Memorial Day 2020

     Because of the corona virus much of California, indeed most of the U.S. and much of the world, is largely shut down.  Gatherings of all kinds cancelled.  Including Mt. Vernon Memorial Park's (Fair Oaks, CA) annual Memorial Day event - a most stirring, inspiring, meaningful tribute to our fallen. We have observed Memorial Day there for decades now.  What  Memorial Day be without it?
     David knew.  He suggested that we visit our own kindred dead who served our country and who lie buried conveniently close by - at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery less than a mile from my home.   David and Teresa had 20 small flags.  Miriam made 30 decorations from ribbons and small wooden stars.

My great uncles Thomas and Esque Frost are buried here.  It was Esque who inspired us to visit. We all knew and love Esque.   (Their older sister, my grandmother, Aurora Marie Frost McGinness, was cremated and supposedly scattered over the forest in the Sierra Nevadas.  Unfortunately, years later it was discovered that some of the contractors did not scatter the ashes as hired, but dumped them in some yard.) We will think of her is being in the beautiful places she loved. Well, really, I will think of her as being in much more beautiful place. 

 Back to my story.  The Saturday before Memorial Day (observed)  David, Teresa, Joseph, Andrew, and I biked to St.  Mary's.

  We trimmed the edges of our family gravestones and placed flags. 

My bio father's father, a good and loving man.

After tending our family graves, we randomly placed our flags and little decorations on veteran's graves.

Holding up samples of the decorations Miriam made.  I am holding mine backwards so you can see she made them look good on both sides.

Andrew in the back; Joseph, Barbara, David; Teresa at camera

The following Saturday we picked up what we could find of our decorations.  The cemetery needs everything cleared by the 1st.  
We learned that low temp hot glue does not hold up well in a heat wave.

Words cannot express our gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy in this promised land.  We mourn the losses and the pain their families felt.  We  appreciate all who have served and sacrificed.

There's a hole in my bucket, well, not my bucket

email to my children and grands

     How are you doing with this pandemic social isolation thing?  In some ways, my life has hardly changed, but I do miss being able to see family!  I realize that I have not spent nearly enough time with you even when I could.  Must. do. Better.  I hope you don’t mind if I do!

     The other day Andrew and I met up with Teresa - mostly keeping our distance.  We bicycled to a hamburger stand near Tahoe Park, bought lunch, and enjoyed eating and visiting at the park.  Afterwards Andrew and I bicycled to the grocery store on the way home where he watched the bikes and I grabbed (that is to say purchased, not snatched!) some veggies.  Because I prefer wearing skirts,  but had actually worn pants on the outing, when we got home I changed.  Won’t wear those pants again!!  When I took them off, I found a sizable L shaped tear on my rear.  Not my rear, the rear of my pants.  Which would have been exposing part of my underwear.  Blush!!  

     I do not know when it tore.  I can only assume that neither Teresa nor Andrew saw the tear or I would not have been allowed to walk around in the grocery store unwarned.  Of course, come to think of it, Andrew probably does not spend much time looking at his mother’s rear end.  Blush, again!

     Discovering the tear in my pants, reminded me of a former co-worker.   Lisa was probably the best person I know for telling you if something was amiss.  If there was something wrong with your clothes, or make up, or whatever, THAT YOU COULD FIX, she was sure to tell you.  If you couldn’t do anything about it and it wasn’t really important, she didn’t tell you.  I am confident that if it was something serious, she would tell you and help you figure something out.  

Andrew is pretty good at helping me that way.  Except for the seat of my pants thing.  Flicking away a stray eyelash or even pulling an old lady hair that does not belong on my face! (after warning me, of course)

     It is not uncommon for a sister at church to tuck in another sister’s tags that are sticking out of the back of the neck of her clothes.    

     Have you ever seen someone with a problem with their appearance?  Maybe someone came out of the restroom with part of their clothes caught up wrong -  Or with toilet paper stuck to their shoe -  Or someone with their buttons lined up wrong so there was a button without a hole a the top and a hole without a button at the bottom?  If you saw something like that, what  did you do?  I am sure you would NEVER laugh or point it out to someone else.  (Well, if it was a person of the opposite gender and you had a relative of the same gender handy, you would likely tell them to help the person.) Would you do the same if it happened again?   

    Would you want someone to tell you? 

    I think we (by this I mean me) should practice really looking at people and actually seeing THEM.  We should practice seeing a child of God.  

And if that person needs a little help, we should kindly, respectfully help them. 

Hoping you pants never have embarrassing holes!

Love,

Mom / Grandma Barbara

      

What do you talk?

Barbara Robarts <motherof8robarts@gmail.com>	Apr 18, 2020, 4:20 PM (2 days ago)
to Disney, Ryan, Acadia, Aurora, David, Teresa, Miriam, Ruth, Thomas, Debi, Joseph, Andrew, Benjamin, Bethany, Esther

While my friend Norma and I were FB chatting recently, she mentioned that in the years she had lived where she is now she had never been asked to give a talk until recently.   (she is one of the few people who actually love to give talks)  She was scheduled to speak and then the quarantine, so she didn't.  I asked her what she was going to talk about.  I think she was going to talk about The Proclamation on the Family. Then I asked what was the favorite talk she has given. 

I think Norma told me,instead, about a talk she has thought about and would like to give.  She reminded me of these scriptures

      Matthew 5:13 ¶ Ye are the ^asalt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

     Luke 14:34 ¶ ^aSalt is good: but if the ^bsalt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

    I told her it made me nervous because I am not pure salt. 

She responded: "Knowing that the Savior wants to encourage us and not depress us, I pondered why. President Oaks wrote an article in the Friend about salt in Jesus' time." (I found something in the June 2013 New Era. ) "From that, I thought about the things I know about the properties of salt." (Norma loves science.") In Israel, they still can get salt from areas that have flooded and are drying out. You can mix dirty salt with water. It dissolves , while dirt does not. It will float and can be tilted off or skimmed off. Heat will dry up the water and you will have good salt. "If we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we repent and skim the dirt out of our lives. Baptism with water begins the cleansing process, the Spirit finishes it. Partaking worthy of the Sacrament renews the process. "I don't think Jesus was trying to discourage those of us that are not so pure salt. He wants us to realize that through the action of faith, just like real salt, we can be recovered and made pure by using water (baptism/Sacrament), wind (the Spirit), and the warmth of the sun (Son of God)."

Sounds like a good talk to me. I hope she gives it someday.

The favorite talk I gave was about Corianton, son of Alma. Son of a prophet, sent on a mission, Corianton allowed himself to be distracted. Big time. I have often wondered how the fame of a woman grew so much in a day without the kind of communication we have. I mean everything was word of mouth or written and carried from place to place. I suppose he could have heard travelers talk about her, maybe seen a picture someone had drawn. But it seems strange to me that that would be enough to cause a man to leave his mission and  travel across the country to be with a woman, especially a woman with a bad reputation. He knew he would never be her one true love.  She was not into true love, just "good times" now. But, anyway he left his mission and went off to see Isabel. Alma really tells Corianton off and lets him know how serious his sins were.  Why did Alma rebuke Corianton? He did wrong, but what's done is done, why go on about it?  What was the point of telling him how bad he was?  If he is a loser who has blown his chance at salvation, why bother? Because he could repent and be forgiven!  Because he could be good and clean again!  Corianton repented and was able to be a missionary again and teach people the word of God. Because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we don't have to  be cast off and forever doomed.  We can repent and be clean again. 

    I see that Norma's talk and my talk were ultimately about the same thing. 

    What is your favorite talk that you have given?  and/ or What is the talk you would like to give? 

     

acadia.roser@yahoo.com Apr 19, 2020, 1:16 PM (1 day ago) to me Happy Sabbath! I was unaware of the 5 seasons in the Sonoran Desert. That is really interesting, thank you!  Recently I learned that the saguaro cactus takes 50 years to develop each arm, so when  you see those big cacti with 5 arms then that means they have been around for a very long  time!  My favorite talk was probably my first talk ever when I was 12 about benevolence. It really  taught me how to begin your life with Christlike attributes. The talk that I would like to give is about true joy. I will write it and send it to you! Barbara Robarts <motherof8robarts@gmail.com> Apr 19, 2020, 1:40 PM (1 day ago) to Acadia I look forward to your talk on joy! Miriam Robarts Apr 19, 2020, 7:50 PM (18 hours ago) to Disney, Ryan, Aurora, David, Teresa, Ruth, Thomas, Debi, Joseph, Andrew, Benjamin, Bethany, Esther, me, Acadia Those are good talks and they do go together. They could be two parts of one talk. For my own talk: My favorite is when it's over.  Thanks! So true! I agree! ReplyReply allForward