Missing My Favorite Andy

Dateline Provo [Utah] -- "Singer Andy Williams [84], whose golden tones made their mark in the 1960s and '70s, died Tuesday [9/25/2012] of cancer ... at his Branson Mo. home after a yearlong battle ..."  Outlasting many of his “fellow crooners”, he was still performing into his 80s.  [Kay and I were privileged to see his show in Branson not many years ago, and loved his singing, as always.]  Williams was a lifelong friend of the Osmonds, who made their TV debut in 1962,  [young boys] on “The Andy Williams Show.  ...”   – Deseret News 9/27/2012

Flipping through our vast collection, it was easy to find a Columbia stereo LP of Andy Williams: “The Academy Award Winning ‘Call Me Irresponsible’ and Other Hit Songs from the Movies”, including “Charade” and “More”.  The back of the jacket (still in original shrink wrap with a 50-cent D.I. sticker on it) is interesting: “Andy Williams’ voice reaches out through an easy smile with the warmth of a handshake – husky, easy, intimate.  He has an unmistakable way with a song and a way of lighting up the world around him in the glow of it.  Old favorites appear fresh and gleaming as newly minted pennies; current hits take on the warmth of old favorites. …”  -- Columbia (no date)

To this day I still soar with the memory of my favorite Andy Williams song, one of several that include the words “In her eyes, I see …”  But I have a problem, because I don’t remember the title, and Google has failed to find the song.  Help!  This drives me crazy!  Am I a hopeless romantic, or what?!  No matter what crowd I’m in, I’d never hesitate to unabashedly profess a love for Andy’s songs.  Three words really say it: “They move me!”

For five decades, it's been an unforgettable ride for me.  Thank you, Andy Williams, for developing and sharing your great talent.  May the family feel comfort and the love of Andy’s admiring fans and associates in the music industry, and be assured that he will continue making heavenly music up there.

I Will Never Forget!

The morning after, do we remember how the attacks increased patriotism and brought our country together?  Eleven years ago, yesterday.  I will never forget it!  Nor will I ever forget the unselfish sacrifice of so many on 9/11 and in the days and years that followed.

So Long, Summer Siestas

People ask me, “How was your summer?”  I reply, “It’s been a long, hot three months.” 

I’m ready to move on to a normal work schedule.  One thing I will miss, however, is the summer siesta.  Others have written about the health benefits of the afternoon nap, so you can Google it.  Speaking from personal experience, I’m convinced it saved my life! 

(This post wants to be fast, but not so fast!  -- a work in progress.)

In Honor of Pioneers on Our 24th

Here in Utah and other places where people celebrate the “Days of ‘47” (1847 – those were the days!) we remember the pioneers, some of whom are my Cannon and Rich ancestors.  I think it’s not just about the vanguard group of Mormons (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley around July 24th (God bless them for their courage), but also the numerous pioneers of all faiths who followed in the fall of 1847, and in later years.

Pioneer stories are intrinsic (“belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing”  -- The Merriam-Webster Dictionary) to the history of Utah, as well as other areas all over the world.  Today I celebrate the pioneering spirit of people everywhere, in every era.

Some interesting stories are found in George Q. Cannon – A Biography (©1999, Deseret Book Company) by Davis Bitton.  “… Brigham Young and the pioneers arrived at the Salt Lake Valley in late July 1847, planted potatoes, and began laying out a city.  Back in Winter Quarters [Missouri River, Nebraska], where George Q. Cannon remained, a different kind of company was being organized.  Apostles John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt organized a wagon train made up of men, women, and children, the old as well as the young, along with cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens.  Not a lean, fast-moving unit like the pioneer company, it was a larger, unwieldy ‘community,’ a veritable moving city of 560 wagons, fifteen hundred  people, and five thousand head of stock …”   George [age 20] and his sister Ann were in Captain Joseph Horne’s fifty (“referring to the approximate number of wagons”).  “George drove a wagon.  In the same company was Mary Jane Dilworth, who noticed something unusual in young Cannon: ‘I never saw him waste a minute.  As soon as his oxen were unyoked and the necessary work done, he could always be found sitting on the tongue of his wagon reading a book.’  When he offered to teach his sister Ann from her schoolbooks, she claimed she was too busy – and later regretted the lost opportunity.  …  Because he had a gun, George must have participated in the hunting, especially for buffalo, that kept the company supplied with meat and tallow.”  (GQC, pages 52-53)

“George was one of those exhausted travelers” in the Horne section, who arrived in the valley "on 29 September 1847.  …  One of George’s first assignments … was to dig a grave for a member of his company who had died.  ‘The soil was absolutely without moisture and resembling brick dust,’ he later said.  …  We constructed a ditch to what was known as the old fort,’ George continued, ‘and though the distance was but short it took two days before the water reached there.’  …  Something close to two thousand Latter-day Saints in thirteen companies had arrived at the Salt Lake Valley before the end of 1847.”  (GQC, page 55)

For Kay on Our 41st

On this special day, the 9^th of July, I'm sampling clippings and cards, etc., that bring back memories; digging into the “tank” of files – Grandfather’s WWII-standard filing cabinet.  A book of Kay’s amazing accomplishments, attributes and talents must wait --  another time, another place.  

Kay wrote for her WSU class, I guess (how many years ago?) – titled “Unit Rationale”: “Have you ever struggled to find the right words to express your thoughts?  Even when you are aware that you will be speaking before an audience and have time to write and organize your speech, do you sometimes wonder what words will be most effective?  …”  -- Kay’s handwritten rough draft.

Ned’s pink message form: “7/1/99 11:14 to Kay: While you were out, Leone of Fairfield phoned re. position just opened – English at NHS, closing 7/9.”

Membership card: “1991-1992 Mrs. Cannon is a member of Upland Terrace Elementary PTA.  --Joyce W. Muhlestein, Utah PTA President”.

[April 1990?] Business card from Victor Faleev, our guest with the Olympus Soviet Exchange; “Branch of Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, Troitsk, Moscow reg., USSR”.

[Feb 1995]  “Dear Kay, … You bore such a sweet testimony Sunday and I was touched by your special spirit.  Jack & I have loved our association with your family and hope that it will continue for many years to come.  Our faith and prayers are with you …  --Love, Nancy Hobbs”.

 “Ever Wish Chocolate Were A Health Food?  Well … Chocolate lovers, this is the medical study that you have been waiting for.  …”  -- The Salt Lake Tribune, 9/21/96.   “Chocolate: The Legal Addiction”  --SL Trib, 10/16/96.  “You are the star for which all evenings wait.”  -- Dove Dark [Chocolate] Promises foil.

 “Legendary dancer Isadora Duncan flouted every tradition.  A turn-of-the century voluptuary and revolutionary, she rocked the arts world with her unconventional spirit.  …”  -- Seven, August 1999.

Standard-Examiner / Xplore Outdoors10/22/2003 article by Kay Cannon: “Spiral Jetty scores big over game of Scrabble” -- photo of Kay and daughters sitting in the center of the Spiral Jetty at Great Salt Lake.  “... The snow-white shoreline, pink lake, blue skies, brown and black hills all combined to make for an unforgettable dreamscape.  The complete silence and solitude were stunning.  ...”

Card (sailing ship) 2005: “Happy Father’s Day, Ned!  …  May we get away to some coastal region this year to celebrate many things.  Thanks for being a caring father to our children.  [Love heart] Kay”.

“Christmas at Cove Fort”  -- copy of “painting by Ken Baxter, SLC, Utah” from 1997 LDS-temple calendar.

 “NEW YEAR AWAKENING

My sleep-swollen eyes slowly open,

The dawn has seeped through the shades,

And filled the room with a soft morning glow.

…   --- Kay Cannon” 

-- Ensign Third Ward FOOTSTEPS, Vol. VIII, No. 1, January 7, 1979, Poetry Corner.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

Smart Dog!

It’s high time for another monthly message from our legendary friend and former neighbor, Rowland Smart.  He wrote this one in August 1990, and asked me to type it on my computer.  (I’m sure the floppy disk is in our basement somewhere, but it’s easier to retype parts from the legal-size draft copy found in my “Smart Philosophy” file folder.  As usual, the only final print went to Brother Smart to copy for neighbors.)

"Rowly" titled it “Fanny, My Friend” and told some great stories about his sister Eva’s “old border collie”.  Fanny came into his life in 1937, after he returned home from “picking up potatoes and topping sugar beets” in Idaho.  “This little pup took to me right off, and we became real friends … she always wanted to be with me.  Fanny was black with white paws, white chest and a ring around her neck, and a white stripe down her face … born with the instinct to know just how and what to do in handling and driving the cattle.”

“In the year 1939, I was farming on shares for a man named Larson [82] … for half of what I raised.  Every day I would get on a horse named Browny and ride [~1 mile] down to his place to farm.  Every day Fanny went with me.  …  She went through fields hunting [pheasants] as I rode down the road on the horse.  …  Whenever I went anywhere in my truck, I always took her with me.  She sat next to me on the seat with her head out the side window … Just mention going somewhere in the car, and she knew it and was ready to go.”

“Sometimes I would walk or ride a horse up Mill Creek Canyon.  Then I’d go up Thaines [Thayne Canyon] or Porter Fork, over to the head of Neff’s Canyon to look at the cattle we had … between Mill Creek and Big Cottonwood Canyon.  We always took the three dogs with us.”

“When I went into the army in 1941, old Fanny my friend went with me to catch the bus to go to Fort Douglas.  Each time I came she was waiting there at the bus stop.  I was there for a couple of weeks before I was shipped to Fort Eustice [Eustis], Virginia.  When I came home four times on furloughs, she was waiting for me ... the day I was due to be home on leave she knew it for some reason …  Then when I got the whooping cough and nearly died when I was 34 years old, instead of me, it was she who died.  …  I still think about my old true friend Fanny.  I feel when I die and go to the other side, she will be there wagging her tail to greet me …  Good-bye Fanny, until we meet again in a better world where time never ends.”   – Rowland Smart

Kids’ Ideas for Summer

Last week Kay and I “sat” (what’s a better word?) some grandchildren, ages 2 to 15, while their parents vacationed in “The Big Apple”.  We had a fun family home evening (“… in the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refers to one evening per week, usually Monday, that families are encouraged to spend together in study, prayer and other wholesome activities. ...” -- wikipedia.org).  I asked them, “What would you recommend your cousins and friends do this summer that would make one a better, happier person?”  I was prepared with a list of two dozen ideas written on my little Super-Target-shopping scratch pad, but shared only three to stimulate the brainstorm session. 

Here’s what the children suggested for their peers:

Porter: “Go fishing, go swimming, help everyone, and go to Hawaii.”

Emma: “Go to Lagoon, read daily, and attend church weekly -- even when away on vacation.”

Bryon: “Treat others kindly, pray for people needing help, and invite a friend to attend Mutual” (mid-week youth church activity night).

Alem: “Learn right from wrong, be kind, get permission, pray for the sick, and read the Book of Mormon.”

Grace: (Lots of ideas, but maybe too young to express them.)

Here are two of my ideas I shared: Organize a neighborhood free yard sale, and pull weeds -- consider it a metaphor for life.