Book Club and a trip to Loveland

After several weeks of quite warm weather we are having a little bit of winter again. Today and yesterday there was actually snow. Last night it rained very hard in the evening at our house and this morning everything looked wet and rained on, although it was clear, but this morning more clouds have come in and it is actually snowing a bit today, although the snow is not sticking. We are still without a furnace or air conditioning, but are managing quite well anyway. The fireplace in the family room with its blower takes the chill off the main floor in the morning and in the evening and we have a nice space heater in our bedroom which keeps it pleasant at night. Last week we didn't use it at all, but last night and this morning with the cooler weather it seemed like a good idea. I was doing some initial investigation on a heating/cooling system, but Paul is going to take over now and make the final decision. I think we could wait for another month or two, but we might be sorry if we don’t get the air conditioner installed before the summer hot weather arrives. It just depends on how hot the summer ends up being. I spend a lot of the summer in the basement where the weather is always cool…anyway, we have had a number of service people giving us bids, but we have been gone a lot, too. Thursday this week, was one of my book club meetings. The book this month was The Light between Oceans. It had actually been selected as a choice for my other book club earlier this year, so I had already read it, but decided to listen to it again as my “car book”—the book that I listen to while I’m driving in the car. The Light between Oceans is a debut novel from an Australian born author M.L. Stedman. Set on a tiny island off the cost of Western Australia, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean this novel explores the consequences of love and the desire to please and satisfy. Tom Sherbourne is a lighthouse keeper at Janus Rock, a position that has afforded him some measure of peace after the horrors of World War I. During his infrequent visits to the mainland at Port Partageuse, he develops a relationship with the spirited Isabel Graysmark whom he eventually marries and the two create a life together on the island. Their happy marriage is marred only by Isabel’s repeated miscarriages so when a boat drifts ashore carrying a dead man and squalling infant girl, Isabel convinces Tom that they have been granted a gift. Lucy becomes the light of their lives, but Tom’s unease with the situation never dissipates and when he learns the devastating truth, he is torn between right and wrong, guilt and innocence, love and duty. With sensitivity, Stedman explores the grey, murky waters between the absolutes of right and wrong. Decisions made with good intentions, with love, prove ultimately to have consequences that cause irreparable harm. This is a story that has strong emotional impact and is written so that I was torn between sympathies for both women protagonists and the man who wants to do right by both of them. It is a book that I would recommend—if I were the type who normally recommended books to other readers, which I am not. This weekend Paul and I headed east to Loveland, Colorado to visit Grandma Kern. We had planned on going over Easter Weekend, but ended up at the cabin that weekend and it worked out better because last weekend Rob and Cindy were in Loveland, and going a different week from them spread out the companionship a little bit. Our trip was short. We arrived at about 10:30 on Friday night. Spent the day on Saturday and then drove home after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Our drive on Friday night was very uneventful. We had very nice weather. Coming home on Sunday was another matter. There were storm warnings for snow and rain and high winds all the way across Wyoming. It was already windy at 10:30 when we left, and we ran into snow before we got to Laramie. It was very windy and stormy between Laramie and Rock Springs, and it was stormy pretty much the whole way into the Salt Lake Valley. We saw many big rig trucks pulled over as we drove, but we didn't have to stop and we still made pretty decent time. We were glad to get home and by 8:30p.m. in Sandy we had heavy rain. We were glad to be home and safe. On Saturday, Grandma wanted to do some activity and not just sit around in her house in Loveland and so we went on a little adventure to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park was already crawling with tourists and Saturday was a very pleasant day---not super hot, but springy and sunny. We drove through Estes Park and headed for the National Park. Grandma wanted especially to visit two areas. Bear Lake and the YMCA Conference Center. Paul and I had driven through the park last summer and had really enjoyed the Ridge Trail Road which took park visitors above the tree line, but this part of the park was still closed for the winter. When we got into the park, we discovered that winter was still very much present with snow everywhere. We drove down the road to Glacier Gorge and then continued on to Bear Lake. Grandma assured us that it was open to hikers year round, and it was if you were prepared. There were a number of winter hikers prepared and enjoying the hiking. The snow was probably four feet and quite slick and slushy on the top. Paul and I followed the foot trampings around about ¼ of the distance around the lake before giving up because of the difficulty in navigating the terrain in inappropriate footwear. I was in canvas shoes with smooth bottoms and Paul’s weren't much better. The lake itself was still covered in snow and ice. Grandma remained in the car and it seemed wrong to be out hiking when we came to be with her. She was interested in pointing out to us the YMCA of the Rockies Conference Center which is really an impressive facility. It is massive with many, many buildings and styles and levels of accommodations. It is a possibility for us—presumably for a Paul Kern reunion and she thought we would want to see it. It is a fabulous facility, but we will probably continue to trade out our time share for locations for Kern Family Reunions. But it was fun to see. It is not a five star type of accommodation, but probably about a three star—but many programs and activities available. It looked like a great place to have a camp or event. We were glad to have a chance to see it. We stopped in Estes Park for lunch at KFC—and then headed back to Loveland where we were scheduled to have a “birthday” dinner with Holly and Caden and Connor. The celebration was for Connor who has a birthday at the end of May and Paul who had a birthday at the end of March. Grandma went all out with a fancy “Sunday” dinner including roasted lamb, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green salad, cantaloupe and rolls. There was an angel food cake for the birthday cake. It was a fun time for the six of us. Later after Holly and the boys left we had a nice visit with Grandma before going to bed. Sunday morning arrived with its grey weather—we went to Church on Sunday morning and then after sacrament meeting Paul and I headed back to Sandy.