Our Farewell Breakfast

Friday, Oct. 29,
I had a short three-hour shift at the John Taylor home before we went to the temple. The six departing couples were invited to go with the mission presidency together through a session. After the session we followed tradition and were escorted up into the tower of the temple. We rode an elevator to the fifth floor and then started walking up circular stairways. At each level we looked out windows until we were inside the very top dome upon which angel Moroni stands. What a view and unique experience! We counted 98 steps from the fifth floor. Sunday, Oct. 31,
I made a pot of minestrone soup for our district meeting/party. We all go home in a couple of weeks, so we just had dinner for fun. Muellers brought "severed toes" and jello, and Funks brought a Boston cream cake. We had a good visit.
Monday, Nov. 1,
We had a slow day at Tickets and Tours, but Greg had a good time being a teamster. The horses are his buddies,
and he got to drive the wagon a couple of times. It is so much fun!
We visited our neighbors, the temple missionaries, Mursets as they will be leaving tomorrow.
Wednesday, Nov. 3,
I am thinking about Kallie who hurt her ankle and cannot walk. So sorry!
We had a combined prep meeting this morning and Pres. Ludwig explained how the newly-developed winter schedule will work. All sites will be open from 11-5, but if a visitor wants to see something from 9-11, he will be assigned a tour guide (rover) to take him wherever he wants to go. He also said that last winter there were about 150 missionaries, but this winter only about 100, because there is such a lack of them worldwide. The new schedule starts Monday.

Thursday, Nov. 4, Prepration Day, the last one before we leave.
We have been cleaning and sorting in our spare time, and I almost just want to get in the car and leave now, but there are a lot of last things to do.
We made arrangement to meet the Iron and Lace people from Bentonsport here at the Family Living Center. She wanted to learn to make the shawl, and Betty also brought Artisan bread dough to bake in the bustle oven. We had a good time, and spent a couple of hours here with them.
Friday, Nov. 4,
It was our Farewell Breakfast. The seven leaving couples sat at the head tables,
with lovely fall decorations, and lots of good food. After eating, we sang our Ashby/Snow Cast song, which S. Mueller and I made up. It went over well, and we got some laughs. That is the whole point, because at the end we all sing "Farewell, Nauvoo" to each other, and there are tears all around.

Faces of Halloween

Here are some of the pumpkins that were carved.

The streets were lined with them.

The sunset was beautiful over the Mississippi.

A Nauvoo Halloween

October 27, Wednesday, Happy Birthday, Jamie!
We won the paper cut-out competition between the preparation groups, so we were treated with cinnamon rolls this morning.
They were making giant Halloween witches at the kindergarten, and there was glue all over the place! Mrs. Haas has more patience than anyone I have ever seen.
An honors group from BYU came to Rendezvous, and they loved it so much, they wanted a picture with all the cast.

Thursday, October 28, Preparation Day
I spent a great morning being domestic, while Greg was at the barn. I took an inventory of our remaining food and made a list of meals to eat in the next two weeks. I made spaghetti and brownies and took them to Morgans house in the evening for dinner. She made salad and rolls, supplied ice cream, and ate well. Afterward we all went to help carve pumpkins for an hour. There are hundreds to be done, and each design is drawn on first, and we just do the carving.
Elder Morgan on the left, then Greg, and Sister Waddoups on the right. Sister Morgan is off scooping out the insides!


After I asked, Elder Morgan told us stories about his years in the Tabernacle Choir, how he was accepted, the tours, and finally about being the personnel director for nine years. Wow.
NRI supplies at least 300 carved pumpkins for the town.

Saturday evening:
There is a little parade to start, and then the whole town has a party, with food, games, costumes, and candy.
The missionaries donate lots of candy and fill 1000 zip-lock bags to hand out to everyone. They also make popcorn in this huge kettle, and hand it out also.

Greg and I gave away bags of candy for two hours.

Teamster Greg

Greg has been working at the barn during his spare time the last few weeks. He wants to be a teamster, and has been doing all the menial jobs, and learning the ropes, or shall we say the "lines". He has ridden with the other guys as they drive, he has learned the narration to the wagon,
and he even got to drive the horses when they were taken out for exercise. There are 16 huge horses to take care of. It is a lot of work, but he is getting there. And now he is on the teamster schedule one day next week! Very happy.

Changing of the Seasons

Oct. 21, Thursday, Preparation Day
We started the day by walking over to Mueller's home to help them move the stove and fridge and clean under them, then they walked back with us to help do the same at our home. We both leave in a few weeks, so it was a good plan. Then we both showed up for the first carriage ride of the day, a perfect, crisp autumn morning!We did lunch out and bought a few groceries. We don't need much from now on. Greg spent some time in the antique shop, but he looks and looks and never buys. I stayed in the car most of the time, because I would find something I want and it would just be one more thing to take home and take care of.
I finished reading the Book of Mormon tonight. It took 5 1/2 weeks to read it through. I thought if it only took Joseph Smith about six weeks to translate it, why does it take us a year to read it? I know we can study it forever and keep learning. It is an amazing book, and very true.

Friday, Oct. 22,
We served at Carthage for the third time. It is still a "wow" experience. Afterward, I finally got to eat at the Mexican restaurant, and it was pretty good for around here.
We had two shows of Rendezvous, and a little girl came up to me and told me she loves my curls.

Saturday, Oct. 23,
Yea for E. Guymon! He granted my request and scheduled me at the Heber C. Kimball home since it was the last site I need to serve in to have done them all. New Sister Barlow was with me, and we had fun.

Sunday, Oct. 24,
President and Sister Peterson of the temple spoke in Sacrament meeting as they are going home from their three year mission next week. There was an open house for them in the evening, with thousands of cookies served. All the temple missionaries leave on Nov. 1 while the temple is closed for two weeks.
Greg and I served together in Heber C. Kimball's home, and somehow I gave all three tours of the day. It is a lovely home. Things are getting pretty quiet around here some days.
Monday, Oct. 25,
I like Tickets and Tours for another reason, I realized today. There is good music playing all the time and on quiet days you can hear it well. I miss the music. I did a few errands after work. I got a check from the man I sent the camera to last week, so I cashed that, mailed our absentee ballots, and delivered twelve crocheted hats to the humanitarian collection box at Lyon Drug. Here are some of the hats:
We are having lovely fall weather, and the leaves are changing. So many colors..........
And I found this perfect Halloween tree, don't you think? You can almost see the witch and bats flying through it.
The temple is beautiful in all seasons.

Lyon Drug Gardens

Wednesday, Oct 20,
Sister Jaster and I were at Lyon Drug, and it was a beautiful morning. This is the view from the sitting room, through the back door.
The head of the Nauvoo gardens, Dorell, was in the garden, digging starts to put in the greenhouse, and since we were not busy, we asked him to teach us something. He has a reputation of knowing absolutely everything there is to know about plants. He showed us fennel, which looks like dill, but smells like licorice.
And Salvia Elegans, which smells a little like pineapple. The leaves can be chopped and mixed with cream cheese for a spread on crackers.
And this one was incredible. It is a native prarie plant called a chocolate daisy, and the flower really smells like chocolate! It doesn't taste like it though.
And then my favorite. Cotton plants. I don't think I have ever seen cotton growing, and I didn't realize that this was cotton. He picked us one of the cotton bolls. What a miracle plant, amazing to think that we can make clothes from this.

A Mouse About the House

This is the display of cookies prepared by the sisters for the Ludwig daughter's wedding reception, held at the mission home. The ones I made are back there somewhere. Friday, Oct 15, Nathan's birthday!
Greg went to the barn in the morning in his spare time, while I kept busy at home. By the time I got to Tickets and Tours at 11:30, all the ride tickets were gone, and we ended up giving out all the tickets to both shows of Rendezvous. The weather is so good, everyone thinks it is summer.
It was a busy day, and then our cast did the two shows.

Sunday, Oct. 17,
Greg went to a 7:00 a.m. practice because they sang in Sacrament meeting "Brightly Beams". It sounded really good. Elders: Guymon, Taylor, Anderson, Reber.
We have combined meeting now after Sacrament meeting, kind of Sunday School, Relief Society, and Priesthood all in one.
Greg and I served at the Bakery, and he had never done that before, but since it is a busy place, he got good at giving the tours.
Our Sociable in the evening was a DVD, "The Lifetime Work of an Amateur Artist: Boyd K. Packer" and it was interesting. I had seen some of his work, but this was comprehensive.

Tuesday, Oct. 19,
Sister Hall and I were cleaning at the Seventies Hall, when I went upstairs in the bathroom to get the windex and paper towels. This is what I found!
Yes, it was alive. We called NRI, but while we were waiting there was another mouse running around downstairs. By the time they came, both were out of sight. But the nice man brought us two boxes of DCon.
One of my tours was for nine people, five of whom were teen-age boys. While they were in the library, they spotted the mouse and were trying to catch it for us. No luck. Good thing we only had three hours here, and then we left and went to Sarah Granger Kimball's for the next three hours. No mice in sight there.

10-10-10

Sunday, Oct 10,
We had another good sacrament meeting. Aren't they all? The YSMs sang "The Olive Tree" for their last Sunday here. Elder Blodgett told the story of his reactivation 20 years ago when his first wife died. And then he met his current wife on a blind date to the temple. She says she was testing him to see if he was temple worthy when she suggested it. And that if she didn't like him, at least she wouldn't have to sit by him. But then they were asked to be the witness couple! When told they weren't married, the temple worker said, do you like her? When he said yes, the worker said, then that's fine.
E. Blodgett also told about the support of his 97-year-old mother. He told her about the $1.00 toll bridge between here and Ft. Madison, and she didn't believe that there was such a thing at first, but then she sent him twenty new one dollar bills to use for it. Cute.
Zone Conference is always good. Pres. Ludwig talked about inviting people to come to Christ, and then showed part of a talk by Elder Holland who said: Missionary work is not easy, because salvation is not a cheap experience. It should require something of our soul. We need a few hours in Gethsemane, and a little time at Calvary to know something of the price that has been paid. We only pay some small token.

Monday, Oct. 11,
I served 6 hours with S. Ronco. She practiced her accordian for quite a while when no one came. And then she let me try it.
We only gave two tours each the whole day.
It was our first Ashby cast performance, with two shows!

Tuesday, Oct 12,
We had a 7:30 a.m. party at the sewing room, a going-away for S. Smith, the site leader all summer here. Milk and hot cinnamon rolls were great.
Sisters: Taylor, me, Funk, Humphries. Top: Hanson, Schiess, Mueller, Kirkman, Smith, Lindsay, King.

Wed, Oct. 13, My turn to volunteer at the public school in Nauvoo for an hour in the afternoon for the Kindergarten class. Mrs. Haas has tons of patience.
For Rendezvous I finally fixed my hair with the ringlets S. Mac Kay gave me before she left. At least four strangers commented on how nice my hair looked. Perfect for "an attractive widow from Warsaw". I feel like Laura in this picture.
Thursday, Oct. 14,
We ate lunch at Ivy's with the Hansons. Excellent.

Later, Jeppesons asked us to eat out with them in Nauvoo. Eat out twice in one day? What is the world coming to? Our waists are protesting. This has to stop! ......not.

Nauvoo On the Road

Saturday, Oct. 9, Caleb's Baptism Day
We thought of Caleb all day, and are sorry to miss this important day in his life, but he knows that we love him, and that we have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or we would not be here.
We spent the day with this group, leaving the parking lot at 7:30 a.m. for Bentonsport and the annual Riverside Festival. We were set up right in front of the gazebo and (country western) music, next to the Des Moines river. It was a perfect day and lots of people came by. We showed pioneer games, rope-making, bricks, bustle oven and candle-making. We handed out ropes, bricks, gingerbread cookies, and pamphlets, and invited them to come see Historic Nauvoo. We packed up the trailer, piled in the van, and got home by 5:15, just in time to get ready and do two shows of Rendezvous. The weather is so nice, there are lots of people in town! Turners, Muellers, me, Funks. Let's make a rope.

The Great River Road

Thursday, Oct 7, 2010
We had a confusing day to start off with. We had made a last minute plan to go with Storeys for a short outing to the Canton Ferry, but late last night, Linda Butler called and they only had a couple of hours and wanted to see us. There was a little confusion, by I ended up visiting Linda at the Family Living Center, and then later Greg and I had a quick visit with the family while they had a picnic lunch. It was fun to see them.
We left by 1:00, and had a nice drive on the Mississippi River Road loop, on a beautiful day.

When we saw this, it seemed very strange. There was a guy just sitting in there, on top of the train cars. What?
We finally figured out that he was dropping railroad ties off the side, evidently for future work.
We had a yummy lunch at Ivy's in Ft. Madison, one of my favorite places around here. And they have great desserts!

We drove through Montrose, across the river from Nauvoo, where the Saints landed, and the miracle of the quail occurred. Can you see the temple?

Greg also had picked some more grapes from a vineyard (don't worry, the farmer was giving them away, he didn't just take them), and we made some more grape juice. It is really good. We had a nice day.