Neighborhoods and "Church Neighborhoods"

Last Sunday, we heard stories from the history of our little branch of the Church. Stories of faith and of work to build up the church where there had been no church organization before. And especially, we heard wonderful stories about how people helped each other.

One of the strengths of our Church at this time in history is that it provides organized ways for people to learn how to be good neighbors. Sort of like neighbors in physical neighborhoods were a generation or two ago. Or maybe we're supposed to even become more than the typical old-fashioned good neighbor eventually.

This occurred to me as I read this piece, in which the author attempts to answer the question, "Where Went the Neighborhood"? He made the interesting point that, when Christ gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, people had a better idea what good neighbors do. And not only was the Samaritan a good neighbor, but he also enlisted the Innkeeper as a good neighbor.

We're a little short on close neighbors in our neighborhood right now, with two empty houses nearby. One is in foreclosure, but that's another story. We still see Emma and her granddaughter frequently. Once in a while I talk to the neighbors up the street who have the rat terrier which is so interesting to our dogs. Being at the edge of town, we've had people show uo when they really needed help in the past, and we still get people stopping by for directions or help in finding lost dogs. But we seldom even see most of the people in our physical neighborhood. They seem to want it that way.

We do much better with members of the Church. But even in the Church, being a neighbor seems to take more effort than it used to. In Relief Society, we heard from Nonie about how when her children were young, all the members of the ward rallied around a family in crisis to help them through the crisis. But now, it seems like just about every family has a crisis of some sort. It often takes a special effort to share the joys and sorrows of others and to help each other with sudden problems or even routine, everyday needs. Sometimes we manage to do this spontaneously, sometimes through a deliberate individual effort and other times through an organized effort. Many people act as wonderful neighbors by consistently and prayerfully carrying out their Church callings, without fuss or fanfare, despite challenges in those callings.

But we're still not as neighborly as Church members were in the past, I think. Sometimes it seems like we're just overwhelmed. I have decided that I need to pay just a little more attention to those who aren't living in the ideal nuclear family situation - the widowed and the fatherless, people who are single for any reason. And to watch for families which run into difficulties. It's an especially great feeling when we can all rally 'round them even though we are having problems of our own. To "love 'em up", as Dennis Prager would say.

We may need similar help from time to time. And none of us is immune to becoming the man at the side of the road in the parable.

Not the Blossom Trail, but close

Yesterday, David and I had an appointment in Fresno. On the way up, we saw orchards of peaches and nectarines in full bloom, hundreds of acres in various shades of pink. The almonds had largely dropped their petals, and plums were in various stages of bloom to green. There was a light wind, and white cumulus clouds were overhead, a relatively rare sight here. You could see the snow in the Sierras. A beautiful drive. It's nearly peak season to follow the blossom trail.

Most of our own peaches and nectarines are blooming now, too. Peaches and nectarines have not been my most successful fruits. I've posted some new information on peach and nectarine varieties and culture here.

In Fresno, we saw smoke from a big fire, and as we approached home, another ugly, dark gray plume of smoke. As we got close, it looked like it was coming from about where our house is. We started to think about how to get Lucky out of the house. Then a police car in front of us went past our street to regulate traffic on the next block. Fire engines started speeding in. Our house was not on fire. The fire seemed to be coming from a yard where there are frequent recreational bonfires, plus very loud music. We haven't gone over to investigate whether a structure was involved. We hope that it wasn't a housefire. We are thankful that it wasn't OUR house on fire.

Later in the evening, the wind came up, clouds turned black and we had a thunderstorm accompanied by rain. Sparky was insistent on coming in from the garage to be with Maggie, Troy and Lucky. Our biggest dogs are the biggest wimps when it comes to thunderstorms. Dottie laid in a cupboard in the garage on some black trash bags to which she has become attracted. I ordered them years ago from a charity. She tore the box apart to use the bags as nesting material. David moved them to a cupboard, so Dottie moved in on top of them. But the dogs were happy after the storm passed, and we needed the rain.

The biggest news is that David's dad finally went home yesterday, to a wild greeting from his little Boston Terrier, Prissy. She no longer needs to hop the fence to search for him (not that she will necessarily give this activity up). Recovery from his surgery has been a long haul for Dad, and for his wife. It was a good day.

End of February in the Central Valley

There is not a whole lot of earth-shaking news right now at our house, but there are many things to be grateful for. It was Stake Conference last week. We noted the 30th anniversary of the creation of the stake. A lot of people worked hard to put together histories of the stake and its units. Hard to believe that once the Fresno Branch stretched all the way from the peaks of the Sierras to the Coast Range. Pattie put together a nice display for our branch. And we got to hear about the adventures of the Sequoia Branch, with wild pigs digging up their lawn, etc.

The main message I took from the Saturday adult session's theme of a Legacy of Faith was that, in our church callings, we need to strive to "get the water to the end of the row" - using the analogy of a Western potato farm. We need to pay more attention to the people at the "end of the row".

Sunday there was a broadcast to the stakes in roughly the northern half of California. One theme was that we can work on becoming a "Zion People" right where we are, even in these discouraging times. California's government is in deep financial trouble and the state is losing population and businesses. It is one of the 5 states with high numbers of mortgage defaults. But there's no magical place where we can escape life's challenges. And sometimes great blessings come during times of trial.

We can turn more of our attention to our families, friends and neighbors and give less attention to our worries. We cam act as conduits for God's love, being careful that we're not trying to attract attention to ourselves as we do so. We can move forward with faith, despite the current disheartening developments around us, "accepting the guiding hand of our Heavenly Father", as President Uchtdorf put it. His wife's family was taught in Germany by a missionary from a little town in the Sierras. Small world.

Washington's Birthday passed without much notice, now that it is no longer a national holiday. It would probably be better if we remembered him more often.

As we've been driving back and forth to visit David's Dad in the rehabilitation center, I have been noticing what a beautiful time of year this is in the Central Valley. On sunny days, the weather has been slightly cool, fresh and glorious. The wheat fields and fodder crops look lush. Even the weeds look good. Vacant lots are beautiful and green, often with a yellow haze of tiny flowers. Some of the little flowers in waste places are fascinating up close. The almond orchards are blooming.

In town, the earliest flowering pears are finished blooming and many of the later-blooming cultivars are dropping "snow". The Krauter Vesuvius pink flowering plums are gorgeous. I think people with light gray houses should be required (well, maybe encouraged) to plant one in their front yards. Both the pink flowers and the later smoldering deep red-purple leaves look great with gray or pale yellow. The leaves look wonderful with coral pink roses or crape myrtle. They sometimes look harsh against white during our hot summers. Too much contrast. Maybe someday, I'll get a Spencer Hollywood tree - not such deep purple leaves, and it also provides good fruit.

The deciduous magnolias are blooming in older neighborhoods. We've been through an old section of Visalia a couple of times and I've admired the green canal banks, Victorian homes, picket fences and garden gates. I went to a landscape nursery during the week while David was at a supply store in one of those low-rent small business developments. I saw some lovely camellias. Made me miss the camellia forests at the Huntington Library and Gardens and the Descanso Gardens, both near Pasadena.

The nursery also had flats of violas and pansies. It's getting late in the season for planting them here, but it was fun to see them all. I love the little ones the best, and they had some very distinctive varieties. The color range of these little flowers has really been expanded from a couple of decades ago. There was a blue, cream and peach viola which had a darling face, and a striking burgundy backlit on the edges with gold. They also had some small pansies in watercolor shades which were very attractive.

The rain has not totally deterred insects from the early bloom on some of our fruit trees. The Arctic Star nectarine rivals ornamental flowering trees for beauty right now, though it is still much smaller than most of the ornamentals. Some of our plums and Pluots are also very attractive, with dense white bloom. I'm looking forward to some fruit in a few months.

I've posted some new recipes, including the green Jello salad I've been taking for David's Dad. They've had a hard time getting him to eat, and he has had some nausea when he does eat. He went weeks without eating anything before coming to rehabilitation. But he is doing much better and is tentatively schedules to go home next Wednesday. We've had a training session on how to help him maneuver safely at home as he recovers some strength in his legs. He wants a haircut more than about anything.

The Washington Navel oranges will be past their prime soon. We're seeing strawberries from the coast, and soon we should have local berries for this recipe, Strawberry Flowers. Enjoy the early flowers in the landscape, too, before they're gone.

California Trails

Today, we went to see David's Dad at a rehabilitation facility in Visalia. As we approached a turn, there were three SUVs pulled over - one each on the north, west and south sides of the corner. Plus a couple of highway patrol vehicles. As we turned east, we passed several more highway patrol cars -at least one at each intersection and more between intersections. We started to worry about what kind of criminal was on the loose. But the cars pulled over at the first corner didn't fit into a fugitive scenario. Finally it dawned on me that this was the day that Lance Armstrong and others would be taking the California Tour through Visalia, past our little town and then to Paso Robles (a difficult, hilly stretch of the tour). I guess they had had a collision in the rain the day before.

David and I seemed to have taken, coincidentally, three of the roads which would be part of the tour. As we got into the city, people had set up lawn chairs to watch the action, especially where the bikers would be turning.

Dad is in quite a nice facility. He had clothes on instead of a hospital gown, and no tubes attached to him. He was kind of nauseous, but was able to spoon ice chips for himself, and was lucid. His sister Lucille and her husband Manuel came in, too. He's getting a lot of attention from the staff. Their goal is to get him walking and taking care of himself so he can go home. We look forward to that. It's hard for him. He was not in the best shape before surgery, and the surgery was a big shock to his system.

Ken called later to say that the CHP had approached him as he was spraying weeds along the canal, and had asked him to stop spraying before the bike tour came through the countryside west of town. It was two hours before the bikers passed, preceded and followed by many support vehicles. Ken didn't find the passing of the bike tour particularly exciting. Cars were backed up on all the cross streets, though. Even on that flat stretch of the tour. I'm glad we got through the tour route before, not during, the bike tour's sojourn through Visalia.

Chugging forward, slowly

We had more encounters with bureaucracy yesterday. Not as disheartening as Friday's, but with some instances of bureaucratic lassitude (in addressing problems) and rigidity about completing forms. We were interviewed by CPS as possible caregivers for two little girls who have been through some very difficult times. A surprisingly involved process. David later got a call from Sacramento which seemed bracingly non-bureaucratic. In general, though, our state government is in trouble, with layoffs of State workers ordered due to a budget impasse and deep deficits. Some of our friends are worrying right now.

The garden is showing some signs of spring. Our gardening partner planted a frilly, heavy-bodied variety of lettuce everywhere, and the heads are getting big now. I don't know what he plans to do with all of it. Hope he has a lot of friends, because it doesn't seem like a heat-tolerant variety, and we may have some warm days soon. We had some of the lettuce for dinner. The flavor and texture were not the best, but it tasted nutritious, for lettuce. Last year, he planted a deep red variety of lettuce. Seedlings came up from chaff he was given when he worked for a company which produces lettuce seed. The red lettuce was better than this year's lettuce. Maybe we can get some cruciferous greens in before it gets too hot.

David's Dad has been moved to a rehabilitation facility to prepare him to go home. We hope to be able to see him tomorrow.

Lift Up the Hands that Hang Down

Today was a good day at church. It was conference day in our little branch. We had quiet, emotional messages on angels, angels in human form and other means God uses to communicate with us and help us through struggles and difficult circumstances. Dennis Prager observed during one of his "Happiness Hours" that as we get older, we are more likely to be brought to tears by hearing about acts of kindness, help or courage than by hearing about cruelty, disaster or weakness. Seems right to me.

But the thing which touched me most was watching the visiting male leadership, after the meeting, choose for their first greeting a young father who is having some serious emotional and financial difficulties. They talked with him not as someone who needed sympathy and aid, but as someone who was important for them to get to know. I could see immediately a difference in his level of self-confidence. It was a great example to me of following the commandment to "Lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees".

And there were other examples of the same kind of support, from both men and women. We had a few people we don't usually see in attendance, because of the baptism of a young boy. I was glad that this was the day that they had come to church. Lora and I were asked by the Stake Relief Society visitors to watch carefully for families in the branch who might be having financial difficulty due to the economy. But the needs addressed today through personal interactions were probably more important.

Valentine Hearts

It's Valentine's Day. David gave me lovely gifts in anticipation a couple of days ago, one a big red heart. But I've got a blue heart this morning, and so has he. I am disheartened with bureaucracy and government at the moment. On a better note, here's how Johnny Cash and Louis Armstrong handled the Blues. They say that playing Blues and similar melancholy music, then gradually brightening the mood of the music, can help lift your mood. Maybe I'll try it.

Update: O.K. Try these in sequence for mood-lifting: How Deep is the Ocean, My Funny Valentine and Side by Side.

Valentine's Day Thought from Wretchard:

“The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Below, a sweet and schmaltzy poem from the comments. It's the thought that counts. Truly.

Daughters are special. Having a daughter makes a man feel like he accomplished something. I wrote this for my daughter a few Valentine’s Days ago, and offer it here to all Belmont Clubbers fortunate enough to be fathers of daughters.

TO MY DAUGHTER, ON SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY
The dawning paints the night sky pink

With rose and amber hue

To look at it I have to think

The morning loves you too.


The rising sun climbs in the sky

Too bright for us to view

Another reason I know why

The noontime loves you too.


As sunset draws the curtain low

And sky turns dusk from blue

I ken full well that this I know

The evening loves you too.


And as I trundle off to bed

I think always of you

And count the thousand times I’ve said

Your father loves you too.

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day

Walt Erickson

Thanks, Walt, for being a loving Dad. From a daughter who misses her own Dad.