Fall at Temple Square

Temple Square is beautiful at anytime of the year. It is amazing how much time and effort is needed to keep everything in excellent condition.

There are many kinds of plants in every garden which are dead-headed frequently or even removed so as not to detract from the beauty of the whole.

Some flowers are closed when we arrive at 6:15 in the morning but are fully open in the afternoon.

Tall greenery and grass plants add height and drama to the gardens.

I have such love for the Prophet Joseph Smith and his precious wife Emma.

The center piece of the lobby at the Joseph Smith Building Lobby changes every two months. This one heralds the coming of autumn. The uniqueness of the flowers is appreciated more when they are examined invidivually. Each contributes to the whole!

In a single Saturday most of the flowers were cleared from the Temple Square Plaza leaving bare, brown earth.

The next few days the tulip and daffodil bulbs were arranged in patterns and pansies and other winter-hearty plants are planted to prepared for the glorious spring displays.

This has been a wonderful week as we have worked with fine young elders who are filled with the spirit of Elijah. We have had tender experiences with them of finding deceased family memberst to take to the temple. Friday, after they received their zone assignments at the Go Forth meeting, the entire zone and many of the headquarters zone went to the Salt Lake Temple for an endowment session. Afterward John and I served as parents in a sealing session so that the young missionaries could be proxies for the sons. In this mission, the young missionaries may not serve as proxies in sealings for husbands and wives though they may be witnesses or children.

The Elijah Missionary Choir performed twice this past week--once in our regular Monday morning devotional and on Wednesday for the CSM devotional. We sang incredibly beautiful arrangements of "I Stand All Amazed" and "I Need Thee Every Hour" arranged by Sally Deford. The Women's Chorus is working on "Beautiful Savior" which is marvelous. Sally Deford's music manuscripts are available for download without cost on the internet at her website. Just use Google to find it.

Saturday was a busy family service day. Eliasons are building a shed in their backyard and the family came to help. When Julie arrived and greeted James and Grant, they were excited and called her "Aunt Melody!" Last weekend the little boys called Melody "Julie" most of the time, while they were visiting Melody and Brandon in Kansas City. Keith brought Talisa over so we had four men--Mark, Keith, Jason, and John working on the shed. They worked really hard and got the four walls up. There were well over a thousand screws to be sunk and some of the electric screw drivers bit the dust. Mark put in the floating foundation a couple of weeks earlier. Mike's building expertise was missed. Kristilyn and Julie made pot stickers that Katrina taught the family to make when she returned from her mission to Taiwan. I spent fun time with Grant, James, and Talisa out on the swingset. The children played happily together! It was a special family day. Family members who weren't there were remembered fondly.