August splendor

"And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." (Exodus 3:5)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes--; the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."
(Aurora Leigh, Book VII, II, 820-23

As with virtually all temples, chapels and historical sites of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial site is resplendent with deep green lawns, colorful flowers and trees all in their summer glory.  See what we get to see every day as we serve:

Sister Likes blends in nicely, don't you think!

Our office is in the Director's Residence behind me.

Maybe you can name all these flower varieties, but I can't!

Whoops!  What happened to this one??  See below...

A little girl took a bite of these green berries, then immediately started crying with pain!  We called our EMT to the scene, who quickly examined her.  When he found that she had not swallowed any of them, her lips were not swollen and a little glass of cold milk calmed her down, we were all relieved.  It turned out to be Trillium, a non-poisonous, bitter plant.  We are all a little wiser now.

Every year while we were home, Lynne would dress up in a holstein cow outfit, go to Chick-Fil-A, and get free food.  She talked Leroy into going once or twice and even took four young Elders properly adorned with cow markings once. There are no Chick-Fil-A's in Vermont, so our granddaughters Courtney and Paige (Randy and Kirsten's girls) substituted for her this year.  They were terrific!

Summer  of 2013.  Should have brought that cow bell with us to Vermont - might have come in handy!

Summer of 2013.  Missionaries have fun too!  Notice that I made sure nobody would mistake me for a cow!