Can a veteran generation guy learn good blogging?

I have three kids who blog well. I want to believe that, despite being born 6 weeks before the baby boom started, I  can be a contributor -- if not a contender. Being in Nauvoo grows in delight, depth of relationship and profound insights.


So here's a start. We got here 7 weeks ago. Weldon and Vickey Tovey hosted us so graciously that the transition was utterly painless. But about a quarter of our guaranteed time in Nauvoo has gone by. Zips, indeed.

We’ve hung Gerber daisies in front of our posh apartment. More on that topic (poshness, not daisyness) in the future.

Our temple president is Spencer Condie, seated between his counselors and their wives. He is as warm and unstuffy an emeritus LDS general authority as one could ever imagine. His goal is that everyone who comes to the temple feels profoundly welcome; as a result, our assignment is to be a window on Christ's love to all we encounter. Pr. Condie shared the remarkable insight that it’s a huge deal to enter the temple. Attending regularly brings great blessings. But we get the opportunity to functionally live in the temple. Out of this world.


The Dworczyk family were our first Nauvoo kin visitors. We're in a wagon that goes around the Nauvoo countryside to give teamster missionaries a venue for telling stories about stunning people who lived here in the 1840s. Plan on the ride when you come.

We’ll continue to share thoughts and pictures here. We’d love to share conversation with you here.

Well, it's now official

We were set apart today by our Stake President, Damon Bahr, as full time missionaries to serve in the Nauvoo temple. We will finish getting the house ready over the next three days and drive away Thursday morning the 21st. It will be a 2-day drive for us; we need to be present for "duty" at 10 am on Saturday the 23rd.
The family gathered en masse for Sacrament meeting. Two unprecedented events occurred during the meeting: the first was only unprecedented in our experience in our current ward. There were more people than sacrament cups and the water needed to be blessed a second time when an extra tray was filled. It's part of what happens when you invite industrial strength family to your meeting. The second event occurred likely for the first time anywhere. The pulpit needed to be raised for Mimi after a charming but very small Deacon was the youth speaker.
All of our Utah kids' families (including David and Caroline Gutierrez) were represented, along with Darrell & Janae Harker who earned the longest journey award by coming from Edmonton. We also had Tob & Sue Wright, Curtis Bybee, Dave Wright, Andy & Valerie Anderson, the three Swan sisters, Terry & Jamie Taylor, Chuck & Fran Moulton, Gena Roe, Tom and Sheila Barcklay, Rob & Kyle Line, Kam & Nicole Otte, Ann Cox, the Cliff Pynes, Nancy and Ty Wilhite, Bethany Barrus and gee whiz we hope we didn't leave anyone out.
Many of the crew came to the house for dinner before returning to the church for the setting apart. By setting up tables in the garage as well as upstairs and downstairs, there was remarkably little congestion or noise. Go figure.

The vanishing interest curve

My daughter the writer listed Wilkie Collins on an otherwise unobjectionable list of things she likes. The only reason I have uttered his name for probably 40 years is captured in the following story.

I became an English major at age 18 thanks to the life-shaping mentoring of Robert K. Thomas. The next year, I took a Shakespeare course from Dean Farnsworth that was stunning -- my first time to really savor the Bard's mastery of the language. But when I found myself reading Collins as a senior, I couldn't stay awake.

Not to worry though. At about the same senior time, I began an intense study of classical Greek in the summer, then read Plato's Apology in the fall and Homer's Iliad in the spring. I still quote insights from Plato and have yet to read as gripping poetry as Homer in the original . But my Greek teacher, Doug Phillips, spent 3 years studying the diction of Leonidas of Tarentum (check it out -- copyright 1975 -- google says so).When you read Leonidas, you find out why he was obscure; no justification in being anything else.

So I thought I was doomed to getting jazzed by the great stuff and whimpering my way through the literary filler. Then I discovered that I probably wouldn't make much of a living as a comparative literature scholar, so I started studying business weekends. The first course was managerial economics. Uggh. When we discussed economies of scale, I thought the topic was the price of alligator hides. But several children encouraged me to keep pursuing pay-worthy subjects, and you know, it got increasingly interesting. Now, more than 30 years on, my fascination factor with business strategy, product development, and astounding customers continues to swell. I see no likelihood of ever hitting an inflection point like the one that dragged me down to my encounters with Wilkie Collins and Leonidas.

Help me out here. What did I miss? Is it worth re-looking? Can Wilkie do for me what Jim Collins does?

Today's writing is for a different audience

Spent several hours "writing," but this work was for a client. Still very good stuff, feels satisfying to have done it, but it's not for general consumption.

Toby's baptism

Toby Jackson was baptized yesterday. He received the Gift of the Holy Ghost -- the best love gift this (or any?) Valentine's week.

 I got the same gift nearly six decades back. It hasn't worn out. And the most reliable place to use it -- no kidding, absolutely, positively the most dependable place to bask in the catch-your-breath, tear-jerking flow of the Holy Ghost -- is a baptism. NEVER faileth.