Slight Detour: Thursday This, That; TBT

Bill and I have enjoyed a couple of lovely nights this week taking the dogs down the lane to the hay field.

This is a great time of the year to take advantage of the wide open area for them to play and sniff.

The grass is coming on so it's green and clean. As he grass grows, however, the field will be off limits for doggie recreation.

The field always serves as the main pasture area for the horses during late summer, so we'll stay out of there and just let that grass grow for some yummy grazing for Lily, Lefty and CB in July and August.

For now, it's a beautiful spot with all the early evening sun rays providing exquisite beauty with the stunning green of April.

I picked up more flowers for transplanting yesterday as well as a refill on my bottle of lavender spray which Akasha prepares and sells at The Flower Farm.

It's just a fun place to go with its friendly staff and happy customers.

I thought I was going to walk through these beautiful doors of the former St. Joseph's Catholic Church yesterday, but they were locked.

Instead, I had to go around to the side door of the Heartwood Center where these nice ladies from Community Assistance League greeted me and pointed to the table filled with coffee and cookies.

They were the welcomers for a event featuring author Rachel Jeffs Blackstone, whose memoir tells the story of her younger life as a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day.

Rachel kept the audience mesmerized for about an hour telling about her early life in a cult-like, polygamist living situation where her father Warren Jeffs, whom she described as a controlling narcissist, sexually abused her as a child along with her siblings.

She told of sister wives who, when they did not like the favored wife, picked on that wife's children rather than fighting among themselves.

She told about the indoctrination of the children who were told from a young age that members of their cult were the "chosen ones" and that people in the outside world were wicked and not to be trusted.

There was a time in her life when all toys were collected and burned because children were not to play. They were taught to work.

No outside world hymns were allowed. If they had music, they had to create their own songs.

Always a bit skeptical of her childhood indoctrination, Rachel eventually left the community in 2015, only to find out that she had to learn a lot of about living in the outside world.

I'm definitely ordering her book, entitled Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs.’ I learned yesterday that she is writing a second book, highlighting her life ten years later.

Rachel is definitely one brave woman whose passions of writing and speaking have been helpful to others.

Her talk yesterday was a great presentation with much timely information to think about, especially the dangers of a chilling cult-like society run by a controlling narcissist who portrays anyone in disagreement as evil or wicked.

Thursday Throwbacks . . . .lots of friends, family and sights from out of the glorious past

Duane Ward has hosted lots of retired faculty picnics.

Delores and Terri at a retired faculty gathering.

Below: my sisters Barbara and Laurie at a Fourth of July picnic.

Restaurants had closed by the time we wanted to eat our dinner after a reunion gathering so we went to Taco Bell and stood while giving our order.

Classmate Denis Spade

Ann and Linda, former colleagues and friends from Sandpoint High.

Everett, son of family friends, at the Waldorf School.

Below: he's a twin and his grandparents live next door.

Some retired faculty fun with Jeri, Janice and Shirl the Pearl.

My classmates Judy and Joan at our 40th reunion. We're celebrating our 60th this coming September.

My first 4-H livestock project, Dorothy. I took her as a yearling heifer and then as a mother cow with a calf.

Dorothy wasn't always well-behaved in the ring, but, unlike Millie who came later, she did allow me to complete my fitting and showing classes without the judge telling me to tie her up before the class ended.