Sledding and Life

Dear Nicole,

I've been thinking about you as I clean my computer desk. When I found the instructions that you wrote down for me, I thought how could I have waited so long to try my limited computer skills. If this
reaches you, then you will know your efforts have not been in vain for nothing (Singing in the Rain)

I suddenly have the desire to write a Grandma Polly blog. Recently I have just suffered through my 81st birthday. I like to think that I can still be of value to my family, that what I might say will be worth reading. When I'm with my grandchildren, I listen to your animated conversations and then I know that I really don't have anything exciting to contribute.

As I go through my daily routine, my thoughts are usually about my past I remember one glorious day on the hillside. It had snowed during the night. The snow must have been a foot deep. I got out the old sled and climbed to the top of the hill. I was all alone. Grandpa was at work, the kids were in school. I got on the sled and had a thrilling ride that lasted the entire length of the road. Then I walked back up the hill carrying the sleigh.

My life has been like that ride. Exciting, fun, wonderful Now that I am at the point of life where I am carrying the sleigh back up the hill. life is much harder. I am always losing things, I've burned most of my pans. I'm forgetful, I lose things every hour.

When Grandpa and I married in l949, it would have been beyond our comprehension that we would
be the parents of 6 glorious children, 23 fabulous grandchildren and their spouses, 5 great grandchildren,
My blessings are so abundant that if I think about it I am overcome with emotion and I can't sleep. When I was a little girl I would go out in the moonlight and slide down slides I had made. I would sing loud so that all the sleeping neighbors could hear me The snow glistened like diamonds,.

My life really hasn't changed much since then. Last night I clogged with my ladies for two hours
I watched an old movie, went to a Peach Day committee party, welcomed my nephew and his little
girl into my home, and felt contented and happy that another day to look forward to.

I pray for each of you every day. I can honestly say without reservation that I have the most
talented, best looking, smartest children and grandchildren in the whole wide world.

Love to all of you,
Grandma Polly

Raspberry Jam

Dear Nicole,

I'll try once more. I did send you another blog last week I can't find it. It was on top of your last letter and when I tried to erase your note it took mine instead. Be patient with me. .

You will soon be coming home. I can't wait to hear all about everything. What an incredible experience you are having. Your description of everything is the next best thing to being there. I wish I had something exciting to write. The closest I can come to seeing a bull fight is to watch the blasting and destroying of the hillside to the West. After they dynamite, they dig up the rocks and crush them in their enormous machines. Most of the dust ends up in my house. They go at it with such gusto, it must be similar to a matador going after the bull.

You are all doing things that I can only dream about. Becky is in Chile, Brad is going to Russia, Nicole is in Spain. Jeff is having a great mission in California, Matthew, Ashley, Katy, Luke are students at the U. Mindi and Gaige have a new home, Steven is amazing and so are all the rest of my grandchildren. You light up my life.

My only accomplishment this summer is my Raspberry jam. While I make my jam my memories take me back more than 70 years to the time when I was a little girl in my Mama's kitchen. She made her jam in a huge double boiler. She mixed equal parts of fruit (usually plums) and sugar lumps from the sugar factory. All day long the jam cooked and my mother stirred. When we came home from swimming in the old canal, we would eat the jam on hot bread just coming out of the oven of the wood burning stove. I'm so blessed to have had a Mother who made home the place where I wanted to be.

I have the best of both worlds. Because of my mother I find enjoyment in the things I do each day. And because of my grandchildren I can share in the wonderful things that each of you are doing. Life is great. It's just possible that life begins at "80".

Hurry Home, we miss you. (you can send this on if you think anyone would be interested)

Love, Grandma

A Letter to Spain

Dear Nicole. I wrote you Saturday but I didn't finish it, now I can't find it. I'll try again. I want to wish Matthew a Happy Birthday. I don't know his e-mail. You said to send you my weekly blog so I'll send him a message VIA Spain. (AMAZING)!! I remember well the happy day you were born Matthew. I want to wish you a wonderful day and tell you that I love you. I'll send you a card and give you a bottle of my new apricot jam next time I see you.

I love reading your e-mails Nicole. It's the next best thing to being there with you. It will be fun to hear more about it when you come home. My news isn't as exciting as bull fights and carnivals. Actually my back yard looks like a bull fight. Everyday there is a dynamite explosion and the enormous bulldozers dig
up the big boulders and crush them into gravel. Sweeping red sand out of my house is becoming a daily unwanted routine.

I'm sure Cindy told you that Jean passed away. We had a small memorial for her Thursday. You can be very proud of Quinn and your Dad. Everything was done to perfection. Carol Ann was so pleased. David took us all to Olive Gardens after. Quinn went with us. It was a nice way to end the day. Today he is in California for the burial. They were so happy that he was the one to go. Aunt Marie and I are the only two left in the Smith family. It's very sobering. I need to shape up fast.

Adios for now. Mucho gracias for the great letters. Don't worry if you aren't able to forward this message. I don't know the situation there.

Grandpa Polly

"I'm Always Available for Manhattan"

It's 8:00 a.m., Wednesday morning. I'll begin my blog this morning and go back a few days. So far the week has been good. The wind is blowing really hard. I looked out the window and thank goodness the red sand is blowing to the West. When it's blowing in the direction of my house it is on all my floors and furniture. I hope I can live long enough to enjoy the nice clean air again.

My landscaping will be done this week. Bruce has done a good job. Next year I will have grass for our Easter egg hunt. I'm excited to have trees and grass. I want to stay home more so that I can get my monies worth. I think my traveling days are almost over. Underline the word almost. I'm always available for Manhattan. I dream about shopping in Macy's.

Nicole and I had our review Monday. Of course we couldn’t have done it without Cindy running the music, making costumes, and all the other things she does. It has been fun for me to have Nicole come every Monday. She taught my students to clog, and taught me how to blog. I told her Monday night to remember the night. 50 years from now she can tell her grandchildren how she tap danced with their great grandma. Times have really changed. When I tell my grandchildren about their great grandma Polly it isn't about tap dancing. Actually your Great Grandpa David Smith was the first in the family to clog. I was awakened every morning by my Dad fiddling on his violin and dancing around the kitchen table. That was after he had chopped the wood and made a roaring fire for us. We would run down the stairs and keep warm by the fire while we got ready for school. When we all clog together at Peach Days, I'm sure Grandpa Smith will be be bragging to everyone how he started it all. He will probably be up in Heaven dancing with you. It was so fun seeing Mathew dance again. I loved watching the girls.

Sunday was wonderful. Brad gave a great talk. The food was delicious. I loved being with all of you. The girls are all so pretty. It's like a fashions show. The boys are fun to watch in the lively basketball games. (especially little Michael) I missed the family members who weren't able to be there. We should meet in Delta more often. It's the first time I can remember that we didn't have to eat and run.

These blogs start out to be short, and then I ramble on and on. Goodbye for now. I'll write again when Nicole comes back from Spain. I love you. Grandma Polly

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

I just read Becky’s letter from Chile. It is so wonderful to have the internet so that I can read the letters so soon. I didn’t have it when Matthew and
Steven were on missions. It was amazing to realize that what I read just happened. I think I’m too old to be able to assimilate all the new technologies. I almost felt I was with her. Gave me goose bumps. She has a great attitude but is going through a culture shock. She probably gets stared at because she is tall. Becky described the houses and furnishings. She said their furniture is like DI rejects. Compared to what we all have, we are all rich.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. I missed the family that wasn’t here but thought about you all day. We met at Dave’s home and had a great dinner. He has a nice big backyard so the kids had fun. The gifts were generous and nice. Gosh, I’m such a blessed Grandma to have such thoughtful children. I missed Kari’s call but it warmed my heart to hear her voice.

Craig told me about Jeff’s call. He said Jeff struggled a little with his English. (that’s good) He also said that he baptized a Cambodian last week. I’m very excited about Brad’s new call. The church IS TRUE.

I think a new name for Grandma’s Blog page should be renamed Grandma’s Brag page. I could write a brag page a day about each of my children and each grandchildren. Maybe that’s what I’ll start doing

Every day I am reminded of my age. Before I went to the Doctor I was fine. When he told me I had all these age-related health problems, I haven’t had a good day since. (I should never have had a check-up)

My advice for today is: Get plenty of calcium, take your vitamins,
go to bed early, each day eat healthy food (fruit and veggies) and count your blessings every day. I wish I could tell you to never grow old, but then you wouldn’t have the joy of having grandchildren to brag about.

May 7th, 2007

I’m just not functioning up to par today. Nicole will soon be here and I’m hurrying to get done in one hour the things I should have done this morning.

I’m still doing dishes from yesterday. We had another big Stirland meal.
The food was the same fattening menu we always manage to cook. The Burr’s were here until about 9:00. Kort and Craig came, as did David and his family. Bob and Tommy come every Sunday. We missed all of you. We went for a walk down to the old sheds. The boys managed to find a few remnants from their past.

We had a great day going to the temple with Brad. You would never know it was his first time there. It was another wonderful family experience. After the temple we had pizza at Metcalf’s. The girls shopped and I came home with David and the Burr boys. (interesting conversation with Steven)

The left over food from yesterday is still in my fridge. It is tough to diet
when there is a bowl of pasta salad still here. Last week I dieted the entire week and only (gained) one pound. Now I’ve got to start all over again.

My yard is progressing slowly. I haven’t seen Bruce since Friday. It’s a touchy situation. What he has done so far is impressive. The comments from everyone are varied. Michelle thinks I’m losing my good judgment. David won’t really commit. Thank goodness Kort walked in and said,
“Mom, your front yard is great”. That gave me hope . My ultimate goal is to improve my home so that it will sell well. The yard should help.

I’m talking at the “old folks” home tomorrow for R.S. My talk will be about the little stove Cindy found on the internet. All my life I have mourned for the loss of the stove that I got for Xmas when I was about four. I cooked little biscuits in the oven and fried eggs on the burner. When I got married my treasured stove disappeared from my keepsake box I had carefully packed away. For over seventy years I have dreamed about the stove. When I opened the box Christmas morning, I was overjoyed. As I caressed the stove I remembered the times I had spent in the kitchen with my Mother. I realized it wasn’t the actual stove that I longed for, but the love I felt while following my Mom around the kitchen. I wanted to do what she did. Now whenever I look at my little stove I remember my kind, gentle Mother., and I’m still trying to be like her. The little black stoves in our lives will soon be forgotten, our example will live forever.

I can’t believe it’s May. Where did April go? Spring is here in all it’s glory. Nothing too newsworthy happened last week. In fact, I can’t even remember it went so fast. I enjoyed Megan’s review. She was in about every number. Most of them were over before I recognized her. She’s really growing up. The wigs she wore disguised her. She is really getting to be a good dancer.

Yesterday was a good day. I went to church intending to resign from my church job. I have led the singing for so long I am getting tired of myself. The ward sang so bad last week I decided they needed a change. However, as I was leading the opening song (Welcome Welcome Sabbath Morning) I glanced over to the Deacon’s. Davey is President of the Teacher’s quorum and was helping pass the sacrament. I saw him and the other boys singing. I got so excited I decided to stay with the job a little longer.

Writing a note each week is a good time to let you all know how much I love the Gospel and all the different callings I have had. My parents weren’t active (at least my Dad). Mom sang with the singing mothers but I don’t think she ever had a church calling. Her calling was just being an incredible Mom and raising ten children. Nevertheless, all my life I knew the church was true. My parents always made sure I went to church. Even when I was a teenager. If I went out on Saturday night, I had to go to church the next morning. They never preached but taught us in the way they lived. They were always kind and honest. I knew what was expected of me. My Dad sat on his chair next to the stove and read from his Bible daily. I am so grateful that I was raised in a good home and was taught gospel principles. I know that the church is true, I have never doubted that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that everything he said is true. It was fun that Martin Harris was our uncle. In fact, we always called him Uncle Martin. (My funny Dad said all our bad features (like big feet) were inherited from Martin Harris. Pop quoted scriptures and made up a song about the Bible characters that he read about.

You are all such good kids and I feel my parents deserve some of the credit. Email me if you read this (pollystir@msn.com) Love, Grandma