2011: Two Thousand E-Lelegren

A Year in Review

January: 

The kids playing in the snow

February:

First McKee Branch temple trip

March:

The kids getting along so nicely

Celebrating Grandma's 75th birthday early in Utah

Celebrating Shay's 40th birthday early in Utah

April:

Starting the new season at Fort Boonesborough

Dad learning to start fire with flint and steel

Working by the fire in my cabin

May:

Scarf: My very first knitting project

June:

Checking out tools at the Tinsmith Convergence

July:

Tan face from working outside everyday teaching people to play with fire

August:

First homegrown peppers

September:

Stomping grapes

October:

Scraping a deer hide

Caramel and apples for Halloween

November:

Birthday ice cream

December:

Peace of Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

The Light of Christmas

While there are plenty of dates I can remember, there are very few dates that I can remember on what day of the week they fell. However, I know without a doubt the last time Christmas fell on a Sunday. It was 2005. I was living in a small barrio known as El Torito and working in a different small barrio known as Cuerno (It's funny because I lived in "the Little Bull" and worked in the "horn"). The area was called Guaricano in the zone of Villa Mella and the mission of la Republica Dominicana Santo Domingo Este. Hands down one of my two favorite areas.

As will happen this Sunday, Church convened for only one hour so that families could go home and spend the day together. It meant the same for missionaries. We were told not to leave our homes other than for church because the holiday called for much drunkenness and revelry and they didn't want us to run into any trouble in the streets.

On the way home from church I wanted to take a picture of something that was nearly impossible to take a picture of any other day. Me standing under a lit streetlight.

You see, the Dominican Republic isn't as fancy schmancy as say, Kentucky, where it's easy to take electricity and running water for granted. There, electricity comes and goes, and literally in the streets you hear cheering when it comes on and sighing when it goes out. And in the houses it was always heard "¡Llegó la lúz!" when it came on and "Se fue la lúz...." when it went out. All you bilingualists out there may have noticed we didn't cheer the actual electricity, we cheered the light.

At least in Guaricano there was only one day the light was guaranteed to be on all day. Christmas Day.

See all those power lines? All those people searching, hoping, waiting for light? Receiving a full day of it the one day set aside to remember the birth of the Savior? Good thing we can have His light within us all day everyday if we strive to follow His example.

Helaman 14:3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a ^asign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

 4 Therefore, there shall be one ^aday and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is ^bborn.

 5 And behold, there shall a new ^astar arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

P.S. One of the biggest excuses we'd get from people for not coming to church was that the light might come on and that would be their only chance to do laundry. If only they understood...

The Lelegren Cat is a Grateful Cat

...said to the rhythm of "The Minister's Cat..." You know, that game they play on the Albert Finney version of A Christmas Carol.  Shay likes to play it, even though I've never  made him watch the movie. Though, it's not quite the same with just two people.

I digress.

As stated before, I said the only way I'd have a cat was if it was a good mouser. Kiki has proven herself to be such. Mouser, birder, voler, small snaker, etc. Sometimes she leaves little presents for us in front of the door. Actually, front and back doors. Anyways, Shay said it's a little known fact that when cats leave their kills by the door, it's their way of showing they're a better hunter than you.

However, I started to notice a very deliberate pattern.

Every time I give Kiki a "treat" (you know, bones, fat, gravy, etc.), shortly thereafter something is left by the door. When I don't give her something, she doesn't give me anything. I think she is actually showing her appreciation with a payment. Sometimes she appreciates more than others. Sometimes it's a mouse, usually a vole, sometimes just a few vital organs.

A Vole

Tonight I was working on a project in the front room, and thought twice I was seeing shadows. Then I held really still and saw a mouse dart across the front of the room. Fortunately, Shay was near his computer in the shop and saw me message him to "Come quickly". I kept an eye on the walls from my perch on top of the couch, and Shay started arranging mouse traps. The little devil kept darting from side to side of the front wall, and every time slipped right over the traps. Shay put two next to each other. With swiftness, it sped over them. Then I had him line two together, and put a third perpendicular to it. And we waited. Not long. For the last time, he made it over the first two, then SNAP!

I clapped my hands and threw Shay a high five. Then he took it out front and we called Kiki over. I directed her to it and she grabbed it and ran off.

Now, I wonder, will she pay me for being gifted her own kind of currency? Or will I find some chicken bones in front of the door in the morning?

P.S. The ghost of said mouse is now haunting me. I keep thinking I see shadows EVERYwhere. I certainly hope it is strictly my imagination.

Do You See What I See?

 We still haven't had any snow stick to the ground - it's fallen from the sky twice, but mixed in with all the rain. Rain, you say? Yes, and lots of it.

Just how much, you ask? So much, even the crawdads were trying to get out of town.

 This is the first one I have ever seen out here around our place, and in the middle of the road no less.

At least we didn't have to worry about going hungry that night.

 Ok, calm yourself PETA, Shay took it down to the pond and set it free.....at least that's what he told me he did.

An Orphan Thanksgiving

We invited the missionaries and another family over, and since none of us had family nearby, declared it an "Orphan Thanksgiving."

 Shay making the gravy

Shhhh....the turkey's sleeeeping 

Before the guests arrived we had our 2nd annual ichat Macy's Day Parade. Since we don't have television and I can't find a decent, edited, free online streaming of the parade, Mom and Dad point their computer at their tv and I still get to watch the parade via ichat. I think that's Snoopy coming down the street.

 Once everyone arrived, we had a wonderfully delicious meal and equally wonderful company.

 After dinner we played the animal sign game, which got pretty intense, and then a girls vs. boys game of Cranium.  The girls got behind in the beginning, and then zoomed to the end where we sat stumped until the boys caught us and it came down to the very last question, which happened to be a Club Cranium. I finally correctly guessed the humdinger for the victory. The very best part of Cranium was when Elder Peterson had to act out "mermaid" and all Elder Miner would guess was "waist-down fish." Over and over and over. It was really funny, and we're still teasing him about it.

 I have NO idea why everyone looks so solemn here - must have been a very intense decision being made.

Hope everyone else had a splendid Thanksgiving as well!

Tippecanoe and My Birthday Too

I was pretty lucky to have a special 30th birthday. Wait. Did I just say that out loud? Thir. Tee. Yikes. Actually, it doesn't hurt that bad, because it just doesn't feel true.

Anyways...

Mom and Dad, who love me, took pity on me so I wouldn't have to join the Friends of the Friendless, and promised to come for my birthday...even though they had previously promised they wouldn't since they drove out here with us back in March.

It was probably the best time we've had them out here because we weren't as rushed and running around like crazies. Dad and I went for morning walks with Schwarz, and one morning even hiked the East Pinnacle of Indian Fort Mountain (Schwarz did much better than his first trip).

The highlight, of course, was my birthday weekend, when Mom and Dad accompanied us to the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Tippecanoe (one of the precursors to the War of 1812 and the one that made William Henry Harrison freakin' famous). Not only did they attend, but they even dressed up and participated with us. They did amazing. Mom learned to spin on the drop spindle and Dad learned to make tin whistles, which were so popular he couldn't keep up with the demand.

Saturday was my birthday, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Pope's Day. Shay put Mom to sewing a Guy, who was then stuffed with straw and attached to a noose. Once the public was gone, Shay and Dad fired up the brazier, we chanted the first stanza of Guy's poem, and then watched him burn. It was the best effigy we've ever had.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, changed clothes and went to Chili's for dinner and Steak 'n Shake for dessert. Back in the hotel, Dad gave a splendid presentation about the entire Guy poem.

Oh, and Shay's present to me? A Guy Fawkes Lantern. Based on the original in the Ashmolean Museum, said to be found with Guy Fawkes when he was caught.

Happy Birthday to Me!

A Cold Day in Perryville

Oct 1-2 found us back in Perryville for the 149th anniversary of the Civil War battle that took place there. Did ya catch that? 1.4.9. That means next year is the big 1.5.0. It will be epic. At least it better be because they started promoting it long before this year's event. So there were fewer reenactors and fewer visitors this time.

That would have been fine had the weather just cooperated. You see, I had decided over a month before to tackle a real knitting project. An original Civil War Era pattern. Since I only know one stitch I had to pick one that only called for one stitch. It was a pattern by Mrs. Jane Weaver. Well, I may be a beginning knitter, but nonetheless, I have a few choice words for her.

But I completed it, and just in time. Now I just needed the perfect weather for it. I started watching the 10 day forecast 10 days before the event.  At first it was showing low 70s up until the weekend, and then a heat wave of high 80s. As the big day got closer and closer the temperature got lower and lower. By the time we headed west, the high was forecast in the low 50s. I have a hard time believing it even got that high. It was freezing. And windy. Until the last vehicle pulled out Sunday afternoon. Then it couldn't have been more perfect. We spent that night there alone on the battlefield (well, except for the crazy gypsies, but they kept their distance).

Anyways, here's my first two completed knitting projects, Shay's scarf and my sontag-

 And pics from the battle, since they were practically backed up into our tent.