This from my friend Sister Endter. A blustery walk in Old Nauvoo

This morning after church, I took a blustery walk in Old Nauvoo!  What a thrill it was to walk along these little streets, flanked on either side by acres of rippling lawn and trees waving wildly in the wind, splashed by occasional raindrops, warm and big as peas!  My skirt and scarf flew around me like flags at my neck and throat, and my umbrella blew inside out more than a couple of times, but it was exhilarating and exciting to juggle the umbrella, my camera, and the lens cap while I was shooting my pictures.  I loved it!
The weather apparently kept most of the guests away and I had the streets mostly to myself, so I sauntered along happily, winding my way between puddles, stepping out into the middle of the street to get “the perfectly framed shot” when I needed to. 
At some of the shops, fellow-missionaries who were serving at the sites, came out to say “hello”.
Lucy Mack Smith’s side yard had a whole new host of flowers blooming, including white spirea and wonderful purple iris, which made me homesick for my own iris (and my Mother’s) back in Fallbrook.   We have some iris right by our front step here on Parley Street that are about to unfurl.  They look like they will be white with a deep violet edge!  I can’t wait to see them open all the way up!  Of course, I’ll post pictures of them when they do!


I took a tour of all three stories of the Cultural Hall, which I hadn’t had the time to do until now, and thoroughly enjoyed the collection of antique and vintage quilts which are displayed on the second floor.  They reminded me of the beautiful workmanship of the quilts made for Linda and I by our Grandmother Bezzant, and of the quilt mother told us she believed was made by Martha Ann Smith.  (It was tattered far beyond use, so I made teddy bears with it many years ago and gave one to each of my siblings for Christmas.  I hope I wasn’t wrong to do that…..seeing these old, old quilts, I had a pang of guilt for that….)
The third story of the Cultural Hall, with its original pine flooring and beautiful arched, wavy-glassed windows, was once the site of the Masonic Hall.  It was also a dance floor for the residents here!  There is a balcony where the Nauvoo Brass Band used to play for those dances.   From one of the upper windows, I photographed the Temple on the hill, through the trees.   It is wonderful to walk around the town and see the Temple from so many different positions.  Situated, as it was, on the crest of the highest hill in the township, everyone had a view of it.  
 Sister Johnson who served as my guide in the Cultural Hall, mentioned that she had worked in the yard at the Sarah Granger Kimball home yesterday, so I asked her if the peonies in the garden had bloomed yet.  (I had just served there last week and there were buds everywhere at that time!)  She said that they were about to burst, so I had to walk out and see them.  It is on the far end of town – quite a walk from our house – but I loved every step!  The wind blew so hard that the leaves on the trees were absolutely parallel to the horizon!  Do you have any idea what a million leaves, all being blown at or near gale force, sound like?  It was music to my ears!
A split-rail fence and a log cabin are beside the road on the long walk between the Cultural Hall and Sara Granger Kimball’s yard.  Here, while I was taking these photos, my umbrella turned inside out for the first time.  I wish I had a picture of that!

In Sarah Kimball’s yard, the only peonies in full bloom today were some large, luscious lemony yellow ones, with a golden egg-yolk colored center.  The bees loved them as much as I did!  Tall purple alium bobbed on their sturdy stalks.  A butterfly posed for me there, then fluttered onto Sister Bennett’s apron and sat long enough for me to get a decent shot of it.  Sisters Bennett and Hanson were kind enough to pose in the garden for me (I didn’t tell them they’d be featured on my blog!  I hope they don’t mind!) and then to take a picture of me on the garden bench…just blurry enough that you can’t see al the wrinkles that I’m accumulating…sadly, you can still make out the fat….
On the way back to town, another beautiful view of the Temple from Sarah’s home, this one with a pretty plowed field in the foreground.  I couldn’t resist the oxen in their pasture.  Elder Endter told me that the two that are lying down in the grass were just acquired from a man in Wyoming.  He is in a wheelchair and is unable to serve a mission, so he raises oxen and sends them on missions!  They will be pulling visitors around in ox carts come this summer.  In the background you can see the gray Mississippi River.

Viburnum (commonly known as “snowball”), one of my favorite flowers, is shown here in two different varieties.  It is all over Nauvoo yards.  The large pale green and white blooms are on the viburnum opulus that is planted just down the street from “The Four Sisters” I talked about in my last blog.  Two of the four “sisters” are shown below.

The trees are almost all leafing out now, and lush, vibrant green is everywhere, in a never-ending variety of shades!

My last stop was at The Nauvoo Groves.  When the saints were living here, it was customary for them to hold their meetings outside frequently.  Surrounded by all this beauty, it is easy to see why.  Here, a walkway has been established, with reader-boards, telling about events that occurred in groves like this.  Most of the quotes are excerpts from journals of residents of Old Nauvoo.  An amphitheater is provided in this beautiful setting, and it can be reserved for large groups to enjoy.  What a wonderful thing it would be to gather a family together for a special hour or two, to share stories of grandparents, long since gone, who had lived here so many years ago.

I have read the stories, carefully hand-written and preserved by my mother and her mother, and her grandmother and great-grandmother.  Being here, on the very soil that they walked and worked and loved, I can feel their presence.  I can almost hear their voices speaking to me about their faith and their sacrifices and their love for one another, for the gospel, and for God.  Here I am closer to Joseph and Hyrum and Mary Fielding and Martha Ann than I have ever been before – closer than I ever thought it possible that I would be – and I am content and full of gratitude for the life and the legacy of faith and strength that they have handed down to me.  I am grateful beyond words, to be here in Nauvoo, with them.