25-December-2022-Sunday-Christmas
According to several articles I have seen, we will not have Christmas fall on a Sunday for 11 years. As Eric told us last night, by that time Hailey would be 26 and could possibly be telling her children that yes they need to go to church even if it is Christmas Day. Hard to project ourselves into the future that far. Lyndee could be on a mission or away to school. Kal who celebrated his first Christmas today would be a boring Deacon. I was so glad my family all were in Sacrament Meeting today.
The Rutland Branch decided to move Sacrament Meeting from 10 am to noon. This worked out well for Dede and me as were able to join the Larsen's and Mitchell's in seeing what Santa brought their children and then coming back to both to open gifts which we had given them and they had given to us. I am so grateful for the technology that brought us into their homes to be part of their Christmas Day. What fun to see how excited the children were as they became caught up in the magic of gift giving. A special thanks to each family who invited us to come into their home.
We were surprised as we neared Killington to realize that they had had new snow last night and that the roads were sketchy due to the blowing snow from the last several days. Regardless we were able to get there and back with little trouble. Dede and I sang a duet for Sacrament Meeting. We have sung twice since coming to Vermont, while I do not know that we have sung twice before as a duet in our marriage. Fun to get the chance here. Other members of the ward performed. I played the organ and then played the piano for the primary as well as for a young woman in the branch whose primary language is sign (although with implants she is also vocal and hearing) signed the first two verses of Silent Night and then had the congregation join in singing the 3rd verse as she signed it also. It was a fairly short program, but the Spirit was very strong.
We returned home and joined by video Jon and Shirlee with Kal as he experienced his first Christmas. I do not know that he was impressed although he was happy to be the center of attention. But the joy of the first Christmas especially for a first born is always so exciting and an event to be remembered.
Dede got our Christmas turkey breast in the oven and we opened our presents. She bought both my and her presents. What a star! She gave me several books I wanted, the graphing tools that I had ordered to record the stone walls at the site and most interesting a high definition Monocular. We did not bring our binoculars and this is light and will be fun to take with us on hikes both at the site and elsewhere. "I gave" Dede several wool felting kits as well as presents we had picked up at the Pewter shop. I was so thoughtful.
We had a fantastic turkey dinner. Dede is the greatest and I am stuffed after finishing off a piece of Rhubarb-raspberry pie. It was also delicious. What a wonderful day, spent with the people I love the most, one in my home and others via technology. It warmed up to 22F today and will hit 26F tomorrow, so life is good. The FM missionaries should have the day off so I plan to spend some time fixing the last of the lights mostly in the lane and the fence below that have not worked since the last two storms. Life is good.
26-December-2022-Monday
We did not have our early morning devotional today, so after sleeping in until 8 am we got ourselves out the door to go to Jericho, Vermont to the Red Mill. The Mill is home to the village office, but more importantly, the Bentley "snowflake"exhibit. Bentley a inquisitive farm boy discovered how to take micro-photos of snowflakes that became world renowned. There was a nice presentation on his life and skills as well as his camera and scope and many of his photos of snowflakes and other images.
They also had a wonderful gift shop which was home to some of the flour milling equipment that still remains. The history says this was the best spot on the Brown River for a Mill and that the small falls were blasted out to make it even better. We bought some nice things including a book on Vermont Covered bridges. The pictures below are of the old mill and the waterfall associated with it.
We got home just in time to change and get to the site. I spent the first hour fixing lights coming up the lane until a car stopped and asked if the visitors' center was open. It was just busy after that with over 120 guests coming through the center. We had members and nonmembers, but many opportunities to share the messages of the site with all. It was a great evening. We had people come in right at 8 but were still able to get out by 8:30. All in all a great day. Did I mention how fun it is to spend a day with the best companion in the world? Now off to riding the exercise bike. Did not get anywhere close to enough steps in today with all the driving early today.
27-December-2022-Tuesday
What an exciting morning we had. Today is Emma's birthday and she turned five! The Larsen family and Anna spent the night with the Mitchell's in Arvada, Colorado, so they could celebrate the day together. Emma has opinions about how a birthday should be celebrated and at 8:30 our time, 6:30 their time Dede and I were watching the morning scavenger hunt where Emma followed clues up and down the stairs to finally find her presents hidden under her bed. We then watched her open her gifts. Her joy was contagious for all present and again we are thankful for the technology that can bring us so close and share. The families had a fun day planned after we signed off and went in to the site.
Dede and I had the early shift. I went over to the office to work with President Ewer in getting the video tour ready to present to Aaron on Thursday. We wanted to be sure we knew how to set up the video for the presentation without issues. I know we can run using the church PC. However, I would like to use my MacBook so I can show the video using the iMovie. This would allow me to mark anything that is not up to the standards that Aaron might have. I tried it and it worked, so hopefully we will not have an issue. I would assume that 90% of the material is acceptable because it come right from the site. However other material come from the WEB and we will see if Aaron approves that or not. I was very surprised when Sister Ewer said she was making changes to the script and plans to move one section around. We will need to get the new copy of the script so that we can make those edits as well and to mark the script so that one knows where one needs to be to keep track with the video. I am not sure that others not involved with the process realize how difficult it might be to provide a presentation with a large number of pictures that change and thus demand the presenter stay current with the movie. I must admit, I am a bit nervous myself.
After our shift and spending time with Stacey from SLC to make sure we had technical issues resolved and then visiting with Buswells, Dede and I drove around looking at lights, stopped in Lebanon for ice cream and washed the car in Queeche before coming home. It has been a full day. Tomorrow is PDay and we plan to go somewhere, although I am not sure where. I think Dede and I are both waiting on the other to decide.
28-December-2022-Wednesday-PDAY
How does one start to describe a day when you try to pack in as many fun things as possible and for the most part succeed? I will try, and yes I will add pictures.
We started the day by going to the Simon Pearce Glass blowing factory and outlet. Here one can stand on catwalks above the work area for the glass blowers and enjoy their art. For the most part people work in pairs and even though each piece is handmade and thus original after a pattern, the moves each makes is almost robotic and allow them quickly and accurately create trees, bowls, baskets, etc. in a timely manner. I realize the cost is high with both power and labor, but as one finds out when he walks into the showroom, they will recoup their expense as all pieces are priced in the several 100's of dollars. Also as one looks into the warehouse and realizes how much inventory they are shipping, it is absolutely amazing. Regardless, I am delighted that we could watch them work and marvel at their products. Following are a few pictures.
Our next stop was a store which sells Jams and Marmalades. This is a cleverly run place. (Note, we were within yards of the glass blowing so I would imagine, the artistic shops are visited by tourists including bus tours and I have found by experience, it is hard to enter such a store on a tour and not succumb to the peer pressure to buy. Anyway, they have their jams presented along the walls and when you come in they give you a piece of paper with 6 circles drawn on it. One is then asked to pick six products he wants to try. These are put in a small tray with 6 little portions places so the customer can try them. Yes, they are good and yes we bought some jams to take home. It was fun but a terrible way to break a fast.
This led us to lunch. We went to a diner/restaurant that resides in an old A&W Drive Inn. The food was great and the service excellent. Just as important, it was fun to watch the two waitresses work with the cliental. Many were locals they already knew, but not all. Regardless all were treated as if they were friends and while we ate, the local police came in for dinner and I watched a waitress give them an envelope to share a gift with all the officers of Windsor County. I could also see that they sponsored the football and ladies' softball teams at the local high school. I would definitely recommend chicken, fish, fries and onion rings at Frazer's in Windsor.
In Windsor, we next went to the precision museum. Prior to the Civil War, there was a great need to have uniform firearms for the armies. Up to the point, guns were made individually by hands and thus the parts were not interchangeable and they were very expensive. Three fellows (one with money, one a gun smith, and one an engineering type) received a contract to supply 10,000 arms from the government. They then built a factory in Windsor and created the machines necessary to create their arms. When they delivered them, they were told no one had ever delivered arms on time and they were 18 months early. They became a big deal in New England and many other shops sprang up. The museum was created to tell that story and show the equipment and with movies and sound bites explain how it was done. It was way cool for a geek like me. I did not take photos of the equipment inside, but did take these wonderful photos of the outside with the river and evidences of the mill races. Note originally the place was powered by a huge water wheel which was eventually replaced by a steam engine. I particularly like the ice formations on the river.
Monday, I purchased a book on Vermont's covered bridges. I like this book as it shows 16 or so tours thus grouping the bridges in an area and we found 5 today. One was on private property and we could not get to it, but it supposedly has a twin in Pomfret which we have seen earlier. On the way we passed the mill pond created by the city to insure they had sufficient water for the many mills (at that time) in town to run all summer. The waterfall with the ice was stunning so I took pictures this will be followed by a few covered bridge pictures. Dede really liked the picture of the ice circle attached to a tree limb hanging in the water. These are fairly common.
On to bridges. Two were outstanding and you will get several views of these. Both the bridges and the rivers were great. Luckily we were able to get to all the bridges just as we lost light.
A mission is great. At least ours is wonderful. We serve people, but we are also encouraged to get out and see things on our PDAY and when we are not on shift. We love doing this and Vermont has so much to offer. We have done some of the big name tourist visits, but the small towns, the museums, the bridges, the shops and crafting is our favorite. I hope everyone has a desire if able to serve a senior mission. And if the circumstances are not correct to serve away from home of even at home (service mission), I hope your will enjoy our blog and similar missionary blogs.
29-December-2022-Thursday
Very interesting day. At noon, President Ewer and I had a meeting to review the virtual video with Aaron. I spent much of the morning fixing up small details and worrying about the meeting. When we started the video Aaron had a comment and then said let it continue. At the end he asked, "were you trying to create a documentary?" I fear our video was so different than anything he expected he did not know what to say. He still likes the Martin Cove video. In this video they walk down a dirt road for 25 minutes telling about the area and one or two stories while never getting to the site. The video we put together had many pictures relating to the content we were talking about and had left in an over voice I had used to time the video to the script. Thus I can see why he thought it felt like a documentary.
I am supposed to send him a copy via google drive, which I am preparing now. I am not sure what he will do with it. He wants to be involved with any edits, but I am very confused as I do not think he likes the methodology, so I am not sure how one edits a product that was a nonstarter. Oh well, I will send him a copy and then I plan to edit the existing copy because there is a great deal of repetition and remove a few slides he mentioned and see if that is approaching the correct thing he wants.
The good news, next week, we will work from 10 to 5 every day (split between two compiles) and will not have many people in since the lights will be down, so after I get my lights down, I can begin editing and hopefully get that to him before he wastes much time on the other. The other good news, is that I have learned to see things differently by making the video. I have taken pictures of things I would not have before even noticed and trieed to work with these images in creating a video. The way it stands now, I doubt we will do virtual tours this winter and once it begins to warm up who knows. I asked Aaron about the number of virtual tours being done at other sites. He would not give a number only saying that with Covid no long restricting people it has dropped a great deal.
I was glad that we did not shut down the site early in December to do virtual tours. In the last three weeks we have had 40 to 150 visitors every night. Most are not members and we would have missed all of these people had we shut down at 5 to do a virtual tour.
30-December-2022-Friday
Time is truly flying. It is hard to believe that 5 months of our mission are already behind us. It helps that we love what we are doing. This morning was absolutely beautiful as far as the weather is concerned. The sun was shining and it climbed up to 47F with more warm days in the future. Since we had no visitors this morning we walked several times around the circle enjoying the sunshine. I have read articles that make sense to me stating that those who get outside and exercise consistently are much better prepared for Covid. The roads are so narrow that one cannot walk along them especially with snow, so having nice weather at the site is so great.
I believe the number of people who will come in the for lights is diminishing as one might expect. Christmas is behind us and so people are probably looking forward to the New Year. We had about 45 last night down from 100+ Monday night.
Today I worked on the video again. After discussing this with Dede, we decided that it is apparent that we will not be able to do virtual tours during the winter as hoped as it will take time for official recognition of our video from SLC. With this in mind, I took our original video and cut it down from 30 to 25 minutes editing out duplications and slow spots. I also changed the order of the scenes to make it flow like a tour flows if someone comes into the site. I think this will be easier for Aaron to approve, but more importantly, it will be much easier for us to give as it matches much more closely to the live tours we give now. We plan to invite some people to do a virtual tour with us via Zoom so we can learn how to give virtual tours and tune the video to work better. The Buswells were interested in doing the same. Thus if any readers are interested in doing a virtual tour of the Joseph Smith Birthplace, please let Dede know and we will set up a time. We can do the tour from our apartment, so we should be able to match times up with our friends in the Mountain Time Zone.
31-December-2022-Saturday
A year has ended. A great year, but it will go into the memory books. However, with this blog at least half of the year, while I am serving this mission will be documented on a daily basis.
We arose this morning to look at covered bridges. Our new books describes the bridges with both history and how they were built. This enhances the experience. We had three on the list and found that we had already visited the first two. No real issue, but other than a single picture, I will not say much about the bridges. In this picture one can see a triangle that was used to support this bridge. This is unusual and not very effective as compared to the arches we have seen in other bridges and thus even though it has a shorter span than others, it needed to be strengthened rather early to keep it standing. It is interesting to see the various methods of construction.
We stopped again at Dan and Whits as we passed through Norwich to buy a light bulb for the fridge. What a fun store. We have been there before. Think of a large building with many rooms and setting up a store within with different departments in different rooms and how much fun it is to move from room to room exploring. Also note that the rooms are random with steps up and down, so one feels like an explorer.
Our next bridge was Willard Bridge. There are actually two bridges at this site, although one is a new covered bridge as the old one was washed out. The architecture and the falls beneath this bridge are outstanding and so you will get several pictures. I am a fan of this bridge and its companion which although modern was built to match the older and longer bridge in design and style.
Note the second bridge looking through the first and newer bridge.
Note the rock footing under the road. At one time before putting in the cement footing under the bridge this stone work, without cement held up the bridge. These artisans were amazing. The falls is also worth noting.
Better view of the rock wall.
Love the ice formations in the falls.
May I say she is beautiful.
Finally we ate at 4-Aces Diner just over the NH border. Had to wait 20 minutes to get seated but it was good and I will share a few picture as it was also built around a dining railroad car and has the feel and charm of a diner. I had to take a picture of this quote. I can tell you all, my wife will never grow old as she will never stop playing.
We had some great visitors at the site. In particular we had a family with two sets of grandparents (11 total). They wanted the full tour and we spent a great deal of time at the restoration room letting these kids pick restoration stories and tell the parents and grandparents why it was meaningful and to bear testimony and then allowed the grandparents to do the same followed with the parents. What an outpouring of the Spirit was felt by all. This was in contrast to two couples that came in earlier (parents and child and wife) who wanted us to know that they were tired with their Catholic religion and did not need the crutch of religion. It was rather a sad visit. I find it interesting to have people talk about "the crutch of religion", who you know would not be willing to put in the effort required to have that "crutch" become meaningful in their lives. I was glad they came in to visit and hope they found something at the site that helped or helps them in their life.
We ended the night with a meal at the Ewers to bring in the New Year. Tomorrow in New Years' day and for us Fast Sunday. Since we have the day off, we will eat with the Sheltons in Rutland. Dede is actually preparing our meal now which she will cook at their home as Sister Shelton has been feeding the world for the last week.
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