NAUVOO THE BOOTIFUL!

The city of Nauvoo really knows how to celebrate Halloween. They start with decorations long before the evening. They have everyone involved in this marvelous process. The streets are roped off so no one can park on the street from 5 PM on. The businesses open their doors to pass out treats. The people dress in costumes and line the streets to look at the all beautiful pumpkins. Schools bring their students to carve pumpkins. There are bands and parades and booths all along the street. Even the most ardent Halloween Hater would love BOOTIFUL NAUVOO! The advertisement for this wonderful evening of fun for families--for young and old alike is on all the billboards that advertise Nauvoo. This is the one on HWY 96 on the way into town.

This is Durrell Nelson-- a transplant from Hooper, Utah to Nauvoo, Illinois. He is in charge of the beautiful plants and trees of the city. He is also the founder of the fudge factory and the instigator of BOOTIFUL NAUVOO. He has served as the Stake President here and is a marvelous man. His family spent three full days from 6 AM to 10 PM drawing, carving and preparing for this event!!!

Although it's a community effort, the carving takes place in the NRI warehouse. Each missionary is asked to donate one hour of time to carve pumpkins. One of the requirements of "getting" to carve is gutting the pumpkin. I thought of my great sixth grade sentence, "Guts were splattered everywhere!" I also thought, "Great Pumpkin is a comin' to town!"

The missionaries paid for and made popcorn and put together bags of candy with about 10 pieces each. We passed out 1000 bags of candy and about 2000 bags of popcorn. People from all around the area come to participate in BOOTIFUL NAUVOO.

THe Great Pumpkin Band of Nauvoo--otherwise known as the Nauvoo Missionaries. I'm not on the wagon because I was taking a picture of the wagon.

On the twelfth day of Halloween my true my love gave me...12 bats a flying, 11 masks a leering, 10 ghouls a groaning, 9 ghosts a booing, 8 monsters shrieking, 7 pumpkins glowing, 6 goblins gobbling, 5 scary spooks, 4 skeletons, 3 black cats, 2 trick or treaters and an owl in an old dead tree. This was my contribution to Halloween in Nauvoo. There weren't very many people around for the program until I started the 12 days of Halloween from Peanuts Pumpkin Carols. So I got it going and it was a great success, even if I do say so myself. About 100 people gathered around when we started that song. It was fun!!!

The man at the keyboard behind the sax is Elder Lamar Taylor. He is a very good friend of my brother, Thom. For an old man he's actually looking pretty good.

Three little pumpkins sitting on a fence, a witch came riding by, HAHAHA I'll take you all and make a pumpkin pie HAHA!

Boo! Boo! Boo! I'm a ghost to scare you--from Halloween town we come this night, dressed from tip to toe in white!

Ghosts and goblins all around--this is Halloween!

This is just one row of pumpkins. There were hundreds of rows just like this, and no, I'm not exaggerating!

Friday Forecast: Refined Halloween, Bird St., and John's Festival

[Charles] Halloween is a favorite weekend for lots of folks and the fun is happening everywhere. The one do not miss event as far as I'm concerned is going to be the party on Saturday night at the Refinery. Greg and Michelle love Halloween and are going all out this year to make sure everyone has a great time. Definitely dress up and get ready for a costume contest with some great food and drink specials. Performing at the show will be November Foxtrot Whiskey and the Rock N Body Pole Dancers so it should be a lot of fun. When asked what pole dancers have to do with Halloween, Michelle replied "Everything has to do with Halloween!" Don't miss out on a great local event! Forecast - 60% chance somebody dressed like Dick Cheney will hit on a pole dancer.

My forecast is out of order but whatever, tonight will find The Lee Boys and the Bird St. Players kickin out the jams at the Crowbar tonight. The Lee Boys are what is called "sacred steel" which to me sounds like the best combo of blues and gospel that you could put together. The Bird St. Players are a local funk and soul group that always promise a good time. Forecast of some face melting blues riffs - 85%. Definitely some of the best music in town this weekend. Here's a little video of The Lee Boys from Bonaroo...

Last of all, I want to offer up a chance to be a tourist for once in our little town and enjoy something that most of us normally shun. Over at John's Pass they are having a seafood festival with all sorts of artists and activities for the kids. If you've never done the touristy thing and you live here, now's your chance to check it out and have some fun. Buy a stupid t-shirt and enjoy the cool weather off the water. You might surprise yourself. Forecast of art involving manatees - 75%.

The Christmas Store

In Carthage, there is a store that is open only three months out of the year--The Christmas Store. The owner is a retired school teacher and he and his wife travel all over collecting ornaments for the 70+ trees they decorated in their store. But you don't buy the whole tree, you pluck the ornaments you desire off the tree and those are the ones you purchase. I have to admit, I was on sensory overload. When I got done, I couldn't believe I had only shot three pictures. I guess the rest were just implanted in my brain. Something I've always wanted to do--have a Snoopy Christmas Tree.

An Irish Santa complete with his Irish Whiskey

In honor of Elder and Sister Geilmann, serving in Ireland, an Irish ornament depicting the nativity.

Transport in London

Exploring Mars is going to be very exciting, but for now, it's easier to explore our own planet! In particular, London. We're going to follow Freddie as he explores all the different kinds of transport in London. HE starts out from his home on his bicycle. He leaves his bike at the station and gets on a train. Trains travel into London from all over the country. They are very important for people who live in the suburbs or outside London and travel into London for work.
The next party of Freddie's journey is on another kind of train called the Docklands Light Railway. These are computer-controlled trains with no drivers. For many people the journey by train takes them to a convenient Underground station. London Underground was the first in the world when it opened in 1863.
People use lots of other forms of transport in London. There is one kind of transport that isn't very good in London - and that's the car. They move very slowly because there is too much traffic. The buses and taxis travel more quickly because they have got special lanes on the road.

Maker Monday: Not a Lamp - David Graas

Photos from Studio David Graas

{Charles} This little lamp caught my eye the other day in a blog post on Re-nest and I started checking out the other studio work from David Graas. I like this quote about making environmentally friendly designs -"My ambition is first and foremost to make simple, beautiful,

affordable and smart products." I like that idea and that is a common discussion I've had with friends. I don't want to complicate a thing unnecessarily. I like that his designs enjoy some sense of humor as well. Check out this one, which I wish I had thought of when I found that broken trombone a few months ago...

Warsaw Signal

This is the building of the Warsaw Signal, owned by Thomas Sharp, who really hated the Mormons. He wrote many articles calling for "war" and for the renouncing of Joseph Smith as the leader. He even went so far as to call for the death of the prophet. He was one of the six who were put on trial for the martyrdom, but was acquitted by the jury as they felt it was unfair just to accuse those six when there were about 200 involved.

This is a typewriter found in the front window of the Warsaw Signal. Obviously it was not from the time of the Saints, but it is a very old typewriter that has probably been there for a very long time. What I wish I could have shown was the printing press that had fallen through the floor, but it was through a glass and my camera kept trying to flash it.

If you look up through the top glass, you can see a glimmer of light coming through, that is the roof of the building. It was reroofed not too long ago, but it rotted and the floor fell through the building, so the second level is no longer accessible.

Just to show a contrast, the final editorial of the Nauvoo Neighbor, published October 29, 1845, was written by John Taylor. He wrote: "As we are makig all the preparation in our power to leave the United States next spring, we have thought it advisable to discontinue the Neighbor at this number. We will suffer wrong rather than do wrong. There is room enough upon the earth for many nations to live in peace...The power that made Nauvoo; that gathered thousands from various climes and kingdoms, that reared the Temple, and that whispers to us now, 'peace be still and see the salvation of God' can guide us to bring forth a better city." With that the Nauvoo newspapers closed their circulations and the Saints prepared to move to the place "that God for us prepared."

Friday Forecast: Altars, Rabbits, and Grub

[Charles]

How do you celebrate the Day of the Dead in Tampa? How about heading to the new TMA and checking out some altar art from local artists and maybe leaving a little something for people you've lost this week? We lost my Uncle Gary this week and I plan to leave a University of Texas hat down there for the gruff guy from coal-mining country that always knew how to make me laugh.

50% chance somebody is gonna be dressed like Frida Kahlo or Mr. Goodbody down there...

Ever done a ride thru on your bike? Saturday might be your chance. The Hub Grub III (The Grub Strikes Back) is going to take anybody with a bike and an appetite through a tour of SemHeights faves like Ella's, the Shindie, and the Refinery and new guys like Nani's. You'll even get something at Publix this time so head over to the Garden Center at 2:30 to get it going. Here's the link to the page from the SHBC for more info.

I predict a 90% chance somebody will have too much fun and have to walk the bike home!

Last but not least, there's a small - let's say 20% chance that I'm going to drive out of town to see Frightened Rabbit this weekend. I didn't grow up in Florida so driving to shows used to be pretty common for me, but I'm not sure if I'll pony and head up the road. It'll be a real shame to miss these guys if I do. They've been a lot of inspiration to me lately on days that really feel like a continuous kick in the teeth. If you go see them either in Gainesville on Saturday or in Orlando at the Social on Sunday, be prepared to rock your face off!

Hope to see you out there!

Here's a little Frightened Rabbit that I'll dedicate to my Uncle Gary who definitely was a real man and not "a bag of sand".

Maker Monday: Fisheye for IPhone

Photos from Elawgrrl's Blog Post on her Iphone Fisheye Lens

[Charles] After following Elawgrrl around this weekend to see just how she gets her awesome live shots at concerts, I was definitely feeling like it was time to read my Digital SLR's manual and see what I'd been missing. I'll post separately about the concerts themselves but today I wanted to point everybody over to a great post she did a month or so ago about adding a fisheye lens to the Iphone.

She has been using the Iphone for her 365 photos in 365 days project this year and decided to make some modifications to the camera to push the creativity beyond what Hipstamatic and some editing can do. The post was great and showed a simple way to take something that's cheaply made and modify it so it is useful. If you want to see how her 365/365 project is going, check it out here -

Here's a shot she made after properly installing the lens with an Iphone (I still can't believe some of the shots she gets with her phone)

Friday Forecast: Injustice, Problems, and Vikings

Photo from Elawgrrl of Sleepy Vikings and friends at Summer Jam
[Charles] This Friday I've got to make some decisions. Why does it seem like every weekend we get more and more good bands here? I don't want to sound optimistic about the scene here but I kind of am. Pretty cool to have enough great shows to cause trouble deciding which I'm going to hit -

So anyhow the Forecast is:

20% chance I'll drive the bridge and see Matt and Kim with Fake Problems although it really sounds like a great show and my buddy Elawgrrl will probably almost certainly be there snapping away with her music hungry lens.

35% chance I'll head over to the Brass Mug to catch Injustice System and their speed punk with the rocktastic Andy Stern on drums - who you may also know from Porch Fire or many of the other bands he's been kicking a$$ with for years.

50% chance I'll head down to The Bricks in Ybor to hear Sleepy Vikings in support of Glitter of our own Tampa Bay Derby Darlins and her mounting hospital bills from being hit in an accident while riding her scooter.

Any one of these shows will be worth spending an awesome Friday night out in the Bay Area so really folks just pick one, get out of the house, and you can't go wrong. Hope to see you out!

Fall in Nauvoo

You've heard the song April in Paris? Well this is Autumn in Nauvoo. The leaves are very slow turning this year. In fact, when I got here last year, the trees were bare and I wondered if I had come to the right city,but then I saw the temple and I knew I was in the right city. This is taken at the end of the Relief Society garden. It's so shaded in there that you can't get a good picture without a flash, but my flash wouldn't work because I was shooting out into the sun.

This is the John Taylor home and print shop. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture the color as I saw it, again, it was the time of day, but you might at least capture the feeling.

Some of the trees have already lost their leaves that is because we had such a wet summer and such a dry fall, but look at how many different kinds of trees you see across the field looking toward the stake center from the front of the temple.

This is the Stake Center surrounded by the fall foilage.

Not one of the great Kodak moments, but you can see the different colors as the leaves turn.

This is right across the street from the temple to the North.

This wasn't the picture I thought it was, but I don't know how to erase one off of the blog once I have loaded it on. So it doesn't capture the fall feeling, but it's a pretty good shot of the temple.

This is taken from my garage. I still maintain that I have the best view in all of Nauvoo.

Right across the street from Land and Records is this marvelous tree. It will be interesting to see how many squirrels stop living there when all the leaves fall off.

Maritime History

In England no town is more than 170 kilometres from the sea. So it's no surprise that Britain has a very important history of ships and the sea. The British Navy was the biggest navy in the world at one time. In Liverpool there is a great museum of maritime history. Young men had to climb the rigging to put up the sails. It was very dangerous.

Between 1830 and 1930 more than nine million people from all over Europe left from the port of Liverpool to start a new life in America or Australia. The most famous ship was probably the Titanic. It sank in 1912 and over 1.500 people drowned. It was the worst disaster in maritime history. You probably know about it from one of the most expensive films ever made - Titanic!
One of the most famous shipping companies is Cunard. The majority of people do travel around the world by plane but ships are still very important for moving goods. Here at the Southampton Container Terminal they unload more than one and a half million containers each year.

Are you sure you've never heard of Solomon Burke?

[Charles] I mentioned the death of soul legend Solomon Burke to a few people since Sunday and not many people seem to know him without some prodding. Unfortunately he never received the same name recognition as guys like Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye, but he was definitely a legend. It was interesting that because he outlived so many of those singers, he went on to have a real job and brought something like 19 children into the world. If you still can't place him, then here's a couple of things to help you remember. Let's start with the Dirty Dancing movie - you'll have to follow the link to see this one, but it's worth it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pouIFiaIig&feature=related

That was one of his biggest hits released back in 1962 and revived in the 80's.

Next off, remember the Blues Brothers? They covered one of his biggest hits from 1964. "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" You might remember the band here that also covered the song and made a huge hit of it on tour.

If you happened to read Nick Hornby's High Fidelity then you probably caught on that he's a bit of a fan of Solomon too. Here's the song that he said was "responsible for Rob and Laura's whole relationship" in the book because Rob would play it as a DJ and only Laura could dance to it.

I remember one day I was driving home from work and heard Jeff Stewart from WMNF 88.5 interviewing Solomon Burke on the radio - I almost wrecked the car. It was fantastic, and he sounded like such a nice guy and really cool. He'll definitely be missed and hopefully with a little help from all of his fans, he'll be remembered as the amazing man he was.

Here's a song from the last big album that resurrected his career and even won him a Grammy. It was an all-star album with many people writing songs for him to perform. My favorite is the most amazing and soulful track on the album- the title track "Don't Give Up On Me" - Enjoy

Friday Forecast: WMNF Fund Drive, 9Bullets Anniversary Show, Sunday Market

[Charles] A couple of quick things to check out this weekend. First off, this week was the WMNF fund drive and if you didn't chip in then let me remind you of the vast wasteland of other music that awaits us if you don't. Just get off your wallet and send em $10 or whatever. Find your favorite show and put money in the tip jar so they know what you like. They are stopping the drive today and they are still really short. If you need a show to check out, then go to the archives and see either Saturday Asylum, Grand National Championships, or Artful Dodgings. There are lots of great shows, but these to me are the never miss, indie shows that always introduce me to new music. They definitely deserve some love.

On Saturday, over in St. Pete is the 9Bullets Anniversary show with a lot of cool bands and one of my favorites - Will Quinlan and the Diviners. Show these guys some love and enjoy some nice rock and alt-country in the process. This blog puts out consistent reviews on albums and shows that don't get much press here or anywhere else. I can't go, so buy Brian a drink for me. If you really want a taste, then go to the pre-show at Ella's tonight to see The Only Sons. They are a solid alt-country band in the Lucero family of bands that should get the place rockin.

On Sunday, hit up the Sunday Morning Market at Hillsborough High School. It is the first market of the season and should be a great one with lots of vendors and amazing weather. It sounds like Greg and Tiffany have some more surprises this year with lots of fresh local produce and even more prepared food vendors. I'll be there loading up on some awesome coffee and hopefully the gumbo that got me hooked last season. We aren't setting up this time around as we are still getting our act together on what we are making these days, but it will be nice to just enjoy the crowd and actually enjoy hanging out with our neighbors. See you there.

Sarah Granger Kimball

Sarah Granger Kimball about the time she married Hiram Kimball--isn't she beautiful?
Their home has the second most magnificent view of the temple only to be exceeded by mine. Every day she could look out her window and see the progress on that magnificent structure. She also saw the temple burning in 1848, and watched the tornado of 1850 knock it down. She had vision and spunk. In addition to all of the things she did for the Relief Society, she served on the committee for Women's Sufferage (Votes for Women--step in time!), and attended as a delegate the Constitutional Convention of the State of Utah. Her 75th Birthday was spent throwing a party for the widows and poor of her ward, and she paid for their transportation to her home. When the home was restored and dedicated in 1982, Barbara B. Smith, who recently passed away, and who was at the time serving as the General Relief Society President of the Church declared, "WE WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW THAT SOMETHING BIG CAN COME OF SOMETHING SMALL. WE HOPE THAT WOMEN WILL UNDERSTAND THAT WITHIN THEIR OWN HOMES, THINGS CAN HAPPEN THAT WILL HAVE GREAT SIGNIFICANCE IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE WORLD." Sarah understood that and showed all her life.

This is the Kimball family Bible--a gift from Hiram to Sarah. In it is recorded their family history up through the birth of their first grandchild in Sarah's own handwriting. Now this is another one of those miss the forest for the trees pictures, because I did not take a picture of the room in which the sisters of Nauvoo first met to determine a women's organization needed to be established. Margaret Cook, Sarah's seamstress, wanted to do something to help the work of the temple. She could sew but had no means to purchase material. Sarah had means to buy the material, but couldn't sew (maybe that's why I like her so much), so they determined that their efforts together could make a difference. They wanted to share that with others and invited them to this very living room. It was determined a consititution should be drafted by Zion's Poetess, Eliza R. Snow. When it was shown to the prophet, Joseph Smith, he responded, "Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, be has something better in mind for the women." Later he said of the Relief Society, "The church was never fully organized until the women were thus organized."

Hiram Kimball was a very succcessful merchant of Commerce when the Granger family moved here. He was well respected and well-to-do. He had a frame home that was so well built that it still stands today. The foundation of her store is out in the cow pasture behind the home. I've got to meet the farmer that rents it and see if I can walk out there to see it. He was 14 years Sarah's senior, and not a member of our faith, but when he followed the family back to Kirtland (sent there at the request of Joseph Smith to take care of the financial mess and dispose of properties) to ask for her hand in marriage, they readily agreed. He married Sarah, and then in 1843 joined the Church. His business kept them from going west in 1846, but in 1851, Sarah had enough and packed up their two boys (the third son to be born while in Salt Lake) and moved west. He joined her a year later. He was called on a mission to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and enroute, the boiler of the ship blew up and he was killed. Sarah was a widow for about thirty years.

The silver cup in the upper right hand corner of the china closet was given to Sarah in token of appreciation of her many years of service in 1880. She served as third counselor to Eliza R. Snow in the General Relief Society Presidency and was secretary to the General Board for many years. Eliza asked Sarah for an outline of the board that she established to run her ward. It was from that outline that guidelines for ward Relief Society Boards were established. Although she was not "honored" by what she did to begin Relief Society, she was thought of with great esteem by Eliza R. Snow, and that would be one of the greatest things that I could think of as a word of praise.

This is somewhat ironic. The rocking chair with the paper sitting on was made by Brigham Young. The Brigham Young house has a chair made by his brother, Phineas. You just never know where things are going to pop up in Nauvoo. Sarah served as Relief Society President of the Salt Lake Fifteenth Ward for 41 years (just shoot me now, as Doug Myler can tell you I was begging at the end of two for release). I guess she deserves to have a chair of Brigham's in her home, and probably a lot more--several crowns of glory.

Sarah and Hiram's bedroom. This is located on the second floor on the south wall, so it would have been a very warm room. Although the shaving stand did not belong to Hiram, men of affluence were able to have them,and he was a man of affluence. You notice the baby cradle. When their son, Oliver, was born, Sarah went to Hiram and asked how much he was worth to him. Hiram told her a lot. She asked, "A thousand dollars?" Hiram agreed at least that. She asked if he was half hers. He, of course, responded in the affirmative. Then she said, "I'd like my half of that money donated to the building of the temple." As Hiram gave $500 to Joseph Smith, he related why that money was being given.

Horror Stories

People like to be scared. They love reading horror stories and watching horror movies. Some of the most famous horror stories were written by British writers. The first was published by Mary Shelley in 1818 - Frankenstein. Dracula contra Frankenstein was made by the Spanish director Jesús Franco in 1970. Count Dracula was a vampire created in 1897 by the Irish writer Bram Stoker.
Bram Stoker got the idea for Dracula while he was sitting in Highgate Cemetery in North London. Count Dracula the vampire was created. Dracula is so popular that visitors to London can go on a guided Dracula Tour. The tours usually take place just when it's getting dark...
The bedroom window was wide open and moonlight was shining into the room. Mina was on the balcony and a dark shape was leaning over her. It was Count Dracula. The vampire was not drink Mina's blood. He was making her drink his blood. The vampire turned his head. His eyes burned with a terrible red light. The vampire had already taken his meal of blood.

Maker Monday - Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations'

Photo of the Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly by James Hampton from Mike Black on Flickr in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art

[Charles] Washington D.C. can lead to serious museum overload, but I'm really glad we saw so much this weekend! We had a little trip for a family wedding and in the bride's guide to town, this piece of art was listed as her favorite. It is an amazing and arresting installation with an even more unbelievable story. This was the only known piece of art from James Hampton, a DC man that worked as a janitor during the day and built this piece at night in secret. It is constructed from found materials like cardboard, paper, thumb tacks, old furniture pieces, and covered in aluminum foil. It isn't known why he was inspired to create this religiously inspired piece. He worked on it in a rented garage for 14 years and it was only discovered on his death by the landlord. If you want to read more about this, check it out here on the Smithsonian's website. I was struck by the sort of commitment and obsession that something like that would require. Thanks Katie for suggesting it, the whole folk art section of that museum was a highlight of our trip!