Artful Friday

Welcome to the Neighborhood News

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -
True Poems flee.~Emily Dickinson

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Ahhh. The beautiful days of summer are getting shorter. School starts in a few days and days of going to the pool are in the past, until next year.

It's a beautiful Friday, and for all of us who've enjoyed being outdoors (not that it's ending anytime soon), harvest will start soon. But before it's gone, let's hear it for summer in this beautiful short poem by Callie Taggart:

Taste Summer 

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Taste the summer sea;

its cool luscious juice will

linger on your tongue.

 

Taste the summer air,

and smear the raw sun

on top of your tanned skin.

 

Taste a summer rain;

whisper in its singing mists as the

honey spray moistens your face.

 

Taste the summer sky;

let the pastel blue cream

drip freely down your chin.

 

Taste a summer day.

It will be sweet and delicious

until, finally, it is gone.

 

How's your summer going? Are you ready to enter the next season in life? Whether I like it or not, I think I am. Have a great weekend.

 

Don't forget to checkout our Free Download Friday from our Positive Music and Downloads.

To see the Neighborhood News for Friday, 19 August, please click here.

We welcome your comments. Post by clicking the link below.

Forgiveness and Healing

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We see too much evil on the world today. We hear so many tragic stories of abuse. How can we deal with them, and be of support to others who’ve experienced it?

In a General Conference address from 2008, Elder Richard G. Scott has said in his talk To Heal the Shattering Consequences of Abuse:

“Moral agency is a vital element in our Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness. He understood that some of His spirit children would use that agency improperly, causing serious problems to others. Some would even violate sacred trust, such as a father or family member abusing an innocent child. Since our Heavenly Father is completely just, there has to be a way of overcoming the tragic consequences of such damaging use of agency for both the victim and the perpetrator. That secure healing comes through the power of the Atonement of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to rectify that which is unjust. Faith in Jesus Christ and in His power to heal provides the abused with the means to overcome the terrible consequences of another’s unrighteous acts. When combined with complete repentance, the Atonement also affords the perpetrator a way to avoid the severe punishment the Lord has decreed for such acts.”

It is of comfort to us to know that our general authorities are in touch with what some of us are going through and are extending a needed, loving hand towards us. We should listen to their message to be healed.

As always we welcome your comments.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Monday 13 June, click here.

It's All in the Details

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Our first article comes from Marie Ricks, who blogs at ‘House of Order’, her article is “Clutter Control for Living Areas of Your Home.” Marie is an organizer, and she’s come up with a plan to keep your house clean and presentable, no matter what time of year. She tells us: “Most of us wish our home was more inviting to extended family and friends. You want to be ready at a moment’s notice to say, “Come right on in. I’m so glad you’re here.” You want to really mean it because you know your home’s public areas are presentable and cleaned up, with less clutter and more order, especially for those that knock at our door unexpectedly.” So she breaks it down into assessing your place, and deciding what rooms are important to get extra attention: porch, living room, family room and powder room.

Following, we have Joy, from ‘Just Organize Yourself.’ Her article is named “Simplify Summer Meal Planning”; in it, Joy makes her case explaining that if we spend time planning meals before we go shopping, the end result (any meal) will be easy to prepare and very enjoyable for everyone involved. I have a personal experience here: we’ve been doing this for years, and it really works: I know how many people I’m cooking for and I know the proportions. We make menus before we go to the market and write down the ingredients in our handy dandy list, then away we go; and when I need to prepare a meal I check our calendar that we keep in the kitchen, and voila! it’s there as a reminder for me, or anyone who’s hungry and ready to prepare dinner.

Location, location, location. That’s what they say about selling real estate, right? What if we apply the same principle when we’re scouting a place for our family reunion. That’s the premise that Mr. Spiffy, from ‘Family Reunion’ brings to us. The article is entitled “Mister Spiffy Picks a Location”, and he says: “Choosing the right location could be rated up there as one of the most important decisions you’ll make in the planning of this family reunion. You can choose a location, if you wish, once you know what type of reunion you want, the desired dates, and have a fundamental idea how many people will be attending.” I think it would be a different location depending on the kind of company you’re getting; for example, if it’s only adults, the place would be different than if you had young families getting together.



How’s your summer going? Have you had enough time in the sun? Have you gotten together with loved ones? If you have time, leave us a comment, it will be appreciated. Thank you. :o)

 
To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 21 July, please click here.

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Famous Festivities

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Another week has gone by, and on top of that, we have a long weekend, due to the 4th of July holiday. Good times.

Our first contributor is Cindy Beck, and she's giving us a detailed and (accurate?) account of the famous people she's met throughout the years. It's a funny tall tale, and you will truly enjoy reading it. I mean, she met Roy Rogers, for goodness' sake! Who wouldn't be impressed?

Our next article comes from "Between Naps on the Porch", and I just LOVE this one. Susan, the contributor, has worked tablescapes for a while, but since we're having a holiday this weekend, she decided to showcase a festive and tasteful table setting for the occassion.

The last entry is from "Molly Mormon", and it's entitled "The Need for Souvenirs at Family Reunions." To plan family reunions, you need to be very organized, and think of every detail. We've showcased meals, games, themes, and today we're touching on what kind of memorabilia we want to keep from the experience.


As usual, on Fridays Positive Music and Downloads offers Free Download Friday. Please enjoy the songs of Blenda McGary.


Have a great holiday weekend, and go ahead and drop off a few words in the comments section, we'll certainly appreciate that. By the way, let us know if you've had a good experience planning a family reunion. Have you been successful? Was everyone glad to be there?


To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Friday, 2 July's, please click here.

Careful Listening

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“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”  

~Ernest Hemingway.

Our first contributor in today’s newsletter is LuAnn Brobst Staheli. Lu Ann is an award-winning educator and author. She brings to us this thought “What You Repeatedly Hear You Will Eventually Believe.” You will find her posts at “LuAnn’s LDS Library.” She says: “Politicians use repetition all the time to sway our vote. Vote for me. I’ll solve all your problems. My opponent believes. . .(insert an option here that the people won't like).”

Our next entry comes from Seth Adam Smith. I believe this is a very talented young man, just check out his movies on YouTube. Seth blogs at sethadamsmith.com. His article is “The Selfish Giant – A Poem.” You may have read the original story, but Seth has rewritten it as a poem, and I love the ending. I also like his counsel, he says: “Just open your heart to the goodness of life.” Yes, life is good, and we should know that.

Our last entry is about Family Reunions. A good counsel to adhere to is: “You have to decide when planning a reunion what type of reunion you want to hold and whom you would like to invite.” Do you want a big, extended family reunion, or a smaller, cozier kind, maybe include just one side of the family?

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 23 June's, please click here.

Parenting Your Parents

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At some point in our lives, we're all going to go through this: taking care of our aging parents. Marie Ricks, from 'House of Order" talks about it in her latest "When Children Become Parents of their Parents." She says: "Becoming the parents of your own parents is a sometimes stretching season in life. As an experienced parent of a parent, I have a few stories to tell and feelings to share."

Our next entry comes from "Family Reunion Helper." Did you know that you can do a theme about "Family History"? That is such a great idea, and a twist of the old 'flight 125' idea, where you get in a plane, crash and are visited by your ancestors. Great idea.

Our last entry is from Pam Nelson at "For the Love of Cooking." Sometimes we look for something simple and refreshing that will be useful at an activity, like a family reunion, or Relief Society meeting, or youth get together. This sandwich idea is perfect for those reasons and more.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 16 June's, please click here.

Have a Good Reading Time

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Ahhh summer. There's nothing like taking a short (or long) vacation, having backyard barbecues, reading a book, drinking a glass of cold, satisfying glass of lemonade, going to the pool.

Let's hit the books. To start, we have author Annette Lyon's contribution "Book of Mormon Marathon." Annette blogs at "Out of the Best Books", and her book "Band of Sisters" is out. She's telling us about this read-a-thon she and her family had over President's Day weekend, and what they learned from the experience. Have you ever had a read-a-thon with your family, or as part of  a young man/woman class? They're exciting, and thank goodness don't come around often. I remember one in our ward a few years ago. The Young Women president had planned one with the girls, but a third of the way into it they ran out of steam, so she invited members of the ward to come and join them to read to the girls. A lot of the members did go and help, which helped the girls pick up steam again, and they did finish it. Sometimes it takes more people than you think to accomplish one of these things.

Our next entry comes from Jennifer, who blogs at "Adventures in McQuill-land." Her article is entitled "Summer Reading: Encouraging a Reluctant Reader." In each family it seems there's always the one that likes to read and then there's the one that cannot be convinced to grab a book. Which one were you? Jennifer says: "Parenting a reluctant reader is particularly difficult if you, the parent, are a reader! How could my child NOT enjoy reading? What is there not to enjoy?" Then she gives us a few ideas on how to make a reluctant reader have a good experience reading.

Our last entry comes from a Random Sampler at LDS.org. Since we're dedicating some space to family reunions, we found this article with good ideas for your next family reunion planning time. I'm sure some of you have heard of some of these ideas, but overall, they're different and fun.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 9 June's, please click here.

Fuel Up the Family

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Well, it's here. Even though we've had a somewhat cool spring, we're about to receive summer among us, and who isn't ready?

Our first contributor in today's newsletter is Brooke Parker. She's a dietitian and a stay-at-home mom. Brooke sent her article "Fuel Up in the Morning." In it, she's bringing to our attention how important it is to start out our day the right way, by having a good breakfast and giving us a few tips. She tells us: "Whether you are a student, parent of a student, a working adult, or like me a stay-at-home mom, breakfast is definitely an important meal of the day. After years of experience in my profession as a dietitian I think I have heard all of the excuses for not eating breakfast. I would like to address some of these reasons or myths and offer some insight."

Like I said before, summer is here. And with summer we get family reunions. Sometimes we have the good fortune of attending a well put together event, where someone planned it well, and was so organized that everybody left knowing they were renewed, feeling great and loving everybody in their family. And sometimes we're not so lucky.

Our second entry comes from "Family Reunion Helper." They have a whole bunch of ideas to help people decide how to have fun. We chose the "Caveman Reunion" to showcase in today's newsletter; it looked like you could have a blast doing it. Imagine: dinosaurs and cavemen, what more can you think of? We decided we're going to bring some of these ideas for your enjoyment every week, or every other week. We hope you enjoy these entries.

Our last entry comes from "Family Reunion", and what they have to offer is group games. There are the usual ones that we've all played as children (three-legged race, anyone?). But you can find other games that are fun and entertaining and used them in your next event.

Have a great week, everyone!

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 2 June's, please click here.