Tracie's World

Met up with my Brother's family for a quick weekend in Boise.  It's getting to be one of my favorite cities - plenty of fun things to do, easy to get around, and halfway between here and the family homestead in Oregon.  Which makes for a convenient place to have a getaway with family. (Sadly, my camera batteries decided to go on the fritz right away, despite being charged the day before. But my sister-in-law took a whole bunch of pictures, so I will post a few of those as they become available...) After checking in to the hotel in the early afternoon, we stopped for a healthy lunch, then went of to the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa.  This is a museum that specializes in World War II era aircraft, and also has donated journals and pictures from former service personnel.  It also has aircraft from World War I and Vietnam.  My oldest nephew dreams of someday becoming a pilot, just like his hero President Uchtdorf.  He also wants to be an astronaut.  So ...

It's St. Paddy's Day, and that means for at least one day a year, I'm a little bit Irish.  Yesterday afternoon I put my green on and step danced around the house while listening to some of my favorite Irish groups on youtube. I also made a loaf of Barley Soda Bread which was very warm and tasty.  This morning I made  a lovely Shepherd's Pie, so after I got home from Church  I heated that up and served it with some boiled cabbage.  Delicious! Now time to settle down with TCM and The Duke, and a showing of my favorite St. Paddy's day movie, "The Quiet Man". My celebration is complete. 

Spent last weekend in Houston with my sister's family.  The occasion was my nephew's baptism.  Other than the trauma of driving in Houston traffic, we couldn't have had a better time. I arrived on Friday, and after visiting with my sister and her BFF, and her hubby, who had also flown in for the occasion, we picked up the kids from school, and then it was off to watch my niece in a high school softball game.  Sadly I didn't get any photos, but we had a fun time rooting for her and her team.  She's a really good ballplayer, and I was a very proud Auntie. After that, it was off to dinner at a really yummy BBQ joint, where they have the world's largest baked potatoes. Everything's bigger in Texas, and those potatoes proved it. After getting a good night's sleep, my Sis and I went shopping for our picnic that day, as well as for refreshments for the Open House after the baptism.  After that, it was off to Brazos Bend State Park for a picnic and a vi...

While I was thinking on what goals I should set for this year, I was impressed by these quotes from  Elder Quentin L. Cook's last conference talk. He said that:  "Immersion in the scriptures is essential for spiritual nourishment.  The word of God inspires commitment and acts as a healing balm for hurt feelings, anger, or disillusionment."   He also included this quote from the poet William Wordsworth:  “Feed [your mind] with lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, rash judgements, nor the sneers of selfish men … shall e’er prevail … or disturb [your] cheerful faith” (William Wordsworth “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey,”).   Inspired by both of these statements, I decided it would be good to spend more time reading good books this year.  I love cheap detective stories as much as the next person. But it's probably not good to read only those.  So I went out a few weeks later, and bought "A Treasury of Poems", and "The Com...