Cerebrations, Places

I’m Not Smart Enough to be a Mormon

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Green River, Utah

I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I got us lost trying to find an RV park near Salt Lake City yesterday.

The truth is that I barely got us to the third RV park we tried to stay at. Rich saved us because he SAW the park from the interstate.

I was using Google Maps on my phone. It lists the street names in the numbered grid system Salt Lake City is famous for.

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The grid system starts at Temple Square and radiates out from there. So each address lists a coordinate stating how far east or west it is from the Temple and another coordinate stating how far north or south it is.

Sounds simple, but, at least for me, it’s not. I’ll admit: I’m directionally challenged. Here’s how I tell the difference between left and right…

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Salt Lake City officials are so concerned about everyone figuring out how to get where they need to be that they kindly list the coordinates, the name IF it has one, and the Utah state highway number if that is applicable.

Oh, and the state nickname is the beehive, so the state highway number, and there are a lot of them, is enclosed in a beehive. Took me a while to figure out that the symbol was a beehive. (Sure you can see it in this photo, but we were toodeling down the interstate over 60 mph. 🙂 )

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The more I read about the grid system, the more confused I became.

For example, “There are just under seven blocks per mile in Salt Lake City, but a street is not necessarily a block.”

And, “Even streets with names have coordinates… If you were looking for Harvard Avenue, it would be helpful for you to know that its coordinate is 1175 south.”

I’m sure that makes perfect sense to someone, somewhere. 😉

But I’ve decided I’m not smart enough to be a Mormon and live in Salt Lake City!

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Places

Hitting the Road Again

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Salt Lake City, Utah

Took off out of Boise yesterday morning again. We’re heading east for a bit and then south on our way to Moab.

On our way there we passed within 30 miles of Thousand Springs and Shoshone Falls.

We have visited them before, so we didn’t stop yesterday. But I wanted to remember why we’d visited earlier. So I googled them and stole some photos off of the Internet to post here…

Thousand Springs

Thousand Springs is a very unique geological site outside of Hagerman, Idaho. Water that goes underground by the Craters of the Moon National Park, nearly 100 miles away, forms oodles of waterfalls sprouting out of rock walls.

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Amazingly, the water flows underground for nearly 200 years before it flows out of the ground crystal clear and super oxygenated.

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Thousand Springs is a state park that offers hiking, kayaking, camping, bird watching, etc…

Shoshone Falls

When we used to drive to Bozeman to visit Richie in college, we often stopped at Shoshone Falls just outside of Twin Falls, Idaho.

Because we were from Nevada, we pronounced it show-show-knee falls; the Nevada Shoshone Tribe pronounced it that way.

In Idaho, it is pronounced show-shown. I’m guessing that the Idaho tribe pronounces it that way.

The falls can be spectacular in high water springs. Also called the Niagra of the West, the falls at 212′ are 45′ higher than Niagara.

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Alas we’ve only seen it during normal and drought years.

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And on our drive to visit Richie, we always passed over the Perrine Bridge just outside of Twin Falls. It is stunning and a favorite spot for bungee jumpers.

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Cerebrations

Health Partners

Boise, Idaho

Yesterday I saw my endocrinologist for my twice yearly checkup. Now we can travel for six months… 🙂 And we are starting today, taking off from Boise.

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I had blood drawn for tests before I saw him, and I can view the results online before I go in. (Isn’t technology wonderful?) Anyway, I knew pretty much what we were going to discuss before I went in.

Dr. C. asked me how I was feeling, and I gave him a quick run down of some things that have changed and other doctors I had seen since my last visit.

Then he asked, “OK, but how ARE you feeling? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being terrible and 10 being fantastic.”

I thought a second and answered, “8.75.” (Everything’s evaluated precisely when when you’re surrounded by three engineers: Dad=electrical engineer, husband=residential engineer, son=chemical engineer).

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Dr. C. laughed and said, “I’m sorry we couldn’t get you to a 10.”

I told him I was greedy and wanted the very best. 🙂

He then challenged me by asking, “What are YOU doing to make yourself as well as possible?”

His expertise could only take me so far. I am an active partner with him.

I told him that I’m finally able to exercise again because of the cocktail of meds I’m on. I’m eating better, and I’m working hard to stay as healthy physically, emotionally, and spiritually as I can.

But his challenge made me think about how often we expect complete results from a medication without putting forth effort on our own, particularly for medications that often help correct poor choices we make…

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Cerebrations, People

Au Revoir, Mom

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Boise, Idaho

We drove home from Reno to Boise yesterday after Mom’s funeral.

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It was a very nice service, and I think she would have liked it. We started with a full rosary — recitation of prayers. And finished with a celebration of Mass by Father King.

(Turns out that Mom attended Father King’s ordination into the priesthood nearly twenty years ago. He had been a teacher for 30 years, and entered the seminary after retirement.)

Carol and Mike did an excellent job of arranging the services. Mom and Dad had many things already decided, but there were still lots of decisions to make.

Joanne, my youngest sister,  found some photos and memorabilia from Mom’s past including her high school yearbook.

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Mom had four children, 11 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. Denise, one of her grandchildren sent this lovely spray.

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Mary Lou, my older sister, suggested that we wear leis in honor of Mom’s years in Hawaii before and during WWII. I ordered some and they were quickly shipped directly from the islands. They were beautiful.

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The church where Mom attended Mass for the last four years is beautiful. The baptismal font in the foreground is stunning as the water gently spills over its rim.

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The service ended with a short graveside service. We all sadly said goodbye as we placed our leis on Mom’s casket.

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During the graveside service, I asked Mom for a sign that she was okay and happy. Because I wasn’t able to spend time with Mom during her last few days, I was feeling an angst that I didn’t see in my sisters who had spent time with Mom while she was on her deathbed.

A leaf slowly floated down from a tree and landed gently in my lap.

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It didn’t photograph particularly well, but the sides of the leaf fold towards the middle, looking exactly like a hug. No other leaves in the area looked like it.

I haven’t decided if the leaf represents Mom sending a hug down to all of us or of Mom receiving a heavenly hug.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it’s both.

I feel a peace washing over me knowing that Mom is happy and feels our love for her…

Good bye, Mom…

Mom’s Obituary Click on the Read More link.
A few more random photos including a replica of of The Pieta–my favorite…

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Cerebrations

New Car Smell

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Fallon, Nevada

Yesterday we drove from Boise to Fallon and borrowed Melissa’s new car.

It’s way more comfortable than our Jeep and gets much better fuel mileage than the motor home.

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Melissa was happy to lend it to us, but there were a few rules…

We can eat in it, but we can’t leave stinky food wrappers in it.

That would erase the new car smell.

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Confession time: We split a Subway sandwich in Winnemucca yesterday. I made sure to order it without any sauces and no onions. We ate it really fast and I tied the baggy up multiple times…

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But I’m still afraid that it left a smell residue, so I think I’ll order one of these for Misslissa…

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Love you, Misslissa! 🙂

Thanks!

Ode to Pumpkins

Boise, Idaho

We’re still in Boise for a few more days, so I don’t have much travel to blog about.

I put several topics into a hat, picked one out, and, voila, it’s time to talk about pumpkins!

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I love pumpkins. I love their shapes, I love their colors, I love their textures, and, most of all, I love their taste!

I know that coffee people go crazy when Starbucks starts serving their Pumpkin Spice Latte each fall.

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I’m not a coffee drinker, and I’m not sure pumpkin would blend well with my perennial favorite drink–Diet Pepsi.

But when I was looking for an image to use, I came across one for Pumpkin Spice Latte ice cream. Hmmmm…. might have to give that a try.

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One of the things I miss about living in a real home is an oven because I love to bake. And I have a pumpkin cookie recipe that I always bake when I’m feeling blue. In over 20 years of baking those pumpkin cookies several times per year, they have only turned out badly once and that was when I accidentally put the baking soda in at triple the amount. Awful mistake…

So until I have a real oven, I’m periodically feeding my pumpkin fix with a Costco Pumpkin muffin.

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Yep, I know that they are nearly 700 calories. That’s why Rich and I split one.

Plus think how many calories I’m saving by not eating pumpkin cookie dough. 🙂

Oh, and if anyone has connections at Costco, please ask them to start baking the Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins again. They were amazing!

Happy Pumpkin Eating!

Cerebrations

Best Season of All

Boise, Idaho

For me the best season of all is fall. (And that is the extent of my poetry abilities. 🙂 )

Bar none, there’s nothing like the vibrant colors and rich textures that come to life each autumn…

Here are a few of the colors and textures that I saw on my walk yesterday…

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And a lovely poem to welcome fall in:

Fall, leaves, fall

BY EMILY BRONTË

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
Now if the weather gods would just realize that it’s fall and quit heating the days up to near summer temperatures we could all enjoy fall…  🙁
People

Passages

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Boise, Idaho

These are very sad times for my family and me.

My mother passed away last night.

My sister let us know with this eloquent text: “She flew away…”

Mom’s been emotionally and spiritually ready for many years, but unfortunately her body was not.

In the last ten days of her life, she celebrated both her 89th birthday and her 64th wedding anniversary.

She also received Last Rites, the Catholic Church sacrament administered by a priest for spiritual strength.

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My hope and prayer is that her passing was as spiritual and as peaceful as possible.

She was particularly fond of Mother Teresa and would have appreciated this quote:

“Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus – a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.” 

– Mother Teresa

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Wow!

A Stitch in Time

Boise, Idaho

Got lucky and stumbled along into another quilt show the other day. This one was in Boise, and it was fabulous!

Three of the quilts were judged good enough to apply to the national show in Houston, Texas. That’s an amazing feat!

I would have voted for this to be Best in Show. This quilt is three dimensional in that the sheep and many of the flowers pop out of the quilt’s base fabric.

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Here’s a closeup of the lower right panel showing the applique and embroidery done to create the flowers.

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Here’s a closeup of the middle panel. The sheep is about a half an inch thick, made with a heavy wool thread.

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Here is another one of the quilts that received special honors. It didn’t photograph particularly well, but it’s of twelve different panels of an tightly woven fabric that was then machine emroideried with gold silk thread. The mono-chromed golden colors make it even more effective.

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I thought this quilt should have been selected fort the national   show. It’s all hand appliqued trapunto which means that every single different color of fabric is hand-stitched to the base fabric with tiny stitches almost underneath the piece and then stuffed with a small bit of extra padding from the back.

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The quilt is of twelve different birds.  Here’s a closeup of the hummingbird that’s made up of over two dozen fabric pieces. Simply amazing.

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Even the machine quilting was uniquely done. If you look closely at the base fabric at the left of this picture, you can just see a hummingbird quilted in relief. 0928141327And now some random quilts and why I photographed them…

This quilt immediately made me think of Melissa because she loves bold colors and all things concentric….
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I love the free-form feeling of this quilt.

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The quilter designed her own pattern, and I discovered a bit more about how she made it when I took a closeup. It is a series of rectangles sewed into panels.

0928141320This quilt was made by teenage girls who live in a group home. Once a month they meet with volunteers who teach them sewing and quilting skills with donated fabric. I loved the angularity of the quilt design and the way they quilted the top with decorative stitches.

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I’ve always loved landscaped quilts, and this one appealed to me because of the simplicity and the use of batik fabrics.
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And the best part of the show? I found some great new supplies to help me get started on my own quilts… 🙂