavenly Father.
I am very glad that I am not a pioneer, that I am not called on to take a difficult and dangerous journey into the unknown, but I am very glad of those who did.

Do you get excited by paper? Do you thrill at the sight of a beautiful blank book? Do you get more excited about going to a bookstore than about going shopping for clothes, etc.?

I do.

I had a very satisfying day today because I made text blocks for five new books. Most of these books will be gifts for other people, but at least one of these books will be for me and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the size and shape of the book, it's going to be on the bi-auron and I've never made a book like that before. I'm excited because I got a new sheet of decorative book paper last Thursday and I'm excited to use it. I'm excited at the thought of having a cool new blank book to fill.
I love having a new blank book and the excitement of deliberating what it will be used for, or what things might go into it. I may be a nerd because of this, but I believe it to be a worthy cause.

I wanted to include a picture, but it's not working, so maybe one will be up later.

Too many posts without any pictures.Here for your viewing pleasure is Silver Lake and thoughts of cooler temperatures or swiming.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I got to go to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert last night and it was really awesome. We got to sit on the plaza of the Conference Center and we were only a few rows back. President Monson was at the concert and it was the closest I think I've ever been to him, he was only 50 to 100 feet away.This concert was especially cool because they were celebrating 100 years of the choir making recordings; they had songs from various stages of the choir's history and had videos with history of the choir.
I've sort of taken the choir for granted, I've always known about them and so I guess I never really thought about what a big deal they are and how great of a choir they are. I've recently become more aware of what a great feat the choir is, they're an award winning choir, they've traveled the world and sung for Presidents and I believe for royalty and they're a choir of volunteers.
Here's the choir singing Come Thou Fount, you can find tons more of them on YouTube or their website.

Anne

I posted that my thoughts had been turning to Anne of Green Gables, and I have indeed been getting my Anne fix, I decided to bump Anne up on my reading list and I have been voraciously reading my way through L. M. Montgomery's books. I've read all the books before, but not for a while and only ever read Anne of Green Gables once before, I've found that I can appreciate the books much better now than I might have in the past and I've been enjoying them immensley. Right now I'm reading Anne of Ingleside.
When I started reading the books again I was also looking foreword to watching the movies again, I haven't watched them for years, but as I read through the books I found that the movies were becoming less and less appealing to me. I used to think that the first movie was a very good representation of the book but I no longer think so. Megan Follows, who plays Anne in the movies used to be the epitome of Anne Shirley, now I find that while I envision most of the characters as they are in the movies, Megan Follows is not my Anne anymore, I think that may have spoiled the movies more than anything else. It's very curious how things like that change.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So I've been reading books lately that were written in centuries past and in these fictionalized accounts of societies past I have found something that I envy. Moving foreword is not always progression and while I believe there has been a lot of progression in this world, I believe that there has also been some regression, or digression. In my post about the word 'lexicon' I mentioned that I was sad about the decline of vocabulary in this day and age, I also have been thinking about communication and community. As the world surges foreword in technology concerns for communication pop up, with our computers and cell phones more people seem to be chatting and messaging and texting while talking to people face to face is gradually diminishing, and I find myself mourning the letter. I don't really enjoy writing letters, but I like the idea of them and I love recieving them. A day in which I receive mail is always a little bit better.
Getting back to the point of this post, as I've been thinking about all these changes that I might long for in the world, I've wondered about how it might be to live in the world with these changes made and finally today I was reminded of something that I believe Gandhi said, which is that we should be the change we're looking for in the world. I've heard this quote before and appreciated it but today especially it resounded with me. I can't promise anything, but I am going to try and make those changes in my life and who knows, maybe if I can make the changes I long for happen in my own life then the ball will be rolling and others might follow my example. It's something to think about.

Lexicon, or "a rose by any other name..."

I have only recently discovered the word 'lexicon' but I have come to love it and I wonder why we say dictionary when we could say lexicon. Perhaps I'm unusual in my attitude towards words but I do enjoy them, I love finding a good choice word, such as 'elucidate'. In some of the books I read I stumble across these gems of words, I fall in love with the words and vow to put them into my daily use... and then I don't. I quite often forget about the word treasures I find but other times I've noticed that I just don't say the words, I might feel silly or out of place at the thought because such words are not common place. I loved sticking more intelligent words into my essays, even if I wasn't one hundred percent sure I knew what they meant, but somehow I find myself less certain about using them in everyday life. I suppose I will have to renew my efforts to improve my vocabulary and give it more use.