Easter Eggs and Daffodils

April 16, 2006

Dear Family,

Easter came gently this morning, as it does in Oregon this time of year, with sunlight peeking through a gap between cloud cover and a snow-dusted forest on the horizon. Occasional showers put a glisten on our apple blossoms and daffodils. Later we had enough "sun breaks" to cheer up the place and lure Kyrstyn and me into the yard to hide Easter candy and "real live" dyed and decorated Easter eggs. It has been a good day to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.

Bill and Mary Griffiths were our speakers in Sacrament Meeting and they both presented thoughtful and moving messages. I sat in the choir seats and looked at many faces drinking in the spirit of their inspiration, the fruit of their spiritual work preparing a feast for us today. I sang in a quintet "Were You There" (When they crucified my Lord), I sang in the choir (Suzanne Mosman at the piano) singing "He Is Not Here" - one of my favorites from the old "Choir Book" but which is much too high for my voice and Brittany Foushee sang a beautiful rendition of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." with Laura Walhood at the piano. Just after the beginning of the closing hymn, "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today, Halleluia!", tiny Natalie Glausi climbed off her mother’s lap in the choir seats and tripped over the organ power cord, pulling it loose. The congregation sang on under Ed Winkler’s steady direction with no accompaniment. After a moment, I reached for a hymn book and slid onto the piano bench, quickly turning the pages to the hymn so I could pick up at the beginning of the second verse. At the same time, Teresa Jolly was figuring out what went wrong and then working to get the organ plugged back in. As luck would have it, we were both ready for the second verse and began playing at the same time, full tilt. This gave the congregation a start and they began to sing more energetically. We played together for the rest of the closing hymn and everyone seemed to be pleased. Lots of folks commented to me after the meeting how much they enjoyed the sound, and this by accident! This gave me an idea. I’d like to have a regular LDS version of the ubiquitous evangelical "worship band" for hymns in our Sacrament meetings but, of course, with "approved" instruments. We have youth in the ward who play in high school bands and adults in our ward with good intonation who can play cello, flute, violin, classical guitar and whatever other instruments. Wouldn’t it be great to have them play with hymns on a regular basis - to involve more people in the musical worship and liven up our hymns? I’ve never wanted to carry the load of a bishop, but the thought of being able to try some of my ideas makes me think it could almost (almost) be worth it. Oh, well... Maybe in some other life.

Sometime recently, Krystyn and I were having a conversation about Easter and she volunteered to decorate eggs. Of course, Kyrstyn had much more in mind than dipping them in some PAAS dye kit and you will see from the photos what she has done. I stuck to the PAAS coloring and enjoyed making some two toned and three toned

eggs. But Kyrstyn inspired others of us, even Jared for heaven’s sake, to try our hand at decorating an egg with some creativity.

Yesterday, Kyrstyn finished up her many days of body cleansing regimen with mixing up potions and making asparagus soup. Bryce cleaned out the refrigerator again. Photos galore of each.

We had our traditional Easter egg hunt in the yard in between showers. Logan and Caden had fun, but so did Kaaren, Bryce, Kadra, Kyrstyn, Skye, Jared, Courtney and Jason carrying Ashlynn about the gardens. I guess we’ll keep this tradition. We had a lovely dinner of Black Forest ham, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, perfect sweet bread and fruit. Ashlynn slept through the whole thing. Kaaren read some scripture. We had some nice conversation. It was a good dinner.

It’s getting to late to write much more, but I want to tell you about an experience I had this week.

I stopped in Deseret Book - sometimes I do sometimes just to see what’s new - looking for a cheap copy of God’s Army (Did one of you borrow my DVD? ). I saw a new book being promoted near the entrance - an illustrated story by Elder Dieter Uchtdorf about a Sister "Eternal" ("Ewig" in German) and picked it up. It was a short story with only one paragraph on each page opposite an illustration, telling the story of his family’s conversion to the Church in East Germany through the influence of Sister Ewig whom his mother met in a bread line. Something about the simple and direct narrative in Dieter Uchtdorf’s style of speaking touched me deeply when I reflected on the deep faith of the German saints. Germans are not famous for their spirituality; they are known, rather, to revere "Die Wissenshaft" (Science) more than God. But here was a story that paralleled the lives of so many Germans I knew and loved including German people that I brought to the Church and baptized. He told a story of his family living their Gospel each day with simple, deep faith in the face of economic disaster, political danger, religious intolerance, and long suffering such as you and I may never know. I teared up reading his story while I thought of my friends in Darmstadt: Helga Koehn and her son, Hartwig and Ruth Litta and their daughters whom you know - just of few of the faithful living lives of obedience and humility even today. I couldn’t stop crying and left the store still wiping my eyes. This was the sort of simple faith that led my Grandfather and his family to be baptized and associate with the Mormons in Hannover and to leave their home town of Barsinghausen and emigrate to Salt Lake City. A couple of hours later, going into the courtroom in Portland on a contested Probate case, I was still fighting tears in my eyes over this story that Elder Uchtdorf told. In these days, many of think we are very sophisticated and discriminating in matters of religion and religious history and philosophy and I usually like to count myself among them. But this experience was a little reminder to me why faith is one of the first principles of the Gospel. It is worth while, in the face of criticism or spiritual difficulty, to withhold judgment and continue in faith. Perhaps I am not making much sense to many of you and only preaching to myself. Nevertheless, I needed to write this down and share it with you. My German converts are teaching me today to continue in faith.

Continue in faith.

Happy Easter!

Love,

Dad

Spring Camellias

April 10, 2006

Spring Camellias

Dear Family,

This was the view from our bedroom window Sunday morning. Our camellia is blooming beautifully just as the daffodils are fading. I hired Matt Sullivan to mow our meadow (our mower is dead) Saturday and so our "estate" is looking better.

I also hired Matt’s father, Gary Sullivan, to repair a rotten bathroom floor and walls in the Sunset apartments last week. He has been "in between" full time jobs for several years now, making do with all kinds of temporary employment. He does good and conscientious work. In church Sunday morning, the Sullivan family sat in the pew in front of us and I thought of the blessing of being able to employ people who need work, family and otherwise. When I worked for "Killer Ken’s Termite and Pest Control" while going to law school, I admired the position Ken Kenworthy was in - owned a business that gave him the ability employ people in his ward and acquaintance who needed work. I formed a goal for my life at that time that I would like to one day own a business where I could likewise employ people who needed the work - that was a kind of "rich life" I sought after. Thirty years later, I think all of my children and many of our friends have been employed in some capacity, if even for only a few hours and some for more than a few years, in my law office, and several of you have worked in the Pixton Properties projects and some in Kaaren’s school art residencies and installations. My last letter about my sons and daughter plowing my fields illustrated that. So, sitting in the church pew, I counted my blessings and saw the realization of at least one of my life’s goals.

Saturday night Kaaren and I saw Cirque De Soleil’s show "Varekai" under their colorful circus tents. The over-the-top creativity is hard to comprehend. The freedom and beauty of the art, the clothing, the music, the kinetic energy of dance and circus aerobatics in costume makes our everyday lives seem so banal. Kaaren rode home grieving for her lack of ability to achieve everything that comes to her mind. This is what eternal lives(s) are for, I guess. When Kaaren has more ideas each day than even a large cultural art foundation could fund, you need a grander sphere to bring those ideas to life. But we can start here and I want nothing more than to enable her to produce all she can before she wears out this mortal coil.

This last Sunday was not one for quiet contemplation, peeling oranges while lounging with the newspaper. Here was my schedule: We started with Music and the Spoken Word at 8:30 am. 9:30 , Ward Council; 10:30 Choir Practice; 11:30 Sacrament Meeting; 12:45 Sunday School; 1:45: HP Quorum Meeting; 3:00 Home Teaching at Fouchees (OK, this is not your typical home teaching assignment - Lloyd and Sandra Hale and Kaaren and I meet at Foushees for Sunday break-the-fast dinner and discussion); 4:00 Marylhurst Symphony (one of my choir members was soloist for the Mozart Halleluia aria); 6:00 telephone and fax with Ed Winkler going over music he wants on the Organ to back up a solo in two weeks in church; 6:30 help Kyrstyn with her tax return; 7:00 Birthday gathering for Jason at Atacks place; 10:00 home for the remainder of rest and relaxation.

Friday evening Kaaren and I went to dinner (Chinese in L/O) with three other couples in the ward - Bishop Mike and Carol, Fuhrimans and Rasmussens. We had a very enjoyable discussion - almost completely about ways to improve teaching and raising of youth in the ward. Don’t you think it is wonderful that this was the focus of these couples evening out together? Speaking about the upcoming screening of STATES OF GRACE in this area, I was stunned to hear that two of those couples had never heard of the film, God’s Army. So many have no idea that there is actually good cinema out there by LDS film makers.

Last night at Courtney and Jason’s birthday gathering, I loved holding Ashlynn for a while. It is hard to believe that each one of you was at one time a tiny snuggling bundle perfectly happy to be held and held and held. At one point, Jared mentioned picking blueberries in his youth but being outworked by an "elderly couple" that were 50 or 60 years old. I think of the stages of our lives. Kaaren will be 60 in a couple of weeks and I will follow her into the ranks of the "elderly" in about 6 months. My though so far is that I would never go back. I have enjoyed and celebrated each state of life - this coming "elderly" stage is richer than you can imagine. Hard, too, but rich as well.

I hope you are writing in a journal or something. I think too much of our lives, though deeply felt and experienced at the time, goes by with the current of time unaccounted for and lost to your family. It is hard, but try to pick out the pieces that are worth remembering and save them for your posterity.

Enough for now.

Love,

Dad

April 2, 2006

Dear family,

This week I reached my life time goal - to sit on my wooden porch, rock in my rocker and watch my children plow my fields. That's the metaphor being laughed about while Skye, Bryce and Kyrstyn worked in my office this week on a scanning and archiving project. Here are a few pictures of them working and one of them taking a break. It was really wonderful to have them all there at the same time, animated and engaged in a project, figuring out solutions together and getting the job done. This was a nice thing, rewarding for me.

This week Kaaren has been finishing up the tyvek pictures for TyBook. I don't recall seeing her work so hard and long on a project in all our years together. She is frequently up til close to mid-night most nights and works down in her studio alone - not her preferred mode of artistic creation - except for a radio and CD. Here are some photos of her with a final layout on the kitchen island.

This morning during conference I made four lemon pies. Bryce helped me. I took one to Skye's place where we had a brunch (for which Skye made cinnamon rolls from scratch successfully) with her friends, one to Courtney and Jason's place with dinner we brought to them this evening, and there is some pie left here at home after our own dinner. Courtney and Jason's little Ashlynn is really, really sweet. I held her today for the first time (coughing last week). I looked into her tiny, perfect face and walked around the living room of Courtney and Jason's home and thought how blessed can this little soul be to be allowed to come to this sweet and holy family for the beginning of her sojourn on Earth. Logan loves her. He told me that she likes to hold his fingers.

Bryce is playing wonderful arpeggios and chords on the piano. He was playing the other night when Kaaren and I got home from a movie and I thought for a moment that it was Kyrstyn. He was also playing the guitar a little this evening. Here is a picture of him playing in his room.

Daffodils are blooming all over our garden (see, I've learned after 37 years to say "garden," not "yard"). There are many varieties and Kaaren has made a lovely bouquet for our buffet table.

Yesterday Bryce and I drove to the airport in hail and heavy rain. But after a while it was clear in the valley and we spent some time in the air - quite smooth for such a stormy day - looking at mansions and rivers and our house and other points of interest. It was a nice time. Kyrstyn and Bryce were working in the office yesterday, and then Bryce and I went to General Priesthood Meeting. I really like Pres. Hinckley's talk upbraiding the brethren of the church for disparaging or discriminating remarks about people of color different from their own ("Racial strife lifts its ugly head right here among us"), for men who were otherwise able bodied sitting at home and refusing to get a job; (sounds like Russian/Ukrainian culture doesn't it?) and for unwelcome attitudes toward non-Mormon neighbors (Why do any of us have to be mean and unkind to others?" "Why can't all of us reach out in friendship to everyone about us? Why is there so much bitterness and animosity? It is not part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.")
This was a leader of the church taking the church by the lapels and getting in our faces about some things that need fixing. Amid all the sanctimony we hear at conference time, and the "us" and "them" ("the World") mentality we sometimes hear in our wards, it was refreshing to hear this from Pres. Hinkley. Aren't you pleased to see how vigorous he is at 95?

It would be nice for me to hear what your favorite talks of the conference were and why.

We learned this week that Kaaren's brother, Terry, is having a baby with his young girl friend, Simone. So you will have another cousin this year. Terry's mother and daughter are wide-eyed but Kaaren is, of course, very supportive. This could actually be a good thing for him. "We need another Oswell," says Kaaren.

The Community Chorus is coming along nicely. It is a lot of work but it is rewarding, too. They are sounding better and better all the time. I have a fellow acting as an assistant director who takes my place when I'm gone, who takes sectionals and helps with the ensemble. We work together well and it is a pleasure to share the joy of directing this group and collaborate with someone.

I hope you got a chance to take a look at the pictures I posted last week from our trip to SLC to visit Forrest and Kaarina and her parents, Michael and Detta Bendio. I liked Michael and Detta very much and both Kaaren and I look forward to a bond with another great family. We are working on our wedding/reception announcement invitation list tonight. Forrest and Kaarina appear very happy together and what could a father wish more for his son? We are very blessed.

Light rain all day, washing our travails away and nourishing our fields while my children all over the country plow away with their lives.

I love you.

Dad

NYC Trip

Dear Family,



We just returned from a great trip to NYC for Bob Higgins' baptism. It was one of the best weekend's we can remember.



We traveled on Jet Blue - a "red eye" to NYC departing Portland at about 1 am (1 hour late). We arrived there Saturday morning at 9 am and took the subway from JFK to Brittany's place - the same train goes the whole way to a stop only yards from her front door.



Saturday evening we hooked up with Maddy Oswell and her boy friend Sam. They won tickets to NYC in a raffle. We had dinner together at a fun and unique Greek deli - then went to the theater together. We had purchased tickets for Kaaren and me and Bryce to see the "42 Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." We decided to enter a special "lottery" they have to win tickets up front for only $25 per tickets. We each put in a lottery entry - 7 entries for 2 tickets each - and we got lucky. Both my name and Bryce's were picked so we got 4 more tickets and all 7 of us went to the show. Then inside, Bob and Maddy were picked to join the cast on stage. They had to take their turn at trying to spell words assigned to them. What a string of luck! This was actually a very fine show with lots of laughs and tears.



As we left the theater, snow was beginning to fall. 5 inches were forecast, but by the middle of the next day (Sunday), NYC had the greatest snowfall on record - 26+ inches.



In the morning we walked through the snow to the subway and then a few more blocks to the church. Take a look at the pictures on the family website at www.pixtonfamily.com. You can click on the photo album link and do the slide show thing - I like that the best.



Bob Higgins baptism was attended by more people than could fit in the viewing room - Brittany sang "How Great Thou Art" with me accompanying her on the piano (original accompaniment of my own) and then after the baptism, she and Bryce sang "Jesus, The Very Thought of Thee." The whole thing was awesome, lots of tears of gladness for Bob who is obviously much loved in the ward; and rightly so; he is fine young man and will be a great example to others and will magnify his Priesthood, I have no doubt.



Maddy and Sam tried to get to the baptism but had a blizzard in their way - they got there for the food, of course. Then we went to Britt's apartment where Bob made dinner for us - a fabulous meal by a real chef. We had a good time together.



Monday, we did a little shopping, met Brittany and her roommate, Leolani Kaona, a woman from Hawaii, at the Sheraton Manhattan where she works in Marketing. She found it necessary for the good of the Sheraton Hotel chain's marketing plan to store our bags with the concierge, treat us all to a great lunch and dessert at the hotel restaurant, and then transport Kaaren and Bryce and me in a limo (I was embarrassed but not so much that I didn't accept the ride) to the airport for our departing flight. We arrived home at about 1:30 am local time pretty bushed.

What a weekend!



We awoke this morning to a light dusting of snow. A blessings, as far as we are concerned, and more is forecast for later in the week.



Now we back to work (what a shock) and planning for the Sweetheart Ball our ward activities committee is putting on this weekend, among other things.



Be sure to look at the pictures. Use the link on our website at www.pixtonfamily.com.



Kaaren and I just came home from dinner and dessert at Papa Haydn in NW Portland. After dinner, I felt like Templeton, and we just rolled home to our bed.



Happy Valentines Day.



Dad/Tom

Entire Pixton Family at Christmas

Entire family 1, originally uploaded by tompixton.

(Skye here, intervening for a sec) Here's a pic of the family at Christmas. Visit the photo link on the side bar to see the rest of them!

Christmas Time is Here!

December 4, 2005

Dear Family,

The fog is settling in pretty dense this evening. We can hardly see across the yard to the neighbors, but they have hung while lights on their eaves so we know they are still there. Our Christmas tree now has lights and some ornaments. Though we cut the tree last Saturday - with Forrest’s energy getting us out there - it has sat dormant for 7 days because we have been so laden with obligations each evening this last week that yesterday evening was the first time I got to put up the lights. Now they look very nice. We also got up some lights on our yew bush and hopefully this week we will get some more around the entrance to the house.

Why have we been so busy? We are musicians all and this is Christmas time when we are seriously employed (or at least engaged). We had the extended family in the area over for dinner last Sunday where we were reeling from the news that Clayton and Amy are going to "get outta Dodge" and try to improve their lot in Kansas City. They will send off their furniture and things in a pod/container system on the 14th of the month and camp out with us until they leave for Kansas shortly after Christmas. They have a better house and better job and lots of Davidson family support all arranged.

Monday evening we spent helping out a bit at Clay and Amy’s place, got a little something to eat and then sat down at about 9:45 pm to start our "home evening" discussion - about nutrition plans and the "NuLife" class we have both signed up for at Club Sport. Ding, dong! At the door were our home teachers surprising us with four milk shakes from Burgerville and a long discussion together. 45 minutes and a bajillion calories later we finally had a moment to ourselves and just rolled our eyes and went to bed.

Tuesday was the first of the neighborhood presentations by the LDS Church beginning the process (second time around) to seek approval to build a new church in West Linn. I had a assignment from the Stake to set up chairs, so I was there with a little help for the duration, before and after. The church is much better organized this time: a slick website with photos of similar buildings, frequently asked questions about this church and the LDS church in general, building plans etc. The spokesperson this time is a woman from Willamette Ward, a local West Linn resident and she was a well spoken non-practicing attorney. The presentation went very well, I thought, but drew a flurry of the usual responses from the self-focused "me generation" neighbors living within a block of the proposed church - with huge McMansions and tiny or no families. The usual lame arguments ran the gamut - too much traffic (but never mind that there are residential developments currently underway within 3 blocks of this site with more than 100 new homes going in), too much noise, the building traffic will unnecessarily endanger neighborhood children, the steeple is too high, the building is too big, there are too many parking spaces, there are not nearly enough parking spaces, it needs a high wall so we don’t have to suffer the shock of being visually exposed to it from our homes, and one that really set me off - the city is going to loose property taxes because the church doesn’t pay taxes. One neighbor got up and read all the reasons why the previous planning commission and city council and appellate court and supreme court decided the LDS church in their neighborhood didn’t meet the requirements of the city development code. They are ready for a fight. So, here we go again. Stay tuned and hope we have a city council who has the best interests of the entire community in mind instead of a few self-focused neighbors who insist that a residential neighborhood is no place for a church.

Wednesday was a board meeting for the Community Chorus. We learned that one of our board has been diagnosed with cancer and is having an emergency hysterectomy in a few days. The prognosis is not good and this relatively young woman is really almost in shock to find that a "routine" annual test was not so routine. Life is precious and we should be grateful for every day. The meeting went quite late.

Thursday we had our next to last rehearsal for the Community Chorus. It was held in the chapel where we will be performing next week. We had volunteer drummers from the African Traders drum shop downtown - but they were actually inept and hard to deal with. What we really needed was Kyrstyn and friends and siblings. We regretted that we didn’t take the time to audition them first. We rehearsed with the Marylhurst Symphony and it went pretty well. Their director, Lajos Balogh - a hungarian who very much looks the part of an eccentric music conductor - the long white hair and puckish face - wants our group to sing Beethoven’s Ninth with a professional orchestra he directs downtown. It is flattering but presents a whole set of problems to be solved before we can do that.

Friday we had a short performance at a retirement center by our WLCC Ensemble - a smaller group of about 20 folks. Kyrstyn drummed for us on three of our pieces and it made a huge difference. They love her. Me, too.

Saturday Kaaren and I tried a new group exercise class at Club Sport - NIA. It is supposed to be a fusion of Tai Chi, martial arts and dance. But is is mostly dance. Afterward a woman came up to me and said, "you are so brave to come here with this room full of women!" I felt something like Forrest in his first dance class at high school where he was the only guy there and didn’t know any of the moves they were working on. "Something" being the operative word, because I didn’t look anything like Forrest would have looked. Anyway it was energizing and sort of fun. I’ve always wanted to take a dance class. I couldn’t get all 299 lbs of me going exactly the same as out leader, but I at least kept time and held out for the entire hour. Thank good ness for hot showers and a great spa at the club. Kaaren and I did a little shopping at Trader Joes (where we genuflect upon entering), I went alone to Costco (the more profane temple of merchandizing), and before the day was gone, Kaaren and I put up some Christmas lights as I mentioned earlier.
Saturday evening we had a WLCC performance again - this time the West Linn City Hall "Holiday Tree" lighting ceremony. We led carols outside while the Mayor spoke and the besparkled teen princesses officiated in throwing the switch. Then inside council chambers we did a short a cappella set. Kyrstyn drummed again for us. It was our best city gig yet.

Correlation Council started at 7:30 this morning so I am running tired now.

The pictures I’m enclosing show a bunch of things I haven’t written about:

Kyrstyn (and Bryce) fixing her forever mechanically needy Diesel Suburban. She drives this to protect the environment. But at least she is becoming somewhat of a mechanic and will have some skill to ply in her life.

Logan helping me assemble the kid table and chairs I bought at Costco for the grandkids.
Fa La La Cappella singing at our family dinner.

Bryce with Olivia and Caden and Logan enjoying the candy from Bryce’s gingerbread house.

Some of the family at our family dinner last week watching old videos of our picnics, birthday parties, and singing-jamming at home in the Holly Drive house in Concord.

Thanksgiving Dinner here with all of the extended family in this area: Clayton and Amy with Olivia, Addison and Eli and their grandma Jane Davidson; Courtney and Jason with Logan and Caden; Bryce and his friend Kadra: Forrest and his friend Tyler Lake; Kyrstyn. Skye and Jared went to Bonnie Lake to be with his parents.

Most of us went to the Trail Band concert on Friday night. It was a nice beginning to the Christmas Season.

One thing I heard during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this evening that touched me. President Monson spoke of a visit to a children’s hospital at Christmas time. He realized that among the innocence of these struggling children he was standing on holy ground. I thought how precious our homes are - and I mean that in the family sense - not just the buildings alone. Our gatherings to meet and hug and help each other create holy spaces. I hope that you will make homes such that when you are there you will be standing on holy ground.
Love,
Dad

November Colours

November 13, 2005

Dear Family,

This weekend, Kaaren and I had fewer obligations than usual. We enjoyed some relaxed time together looking at neighborhoods and the growth that our little town has experienced. Much in-fill housing in both the modest and the very upscale neighborhoods. This started with a short trip to pick up peones in pots rescued from Lloyd and Sandra’s Hale’s place. They have sold out to a major developer and are moving a mile away to a home in Hidden Springs development. Their home is still there , but all the trees are gone, the bulldozers are cutting great swaths out of the landscape already and the once manicured and secluded grounds are just a great mud hole now. 77 homes will sprout where there were once 10 acres of Christmas trees and on some adjacent land the developer has purchased. We can see where 4 homes here have been razed to make room for newer and expensive homes. Lloyd had an underground shelter under the garage which he used for food storage. It was built to last with a walk-in freezer and a walk-in refrigerator, storage shelves designed for canned foods, more storage shelves designed for packaged foods and other goods. It could have withstood earthquake and radio-active fallout, but in the end, it was no match for the economics of modern development. This and the home itself and the pool and spa and outbuildings will all be only a memory in just a few weeks. Seeing the current state of his estate, was a good reminder to live providently and strive to be comfortable but not to put your fortune where moth and rust doth corrupt because it’s all just temporary, isn’t it.

I am in the midst of preparing our winter concert for the West Linn Community Chorus. Last Thursday we had a special clinician - Courtney Atack - come to help us with tone and higher notes. She is so helpful and empathetic and professional and, as Kaaren put it, elegant.
We have bit off a lot this term, so we added two extra rehearsals - on Monday nights!- so you know it is serious. The music is really fun and more challenging than before. I want you all to hear it at our concert on December 9 - Friday - at St. Anne’s chapel at Marylhurst University. Please put it on your calendar and save up the $7 ticket price. We will also perform a short program with the Marylhurst Symphony the next evening - Saturday the 10th. Tickets for that are more expensive and the program is mostly orchestra. We also sing the majority of our program at The Grotto in Portland, as last year, at 8 pm on Tuesday night, December 27th. Just after Christmas. That’s a good one to come to because of the great acoustics in the chapel.
Putting on another hat, I am chairing the Activities Committee in our ward and we are planning our Christmas program and dinner for the 16th of December. Lots of you won’t be able to come, I know, because of your McMenamin’s gig in McMinnville.

Skye’s CD release party is this Friday. We are looking forward to that.

A couple of weeks ago, Kaaren and I went to see Kyrstyn’s first performance with the "Roswell" sisters. It was really fun, really great music, and the "Roswell Sisters" were interesting because one of them isn’t. A sister, that is. He wears the same sequined backless dress and Egyptian looking head dress as the other two girls. Oh, they all wore Egyptian looking pointy beards, too. I know, Go Figure. But the sound was really, really smooth. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but I did bring my digital recorder. I’d like to attach a clip of it to this email if I can. . They were backed up by Trash Can Joe - we went afterwards to Mississippi Pizza to hear a full set of Trash Can Joe and eat a great pizza. It was a nice night out.

I tried attaching the file- it’s a large .wav file and I don’t know how to convert it to an mp3 so I’ll send it later when I get that figured out.

When Kaaren returned from England, we showed her pictures here at home last Monday - projected with my laptop and seminar projector onto a sheet hanging on our family room wall.. It was a nice Family Home Evening with ice cream topped with special things from England - Cornish clotted cream and Cadbury’s chocolate candy. Some of her pictures are attached to this email.

Caden is two. A birthday picture is attached.

Fall in the North West is really stunning. Here are a couple of pictures of turning leaves in our garden and the fog on the valley down below.

Yesterday morning, I dropped some bread off at Clay and Amy’s place and I hung around for a few minutes. Olivia brought me toys and the sweetest smile. She is going to be a dangerous charmer. Addison’s face is very intently focused one moment and ecstatic the next. She is fun. Eli always has such a big welcoming smile. And at his mother’s suggestion, he puckered up his lips and gave me a kiss. Amy says they are learning to kiss and practicing on each other. What a troupe of happiness and trouble they are! They are really, really sweet right now.

Yesterday evening, I took care of Logan and Caden while their parents went out to dinner and while Kaaren went to a party of her aqua-fit class members. We ate dinner together - a fancy grandpa dinner of sliced chicken, sliced pears and sliced up peanut butter on sourdough bread. We each ate a slice at a time, one boy on each side of me. I read a book to Logan and he put his head on my shoulder while I read. Then we watched a little of Rescuer’s Down Under - which turned out to be a little too intense for them. Logan ran behind the couch, telling me he didn’t think he wanted to see this part - a little boy being dangled on a rope over a pond full of alligators. What great fare for a 2 and 4 year old. We exchanged that for Baby Einstein - which both Caden and Logan liked better. A good little lesson for Grandpa. We also made cookies together. They were kind of weird - Bryce called them a pyroclastic flow over the island - which was actually a pretty good description of how they looked. I think I used a little too much baking soda. It was a good evening.

Well, enough about everyone else. Let’s talk about me. Just kidding. It’s a great line I heard from a song this week. I hope one or two of you might respond to what I throw out there into cyberspace or just drop me a line. Brittany is good about this. Anyone else? Class? Class?

Emily Potter dropped by today. What a wonderful girl! We had a nice little talk, just one-on-one. I'm excited for her book she is writing, for her college progress in Missoula, for her art she is creating and selling, for her upcoming academic/clinic year abroad in India. What a very interesting and loving friend to have. We love her. A photo is attached, too.

I’m reading in Alma chapter 12 right now. How about you?

Love,

Dad

Halloween

October 30, 2005
Dear Family,

It’s been a lonely week without Kaaren at home. There are no flowers in the house, clothes are all over the floor, can’t see the countertops for all the dirty dishes and food left out. Just kidding.
Not kidding about missing Kaaren. But we talk each day and she is having a good time visiting and touring a little and helping Paddy and Terry re-organize their lives to better take care of Paddy - they were looking together at a house boat and now are considering a flat in Chichester with a "warden" for added safety for Paddy who needs someone around for help now. Saturday she and Terry and Paddy drove up to Cambridge to visit her aunt Daphne, who is now 88, and some of her cousins. They very much enjoyed their visit and Daphne was sorry to see Kaaren leave. It could be the last time Kaaren sees Daphne again - Kaaren is one of her favorites.

This week I finished painting our bedroom wall and am bringing in shelves and reorganizing our bedroom. It’s actually a lot of work and I probably won’t finish before Kaaren returns. She comes home Tuesday night and goes promptly to work Wednesday morning. Whew! She is teaching at Marylhurst University, Wednesday, a special class for art teachers sponsored by Young Artists, I believe. I don’t know quite how she is going to get through that first day of work with jet lag.

Monday I visited briefly with Amy and Clay. Clay went to the church to practice - he’s been called as a ward organist - and I helped change and put children to bed. Eli cried needed extra hugs. Amy said he got the time with her only because he cried the loudest. She is stretched too thin and we -Pixton Family have talked about this and are rallying to provide more one-on-one time with each of the children. Its not enough yet but we hope to improve our presence in their lives.

Last Tuesday I stopped in the Stake Center for an hour or so to listen in on the choir rehearsal for the Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra. They are preparing a Joseph Smith memorial program for presentation on December 9 and 10 - the same days our West Linn Community Chorus is presenting our first two concerts. I have really enjoyed directing the West Linn Community Chorus because it affords me an opportunity to direct and sing music that for the many previous years I could not present in Sacrament Meeting. But last Tuesday evening I saw something I missed - singers singing from their hearts, worshiping with all their fervor, joined in the spirit of Zion. It was very powerful. Their music director is a woman who directs in one of the Portland Metro area high schools and she is very, very good. I took lots of notes and hope to use them in my rehearsals.

Midway through the rehearsal I left and went to Club Sport to work out a little. I rode a bike and lifted some weights and walked on a treadmill and watched news, showered and soaked in the spa and came home refreshed.

Bryce has been working in my office. He is much help, quite effective and devoted. Although there are down sides to having a relative working in the office, there is nothing quite like family working together - Bryce and Skye understand me and want me to succeed and with lots of things that go on in the office, they just "get it." Bryce is growing in his capacity, I believe, increasing his computer skills and work ethic. It is a pleasure to have him around and to see him take on responsibility.

Wednesday night was a WLCC board meeting. Lots of business to conduct to keep this organization rolling along. So many with so much talent and skill want to make this a good experience for all.

Thursday rehearsal was at a Lutheran church pastored by a former bass in our chorus - John Rutter-Harrah. He is a natural pastor - deep empathy for people and an effective counselor. His church was hard for me to find, several were quite late and the acoustics were difficult. But we make progress and auditioned an additional ensemble that will perform for us when we have so many requests for concerts at smaller locations. Now we have only 5 more rehearsals before our concert and I am feeling some pressure and wonder if we have taken on too much. We will be working really hard in the coming weeks. The chorus is really a huge part of my life.

Friday evening I went to Atacks to spend the evening with Logan and Caden while they went to a movie. We watched Dumbo - I hadn’t seen that in many decades! It was fun. We sang a song and brushed teeth and changed Caden and fed them more food again and read stories and I tried and tried but Caden was still awake when Courtney and Jason got home at 10:30.

We rented the Holmes Cottage across the street from Clay and Amy’s house. A young couple will move in next week and stay ‘til end of June. I sold the ventless fireplace today. We have been storing that in the shed for more than a year.

Saturday was a work day - painted the bedroom, shopped at home depot, did laundry, cleaned house a little and helped some down at the ward "Fall Festival" with the Trunk or Treat in the parking lot. Some pictures are attached. Olivia and Eli and Addison came dressed as little cows (brought by Clay while Amy was working at the restaurant in Willamette) , Logan and Caden were bears, I think. Some ward members were dressed very cleverly or really outrageously (for Mormons at a church event) and it was pretty fun and successful. I stayed to clean up and turn out the lights , then went to a Chinese place in Willamette to get some dinner about 9:30 pm and finished watching a movie I rented "The Chorus (Les Choristes)" about a reform school in France where a prefect created a chorus to organize and temper the unruly boys - the chorus became quite good a well known, a true story. I highly recommend the film if you can find it.

Today was a pretty good sabbath. Ryan Lewis gave his missionary farewell talk. He was very rebellious in his youth and pretty much dropped out of the church - tried to drop out of his family for a while. But when he and his girlfriend were looking for a church to join, he happened into a Mormon sacrament meeting and rediscovered his roots and his faith. His farewell talk stunned me with his eloquent and scholarly treatment of his subject matter. I hadn’t realized that he was such an intellectual and now with his life organized and given direction, he has become a very powerful servant. I am so happy for him and for his parents who flew in from Denver, Colorado to be here for his farewell. To see your son or daughter mature and take on responsibility in this way is one of the great rewards of being a parent. You children have all made me proud as well, over and over. Thank you.

After church I test flew a Cessna 182 I have been considering as a replacement for our Butterflyers LLC partnership. My partner and I both agree we should sell our 172 and purchase this faster, more powerful, safer airplane (yes, I know its just a big guy toy, but doesn’t that sound better?) An interesting thing about this plane that I had forgotten over the years: being heavier, it is more stable in the air, not as prone to turbulence as the "Butterfly" I now fly. It has been approved for auto gas and so will cost about the same or less in gas to operate and the investment will be about the same for me. We will take in another partner or two. So, any buyers for my airplane out there? The seller is a nice guy who is seriously interested in singing in the West Linn Community Chorus. His wife was steaming grapes today and bottling the juice, just like we used to do years ago. He keeps the plane in his hangar attached to his house. When we landed, we simply taxied up the road and into his driveway. What a life!

This evening I carved a pumpkin with Bryce (Kyrstyn was on the phone forever and missed it). A picture is attached.

I hope you have a fun halloween
love,

Dad

Pixton Family October Dinner

October 23, 2005
Dear Family,
Kaaren left for England Friday at noon and has by now spent a couple of busy days with her brother, Terry, and her mother, Paddy. The home and even the office and yard seemed very empty without her here. Kaaren called Saturday morning ( her evening) to say she wore Terry and her Mum out her first day there - they did some touring. She sounds well. You might know that Kaaren is there primarily to visit with her mother who has not been well for about 3 months with shingles - a form of childhood chickenpox that lays dormant for decades and then re-erupts usually in old age and can be miserable since its much worse than childhood chickenpox and takes a long time to heal. I hear she may be on the mend.
Last weekend Kaaren and I and Skye and Jared drove to Seattle on Friday, stayed with the Engstroms in Bonnie Lake, south of Seattle, and then enjoyed a day in a large old Seattle home with about 50-60 others at a Sunstone NW Symposium. We heard a talk on Mary Magdalene and her possible marriage to Jesus from Margaret Starbird, the author who inspired Dan Brown to write The Davinci Code; a talk on LDS blogs (wow! The world is changing!) , a talk on Mormon Mantras, a talk on the LDS church’s role in the defeat of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment in the ‘70's, a talk on The Vitality of Mormon Hymns, and a group talk - almost like a testimony meeting - on The Best Ideas in Mormonism. I gave the talk on hymns, with help from Skye and Jared (live) and Courtney and Clayton and Bryce and Brittany and Kyrstyn and Kaaren (on CD) and I have a recording and there should be an mp3 to download from http://www.sunstoneonline.org/ sometime soon. It was a good day.
The next day, Sunday, our family sang at a Stake Fireside of the best musical selections from each ward. Courtney sang "Give Me Jesus" very, very beautifully. Her accompanist was especially sensitive and supportive and stunning on the keyboard. They our family - at least Kaaren, Courtney, Skye and Jared, Clayton, Bryce and me, sang "Amazing Grace" with Ardeth Fullmer accompanying us on the piano. She was frustrated, she said afterwards, because we were not singing at an amplified mike (it was just for recording purposes) and because of the bad building acoustics she could not hear us. In fact there was some disconnect between the guys at one point in one verse and the piano behind us - we couldn’t hear it well either. Next time we need to practice in the hall where we will be singing - a lesson learned. Anyway, overall it was effective and I’m glad we did it. It bonds us to sing together. Not every piece performed was worth hearing, unfortunately, but it was good to be invited and to give something of ourselves. That was a busy week.
Yesterday, Bryce and I and Courtney and Logan and Caden gathered at Skye and Jared’s place to watch Notre Dame clobber BYU and eat popcorn and pizza. Bryce and I painted shelves and pretty much stayed home. It was a bright clear day, horizon to horizon. Today’s weather was goopy, hazy and overcast. I came home after Sacrament Meeting and went back to bed, feeling very fatigued. Much better after the nap. Met with Greg Stevens to talk about callings for the Activities Committee and rehearsed with a male chorus planning to sing "More Holiness Give Me" in church next Sunday. Clayton brought Olivia to the rehearsal. She is a doll.
I made dinner for our family dinner Sunday (today) and quite enjoyed making it: baked salmon in salza marinade, baked potatoes and butternut squash, the last of our garden tomatoes in white basalmic vinegar, Skye brought a green salad and I provided a cake (raspberry filling on white cake) with ice cream from Zupans and pumpkin pie from Costco with cream. Caden and Logan kept asking for more cake. It was good. Clayton and Amy and kids didn’t make it this time. Attached is a picture of us who were here today. We had a good time together and afterwards mapped out a plan for me to get my weight coming down. Think I’ll go finish off the leftover cake.... No music together this time except a song before dinner - "Popcorn Popping on the apricot tree". We just a had a nice, relaxed time talking and such.
My community Chorus is moving along nicely. Lots of work and lots of music yet to learn and polish but everyone is trying and wants to succeed. Next week we will rehearse in a Lutheran church pastored by one of our former basses - John Rutter-Harrah. While listening to some sample CDs music publishers send to me, I happened quite unexpectedly across a recording of one of the obscure Hannukah songs we are singing - Ocho Kandelikas. Now I understand it better and I will change the way we sing it, too.
Friday night our home was one of the stations for a youth activity race - like a scavenger hunt. They had to come to the house, sing a hymn for me (or in the alternative, put together the words from a sack of individual words cut up and jumbled. I had two overwhelming impressions with these 30 or so kids who came into my home. 1) I knew perhaps 3 of them by name and 2) I felt a wave of compassion wash over me for each of them in their struggle to be accepted and loved and learn about life. My teen years were so very traumatic and I suppose that is true for most kids. I need to get to know some of these kids better. It is hard for me to reach out that way.
The garden is going wild - as soon as Kaaren left, I think, the grass sprouted up from its summer dormancy all uneven, the roses have dropped their leaves, the beans are finished, the tomatoes are done and what’s left is rotting; things seem pretty much going to winter state. We’ll need to trim up and cut lawn and ready things for colder weather and then prune.
Kyrstyn drove her diesel chevy truck with a girl friend to Eugene where she plans to trade it for a diesel Surburban - trading one ugly vehicle for another more uglier vehicle, I guess, in pursuit of the one truly ugly but efficient diesel convert-able to used vegetable oil for fuel. Also camping at the coast. So she wasn’t here today.
Bryce started working with us in the office this last week. He is growing in his capacity to maintain focus and his interest in his computer and playing more music on his own and contributing his talent and gospel education and maturity to his calling in the Elder’s Quorum are all good evidence of healing and growth. I am very grateful to see this happening.
Addison and Eli and Olivia are turning 18 months in less than two weeks. There are very difficult to manage in church but were pretty good today. Olivia still doesn’t want much to do with me but she’s warming up a bit. I think I’m a pretty crusty old dude. Eli decided it was fun to pound his head on the pew this morning. Addy liked the idea, too. They are pretty funny and sweet and very good looking little kids. They are going to be a terror team.
Caden’s vocabulary is exploding and he challenges his brother, Logan, constantly. What a job Courtney and Jason have in front of them.
Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh. Shadows of the evening steal across the sky. Father, give the weary calm and sweet repose, with thy tender blessing may our eyelids close.
Goodnight.
Dad

Letter to Ted Strub

This is a letter to my high school buddy, Ted Strub. We share early October birthdays (pictures) and correspond with each other in October:

Thanks, Ted for you email and your phone call. It was certainly unexpected - a pleasant surprise. I appreciate the certain, though very thin and stretched, bond between old friends.

I had another very unexpected phone call a couple of weeks ago. Sid Henderson called me. I was riding my bike with Kaaren and we had worked so hard to find a time we could ride together so I just picked the phone out of my pocket and put it up to my ear without stopping and getting off the bike. We talked about a number of old times and made arrangements for my son, Forrest, to bunk at his house in Orem, Utah for a few days while he waits for his condo to be ready to move in while he had already started his fall classes at BYU - which was the reason for the call - he'd heard we had a need for temporary housing. Anyway we talked for about 20 minutes. He is recovering (he hopes) from prostrate cancer.

My cousin, David Tadje, who is my age has also had prostrate cancer. It is sobering. Given the state of my health, 100 pounds overweight (I still can't believe this and that is part of the problem) , I consider myself a walking time-bomb and want to get my life out of the mess it is in and on a healthier track - if I can just get the time... Anyway we finished the call and I was still riding my bike - at least i was riding and not sitting in a chair.

I envy your travels and interesting work. It sounds like a good life and a good contribution. Mine is a "kinder, gentler" law practice with a mission to give people security and peace of mind in their mature years. Most of the time it is pretty rewarding, too.In Darmstadt, where I served on a mission in 1967 and where Kaaren and visited again last June, we visited a famous artist enclave of cottages, perhaps somewhat like your friends in Chile. Kaaren was fascinated and inspired by all the art, mostly with an artist whose name I can't remember, who was a personal friend of Picasso and whose ceramic "pottery" looks like Picasso in three dimensions. It is wonderful stuff.

I'm late responding to your email because I've come through the most impacted couple of weeks I can remember. I had a number of time critical projects at the office, rehearsals Thursday night for the West Linn Community Chorus which I direct, I'm Activitees Committee Chairman for our local LDS ward with planning meetings going on at my house Wedbnesday in the evening, we just closed (Monday) the sale of a property we have fixed up for investment, then did a tax free exchange and just closed Friday on the purchase of the replacement property including supervising a construction project that had to be completed before close, drove to Seattle Friday for a LDS related symposium (Sunstone Foundation/Magazine) on Saturday where I was one of the speakers (I had been preparing this presentation into the 1 and 2 oclock am times - trying desparately for time to get this together and wondering if I was crazy to accept the invitation to speak). My topic was The Vitality of Mormon Hymns and in addition to my text, I needed to assemble onto one CD lots of examples of bits and pieces of hymns I wanted to play and discuss - including some by my kids and family and other groups - also had Skye and Jared come along to demonstrate and sing a couple of her hymn arrangemens which she does with guitar - you know...youthful, hip arrangements of otherwise old tired hymns that are inspiriting but could be expressed in a modern genre if we only have the courage. The next day (yesterday), our entire family - the ones present here in the Portland area anyway (Me and Kaaren, Clayton, Skye and Jared, Courtney, Bryce) sang at a special musical program - we sang an arangment of "Amazing Grace" with a little gospel rhythm and style (it was soooo fun) and that took a lot of energy. Also helping ysterday with another mens ensemble that rehearsed yesterday, and I rehearsed and played piano for Courtney in a performance she did yesterday, too. Spent Sunday morning in church dueling ("triple-ing?") with Clayton's triplets while he was up front taking part in a special program. Went to bed last night thinking, my word, that was the week that was...

Don't you think we're all too busy? I rented a movie 10 days ago, but of course, it is still sitting in the box. Is your life like this? I'll bet it is. Now when we are nearly 60 and want to LIVE our lives to the fullest and contribute and help and improve it is so hard to say no to people who ask for our experience. How do we balance our lives?

The presentation in Seattle, for example, was exhausting to put together but I loved it and I'm glad I managed to do it. These folks want me to do this again - to speak in Salt Lake City at the national symposium next August and I will probably do it. Ughhh. Incidentally, one of the speakers on the program with me was Margaret Starbird, the author who inspired Dan Brown to write The Davinci Code. Have you read any of her stuff? It is really fascinating. She mentioned that she felt like she was preaching to the choir - the notion of a married Jesus used to be taught among the Mormons a hundred years ago but now doesn't get much air time. After hearing/seeing her presentation about Mary Magdalene, I'm convinced this was the case.

I'm enjoying the colors in the trees. Out my window I have a panoramic view of maples turning all arounda church with a white steeple. It looks like a scene out of Vermont but of course, it also looks like Oregon at one of its best times. I took the plane up for a warm-up today at noon. I haven't had time to do that for many weeks. The land is really beautiful, especially vineyards at this time of year. I treasure my old time hobby; its a perspective that few of get. When we were young I assumed that when I was 60 there would be more and more airplanes and airports, but the opposite has happened. Now when I look at the price of avgas I'm not sure how much flying I'll be doing. I can fly my own plane to Santa Rosa for example for about $380. I can go commercial round trip for much less than that.

Well, enough rambling and jammering. It was nice to hear from you and I hope we keep "talking," even if only annually, for some time to come.

Regards,Tom
THE PIXTON LAW FIRM