Where the Past and the Present Collide . . .

Where do the Past and Present Collide?

At a funeral for an 89-year-old man.

A brother-in-law.

An enigmatic soul.
That's where.

It's a little disorienting.

Dizzying, really.

Meshing time;

personas;

change.

Keenan, Shirley, Jeanette, Jolene (DeMoin's oldest daughter), Verla, Carol, Amy J.

Shirley, Carol Lee, Jeanette, Lucy 1942

Verla 1947
Shirley made her bonnet.

Jeanette, Shirley, Lucy. Front, Verla, Mama, Carol 1960 

  A $10,000 (unless they were jesting) Cedar Casket,
built by our cousin, Osa Figgins's son.

Carol was talking to DeMoin's cousin, Scott, telling him
she remembered when he fixed DeMoin and Lucy's furnace while we were there.
"I didn't fix it," Scott replied, and pointing to me, said,
"her husband did."

 Effie, another daughter.

Jolene and Effie were with their dad 24-7 for the last five weeks of his life.

Lucy and Mama; Effie and Brent West Layton 1965

 Shirley & Keenan

 Jolene with Effie's daughter, Krista, and her son, Hudson.

Jolene 1951

Jeanette, Verla, Carol, Juanita, and Lynn 

Jeanette, Lynn James, Shirley, Verla, Carol Lee Cedar Mountain 1951

 . . .with Amy Jayne

Amy Jayne, Brent, and Keenan at the cabin. 1966

 Dale Sorensen at his brother's casket.
An older sister, Earlene, and older brother LaDru
were also there.
The three boys were never called LaDru, DeMoin or Dale.
They were "Duke", "Deak", and "Doc".
Earl, a twin to Earlene, was just Earl, named after their dad.

 Dale and Margaret with their daughter, Jeanette 1959

 Lynn, Juanita, Donna Chamberlain Graf and Jeanette

Juanita and Donna were classmates at Valley.

Donna is my Forever Friend (and cousin).

Donna in high school 1954

DeRay, Jeanette, Juanita coming in from visiting Lynn at the herd. 1957

Lynn playing football in high school.  1948

Lynn, Jerry, DeLoy Orderville 1940

DeLoy, Jerry, Lynn with Mama 1960

 Verla, Roma, Carol, and Art Tait.

Verla, Roma, Carol and Lana Gale. 1960

YEA VALLEY; YEA HIGH; YEA YEA VALLEY HIGH.

Junior Varsity Cheerleaders. Counterclockwise: Roma, Verla, Verda, Lenise 1961
High School Cheerleaders: Verla, Cashe, Lenise 1964

 The mortician, Dennis Mosdell talking to Donna, Lynn and Juanita.

Dennis married our cousin.
Did I mention that the bishop is our double-first cousin's grandson?
Robert Cox, son of Bill and Myrna Cox.
Bill is the son of Amy Esplin and Charlie Cox.

 Grandchildren and great grandchildren singing

Families can be together forever

Lucy and DeMoin have 91 posterity.
"Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;. ."
By contrast, we have 13.

We each had five children.

Jeanette Sorensen Esplin and Jeanette Esplin Hugh 
This is the first time I've seen her,
since I held her as a baby.

Jeanette holding Jeanette 1960

Jeanette Sorensen married our cousin Tim Esplin;

so there has been a Jeanette Esplin in Orderville 

with only a few years break for at least 80 years.

Yes, she was named after me

but they never told her

so what good did it do?

In loving memory of DeMoin Sorensen

born April 24, 1928 in Mt. Carmel, Utah; 
died May 12, 2017, in Cedar City, Utah.

The Cedar City Equestrian Pointe Ward Relief Society

prepared a meal for 180 people after the service
before the burial in Orderville.

The Scapegoat

YES! May 17, 2017

Three days after Brent's birthday;

Two days after Mother's Day.

 Mother's Day Chairs.
(My tracks; cat tracks.)

The tomatoes were in the greenhouse outside - uncovered.

These plants were on the deck.

We were living in a 9x15' unit in  Stadium Village the first time I remember being accused of losing something I had never seen. It was like 3 AM. DeRay was going fishing with Roland Palmer and he couldn’t find his fishing license. He ranted and raved and blamed me until he found it right where he put it.

This morning he yelled at me for not telling him that it was going to snow and all his plants were left outside uncovered. Helen Hunger stayed home from club to dig all her plants up and take them in the house. I heard on the news coming home from the gym at noon that it was going to turn very cold; snow in the mountains and maybe in the valleys. That means us.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?”

Like everyone else, he’s always got his nose in his Smart Phone. I didn’t think I had to tell him anything. 

He’s always talking “diet” on the phone when I come home. How do I get a word in edgewise?

“YOU NEVER TALK TO ME. ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SAY SOMETHING.”

I thought it was common knowledge.

“Once again, I get the blame for something you didn’t do.”

“IT’S YOUR PLANTS AS WELL AS MINE.”

If I had said something, he would have discounted it or said I didn’t know what I was talking about. He’s responsible for those plants; not me. He also would have complained that I was nagging.

For over sixty years, whenever he can’t find something the first thing he does is blame me. “Did you throw it away?” I get the blame for everything that goes wrong; every mistake that is made; everything that is forgotten. You’d think he’d look to himself, just once, but I guess that’s not a manly thing.

On the other hand, he has been so good to my family throughout the years. Incomparable. He took Mama to more of her cobalt treatments than all the rest of the family put together, including me. And he does it cheerfully.

So the bottom line is that I’m a scapegoat without remorse. It’s the least I can do.

Just Be With Trees

I came up to Snowbird with a different mindset than ever before after reading a little on Forest Bathing and the Window Studies and having just completed a 3-week meditation on “Hope” with Deepak and Oprah. 

Do nothing. Just absorb. Generally, we do nothing at home too and we have several large evergreens on our property and mountains close by. But we don’t have pure air to breath.

In the beginning, I was going to come to Snowbird alone; a retreat where I could work on projects; hike a couple of hours a day. I can’t even remember if I swam. I toted three or four file boxes of photos to be put into albums and worked diligently on them far into the night. Thank heavens, digital cameras replaced film and there were no more scrapbooks. Gradually, the family started to come for a day or two or all week and we started joining in the activities. Seeing the same people every year, we made friends and it was more of a social/activity experience.

Through RCI we get additional weeks at the Cliff where the Spa is heavenly. Would you believe it was closed for remodeling this year? We swam in the family pool at the Cliff. DeRay and Ed took the shuttle down to do Water Workout at Iron Blosom with Judy each day, staying for the movie and popcorn.

Mainly we absorbed.

 Sunbathers and swimmers within five feet of each other.

Bikinis and sun umbrellas vs ski pants, boots, helmets, and gloves.

  Note the chair lift. This is the bunny run.

     Just be with trees. No hiking, no counting steps on a Fitbit. You can sit or meander, but the point is to relax rather than accomplish anything.

Forest air doesn’t just feel fresher and better—inhaling phytoncide seems to actually improve immune system function.

Qing Li, a professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, measured the activity of human natural killer (NK) cells in the immune system before and after exposure to the woods. These cells provide rapid responses to viral-infected cells and respond to tumor formation, and are associated with immune system health and cancer prevention. In a 2009 study Li’s subjects showed significant increases in NK cell activity in the week after a forest visit, and positive effects lasted a month following each weekend in the woods.

This is due to various essential oils, generally called phytoncide, found in wood, plants, and some fruit and vegetables, which trees emit to protect themselves from germs and insects. Forest air doesn’t just feel fresher and better—inhaling phytoncide seems to actually improve immune system function. (QUARTZ MEDIA)

Window Studies: The dominant perception is sight. After patients had gall bladder surgery, records showed that those who were placed by a window with beautiful views of lawns and flowers asked for less pain meditation and were released from the hospital sooner than those who had no window or the window only showed a brick wall. Even observing nature through a window is beneficial.

We loved watching the skiers.

We were entertained each night watching the groomers

working late into the night preparing the runs for the next day.

    The Japanese practice of forest bathing is proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress hormone production, boost the immune system, and improve overall feelings of wellbeing.  

Left is through a window; right is mirror reflection.

    “Forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments.”

Subjects were more rested and less inclined to stress after a forest bath.

Trees soothe the spirit too. A study on forest bathing’s psychological effects surveyed 498 healthy volunteers, twice in a forest and twice in control environments. The subjects showed significantly reduced hostility and depression scores, coupled with increased liveliness, after exposure to trees. “Accordingly,” the researchers wrote, “forest environments can be viewed as therapeutic landscapes.” 

 Mirror image.
"Never interrupt me when I'm busy," Ed scolds when I ask him to unload the dishwasher.
(He's "busy" listening to his tapes - that, by the way, DeRay
made a special trip home to get because he forgot them.
"It's only an hour away."
"It's a long week," he pleads.)
"Now your bed's made.
Now I don't have to bitch,"
he says to his dad.
"You don't have to repeat yourself.
Leave that to me," pointing to self.
"Thank you for being so good to me." (My favorite.)
One night we watched Manchester by the Sea
where literally everyone was dysfunctional.
"I hate dysfunctional people," I summarize.
"You must hate yourself then," Ed wisely says.
"Have a good day," the woman at the spa said as we hung up the phones.
"Oh, I forgot to throw a fit," I jest.
"Leave that to me," Ed concludes.
Ah-ha. His secret revealed.
He probably thinks it's his calling.

 Eddy working out.

Three times I was the only one in yoga class;
three times I had private instructions for one hour.
One instructor said she charges $100/hour for private lessons.
Wow.

 Reflection.
I took the picture towards the windows standing behind Amy outside.

 

Amy in the foreground

with reflections in the windows of us and the mountains.

 This is for my forest service brother, DeLoy.

Iron in the water that makes the turning leaves of the aspens red instead of yellow.

Amy finds the jewels.

Amy got this great shot of a marmot by the river.

 All a reflection.

Again, the washed out Amy is live;

the scene is a reflection through the windows of the lodge.