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Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty…

The line from the Nat King Cole song came to mind for a title for the entry of our arrival in Oklahoma City.  (I know, that was a bad sentence.  But it is late enough I don’t care.)  If any of you out there are planning to motor west, take our way, take the highway that’s the best!  It just so happens we live about 3 blocks from the old Route 66!  I have driven portions of it nearly every stretch except in Illinois.  I hovered closely to it and drove most of it in Missouri, even some of the unused sections.  There is another reason to come visit.

We have arrived at our home in Oklahoma City.  After a two day drive, nearly all day for both days.  I am exhausted and my tailbone was threatening to leave me if I did not get up.  We drove from Paul, Idaho to Arriba, Colorado last night.  We would have gone further, but a pretty bad storm stranded us.  This morning checking out of the hotel I felt like I had found my way back to the 1960’s.

Today we drove through Kansas and half of Oklahoma.  It is very beautiful in Oklahoma.  Kansas is beautiful as well, but the trees here help break up what could become monotony.  The home is quaint.  We did a pretty thorough walk through of the home.  In the next three years we will have to go through and redo most of the rooms in the home.  The previous couple had flipped the home, but had obviously done their own work.  It isn’t bad work, it just would not have passed my own muster.  However, we won’t be doing it because the quality of workmanship is below what I would do myself, but because there will be some easy improvements to increase the resale value of the home plenty more.  An air duct extending to another room of the house adds on a number of livable square feet.  Just the fact another room is heated and air conditioned will increase the value of the home.

There are numerous cracks, and evidence of rot or bug infestations, which with proper plastering and paint will be as good as new.  There is much potential.  We cannot complain, we have our own home for under 95K.

Tomorrow we plan on going after our furniture.  Hopefully Amanda will live through the day.

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Holiness to the Lord

I thought I would write a little entry about working in the open house for the new Twin Falls Temple.  What an opportunity that was!  You meet all types with the open house.  I thought I would describe a few.

One lady was totally amazed that there was not a portrait/painting of Joseph Smith in the entire building.  There is actually one in one of the counselor’s offices with Joseph on a horse overlooking the building of the Nauvoo Temple.  But it has to do with the building of the Lord’s house, rather than the emphasis being on Joseph.  There are others in the painting.  Anyhow, somehow the notion of our worshiping Joseph Smith continues to go on.

A good Catholic was surprised by how similar the LDS faith is to his own.  While current Catholic faith does not hold that a living person can do anything for a deceased person (other than the Savior’s vicarious work) it was not always so.  One used to be able to pay indulgences and do other things in behalf of the dead.  Anyhow, so they were not unaccustomed to the idea of proxy work for the dead.  In our little talk, it was basically the idea of revelation and a prophet as opposed to the role of the Pope.

Amanda and I both worked mostly on the cleaning crews.  I did haul quite a bit of ice, water, and cookies during my time.  You would not believe how quickly the railings get dirty!  I could pull some great grime from the railings from time to time.  It was really pretty disgusting!

The kids always lean up against the glass in the baptistry.  There is a constant job!  It was fun.  We had it pretty easy.  We had heard some stories of the early days of the open house where people would bring dirt in their pockets to drop on the floors.  Apparently some had deliberately plugged up toilets and other silly little things.  We did not see anything of that sort.

A good man in my ward did tell me about taking water bottles out to the protesters.  The man responded that he had the ‘living waters’ and was not in need of his water.  So the good brother set it down on the grass and said just in case he needed it, it was there.  Then the guy commented that if he touched the bottle they would call the cops on him because he was encroaching the private property line.  You know, for those who ‘love us’ as much as they say they do, they sure do like to argue and raise a little contention.

We were able to wander around a little bit.  That was quite a bit of fun.  Dad told me stories about wandering much more than I could have hoped for with the time and cleaning that needed to be done.  It turned out to be a great experience.  I just wish I could be here for the dedication.  I will definitely attend when we get back to this area in the future.  I cannot wait.

Anyhow, just a closing though.  I have thought quite a bit over the years about the phrase, “Holiness to the Lord”.  I am still not totally sure of what it means.  Is it a desire and wish the Lord to be more holy?  That seems absurd to me.  Is the house supposed to represent some of the holiness of the Lord?  That doesn’t seem to fit at all either.  It really is only a hollow shell without his Spirit.  It seems to be more of a personal directive, command, even hope that we would rise up to a call to be holy.  Such as a hosanna is a deep shout of adoration from all the deepest portions of our soul, so should the utterance of “Holiness to the Lord” somehow tremble our most distant bowel.  That an awe, a work, a desire, a wish, all seem to be wrapped up in the saying.  It isn’t something we should read or even pass lightly by, it is an expression that conveys a deep connection to that which is holy.  That our soul should be in line with that holiest thought and feeling before entering that dedicated place.  That is what it seems to mean, at least to me.

Taken in light that in Zion even the horses bells would have “Holiness to the Lord” written on them, I am not so sure that is a literal meaning.  But that all things would be consecrated, worked, done in a reverence of holiness.  While I am saddened so many of our historic buildings are disappearing, and especially those with the words written on them, it should not need to be written.  But in our day and age, it seems all the more needed.  For surely, only the most faithful would be willing to inscribe it upon the buckles of their shoes, their door head, or the bells of their horse.

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Back on American Soil

We have arrived back in America after a very long day of traveling.  I am very glad it is over.  Our luggage was lost somewhere on the way.  It took another day to arrive.  They must have ran it through the oven.  All chocolate melted and everything else was jarred.  They even opened the luggage to inspect.

I just uploaded 169 photos for the album.  After going through and naming all 169 of them, the thing defaulted and then did not save them.  So you may want to wait before looking at the photos.  I will let you know when I get them named.  Additionally, I have ran out of room again for the second month in a row.  The photos only run to Northern Wales.  Everything for the past week I cannot upload until August arrives.  I suppose you will just have to wait!

Life is good.  I am glad to still be alive and feeling in one piece after the flights.

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Leaving London

Today is officially the last day of our trip to Europe. Can you believe we have passed a full six weeks in Europe?? 

We visited St. Paul’s, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and the Globe Theatre today. They were all cool. However, at this point another cathedral and I will injure myself. Sir Christopher Wren did a great job on the inside, but the outside seems to be lacking some. Perhaps it is years of paint and wear. Perhaps it is war. The interior was amazing.

A couple of thoughts to wrap it up.

Amanda figured out that in the ‘To Let’ signs around Europe, meaning ‘For Rent’, if you put in an ‘i’ it becomes ‘ToiLet’. We wanted to get up and alter one or two of them, but we did not.

Secondly, on my second to last day, I was the target of a pigeon. On the front stairs of St. Martin in the Fields, I sat pondering life when a large drop fell on my right knee. I thought it was some water until I realized it was warm. Looking over, I saw the signs of whiteness indicating a deposit by some bird. It was a laugh, some disappointment, and disgust. Reminded me of the seagulls leaving a deposit in the Roman Baths in Bath.

Alas, I am humming along with John Denver about leaving on a jet plane.

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Westminster, Wicked, and Wandering

A brief update of our past two days. 

Yesterday was Westminister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and more. We went to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo and we both really enjoyed it.

Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace. It was a very fast tour, but we made it through the entire house. The rest of the time was enjoyed with the Jeppesen Family.

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Milton Abbas, England

We have arrived in Weybridge, England. We are staying with a family we knew in Richmond, Virginia; the Jeppesen family. Weybridge is not far from London and this will be our home grounds while we are visiting the London area. We certainly appreciate their hospitality. 

Today we have been busy. We spent the morning with the Wise family and saying our farewell. They really spoiled us while we were there. A full English dinner last night. I will tell you what! What a treat!

Yesterday we visited Longleat, which is a living manor house. Quite the treat. It has been there since Elizabethan times. They even have the shirt Charles II was executed in. That was interesting. The Lord of Bath lives there at present.

We made a trip to Poole and Bournemouth, both of which were interesting. We would have spent more time but Amanda left her purse at a McDonald’s which required backtracking some. It was luckily turned in and we breathed a sigh of relief.

Later in the evening Jennie took Amanda down to Weymouth and Portland while Cynthia and I went through family history. We are definitely cousins through Edward Harris and his wife. We are very likely related through my Willetts line, but we were not able to show the connection. She doesn’t have her line far enough back to connect to where I have individuals. But by all accounts, the families definitely link, making us double cousins!

Today was much more of a Jane Austen day. We visited Winchester Cathedral where she is buried. But it has a fascinating history all its own. It was falling down and it required divers to correct the foundations. How is that for interesting? We also visited the Jane Austen home in Chawton where she lived for many years.

We now find ourselves in Weybridge for the next few days. The London Temple is of course closed while we are here. But we are looking at visiting London while we are here.

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Bath, Birmingham, and Milton Abbas

Tonight we write from the deep countryside of Dorset.  We are staying in the little village of Milton Abbas with a cousin’s cousin.  We are both related to the Coley and Harris lines in Halesowen, England.  Peter and Cynthia Wise have taken us in a day earlier due to the fact we are not going to Merthyr-Tydfil, Wales now.  We will be with them two days.

Yesterday went terribly wrong.  We left a little late from Walkden, got stuck in a traffic queue for 1.5 hours in Stockport meaning we had to drop our visit to Chatsworth House.  Then we decided we better drop Mattersey and Misson on my Sharp family line to at least make Sudsbury Hall.  We then found out the M1 was closed with miles of traffic queue so we had to take side roads to Nottingham.  There we saw the Robin Hood sites and made our way to Sudsbury for their manor house.  Well, all the side roads were occupied with motorway traffic so we were delayed, we got lost, and in the end missed the last time to get into the home.  We got pictures with the house but Amanda was devastated we didn’t get in.

In defeat, we made our way to Hagley, near Halesowen, near Birmingham last night.  We checked into our little hotel and ran into Halesowen where we found the church of St. John the Baptism.  Interestingly, as we wandered the cemetery, we found loads of Coley, Willetts, and Harris tombstones.  Many were modern, but there were a few in which I am sure they are cousins I have in my family history file.  That made it worth it.  The other deceased I will have to do some research on to trace them back to the family and connect them in.  Hopefully I can find another person who has done research on some of the same lines and can help me with my research.  We shall see.

Today we toured Romsley, Hayley Green, and Bromsgrove near Halesowen, more sites of Coley ancestry.  We wandered and took more pictures in St. Kenelm’s church.  There were more Coleys and Willetts found there.  I was pretty excited.  None as old as in the Halesowen church, but you never know.  We hopped on the Motorway and went through Worcester, Gloucester, and finally to Bath.  There we saw the Royal Crescent, some of the Victoria Gardens, and the Roman Baths.  It is a beautiful city.  We enjoyed ourselves.  From there we wanded to Milton Abbas way out in the countryside.  We drove several miles through one car-width lanes to this village.

We are still figuring out what we will do tomorrow.  At any rate, it should be fun.

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Manchester, England

Today Amanda and I ran away for a quick visit to Manchester.  There was not much on the agenda.  We visited the Arndale Shopping Center, Manchester Cathedral, Manchester Town Hall, Old Trafford (Manchester United football grounds), Market Street, and the Trafford Centre (glorified shopping mall).  Amanda was able to pick up her British copy of the first Harry Potter book.

This evening, the Gore’s organized a bit of a get together for some of the members of the Eccles (now Swinton) Ward.  It was very, very kind of them to do this for us.  There were several families who came and it was wonderful to catch up with them.  Leslie Walsh, Bob and Joan Wood, Alan and Margaret Griffin, Vincenzo and Dawn Santi, Alex and Gloria Brown with their son Nathan, and the Gores.  They all had such wonderful things to say to us, about me, and it was great to catch up with them.

Kevin and Jean Gore treated us to a pub dinner this evening.  It was really good food.  They also treated us to a roast duck dinner last night.  Each family has treated us very well, and provided great meals.  We certainly appreciate their generosity.

Tomorrow we head to Birmingham, the day after to Milton Abbas.  Don’t know when I will be able to get back on.