For forty years, Bill Shrives was a train signal supervisor for Southern Pacific Railroad. Every day, the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people depended on his doing his job conscientiously and correctly. As with nearly everyone who plays an important part in keeping the economy humming, it is safe to say that nearly no one thought about Bill Shrives when their train sailed safely past the signals he inspected. Read More

…name them one by one. This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for some great posts from days past here at Times and Seasons. Let me count them. Read More

We have always been clear that that our married children have two sides to their new families and we have also made it clear that while we may invite them to everything we also don’t want to hog their time or force them into difficult choices. Read More

I once spent an uncomfortable few hours wedged in economy class on a flight from Boston to Salt Lake City. Read More

Since we are entering the holiday season I am thinking about building some of my posts around the holidaies and maybe some of my evolving ideas of a personal liturgical calendar. I seem to have needed this calendar all of my life and over the last ten years or so I have been actively and successfully pursuing it, including a thoroughly Mormon Passover and some beginning stabs at celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. Read More

This last week has again brought into sharp focus one of my more important discoveries of the past decade. It is “The Muddle” and I am surprised and appalled that I was so old before I figured it out. On the off chance some of you have not yet figured it out, here is my take on the subject. Read More

We are very pleased to have Marj Conder guest blogging for us for the next few weeks. Read More

One night last March, I went to bed feeling fine but woke up four hours later with abdominal pain that wouldn’t go away. I finished the ensuing day in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy, for which I am very grateful. Read More

Read More

Nauvoo, June 12, 1842 Dear father and mother, I am at a loss what I can say to you. I feel so thankful for what the Lord has done for me and my family, for truly all things have worked together for our good. … Read More

Today is the first time I’ve seen advertising directed at Mormons that didn’t scream ‘priestcraft.’ Read More

Some fellow who has clearly never talked to a Mormon gives a nice (mis)summation of LDS beliefs in a local paper. (Hat tip: Voldemort). Like many such, he has things to say about Kolob — a lot more, really, than I’ve ever heard at church. Is Kolob even really part of LDS doctrine any more? Read More

Here’s a short quiz, for fun: For each of the following, name the modern-day green-book hymn whose tune was originally associated with these lyrics. 1. To Anacreon in Heav’n, where he sat in full glee, a few Sons of Harmony sent a petition, Read More

Oddly enough, I have never really struggled with belief in God. Read More

The government of Slovakia granted the Church official recognition on October 18. Read More

As soon as my friend said I was a Mormon, the two ladies wanted to know more. Read More

LDS missionaries working on the Isle of Wight, off the coast of England, found the Tippett family in 1859. Read More

Or, Notes from a modern theocracy Continuing the periodic series on Holiday Envy, November 11 is St. Martin’s Day. Read More

In case it may have escaped your notice, Ardis Parshall has been posting and commenting a great deal lately. Actually, she’s so quickly made herself at home here at Times and Seasons, with her superb series of historical posts, as well as her reflections on everything from running a business to doing archival research, all from her own unique yet thoroughly Mormon perspective, that it almost escaped our notice as well. But not quite! So allow this to be a somewhat delayed official introduction of Ardis to the Bloggernacle as T&S’s newest permablogger. Welcome, Ardis! (We’ll be getting you your… Read More

It appears that the reported demise of the Millennial Star blog may have been premature. The blog appears to be alive once more. Read More

In the abstract, there are three possibilities: she was guilty, she was innocent, or she was raped. Read More

How about lyrics which folks (especially children) often mis-hear? My mother was terribly ashamed of her parents when she saw that cherries were included for Sunday lunch, since they had just sung, “Cherries hurt you, cherries hurt you…” (Cherish virtue…) Read More

I was well into my twenties before I finally deciphered one particular line from I Need Thee Every Hour. It was a line that I had certainly sung a hundred times or more: “No tender voice like thine can peace afford.” Read More

It looks as though the nation may be starting to look more like Russell, frightening as that is for some of us. Read More

You’ve heard it here first: it may take a day or two, but Jon Tester is going to come out the winner of the senate race in Montana; and it may take a few weeks, but Jim Webb is going to be confirmed the winner of the senate seat from Virginia. And that will mean… Read More

Could there be a Mormon political party? Should there be? Read More

I teach all of the youth in my ward. I suspect this is because nobody else will do it. Also, most of the youth (whether or not I’ve given birth to them) pretty much live at my house. So I am very able to tell them to behave and get a quick response. Read More