Down is a good thing.

Down the clock tower

Down the Tower Stairs

Down the Mississippi

Down with Summer

Down with another Decade

Down with Double digits left to work in Nauvoo

This is an example of a Blog eaten by the Internet and by my lack of experience. It was begun in Sept. and ready to post when the loss occurred. I KNOW the original post was more clever but now you’ll never know.

Now we are on our way home and hope to fill in the missing blog weeks of our mission before we reach the left coast.

One of the intrepid Engineers at the Temple saved the Church over $20,000 by repelling down the tower to remove the broken clock hands, buying a $200. part and replacing it himself.

We caught sight of this barge and watched the lock

 process with great excitement!(it's handy to have a findship app). It’s a precise science that makes me

glad it’s not MY job.

Sunrise through my favorite barn on our way to early

Church In Iowa City in October.

The corn  & stalks dried, brittle, ready for harvest before

the rains come.

A second dinner cruise down the Mississippi

in October.

We tried to help Tom S. but he skedaddled and left

us holding the brush.

 So fun to have sisters! And one came from the South

 to Nauvoo just to see us!!

A few of our side trips before heading home.  The Midwest is full of surprises and creative enterprises.

The small town of Gladbrook has their moment of fame 

with these match sticks.

Check out his website for more beautiful creations: 

Hogwarts, jet planes, subs, Notre Dame

One of my favorite buildings-recreated from match

sticks, white glue and patience into a 12 ft. marvel.

The shuttle is impressive and the launch

tower makes it really over the top!

Some of these clocks are over 9 ft. tall.

Hand carved clocks during the winter months by the Bily brothers in Spillville,Iowa.

With the death of the brothers the clocks were willed to the town to never be sold, but put on display in the townS.

Waterloo, IA with a new toy Mike would love to drive. The tour of the huge huge John Deere plant was more interesting than I could have ever imagined.

The beautiful Basilica in Dryersville, IA dominates the skyline in this small town. We met  the same tourist at the Field of Dreams and again in this church. Small world, small town.

The Field of Dreams is alive in Dryersville.

No Shoeless Joe Jackson here!

A Golden Week!

A week full of tender mercies of the Lord and love from our family and friends.

Thank you for all your comments, love, and emails during our Anniversary week. Who would have thought 50 years ago that we would be celebrating in Nauvoo?! We loved hearing from all 28 grandchildren, and our children the same day. Over 50 letters and cards filled our mail box!

We made potato salad, chicken salad, and fruit salad for 75 of our workers on our Temple shift. It was much easier than preparing for our wedding day! But my mom and grandma weren't there to do most of the work.

We still work in the Temple every day in spite of all the photos that make it appear like we just eat and sight see.

A Real Family Tree with Cluff's from 3 branches of the David Cluff Trunk. They're planning the 2019 Reunion in Nauvoo.

Our next Lego project I guess.

We spread our 50th celebrations out for a week with a family dinner and gold pedals from my sister to set the mood. We're still waiting for the gold doubloons Michele!

Anniversary lunch at Angelini's. Quite yummy and fun with Becky & friends from Oregon.

We enjoyed sharing the Carthage jail with Becky and her 3 friends in town this week.

PO Box 310 was full of greetings from over 50 friends and family! So fun to hear from loved ones. We need a selfie stick!

Gold for the Golden.  That's a genuine rose plated with 24K

26 August 50 years later still at the Temple but with Becky, another sister in law, to help us celebrate. We loved doing some sealings for family names in the Temple.

Older brother Devar & his Becky
 after their Rendezvous performance

Time is speeding up with only 8 weeks left for our mission! The summer crowds have thinned but the mosquitoes are still biting and the sunsets are still beautiful.

10 ft. high corn and  barely the barn roof shows. Nearing the end of the season for the bio corn, fodder corn, and only a little sweet corn remains.

Summertime and the Livin' is different

We've had a couple of very fulfilling weeks at the Temple. The beginning of August brought the Lucy Mack and Joseph Smith Sr. Family reunion of about 400 folks to town. One of them was Elder Russell M. Ballard, one of the 12 Apostles of the Church. He spent about an hour sharing his testimony with all the missionaries. He is a humble tender witness for Christ who bears a strong testimony of Christ and his divinity and of the prophets, ancient and latter-day.

Susan Easton Black Durrant was also invited to the Smith reunion and spoke a few days later to all the missionaries. She shared her topic for one of her Education week's classes year. She mesmerized us with the Life of Christ in the Jewish Context. It was fascinating to hear the meanings of the rituals and traditions that are in the scriptures. I know the scriptures are true and now I know more of the background. She mentioned that new babies were washed & rubbed with salt all over them for cleansing and preservative. A Square linen and long strips were wrapped around the baby like a cocoon to create swaddling clothes.
She also gave the history of Judah. The Romans called it Palestine after the land of the Philistines. But the Jewish people never used that name for themselves.

We're still in town and just had to show off this Eagle Scout project. He had one created for each end of town. Pretty cool out of steel that is meant to rust and turn orange....river rocks, sunset.

West Point Iowa Corn Shucking Event! We sat on these board benches for an hour in 98 degree sun and rubbed elbows with families and fun people.
It was warm enough to cook it on the cob as we worked!. As we filled the crates they were carried to a cooler.
 I think we filled 3 crates with corn and our sweat.

 They served us cold water. A gal recognized Mike's BYU hat and said she had graduated from the Y many years ago. She was not a member of the church but loved her experience there. She was the organizer of the Corn Fest last year and admitted the corn this season wasn't as sweet as last year. She was right.

 She apologized for the people not being more friendly (saying the town was 90% catholic). I guess our badges scared some people. We thought they were great folks!

 This is about 18 tons of corn. In a few minutes it was completely surrounded by families helping to shuck for their 4 day Corn Fest where the corn was free.

Just another sunset on the Mississippi I couldn't resist. We finally saw a turtle on a log!  Fireflies are still out. Sheet lightening still spectacular some evenings.

Beautiful clouds at sunset.  I was able to climb up the bell tower in the Temple (on the right) last week-clear to the top! 
View miles in all directions. 
The Temple president let me join the Young Performing Missionaries on their climb up 4 sets of steep spiral stairs to the top. The men carried with dusters to clear the little spiders and critters that gather in the belfry. The black shuttered level was large enough for the 30 of us to gather and reflect on the history & importance of the Temple through the ages.

 As we entered the clock level we could view 4 directions. The President shared that the early saints used that as a look out for the approaching mobs during the Mormon wars on them from 1839-1846. A lookout (probably on the scaffolding) would warn the saints in the flats (lower town by the river) of their approach.

I reflected on the meaning of the Temple and the strength of the saints. I thought it would be perfect if there were music up there. Then the director asked if the youth could sing. With a nod and no audible pitch given they began singing "When 2 or 3 are gathered in my Name" They blended beautifully and brought tears to our eyes. No one spoke nor did we want to move. But the lack of air conditioning reminded us to keep moving.

The clock bells rings on the hour but we were glad it didn't chime as we surrounded it! We did hear screeching of birds of prey and wondered what they were doing. We breathed easier after hearing  it was a motion activation sound of falcons,eagles & hawks to scatter the birds and prevent them from nesting in the tower.
The view from the top windows was well worth the climb, even in the heat. The Temple is always a spiritual haven for me and this was no disappointment with the spirit of the young missionaries, their reverence, & singing.

The peek a boo game

Each Wednesday we have an hour missionary meeting. Last week we heard Dr. Perego share the DNA research telling us how it can support genealogy. They have researched people avowing descendancy from Joseph Smith (which have all been proven false due to the DNA research).

This week a Temple missionary, Brother Streuling,(a BYU accounting professor) shared his life story of growing up in Germany during WWII. He honored his mother with her strong love of family. She saved their physical lives more than once and saved their spiritual lives with her testimony of Jesus Christ and membership in the Church during the war. He reminded us that Hitler was legally voted in by the people then took away their freedoms and right to vote with lies.

Vocal Point, A Capella singers from BYU, entertained on the outdoor stage the last 2 weeks. Talk about ENERGY IN ALL CAPS! Great Beat boxing, humor, precision, blending and fun!

These are a few of the Young performing missionaries (stage and band) in their farewell performance for us Sunday Evening. It was  a very touching, moving, and tear filled presentation about peace and how to have it in our lives. It's not the absence of trial or conflict, but the presence of the Spirit of the Lord during those trials.

This is the end of all out door stage performances and guests until next Spring. Frowny face

 We love our apartment building with 4 vibrant, fun couples! We rotate kitchens for our weekly dinner & an hour of "Wacky 6" game. Laughter is a great healer!

They hail from a small town near Dallas,Texas,Bonneville,Utah,Spanish Fork, Utah & the NW.

This is a "Too Much chocolate Cake" that is guaranteed to blow your Weight Watcher points for the week! It's well worth it and even Gluten Free. Our downstairs neighbor loaned me her bundt cake pan and recipe. (Wonder why I kept thinking of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as it baked?!)

The  bio feed corn & barn

The heat must have stunted the growth!

Life after Pageant

July was full of fun, family, long hours,Church,guests, tour buses, nightly pageants until 10:15, performers on corners and in the groves, hot humid days, frozen salted caramel custard, lightening storms at night, cicadas in the trees, bagpipers marching in the streets, spiritual experiences, alarm clocks set for 4AM, Service with love and many smiles, meeting strangers who knew people you knew, surprise visits from friends you hadn't seen in 50 years, goodbyes to some missionaries and family members.

We really do work hard and long 6 days a week. The work is wonderful and full of tender spiritual experiences. 

"There is rest for our souls and a respite from the cares of our lives inside the Temple." President Thomas S. Monson

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been fully organized and restored in these latter-days. The authority to baptize by proper authority was restored by John the Baptist.The Book of Mormon is a second witness to the Bible and teaches of Christ and His Doctrine.

This past week we helped a downs syndrome young lady enjoy her experience in the baptistry. She was a little confused in a new place but understood what she was doing and so grateful to be there.

 A couple of weeks ago 2 different families, who had severely physically disabled sons, brought their families to the baptistry to perform proxy baptisms. Neither boy was able to walk . One father carried his son into the large font and held him securely.  The other family had a son in a canvas sling which allowed the 18 year old to be carried by 4 brothers into the font. The boy's grandfather and father then assisted him with the ordinance. It was quite spiritual and the other youth groups watching were touched by the love and caring of the families to provide this experience for their sons.

Now August dawns with shorter schedules in the Temple, the pageants have had their strike parties, the young BYU service missionaries have returned home, the Young performing missionaries have 2 more weeks of performing, dancing, fiddling, & singing before they depart, BYU Vocal Point performs Aug 2-13, AND we get to celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary in August! (And again with the family when we return home)

Our kids said we need to post more photos of us...so we tried.

Sunday July 31, corn, corn, corn,
The corn "marker" on our way to Church in Iowa City. We were told this is commercial corn for energy use. 

We've enjoyed eating the sweet corn while in season.  12 ears for $4.00 makes a meal! I can cook nearly a dozen in my pressure cooker and have dinner ready in 3 minutes.

June Corn and barn

 Same barn late July Corn 

Sunday July 31

 We had the noisey excitement of stopping for a tug on our crossing of the Mississippi this morning. This is the longest double decker swing span bridge in the world. The train track runs underneath.  I enjoyed snapping photos until I climbed back into the car and Mike showed me the posted sign. Maybe that's why the tug blew his whistle?!

Oops, This wasn't visible from MY side of the car!

 July Recap:
 
Oh Dear, deer near our mail room. A doe-two fawns hiding nearby.

Mississippi lily pads, logs with sunning frogs & turtles, and a southern bound barge 

Ft. Madison Gazebo ready for the 4th-We didn't attend any festivities here but it reminded us of Maine and all of the town squares in New England.

 "Pioneer past times"
 Grandpa had to demo the proper techniques with stilts. The girls loved the games and we loved that there were no electronics anywhere.

 Our neighbors spoiled us with this yummy late night dessert!

When our neighbors aren't spoiling us we enjoy Annie's salted caramel frozen custard.

 Late night visiting with family after a long day...or was this the early morning after a short night?!

The British Pageant was significant to me because it began with the history of the early Christian Reformers and told their story of persecution and martyrdom because their beliefs were different than the state church.  John Wycliff (1382), William Tyndale (1535), John Lathropp (1634), Anne Askew (1546) helped nourish the seeds of the light of Christ into the hearts of the English Isles. When the restored Church of Christ was brought to England in the 1840's thousands of people recognized it as truth and were baptized.

                                      British Pageant
Each of the four weeks involved a completely different set of families performing. The families rehearse one week, staff the country fair, then perform the second week. The core cast of 20 remained the same. It's an amazing professional production with clear sound, lights, special effects, and some professional actors.

Pre Pageant photos with the stage and Mike's brother

Pre show( Bagpipers and Brass band & National Anthem) to the Nauvoo Pageant which tells the story of building and settling the town in 1839-1846.

On stage "ship" unfurls its sails with Saints bound for America

British Pageant 

This Sunday Morning Sunrise on the Flats of Historic Nauvoo

Jazz, Swing, Pop, Big Band,Toe Tapping music from this talented Brass Band of volunteer students head home the 13th. 

Nauvoo Brass Band...some of our favorite TALL Trombone and Baritone players...

And horn and clarinet cuties!

Those long quiet roads we love to stroll down!

Trail of Hope Performers...and my handsome spectator. They portrayed Eliza R. Snow and sang "Though Deepening Trials".  While in line we met the nicest people who know our nephew & family in Medford, Oregon!