Things I admire about the British, based on Downton Abbey

Trying to get my fill before the mission







1. "I cannot say." Sometimes it is just better to shut your mouth. Aren't these characters incredible in their ability to refrain from speaking when it's not information others need to know? (The admirable characters, that is. The others can't be real Brits.)
2. Stoicism. Downplaying everything was a characteristic not always appreciated when displayed by my dad, but I like it in myself when I actually pull it off and detest its opposite in anyone. "For heaven's sake, buck up!"
3. Wit. Everything Maggie Smith says strikes me as hilarious, she has a sharp tongue but a good heart. I printed a poster that was in my office for a while (por un rato), "WWTDCD?" What would the Dowager Countess Do?
4. Never making excuses for themselves. Mary was taken advantage of, seduced, violated, shall I go on?.....by Kemal Pamuk but didn't stoop to playing the victim. Shame preferable to sniveling.
5. Calling it like it is. The give and take between Matthew's mother and "Granny," can be brutally honest, but it is honest. The British are not guilty of the crime of fake sweetness.
6. Low drama. Oh, it's there. You just see it in the upraised eyebrow, the suppressed smile, the meaningful glance. Quiet drama is so much more real than overwrought drama.
7. Honor.  It isn't just "looking good" to others. It's holding up the family name, keeping honorable that which was honorable from past generations.
8. A sense of history and knowing ones place in it. Though I side with Sybil in preferring a leveling of the classes to the system of "haves" and "have-nots," I do love their attachment to who they are and where they come from. Even Sybil's Tom has strong bonds to his place and family in Ireland.

On flip-flopping

We heard Malcom Gladwell in Salt Lake last week. He is an incredible thinker, and I like his hair.

As an aside, in his speech, he mentioned that if you don't "flip-flop" regularly, you have a closed mind. It made me think of the many changes-of-mind I have had in my life. (I won't count the countless instances of "buyer's remorse" and "menu envy" I am prone to. These are flip-flops with a longer shelf-life.)

1. Being a Republican. The latest iteration of this party seems downright mean-spirited, whereas the Grand Old Party of my parents' time was the party of discipline and common-sense; but also of community-spirit and looking out for the good of the whole. I'm ashamed of what Republicans have become.

2. Phonics in the reading wars. Yep. Whole-language grabbed me "hook, line and sinker," but as time went on I realized that wholistic teaching left whole groups of students without the skills to succeed. We were privileging the privileged (a nouveau-GOP idea, if there ever was one). Many, many students need the reading code taught explicitly. Hooray if you or your child or your grandchild learned to read instinctively. Other kids need more, and phonics is the answer for them. It will help your kids learn to spell. 

3. Green olives. Every Thanksgiving I would try one. Yuuck! Until about age 20, when maybe my taste-buds died, or became sophisticated or something, and now I love them. 

4. Same with cracked wheat cereal, except it was more of an every day experiment. Still hate it. Still hate it. Still hate it. I was closer to sixty when I tried Zoom in the temple with brown sugar, raisins and cream. Oh my. Dessert for breakfast.

5. Purple. I truly must be an old lady because purple makes me happy. I also love orange, but I have always liked it. Purple used to have no redeeming qualities in my eyes. How could I have been so blind to its richness and personality? My new glasses are purple and I don't care that they don't match most of my wardrobe. My wardrobe is subject to change, and I'm keeping these babies long enough to justify their price tag.

6. Paying tithing on the gross. It is making figuring out ten-percent of retirement income very complicated. Pay on what actually comes into your hands. Or follow the prophet. Either one.

7. Technology. There was a time when I sneered at even such simple gadgets as the microwave or a VCR (you remember those, right?)--when would I ever be so lazy that I couldn't take out meat to defrost in the morning, and what movie would I ever want to view more than once?!--Ha! 

8. Sensible shoes. Two pairs of Toms platform shoes bought me "coolness" to the whole sixth-grade, and are actually pretty comfortable. 

9. The ideal temperature. I truly hated heat and humidity. I guess I still do, but my range of acceptable temperatures has shrunk from both extremes. I'm like the baby bear and like not only my porridge, but the ambient temperature "just right." I used to love a good cold day, but now, as Suzanne says, "I'm too old to be cold." I love being either in front of the fireplace from October to May, or in the sunny window-seat we just put in. I'll just take seventy degrees, thank you very much. Eighty, ninety, or even a hundred are fine if I'm in the desert.

10. Might as well make this a list of ten. Hmmmm. Old ladies with long hair. Used to think it smacked of polygamy. Now, I think it smacks of never having to go get a haircut. And you can put it up as fast as that.

So, be like me and flip-flop to your heart's content. 

I just thought of another flip flop. We used to call them thongs and wore a pair out every summer. Tell that to your kids.

Looking forward, looking back

We spent some time today at BYU's Independent Study Office getting trained to be testing proctors for the expatriate children on the farm in Chile. Familiar territory: ethical testing practices. Oh joy. But the operation there is impressive, and it was neat to learn about what is available through Independent Study.

As we left BYU we decided to try some Chilean food from that capital of returned missionary's culinary smorgasbords, which is Provo. Most every food niche is represented in Happy Valley. So, we found ourselves at a little strip-mall eatery called Pantrucas imagining what we will be eating in Chile in a few days or weeks. Of course we tried the "completo," which is a hot dog on wonderful crispy bread with tomatoes, avocado, mayonnaise and I don't know what all. It was yummy! A beef empanada and fresh pineapple juice made us even more eager to get this show on the road.

11:00 a.m. The Completo

Then after a day of errands, including spending way too much on comfortable shoes for the next year and a half--little did the salesman know that comfortable shoes are all I have ever worn!--, we decided to try "The world's best corn dog," from our own little downtown Kaysville corn dog stand. Five bucks for a catsup, mustard and honey drizzled enormous dinner on a stick that has been the rave of northern Utah all summer. We felt lucky they were still open, and extremely, uh, full afterward. Hot dogs are hardly normal fare around here. Two in one day might be a record that will stand for eternity, but memorable. A way to look toward our new adventure, and to put a little endpoint punctuation to summer and our pre-mission life. 

6:00 p.m. The "World's Best" Corn Dog