Memorial Day at Monticello

Uncharacteristically, the Hilton Family decided to take a day-trip to Monticello for Memorial Day. Too many times we let these one-day holidays slip by, but this day was different. About fourteen years ago, when Gregory was a baby (see how big he is now--that's him above right), we travelled to Charlottesville, VA to see Thomas Jefferson's famous home only to find out when we arrived that all the tours had been sold out for the day. Instead, we drove a few miles up the road to see James Monroe's home. Interesting, but NOT Monticello. Now, after all these years, we tried again, this time having bought our tour tickets online (not an option in 1996) so we knew the trip wouldn't be in vain. One of the enjoyable parts of the trip was the actual drive through the beautiful Virginia Piedmont region. Monticello is amazing, magnificent, and beautiful, and we learned a lot about our nation's third President. For instance, did you know that of all the myriad of things he accomplished in his life, the only three that he thought worthy enough to go on his tombstone were: author of the Declaration of Independence, author of Virginia's declaration on religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. No mention of being President of the United States for two terms.

Gregory chilling at the foot of a very old tree.

A view of Monticello from the West Lawn.

Some of the beautiful flowers on the walkway surrounding

the West Lawn.

A partial view of the vegetable garden on Mulberry Row.

Mr. Jefferson's view from the top of his little mountain.

Gregory and Jeffrey with Mr. Jefferson himself!

The Great Chipmunk Challenge

This is my friend Chip. He lives in the woodpile by the side of the pin oak tree in the backyard. His cuteness knows no bounds, and I love to watch him scamper across the deck and negotiate the picket fence spikes next to the patio. He reminds me of a circus tightrope walker, except he is much more adept than even the best human with his balancing act.

Besides enjoying Chip's antics, I also like to feed the birds so I can watch the cardinals, mourning doves, finches, and occasional bluebirds that come to the bird feeder. Long ago I was told that squirrels and chipmunks don't like safflower seeds, so if you use exclusively safflower seeds in your feeder you will still attract the songbirds, but the little rodents won't eat up all the food. That advice served well for a few years, but eventually Chip must have gotten over his natural aversion to safflower because now he is stealing all the bird seed from the feeder. The other day I saw Chip sitting on the deck with his little cheeks bulging with seeds. While I watched, he spit a safflower seed out of his cheek pouch into his paws and began munching away like nobody's business. What a bandit! If that were the extent of his shenanigans, I wouldn't really mind; but now he's taken to digging into my flower planters on the deck to hide his seeds! Digging up my flowers is a definite no-no in my book (why do I have so much trouble with wildlife?) What to do, what to do? Should I move the planters to the front, even though they don't get enough sunlight there? Should I stop feeding the birds? Should I move the bird feeder out to the swingset area, hoping Chip won't find it? Should I let Gregory stalk Chip with his air-soft gun? Oh no, I can't do that! Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Great Chipmunk Challenge"!

My Kitchen Garden, Part 1

One of the first things I wanted to do once my schoolwork was finished was to relearn how to grow a garden. In my fairly recent past, before going out to BYU for summer terms, I nearly always had a garden in the backyard here in Lake Ridge. I can't remember that I was too awfully successful, but there were occasional bounteous crops. One of my first gardens at this house saw a huge harvest of green beans, and I decided to freeze them rather than spend hours over the water bath canner in the kitchen. So I had our second freezer in the fridge in the garage stocked to last us through the entire winter. Then, midway through the summer the fridge broke down (needed a new compressor) and I lost ALL of my harvest! It was heartbreaking, because, believe it or not, I really did spend a lot of time out in the hot, humid, muggy, sticky, debilitating weather working in my garden; which somehow forges an intimate connection with my plants and the fruits of my labors. It really hurt to see it all go to waste.

Another year we developed a bumper crop of rabbits in the yard and, although we have a picket fence around the garden plot, it was definitely not rabbit-proof. I planted several rows of green beans, and as always, was excited and delighted when the little sprouts emerged from the soil. I kept watch on them, weeded them, watered them, and then one morning came out to no sprouts. Each and every plant had been eaten down to the nub by those darn (albeit cute) rabbits! Frustrated, but undaunted, I planted again. Two weeks later, my seedlings were eaten once more. Determined and stupid, I planted again, and after the rabbits had feasted a third time, I gave up.

Beans are not the only thing I planted in my garden. I usually try to grow a variety of things, including pumpkins for Halloween. One year I devoted fully half of the garden space to pumpkins, and the crop was growing beautifully. I must have had between 15 and 20 pumpkins growing in various stages of development, and I was so excited to come out every day, rotate the pumpkins so they wouldn't be misshapen, water, etc. Then one day, disaster struck: almost all of the vines had withered because of some nefarious cutworm and I lost all of the pumpkins!

The year before I went to my first summer term I got smart and staple-gunned chicken wire to the picket fence and kept the rabbits out of the garden, and that was a fairly successful gardening year. Last year I was going to have a garden, and to get ready for it Gregory donated his time and labor to cleaning up and weeding the garden space. After four years of lying fallow, it really needed it! In his zeal, however, he completely uprooted the marjoram, lavender, and oregano that were well-established in the perennial garden space, and he decided his job would be much easier if he just ripped out the chicken wire fencing. I ended up never getting to planting the garden because of schoolwork. I think I just didn't want to face the labor-intensive job of putting back up the chicken wire!

This year, with the enthusiasm of someone who has forgotten all the disasters and disappointments of past years, I weeded the garden myself (and found to my astonishment that the oregano had come back), rented a roto-tiller from the local Ace Hardware and dug up the soil myself, gathered a composite soil sample to send in for analysis myself (surprisingly, the garden soil is too alkaline, which requires adding sulphur to correct the ph), re-stapled all of the chicken wire myself, and then I planted the garden myself. I have a feeling that before the end of the season this is going to be a "Little Red Hen" story! In preparation for the planting I bought a book from Barnes and Noble with a giftcard Celesta gave me for my birthday in January. It's called The Family Kitchen Garden, and it's written by a couple of English ladies who turned a neglected manor house formal garden in the middle of London into a kitchen garden with the help of about 1000 London school children each year. This book is a wealth of information on everything from soil preparation, composting, mulching, and when, how, and what to plant. So, it's kind of my "garden Bible" now, and is helping me make a come-back into the world of gardening.

I'm finding that the authors of this book have some very practical advice that I would do well to follow. For example, when planting onion sets, they advise that you "net" them (I don't know how to do that or what exactly to buy to do that, but I'd better find out, as you will see) because "the tips are very tempting for birds, who do not even eat them but just yank them out." So, my onion sets were doing just great for the first three weeks; then one evening this week I checked on the progress of the garden and found that something, I assume birds, had uprooted fully half of my onions and left them lying on the ground! Stubbornly, I replanted them only to find more uprooted the next day. You'd think I would learn my lesson from the rabbits, wouldn't you? Next item on the "to do" list--check out netting at Lowes. Oh, and buy more onion sets.

Carolyn's Wedding in Duck, NC

The merry month of May brought all of our family together for Carolyn's marriage to John Ardovini in Duck, North Carolina. For those of you who are unfamiliar with east coast geography, Duck is in the Outer Banks, prime beach vacation area and where Carolyn and John worked summers while they were in college. Obviously they have a lot of fond memories of their time in the Outer Banks and thus chose this spot for their wedding.

The day we arrived in town, Thursday May 13th, it was cloudy, windy, and cold. The wedding rehearsal on the beach was ridiculously cold and uncomfortable, and I thought things had better get a lot more spring-like or this beach wedding will have to be moved indoors to the reception venue at the Saltaire House. Fortunately, the weather is very changeable at the beach, and the next two days were delightfully warm, sunny, and perfect for the barbecue on Friday evening and for the wedding and reception on Saturday.

It was so lovely having the whole family together again, and a wedding is the perfect occasion for a family reunion. Here we are, me and all my daughters and my granddaughter: Top row left to right, Dell, Carolyn, and Celesta; bottom row, Claire, Victoria, and Christina. We took this picture at the Blue Point restaurant where we had the ladies luncheon the day of the wedding.

The evening before, at the Saltaire House, Carolyn's John hosted a barbecue for all of the family and the wedding party--yummy, yummy food and great fun. Another fabulous shot of me and my daughters on the grounds of the Saltaire.

Carolyn, radiant and beautiful in her wedding gown as she prepares for the wedding. Carolyn tells me that there were a few glitches in the plans for the day, but they were minor, and I certainly thought everything went off splendidly. It was a beautiful day seeing my precious daughter so happy and welcoming her sweetheart into our family!

It's A Miracle!

Well, it's been awhile. . . Since September 2009 I have been seriously involved in finishing the final five courses for my bachelor's degree from BYU. In fact, January through March 2010 was the final push, April 2nd being the absolute final deadline for all coursework to be submitted for April graduation. And since my eight years for completing the program was up, this was my final, final deadline. At the beginning of January I mapped out an outline for completion which included monthly, weekly, and daily goals; and with the help of my husband and children (those living at home and those who encouraged me from afar), I miraculously finished on time. Never having completed more than one independent study course per year before, in this three month period I completed FOUR courses for a total of 11 credit hours! I read many books, did hours and hours of research and writing, wrote beaucoup d'essays, and four major research papers (including a senior thesis). During this time I would often dream about how wonderful it would feel when I had completed everything and was eligible for graduation. Sometimes, however, I would imagine how horrible I would feel if I failed to complete everything on time, and the disappointment I would bring to Val and Christina in particular. BUT, hurray! I DID finish, and without Val's help and prayers and the direct intervention of the Lord on numerous occasions, it never would have happened.

I watched the commencement exercise on BYU-TV on April 22nd (I even videotaped it for posterity!) It was wonderful! Eight years of hard work and sacrifice, balancing family, church and school, all culminating in this hour and a half, and it was so worth it! Of course, it will be even more exciting in August when I participate in the graduation ceremonies with Christina with cap and gown and all the hoop-la. But in the meantime, I received the actual college diploma in the mail last Saturday, and it is indeed beautiful to behold. See for yourself:

Notice the tiny letters under "Bachelor of General Studies": Cum Laude---icing on the cake to finish in the top 10% of all the April graduates.