The Demonstration
Posted on January 16, 2011
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In my last post I told about my one attempt at crocheting and the image it gave me in the eyes of the 5th and 6th grade boys where I taught. So tonight I want to continue the story of my perceived lack of machismo.
In 1973 and 74 Bruce Lee hit the big time in popularity (even though he had already died). The theaters were flooded with not only his films but a ton of Hong Kong kung-fu flicks. The kids at our school were caught up in the thrill of all the fancy moves and were even trying them out on their friends at lunch and recess. After several close calls and trips to the nurse’s office several of the teachers approached me with the idea that my karate school in Carlsbad might come and put on a demonstration. They wanted it to emphasize the hard work and years of study that went into all those fancy moves and techniques.
We scheduled it for about three weeks later and the karate class began preparing. We decided to go through a basic workout and then demonstrate a few of the self-defense techniques we had been working on. Of course you can’t have a karate demonstration without breaking something so we brought a few boards. We worked up what we thought would be a good demonstration of the hard work and dedication that went into the study of the martial arts.
The day of the demonstration we were told that we had about 45-50 minutes and then the students would have to get back to class. When we finished we had taken closer to 90 minutes. Nobody complained, especially the kids. Come to think of it, the teachers were pretty happy about it too.
We started with some warm-up and stretching exercises and then went into some punching, kicking, and blocking routines that we practiced every class period. We were trying to show the work that went into each and every class and I think we pulled it off to the satisfaction of the teachers and principal. Then we demonstrated several kata (pre-arranged forms) that the class had been working on and we broke a few boards. To end the demonstration I was going to do some arranged 1-on-3 fight techniques. Three high school kids were going to attack me and I had to get away.
We’d first demonstrate in slow motion what we were going to do and then do it full speed. Here we made our one big mistake. We had decided that on the last one instead of doing it in slow motion, the three would come full speed and beat me into the ground and drag me out of the gym. That would end the demonstration and we figured the kids would like to see their teacher get pounded. The older ones did like it but the kindergarten and 1st graders thought it was real and many started crying. They didn’t calm down until we came back in to say our good-byes.
The end to this story is that for the next several weeks every time I turned around there would be several 5th and 6th grade boys following me. Sometimes they had questions about the demonstration but other times they just wanted to talk. I even had one 5th grade boy who had been so against learning how to crochet before but afterward decided to learn and won several awards with the most beautiful afghan that he had made.
Thirty-five years later I was teaching a computer applications class at the branch college here and a man walked up to me and asked if I was the same Mr. Larsen who had done a karate demonstration in Loving. I answered that I was and he told me he had been one of the 5th grade boys across the hall.
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Thank you Vance, for your very kind words. They meant so much to me.
Granny Squares and Machismo
Posted on January 6, 2011
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This morning I was admiring a picture posted by a classmate on Facebook. It was a Christmas present made by her husband requiring literally hundreds of hours to complete. He had crocheted a kingsize bedspread that had the Salt Lake Temple and the Angel Moroni perfectly depicted in the design. It was amazing and beautiful.
As I admired and commented on the quality of the work my mind flashed back to my one attempt at crocheting.
My first teaching job was in the 1973-74 school year in a little rural school about 12 miles outside Carlsbad. I was hired to teach 4th grade even though I was only licensed to teach at the Secondary level. They needed a bilingual teacher and couldn’t find one who would take the job. My grades had been good and I was bilingual so they called me and set up the interviews. I met with the Superintendent and three of the five Board members and was afterward offered the job which I eagerly accepted. They got me a one-year waiver for my teaching certificate and I began my career.
I had the largest class in the school. There were 25 Hispanic, 1 African-American and 4 Anglo kids and a teacher who didn’t have a clue what he was getting into. There were two other male teachers (6th grade) and they did not socialize with the female teachers. They stayed at their end of the hall, ate lunch in their classrooms and were never seen except when on duty. Since I needed all the help I could get I tried to fit in as best I could and it paid off. Two teachers (5th and 4th grade) really took me under their wings and taught me the ropes. Except for the two men, they were all eager to help the newbie.
I had noticed that ALL of them were into crocheting and they would bring their yarn and hooks into the lounge at recess and lunch and work on their craft. So one night I asked June to teach me how to chain stitch and the next day I was first into the lounge at lunch and I had my ball of red yarn out and was chaining away. I had thought it would be a one time joke and that would be that. After the initial laughter subsided they all insisted that chaining wasn’t enough, I had to learn how to make granny squares and they were going to teach me.
So from then on I could be seen in the halls coming and going with my ball of yarn and crochet hook. They were good teachers and I discovered that I really enjoyed crocheting. It was relaxing and I definitely needed that with my class of 29. A side benefit was that I didn’t have to buy hot pads for several years.
The drawback to this whole affair was that the 5th and 6th grade boys began to tease me about my new interest. They didn’t think it was very manly. That went on for a month or so until something happened that made them rethink their attitudes.
That’s my hook. 
So stay tuned for that story.
Beginnings…The End
Posted on December 28, 2010
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Well another Christmas is over and it’s time for this rambling story to be over too.
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As I stated at the end of the last installment, we decided to keep our engagement a secret for a while. That probably wasn’t the best decision we ever made. Neither one of us was very good at being careful of what we said. Something came to mind and it just naturally came out. We made it about a month, or so we thought, before we decided to let everyone in on the news. We were at DeLoss and Barbara’s one afternoon and decided to tell her thinking she would be the most supportive. Her response was a simple one. “We were wondering when you’d tell us.” Seems they had figured it out just about as soon as June and I had.
My mom wasn’t quite so easy to convince. Her response was more like “Yeah, right.” She had tried to get Uncle DeLon (her brother) and myself to start dating, without much success, while we were attending school in Las Cruces. She didn’t get to meet June until Christmas break over a month later and then it started to sink in that her first born was really getting married.
We set the date for March 10th (1973) and to this day I can’t figure out why we chose that time. It would have been right in the middle of semester had I found a teaching position mid-year. I didn’t find a teaching job so it became a moot point.
We began making preparations after our trip to Las Cruces at Christmas. We had our engagement pictures made (see About Ted at top). I had put myself through school as a Photolithographer/Printer in Old Mesilla just outside Las Cruces. My boss let us use the shop to print our announcements for just the cost of the paper. Dad set the type, Mom did the layout, I shot the negatives, burnt the plate and printed the announcements and we did it all in one evening.
Fast-forward to the week of the wedding. My Mustang’s oil light wouldn’t go off even though it had plenty of oil. The mechanic said it needed a new oil pump. Being underemployed at the time I couldn’t afford the repairs so we decided to take June’s VW Bug. DeLoss was changing the oil when he noticed some rather large chunks of metal in the oil. We took them to a VW specialist and he figured someone had dropped a valve (or something like that, I’m not mechanically inclined). What we were seeing were pieces of the piston. June decided to place her faith in Heavenly Father and take the bug anyway.
The trip to Mesa was uneventful. We stayed with my Institute Director, who was then living in Mesa, and his wife. June went through the temple Friday evening and then we were back bright and early Saturday for the wedding. About all I remember was kneeling at the alter looking at June on the other side and thinking, “WHAT AM I DOING?” Just kidding, …sort of.
After a wedding dinner the families headed home and June and I began our Honeymoon. We had planned on going to the Grand Canyon the next day but a freak snowstorm closed down the road north and we ended up just staying in Phoenix. We spent the day at the zoo and had a wonderful time. To this day, zoos are a major highlight of any trip I take.
The day to return home came too soon and we hit the road early. The VW, which had operated flawlessly, decided to act up and it quit firing on the bad cylinder. All the way back to Las Cruces “chug, chug, chug, clunk…”. I was a nervous wreck but June just kept smiling saying the Lord would get us home. He did.
We had a reception in Las Cruces and the following day filled the car literally to the top with gifts and headed back to Carlsbad where a reception was being held that night. The bug didn’t miss a beat the whole way home. The next week we took the Mustang and VW into Fordtown and bought a brand-new car.
I’m going to try to add a couple of pictures here but don’t really remember how. Hopefully they will come through ok.
June and I at the beach.
The Love Bug
Beginnings…Part Deux
Posted on December 20, 2010
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Before continuing with the story let me answer the questions posed by my Idaho Cousin. Yes, the Mustang worked again but it required the purchase of a new battery. It finally died the week before my wedding in Mesa, AZ. More on that later. Eventually a little food was added to the apartment but as we shall see it wasn’t really needed. As to the recipe, I’ll see if I can get a copy from my Sister-in-Law after Christmas.
(Continued from last week…Drum roll please)
Monday following that first Sunday was my first day of classes at the college preparing us to do our student teaching. I remember the professor was a sharp fellow who had come into education from the business world. I learned more from his one semester than from all the other education classes I had taken in Las Cruces. No ‘Ivory Tower’ philosophy, just real world experiences and solutions.
That evening I showed up at the Brown’s for what I thought was to be a Primary leaders/teachers social. Turned out to be just a bunch of friends from the church. Everyone was married except for June and I. We spent most of the evening in each others company out of sheer necessity. (Several of those couples remain my good friends to this day.) For refreshments Barbara brought out a homemade Cherry Cheese Cream pie. I wasn’t a big fan of cherries and don’t think I’d ever had cream cheese anything in my life so I wasn’t real excited about trying it. June insisted that I take a bite and at least give it a chance. I did and was immediately hooked for life. After the social I hung around and visited more with June. I was hooked for the second time that evening.
The rest of the week saw me at the Brown’s every afternoon as soon as I could get away from school. I would drive June to work at the Holiday Inn which was out past my apartment and pick her up and drive her home. I was always invited to stay and eat with DeLoss and Barbara hence the little food that was purchased for the apartment.
Friday night was the opening social for MIA. It was going to be a Turkey dinner for all the ward followed by a dance for anyone wanting to stay. They had rented the Woman’s Club because the ward house was to small. I asked June if she wanted to go. She did. DeLoss had to work that evening so we invited Barbara to go with us to the dinner. I showed up that evening with a corsage for June and she started crying. I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong. She told me later that was her first time to be given a corsage. I had a most enjoyable evening and think that she did too. The only negative thing that evening was that June was an excellent dancer and me, not so much. She would spend the next 33 years, unsuccessfully, trying to teach me.
Let’s skip ahead a week and a half and shorten this up. Suffice it to say that I spent some of every day with June for those first two and a half weeks. It was a Wednesday night and June and I had been sitting in the den watching TV and talking late into the night. She was telling me of the problems that she had experienced with her Step-mom. (Her mother had been killed in a car accident in ’69). Her Step-mother had been a real negative person and had constantly put down June and to a lesser extent each of the other sisters. She told June that nobody would ever want to marry her and that she would be single and alone all her life. (Nice lady).
As June was telling me this I turned and looked at her and said, “Would you marry me?” I couldn’t believe what I was saying even as I was saying it. I had been thinking about this possibility for the past two and a half weeks but never thought I would get the nerve to ask her so quick. She didn’t hesitate to answer me in the affirmative. We decided to wait for a month or so before announcing it for fear that everyone would think we were rushing things. What? Everyone doesn’t get engaged after a couple of weeks? One thing I had learned on my mission: When the Spirit prompts, obey.
(To be concluded soon…Again I promise)
New Beginnings…1972
Posted on December 17, 2010
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In the summer of 1972, with one semester of school left before graduation, I was notified by the College of Education that I was being assigned to do my student teaching in Carlsbad. I had never been to Carlsbad nor did I know anyone from Carlsbad but the college had to fill 25 slots and I was one of the ‘lucky’ candidates picked.
I immediately went in to see what could be done to extricate myself from what I considered to be a gross miscarriage of fairness. After the normal run around by the College of Education I found someone who actually could tell me how to get out of the assignment. I didn’t like the answer. It required a lot of jumping through hoops and paperwork (in triplicate) to be submitted personally to a couple of Deans and Department heads. Long story short, I decided to suck it up and go to Carlsbad.
My sister, Mary Ellen, knew a member of the Church who lived in Carlsbad and we decided to drive over and pay him a visit. I needed an apartment and we were hoping he could be of assistance. He turned out to have a small apartment which he was willing to furnish and rent for the unheard of amount of $35 a month. (Brother Jenkins owns a very successful furniture store.) I signed the agreement and Mel and I headed back to Las Cruces.
When the day (Saturday) arrived to move, I loaded everything that I could into my ’65 Mustang and headed for Carlsbad. I arrived late into the night to find that none of the furniture had been delivered. I threw down my sleeping bag and went to sleep knowing that I would see the landlord in church the following day and probably would have a bed and table by Monday.
The next morning I showered, dressed and headed out the door to go to church only to find the battery dead in my car. My apartment was next door to a service station so I was able to get a jump and still arrive at church on time.
As I walked up to the church doors, I was greeted by a VERY friendly man who, when he found out who I was, began introducing me to everyone starting with his wife who was working in the ward library. He then introduced me to a young lady, his sister-in-law, who I thought was a freshman or sophomore in High School. As Sunday School was starting I was invited to sit with them.
After morning services (we didn’t have the block meeting schedule yet) I left to go back to the apartment. My car wouldn’t start. I went back in to see if anyone had jumper cables and was again met by the same brother who had taken my under his wing earlier that morning. One of his friends had some cables and DeLoss (the guy with the wife and sister-in-law) pulled his truck around to jump my car. After we had it running again he asked me what I was doing for lunch and I said something about getting a sandwich back at the apartment. He said that they were just having TV dinners for lunch but that I was welcome to join them. I happily accepted because, truth-be-told, I didn’t have any food in the apartment yet.
His wife, Barbara, just about died from embarrassment at having to serve me a TV dinner but for me it was a most enjoyable and appreciated meal. She still gives him a hard time for doing that to her. It was at that meal that I learned that June (the sister-in-law) was living with them as her Dad and Step-mom had moved back to West Virginia and she didn’t want to go. The day was looking up even though I was too shy and introverted to recognize the fact.
I was invited back after church that evening and the skies opened up with what turned out to be one of the worst rainstorms to hit Carlsbad in years. DeLoss was remodeling his kitchen and had just laid new flooring that week. There was a large gap under the kitchen door and the water was literally coming in waves under the door. I had worked as a custodian in a government lab on campus and was very familiar with mops and floors so I rolled up my sleeves and set to keeping as much water off the floor as I could. I eventually was down on my hands and knees trying to block the water from coming in under the door. I guess that I made a good impression because I was invited back the following evening for a Cherry Cream Cheese Cake social.
(To be continued later this week…I promise)
Waxing Nostalgic…Again
Posted on June 12, 2010
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Thursday Robert and I drove to Lubbock to do some looking around in the camera and computer stores. Plus we were both craving some Mongolian Grill at the big Chinese buffet next to the mall. On the drive home there is a dark, desolate stretch of about 68 miles between Hobbs, NM and Carlsbad and I started thinking back about events 31 years ago.
When June was pregnant with Robert we were living in Hobbs and two of June’s sisters lived in Carlsbad. Consequently, we made many weekend trips to Carlsbad so June could visit with her sisters. In the late winter and early spring of ’79 it became an almost weekly event. I think it was a hormonal thing. Now June had never had what would be considered a strong bladder but her kidneys seemed to work overtime on these trips. With the baby kicking and squirming, I got to know all of the side roads between here and there over the last several months of her pregnancy. Being as that area is in the ‘oil field’ there are a lot of those service roads scattered hither and yon. I was almost as eager for Robert’s arrival as June was.
During the last month or so of the wait she went into the Dr. on a weekly basis because of concerns that they both had. (June had miscarried 4-6 times prior to this.) Three visits in all excited, three times exiting in tears because the Dr. had told her just “two more weeks.” These visits were on Fridays and the Monday following the last visit was the 16th of April. I had to attend a teacher recognition activity at the school auditorium that evening because I was receiving my 5 year pin and June insisted on attending with me.
I had a good friend and fellow teacher who had recently been ordained a priest in the American version of the Greek Orthodox church. I can’t remember the official name of his church anymore and there was quite a story behind his switch from Roman Catholicism to the Orthodox group but it isn’t pertinent to this story. Anyway to make a long and tedious story shorter, Father Raabe came up to June during the intermission and seeing how miserable she looked, slapped her on the forehead and pronounced a quick blessing. After he had left and June had gotten over the shock of being blessed without asking for it, we both had a good laugh.
The following morning, April 17th, at 5:45, June went into labor and delivered Robert that night at 11:00. To my knowledge, Robert may be the only Mormon baby to make his appearance as a result, directly or indirectly, of a blessing from a Priest of the American Orthodox faith.
Now, 31 years later, it is Robert and I making those long drives at night between Hobbs and Carlsbad. Fortunately, he has much better control than his mother.
Karate, the Lighter Side
Posted on September 26, 2009
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The post I did recently about my wife brought back some good memories and some nice comments. One was an invite to add some more remembrances from time to time so here goes.
I use to always walk with my arm around my wife’s waist or over her shoulder.
The first year we were married (1973) there were no martial arts schools anywhere near our area. I got permission from my sensei in Las Cruces to open an extension of his school under his direction in Carlsbad. We quickly had a very active group of students from the middle and high schools in town. There were a few older students so my wife June decided to give it a try. (She proved to be a good student.)
At the end of our first year we had several students plus a brown belt who had joined with us that wanted to go to Las Cruces for rank testing. We were going to chaperon three of the students who were minors and June began the tutoring session on forms and terms that they would need to know when we arrived. The trip takes about four hours and I don’t remember if she let up the whole time.
We arrived in time to attend a regular class Friday night and the tests were scheduled for Saturday morning. I forgot to mention that June had no intention of testing. (She had self-esteem issues.) Anyway, we had a good workout and we left the guys to sleep in the dojo and we went over to Mom and Dad’s for the night.
The next morning included more tutoring of terms and pertinent information and then the tests began. All three of the boys did real well and passed with flying colors. Then Mr. Timbers, my instructor, called June to the testing floor. She immediately began to protest but was cut off and instructed that she was going to test. Period. That was when I first discovered that my wife didn’t do tests, any kind of test. Things she had done flawlessly the night before were now like a whole new world to her. The final part of the test was to perform a beginning kata called Taikiokyu. At two points the practitioner emits a kiai, or shout. When June hit those parts her mind froze and all she got out was a very meek pronunciation of the word, no shout. If I hadn’t loved her (and knew what she was really capable of) I probably would have laughed. We both laughed years later.
After she had finished Mr. Timbers approached her and quietly asked her what her name was. She began to stammer and try as she might she could not tell him her name. She was totally demoralized. About a week later, she received a package in the mail containing her yellow belt and certificate and a very nice letter from Mr. Timbers explaining that after Friday’s class he had already decided she was going to be awarded her belt but felt like she should experience the pressure of taking the test.
Some years later we were living in Las Cruces so that I could attend summer classes at NMSU and we both started lessons again with Mr. Timbers. One night all the ladies in the class were taken into the secondary dojo for training to which the men were not privy. When we walked into Mom and Dad’s that night after class Mom was sitting on the sofa and asked June what she had learned in class. June responded with one word, “This.” The next thing I knew I was staring at the ceiling from my position on my back on the frontroom floor. From that day on I never walked with my arm around my wife.
Teacher For a Day
Posted on August 18, 2009
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The title to this entry refers to the fact that I am going to be a substitute teacher this year. While I was in Idaho for Uncle Roland’s funeral the college canceled all my classes due to lack of enrollment. They have a new person in charge of that decision and I believe it was made prematurely. In the past it has never been done until a day or two before the start of classes. This time it was almost two weeks early. I had expected one or maybe two to be canceled but not all three. So in order to keep the wolf away from the door, I signed up to be a sub.
I attended an orientation meeting this morning and think I have a good chance of staying very busy. I had originally planned on subbing only in my old school but nearly half of the principals were old friends and/or co-workers over the past 14 years. They all wanted me to be available for their school so I told them I would take both Middle Schools and upper level Elementary schools (4th & 5th grade).
Yesterday I went back to my old school to meet the new Principal and to let them know that I was available. I left with my first assignment. I will be substituting for the science teacher this Friday. We have worked together for many years. She taught computers in the room next to mine for several years before moving on to Science. She is an extremely competent teacher who puts in hours of overtime and lots of her own money to help the kids. (She was also an ‘overachiever’ in one of my college classes some years back.)
All things considered I think subbing will be better than being a greeter at Walmart.
SIDE NOTE: As we were leaving Utah to come home last week the man who was my long term sub while I was in Houston with June called. He now works for the college and was needing a Defensive Driving teacher. He needed a teacher who was licensed as a teacher in the state and wanted to know if I was interested. At the time I wasn’t but told him I would call when we got home. So now I will be teaching two twelve hour classes each month. Should prove interesting and I will definitely be using Utah as an example (of what not to do).
Eternally Mine
Posted on July 20, 2009
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Today (July 21st) marks the third anniversary of my wife June’s death. I haven’t said much about it since I started doing the blog so I thought this might be a good time to add a few thoughts and pictures. The pictures will be added at the end and you can click once on a picture and then click again on the following picture to see a large version.
In 2001 June was diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We immediately began the chemo treatments. We drove to El Paso to the Cancer Center where the most wonderful doctor took over her treatments. His name is Juan Herrada and is a native of Spain. He was covering for the doctor we had been referred to and we never changed back. He was a major blessing. He had worked at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX before moving to El Paso so when June’s cancer returned twice over the next couple of year’s he asked if we could spend extended time traveling and living in Houston. (Houston is twelve hours from Carlsbad.) We said yes and headed for Houston to check out the chance of a stem cell transplant.
We went through the exams (actually she had all the tests) and it was decided that she was a candidate for a transplant of her own cells. We had to return to Carlsbad to take care of some things that had to be done first. When we returned to Houston for the procedure June discovered another lump next to her elbow. It turned out to be cancer so the transplant was canceled. She would have to find a donor. Her three sisters all volunteered to be tested and her older sister Barbara was an almost perfect match. So in January Barbara took three weeks off from her job and went to Houston so they could run their tests and harvest her cells. We drove her back to Carlsbad and then returned the following week and June received the cells.
She had to remain in the hospital for the following several months before being allowed to move into an apartment close to the center. All told she was there for about six months. I was only able to stay for three before I ran out of sick leave. Her baby sister Becki came down from Canada and spent the remaining time until school let out and I was able to return. We came home in June of 2005.
They didn’t want us to leave town but our housing had expired so we talked them in to letting us leave if we would stay with my folks in Las Cruces. We told them we could get to Dr. Herrada within 30 minutes if we had an emergency. (Actually would have taken us closer to 45 minutes.) So we spent nearly another month in Las Cruces before finally returning home to Carlsbad.
June continued to make progress and during the following year the cancer did not return. (In fact, it never did.) Her immune system also failed to return. Then on June 4th of 2006 we were getting ready for church and June felt a little warm so she took her temperature and it was just over 100. Standing orders were if it was over a hundred to go straight to the Emergency Room at the hospital. I took her there expecting a quick check-up and then we would continue on to church a little late. A couple of hours later she was on a Medivac flight to Houston and I was home packing bags so I could leave for Houston.
When I arrived the next morning they had her in a room, on oxygen and she seemed to being doing pretty good. They thought she had an infection in her lungs. The following weekend they put her in Intensive Care as a precaution for the weekend and she spent 44 days there before finally passing away peacefully on July 21st. I could write as much or more than I already have about those 44 days but I won’t at this time.
While June was in the hospital for the transplant the nurses, aides and Doctors were constantly commenting on June’s wonderful spirit and outlook on everything that was happening to her. (About the only thing that got her down was how she ballooned due to all the liquids they were constantly pumping into her.) She always had such a positive outlook on everything. Well then, here are some pictures of her time there for the transplant.
In picture one, she was sitting in the Dentist’s chair and laughing. She was assigned physical therapy and even seemed to enjoy that. She told me how much she hated the craft items that the volunteers passed out but after the first week she was doing any and all she could find and then began designing her own. When Becki was with her, she would send Becki out to scout out new ones that she hadn’t done yet.
The pictures above are special to me. The first two were taken at the graveyard the day of her funeral. In the middle picture are Uncle DeLon & Aunt Nelma. Less than two years later DeLon would be gone too. The last one was taken 33 years earlier on March 10, 1973. Grandpa Smith was always kidding me that I was able to get a June bride in March.
Birthday trip to Albuquerque
Posted on May 1, 2009
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It’s been over a month since I last posted a blog. The only excuse that I can come up with is the fun I’ve been having learning how to tweet on twitter. That sounds really, really funny.
This past Saturday was my birthday (#61) so on Friday Robert and I drove to Albuquerque to celebrate. It was kind of a joint celebration as his birthday had been the week before and we only made it to Roswell (on church business) and really hadn’t been able to celebrate too much.
After getting a room we went to Pancho’s to eat and then drove up the temple to take some night shots. I concentrated on the fountain and Robert worked on the fountain and the temple. He had some really good shots of both.
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at the Owl Cafe, a kind-of-landmark restaurant in Albuquerque. Then we found a camera store and were disappointed in the type of stuff they offered. Most was really old stuff for 35mm cameras from the 70s and 80s. The new stuff was things like backpack camera cases and tripod combinations that were extremely expensive. Robert bought a new lens cap and we left.
Our main purpose was to attend the Biopark that has been under construction over the past 12-14 years. Robert saw it around 1997 and it was just gettin started with the aquariums. Now they have a very nice aquarium display and many surrounding gardens representing major areas of the world. As much as I love aquariums and fish I think I enjoyed the gardens more. We had planned about two hours for the visit and ended up spending more than four hours walking around the park. I was so tired by the time we got back to the truck that I thought I was going to die. (But it was a good tired.)
We then went to the Mall so Robert could find a Barnes and Noble bookstore. I sat in the truck for awhile talking with the missionaries back in Carlsbad and then finally went in and looked around. I was more interested in going to the Deseret Bookstore which we did as soon as Robert got out of B&N.
We found the bookstore and I went crazy (my birthday, my presents). I found the DVD that I was missing in The Work and the Glory series. Somehow I had bought #1 and #3 but was missing the second one. I bought a print of all the Prophets of the modern dispensation standing together in their temple whites. I’d seen this one before but this one was updated to include President Monson. I got a new oil container with a silouhette of the Christus on the side. I had been using a nitro pill container since Houston which actually did a good job.
We left Albuquerque for home around 8:30 p.m. and arrived back in Carlsbad shortly after 12:30. The next morning I had to pick up an investigator and take him to church. While there they asked me to help out with the tithing count after church because I am an assistant ward clerk (over FHC). The regular clerk and one of the counselors were unavailable. I also get to help out this coming Sunday.
Here are a few pictures of the trip. I will probably upload more to Flickr as soon as I finish up the semester next week.
