On Sunday 2 February we attended the High Springs Branch for sacrament meeting.  The young elders are Elders Hales and Smith.  The senior missionary couple are Elder and Sister Faulconer who were here when we last visited.  They go home to Sacramento in April.

Branch Sunday Bulletin

Inside the Chapel

Elder and Sister Faulconer

Sue still isn't feeling well.  She said she might be able to keep down mashed potatoes, so I went to Hitchcock's Market in Alachua.  There are 10 of them in North Central Florida.  Latter-day Saints follow the Ten Commandments, which includes keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  We very rarely shop on Sunday.

"Sunday is not a day for shopping, recreation, or athletic events. Do not seek entertainment or make purchases on this day. Let others know what your standards are so they can support you. When seeking a job, share with your potential employer your desire to attend your Sunday meetings and keep the Sabbath day holy. Whenever possible, choose a job that does not require you to work on Sundays.

"Observing the Sabbath will bring you closer to the Lord and to your family. It will give you an eternal perspective and spiritual strength." For the Strength of Youth pamphlet (2011).

When driving into Alachua from Russ's home in Brooker, one passes an unexpected sight.  It is the Hare Krishna Temple.  I have never actually seen it as it must be well back from the road, but I took a picture of the driveway entrance.

We watched the Super Bowl (22-0 Seattle at halftime).  I finished reading "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke!  I had borrowed it from our daughter Heather.  It was very good and most unusual!

Susanna Clarke

"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the 2004 first novel by British writer Susanna Clark, born in 1959 in Nottingham, England. An alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centering on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. It inverts the Industrial Revolution conception of the North/South divide in England: in this book the North is romantic and magical, rather than rational and concrete.

"The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke describes the supernatural with mundane details. She supplements the text with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship.

"Clarke began writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in 1992: ten years later she submitted the manuscript for publication. It was accepted by Bloomsbury and published in September 2004, with illustrations by Portia Rosenberg. Bloomsbury was so sure of its success that they printed 250,000 hardcover copies. The novel was well received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times best-seller list. It won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novel." Wikipedia

I read the Book of John chapter 10.

I worked some more on the Stubbs's genealogy in Family Tree on familysearch.org.

Well, an unbelievable Super Bowl! 43-8, Seattle Seahawks over Denver Broncos!! I doubt anyone expected such a blowout!

On Monday 3 February Sue still wasn't feeling well, so we went back to Shand's for them to take a look at her.  They did an ultrasound and said that it looked fine.  She got her appointment for Tuesday the 11th to have the "real" procedure done with the radioactive seeds.

We all had leftovers for lunch. Then about noon Russ and Sue headed south and we headed north.  We filled up the gas tank at Sam's Club in Valdosta, still at $3.069.  All got home safe and sound!  We made it by about 7:30 pm.

I went through all our mail that had been on hold at the post office and was delivered that day.  I opened two boxes from Replacements Ltd. containing dishes for Eileen.  Eileen needed a replacement of one of her Villeroy & Boch bowls, Acapulco design.  I could not order just that, so I had to order the bowl and saucer that it came with.

The restored photograph along with a CD containing it also came in the mail.  It looked marvelous!  It is a photo of one of Eileen's paternal great-grandmothers, i.e., her father's maternal grandmother Sophie Sorensen.  Here is the proof that was sent to us and the original that I had scanned.

Before restoration

Later I read the Book of John chapter 11.

On Tuesday 4 February we got up late in the morning and were relaxed all day around the house.  I ordered more of our tart cherry juice concentrate from Coloma Frozen Foods in Coloma, Michigan.  We take our vitamins, supplements, and prescriptions with it each morning.

I called Cherokee Toyota in Canton, about an hour south of us, for our car's 60,000 mile service.  The maintenance required light came on at 62598 though the sticker in the upper left corner of the windshield had 63598 on it. Probably a typo as the reminder in the mail had 62598 on it.  And with our trip to Florida we passed the 63598 mark.

I called our doctor to renew a prescription and called Clay Collins about coming by to remove a fallen tree with lots of branches that looks pretty ugly in the woods to the right of our house.

I posted the following on Facebook: The Lord Jesus Christ taught, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24).

“I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives.” Thomas S. Monson

We enjoyed watching episodes of "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country" that we had recorded while away.

Eileen made a delicious supper tonight, sesame ginger chicken, a recipe from Kelsey Nixon of the Food Network.  It was wonderful, a lot like General Tso's Chicken at Chinese restaurants.

Sesame ginger chicken

We also had a request from Colleen and her boys to record Puppy Bowl X on the Animal Planet channel.  We thought we'd be home by 2 February but we were not, so it was a good thing I had set it in advance to be recorded.

So this afternoon I copied Puppy Bowl X onto two DVDs with a Sony device that Sue gave us several years ago.  It was 120 minutes in length.

On Wednesday 5 February we picked up the sister missionaries at Ingles and volunteered at the Community Food Pantry.  We had 167 families that came for assistance.  

Sisters Wilcox and Childs

In the evening we went to church for Eileen to attend the Primary presidency meeting.  

Back at home I worked on the Wingood genealogy.  Like the Stubbs previously they are related to the Frith family.

On Thursday 6 February we drove south to Cherokee Canton Toyota for the car's oil change and 65,000 mile service.  Afterwards we visited Amy's Hallmark for Valentine's Day cards and others.

We stopped at Appalachian Computer Services in Ellijay to drop off Eileen's old laptop to get it checked out and cleaned up.

Appalachian Computer Services

Then Eileen had a craving for barbeque wings, so we stopped at Shane's Rib Shack in Ellijay and shared 20 of them with Buff-Q sauce.  Spicy and delicious!

Shane's Rib Shack

We both checked out our blood glucose level in the evening.  Normally we only do it in the morning.  My meter would not work! I got an error indicator E 3.

On Friday 7 February we went to our appointment with Dr. Raisig in Ellijay for our blood work which is done quarterly.  Blood pressures were 118/70 (Eileen) and 116/80 (Ben).  Dr. Raisig told me to google the Breeze 2 blood glucose meter error codes and I found that E 3 meant that my meter was not reading the test disc properly.

Dr. Raisig's office

Earlier I had trouble accessing the articles in my daily New York Times email.  When I called I learned that even though the email was coming to my correct address, the email address listed with my account was my old one with Comcast from Maryland six years ago!  Hopefully I won't have any more problems.  It costs $15 a month.

Afterwards we had some time before our Kids Ferst PR meeting at noon, so we visited North Georgia Diamond in Ellijay and got Eileen a little something for Valentine's Day.

North Georgia Diamond

Then we had our meeting and lunch at the Country Corner Kitchen on the corner of Old Hwy 5 South and GA 382.  

We visited the Jolly Roger Seafood Market and got some shrimp and scallops.

After some more shopping we arrived home and I called Bayer about the Breeze 2 meter.  The lady on the phone had me clean the inside of the meter, especially the silver contacts and the meter worked fine!

We went by Peggy Espersen's but she was not home.  Then we visited the Taste of Amish store and we visited Darlene Burgess, both in Blue Ridge.

Taste of Amish 

In the evening we watched the opening of the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

I read the Book of John chapter 12.

We had enjoyed attending RootsTech 2011 in Salt Lake City during our mission.  Eileen also enjoys watching Ree Drummond, 'The Pioneer Woman,' on the Food Network.  So we were surprised to read the following about this year's RootsTech and Ree:

"This morning's keynote speech at the RootsTech 2014 conference was delivered by Ree Drummond, known to many as 'The Pioneer Woman.'  She encouraged the several thousand attendees in the audience to use blogging as a way to record daily activities and events — even those who may feel they have nothing worth sharing.

"Drummond began blogging in May of 2006, using her blog as a way to physically document the life of her family. When Drummond got engaged to her now-husband, his mother gave Drummond a book filled with their family history. 'Something just clicked in my mind, and I voraciously read this book,' Drummond said. 'I was fascinated by the characters.'  Drawing inspiration from the lives of her husband’s ancestors, Drummond eventually decided to try recording her own family’s history."

Ree Drummond

"Ann Marie 'Ree' Drummond is an award-winning American blogger, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, food writer, photographer, and television personality who lives on a working ranch outside of Pawhuska, Oklahoma."  Wikipedia

On Saturday 8 February I finished reading "Cleek of Scotland Yard Detective Stories" by Thomas W. Hanshew (1857 – 1914).  They were excellent!  Hamilton Cleek was on a par with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot!

We watched figure skating at the Olympics.  Figure skating is a favorite of Eileen's.  We're going to home teach Peggy this evening and she invited us to supper as she had already invited the sister missionaries.  So Eileen decided to make a loaf of bread to bring, with her new bread maker!

Next we enjoyed skiing, speed skating, and the biathlon.  I worked on my laptop to present Eileen with a list of cruises, two of which we plan on going on later this year.

I was feeling poorly at home and took a nap for over an hour.  Two flu symptoms, fatigue and achiness, but no other ones.  

We enjoyed supper at Peggy's with Sisters Childs and Wilcox and Peggy's grandson Jared.  After sitting in an easy chair at Peggy's for an hour and a half and just eating two slices of turkey roast, I felt much better!

I presented the First Presidency message from the Prophet, President Monson, and we enjoyed chatting for a while.  On the way home we stopped at Ingles for some items to make at Russ's for Sue when we return to Brooker on Monday.

At home we enjoyed snowboarding at the Olympics.