Provo City Center Temple presentation

As part of the Historic Provo days of the Freedom Festival, I went to a presentation by the project manager of the Provo City Center Temple.  It was fascinating.  I loved this cut away diagram.  It is as if you removed the east side of the temple.

The project manager is also a civil engineer and he was so excited to tell us how they solved all the problems of keeping what was left of an over one hundred year old building, in use since 1898, to create a glorious new temple.  The original brick walls were five bricks wide.  They removed the inner two bricks, reinforced the walls with rebar and then put concrete on the inside.

It was an amazing feat to excavate beneath the structure while essentially placing it on stilts.  The plans called for creating two underground levels so 40 feet of earth was removed.  This also included a system for removing ground water which was found at 20 feet.  There were sensors placed at each piling and yes, those sensors did sense movement as the sun rose and there were temperature changes.

And finally it became an enclosed space and foundation.

The Provo Tabernacle was designed by the same architect who designed the Manti Temple.  William H. Folsom, a Salt Lake City architect, moved to Manti to supervise construction and interestingly both buildings were under construction during the same time period.

For more about the Manti Temple go here.

Each time I have gone to the post office which sits to the southwest of the construction site, I have taken a picture or two.

The original building had a center spire which was later removed because it was causing the ceiling to bow.  That feature is being recreated on the new temple.

All winter, I wondered why the building was wrapped in white plastic.  Now I know.  There was a gap between the building and the plastic and inside that gap was a cadre of brick masons who were removing the 100 year plus mortar and replacing it with new mortar although of the same "recipe."  The bricks of this structure are relatively soft and they would be compromised with a hard mortar.  The white plastic was to protect the masons from the cold winter elements.

 

This is what I saw this week.  The underground level is now out of sight and workers were trimming rebar from the reinforced concrete atop what will be underground parking.

A pavilion is being constructed on this concrete.  It will be a viewing area, glass enclosed, for those waiting for brides and grooms to exit the building or just to enjoy the beauty of the place.

It is summer, so the masons continue to work brick by brick but with out the white covering on the south side.

Completion is still more that a year out, but the excitement builds.  The focus will soon be on the interior.

Who could believe that when this building burned on December 17, 2010 that something wonderful could rise from the ashes.  The interior will be decorated in the Victorian style of the original tabernacle.  There will be art glass and other features to match what used to be.  After the fire, they spent six months sifting through the inside salvaging anything that they could for historical purposes.  It wasn't until October Conference 2011 that those who proceeded with the salvage operation knew the true purpose of their work.  The new tower with the Angel Moroni will be the location of the Celestial Room with sealing rooms to the north and south.  It truly will be glorious!

For more extensive information go here. 

Cow Hollow fire burns memories

When we drove Aunt Alice to Duschesne, we were very near where the Cow Hollow Fire is burning right now.

Courtesy of Forest Service

Cow Hollow holds a special place in the Clement/Jenson family memories.

This was the last place for the Clement sawmill operation.  They were in Cow Hollow from 1943 until 1946.  This is a picture from that time period.

Glen's father, Jordan Jenson, carved his name into an quaking aspen tree while in Cow Hollow on August 6, 1943.  He was 15 years of age.  I am taking pictures of pictures from Ted Clement's book, "Time and Chance."  It is not the best way to get a great picture, but the book is so thick that it is also hard to make a scan.

Arlon Jensen took these pictures when he hiked in to Cow Hollow in 2003.  When he went with his mother, LaPreal Moulton Clement, in July of 1982 he also carved his name into a tree near Jordan.  Glen was saddened when he first heard of the fire last night.  He knew that his father's work might be no more.

Arlon writes the following story which I think that the family will enjoy.  It is also taken from Ted Clement's book, "Time and Chance."

Since I spotted Jordan Jenson's name on the tree, I've wanted to know the year he carved it.  From family members familiar with Cow Hollow, I narrowed the possible years down to four.  After a careful examination of my photos and video tape, the year became obvious.  Remember how Jordan spaced each letter, wide apart?  He did the same with the date.  According to his system, the unreadable rectangle only contained the first three numbers of the year,  and I already knew those.  It came down to reading the key number, on the extreme right, in the fourth space.  The year could only be 1943.

The fifteen-year-old boy, Jordan, asked LaPreal for another dish of ice cream.  It tasted good to him on that hot summer day in early August.  He figured he deserved an extra helping.  After all, he'd helped to make it.  His arm still ached from turning the crank on the ice cream freezer.  It was easy at first, but became more difficult as the creamy mixture began to freeze.  He had even gathered some of the ingredients.  Early that morning he had picked the fruit which gave the ice cream its distinctive flavor.  Only the ripest, juiciest apricots had been selected.  The apricot trees in Aunt LaPreal's back yard in Duchesne were descendants from Darius Salem Clement's orchard in Fairview.  Darius was Jordan's great grandfather on his mother's (Della's) side.

All week Jordan had been looking forward to Friday.  A picnic in the mountains, with some of his many Duchesne cousins, was going to be fun.  He had heard about the new sawmill site that his uncles had, in Cow Hollow and this was his first opportunity to see it.

Jordan was feeling fine.  It was good to have a full stomach, especially with an extra scoop of rich ice cream topping it off.  The day had gone by too fast.  Preparations for the trip home would soon be under way, but there was still some time left to enjoy the mountain scenery.  A sense of relief had overcome Jordan when the sawmill was finally shut down for the day.  He was able to appreciate the beauty of Cow Hollow now that there was some peace and quiet.  Exposure to the awful racket, day after day, had to affect your hearing.  It was a wonder his uncles hadn't all gone deaf.  The diesel engine fumes had dissipated so the air was sweet and fresh again.

Taking advantage of a few leisure moments, Jordan explored the forest of thrifty quaking aspen surrounding the sawmill.  One particular tree caught his attention.  The tree had a smooth, scar-free section of bark at just the right height.  He reached into his pocket and withdrew his knife.  Unfolding the sharpest blade, he plunged its point into the soft white bark.  After a few minutes of careful carving, Jordan had outlined a capital "J."

For the mamas and the papas

I like to give a little something to my sons, daughter, son-in-laws, and daughter-in-laws for Mother's and Father's Day because I think they are all doing such a great job parenting their children.  This year the moms were given a practical apron which I made using a Fat Quarter Shop tutorial.

I took my cute Lori Holt Bake Shop fabric to K-Mart and found all of these great colored hand towels that coordinated with the fabric.

The ties were made from coordinating fabric.  Each apron had pockets, so I added a silicon spatula.  The aprons are late, but better late than not at all, right?

The dads received their "Grandma Nyborg" baby quilts.

My grandma hand pieced and quilted a smaller size quilt for each of them when they were born.  My oldest son's is on the bottom and we used it and used it.  The second son received the green and red one.  I loved it so much, I put it on the wall in my living/dining room.  He never slept with it.  By the third son, I had decided that rather than wear them out, we would just store them in the linen closet.  I knew that it was time to clean out the linen closet and give them all their quilts.

My youngest son came after Grandma Rhoda left us.  I made theat top primary colors quilt for him and it was used.  His Aunt Wylene made him the baby blanket with prairie points and the matching diaper bag so I passed that on to him as well.

I also gave the dads picture books to read to their children because I think it is really important that fathers (and mothers) read to their children.  I found a great books for daughters and sons to share with their dads.  Happy Father's Day!

Historic Provo home tour

Part of the Freedom Festival is a walking historic home tour for two evenings in July.  This year it was in the Maeser Neighborhood south of Center Street between 100 East and 400 East.

Here are just a few of the homes on the first day.  Left my camera at home on the second.

I love the character of older homes and it is always fun to see how the owners personality and style are displayed on the inside.

We were asked to wear footies over our shoes.  Great idea.

The great big trees and gardens were also inspiring.

Most of the lots were also large, unlike many new builds today.

I loved this glass collection.  I may need to look for more blue glass for my window ledge.

Many of the homes had been bumped out on the back of the house, mostly to accommodate a larger kitchen/family room area.  This little house appeared smaller from the front but was actually quite spacious.  All of the beautiful old neighborhoods is one of the reasons I love Provo.

Another one for the fireplace

Provo is all about the 4th of July.  The Freedom Festival is in full gear.  I decided that called for a patriotic style quilt for the fireplace.

This little quilt is a Schnibbles, pattern "Mon Ami." It is a total scrappy quilt from leftovers (mostly my Civil War Sampler quilt) except for the back.  I bought the last yard of a Grant Park fabric for the back.

There you have it. A patriotic fireplace.

Water fun memories

I follow a FB page called "Remember in Tempe."  This week a picture of Tempe Beach popped up.  That is exactly how it looked back in the days when I would spend hours there as did many of the kids living in Tempe.  Often my friend's mom would drop us off in the early afternoon and my mom would pick us up on her way home from her work also on Mill Avenue at Broadway.  I have so many good memories of this pool. The following blurb accompanied the picture.

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of swimming season in Arizona. The Tempe Beach swimming pool was the favorite place for kids to keep cool for decades. Built in 1923, the pool was remodeled dramatically in 1964 into the smaller version shown here. The pool closed around 1975, and the site was eventually remodeled into the entry of the current Tempe Beach Park. Today, families still gather here in the summer to cool off at the very popular splash pad.

Here is a picture I found of the original pool built in 1923.  There were also lots of old trees at Tempe Beach Park which is on the south bank of the Salt River which used to be a flowing river in 1923.

When I was in high school, Big Surf was built.  It was the biggest wave pool in the world at the time.  This was exciting stuff for land locked Arizonans.  Now we sort of had an ocean.

My old neighborhood is in the background.  It was tradition at Tempe High to have a Senior Ditch Day in the early spring.  My senior year, Ditch Day was planned to be at Big Surf.

 

My group of friends decided to ditch Ditch Day and went to the Salt River to tube instead.  The plan was to be the first group on tubes to float down the Salt that year.  It was really, really cold but we did earn bragging rights.  Isn't it fun how water flows through summertime memories?

Now I have grandchildren who come to Provo for a visit and walk just down the street to the Seven Peaks Water Park.  The water fun continues on.

My personal Great Granny Sew Along

I have finished my Great Granny quilt top.

It is a bed size quilt so now I have to get brave, buy the batting and attempt to machine quilt it on my Bernina QE 750.

I purchased the book by Lori Holt with plans to participate in her sew along.  However, I won a layer cake of Vintage Modern as a prize from the Quilty Fun Sampler Sew Along.  Right away, I decided to skip the Great Granny Sew Along and make the quilt instead.

The first layer cake made 10 blocks, half those needed.  I ordered another layer cake  to make the full 20 blocks.  This also included the cornerstone blocks in the final setting.

It also left a few 10 by 10 inch squares for the 5 inch square within a square border.  When ordering the layer cake online, I also noticed the yardage that Lori designs in fat quarters, ie. a yard of fabric has four different designs printed on it that are 18 X 22 inches.  I ordered two yards in different colorways.  This fabric helped me to have more variety in the border as well as diversity in a couple of the blocks.  I also used this fabric for an easy scrappy binding.

I had enough leftover  2 1/2 inch blocks to make the quilt label in the book.

I was also happy to have the "fat quarter" fabric to make the basket. The orange handle was made from fabric I had on hand.

This was a fun project to embroider.

I love the cheerfulness of the fabric line.

Now I need to piece together the back.  I debated and debated about the backing and I finally just took my 50% of coupon to JoAnn's for more white Kona cotton.  You can't beat that price for the quality.

I'm making a bunch of pinwheel blocks from the corners of the square in a square blocks in the border.  When I marked the sewing lines for the squares, I also marked another line 1/2 inch away and sewed it as well, then cut through the middle which left me with a pile of half square triangles with four that matched for perfect pinwheels.  I am currently working on a little quilt using those blocks.

With the use of the layer cakes, this quilt had little waste.  I needed 2 1/2 inch squares and 5 inch squares and the 10 inch pieces of fabric were perfect for this scrappy looking quilt.  Now I'm getting up the courage to tackle the quilting!