Thoughts and stories, by Pal

 I haven't posted for over a month, and I need to get back to it!  This post was originally # 95, and then 1027.  It is about my dear mother: Ruth Allen Miles, whose 113 birthday is today, May 10th. This was originally Blog # 95.  It is one of the most read of all my blogs! My mother, Ruth Allen Miles, was a gifted soprano, teacher, mother, and also a poetess!   She wrote quite a few lovely poems, and I have a few of them.  I will include the poems I have in this blog.        While Ruth was teaching at Salt Lake City, the winter of 1945-1946, and going to the U. Of U. she was summoned to her sister Adelia’s back in the small town of Washington, near St. George.   Her mother, Levinah Emeline Wilson Allen had had a heart attack.  Ruth arrived there a few hours before she died.   This was taken of Levinah when she was about 20. In her history, Ruth wrote:  "She died as she had lived – Bravely, with no word of compl...

 I haven't been writing as much lately -- partly due to having a hip replacement operation on February 8, 2021, and getting Covid a week later.  I am getting almost back to normal, and today I want to tell you about a fascinating class I just watched on Zoom!                Type in:  https://uvtagg.org.classes/Dons/Dons-classes.html That gets you into the page notes by Donald Snow, a retired professor of Mathematics at BYU, who is a Family History and Genealogy  whiz!  I got acquainted with him and his wife many years ago at the St. George Family History Center, where we were all on Family History Missions.  He and his late wife Diane were over the Family History Center in England, I think in Preston.  Also they were over the Family History Center in Nauvoo, Illinois, -- so you can see they know a lot!  He turned 90 years old last month, and is very alert, and knowledgeable! The class was on Roots Tech, whic...

 Dear Readers, I just found something I had written on my computer, copied from an old large journal I had for many years.  Times were quite different then.  It was about in 1971, as I wrote that Jeremy my youngest of nine children, wouldn't be born for 3 more years.  We then had eight children, ages  15 down to a baby, and life was quite hard, but enjoyable, as I had always wanted a large family.  I'll let you figure out why I wrote some of this, as I wanted to remember in years when life would be easier.  My husband was an Elementary Teacher, and I didn't work outside the home.  I gave some piano lessons when I could.  Women didn't work in those days nearly as much as they do now. There is a story behind much of what I wrote, so perhaps you can figure it out!  So here it is:                               This photo was taken at our Golden Wedding Celebration in ...

 Dear Readers, I haven't written here for a month now, and I'm glad the month is over!  Actually I'm glad the last 6 weeks are over -- from February 8th, on which date I had a right hip replacement.  I was exposed to Covid and actually had Covid.  I went to the hospital one day and received 2 liters of fluid because I was so dehydrated!  The narcotic pain medicine after my operation made me so nauseated.  I had three daughters come, each 24 hours at a time, to help me, as I had stayed only one night in the hospital.  One daughter, on day 2 after my operation, didn't know that she had been exposed to Covid.  The day after she came and was with me 24 hours, she had a fever, and tested positive for the virus.  So I went, and also tested positive!  I had the first vaccine 6 days before my operation, and that may have saved my life.  About 10 days ago I had my second vaccine, and doing fine! I've had Home Health coming, with help at firs...

For those of you who aren't aware -- later tonight, and also Feb. 25, 26, and 27th will be the online Family History -- www.rootstech.org! You will get the most out of it if you sign up -- for     FREE !  There are many helps, and ways you can watch great key-note speakers, etc. etc.  Go to the home page, and check it out!   I went about 3 years ago, and had to pay quite a  bit to attend, at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, and it wasn't easy to find a parking place, go up and down stairs between classes, and perhaps not get a seat in the class you were hurrying to attend! The videos etc., will be on the internet for 1 year!  I hope many of you will do this.  There are over 500,000 people signed up, all over the world, and the classes will be in 39 languages!  My friend, Donald Snow, who was a BYU Math teacher, and now teaches a lot of online classes, will be giving a fascinating lecture on Timelines. You will be able to check and...

Today is a day to remember, and honor, as it is 5 years today that my dear eternal companion, Wayne D Eckman, passed away peacefully in the early hours of the morning, without pain! He had been through open heart surgery, hip surgery, 10 months of dialysis, and radiation for esophageal cancer. His last 3 weeks were completely from a feeding tube, and oh how he loved to eat! Pictures are from a lot of phases of his life. Each one has a story to it. He loved life, sports, his family, the Gospel, etc. etc. and was so cheerful, congenial, loveable, and missionary minded! One thing many didn't know about him was his absolute love of Grand Opera. When he was on his first mission in Sweden 1950-1953, his Mission Pres. once said they were all going to the Swedish Grand Opera that night. Wayne said "All that screeching!" But that night he got hooked, and in Sweden alone he saw Madame Butterfly, Rigoletto, Aida, and Carmen, and perhaps others. Whenever an opera ...

  I am 86 years old, and in about 6 weeks I will have a right hip replacement. I have been quite sedentary for a few weeks, and haven't kept up well with writing blogs.  But I've listened to and watched many inspiring videos recently. Today I have had a most interesting morning.  I was looking on my tablet in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints site, and at the "Come With Me" section.  I checked it out, and watched a video telling about Oliver Cowdery coming to help the Prophet Joseph Smith, and be his scribe.  I was really touched while seeing the video.  I must check out much more on various places in the information there!  I encourage any of you to check several of those sections, on the Gospel Library site, and you'll be very thrilled, and it will increase your testimony, and also your family's testimonies. My son who lives in Oceanside, California texted me this morning, with a video of some hail they were receiving this morning....