My Mother Told Me There Would Be Days Like This

Greetings and Salutations from Northern Ireland. We are having more fun than we can possibly use, so we have been setting some of it aside for a sunny day. And you will never guess in a million years what happened this past week. We got SUNBURNED! That’s right. We have had nine (9) consecutive days of bright blue, clear, sunny weather. It has been wonderful. If you look very closely at this picture we took of the harbour from Belfast Castle, you will see BLUE SKY. We have not seen this before and we like it a lot.

The sunshine seemed to brighten everything up, including my face.

Once at Tanox, where I worked as the Chief Financial Officer, one of my Chinese colleagues asked one day, “If you don’t drink beer, why are you so fat?” I smiled and said, “I like to eat.” Luckily, the Northern Irish like to eat too. They like everything fried and I like everything they like. Except chocolate; I don’t do deep fried chocolate bars.

If we haven’t mentioned this before, this is a beautiful country! It is full of verdant rolling hills and more shades of colour than a boy from Blanding, Utah could ever imagine. The landscapes are breathtaking and the people are among the nicest we have ever encountered. It is a wee corner of paradise and we love it.

This past week we were treated to a fabulous visit from our neighbours from Texas, Gary and Nancy Peterson. When we sold our home in Atascocita, they were so heartbroken they sold theirs and followed us. Unfortunately, Gary has never been too good at navigation and he overshot the mark, landing in Idaho Falls. He commutes to Denver to work as a pilot for United Airlines. We managed to introduce the Petersons to half of the island and along the way, we all laughed so hard that we had to change our trousers from time to time.

Did I mention that this is a beautiful country? If not, it is. There are at least 68 castles in Northern Ireland, ranging from run-down ruins to restored reminders of days gone by. We have enjoyed the stirring views of some of these ancient monuments and reading a wee bit of their historical significance. This is what remains of Dunluce Castle, which was originally built in the 13th century and added upon over the following 400 years.

This is my new friend, name unknown, helpfully pointing out the general location of Utah, in case we had forgotten. Or perhaps he was inviting me to take my camera outside. I cannot remember, but we are now besties.

Everyone here is celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This means that she has been Queening for 60 years, which is way, way longer than I am old. For those of you who are slow on the uptake, we are talking about the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is composed of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We have a queen and her name is Elizabeth II. In Ireland, which is a different country, and is not where we are serving, they don’t have a queen. They don’t like queens. But they do like potatoes, so we have that in common.

 In case you are wondering, the two flags in the preceding photograph are the Union Jack and the Red Hand of Ulster. You can Google that as missionaries do not get into politics.

Years ago, my mother told me that if I would make some changes in my life and be nice that good things would happen to me. I wish I had listened to her sooner because she told me there would be days like this.

Elder Blickenstaff