Scanning the Past

One Halloween at the Atkin home -- 1989

One Christmas at Linc's with Papa, the ornament, 1989

Mario and Luigi

 Hannah's 5th, 1990 -- Ben 17, Jared 15

Cool and Classic

Hermana Dalton, Espanola?

Dalton and DeCoster meet off the track.

Tumblina

Hannah's 5th, Gramyrle's __th?

Touring the holiday break

So this was Christmas...

... in 1989

This was more like 2011

2011 or 1989?

We let Grandpa narrate some of the old St. George historical sites and Jared recorded a few hours of it.

Hanyon showed for the Atkin party + 24 hours

Bo found his balance at Chuckwalla

Touring 19th Century Christmas

Last week, on my way back from Vidalia Georgia, I stopped at a Bookstore in Macon partly to find a book to read on the flight back and partly to rest my aching back.  After browsing for an hour I decided on, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.  It hit me that while I have seen many versions of this -- Disney, Scrooged, and others; I don't think I had ever read the original -- good 19th century prose -- centered on the principle of giving to the poor.

Shauna and I attended the Christmas Concert at the conference center at Temple Square.  It was a beautiful production with a medieval theme featuring The Choir, orchestra, dancers, baritone Nathan Gunn, and story teller Jane Seymour.  The Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" was performed and was moving -- the first time I'd paid attention to that poem.  Again written in the 19th century by John Mason Neale.  It is about the good king in the 10th century as he reaches out to a poor soul -- worth pondering.

While these are prose and poem that warms the heart, what could be written of our lives and times?

Touring -- Musing

Boys came over

2012. I am far from where I could have imagined I would be -- if I would have imagined it. Clarification -- imagining now how I would have imagined being at this date had I imagined it at all. But, the imaginations of youth are so… what? without the faithless wizened cynicism that only age can bring?

I saw myself standing on the small front lawn of a rambler-sized red brick house as happy and fulfilled as any man could be. It goes deeper than that but... you get the point. It was simple, it was fulfilled, it was the picture of a contentedly lived life.

I thank you for your support

Because of your overwhelming response to my pathetic plea for attention (6 comments, a record), I will include 1 photo of Vincent and myself (thank you Shauna) at our "holiday kickoff party," and 1 musing:

As I sat just a few days ago and dated a page in my journal I realized that not long from now we will be living in the year 2012.  I don’t know how anyone else has viewed this but I have not put a lot of thought into living beyond 2012.  About a month ago I was on a plane returning home from Chicago when I got into a fairly philosophical conversation with a gentleman who thought that  he would like to live until 70 years of age (useful physical age), then just disappear.  I shared my similar thoughts about living until 55 then heading off into the desert never to be heard from again – like an old dog. 

Is that what dogs do?  When I was about 8 years old my dad said that our dog Abby had just left home one day, because she was old, and wandered off into the desert.  Before I do this I better check to see if this is what dogs really do – we later found out that Abby had been hit by a car, and that dad knew it but thought that the wandering in the desert story was preferable.  Now I'm not sure what to do.

MELON MUSINGS

Since the iPhone I have not been taking many pictures.  Also, I am not sure that "Melon Tours" really works any more (if it ever did).  Also, I don't know who the audience is here -- aside from my wife and a portion of our children.  So, this blog could get renamed to Melon Musings, which might just end up being some short cryptic blurb that emanates from me or my journal, like:

... Shauna and I are sitting on the deck writing in our journals with the sun beating down on us – it is very pleasant on this Sunday afternoon.  It has been a pretty good Thanksgiving holiday.  We went to Church in our old 10^th Ward.  Sherri Wagner and Chris Durham spoke on gratitude, along with trials I guess – why do trials get talked about even when the topic is “be of good cheer?”  In High Priest quorum meeting I saw a lot of the old guard there.  Woody Wagner is now in the Stake Presidency with Presidents Frei and Ence.  Bishop North is driving trucks in North Dakota along with John Boyle and Ken Earl on contract for some oil hydraulic fracturing that’s going on there.  People are still struggling along – at least those that are still with us in quorum meeting...

A Melon Smorgasborg

The little brothers

Falling for each other

A bunch of Daltons circa 1979

Linc being Ernest

Hands full

Hermana Dalton pre-Barcelona

A better shot of Mr. Penton

Pete & Clint w/same hairstyle

Linc hugging sisters

Luke now builds snowmen w/Cole

Super Chunk

Yikes! here we go again

Orphans