SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

May 31 SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

As Marlene and I were leaving Red Butte Gardens,

we saw some plantings of succulents. 

Cascading over a wall was a variety of

Christmas cactus - at least that's what the leaves looked like.

But the flower was as big as a peony.

What a lovely pink! And the center part! How unique!

WhoEver invented that flower should get a prize!

YOUR PERSONALITY

May 30 YOUR PERSONALITY
The first picture that comes to mind is my catch-all stacks of stuff on my dining room table. Lists, projects, crumbs (or even dishes) from a meal or two, my purse, Walmart bags, books to be returned to the library,....  In fact my former husband used to say 'there might be a dead yak on that table!', when I would be looking for a certain piece of paper in one of the stacks.

Periodically, when I've had enough of looking for hours for something 'I know I saw somewhere', I tackle the whole mess and throw out, put away, and wipe off. I even enjoy it for a day or two, but it's not long till it's all back to normal.

I love being at Marlene's house, where everything is neat, in order, put away, lightly knick-knacked and according to the season, but I can't seem to do that for myself.

So, is it hypocritical to like neat and organized, yet live just the opposite? I don't know, but meanwhile, thanks to Marlene, I have the best of both worlds.

Scary, huh! But that's exactly the way it was when I thought to take this picture.

Sometimes the stacks are neater; often the pencil, with a good eraser, is used for a Sudoku puzzle, which might be under there somewhere..., and there's usually more Relief Society stuff.

sky corner

May 29 Sky Corner

May 30 Sky Corner

sky corner

     

May 28 Sky Corner

To the right of my front door is my usual sky corner. The sky was cloudless blue, so I went to the courtyard to the left of my front door, to get some tree tops for contrast.

THE WEATHER TODAY

May 28 THE WEATHER TODAY

My friend and adventurer Marlene wanted to check out Red Butte Gardens on this Memorial Day. The weather couldn't have been more delightful - sunny, but not hot; just enough of a breeze;

blue, blue sky with a few

puffy clouds

to add interest.

A Perfect Weather Day!

A Wonderful Day at Red Butte Gardens 



Marlene getting a closeup
in the Medicinal Garden.

Waterfall behind purple
and distant yellow glads.

Yellow mum in a pink lotus?
No, a peony!

Unique peeling bark.

We enjoyed this poem by
Anne Bronte.

  We enjoyed this place

 so much we bought

a year round pass.

We're going back for a

birding excusion, to hike the trails

above the gardens,

and to have a picnic in

one of the nooks with

benches and tables.

SOMETHING SWEET

May 27   SOMETHING SWEET

My daughter Ali gave me this Wild Woman Truffle spread for Mother's Day. It's sweet and dark chocolaty on the thin crisp water crackers. Even sweeter is the purple ribbon tied around the top of the jar, which is sooo Ali! I leave it there to remind me of my sweet daughter as I'm munching away...

UNUSUAL

May 25  UNUSUAL       Three things I observed in the neighborhood where I work: Tijuana colors on this house (or maybe they are Jazz fans).     A gnarly piece of driftwood or tree stump in front of a house.    Cheat grass that overran yet contrasted nicely with the evergreen bushes in front of a fence.

May 25 Sky Corner

WHERE I STAND/PINK

Standing here wakes me up for the day!

May 21 WHERE I STAND                

My little corner of the world.

Where I stand to make juice.

My daughter-in-law Casi helped me re-decorate my livingroom a few years ago. I upgraded from "early D.I." to "shabby chic." This rug was a basis for colors and area, and ties the room together wherever I live.

A "health bounce" on the trampoline places stress, then weightlessness on every cell of the body, supplying strength and energy. 10 to 15 minutes each morning keeps me runnin' smooth.

I barely have to take a step in my little kitchen. To the right, I get the veggies from the frig. To the front, I wash them in the sink. To the left, I cut them and put them through the juicer.


May 21                                                  Sky Corner                                             May 22

May 22 PINK

Pink Rush

Daring Pink Purse

Candy Stripe Pink

 Photo a Day is helping me take more notice of things around me. I can see the pink roses from my kitchen window, but didn't realize they were candy-striped till I went down to take a picture!

Pink Rush was a whole row of these pink flowers that I drive past every day on my way to work. Thinking "pink" helped me notice them and stop to snap a picture. What else am I missing because I don't have a "word" to focus on?

My pink purse was a daring move for practical me. I usually stick to neutral, conservative colors, but I love seeing other people with colorful things. So why not me? Soon after I got it, Marlene's 80+ mom admired it, so we got her one for Mother's Day! She's been the epitome of practical all her life. I think it added some spice!

A FAVORITE PLACE

May 19 A FAVORITE PLACE

Any time I need complete peace, I can go to the temple. I actually made it a goal to go to each of the temples in Utah (there are 16 and counting...)  These are the Temples in Bountiful,

Draper,

and Salt Lake.

I forgot to take a May 19 Sky Corner picture, but had a great adventure in Provo with my daughter Sydney at her son Joe's State Track meet.

 Joe set a personal record in the 400. He also helped his team win First Place in the 400 relay. Syd and I routed for him and visited her cousin Christie Norris between events.

SOMETHING I MADE

May 18  SOMETHING I MADE















It seems pretty simple now, but I'm still proud of this book I made with all 20 of my grandkids in it. I was taking a PowerPoint class and practiced what I learned. There's a double page for each one, with pictures, comments, and memories. My brother Camron printed and spiral bound it at his printing shop. Each family got one for Christmas.

Raining?

YES!

May 18 Sky Corner - Up & Down

SNACK



May 17  SNACK

Nuts and chocolate chips are a favorite snack, and fruit - a container of blueberries, some juicy oranges, Fuji apple slices. These were the first apricots of the season, a little too tart for my liking.
    Who would've thought that seaweed would be a tasty snack? The Japanese, I guess. It's paper thin, a bit salty (naturally), and flavored with (in this case) sesame oil. I actually like the wasabe flavor best.

Warm and muggy today,

but no storm.

Love my sky corner!

WHAT I'M READING

May 16 WHAT I'M READING

I must have been 8 or 9 when I read this book. Then a few weeks ago I remembered it when I was wondering why I feel like I'm on the fringes, somehow different than other people. Why didn't moving 42 times (really!) in my life bother me? Why did living in less-than-desirable circumstances (bugs, little furniture, small spaces, etc) seem like an adventure instead of a difficulty? Why didn't I care if I had things? Was there something wrong with me? Mind you, this was mostly as a married adult! When I look at old pictures of my kids, they often look like urchins, albeit happy ones!

So when the image of this book came to mind, I looked for it at the library, to see if it held a key of understanding. I think it did!

It's about a family of four orphaned children who live in this abandoned boxcar for a summer, while they are trying to avoid being found by their mean grandfather. The oldest brother does odd jobs for a doctor in a nearby town, the oldest sister makes beds of pine boughs for each one, scrounges at a dump for pots and dishes to prepare meals, and teaches her young brother how to read. They had a sweet, loving relationship, were pretty independent,  and counted their blessings.

I think that became my dream - to live simply with what you have and people you love. I always had the "doctor" (the Church, and my faith in God) to rely on if I needed help. I had do-it-yourself skills (made my own bread, treated my own sicknesses, which were thankfully few, and gave birth to several children at home). My husband would go to work "in the nearby town", and bring home the things we needed - I'VE LIVED MY DREAM!

sky corner

Storm rolling in...

LOVE

This shirt jumped out at me from the sale rack at Walmart

because it's today's word "love".

It's a little gaudy for my taste, but for 3 bucks it was worth a photo shoot

and then I can take it back!

I love my kids and grandkids.

I love the books Jane Eyre, Robinson Crusoe, and Ickle, Bickle Robin.

Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream.

Avocados.

Clever use of words.

President Hinckley

Moroni (both of them in the Book of Mormon)

Simplicity

Gardens

A million other things!

My newest "love" - Honey flavored Greek Yogurt,

whole milk of course, nothing else added

so you can get the full, slightly tart, slightly sweet goodness of it,

cool and smooth all the way down.

I wish I were good enough with words to describe

the experience of eating this food of the (Greek) gods.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Speaking of "love", and words, I once helped my son Josh

write a poem for a school assignment.

This is what we wrote as far as I can remember:

I love guacamole!

I could eat it by the bowl-e!

It's green and smooth,

And that's the truth!

I love guacamole!



sky corner

May 15  Can you see the scary face?

I went out this morning to take a picture of a bird, and instead got this picture of the sky from among the eaves of my apartment building.

So "My Sky Corner" was born.

I get very little light on that side of my apartment - it was nice to discover this little piece of sky.

GRASS

 Cottonwood Park is full of hills and mountain views and lots of GRASS. Marlene and I go there  to walk, talk, take pictures, and people-watch. We watched a family - Mom, Dad, and son - ride their bikes up to the top of some grassy hills and ride down. At the bottom, the boy biffed, then laughed, and told his dad I wanna do it again!

,After the climb up to the top and the exhilarating ride down, you need a short rest before you do it one more time before dark!

May 14 GRASS