Update On Our Temple Mission: Yardwork

Farm Yard

Gaard which is spelled Gård and pronounced Gourd (the “d” is “hard” but almost silent in this example) is a yard or a farm. Most generally it refers to an enclosed yard with access by a portal. When referred to as a farm it means the whole farm; however, the “icon” of a farm is the house backing onto a yard, which is enclosed by three other buildings which contain the farm animals and feed. If you can visualize the straw-thatched building from a birdseye view it will be a square “donut” building with a square hole in the middle which allows light and air into the buildings. The space in the middle is the actual gård. It will generally be paved with 5 to 6 inch round rocks.

The farmers, the kids, the animals and the feed all have daily activities in the yard, and who knows what might be tracked into the house. If you have been keeping up with the blog you will remember my missionary story of the kids chasing each other through the yard and the kitchen while we were visiting with their mother who was making strawberry porridge for dinner. One of the boys reached down and removed his shoe. He raised it back to throw at his brother and the yard debris from the shoe fell into the porridge. Their mother didn’t see what happened and continued to stir it when she returned to the stove. We saw it, and pretended to enjoy the porridge as we ate it for dessert.

Farm Yard

I have just painted a “country” image. Now for the “city” image. As I have mentioned before, the apartments in the heart of the cities have generally been limited to 5 to 6 stories in height. Though the streets are seldom pure squares or rectangles, the building plots are such that the apartments form an outside enclosure with an open yard in the middle. This opening allows light and air into the apartments from the back. Some of these yards, or gårds, are decorative gardens, paved plazas, children’s playgrounds or entrances to shops or restaurants. There must be at least one portal as an entrance to this space. Many times these portal openings provide a colorful and interesting view from the street, similar to the palaces which are enclosed by guardhouses and walls and have access portals which give a glimpse of the castle within.

Farm Yard

The photo gallery this week will be a selection of some of the most interesting portals we have discovered during our daily walks. On streets which are not as interesting as some, it is always nice to discover a portal with a colorful surprise.