I HAVE BEEN TO OHIO!

Yes, that really is a building, shaped like a basket. In fact, it is the world's largest basket-shaped building, but not the only, basket-shaped building. Within 20 miles of this one, there are two more! I have taken some flack for not updating my blog in so long, but I've been in Ohio, and with such wonders to see, how could I have had time to blog?
And then on my last morning, I turned on my trusty little laptop to check out my flight home to Zion and witnessed its last gasps as it died before my eyes. My computer man, Darwin, called me last night to say that, although he was able to save my files, there was nothing he could do for the little Dell. So I'm writing this blog SITTING IN A CHAIR! IN THE DEN! And I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice. (I do and do and do for you people...)

But, back to Ohio. Lest you think there are only wicker shaped sights in the midwest, you are wrong. They also trim their shrubs into art. In The Old Deaf School Topiary Garden they have reproduced the entire painting of Seurat's Sunday Afternoon at the Grande Jatte. My little camera could not get far enough away to get the entire "painting" in one shot, but you can see quite a bit here - even the monkey in the lower right corner. It really was a beautiful park with lily ponds and benches and weeping willow trees. Very serene for all those people who weren't by us - Jimmy and Zoe were playing a racing game.



We spent an afternoon/evening at Geaga Lake Waterpark that was very delightful. We got there just as a lightning storm closed the park. But we had free passes and the radar picture looked good, so we went in anyway and within 20 minutes had an open waterpark virtually to ourselves. Chris' brother had rented a cabana for us, which is where I stayed - a covered gazebo with lounge chairs, a round, unbrella-ed dining table with chairs and catered service. Now that's the way I like a waterpark - everyone else go get wet. I recline in a gazebo while people come feed me. The waterpark is set on the shore of Geaga Lake, which was so pretty at dusk as we were leaving. This photo is Jimmy trying to torture a squirrel. We stayed over night by the park which was up north by Cleveland and the next day drove to Kirtland.

We took the RLDS tour through the temple and it was very hard to endure. We knew the history would diverge after the martyrdom. But there was a 20 minute film before the temple and it was very grating to hear how Joseph founded the Community of Christ Church and how he was the prophet of the Community of Christ Church. And when I brought up the incident of the women having to break their china for the building (for Zoe and Jimmy), the tour guide brushed that off as just an urban legend. In the temple itself, he was no less annoying, concentrating on the
architectural details instead of the real ones.
I got Zoe alone and told her that the thing I wanted her to remember was that Jesus had appeared to Joseph Smith here alnog with Moses and Elias and others and that at the dedication, it was filled with angels that many people saw - even outside on the roof - and that she was here where Jesus had been. Her eyes got very wide and I think she will remember that.
Then we went to the LDS part of Kirtland and this, too, was a disappointment, in a way. The kids had seen the photos of the fun things Holly and Sam got to do in Nauvoo and we all supposed that Kirtland would have stuff like that too. But they told us right up front that, no, they don't. We asked for our own special tour, just for our group, and to see things that would just appeal to kids. So we got a very nice set of sister missionaries who took us to the Newel K Whitney Store and a couple of other places and at the end turned the kids loose in the Johnson Inn. The Inn is filled with interactive displays where the kids could press buttons and turn on lights and since it was empty and not antique, they could run around and be noisy. I think the sisters wondered about me. My glasses had broken the day before so I had to wear my dark glasses all the time - even in those tiny dark Kirtland buildings. And I wasn't walking well enough to climb old stairs to the second floors, so I sat around in the dark alot. Chris, however, went everywhere. But the kids were glad to get to the hotel and go swimming after all that touristy stuff! The next day we went to Lake Erie. I couldn't make it near the shore because of all the sand, but Zoe generously gathered two handfuls of Lake Erie rocks and dumped them in my Amigo basket. They are still there.

I have lots of photos of Allison's house, if she doesn't get around to posting them, I guess I will. But I made myself my own little haven in her house in Zoe's room while I was there and it all worked out all right. Zoe's room was light blue, so it was bright, and for the most part she played quietly, so it was quiet. Although, the room was assailed frequently by marauding pirates or demons or race cars or whatever else a 4 year old lonely brother can be. Zoe's door has a hole cut in the bottom - like there used to be a cat flap or something, and very often something would sail into the room, launched by Jim. Or sometimes just his cute, chubby face would try to peer through to see what we were doing. Which was usually reading. Zoe would sit against the window and read. I would lay on my air mattress and read the Deseret News on my computer. But this was only in the second half of the three weeks - the first week getting ready for the Taste of Reynoldsberg, nobody sat down. Then the truck came, we left on the little trip and came home and moved in and nobody sat down. It was only the third week that there began to be some extra time now and again to sit down. But to get back to the point, the other reason I liked spending down time in Zoe's room was the view out of her window. It reminded me of the little homes on the San Juan Islands or in Anacortes. All very green and peaceful. Jimmy gets up before everyone else and on two mornings he saw deer out of the window. They are just two blocks off of the main drag, and most of the rest of Reynoldsburg is much more dense than this, but this park-like section is so nice. Their huge back yard joins about 4-5 others and the neighborhood kids gather at dusk and play Hide and Seek and such. Jimmy and Zoe are too young to join now, but it will be fun as they get older.

It was hard to leave, especially because the kids didn't take it well. Thank heaven for technology! Web cams and email and free long distance - we are a spoiled people.
But look what I had to come home to - little Noah! What a cute little boy. And news that his cousin Max will be joining him in January. And to see all my grandchildren again - those I hadn't seen in a month, and those I hadn't seen in more than 3.
I guess the answer is to enjoy our family togetherness in whatever form we can and enjoy it full force!