Week 55
A wonderful Thanksgiving week.  It started on Monday with the FHE Thanksgiving potluck dinner.  There were 45 people, and "a good time was had by all."  We cooked two turkey breasts and made gravy and stuffing.  Brother Linsenmeyer brought a deep fried turkey, the bishop brought ham, and the YSAs brought all the rest.

Lots of folks and lots of food

School was out Wednesday through Friday, and the majority of our YSAs live within comfortable driving distance from OSU (mostly Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas).  For the few who were left in town and for the missionaries assigned to our ward, we had another Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.  We enjoyed the food, the company and visiting, and the game of catch phrase.  

Our little Thanksgiving crew

On Wednesday we talked to Kerby's siblings, to the kids and grandkids on Thursday, and to my sister on Saturday--and we're grateful for every one of them!

Thanksgiving afternoon was beautiful and about 70 degrees.  We drove out to Boomer Lake and walked a bit.  The Veteran's Memorial is on the lake, and we'd never stopped at it before.  

"Eternal flames" at the Veteran's Memorial

The big flame in the middle represents the United States, and there is a flame for each branch of the military and one for the POWs/MIAs.  To the right of each flag (all military branches and POWs) is a bench with the name and founding date of each branch.  It is serene and very lovely.

Earlier this month, an art installation celebrating science was unveiled at the Bellmon Research Center on campus.  We hadn't seen that yet, either, so we moseyed over there on Thursday.  The research center houses six categories of study:  synthetic chemistry, biodiversity, biophysics, photonics, bioforensics, and biogeophysics.  I don't even know what all of those words mean, but the artist who was commissioned to do the artwork gathered microscopic images representing each area of study.  He then converted those images into six-foot diameter art glass discs.  They are absolutely stunning (and lit up at night, so we need to go back after dark soon).

Extra credit if you can identify each area of study by its glass disc

On Thanksgiving night we watched a production called Winter Thaw on BYUtv.  It is based on a Tolstoy short story, and has a wonderful message for the Christmas season.  We recommend it highly.

http://www.byutv.org/

Since fall is my favorite season, I've been disappointed by the lack of fall colors on the trees.  It's just been so warm that the trees couldn't figure out it was time to put on a show.  In fact, lots of them just gave up and dropped their leaves with no color.  However FINALLY it's cool enough that we're getting some awfully pretty trees, and I'm thinking nicer thoughts about Stillwater's autumn.

We're thankful for so many blessings--family, friends, the gospel, scriptures, our mission in Stillwater, YSAs, beauty all around, shelter, food, clothing, transportation, central heat, running water, technology. . . . . isn't it wonderful just to be alive in this amazing time?!?