TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

 Elder Harrison, a wonderful half of a wonderful senior couple serving in Manchester spent an hour with SK and me this morning showing us some finer details of Zoom. He is the host of his, mine and another couple's Zoom account.  So only he can make some changes, and I am only too happy to let him do some of the more technical aspects. I was still feeling a trifle traumatized about Tuesday night's glitch with PowerPoint, and spent two hours trying to resolve the issue.  I am pretty sure that it has something to do with and errant Drop Box, and in my searching resolved another issue the last time I gave the art talk. I tried to send the PowerPoint to SK's computer, but was politely told by my computer that something was preventing that from happening. This explanation was including with an apology. I never did get that figured out.  At 6;50 I went in to relax thinking I had a half hour til time to sign on.  A pesky little voice inside my head kept saying, "Look a...

 We tuned in to our Zone call this morning and were done before Roskelley's arrived. They are from Logan, Utah and are incredible people. They are about ten years younger than we are. We find we have a lot in common.   We sat here in our living room for a half hour visiting. It had taken them 2 1/2 hours to get here from Cambridge - which is 66 miles away as the crow flies and 86 if you take the roads. And if you take what looks like the shortest route between two places - but is fraught with numerous roundabouts, it takes you 2 1/2 hours! Rain was predicted all day, but even though it rained at times, we were never out in it. Blenheim Palace is about 20 minutes north of here.  From the parking lot to the gates of the palace was quite a walk through magnificent lush green lawns and pastures. Think of Disneyland parking, and the walk to the front gate - only prettier. The palace is magnificent. We enjoyed the walk through the palace, and walked around just a little bi...

 It is late, and I am dragging. I don't have the stamina I used to. I was tired when I got up this morning, took a nap in the afternoon and am now craving sleep. It was a lovely day.  We did some shopping.  I did laundry and cleaning. I worked on the lesson....which turned out fine.  I had worked quite a bit on a Powerpoint and half an hour before the class started, the Power Point died.  The whole screen went black, and I couldn't get anything else on the screen for several minutes....even after turning it off. Finally, I got the computer back on, and I got the Zoom call up and running, but didn't dare try to link into Power Point again without serious problems so went ahead without it.  The problem was that my lesson plan was essentially on the Power Point, so I had to wing it.  Next week, I will make a very solid outline ON PAPER.  Oh well....I am learning. Teaching on Zoom is a whole different experience than being in a classroom with twenty p...

 If I were any of you, I would have many things to show for this day.  However, I am me! And the focus of this day for me was dinner this evening. Madsen's Law : "Everything takes longer than I think it will." We did get our studying done, and I got some laundry done, and a little bit of cleaning. We went to the grocery store first thing, and purchased all we would need for tonight's dinner. I had made the cookie dough yesterday so that all I needed to do was put in the pans and bake it. Note to self : spreading thick cookie dough on top of parchment in a sheet pan with a spatula takes longer than scooping four dozen cookies onto cookie sheets. Cutting and wrapping four dozen cookies takes longer than slipping a couple of cookies into a baggie. Next time - use the cookie scoop and forget bar cookies....at least until COVID and its regulations go away. I try to have everything possible individually wrapped so that no one is touching communal serving utensils, trays or ...

 We had rain today. It was beautiful, but didn't last long.  The forecast predicts a high chance of rain for the next eight days.  Call me perverse, but that just sounds beautiful. We will see if it actually comes to pass.   We attended church in person.  Angie spoke and did a beautiful job telling of her experience in the temple, and giving her thoughts about recommends.  She thinks so deeply and shared with us some wonderful ideas about "being recommended to the Lord."  She has enriched our lives so much with her beautiful testimony. We came home and watched Sunday School, and then the meeting with the missionaries and the people they are teaching. One of our young adult reps asked about meeting in the church for Family Home Evening. The request was granted by the Bishop and it doesn't go against current COVID regulations so we will all be together tomorrow night - whatever that means.   So many right now are locked in practically a li...

 I guess I haven't been walking so much in the last month...since the great and wonderful Pathway Institute program. Three miles yesterday was something of a shock to my system and I slept long and well last night, but have been hobbling around all day on legs and feet that are complaining about the abuse. This week, I will make it a priority to walk every day. I've got to get in shape before the family starts arriving and we tour with them! We attended a baptism of a 60-year-old British woman. Her mother had been a member before she died a few years ago, and she began looking into the church awhile back.  The elders have been teaching her and she seemed so happy today. I was asked to give a brief talk on baptism, which I did. Two of our cute former Oxford Elders came back for the baptism, Elder Watford and Elder Akuoku. It was so good to see them again. We didn't remember to take a photo until everyone had left, including Rowena!  So we eight missionaries lined up for a ...

 For the fourth time now, we had a repairman come to check the dishwasher. We haven't had a working one in over a month. Each time a person has come to see what was wrong (SK says the water pump isn't working - and has said that from the beginning.), he gets out a screwdriver, wiggles it around in the floor of the dishwasher and claims it is fixed. Today, he looked at it, wiggled the screwdriver, turned it on, and pronounced, "It needs a new pump." He ordered the part, which will be here in a week and a half, and said, "Cheerio!" We are getting used to doing dishes by hand. That isn't such a big deal, but we don't have Dawn, and I notice that even when we are careful, the dishes don't always have that spotless look. I hope we will be able to have a functioning dishwasher by the time we are able to have visitors here - missionaries - family - and young adults. I walked three miles this afternoon with Madeline, the young woman I walked with last we...