More This and That
*It's fun to watch familiar faces appear at the temple.
--Elder Rasband showed up one day. No fanfare, just a quiet meeting with the temple president before he disappeared to whatever he came to do. Just low key, no fuss. There have probably been others like him, but if you're not in the right place at the moment they show up, you miss it.
--Same with Sister Yee, although she did chat with us in the office and gave us all hugs after she picked up cards for the ordinances she's done. She's delightful, so warm and friendly.
--There have also been a few people we recognized from their podcasts, but if we'd greeted them with, "I know you," they would have been embarrassed since most of them don't know who we are, so we just smiled and nodded at them.
*We see lots of insects in our apartment but haven't had any problems with mosquitoes or chiggers--yay! We've gotten quite tired of all the little creepy crawlies that have made their way inside, but none of them bite us. We went from spiders in the spring to lots of black beetles and then crickets this summer and back to spiders again this last week. It often seems like they crawl into our apartment just to die. However, we can take things in stride now. Last week, after Arline grabbed her white packet and put it in her temple bag, she noticed a big black wolf spider climbing out, waited until it got to the top of her bag, and flicked it across the room. Unless the bugs are in our way, we mostly just ignore them now.
*Throughout the summer there have been various repairs that don't go along with the pioneer vibe. The conveyer taking shingles up to the rooftops, for example. Another one is when they resurfaced the streets. Something just felt off about the big trucks.
The finished product was so nice! No more potholes or wagon wheel ruts.
*Our upstairs neighbor gave us a prism. We put it in our east-facing kitchen window. The rainbows it scatters throughout the kitchen in the mornings are like the rainbows from our skylight in our old house.
*These cute fairy wings are painted by a wall in town. We kept forgetting to take a picture with our grandkids in front of them while the families were here.
*The people around here are so faithful and diligent. For example, we were asked to attend the Fort Madison ward across the river in Iowa. When the bridge closes for much of the summer and fall, it more than doubles their time to get to Nauvoo. Like Elder Godoy talked about, they do it with no complaints, only smiling faces and grateful hearts.
*Last week we got to tour the Tomb of Joseph. It's off the southeast corner of the temple. The owner is careful to say it is the presumed crypt but has lots of resources that point to it being where, at one time, they planned to bury the Prophet. That was before the mobs took over and it was never used for that purpose and later was covered up. At one time it someone had the bright idea to store ice cream to keep it cold throughout the summer. Very interesting.
*There is a group called the Heartlanders that has been gaining in popularity in the last several years. They believe that much of the Book of Mormon was located around this area. We'd heard of it long before we came here. It's interesting, but we don't find it as believeable as the Tomb.
*All those cute little goslings from last spring are grown up and we can't tell them apart from their parents. They're ALL over the place.
*Geese honking as they fly to encourage the leader is a myth. Unless a goose honking to himself when he's the only one flying is positive self talk.
*Del and Linda Halling were our mentors when we first got here. They're wonderful people and host waffle breakfasts EVERY week, sometimes more than once a week. We've been invited over 3 times. Dave thinks it's because we have extra folding chairs, but I think it's because they're great people.
*Things that are easier in Illinois in general, Nauvoo in particular:
--Watering lawns and crops. The rain does that, so no sprinklers.
--Recycling. So fast and easy because there isn't any. At least not around us in Nauvoo. Someone told us last week there's a place about 25 minutes away in Keokuk, but we haven't tried sorting our garbage for months and we won't start now.
--Traffic. Rush hour only occurs when there are 3 cars going in any direction, usually temple workers coming or going from a shift. No stop lights, lots of jaywalking.
*The pace around Nauvoo is much slower and laid back. We've been able to get everything we need (except mail in a timely manner) if we were willing to travel. The nearest Sam's Club is an hour away in Quincy, Costco is 2 hours, Walmart and other grocery stores as well as restaurants and fast food are 20-30 minutes away. There were a few eateries open during the summer, but have cut back on hours or closed until next year. All of that is to say there's not a lot happening in Nauvoo, and we've loved the slower pace.
*Are we the only ones who thinks the mission doctor, Dr. Quinn, should be a female?
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