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