Friday, January 24, 2020

Wedding Anniversaries

Today is my parents' 94th wedding anniversary. Of course they haven't lived to see this many years of wedded bliss, but they did celebrate 73. This reminded me of the huge celebration we had for our 70th last September. I put on a dinner for my parents' 70th and invited all their living siblings and their spouses. Everyone had a wonderful time. It didn't compare with our 70th. The last Sunday of August, we were ushered into the social hall after church. What a surprise! Everyone had stayed and brought food. We were seated beside a table with photos from our wedding day, balloons, a "Congratulations" banner, a gorgeous bouquet (It lasted 20 days!), and a decorated cake with a gold "70" popsicle stuck in it. Everyone else served themselves, but plates of food were brought to us, which we ate while the others circulated and greeted us, many giving us cards as well. We were barely over that when our son-in-law Bill arrived in his coach with his prospective son-in-law on board to wait on us while Bill drove us in great comfort and convenience to Spokane for the wedding--and another celebration of our 70th wedding anniversary. The wedding was in the back yard (several acres) of their home at the base of Mt. Spokane. It was everything our granddaughter wanted. Down the center was a chapel of white dressed chairs tied with burgundy sashes. At the front, a large arch was bedecked with flowers where the couple took their vows. Her father walked her down the aisle wearing a full Scottish kilt, which he wore all evening. The bride and groom, however, hurried out of their beautiful wedding regalia as soon as pictures were taken so they could enjoy the celebration. There were two tents, one for a movie, the other for food. A food truck stood nearby. Giant size games were scattered all about. Tables provided places for the large crowd to eat. Part of the crowd was there from near and far to honor us, for the bride chose to be married on our 70th anniversary! Friends came from near and far to honor us as well as the bride. Such fun!

Idaho Magazine Article Published

Idaho Magazine published my story "Idaho Icons" in the January 2020 issue. It was about both icons people create with their hands and icons they make out of natural phenomena. My first reaction upon seeing the article in print was pure elation. It looks so-o-o good. After I came off cloud nine, reality struck. My emphasis was on what becomes iconic to people, but what was published became mostly how I feel about nature's icons illustrated mostly with stock photos. There were two reasons for the alterations: (1) The editor asked me to make it more personal, even suggesting (thank you) places in the text where I should do so. (2) The layout editor used only one of my photos and added added seven photos from his own stock. Most of them (lava tube, lava flow, City of Rocks, Fort Hall Replica interior were wonderful. They made my story a big spread, much more important looking than it otherwise would have been. And he did use my "Lady on the Mountain photo, but without credit to my son Sam, who was the photographer, and no pictures of man-made icons. Also, the photo of Bear Lake barely showed any water, and his photo of the Soda Springs geyser was not of that geyser! I think it is one from Yellowstone Park. I am, however, grateful for the space they gave my story and how impressive it looks. I hope I will be able to remember to take and send more photos next time and make sure they are excellent illustrations of my topic. Obviously, the will pick and choose.