Christmas 2010

After last year, we expected a quiet Christmas. Then Meredith had little Emmett a week early and they decided the best thing would be to come to Raleigh. Not quite as lively as with 21 people under one roof, but festive and fun. nevertheless.

Snow is pretty rare in Raleigh but we got a bunch of it Christmas night and the day after Christmas. We lost power for about six hours as the weight of the snow on the trees downed some power lines. Our trusty generator kept us from freezing to death. The snow makes for nice photo opportunities don't you think?

We had the shed cleaned up and restained in the late fall so it made a fine backdrop for some pictures.

Bright and early Monday morning, Jim decided he needed to build an igloo. He had lots of help. Pretty good, no?

. . . and the following Sunday (this morning), after three days of 60+ degree weather . . . .

Alina

Alina Kay Taggart -- Our newest grandchild and a rare granddaughter. She is a sweet and lovely girl. Here she is, all ready to head off to church to be blessed.

She is a welcomed part of a great little (well, not so little) family.

A week in Germany

John's friend, Dieter Wiese, turned 70 on May 15th, the day after John turned 64. His children planned a birthday party and invited John as a surprise. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Sunday afternoon in the garden. Dieter and Crystel are seated. Roman, Andrea, Aaron and Simon (the baby) are on the left. Heike, their oldest daughter, is to Crystel's left, in front of her husband, Holger. The tall young man in the back is Heike's son, Tobias. To his right is Tabea and Ann Katrin is to his left.

Old friends . . . .

Tabea is a student at the University of Aachen, one of the oldest and best universities in Germany. It is the birthplace of Karl the Great (Charlemagne) and was the seat of power in Europe during the 8th and 9th centuries. The Aachen Cathedral was started during his lifetime, with the domed part having been completed while he was still alive.

Four knights and a damsel at the steps of the Rathaus in Aachen.



South of Aachen is the Eifel region of Germany, on the border with Belgium and Luxemburg. This is the region through which allied forces invaded Germany in early 1945.

The Mosel River flows through the Eifel. This is the great wine-growing center of Germany.

We stayed in a 450 year old converted farm. Our room was in the building behind Dieter and Crystel--a converted pig barn.

A street in the village of Bernkastel-Kues. The hillsides on which the vinyards were planted are extraordinarily steep. Slate is mixed with soil and the roots of the vines sink deep into the rocky soil. Water from below percolates up through the layers of slate to feed the vines.

The narrowest house in Germany . . . .

There are wonderful, picturesque castles--some in ruins and some well preserved--all along the Mosel. This one sits above the town of Cochem, about 50 kilometers from Koblenz--where the Mosel joins the mighty Rhine River.

Williamsburg--Fall 2009

Nancy and Doug, Norma and Theron, and Marilyn and Jerry flew out to Raleigh for a family gathering in Colonial Williamsburg. We stayed for a week at the Marriott Vacation Club resort at Ford's Colony. The accommodations were nice; the get-together was wonderful. Here are a few pictures at some of the sites we visited.
This is the whole group on the banks of the James River, between Williamsburg and Jamestown.

Sisters and brother in a Powhatan dug-out canoe, in a recreation of the Jamestown settlement (1607--the first English colony in the New World).

A native American--sort of--demonstrating the craft of twine-making in Jamestown.

The whole gang again, at Black Beach on the end of Jamestown Island.

Dave and Shelly Myers drove down from California, MD for a day.

Wedding & Family Reunion

The centerpiece of our family reunion was the marriage of Jack to Joanna Hawkins on Friday, June 26th. Here is the lovely bride and her happy husband just outside the doors of the Timpanogos Temple.

The entire wedding party at the reception that evening at the Lion House in Salt Lake.

Joanna's parents, Matt and Shannon Hawkins.

. . . and Jack's parents.

The whole Taggart clan--six couples and 13 grandchildren, near the entrance to the temple.

The traditional sisters and brother photograph--Norma Eberhard, Nancy Williams, John Taggart, Marilyn Hadd.

Luke with his Grandma Taggart.

There are over 800 other pictures. But you'll just have to wait until the photo album is finished.

Miscellaneous

Not much is happening at this very moment--no big trips just completed, no unusual events. I thought a few miscellaneous photos might be just the thing.

About 10 years ago, we planted wildflowers in the natural area just below our back lawn. At first, they were multi-colored. Slowly, the yellow daisies took over, as the less hardy varieties died out. Then a few white daisies showed up, on their own. Today, it's all white daisies, and they're spreading out! I'm hoping the daisies will prevail over the Japanese bamboo grass--a vile weed that secretes some kind of poison that makes the ground infertile for other plants and throws out tens of thousands of seeds that can germinate up to 7 years later. So far, the daisies are holding their own.
Craig and Pug Mikkelsen,with some Taggarts in front of Multnomah Falls from a few years ago at Thanksgiving.
The legal staff at Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corporation.
An eclipse of the moon last year. That greenish shadow up and to the right comes, I believe, from a reflection off the filter I had on the camera. Not good, but still an interesting picture, don't you think?
Young Jack Taggart on his mission. Jack is getting married next week, so I thought a picture from a couple of years ago would be a nice thing.

Nauvoo

This past weekend was quite interesting. I went to Nauvoo to speak at a Young Single Adult conference--young people from Kentucky and southern Indiana who are members in the stakes I visit regularly. This was my first time in Nauvoo, so it was a special time. Below are a few pictures:

The Nauvoo Temple, shining in the afternoon sun on a bluff above historic Nauvoo.

I met a nice family from New Zealand--the Fitzpatricks. They had already been to Salt Lake, Palmyra and Kirtland. After a few days in Nauvoo, they were headed for Jackson County, MO.

The Fitzpatricks and I road in a covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen, not far from the mighty Mississippi at the jumping-off point for the Saints headed west.

Two sister missionaries in the post office/general store.
The graves of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma Smith. The largest part of historic Nauvoo is owned and operated by the LDS Church, but a significant section is operated by the Community of Christ. The Smith graveyard is in that part.
As I said, my purpose in going there was to speak to the Young Single Adults--about 60 strong. The "fireside" began in the late afternoon in a grove of trees below the temple. After about 20 minutes of preaching in the great outdoors, just like the pioneers, it started to sprinkle, so . . .
. . . unlike the pioneers, we moved indoors. The Seventies Hall was built on Parley Street for use by the Seventies as a school; sort of an 1840s MTC. We would have started there but the missionaries didn't want to "close" it to other visitors before regular closing time. They relented because of the rain. For me, it was a particularly meaningful way to end the fireside. During the Nauvoo period, the quorums of the Seventy grew from a few hundred to a few thousand. Here are pictures of the outside and the inside of the Seventies Hall.

In the evening, we attended "Sunset on the Mississippi", a musical review put on by the missionaries and others. It was everything you could want--a parade, patriotic songs, silly songs, dancing, jokes, audience participation--there was nothing it didn't have. And the best part was all those older missionary couples up there pulling it off. (There were a few ringers--probably BYU Program Bureau types.) The grand finale had a chorus line of senior sisters doing a routine with walkers. Very funny!
Early Sunday morning I drove to Carthage. Ordinarily, the jail would have been closed then, but I happened upon a small group that had arranged a special tour, so I joined them and got to see the jail as well.
Sunday morning we had a sacrament and testimony meeting, after which there was a group photo.
Before leaving Nauvoo, I drove to the pioneer cemetery, where I found this headstone from our ancestor, Washington Taggart, who joined the Church in Peterborough, N.H. with his two sons, migrated to Nauvoo, and died of cholera in 1843. The stone was placed there by the George Washington Taggart Family organization several years ago.
I'm thinking Nauvoo would be a great venue for a family reunion!