grandpa art

Some of you may be aware that my paternal grandfather passed away last week. This has been a really hard year for our family: this recent death is the fourth one which we have experienced in just over a year. My mom died a little over a year ago, my maternal grandfather died about six months ago, and J's aunt died only a few weeks ago. I'm so tired of thinking about death, being bombarded with death, and analyzing various coping methods for death - it is tempting to write a whiny, complain-y post about all of the mental and emotional strain that I have experienced over the past year. But I'm trying to not focus on those feelings right now; I don't want to be selfish. I would rather think about my grandfather and honor his memory.

The night that Grandpa passed away, J and I lay in bed, talking about death. J said that during his aunt's memorial service, it occurred to him how much people exist as memories, even when they are alive. When we think of a person, we usually think of our memories associated with that person. And even when a person dies, our memories of that person do not go away. So even though it's terribly sad that we can't make new memories with a person after they die (at least not in the same way as if they were alive), we can be grateful for the memories which we have of that person. Memories don't die unless we let them die.

I wanted to write a few memories that I have of my grandpa:

• My grandpa has a lot of great one-line phrases, like "You bet!" and "How 'bout some ice cream?" He would sometimes throw a "y'all" into his sentences for fun, since he lived in the Deep South for awhile. But my absolute favorite grandpa-ism (which has been my favorite for as long as I can remember), is "It's just you and me, Babe" ("Babe" meaning my grandma). I always thought it was cute that grandpa called grandma a "babe," even when I was as a little girl.
• My grandpa loved COSTCO. He worked in the grocery business for a long time, and he thought COSTCO was the best store: they have the best meat, the best produce, the best prices. I could always count on grandpa to let me know what was on sale at COSTCO. In fact, I think that the first time I ever went to COSTCO as a new member, I ran into my grandpa in an aisle (literally one minute after I had stepped inside the store). I also remember that soon after Sam was born, grandpa showed up at our house with a slew of COSTCO food. I specifically remember a rotisserie chicken and berry cheesecake. Yum.
  
• Grandpa was a great chef. The last time I spoke with my grandpa on the phone, I was asking advice on how to make his "Perfect Chili" recipe. Grandpa used to host a chili party every Christmas for the extended family, and when it became to difficult to host and cook for our ever-increasing numbers, other families began to host the party instead. Last year was my family's turn to host the Chili Party, and I used Grandpa's special recipe to make homemade chili for about 30 people. Although Grandpa wasn't feeling well back then, he made it to the party and gave me a "thumbs up" for my chili batch.
• Grandpa was very involved and interested in the lives of his grandchildren. He liked to sit down with us and talk about how things were going in our lives. After he and grandma moved to Utah, he liked to support us grandkids in our various activities. He and my grandma attended several BYU choir concerts over the recent years (especially for my brother A and sister C). I also remember that he and grandma made it a point to attend my seminary graduation, where I was an invited speaker. That meant a lot to me.

We love you and will miss you, Grandpa. Thanks for being such a good, kind man. Family BBQs won't be the same without you.

perry mason

This past weekend, J and I watched an episode of "Perry Mason." For those of you who aren't familiar with this television show from the 1950s and 1960s, "Perry Mason" is a legal drama which revolves around a famous defense attorney (Mason) who defends clients that are accused of murder. And Mason wins (just about) every single case.

Watching the show was quite a blast-from-the-past for me. My older sister and I used to watch "Perry Mason" on a regular basis. This past Friday I was surprised to see how much I remembered from the show - I could introduce J to each of the main characters. I know that the acting in the show isn't stellar (that was really apparent as I watched the show this past weekend), and that each episode is predictable (i.e. the murderer always dramatically confesses in the courtroom during the last two minutes of the show), but I love it.

J says that now he understands why I love Hitchcock films and murder mystery stories, given that I grew up watching "Perry Mason." In his opinion, Hitchcock is "a step up" from the television series - I guess suggesting that my taste in murder mysteries has refined with age. Hmm. Maybe he's right. I wonder what "a step up" from Hitchcock would be? What murder mystery show/film will I like when I'm fifty?

Has anyone read any of the Perry Mason books? I know that the television series was based on novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner, but I've never read any of them. Should I try them out?

end of fun

I'm a wee bit sad. This morning is our last time with J in his role as "househusband." He's just about to start his new job (which is awesome and exciting), but I'm a little sad that he won't be around so much. We've had a lot of fun during the time that he's been home - even though I know that he has been a little bored at times (but such is the life of a stay-at-home parent, right?).

Our family schedule is slowing morphing and changing. J and I both need get up much earlier (boo!), which means that we need to start going to bed earlier. In turn, that means that J and I won't have so much time together in the evenings (after Sam goes to bed). We're going to have to put Sam to bed earlier too, so that he can wake up in time for his preschool that meets twice a week. (Sam is absolutely thrilled to go to school.) But this is all for the greater good, I suppose. It just means that J, Sam and I need to maximize on the waking hours that we have together.

Really, we are excited for 2011 and the prospects that this new schedule/job will bring. But I am glad that we got to have J around the house for a few months. What a fun time we had.

ye olde 2010 books

Well, I didn't even make it close to my goal to read 52 books for this past year. But hey, I'm okay with that. I'm still happy that I had the time to read 31 books this past year, especially considering that I got a full-time job. Anyhow, I read some really interesting books and had a lot of fun. I realize that my book list is more for myself than anyone else, but here are the books that I read during 2010:

1) Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
2) The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe
3) The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
4) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5) Austenland by Shannon Hale
6) Thornspell by Helen Lowe
7) The Scarlett Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
8) Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980 by Jean Robertson
9) The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Don Thompson
10) The Message by Lance Richardson
11) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
12) The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
13) Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch von Albom
14) Lemon Tart by Josie S. Kilpack
15) The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry That Transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey
16) Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
17) Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
18) The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
19) The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
20) Art History (Portable Book 1: Ancient Art) by Marilyn Stokstad
21) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
22) A Rather Lovely Inheritance by C. A. Belmond
23) The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke
24) The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
25) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
26) Unboxing of Henry Brown by Jeffrey Ruggles
27) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
28) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
29) Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman
30) East of Eden by John Steinbeck
31) More Stories from the Twilight Zone by Carol Serling

The books that are listed as hyperlinks are some of my favorites from the past year; these are the books which inspired me to write a post about them.

As for the upcoming year, I've already accumulated a large stack of books to read (a lot of them I received for Christmas). I'm excited to delve into them. I started A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens yesterday. I have to admit, it hasn't grabbed my attention wholeheartedly. Could it be that the opening line "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" is so popular because no one seems to get much further in the dense text? I'm curious to see how well I like this book. I have already read that there isn't much Dickensian humor in this novel, which makes me worry that I won't enjoy this book very much.

Perhaps I'll have to break up my Dickens reading with something more humorous and light - my aunt recently sent me a copy of The New York Regional Singles Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker, which looks like it's pretty fun. I'm anxious to start reading it.

What about you? Did you do a lot of good reading during 2010? Any book recommendations for me?

feminist christmas

In some ways, my Christmas was a little feminist-centric. One of my main presents was Brunelleschi's Egg, a brand new Renaissance book written by one of the founding mothers of art history, Mary D. Garrard. I'm really excited to read this book, and I hope to use it for an upcoming course on Renaissance art.

In addition to my present, one really special Christmas present was given to my dad. Right before Christmas, my sisters came across my mom's carbon paper letters (which were bound in a book of carbon paper). When I was younger, my mom wrote all of her letters with carbon paper, so that she could keep a copy of anything she mailed. My sisters wrapped up this book of letters and gave it to my dad. It was really sweet.

It was fun to go through the letters and see what my mom had written. On Christmas morning, soon after receiving Brunelleschi's Egg as a gift, I happened to come across this excerpt from one of my mom's letters to her friend Trudy:

"[M] has already had a darling boy write her love notes and send her presents. They went to each others' baptisms. He was not in our ward but we took him to piano lessons every week and he practiced on our piano until they got one. She is a feminist and has not been excited to be in an all boy Primary class. (Maybe already having attention from one boy will help her be less boy crazy later on.) Always has been a feminist" (dated March 21, 1991; my emphasis).

It was fun to read that quote on Christmas day, and think about how things came full circle with the gift of my feminist art history book. I guess my mother figured out that I was a feminist even before I even knew the meaning of the word. For me, reading that letter was a gift: it was a nice little testament to my mother's perceptive nature. I think she was more perceptive than I sometimes gave her credit. It was nice to feel a connection with her on Christmas day.

whirlwind vacation

We just got back from a whirlwind vacation in Utah. Before we left, I wondered if we would have a lot of downtime during the first week of our trip, since my dad/siblings/friends would be working or in school. We managed to keep ourselves really busy, though - to the point that we didn't get to visit with everyone that we wanted to see. All in all, though, we had a lot of fun. Our trip was really eclectic, and we did a lot of diverse things. Here's a smattering of our adventures and activities (in no particular order):

• Trip to the Museum of Ancient Life (i.e. the "Dinosaur Museum") with L and Sam
• Carpet shopping/ordering for the S family's basement
• Children's Choir concert at the Cathedral of the Madeline (this was one of the best choral concerts that I have attended in a long, long time)
• Dinner with Heather
• Scrubbing the kitchen floor and bathroom (Me)
• Seeing the burned ruins of the Provo Tabernacle
• Visiting the BYU Museum of Art
• Watching "A Christmas Carol" (1951) and "White Christmas" with Grandma
• Lingerie shopping for a bride-to-be (Me and Ixoj)
• Disco skating at a bachelorette party (Me, Ixoj and V). This was really fun, but I was a little disappointed that I wasn't as smooth on skates as I used to be
• Seeing "Tron" in 3-D (J and his guy friends - I had no desire to go along)
• Watching Phin walk down the aisle (beauty and grace!)
• Helping with wedding setup/takedown/celebrations
• Cooking three batches of my grandpa's "Perfect Chili" for 30-40 people
• Watching my dad and C (the younger) do the "Thriller" dance on Christmas morning (they were playing the Wii game "Michael Jackson: The Experience." And even more awesome: my dad was wearing his Christmas robe at the time. We got some pretty priceless video footage.)
• Meeting with gutter men to get bids for the S family's new gutter
• Listening to Andrew play his bagpipes in the S family's living room
• Watching Sam play "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" on Christmas morning for several hours

Here are some pictures:

The burned Provo Tabernacle
(An interesting art history post compares these ruins to an 19th century painting by Friedrich)

Disco skating + Victoria's Secret = a bride to be

At Phin's wedding

Dinosaur!

Digging for dinosaur bones

Interior of the Cathedral of the Madeline

With Zillah and Ixoj after the choir concert

"Hungry, Hungry Hippos" on Christmas morning

"Thriller" awesomeness

mom and amusement rides

Today was the one year mark of my mom's passing. I've thought about her a lot lately.

Over the past year, I've thought a lot about the things that my mom taught me (or tried to teach me - I wasn't her most receptive pupil at times). My mom had strong opinions on topics that ranged from health food to Fabian Socialism to salicylates to immigration to SIDS to spirituality. But over the past few weeks, I've continually thought about one specific experience where my mom taught me something very unusual (especially unusual for her, that is).

My mom wasn't really into theme parks or roller coasters. She didn't really enjoy thrill-seeking rides or understand their appeal. And, as a consequence, my family didn't visit a lot of amusement parks when I was young. About eleven years ago, though, my family went to visit a little fairy tale park called Enchanted Forest. My dad ended up buying tickets for the Big Timber Log Ride, which includes a really steep drop at one point (similar to Splash Mountain at Disneyland).

I've always been a little nervous about going on thrilling amusement rides, mostly because I don't have a lot of experience on them. I could tell that my mom was reluctant to go on the ride as well, but we had to go since Dad had already bought tickets. So, Mom and I hesitantly sat down in our log car together. As we started the steep ascent before the final drop, my mom said, "When we go down, stomp your feet against the bottom of the car and scream as loud as you can. That will make your stomach feel less queasy."

So...that's what we did! We stomped and screamed like madwomen! Ha ha! You have to understand, that this was very uncharacteristic of my mother. She didn't like to draw attention to herself, so screaming at the top of her lungs wasn't something that she did. And to be stomping her feet while screaming at the same time? Ha! It was too funny. You might be able to tell that we are laughing in the picture above. I think we were partly laughing out of relief that the ride was over, but I also thought it was hilarious that my mom acted that way on the ride. I never saw her do anything like that since.

I feel kind of privileged to have that experience with my mom; I don't think any of my siblings got instructed on how one should act on a thrill ride. (Though I suppose I could be wrong - she did try to give us fair and equal instruction on most topics). Thanks for the tip, Mom. I'll be sure to pass that information along to my son, if we end up on an amusement ride together.

I love you, Mom.