Grandma's Aprons

From grandma's pattern box,

I found this apron pattern.

Delightful aprons even 

back when they were

in fashion - the only

problem is that I don't

know anyone that has

a waist that size.

Both of my grandmother's

wore aprons over their

house dresses protecting

them from grease splatters

and flour. 

I actually own two aprons

which sit in my closet and

I never think to use them.

I don't wear house dresses

and I really don't cook as

much as both of my

grandmother's did.

Downtown Salt Lake City

 Old historic ZCMI front was kept intact while the interior has been completely rebuilt by Macy's that will open in March of 2012.

Old historic clock on Main Street.


I walked from the Salt Palace Convention Center to Main Street and on the way took a walking tour of the part of City Creek complex which has been completed. It is a major revamping and rebuilding of one Salt Lake City block.

 A tribute to the seagulls who gobbled up the black crickets saving the crops of the pioneers so that they did not starve to death.

 Two fountains flowing on February 4. Hello, it's still winter but where is the snow?

New sign "City Creek" on the new walkways next to the fountains.

Temple square across the street from City Creek complex.

Wasatch Mountains which are the western part of the Rocky Mountains.

Root Tech at the Salt Palace

Hopped onto the Sandy Trax train. Arrived downtown Salt Lake City 45 minutes later.

All dressed up with no place to go.

Olympic 2002 sign in the background behind the tree.
Celebrating 10th anniversary.

Free bag for attending rootstech.

Did he think it was carnival? Giant beads!

Unusual decor in the winding hallway of the Salt Palace.

Video games and other games such as pool for  relaxing between massive daily classes for two
weeks. Everyone in our family used to play pool.  Jaws would drop when I'd run the table and sink that 8-ball all in one go.

 New glass bridge built for City Creek so you can cross from one shopping area to another without waiting for traffic or the train.

Window cleaners?  No, guys hanging from a skyscraper while putting up a sign with pictures of a woman's face.

Ole Henry Green

It's hard to believe that this man was such a charmer! Of course, we all looked better when we were younger. He had a rough start in life.  It is suspected that his mother died and so as a youngster before age two, he was adopted and raised by the John Reed family.  He was born in 1808 in Dutchess County, New York. His adopted family moved to New Hampshire then and later to Ohio. He married his first wife Louisa Spooner there and they had nine children. They joined the Mormons. His name was presented at a Mormon meeting and he was rejected. This was the beginning of an off and on again relationship with the Mormons.  

He is not related to me but one of his wives was. By 1840 he moved to Quincy, Illinois, then to Nauvoo and onward to Kaneville, Iowa where his first wife died.  He then married Harriet Knight who is a sister of my Alonzo Knight. They were pioneers who crossed the plains and settled in Utah. By this marriage, he had two more children. Harriet found that her step sons were extremely difficult along with her husband who was nine years her elder so in 1857, she divorced him. She became a school teacher in Utah.

He was excommunicated about the same time that he was divorced for "Unsaint Like Behavior". 

Henry was not one to stay single and I can't imagine what attracted women to him except that they might have needed a husband.  This newspaper article sounds more like a financial proposition than a marriage. His next wife was a widow, Fanny Porter McLean.

Henry and Fanny Green

Fanny's two daughters and Henry's two sons were living with them.  He was a miner and moved around a lot. He was 8 years her senior.  They did live together from 1860 through 1870. He was brought back into the Mormon church but by 1878 he and Fanny had divorced.  She died in 1887 and Henry was excommunicated again from which he also left the church voluntarily because he did not believe in polygamy.  

In 1879 he married a young woman 34 years younger; he was 73 and she was 39. He worked as a millwright at the Tintic mines. In December of 1883 she sued for divorce on grounds of non support and was granted a divorce in January of 1884. 

He died in 1887 and had lost a bit of charm since he could marry them but not keep a wife.

Fearfully Forked - Stephen Knight

Deseret News on July 14, 1884.

"Saturday evening a very painful and dangerous accident occurred to one of the sons of Alonzo Knight, of Plain City. The young man, between 18 and 19 years of age, was riding home on a load of hay.  Suddenly the fodder commenced to slip and the youth slid down, unfortunately on a pitchfork one of the prongs of which penetrated his body, entering at the left of the breast bone and emerging at the back, above the shoulder blade. The prong passed through the diaphragm and the lungs.

Dr. John Driver, of this city, was sent for, and he did the best possible under the desperate circumstances. Of course, the young man is in a rather critical condition."

In 1889 Stephen Knight married Mary Ellen Carver.  They were blessed with nine children.

Back row: L to R: Josie, Curtis, Stephen and Chole Knight
Middle: Walter, Stephen, Mary Ellen and Mabel Knight
In front: twins - Orald and Osmer Knight
Circa 1913

Bumble Bee Grandpa

Alonzo Knight was called

the Bumble Bee Grandpa.

He had beehives and

harvested honey.

Circa 1903

In this photo standing behind him

was my great great grandmother

Catherine Meguire Knight

and sitting on Alonzo's lap

was his grandson Horace.

Alonzo was from 
Marlo, New Hampshire

and Catherine Meguire 
was from Bart, Pennsylvania.

In separate wagon trains,
they crossed the plains.
They met at Fort Union,
Utah and married. 
They settled in a farming 
community
 called Plain City. 
Out of their 11 children
7 survived. 


When Alonzo took his wife Catherine
 to the endowment house in Salt
Lake City to have their marriage sealed
 for eternity, he was asked to
take Martha Sanders Allred as
a second wife. 

Martha had been 
married to Reddin Allred who
already had several wives.
Reddin was sent to Hawaii
on a mission.  His family 
abandoned Martha even though 
she was pregnant.  She sought
for a divorce and was granted one.
Therefore, when Alonzo married her,
he adopted her unborn child.
Alonzo and Martha had 8 children
plus their adopted daughter.
Alonzo had 20 children.


When they started putting
polygamists in jail, Alonzo
built a new home across
the Weber River for Martha.
He would ride over on his
white horse to see her 
and his children.
Some grandchildren of
Martha's were jealous of
Catherine the first wife
but what they didn't know
was that she went blind
when she was about 50 years
old and needed more
attention. She had been thrown
from a buggy when
they were first married
and the blow to her
head caused years of
headaches until the
time that it caused her
to go blind. 

Desert Island

This idea came from Ann at Marmalade and Catmint.  She is a sweet dear person who blogs about gardening, recipes and pictures of Yorkshire plus a bit of bargain hunting. Her husband listens to this podcast about Desert Island.  Anyone know it?


If I were stranded on a desert Island, the music, the one book and one luxury item I would take are the following:


Tunes I would take with me (along with a lot of batteries) to a Desert Island are:


September Morn by Neil Diamond - I can listen to this song over and over again. I am a big Neil Diamond fan and have seen him in concert three times - that would not be recently. Being a very romantic song, I think of when I was 21 and very much in love.

 Young Neil singing Cracklin Rosie

Neil now

Boot Scootin Boogie by Brook & Dunne - I started listening to country music when I was 18. My friend Maurine and I used to switch radio stations back and forth from rock to country.  She finally won me over. Every time I hear this song, I want to dance.

Ronnie and Kicks

Cristofori's Dream by David Lantz - When my daughter learned to play this soulful son on the piano, I fell in love with it.

Mai by Josh Groban - My daughter said that she wanted his CD for Christmas back in 2005.  She had to write his name down so I could remember it because I had never heard of him.  Now, I absolutely positively adore his music.

Where did Josh get such a fantasic voice? Is he Italian? Did you know he sung in Portuguese? 

Love Can Build a Bridge by the Judds - I saw the Judds sing in Salt Lake City 30 years ago - their music filled me with warmth and yearning. When they first started out, I was boogieing and feeling the groove at concerts and dancing every week. I adored International folk dancing and boy could I cut a rug.

Back when they first started singing, we were all asking "Which one is the daughter?"


Blue Kentucky Girl by Loretta Lynn - Back to my country music roots - she was one of the best ever. Memories float back my first brand new hot off the assembly line car in 1970. This song has banjo accompaniment in it and I tried to learn to play the banjo. The problem was that I didn't have an ear for music.

She had a style and way of belting a song out all of her own.  I am still crazy about her music.  Patsy Cline tugged at my heart strings too.


Mona Lisa by Nat King Cole - Even though this song goes back to the 50's, I just still adore it. When his daughter Natalie Cole used new technology to sing with her dad - it was outstanding.

He died so young - just think of the music he could have made if he had lived longer.


I Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis - this is only one song that I love - I can listen to Elvis sing anything.

I remember him when he was young and I remember him as he grew older.  Like all of us, as you past 40, keeping your weight down becomes a problem.


The book I would take since you are not allowed to take the Bible is War and Peace - It takes a long time to get through and I would struggle again to read it once more.


Luxury item: Only being able to take one - now that is hard but I what would I miss of all things - toilet paper. How much we all take for granted the items in our daily lives.  In my grandmother's era, they did not have tampax or Kotex, she used a bundled rag and then they had to wash them.  It makes me cringe at the thought.

Bliss List

My Bliss List




I would actually call it my blessing list.

1. I am thankful for a nice warm house to live in while others are suffering with the elements who are homeless. My house is not colorful like the one below but I was so thankful that I was inside yesterday because the cold wind blowing in from the North was howling and making me feel chilled.

Not my house but I did take the picture.

2. I am blessed to be able to read and write. I thank my sophomore teacher Mrs. Fingerle for having me read "The Diary of Anne Frank" which opened my world to reading.  She was a mean teacher but I did learn a lot from her.

3. My grand babies are my greatest joy and I have one more coming in August. I miss having them only 20 minutes away - they are now in California.

4. I love being able to enjoy water aerobic when I want. Easy on the joints and it makes me feel so much more alive.


5. Planning a trip to Poland this year.  Part of the fun a trip is the planning.


My Bliss List - I am linking to:  My Bliss List

Pool Players

 Hobby Lobby displayed these decorations.

Grandpa had the only store in Elba.  It was a tall two story red brick building built in 1890. Behind the counter in the middle of the store, were two pool tables. It was a quarter a game. When I was 10, I learned to skate going round and round those pool tables.  Even better, I learned to play a mean game of 8 ball.  

My Fishing Trip

I saw Dr. Bizzant yesterday and he burned the crap out of my face - apparently, bad sunburns do catch up with you. 

My little green earrings - not for sale - these I made for myself but I do have others for sale on Dian's Earrings at Etsy.


I was 21 when I went fishing with a friend who had a small boat with a gas-powered engine.  We spent the entire day on the lake.  I don't even remember if we caught any fish.  He probably did.  I am a very poor fisherwoman.  Anyway, I came home with the most horrid sunburn on my face.  It hurt for more than a week. It soaked up every bottle of moisture lotion that I had.

I remember fishing on the Boise River and actually caught several trout but I caught one in the tail, the next one on the side of the trout's mouth.  I don't think I ever got one in the mouth - some fisher person I was!


River trout and salmon - yum, I love them both.