Random pics 2: Travels

I thought it might be fun to try my experiment again: letting the screen saver grab 10 random pictures we haven't posted and telling a couple stories. I'll do this again with just Hyrum pictures (of which it grabbed about 10 in a row), but tonight we'll stick to non-Hyrum. We did live before the baby, after all....

And around 1996 I lived in California with my parents just before going off to BYU for the first time. This is me practicing the organ at home while my brother's cat listens. She and Mom were my two biggest fans. How did we have an organ at our house? The student ward hadn't had anyone who could play in years and they complained that it was in the way of the ping-pong table, so the stake asked if any faithful, tithe-paying member out there would like a free organ? Ooh! Ooh! I would!
Mom's award-winning Rose Window afghan and one of her longstitch projects are in the background.



Speaking of Santa Barbara, while Joy and I visited the zoo one year, I spied in the distance this beauty of a house far off on another hill. I decided to show Mom what my camera zoom could do. It's just a lovely building in our foothills. I do miss Spanish architecture out here...


Around Valentines Day, 2004, I joined Mom and Dad at Walt Disney World Florida. Joy and I had some Serious Conversations online while I was there, where we "put our cards on the table" and said just exactly what our feelings were. Revelation came and prayers were answered as I studied Alma 32 outside of the MGM studies. We decided that some dating might be in order. But before it was all over, Joy asked for a picture of me so she could remember what I looked like. This is the one I sent.



Speaking of Disney, don't they do great castles?










Joy found some of her birthday presents last year! She's starting to get ready for my birthday next month. (I turn 30!) She is much better at hiding my presents than I am at finding them. Maybe I'd better start looking now....





Behind those trees is an amusement park in downtown Copenhagen. It took about ten shots to get even that much detail on the park. It looked pretty cool, but didn't open until the day after I left. It's worth clicking on the pic to see it up close.






This week for Family Home Evening, we went down to Stewart Park to spend time with the Halcombs and their son, Emmanuel. This is what he looked like about half a lifetime ago (for him) when he came to visit us for an hour or so. He always liked my hats and was amazed when everything was quiet in my office, only to see me suddenly emerge. He would watch the door and ask if I was in there. That was clearly a cue line if ever I heard one.




This is Schiller's house.
Who's Schiller?
One of Goethe's best friends.
Oh. ... That says a lot.
Famous German poet who wrote the words to the Ode to Joy, later made famous by Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Ah. Thanks.




Hyrum's Great-grandma Elzinga made this quilt for us when we got married. We really like it.








And let's close off this brief jaunt close to home with some fall foliage around Ithaca.

So there you have it: Three of the four corners of the US, Germany, and Denmark. That's a fast trip! Time to get some sleep before the jet lag overpowers me.