A countenance like lightning

“Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me."
Joseph Smith. His Testimony. 

When an angel visits you

it must be a daunting view.

But those chosen for such things

lose their fear as their heart sings.

Do God's angels visit men?

We say 'yes they do, amen!'

And Joseph Smith saw them so clear

we know his story is sincere!

Fools make a mock at sin

Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.
Proverbs 14:9

Fools may mock at sin and jeer

that clever men have naught to fear,

but sin will have its way with men

until for peace they truly yen.

And if it be they will repent

a benison to them is sent;

forgiveness comes to even fools

who learn at last that Jesus rules.

Photo Essay: Postcards to my President

Surely, this is more than a man

Surely, this is more than a man.
Alma 18:2

The Lord can take a humble soul,

a weak and lowly worm,

and turn them into lions strong,

to make the whole world squirm.

And when he does, you can be sure,

the hammer never boasts

 that it is anything but clay

used by the Lord of Hosts!

Photo Essay: The Forgotten Library

As the falling sun torches the mountains 

at my patio door, I feel a sour gloominess

creeping over me. Have I done any good

in the world today? Not really. I feel

warehoused, neglected, and superfluous.

So I decide to go up and visit

The Forgotten Library.

It sits on the third floor of my apartment building;

two rows of cheap plywood shelves,

drowsing in a respectful neglect.

People my age do not ever throw out books

or magazines.

So they wind up here on the shelves, 

rarely, if ever, examined or handled.

The perfume of disintegrating glue and

paper turning brown with age

is a reminder of mortality shrugged off

with a sigh and a chuckle.

Old historical novels predominate.

Some of these books are pretty old. This one dates

from 1955, presented as a Sunday School award.

An original copy of Dashiell Hammett's 'The Thin Man.'

From 1934.  I bet it's worth something on eBay or etsy,

but I left it in peaceful disusage.

From England -- a long time ago . . . 

Can you read the price?  One shilling.

Hey! How'd this kind of book get in here?

Stumblingblock

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness . . . 
1 Corinthians 1:23

Objectionable and foolish

seems the Christ to many folk;

unreal and superfluous,

plus the butt of careless joke.

But those who doubt and denigrate

the Savior and Creator,

are to their very heart and soul

a foolish bitter traitor.

Open up your inner eyes,

and you will be amazed

how the love of Jesus Christ

your life has gently raised.

Photo Essay: Sunday Dinner for Eight.

I woke up from my nap at 2 this afternoon, fully refreshed and dreading the long Sabbath afternoon and evening. So I decided what the hey, I'll cook up something from the pantry, post an invitation on the ward Facebook page, and see how many customers I get here at Valley Villas Senior Housing. Turns out I fed eight people, at 5pm (MST), and had just a tad of soup left over along with about a third of my fruit cobbler. I threw away the soup and put some foil over the cobbler to stick in the fridge.

I cleaned out the pantry and threw it all in my biggest stew pot. For the purposes of Facebook I called it Vegetable Beef Soup. Here is a break down of all the ingredients.
1 can of government bully beef; 1 can of corn; 1 can of peas; 1 can of black beans; 1 can of sauerkraut; a squirt of ketchup and yellow mustard; a long squeeze of fish sauce; a dash of cheap rice cooking wine, the kind that works as paint thinner, too; a tablespoon of dill pickle relish; a third of a jar of Branston Pickle; the tail end of a small jar of capers, with the brine; 4 beef bouillon cubes; 4 bay leaves; a pinch of thyme and rosemary; and some wilted stalks of parsley that by rights should have been thrown out, but instead I put 'em in the blender with tap water and then poured the green goop into the soup. 

Ingredients for the cobbler included

four cans of pears, some raisins and some

elderly rock hard dates. I plastered

oatmeal mixed with brown sugar,

 butter and lard over the top and

baked it in a 350 oven for an hour.

Boy oh boy, how my arthritic hands love

 those pull lids!

Lordy, how I hate doing the dishes

after getting everything on the stove

and in the oven!

And I bet I take out more trash than

anyone else in the entire building.

Everything's loaded on the cart, including crackers --

so it's Go Time!

"Come and get it or I'll throw it out!"

Conversation around the groaning board

centered on Fast & Testimony Meeting, in

which a man with a strong French accent

apparently went on and on and on, until

the Bishop went red in the face with embarrassment.

There was also some lively debate about a news story

of a man who found a McDonald's hamburger from 

1999 still in its original wrapper in an old

coat pocket -- and it appeared ready to eat.

I've thought of asking this woman out on a date

several times -- but she likes to put crackers

in her hoodie pockets.

Photo Essay: Clouds

People are too busy; I prefer interacting with clouds.

They invite me to imagine

and they never interrupt.
Why must we build so many
roofs?

shattered like brittle cotton

on a blue roof.

someone is 

finger painting

up there.

the pleasant veil

is never an

interruption.

It's hard

to erase

a cloud.

Once upon a time

clouds

walked on the Earth.

clouds have

nothing

to reveal.

a bird and a jet

in the sky

at the same time.

too tender

to gather

and snow.