No discussion this morning but here is the news

I was late taking my tea to the patio and when I got there everyone was gone or possibly no one had been there. So there was no discussion, but yesterday was a humdinger with this artist resident from Utah present who is a big talker. When I noticed how freely he talked some kind of recognition tugged at my consciousness. I thought he talks like Utah people. (me) I say that Utah people are not as affected by the alcoholic pattern as most states, because the Mormon church is so against alcohol and tobacco (and coffee and tea). So a lot of the young guys get their confidence early in expressing themselves, because the church also encourages self expression. You start giving little talks at the podium at a very early age. That is why a young Mormon missionary is never at a loss for words when confronted with an argument about the religion when he is out trying to proselytize. This artist went on a mission before he lost his faith. I had to get out my Utah talking style to keep up with him. When we sisters get together we will talk all day as fast as possible just catching up with the news and then we end up having a big discussion about what we think! This can be a 3 day talking marathon. When I called a friend from up there, we talked 2 and 1/2 hours with no problem, and we did not get 3/4ths of the town covered. She was a professional hairdresser, and they are some of the best talkers there are, because they know so much about so many. My sister Linda stayed with her one night. I would be surprised if they got any sleep!
There are many people in here who are quite withdrawn so when they witness two Utah people talking together they act like we are insane. In fact our family site web people say ours is one of the most successful family sites they have got. I am waiting for my sister Linda to call now, as she and my son Dan left Utah last night to come to Arizona. She may have gone either to her house or to her son's out in Gilbert. I want to film her reading some of her poetry.
My son Dan has come to see how the work situation is. He told his boss when he took the leave of absence he would be back about this time. The recession has hit Arizona big time. First there was a huge boom and now quite a bust, but anyone who comes down town who had not been here for a while will be hugely shocked. New tall buildings all over the place. I think they will record this as the fastest growing period in Phoenix history, when ASU became a presence downtown.




All new buildings. The first photo is of the big dorm, Taylor Place. The middle photo is of the new Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, in which he played a role in getting built. It houses PBS, public televion. The last photo is of the new Sheraton hotel where Dan worked this past year getting the hotel facilities ready for conventions, setting up sound equipment, podiums, etc, quite a process now days when they want everyone visible on a big screen when they are talking to the audience.

I talked to my daughter last night who says she is moving her son Jamal out to the Tempe campus where the business school is. She says she might cry as they have been an exceptionally close family.
I called my son Gary who says he has bought a house, taking advantage of the times. I told him to get one on the bus line so I could get there easier, and he says he did. But he says jobs for the company are harder to get now. The bids are all extremely close. The competition for what jobs there are is fierce.
Don't you love this header Connie made and sent to me. It made the front page on my family site. It is quite striking.