Mah Sugar Plum Fairy

Somewhere in the opening of school I managed to make 16 jars of plum jam. Ranger Becky not only picked the plums from her own tree, but she DELIVERED them to our home! It is delicious. Also, I enjoyed the fragrance of the plums before I had the chance to can the jam. I appreciate all the people who share their fresh produce with us, especially during harvest.

I had a couple of college girls spend the night this last week. The girl on the left is my college roommate's daughter. I hadn't seen her since she was eighteen months old (they live in Alaska). Back then I babysat her a lot for a two week period while her mom was finishing her master's. I would put her in the baby backpack and go for long walks. She usually fell asleep. So much nostalgia. And now she's jetting around the country flying from Juneau to San Diego and road tripping from San Diego to Montana. These girls were just killing time until I had to leave for school. They were going to stall for another half hour until they could try the soda bar nearby.

And all this random cloth represents the dry erase mitts my students use when working on their individual white boards. Three years ago, my friend, Wendy, made the zebra pattern ones with felt on the back. I started with 40 and discovered last week I only have 25 now (do students just steal them, throw them away, or what?). I took some chicken fabric and ant felt to Wendy and she made like...gobs more. Where would I be without all these people who are willing to help?

I chose that chicken fabric along with some others for my mom when she retired. Leo bought a sewing machine for her to help her cultivate some hobbies during retirement. She never touched the machine or the fabric. I took the fabric back when we cleaned out her house and it's just been sitting in a drawer in my classroom for three and a half years. So, I'll have little chicken reminders of my mom as well as little friendship reminders of Wendy as I work in my classroom.

My cousin has suffered a stroke. He's only fifty-five and pretty active and healthy. His father had a stroke at age fifty so I'm going to blame it on heredity. For reasons I don't care to relate at this time, I put his name on the prayer roll at the temple this morning, not knowing he was suffering from a stroke. Haven't talked to him since my mom passed in 2012, so this was a random act of inspiration. I testify that Heavenly Father knows each of us; he knows the details of our lives. Now thousands of people are praying for my cousin!