Jill's World of Research, Reaction and Millinery

Finding Farmington Bay

2012-01-29T22:19:00.001-07:00

This time of year lots of articles are in the paper about Farmington Bay.
Or what is more properly called "Farmington Bay Wildfowl Preserve".
I've been wanted to go see Farmington Bay ever since we moved here, but the time has never quite worked out.

I checked the address...and had Bernie drive some thirty miles north above the Bay. Turns out I had looked up the address for the Farmington Bay Wild Fowl Preserve's business office.

Oh well. It was a pretty drive.

Using a trusty GPS link, we wound back down the highway and onto a dirt road and on to the shores of Farmington Bay.

There was even a sign saying this was Farmington Bay in the small parking lot that was filled with duck hunter's trucks.

We booted up into our hiking boots and started to hike in.

It just didn't look right though.

The articles always showed lots of dead trees with huge eagle's nests. And the articles always made it sound like you just pulled up and there they were.

We hiked a few hundred yards down this icy-snow covered path before we decided something just wasn't quite right.

After we got back into the parking lot, I spotted a truck with a duck hunter chatting away on his phone inside. I went up to him and asked him if this was were the eagle nests were supposed to be.

He had news for us: This was the SOUTH entrance to Farmington Bay.

We needed to go to the NORTH entrance.

Directions followed that included such landmarks as a Burger King restaurant, a paved over rail road track and a yard filled with school buses.

Huh.

With my GPS still instructing us to make a U turn, Bernie drove us back up north.

He drove through housing developments and farmland before finally finding an address that was close to what another website had said was Farmington Bay Wild Fowl Preserve.

There was a parking lot there too, and a sign saying Farmington Bay.

Maybe this was it?

Well, it sure was pretty. But dead trees with eagle's nests?
I didn't see any.

There was these structures with nests...but clearly these are not dead trees like I had seen in the Farmington Bay Wildfowl Preserve articles.

The sun was setting and the temperature was plunging down below freezing.

We both were enthralled with the area's beauty...even if my jeans were not suitable attire for the temperature at this point in the day.

Bernie pointed out how the bay's water had frozen in bubble forms around the aquatic plants.

The setting sun set the world around us ablaze with golden light.

Animals had tracked through the water while it was semi frozen; now the tracks were frozen hard.

Overhead wild fowl honked as they few away from us.

It was so cold...yet so beautiful...

Every moment the play of light on the frozen landscape intensified.

In the distance we could hear shot guns being fired. Bernie thought it was the last day of duck hunting season and perhaps that was why the eagles were not yet settled in on their strange nesting structure.

So...apparently we were at the Great Salt Lake Nature Center of Farmington Bay.

Which apparently is NOT the Farmington Bay Wildfowl Preservation Center.

Huh.

(We agreed that this would be a really amazing place to visit in the spring or fall though).

We finished the short hike back to the parking lot, and started to drive back to the highway.

And wouldn't you know it...at last! A sign, not even a mile up the road, saying Farmington Bay Wildfowl Preservation.

We drove in...and saw the only bird that we saw all day.

Some kind of hawk. And in the distance we could see dead trees too.

It was almost dark; we decided that exploring FBWP could wait for another day.

And just like that...the bird in the photo above took flight against the fading sky.
We couldn't have asked for a more perfect ending our day!

January is so boring...unless you have cats.

2012-01-24T07:34:00.002-07:00

Is it STILL January?
Is anyone else out there as bored as I am with this month?
I just can't seem to find much to interest me.
I find myself watching with envy when the cats get a good game of turbo chase ball going on this thing:

Funky picture I know, but for all you non-cat owners, this is what is known as a turbo track.
The ball is "stuck" inside the track, but it can be made to race around the track with the slightest pat of a kitty paw.
In the middle of the night, one can lay awake listening to the sound of the ball rrr-rrr-rrr'ing followed by a thwack and an increased rrrrrr pitch.
I figured if I was bored with January, then the cats must be kind of bored too.

Saturday they got their belated Christmas gift.

I had barely snapped the pieces together before the ball was set into motion.

Now the three of us sit on the floor and play turbo chase together.

After a few hours, Tate was finally tuckered out and took a nap.
Actually we all took a nap.
January is a month that inspires nap taking.

We have only tried the 8 track and the Hearty Party configuration so far.

Of course I think it would be more fun if I got them the scratching pads to go with the track. A small catnip dump onto the scratching pads adds so much to the game.

(The first picture is what the game looks like when played on catnip I think...)

We might have to move our furniture out though.
With HUNDREDS of design possibilities and a bottomless check book, a turbo track could be installed that would allow epic turbo ball games to be played.

We could probably sell tickets to our neighbors so they could come and watch. Maybe even sell tickets to our neighbor's cats for that matter. We could set up cat teams...have little cat team uniforms made...have fantasy turbo cat track games being played on the Internet...

Bernie has his own kind of non-turbo track game that he is playing a lot.
That's him out there before dawn today.

Yeah, we did get a lot of snow this last dump.

If you look closely at the picture you will notice that there are a lot of cat tracks leading up our walkway.
Guess the word is out, and our cats are already selling tickets to the neighborhood cats during the night.
Wonder when the big game will be played.
I'll keep you posted.
My money's on Bitsy to win fastest ball around the track, with Tate coming in second!

World Cup!!!

2012-01-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

World Cup! Speed Skating!
You had it on your calendar to go on Saturday, didn't you?
And then something came up...and you missed going?
Not to worry!
Bernie and I went...and took lots of pictures so you wouldn't miss out!

Seriously...can you believe it?
Bernie just casually asked if I wanted to go watch the Speed Skating; I said yes, thinking it was just a practice thing.
Thinking it was up in a totally different area.
Frankly not really thinking much at all except it might be good to get out of the house on Saturday and go do something.

It turns out the event was WORLD CUP!
And it was not up in the mountains at all.
But it was an Olympic venue, and those things are all over the place here in SLC after we hosted an Olympics ten years ago.

(Bet those are the same flags that they put up for the Olympic event....pretty aren't they?)

I had a lot to learn.
First of all, I expected the skaters to have outfits that said where they were from.
No luck there.
And oddly, almost all the skating outfits had KIA (the car manufacturer) spelled out on them.
Didn't mean that they were skating for Korea though.

See what I mean about KIA?
Eventually Bernie pointed out that there was a board that told who was skating and from what country.

Then I had to figure out where to stand to get the best shots as the skaters whizzed by.
I was just as facinated at how beautiful the advertisment reflection on the ice looked as I was by the skaters that came into the scene.

The skaters had their families with them cheering them on, like this lady from Korea.
(In the paper the next day we read that the event had the most people in attendance since the Olympics themselves. 4,000 people had squeezed into the venue and were avidly enjoying the competition, much to the athletes delight).

The skater's postures and uniforms created some really great sculptural forms.
Check out the size of this guy's upper leg.

This is Russia's uniform. I thought it looked rather oriental in design. I was wrong of course.

Again, look at those upper legs!

The board said the guys in this uniform were from NED.
Huh?
Bernie clued me in...Netherland.
As in Holland.
Oh.
By now you should know I love the color orange, and so of course loved their uniform a lot.

It eventually sank in to me that I was watching the folks that will be competing in Russia in the next winter Olympics.
They were just a few yards away from me here.
Cool!

Cute NED guy...in a teenage girl's dream poster pose.

Just to remind you where we were...

In between the Men's and Women's shorter and longer meter events, a girl was introduced who did a skating routine.
Sadly, I didn't catch who she was.

But I did do pretty good catching her moves.

Isn't that something?

Everyone reading this who can get into this position standing on a rug in your living room...raise your hand.
Uh huh.
Yeah...I think I counted zero hands go up!

Bernie kept saying I should be on the look out to see the athlete's bottoms when they are just walking around in their sweats.
I thought that was a pretty weird prodding on his part...I usually don't go around looking at people's backside in sweats.
But he had a point: The athletes, including the women, had just the most developed glutes I have ever seen.

Later that night after I went to bed I wondered if they are able to sleep on their backs.
Like, are their fannies so hard that it isn't comfortable trying to sleep that way?

OK...enough of that little side trip.
The winners of the Men's 500 M
US took bronze!

Kind of funny when they had the guys the flowers. They hold them like "What am I supposed to do with this?" for a second then wave the flowers around appropriately.

I had not idea that the Oval had its own mascots....three Mascots no less!

Then it was back to competition for the longer course.

The girl in the light blue cap...our town's Heather Richardson!
Go Heather!!!!

Japan had the most facinating uniform...the uniform made the competitor look like machines instead of a human.

Go Canada!

Go HEATHER!

Go Holland!

Go France!

Go CANADA!

And there are the final scores!
Canada take Gold
USA takes Silver
Holland takes Bronze

w00t!

Christine Nesbitt looks pleased with the results...

Not sure what the Canadian cheer guy was so unhappy about.

CAN
A
DA
!!

Since the skaters would zoom by between heats, I got a chance to zoom in with my camera on their skates.
They were so beautiful.
And I know they are SO expensive that they deserve to a thoughtful documentation.

These are Christine Nesbitt's skates.
Isn't she graceful slipping on her skate blade guards?

I got a kick out of the barefoot and half peeled NED guy.

Back to competion: Germany v. Canada

Canada is gaining...

And Canada wins the heat!

USA v Canada
Shani Davis, Olympic medal winner skating for us.

And USA wins!

Showing a little skin...reminds me of the surfers who used to walk around the beach with their wet suits half zipped like that.
Good times...

Another nice pair of skates.

Now what do you suppose these two are up to?

Good that this was happening where it happened.
In context, it is obviously something to do with skate training.
If I had seen this anywhere else...
I would probably be calling the cops on the guy.

Standing next to this guy I felt totally out gunned camera wise...

Canada's Christine looked so sweet getting her Gold medal.

Fixed her hair up a bit for the cameras...

Heather Richardson got silver...

Let's hear it for the girls!

(No National Anthem was played, and if one wasn't paying attention it would have been really easy to miss the awards being handed out).

And let's hear it for the guys!

Shani Davis..

More than a few National speed records were broken during the day. It was a good World Cup meet.

Had to love this fan from Holland showing her team color boldly via millinery.

Bernie didn't miss a chance to get a photo op with some of the other skaters who are Olympic bound. They were so sweet as we chatted with them at their table where they sold items to raise funds for their team.
They sure did look tiny standing next to Bernie.
I had never really thought about if skaters are short or tall before...

Or even how skaters are trained!
*****
The pouring rain outside turned into heavy clumping snow as we walked to our car after the meet.
I got a new profile picture with the snow on my hat taken once we buckled in to drive home.

It seemed so perfect to have snowfalling on us after a day of watching speed skating.
Hope you enjoyed coming along with us too!

Captcha

2012-01-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

I used to grit my teeth a bit whenever a Captcha box would pop-up.

Captcha, I thought, was just a way to prevent spam...prevent robotic programs from going into a website and generating messages over and over to sell a product or perhaps even to launch something malicious.

Mentally I used to think: Oh gee, stop being so paranoid...typing this thing in is wasting my time to prevent something that probably isn't going to ever happen anyway.

Then a co-worked sent out a link to TED that explained what Captcha was all about.

You see, more and more books are being scanned so they can be kept and read digitally, which is a really good thing since so many books are printed on acidic paper that turns into crumbs over time.

But...the scanning process has a flaw: Sometimes the font or print scans in as a garbled word or a word that seems meaningless.

Humans could be hired to go back and visually see the word in question and then correct the scan but that would cost millions of dollars to do and take up a lot of time.

The guy on TED is the amazing creator of Captcha, a program which solves this problem.

Here is how it works. Basically you have Captcha to make sure you are human.

Re-Captcha shows you 2 words. One word is a word that they already know what it says. It is the word that you are typing in to make sure you are human and not a robot, because you can both type/read.

The 2nd word (or the first, they are in random order) is simply a scanned word from an actual book. It is not known exactly what this word is supposed to be but you might, and can take a guess.

You type in what you think your see and eventually enough people answer what they think the "image" of a word actually is spelling out.

So in summary, when you type in the Captcha word, you enabling the scanning old books into digital formats for free.

Some facts:

500,000 hours a day are "wasted" on Captcha.

100 million words a day are turned into digital via Re-Captcha via you.

2.5 million books a year are scanned into digital via you.

The TED video, linked below, is so worth watching....it is just a few minutes long, and I can promise you will laugh as well as celebrate how books are being saved in less than a minute at time.
http://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration.html

PS: If you have never explored the TED website before, you have been so missing out on great stuff! Thinkers are brought to talk about ideas, all kinds of ideas, most of which are ideas that you never thought about before (like what is the purpose of play?)
Watching a single TED post can fuel conversation around the house and work place in a way that makes your brain feel alive!

The whole Captcha thing...makes me feel like I am living in the future!
(Except I am not...the photo above is a hallway that I go past every day at work, and sometimes walk when I need a break. Beam me up Scotty!)

When I need a less futuristic break, I go outside and take pictures of nature instead:

There isn't much to see around a parking lot in winter, but as usual, if one looks hard enough, there is always something to see.

Snow Day

2012-01-18T18:24:00.002-07:00

You can tell just by looking exactly when the forced air heat comes on at our house.

Bitsy is a student of Birkrim, or hot, yoga.

She setttles in in front of the heater vent and practices all her yoga poses whenever the heat turns on.

(Frankly I am a little jealous that I am not small enough to get a full body blast of heat like she does in front of the vent).

Can you tell she is getting toasty?
Just look at those glowing eyes...

Eyes that glow so brightly they reflect on the hardwood floor.

A tad spooky, no?

I just let her be, all melted and warm from her nose to the tip of her tail.

Tate, being a Faithful Orange Cat, is not lazying around.
Oh no...he has some snoopervising to do!

Tate: He didn't do a very good job on the sidewalk....

Having a good snoopervisor means all jobs around here get done right in the end.

Meanwhile, I get back to my quest to photograph snowflakes perfectly.
The slightest motion, like manually clicking the shutter, blurs the shot.

I pulled out my new tripod, and fussed with all the adjustments to get the thing down to the perfect snowflake level (all the while hoping the flake wouldn't melt away) and then used my timer feature to take this shot.

Better, but I still think I can improve my technique.

We'll be getting a lot of snow the next few days. I intend to try a few other shooting "tweaks" to see what I can get.

Stay tuned....

Snoopervising duties finished, Tate now wants to go play in the powdery snow.

If you look closely, you can see where he dug into the snow when he first came outside to play.

We have no idea what he is digging for. It is just too funny to watch him make the snow fly.

Bitsy came out too. She always takes just one step into the snow, then holds up that paw like it is injured.
She stands there like that, giving us pitiful looks until we scoop her up and take her back inside.

What an actress she is.

She is so girlie-girl compared to Tate!

The Day The LOLcats Died

2012-01-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Not sure exactly where I stand on this situation, but I want/need to learn....
Here's good place to start.

Update: Proud to report Utah's Warren Hatch helped/is helping to get SOPA/PIPA stopped.

A really, really fast summary:

As a blogger, I have had folks take entire posts of mine and PUBLISH them in their online newsletters (Princeton University, I am looking straight at you right now...) without asking me or even crediting me.

Under SOPA/PIPA, the Princeton site would have been shut down. NO warning. Just like that, Princeton's site would cease to exist. (Currently a warning is posted and the blogger can remove the offending content).

Also...if someone was to comment on your blog and quoted from someone else's blog, your blog would be shut down.

If I decided I didn't like your blog, all I would have to do is leave a plagerized comment and KaZAM! Your blog would be locked up, and no longer accessable.

Imagine what that would mean to business websites, to political websites. Scullduggery would abound.
How would you like them apples?
I wouldn't.

There are less draconian laws to address copyright infringment.

Gray Days; looking for Sun

2012-01-15T17:26:00.001-07:00

Another gray January day was creating a decidedly gray-bordering on black- mood in me.
To help restore my outlook, Bernie to suggest we take a walk outside somewhere.
"Somewhere" this time was in the heart of the city; Liberty Park to be exact.
After we slipped on down jackets and gloves, we began our walk. Barely three minutes into the walk we passed by the back of the Tracy Aviary.
Seeing the bright yellow Sun Conures in their enclosure sure lifted my spirits fast.

Talk about a blast of color! Don't you feel happier just looking at them?

Their keeper/feeder entered their enclosure as we looked on.
A chat with her informed us that:
There were 19 birds in the cage
The birds are counted twice a day
The bird's sex is determined via blood test
They haven't attempted to determine the sex the birds
And yes the birds are quite happy in their outside enclosure even when it snows.
Bird don't migrate to avoid the cold, the keeper told us. Birds migrate in order to find food.

How had that detail eluded me all these years?

As soon as she entered the enclosure the entire flock flew to her, For a moment she looked as though she was wearing a yellow and orange coat.
I sort of wished I was her. Doesn't she look happy at her job?

We walked the length of Liberty Park and around to the other side of the aviary. The distinctive pelican odor wafted about, but that was easily forgiven after watching the pelicans at play on the shore of their snowy white world.

As we completed our walk about and headed back to our car, we noticed another kind of bird in the tree just in front of where we had parked.

Seeing the bald eagle was kind of funny.
We had earlier talked about going to the nearby Farmington Bay where the bald eagle population soars during the winter months.
Guess we saved ourself both time and gas money by just going to good old Liberty park in town instead.

I had decided against carrying my "good" camera as the day was so gloomy and all, but I had slipped my point and shoot Sony Cyber-shot HX-5V into my pocket before we began our walk.
Like the rest of the birds we encounted, the little eagle was therefore suitably document in a jiffy.
Bernie made me laugh by pointing out the the little eagle had probably been asking for directions to Farmington Bay when he saw the scene at the foot of the tree he was perched in:

Why go to all the trouble of flying on the Farmington Bay when all these kinds of birds are at the ready?

And heck, there are even some interesting looking orange and yellow birds just across the way too.

Just need to figure out how to get inside the citrus flavored bird's place to give them a try.

Pre-Dawntreaders

2012-01-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

A little known secret at our house: Before sunrise, our cat population appears to double.

Obviously there is nothing to be seen by looking outside into the dark. But if a cat does chose to take a look, a mysterious cat duplication occurs.

Sometimes it appears that I have up to six cats with me at during my pre-sunrise breakfast.

This morning Frenchie was twinning by looking out the front window. That is an important window to attend; neighborhood cats frequently pass by and stare inside before ambling on back to their own houses and their own food dishes.

This morning Hart has already reported to his cube tower in order to get an early start on his day's work load.

All four of our cats are employed by Bernie to serve as his office Catministrators.

The Bossman was still upstairs asleep when I peeked in on the office staff. Once the Bossman gets up, the other cats hang around until it is signaled that he heading in to the office. Then they all do a stair-pool together.

A "stair-pool" is sort of like a car pool, except the commute is a walk downstairs instead of a drive somewhere.

The three upstairs cats cluster around Bernie feet as closely as possible during their morning stairway commute in order to make it feel like a real commute.

Sometimes one of the cats will decide to "drive" themselves to work, and they zig or zag inappropriately on the stairs causing a traffic jam to occur.

Occasionally there is a crash or even a pile up if Bernie isn't mindful of flow of the morning cat traffic around him.

Once they arrive at the home office, each cat nestles into their particular office space, Bernie fires up his computer, checks in with his team in South Carolina via email, and their work day begins.

It is no secret that the cats consider their work space to also be a napping space. They feel quite comfortable napping away about 80% of their work day.

Bernie says a couple of them snore too...

Ever so often one of them will wake up and go off to visit the litter and catch a snack in their break room. When one is gone, it is not uncommon for another one to casually sneak over and take over their office space.

Bernie, as their Director, keeps tabs on this sort of underhanded office politics. He is quick to re-settle the catministrator who has overstepped a boundary.

Occasionally he is on a conference call and doesn't notice the subtle power play until suddenly a full on cat fight breaks out in the office.

Frankly I think it is hilarious that this sometimes happens when Bernie has his phone unmuted and the SC team gets to hear cats hissing and screaming at full throttle.

The SC team was pretty shocked the first time it happened; now they pretty much know each cat's name and probably are rooting for their favorite cat to win the current brawl.

Sigh.

Such it is, and always will be, in every workplace, human or feline.

Somebody is always looking for a little more say and another way to make sure they get what they think they deserve.

Moonset, as seen on my sans cat commute to my job two days ago.

It is still predawn here.
Must get back to my pre-dawntreading tasks.
Must get myself prepared for another day of journeying to the edge of the world, and then on to Aslan country.

Since I can't have a cat with me at work, I wish Reepicheep was going with me instead.
Wouldn't that be grand?
Wouldn't it?

Napping room

2012-01-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the folks who distain window views always get the window seats in offices and on planes?And why do they also presume to assume blind control over windows that are beyond their assigned space?(and no...glare isn't an issue here).Windows with closed blinds in the morning hours always makes me think of sickrooms and elderly people who fear strangers would be looking in with evil intent.I think my co-work has plotted as well. A sign is posted in that cube space instructing visitors that a noise cancelling headset is in use, and to please tap on a shoulder to initiate conversation.Let's see...closed blinds, and reason to be inattentive. I'd call that a perfect set up for creating an employer sponsored napping room.(For me a view out a window is like water and air to my soul. Why those who dislike windows get them, and those who like windows don't get them is part of what makes work space assignments so bewildering).

The Moon was at a Fiesta.

2012-01-10T07:50:00.001-07:00

The moon in a crystal clear sky at night drew me outside to practice using my tripod.
The activity caused me to lose track of time.
My fingers however soon protested that it was below freezing outside.
I couldn't manipulate all the equipment with mittens or gloves on my hands; of course one can't manipulate equipment with frozen fingers either.
In fact, it was the fact that I couldn't feel the shutter button that finally woke me up to the fact that I had better knock off taking moon shots for the night.

Maddeningly, an even better moon picture taunted me on the way to work yesterday.
The sky was still barely lit with the breaking dawn and the full moon hovered like a giant pink pearl above the dark blue and snow white rugged mountains to the west.
To the east the sun struggled to crest above Mt. Olympus.
It was simply magical seeing the pink moon retreating from the valley to hide from the approaching sun.

Did you know there was a children's book written about when the moon and the sun are both in the sky at dawn?

You see, the sun is supposed to reign during the day and the moon by night, but sometimes it happens that something really exciting happens at night, something exciting like a fiesta!

Sometimes the moon just can't bear to leave the fun before it is all over and when that happens, sometimes the moon is caught in the breaking light of dawn.

When that happens, the author said, the reason is quite obvious:

The Moon was at a Fiesta!

Isn't that a fun little story to tell?

The book "The Moon was at a Fiesta" is a wonderful story and the link above will allow you to take a peek at the book.

I was lucky enough to have the author come to visit the school library back when I was a school librarians (my all time favorite job!) and I got to hear author Matthew Gollub read his book in person!

About time!

2012-01-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

(Above: Snowflakes on a car up in Mill Creek).

After the driest Utah December in recorded history we were quite excited to read that we were to get snow sometime during this Saturday's early morning hours.

I peeked out the window at 5 am, saw a white winter wonderland and felt like Christmas morning had come at last.

Isn't that silly?

The night before I had mentioned to Bernie how happy and excited I was that there was to be snow; he felt the same way and we agreed that we hoped we would never outgrow this feeling about an expected snowfall.

As the dawn broke, I thought I was seeing fog outside. After stepping outdoors, I realized the fog was actually the finest snowflakes creating a misty like look.

The perfect kind of snow fall for picture taking!
By the time I showered and shrugged into my powder suit, and Bernie had shoveled the driveway, the snow had switched to what we call "dump"; the flakes were now dime and nickle sized.

Really messy for picture taking even with a rain sleeve over the camera for protection. I was catching big flakes in my eyes behind my glasses.

The camera was put away and we walked about a quarter mile up the canyon instead. It was the most exercise I have had in a month!

I stopped frequently to stare at the beautiful star shaped flakes that landed on my mittens and sleeves.

The drive back down the canyon where misty snow was mixing with the big flakes to create an otherworldly look.

Speaking of otherworlds...two naughty kitties were carefully monitoring the world outside our window for us.

The birds were monitoring the cats inside the window as they filled up at the feeder.

I like this photo of a junco a lot...

What to do for lunch after a walk outside on a snowy Saturday?

Fondue by the fireside of course!

The last time we supped on fondue was a few years back on our last day up in the mountains of Switzerland, during a late May snowstorm.

Good memories.

Just the thing on a January afternoon.
Funny thing is: the fondue pot was my mom's and I recall eating fondue from it as a kid.

After I married, she passed it on to me, and I had a few fondue parties with other couples back when our kids were not yet school age.
We've hauled that pot through multiple moves, each time pondering if we should bother to keep it.
Each time we remembered how good fondue tasted and some how found space for it.

Funnier still: I am pretty sure this is the same kind of prepackaged fondue that my mom used to use when she served fondue.
What could be easier than snipping open the foil pouch, slipping out the cheese mix, heating it up on the stovetop and then digging in with some bread?

Why don't we indulge in this treat more often?
Well...for one, the calories and for two, cleaning the stuck on cheese out of the pot is always a bear!

Field Duty

2012-01-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Back to field visits with our mobile library teams.

After being laid up over the New Years three day weekend with more fever and chest pain, I was at last feeling good again, so I scheduled a visit with the Carbon County bookmobile team.

The 300+ mile round trip journey down to the county was a breeze: the weather just couldn't have been better for a long drive all by myself.

I got to the designated meet up site a bit early so I had a chance to take a few pictures of the Scofield area.

(After I got back home Bernie reminded me that we had actually visited this area before. I *thought* the name sounded familiar!)

It did look quite different with the blue lake frozen solid though.

Not sure how it is that so many men can afford to pass the day away ice fishing on a Wednesday...

I confess to an having an extremely wary attitude towards frozen lakes.
Doesn't it look rather unfrozen here?
How can one tell where it is safe to wander on the ice and where is it really unsafe?

I could see where people had dared to drive right up to where the ice must have been the thinnest. Were these folks silly teenagers or ????

Also: How are ice fishing grouping determined?
Is there an understood space between rule?

As I stood near the edge of the lake I kept hearing a low note sound, like someone blowing softly and irregularly on an empty Coke bottle. There wasn't any wind; was the sound I was hearing the sound of the slight motion of the frozen water?

The lake's edge had up righted frozen sheets; I think that that is called frost heave, something I have seen in soil before but never with frozen water.

The "heave" created a fence like edge to the lake.

Couldn't resist thinking about what it would be like to own a cabin on this lake.

It would be so pretty there in summer and the aspens on the hills would be gorgeous in fall.

Truth is...I get bored with lakes.

I like to stay by an ocean shore or a streambank instead.

Maybe I just need to rent a cabin here some weekend instead to get the idea out of my system.

The bookmobile arrived....

Just beyond the parking lot where we met up: a few decaying buildings.

The "stop" was at the "Snack and Pack", a cabin community general store that was closed for the winter season.
(Bernie later reminded me that we had stopped for a hamburger there during our summer visit after he saw the pictures).

Anyway, it was a good first meeting with the driver/librarian, who on this day was doing her stops in a bookmobile that had a broken heater, so she was doing her job in a space that was well below freezing.

She told me she absolutely loves her job.
Even with inconveniences like that, she loves her job.

I have to admit...I envy her.
It is pretty sweet to work in a library that moves around the back country all day long.

She asked me if I had had a chance to see much of the county and did I think it was gorgeous.

I had...and told her I imagined it was incredible in autumn.

Sure beats the view from my office window.
A view I no longer have as of yesterday; the office staff has had to make room for another division within the state, so some of us got moved around.

Just call me a cube farmer now.
No office door...no office window...oh well.
Just glad that once a week or so I will still be able to roam about the rural back country and fill my eyes with beauty that way.

Christmas Day...and the Second Day.

2011-12-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve dinner: We had our traditional tamales repast at our son's house. The tamales, all sorts, are picked up from a Mexican restaurant around 3 in the afternoon to be enjoyed before going to church.

I didn't even take a single picture of the amazing spread.

I was sadly still feeling pretty wimpy and only enjoyed a couple of bites. Going to church was out of the question.

Next year...or maybe sooner, I want a do over on that meal.

The next morning, Christmas morning, Bernie made me breakfast per my request.

One soft cooked egg, and a small glass of sparkling apple cider.

It was just the perfect amount of food this year.
As I ate a recalled Christmas breakfasts with fresh baked cinnamon rolls and our sweet pajama clad children eating off these same plates.

I used to love our "just us four" Christmas morning breakfasts.

My Santa chef...thank you for cooking breakfast this year.

...and back to sleep it was for me right after breakfast.
Frenchie guarded my slumber.

Tate hinted as hard as he could that it was time to open presents already.

So around noon...gift time! Bernie got me a cool camera back pack and tripod. Thank you honey!

Tate: This is what I've been talking about!

Presents, after all, are meant to be opened, and then the real fun begins!

Ribbons are fun for everyone!

Bags and boxes, wrapping and ribbons. A feline fantasy come true.

Lots and lots of fun....and then...starting to wind down.

Shhhh...it is nap time....

Bitsy our watcher watches everything from safely beneath the dining table.

Short nap and back to enjoying the post gift opening clutter.
And yes Tate did get the ribbon from that big red package.

Don't know why Bitsy just doesn't want to join in the fun.

Those blue eyes.
So pretty.

Christmas night we had dinner at our son's house.

He and his wife had cooked:

Beef tenderloin
Rustic rosemary yeast rolls
Salad with pomegranate seeds served with home made dressing
Morel mushroom sauce
Ruth Chris Steak house recipe for sweet potato casserole topped with pecan praline.

Bernie had made a butternut squash risotto with Parmesan cheese.

Dessert was Jeff's home made Dutch Apple Pie.

These folks are serious cooks. I mean VERY serious.

Which brings us to Monday.
Now what? Oh, let me guess...you want us to light the Hanukkah candles, right?
Sorry Tate. Not until after Sundown.
Be patient.

Monday night, night seven of Hanukkah. Each night I have so enjoyed the quiet moments when Bernie would read a Bible passage about light, and then we would sit and enjoy the watching the candle's glowing lights.

He even mad latkes the first night. I only ate a few bites but they turned out perfect.
I think he will be taking over the latke making for us.

At last some thing drew Bitsy out from under the dining table.

In fact, every night either she or Tate have sat and watched the candles twinkle in the window.

(Don't you love the shallow dept of field effect that creates bokeh light that are seen behind her? I also got a new "prime" lens for Christmas and it just rocks for focus and bokeh!)

From the front window we watched the candles reflections combine with in the Christmas lights outside, while the other end of the room framed a view of the Christmas tree glowing outside on the deck.

Each evening presented a colorful feast for the eyes wherever we looked.

And to finish up: One funny story:

Bernie decided to make a batch of sugar cookies after I mentioned how much I missed having Christmas cookies in the house.

I napped while he baked, and when I went in to see the cookies, I was surprised to see that only a few had sprinkles.

I asked if he hadn't known where all the sprinkles were kept.

Turns out...he knew where the sprinkles were kept alright.
It just turns out that he doesn't like sprinkles on his cookies.

I, on the other hand, like my cookies so heavily sprinkled that not a bit of cookie can be seen peeking out from beneath all the sugary color.

Thirty five years of Christmases...with heavily sprinkled sugar cookies each and every year and at last he finally got to have Christmas cookies the way he likes them!

*****

Saturday was my final day of fever; I haven't felt very strong, and haven't been able to eat much BUT...I am feeling better, with chest pain only occuring when I breath deeply.
Being fever free now for two day, I am returning to work tomorrow.
Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes. It has been almost a full month of feeling awful; I am hoping from now on out I will be getting stronger with every passing day.

Thank you everyone who shared your Christmas on your blog; it was surprising how happy it made me feel to read about how Christmas was spent in the homes of people whose lives I enjoy following via blogdom.

How much longer till present opening???

2011-12-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Tate: This waiting until Christmas is starting to get to me.
They keep saying to check the Advent calendar...don't they know cats don't know what a calendar is for?

All these boxes with ribbons and things...just sitting on the table for days now.

I've been told I has to be be good and wait until Christmas morning to open the boxes.

That big red one...wonder what's in that one?

I really am being good. Just sitting next to the boxes, looking at all the pretty ribbons and sparkly papers.

Just a little while longer...I can keep being really good...

OH who are we kidding here?
I am bored out of my mind!
What is the big deal about waiting until later anyway?

Jill: Tate, did I hear you say something?

Tate: No...I was just yawning loudly before I take my nap. Go back to sleep.

Jill: Umphhh...ugh...I feel lousy any way....zZzzzzzzz

Tate: That was close. I think as long as she is asleep I will just do a bit of pre-Christmas snooping.
This bag smells interesting...

The ribbons....the ribbons!

The ribbons and the tissue paper both make the best crinkly sound!

Oh my. No wonder Christmas presents are so popular. Who wouldn't want stuff with ribbons?

Wonder if different colored ribbons taste differently?
One way to find out for sure....

Chomp...chomp...chomp....

That actually didn't taste all that great...phooey!

Oh hi Bernie. No I was just keeping an eye on the Christmas presents for you. They all look just great!

Can't wait until Christmas morning!

Yes, I am keeping an especially close watch on that big red gift.
Is it for me?

Bernie: No, I am afraid it isn't.

Tate: Oh. Well maybe who ever gets it will let me have the ribbon after it is opened?

Bernie: We'll see what we can do about that...

Tate: I just wish I knew how many more hours it is until we open presents around here.

Sometimes not being able to tell human time can be a really big drag.

******
Update: The Wednesday visit to the doctor left me no new answers aside from reconfirming that there is a bit of fluid on the heart, and some inflammation around the heart sack which gets brushed with each breath of lung expansion.
Random coughing spells serve to open up the lungs that I hesitate to fully inflate.
The "guess" is that these two elements are the reason for the on going fever which unhappily continues up to today.

Flu is ruled out; as I am allergic to flu shot preservatives I was glad that was that case.

I am on an antibiotics and seven other heart procedure related meds; all of which should be finished up in the next week or so.
I have read that sometimes meds can cause fevers too.

I am so thankful that this year did not include travel plans, either to other places or people coming to visit us.

I would really like to be fever free and able to return to work (and a real life outside of fever/fever break sweats/ fever rebuilding with aches etc etc!) on Tuesday.

And I would like for food to taste normal and tummy friendly again as well.

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas with health, family and love abounding here on earth is it does in heaven above.

No Ho Ho.

2011-12-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

I know I will forget what we have been doing unless I post about it.
On Tuesday Dec. 13th we attended Bernie's professional organization's Christmas party.
It was held at a Fine Art museum.

A nice jazz trio played...

The food was good, the people not particularly friendly.

After we dined, we wandered about the galleries enjoying the art.
Not a bad way to spend a very cold Monday evening in December.
Not bad at all...

Wednesday afternoon was the staff Christmas party at work, a potluck held over lunch time.
Not quite as glam as the party the night before, but the people were a lot more friendly.

The guys even wore festive ties and such.

A few games were played; we visited and laughed together.
Not a bad way to spend an hour.
Not bad at all.

This year Bernie has taken on the holiday chores; he has both shopped for gifts and decorated the tree and the house.

The tree...he decided to drape the deck railing with garland and lights and place the Christmas tree outside where it could well be seen from our kitchen, dining and living room, a scene framed through the garland and light trimmed sliding door.

At various times the tree has had snow on the branches and even some ice cycles.

Colorful birds have stopped by to enjoy the festive scene.

The flicker was an especially impressive visitor.

At one point all four cats held a meeting on the stairs.
Trust me...the four of them rarely are seen this close together.

I'm not sure what the meeting was all about, but shortly afterward, there was a complete re-arrangement in the feline sleeping accommodations.
Why?
Who knows.

A grey icy fog has covered our area for a couple of weeks, trapping pollutions and making the world look uninviting.
Each morning new hoarfrost designs are to be seen outside on metal and glass surfaces.

I wonder how it works that a long streamer of frost designs will sometimes form while other frost remain in rounded clumps.

Fascinating stuff...or at least it is to me.

So after our staff Christmas party last Wednesday we went back to work and then I went home as usual.
The next morning, last Thursday, I woke up with a 101 temp.
Since I have no sick leave (new job/had to take time off without pay for cardiac procedure) I decided to just pop some Tylenol and tough it out.
When I got home my temp was 103.2

Next morning the temp was 102...but off to work again.
Around 10 am I noticed it kind of hurt to breath.
Decided I should at least let the cardio group know what was going on.
(They have shown absolutely no interested in a week of fever and chest pain earlier so I didn't think they would care this time either but just to be safe...)
Well.
This time I was ordered in for eight hours of tests.
CTs
Echocardiogram
Ultrasound
Bloodwork
Urine tests

All of which confirmed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with me.
(This bit of excellent news was delivered to me as I displayed a 102 temp.)
I was sent home with an anti inflammatory and percoset...oh how blissful those "percs" are when they kick in!

Anyway, that pretty much took care of all of Friday.
Saturday: More fever
Sunday: Our Anniversary. More bed time with fever.
Monday: Same
Tuesday: Same

You know what is really bugging me?

Is that while the doctors were running all manner of amazing tests to discover why I was feeling so cruddy, NO ONE did a swab to see if maybe, just maybe I could have the flu?

I know...why didn't I ask?
It is such folly to assume doctors can think of these things on their own, right?

So I have been basically burning up, drenching in fever break sweat, sleeping, sleeping, sleeping, worry about what this is if it isn't the flu, worrying about how lame I must seem to my coworkers, worrying about what isn't being done for Christmas (Bernie really has handled all the needful things, and I keep telling myself that I can make Valentine day treats to give to the neighbors and coworkers later...)

This morning I didn't have a temperature.
Still feel yukky, but hopeful that maybe things are on the mend.

So for now...no ho ho ho here.
I think I am ready to go back to bed.

Walks

2011-12-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Pictures from a short hike we took the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Snow had tumbled down the small slopes beside the trail.
The naturally made snow balls always make me think of cartoon scenes...you know which one's I am thinking of?

Avalanche warning kept us in areas where the elevations around us were gentle slopes.

The following Sunday (a week after my medical procedure) Bernie went cross country skiing up at Solitude, and I walked around the Solitude village a bit.

Flat snow "pancake" like designs floated atop a small stream whose soft burble was the only sound that was heard.

Solitude Village...

Lots of condos and time shares, most of which appeared to be vacant.

The clouds drifting just over the ridges to the west; rainbow accents embedded in the cloud's outlines.

Poor wee snow woman with the sad remains of summer floras bent beside her in the snow.

Ice dripped and shot rainbow jewels all about.

Never would I have thought to paint eaves orange and turquoise in a snowy mountain area, but you know what?

The color scheme totally worked in the setting of white.

Never would have thought to add dried cranberries to a wild mushroom soup.
We didn't stay for lunch, but I snagged some cooking ideas from the menu anyway.

Huckleberry ice cream was enough of a treat.

Bernie caught up with me at the ice cream shop.
We shared the cone, then headed back down the canyon to our own home for dinner.

Just a nice Sunday afternoon mini get away.

The Song

2011-12-12T10:15:00.005-07:00

Well...technology has me mystified as usual: After getting comments that the English translation of the Hindi song that I linked to in my last post didn't show, I tried clicking on the song link again on four different computers and each time the English translation showed in the YouTube version.

Go figure.

Perhaps some people's computers demand that Close Captioning (CC) needs to be clicked before the translation appears?

I just don't know...

Because the whole reason that I posted the song was because of the lyrics, I figure I had better write out and post the lyrics, in English, so *maybe* it can be understood why I liked the song so much.

This is the song sung by a husband to his wife; at this point in the film the heartbroken wife has yet to offer her husband any hope that she will ever love him. He assures her that his love is not based on her loving him but rather because...well, read the lyric below for his underlying reasoning!

Later in the Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi movie there is a parallel song sung by the wife after she has an epiphany concerning her husband.

It made me happy to read about several people who chose to have this song sung at their wedding.

(And please note that the word "bowing" in the translation below is most closely imagined as "respecting" in our culture).

So here is the translation of Tujh Mein Rab Dinkhta Hai:

You are my heaven

My final tryst.

You are my prayer.

My soul's bliss.

You are the calm I seek.

You are in my every heart beat.

I know nothing else now

Except...

I see my God in you,

I don't know what to do

I see my God in you

I don't know what to do.

I can't help but bow before you.

I don't know what to do.

I see my God in you.

So far some how

I am helpless now

But I touch you with my gaze.

Your scent

Your words

I'm in paradise in a daze

You're the light inside my heart

You're the treasure I'd ever part

I know nothing else now

Except...

I see my God in you.

I don't know what to do

I see my God in you

I don't know what to do.

I can't help but bow before you

I don't know what to do

I see my God in you.

I don't know what to do

It's a match made by God

With anklets that ring

Leave me longing

When you go by

Your shadow teased with with touch

Even when your are shy it is like my God is dancing...

Your are what shines

My light divine

I know nothing else now

Except

I see my God in you.

I don't know what to do

I see my God in you

I don't know what to do.

I can't help but bow before you

I don't know what to do

I see my God in you.

I don't know what to do

It's a match made by God

Isn't it a refreshing concept to think that a romance/adoring could be based on seeing God in the other person, instead of what reasons are usually portrayed/suggested in Hollywood movies?

I think so.

How about you?

Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai - English Subs

2011-12-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

I want to post about a song...sung in a language which I don't speak, which I played over and over and over again while I was recovering from a medical procedure last week.

I had come across several very high reviews of the Bollywood movie "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" (translation: A Match Made By God), from 2008, and had ordered a copy of it prior to being hospitalized. It arrived just in time for me to enjoy while I recovered at home.

As is the case of all Hindi language films, the plot required a suspension of critical thinking in order to enjoy the plot, had several song and dance numbers (one of which was so awful silly I barely made it through it), and the movie was long enough to include an intermission.

(When Bernie joins me in watching a Bollywood movie, he usually is gasping "Oh THANK you God that this thing is half over!" when the intermission screen appears).

One thing about anaesthesia and me: for days after being put under, I find that I am unable to follow the most simple plot line in a book and will read and re-read the same paragraph multiple times without comprehension. I find the same issues plague me when watching television, and worse, this being the Christmas season, I found the endless stream of commercials urging me to get out there and shop for stuff to be exhausting. After an hour of television I was so done with Christmas that I was wishing it was August again already.

Anyhoo...Bernie had won a laptop style DVD player which was just the right size for propping open on my chest backed up by a pillow while I stayed snuggy in bed beneath a down comforter.

I popped the "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" dvd in and let the story unfold.

The very popular Indian actor Shahruhk Khan was featured in a dual role. The storyline, in brief, entailed a very geeky Khan going to the wedding of his college professors' daughter. He is quite smitten by her pre-wedding joy, and is also greatly admired by the Professor.

Bad news quickly arrives: the groom and his family were killed in a fatal accident on their way to the wedding, and with this horrific news, the professor suffers a heart attack. Not wanting his daughter to be left alone, the professor asks Khan if he would be willing to marry the daughter if she would accept the idea.

In less than 48 hours, the professor also dies, is cremated and Khan and the girl are wed. The girl is much younger than Khan's geeky character, and is understandably pretty shut down by all that has happened so quickly.

Khan brings her back with him to his home in the city, and with great dignity gives her the main room in his house for her own, retreating to the attic space to live and sleep.
He soon realizes he is in love with his young wife and wishes for nothing more than that she would once again have joy.

Upon discovering that the only time she smiles is at the antics of Bollywood movie heroes, and after agreeing to let her enter a dance class, he plots to become part of her life as a dual character: he dresses as a Bollywood hipster would dress and enters into the dance class to watch her.

A comedic friendship evolves between the "hip" Khan and the girl, while "geeky" husband Khan does not reveal his duplicity knowing that he represents the moment that she lost so much in her life.

As usual, it is after the intermission that the story line shifts from being almost slap-stick to being so deep and emotionally significant that it just blew me away.

Now granted I was feeling pretty whimpy while I was watching this DVD, but I was also very aware of how exquisitely my husband was providing care for me on many levels. With our 35th anniversary coming up next week, I felt so blessed to have him with me and to be the recipient of his many kindnesses to me in my infirmity.

In sickness and in health...after 35 years we deeply understand that part of our wedding vows now.

"As Christ loved the Church"...yes, I saw in my husband a man made in God's image. I saw God care for me brought about through him.

Which brings me back to the song entitled "Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta" that I played over and over again, often with tears welling up in my eyes.

Khan is playing both of the men in the scene: the geeky husband in white, and the "hip" guy friend as well. He is lipsyncing as is the traditional way of Hindi movies; another artist's voice is the one actually heard in the movie. Maybe this song won't affect you as it did me...but I wanted to share it anyway...click HERE to view it with English translation.

The scenery, lyrics, instrumentals, choreography and children combined to make it special to me.
(I later learned that the sound track of this movie was the first Bollywood soundtrack to make it into the top 10 of music down loads. Apparently it isn't just me who found the song to be quite wonderful).

More than Jesus in my heart....

2011-12-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

I finally feel well enough to do a catch up post.
Perhaps I should borrow a title from Louisa May Alcott and entitle it "Hospital Sketches", for that is what this post will be about, for the most part.

Yes, that is my monitor screen pre-procedure, with my funky 52 pbm Brady Sinus heartbeat and other issues pictured up there.

But it is a catch up post too.
So.
My amazing husband cooked an incredible Thanksgiving meal for us.
Friday we went snow shoeing again.
Sunday night we had a "left over" dinner with the Utah based family members who had been gone over the holiday proper.

Bernie and I watched the mid season finale of The Walking Dead after they left.
Pretty gripping stuff...

At ten that evening I stopped eating and drinking in preparation for my next day's scheduled Catheter Ablation,
a cardiac procedure, which was scheduled to address my arterial fibrillation and arterial flutter.
Both of those issues had been identified early this past October.

From what I understood, a doctor would be feeding wires up my main arteries and into my heart where he would identify which parts of my heart were beating out of sync or in flutter or in fibrillation or whatever and burn those areas to create scarring so the cardiac electrical pathways would be altered.

The next morning we got up early to be at the hospital by 8 am.
Bernie kept looking at me and commenting that I was awful cheerful for some one who was about to have wires threaded through my body and into my heart.

Naw. It was gonna be just fine.
Back to work the next day...
No. Big. Deal.

Except they sent us home; requesting we return at 11 am when the doctor would arrive.

Oh.
Missed that voice mail....

Well then.

Take two.

Lickity split, at 11 am sharp I was checked into a hospital room, changed into a gown and sticky pads were anchored all over my body in order to monitor my heart rhythms.
It is kinda distracting and interesting to watch one's pulse wave along on a screen, and note when the alarm fires off because the heart rate drops to 48...47...46 and numbers there about.

Bernie was absolutely delighted to discover that the hospital room had a "sleep over" couch in the room that was long enough for his 6'3" frame.

The man has done more than his share of sleeping in a hospital room watching over me while curled up in a chair or trying to get comfortable in a bed nearly a foot too short for his size.
I was glad for him too.
We have a policy in our family: No one is left alone in the hospital.
This time it wouldn't require such a great physical sacrifice for Bernie.

I mentioned to my doctor's PA that if I woke up alone and found "walkers" in the hospital I was going to be really, really upset.
He laughed, said he couldn't believe I watched that show, and wasn't it great, and yeah it would be crazy to discover the hospital was overtaken by zombies.

He promised he would get me out if that happened.

Always nice to meet another Walking Dead fan who would be willing to come to my rescue if zombies happened to attack.

Yes...I was still believing this procedure would be pretty easy at this point.
Except for a headache due to skipping my morning cup of coffee, I was feeling just fine.

Of course there still was to come the needle stick in the back of the hand to start the IV. That is never a pleasant moment, but after that...clear sailing.

A team arrived to whisk me down the hallway to the Cath Lab. I had left my glasses with Bernie and once I was scooted off the bed and on to the surgical table, I regretted leaving them behind.

The room, from what I could see, looked like a space station lab with huge monitor screens over head and glassed in stations all around me.

One of lab team was sporting University of Utah motif spangled scrub cap.

I told him it was pretty cool, but it would be better if it had an OSU beaver motif.

"At least we are both in the Pac 12" he replied congenially.

Still feeling rather chipper, I then commented that my grad school was still undefeated this year... and gave a pause to wait for someone to ask which school that was.

I heard a snicker before the question was even posed.

Would you believe the four people attending me were University of North Texas grads, and one guy had even gotten married in the TWU chapel?

It was like old home week with a bunch of exiled Texans.

Yeah, they totally knew about how Texas Woman's University has remained undefeated in football for well over a century...

The next thing I knew I was waking up unable to breath.
I thought I was back in my room, I knew Bernie was there and a team was around me but I COULDN'T BREATH!
I tried to yell "I AM DROWNING!" and lunged to get off the bed.

Bernie said it was just like watching a Walking Dead zombie as my screams came out ArrgghhhrrRRGGHAAAGRRR and I flailed about.

Then my right upper leg started killing me.
I managed to say something understandable about that and quickly had a nurse bearing down on a puncture located at the inside groin.

Things calmed down...I knew I had to lay perfectly flat for several hours to make sure there wouldn't be an accidental re-opening of the groin punctures where three wires had been threaded on one side up into my heart and there was another puncture on the other side and one on my neck and...it seemed like I was now sporting globs of huge cotton batting all over my body.

I was horribly thirsty having not had a drink in over 20 hours.
A few ice chips were fed to me by Bernie and at some point I was told I was was now going to be taken back to my room.

Someone started rolling me and my bed somewhere...and then I realized I was nauseated.
I mentioned that fact.
In fact, I mentioned it twice.
Then I mentioned that I was going to throw up.

A couple of people scattered, obviously trying to find something to catch the spew; they had no success so I got to experience the wonders of vomiting while laying flat on my back while looking straight up at the ceiling.

For the second spew I did get to turn my head and there was Bernie ready to hold a small curved basin to catch the mess.
At least that is how I remember it.
I will have to ask him later it it was indeed him.
(It was.)

He has experience with me spewing in hospital settings.
During our son's C-section delivery; during a few other events...he was there for me when I needed him.

I was apologizing to everyone in ear shot for the mess on my neck and shoulders. Later I learned that cardiac anesthesia is a slightly different mix than most anesthesia so my reporting that I had not gotten sick from being put under before was not relevant to what was likely to be experienced this time.

Back in the room I was expecting to start feeling better, but no...a few more spews (how could just a couple of ice chips produce that much fluid) and then my right rib cage started hurting.
An anti-nausea and pain drug was given to me.
Didn't even make a dent in the issues.
Something stronger was administered...
And something even stronger as I was clenching the rails and jiggling my feet trying to cope with the pain.
Dilauted I wanted to say.
Get me some serious meds NOW.
I don't know what they finally gave me but I did fall asleep for a bit.

Super bummer to have them keep coming in to do what ever they needed to do...draw blood, take vitals, etc, because upon waking I was right back to hurting until I could fall asleep again.

The next morning I was able to roll over and the rib cage pain stopped.
Breathing still was not really comfortable (the inside the heart burns tends to irritate the entire the heart, which swell and rubs against everything else in the chest so each breath felt like a karate chop on between my shoulders and my chest).

Not sure why all my complaining didn't result in

MORE
PAIN
MEDS.

grrrrrr.

The doctor dropped by and drew a nifty little sketch of all that he had done.

He assured me that I *might* have a low grade fever, *might* have some minor discomfort, and a Tylenol would fix me right up.

He lied.

Bernie set off to get a pile of prescriptions and I was discharged after a nice nurse cautioned me to watch the punctures for redness. She then went over a rather complex set of instructions on how to take the meds.

Something like drink the fluid, wait and an hour later take pills then an hour later eat, then repeat in reverse later in the day.
Something like that....

Once I was home I started to read the warning literature that came with the meds.
One would thin the blood and all kinds of dire stuff could happen with that.
One could cause constipation, while the other could cause diarrhea.

Hmmmm....how is a combination like that even possible?

Blurred vision was quite possible too.

I went to bed.

Bernie figured out the dosage rhythm.

That night my temperature went up to 102.2

I asked Bernie to call the doctor's office to see if that was normal since the literature said to call if a fever reached over 101.

Love the cliche answer we got:

Take some Tylenol and call back in the morning.

The fever slowly came down over the rest of the week; by Saturday I was almost fever free.

The pain level bounced around between unbearable and barely noticeable.
Any quantity of food would set off chest pain as the esophagus would fill and rub against the swollen heart.

Then of course there was breathing where the heart was rubbed by the lungs.

In one particular painful 3 am episode, I decided eating and breathing were out from here on in.

My cats did attempt to cheer me up in the lonely night hours by doubling their nocturnal jingle ball and mouse chasing activities.

They would wait until I had almost nodded off sitting upright in a chair in the living room then go thundering down the hall swatting cat toys loudly enough to wake the dead.

Day 7, Sunday, was the best day yet.
No fever, very little pain.
That was good as I was headed back to work the next day.

Work...where I had optimistically and ridiculously stated I would return to the second day after the procedure, like my doctor had suggested was possible.

I suspect that my doctor sometimes treats people that are not really human if they can actually do that.

Oh and I did I mention that when I called the doctor's office again on Friday about the fever and pain, I got to speak with his nurse who clued me in that the doctor
just.
might.
have forgotten.
to mention.
That he would be gone on vacation for three weeks after the procedure.

And but the good news, (according to the chipper nurse) was that I had gotten him to do the procedure before he left town.

The fever, pain, and totally crazy heart beat patterns that had been happening since the procedure were TOTALLY normal and to be expected.

There now.

Isn't that a good thing to know?

And won't it be a good thing for them to know once I get a patient care evaluation form that I thought their pain management skill levels totally stunk.

*********

As I write this it has been a full week since the procedure.
I am feeling stronger day by day, had a full day back at work and am looking forward to two weeks from now when I should be better than new, heart wise.

Can't wait to start exercising and having energy again.

***********
And I especially want to say a big Thank you to all of you who knew about the procedure as it was happening and held me up in prayer.
I did feel at peace.
I felt totally at peace in my soul.
Totally safe with my God watching over me.

Out in the Field

2011-11-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

Just try to guess what this is.
It was what was on Bernie's car yesterday morning.
We were switching cars for the day; he hadn't pulled his into the garage the night before.

Wouldn't you know it...the first heavy frost was there waiting for me for me just when I was trying to get gone to work.
The stuff looked like an inch thick on the car's roof.
Seriously.
Bernie came out and help me with scraping duties, then I was on my way.

At ten I was in a different car, checked out from the motor pool.
A drive down to San Pete county, over two hours below SLC, was on my schedule for the day.

Pretty country...

I first went to an elementary across from this scene.

Visited with the librarian/driver of this mobile unit.
The children flowed into the unit, giving the driver a big smile as they slammed down their books for him to check in, and then scampered to the shelves to select more books to check out.
I don't think I have ever seen such incredible beautiful children in such large numbers before.
Gunnison Utah: Land of the Beautiful Children.
Who knew.

Then I took a whirlwind tour of local city libraries.
Gunnison's library was housed in their new city hall.

As I told the really cool librarian:

You do realize that there are many librarians around the country that would be willing to kill you in order to become the librarian of this library?

She laughed and totally got it. It was a new facility and just gorgeous. A perfectly sized small town library.
The kind of library that almost all librarians dream about managing.
She thanked me for all that us state librarians do help the small town librarians be able to do their jobs.
That made me feel good...although not the least bit less jealous of her job.

She even has art in her library.
Lucky girl.

Another city hall...but this time the library was in an older building next door.

Pretty impressive looking isn't it?

Inside was a colorful "old school" style library.

The children's library collection was downstairs and there was a piano there too. I bet story time in that room is such fun with music and everything.

Yes...every librarian loves cats. And if there can't be a live library cat, then there will be a representation of a library cat instead.

The next town's library...

Again...pretty impressive and there is a feeling of anticipation when one has to climb stairs to enter the library.

Dang....I wouldn't be there for story time.
I just love a good story time, don't you?

Check it out...the library even has a gas log fireplace for those wishing to curl up and read in front of the fire.

They too had just recently had a library make over.
I like how the "new" still looked old fashioned.
It was maddening to only be able to visit with each librarian for about ten minutes.
(That was probably for the best since, you know, how much I would love to be a small town librarian and all...)

Each town was about 20-30 miles apart and I swung by scenes like this valley on the drive.

Last stop: A library due to be rebuilt soon.

It was such a tiny space, and yet it still was appealing. The librarian and I chatted for about an hour; she had gotten her MLS from North Texas University which was in the same town as Texas Woman's University, where I had acquired mine.
She had gotten her course work "on line".
Smart girl.
From what she told me, on line classes and connection with classmates over the Internet sounded like a lot more fun than what I went through: driving an hour each way to sit in a roomful of full of exhausted students with a marginally sane prof holding us captive in a hot or cold room for a long lecture.
What a difference a decade made in education.

It kind of gave me the spooks when the librarian suggested I return to SLC via one way rather than another...due to it now being dusk and the deer tended to be out crossing the roads and the one road being the record holder for head on collisions and all.
She suggested I try to follow a car if I could so if a deer did leap out...you can fill in the rest of the thought yourself.
I made a note to myself to not ever be driving home at sunset from a rural area ever again.
Even if the sunset made the timing worth it...this time.

From another library...as I was waiting bit.
I join the wall turkey in wishing all my dear friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Snow shoe time again

2011-11-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

The calendar says "Autumn"; our landscape says "Winter".

In some instance the two try to split the difference with scenes like this one.
(Looks like Winter is coming out ahead on this particular compromise).

All last week the weather forecasters were giving me the willies by repeatedly warning us that there would be a sever winter storm, commencing at commute time on Friday.

I was out of my office at 4:30 sharp and the first flakes fell at 6 pm at our house.

Whew!

The snow fell steadily for about three hours, then just dropped a flake or two during the night and into the next morning. I was sort of disappointed as I like to watch snowfall and there isn't much to see once it gets dark outside.

By Saturday afternoon, we had scheduled a massage and decided to go snowshoeing before that special treat.

No human footprints were to be seen up in the canyon, but oh, there had been lots of other kinds of foot traffic.

The temptation to follow the track...to see where the critter was heading...well, why not give into the particular harmless interest?

Wonder how far apart these two path crossing creatures were time wise?

Was there a critter "t-bone" incident, with animal driven tow trucks involved?

Looks like there was a successful lane merge accomplished here...

Then traffic got really heavy at the bridge crossing.

Other critter tracks were much more straightforward and easily understood.

It was a super nice time to be out in the snow...

For creatures of every size!

It is nice when your id badge picture turns out good.

2011-11-21T09:09:00.001-07:00

Watching

2011-11-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

Some times we watch birds on the feeders outside.

Some times the birds on the feeders watch us....

Some times cats watch birds on the feeders...

Other times we watch cats on the fountain.

(Some cats just prefer a more elaborate water source than a sloppy water dish on the floor).

This drink went on and on and on...

Some times Jill goes more than window shopping, and comes home with new clothes to model for whomever is near by.

Tate did not find new clothes nearly as interesting as birds on feeders, or neighborhood cats drinking on our fountain.

He did however like the bag that the clothes came in.
It was just the perfect place for taking a nap, and getting some shut eye after a long full day of staring at stuff.
Or as we like to say:

Staring is caring.

Our cats seem to care so much about so many things!

OSU! OSU! OSU!

2011-11-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

OK...so I am waaayyyy behind on posting.
We (Bernie and I) went to the Oregon State University vs University of Utah game a couple of weekends ago.
We had gone to the "here" game two years ago; that time we just purchased tickets locally and were greatly chagrined to find ourselves seated in a sea of red clad UofU fans.

This time...we smarted up and bought our tickets through OSU, and bought tickets to the OSU alumni "Tailgate" party as well.

Such a smart move it proved to be.

OSU orange and black was everywhere!

I didn't know a soul there besides Bernie (he being a Beaver by marriage...) but it still felt like a grand reunion, just like old times that actually never had happened before.
A lot of the attendees actually had flown in from Oregon to attend the game!
(The catered barbecue meal was awesome!)

My school fighting song playing Benny Beaver was hauled along with us to the event as usual.

A Benny Beaver game hat...how cool is that?

I had spotted the orange wool pea coat in the window of Old Navy a couple of weeks earlier. Just like that: it was MINE!
Ditto the orange hand bag from Macy's.
I mentioned my purchase to friend/fellow blogger Sara; she immediately set her knitting needles ablaze knitting me a scarf to complete the outfit.
The scarf arrive just in time for game day!

(I think the peacoat has an "Ann Marie-That Girl" vibe.
I mentioned that observation to a 30something family member; she drew a blank on the cultural icon.
It did my heart good to see good old Ann Marie's style mentioned in a recent issue of the trend setting 30 something focused Glamour magazine later.
Guess I am not too out of date with my style references after all).

We so regret that while our long distance romance occurred while I attended school in Oregon, during that time he was living in San Diego.
We didn't have a chance to enjoy the typical college romance kind of dates like attending football games together.
Secretly...I think he is even a better date now than he would of been way back when.

The Olympic flame structure from the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics is still installed in front of the stadium where we entered to attend the game.

A quick check of the weather forecast had me totally prepared to endure a very nippy game night.
I was hauling a canvas tote filled with items to get me through the evening in a modicum of warmth.
I also had a stadium cushion that was microwaved before we left for the event; it did keep my fanny nice and warm.
The wool OSU baseball hat was added early on in the evening.
(Please be sure to note and admire my Benny Beaver earrings!)

When my ears felt cold, I added a head band over the hat.
Later I pulled out my knee length down jacket.
And a grey blanket.
A fellow alumni kept looking at me as I went through all my wardrobe additions, asking me how many outfits had I brought along.
What could I say?
I just hate to be cold if I can avoid it.

The game itself?
Pretty awful.
It is a "rebuilding" year for my beloved Beavers and they are getting whooped all over their division, badly.
I don't care.
They were awful when I was at OSU as a student.
Actually, this game felt like old times!

Easy Listening Hebrew Music

2011-11-15T12:37:00.001-07:00

If you ever checked my blogger profile you will see that I enjoy listening to Messianic music.

Most people have no idea what "Messianic music" means...or where one might go to listen to such music.

Messianic music is music written primarily by Jewish people who have come to know Jesus as their Messiah.

They often compose lyrics in Hebrew (many times using blocks of scriptures) and then often the lyrics switch to English and then back to Hebrew.

I first listened to Messianic music while I was in college; the Messianic music group Lamb had just released their first LP and I just couldn't stop listening to it.

I laugh now to realize that the parts of the songs that I didn't understand were sung in Hebrew, and I sang along with them because it just sounded great to me.

Little did I know I was actually learning huge passages of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew.

Anyhoo...

I thought I would just pass along the fact that lately I have been enjoying listening to Messianic music on my computer by going to Google and then typing in:

wstw.fm

There are lots of choices as to how to listen to it on line, but even techno challenged me managed to get it up.

Good stuff.

Thought I would just share, in case you might be interested.

(Not every song played has Hebrew in it; and non-Jewish composers are featured as well, but I find the Hebrew enbedded songs are still my favorites).

Hart, hopeful

2011-11-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Scanning the stacks

2011-11-09T09:05:00.001-07:00

I try to run my eyes over sections of the library book collections whenever I am walking around during a break.
When I spotted this shelf of books, I knew I had finally found an answer to all the questions that I have had about our neighbor to the north.

"Understanding Canada"!!!

Best of all...apparently a reader could gain a full understanding of the country by reading a mere 621 pages.

Wouldn't this book be just the thing to get a handle on all things Canada?

Apparently the monograph has had its readers.
(Make that reader, singular).
Isn't that sad?
Of course I was glad to know that there was nothing new to learn about Canada after 1984.
I like a country where nothing much changes over time.

I opened one of the other books on the shelf, a thinner book, and turned to the chapter on Canadian daily life.

(Major apologies for the sideways way of this cell phone shot photo).

It probably is important to grasp the concept that the most popular pastime in the evening for Canadians is watching television.

Hmmm...I need to see a break down of population segments within the survey to figure out if that is a true statement across the board.

Knowing how food oriented my few Canadian acquaintance are, I turned to the chapter on food; curious to know if it is an obsession shared across the vast country, or if food is a fetish focus of only a few.

Apparently posing a question about a national food will likely generate "a long thoughtful pause" from a typical Canadian.

Shoot...I know the answer to that question:

Wieners.

Every Canadian blogger writes about wiener roasts.

I still don't understand that fascination and the book about Understanding Canada didn't even have the word "wiener" in the index.

Paska, drinking beer with breakfast, why they use "eh?" at the end of a sentence and are so often able to take six weeks of vacation a year: Those were the key "Understanding Canada" questions that I felt were left totally unaddressed within the 621 pages of the book and all the other smaller books as well.

Secretive bunch up north, aren't they?
Makes me wonder what else about themselves that they are not willing to discuss.

The times, they are a'changing....

2011-11-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

My Utah based grandcats Meowsie and Cheeto are not looking like grandbaby cats anymore.
No...they are all grown up now and are starting to look more like two elderly uncles.
(Or perhaps the old geezers on Sesame Street, you know the two I am talking about?)

When asked if I would like to come along on a crib shopping trip, I said yes of course.
Crib shopping turned into stroller/car seat shopping instead.
Jeff and Rachel had recently visited a city based friend with a new baby and had gotten to experience the challenges of navigating a stroller up stairs and down curbs and such.
Jeff noted that that experience had teed him up to watch stroller wielding parents in airports.
He noted which stroller models served as back breaking time intensive devices, and which seemed to provide parents effortless modes of baby transportation.
Based on those observations, he had already decided he wanted a three wheeled device with large blow up tires.
In fact, he had already decided that a steering a stroller should be similar to another familiar driving experience.
When he found this model, it was a "Eureka!" moment.
As Jeff put it: "This one is more like my golf cart".
(Jeff golfs a lot as part of his career; he is definitely not a weekend duffer on the golf course. The boy knows the finer points of golf cart selection for optimal golfing enjoyment).

He also noted that the more traditional baby buggies made him feel like he was back in preschool playing with toy dolls.

I totally understood that.

I felt the same way thirty three years ago when I was test driving strollers and buggies and such. It was such a sensory flash back to myself as a five year old that I could barely wrap my brain around the fact that I was now all grown up and yet still engaged in the same activity.

While the modern strollers lack a certain degree of charm, they do offer enhanced mobility, easy folding and even provide a jack for an ipod.
The pop out car seat/baby carrier had a unique triangle handle hold. Oh it was SO much more comfortable to tote than the design I was stuck struggling with all those years ago.
(Just to try to see how it would really feel, three purses were tossed into the seat. The carrier still felt "right" arm wise. That cinched the deal).

At home, the entire piece of equipment slid out of the box, and two wheels were popped on in a jiffy.
If you look closely you will see that the "jiffy-ness" was being tested with the couple's current wee one.

Poor Cheeto.
Oh, poor POOR Cheeto and Meowsie.
Life as you have known it is SO all about to change.
And this change is only the first of many to come.

2011-11-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

Maybe you will be able to catch what my new job is by looking at the picture below...
I am supervising the program which is designed to serve the rural and under served communities; places with populations too small to be able to fund a building to house a l*brary.

My third day on the job was my first time out in the field with one of our teams.

One of the stops for this county's routes.

Inside the bo*km*bile

The kids visiting with the moms were so cute. I blurred the faces to protect their privacy.

We serve rural and under served communities.
So far there is no official finding on serving cats though.
Outside there was this kitten....

And this one too.
Both were quite happy to be picked up and purred contentedly.
It had snowed the night before and was COLD outside despite the sunshine and blue skies.

Maybe rural cats need to be served too?

Maybe we need to have a new motto...something about cats starting here...

Was it the books or the heater that the cat was most interested in?

Had to be the books...it takes time and thought to figure out just the right book to borrow.
This cat took his time.

I will be supervising several teams in several counties.

Our lunch stop: The Navajo tacos were delicious!

Do you think attending a rural school with a school bell still atop the building would be nice?
I do...

The drive back to HQ.

First two days on the new job were mostly spent getting orientations to our facility and programs.
I was quite happy to get out of the office and go into the field to meet one of our bo*km*bile teams on day 3. Couldn't have asked for a prettier day either!

(Please avoid typing out the full word of any of the starred words in your comments.
I am trying to stay unfindable via key word searching for now; comments get searched too. Thanks!)

2011-11-02T19:19:00.000-06:00

Bragging really...

2011-10-27T10:35:00.006-06:00

So many bloggers are posting their local fall colors now.
I love that everyone is getting color now (well, except for Lovella for some reason....)
It is wonderful that everyone is sharing what fall has brought to their area.
I want to share too...OK...brag actually.
In an attempt to be humble, I will save the most stupendeous color shots for last.
Last weekend Bernie and I noodled around the local areas to see what the colors were up to.
First stop had a small stream that Bernie wanted to try, while I hiked about ten minutes up the trail above it.

The trail has been used for many reasons over time, and I suspect the Mormons were simply following an old Indian trail or deer trail when they came through in the 1840's.
It does add an extra thrill to the hike imagining how it would have been for a pony express rider pelting along the trail way back when.

I imagine not much has changed over time really.

You need to imagine this scene with the scent of warm fallen leaves and the sounds of the stream running below.

Bernie was having a blast catching enormous trout while I was hiking along.

Snow capped mountains in the distance are an added plus, view wise.

The trail looks quite lonely, actually runners and bikers were out having a go at the trail too.

Long ago I saw a made for television movie series where the pioneers were traveling through dense forests. A young girl wandered off the trail just a bit...and was lost forever in the wood.
I could see how this could happen.
It happens quite often around here even today, even with experienced outdoorsmen.

The way the trail heads to the peak...I think that was a navigation point for early trail breakers.

We drove up the imaginatively named "East Canyon", twisting and turning and ohh and ahhing as we went.
Bikers and motorcyclist and folks with convertible cars were really enjoying the scenery.

I never get tired of the puzzle pieced effect of fall colors on a hillside.

Other hillsides look like they have been created via a tabby weave; straight lines of colors spill down as if The Weaver had endless colors to choose from.

This sunny scene was so windy I clung to a pole to take this shot!

Utility wire cleared areas add to the visual complexity of the scene.

A convertible or a motorcyle would be too fast, and a bike would be too hard to pedal.
A walk would be out of the question with the high altitude and narrow roadside.
I have decided that a Segway would be the ideal way to take in this drive!
If only it was possible...it would be this photographer's dream come true.

East Canyon spills out into a nearly forestless area.
The brilliant yellows of a few trees and low bushes make for a lovely monochromatic scene.

This car was across the street from the yellow trees.
I had to laugh at the car that seemed placed just to its best advantage colorwise.

As usual, an old tree and a fence makes the picture happen.

A contented black cow no longer awed by the blast of yellow aspens up on the hill above his pasture.

The golden hay in the shed is probably more exciting to this horse than all that far away hillside gold.

Bernie got in some more fishing.

Fall colors are everywhere!

Hunting season is open, and one can never be too careful.
No chance someone is going to be accidently shooting at Bernie's feet with those Crocs on!

I waited and watched from the stile.

When it got dark, Bernie quit fishing and took over my camera.

Do I look happy?
Nothing "glam" in terms of clothes or make-up.
Even my hair is messy.
Yes...this is me at my happiest.
This is exactly how I wanted my life to be, outdoors, comfortable and carefree.

The next morning Bernie flew out...
I had heard Lamb's Canyon's colors were spectacular.
We had hoped to make that drive during our time together, but couldn't quite squeeze it in.
Lamb's is on the way to Park City, a mere fifteen minutes from our house.
Since it is a very narrow canyon with few places to park along the way, I rarely go there for photography.
Judging from what I saw this trip, I had missed some serious photo shooting opportunities before.

Pick a color...any color...

Bernie later told me that people seated by him in the airplane had asked what all the colors were down below.
"Aspen", he told them.
He explained the way that it is in Utah's autumn.
We laughed as the first time I had flown to Colorado from California in October I had wondered the same thing.
Had decided the colors were fields of California poppies; they had created the only blazing fields I had ever seen up until then.
My friend Gail was the one to introduce me to the truth about fall colors in our area.

Sometimes the fall colors amidst the evergreens look like a fire is blazing away.
You can see that kind of look in the hillsides above the end of the roadway.

This year's colors have lasted longer than I have ever recalled despite the early heavy snows.
Still...in the higher elevations the showing of colors are drawing to an end.

My car's sun roof served me well to take a shot of an abandoned wasps nest overhead.

There was not place to pull over...I just stopped in the middle of road, glad it was on a straight stretch and took the shot through the roof opening!

That cabin...oh those lucky folks living in that cabin right now!
(The rest of the year I don't think I would find their perch quite so appealing as the canyon is mostly snow right up until late July).

Interior designers harp about the need for black in a room to both ground the space and accent the room's color.
Seeing the glowing colors placed on the black tree structure, I think they have learned a truth from nature.
(Even the white barked aspens have slashes of black that serves to intensify the golden leaves around it).
Fall has come down the mountain now, and is swirling around neighborhood gardens in the valley.
Driving anywhere in town is most difficult; I get so distracted by the huge trees in old neighborhoods that are gleaming against blue skies.
Now red Virginia creepers are tangling elaborately through the trees that don't turn color.
Oh it is a feast for the eyes all around.
How clever of God to make Fall colors reveal themselves in stages.
How sweet is the season that colorfully blasts and lasts right up until the time of Christmas!

Fall...Winter...then comes Spring

2011-10-25T11:45:00.002-06:00

Fall colors here have been the most spectacular that I can ever recall.
It seems most odd to be planting spring bulb now.
How can crocus and daffodils be on my mind when there is autumn all around me?
Yet...now is the time to plant and dream of the future.

My ice pansies will thrive all through the fall and come back in spring, but it is the bulbs that I consider most faithful while planting.
I tuck them in and while there are no immediate clues that something has been added to my garden, I trust and believe that even during the upcoming storms of winter, something is waiting to come forth in spring time, just when the season of darkness seems like it will never end.
I always plant bulbs prayerfully.
I pray that all will be well when the time comes for spring flowers.
I pray that troubling matters both near and far will have by then passed, and that I will remember my prayers for God's blessings and be thankful.

Next spring...next April...I envision these flowers will be in fragrant bloom as we race out our front door to meet another kind of first blossom in our lives.

The tiny seedling baby was blueberry sized when we first heard back in July.
Week by week I have marveled as I read about what was being formed in secret.
Ears, fingers, even tiny fingerprints!
The blueberry sized baby grew weekly; web pages let me know the week the baby was kumquat sized, then lemon, now bell pepper.
Changes and more changes came to the baby's form each week.
At thirteen weeks I saw via ultrasound my first grandchild's perfectly formed hand floating in my daughter-in-law's womb, my first glimpse at a baby with at tiny hand cupped around the face like one peering into the distant future.
Fall....with color splendor observed at a distance
Winter...with pristine black and white beauty observed in stillness
then Spring...with color and fragrances best observed up close.
I too am peering into a distant future and with quiet trust am waiting for that what is being created in lives all around me to be found to be safe and blessed come spring.

Ever been to Pumpkintown (while feeling punk) ?

2011-10-24T14:50:00.001-06:00

Continuing with our South Carolina adventures...
We drove back to Greenville SC on Sunday night. Bernie had to go to work the next day.
Outside it was warm and rainy.
I felt totally glum, and a tad "off".
I snuggled down into the hotel bed, and began to read the book "Unbroken", which has been on the best seller list for months. It is the true story of a WWII POW.
Quite a gut wrenching story.
Probably not the best "read" for one who is already feeling inexplicably down.

Outside the window the warm fog and rain offered my mood no respite.
At noon Bernie called for me to come join him for lunch.
I got turned around driving the few short miles there, and he was pretty unhappy by the time I got to his office.
No one with a short lunch break enjoys waiting outside a building in the rain.
We did have the best shrimp and grits ever.
(Harry and Jean's Restaurant: in case you ever visit Greenville...don't miss their version!)
I then returned to the hotel to camp back down deep in our bed's down comforter.

Occasionally I would prowl out to the living area of our suite.
For some reason the door lock system kept refusing my key card and if I left to go to the lobby, eight stories down and then came back to the room, the key swipe wouldn't work.
I'd have to go back down and have them reset the card every time.
Eventually they had a building engineer come up.
He suggested that I wasn't doing the card swipe right.
He is very lucky to still be alive after saying that to me.
I clenched my teeth and suggested HE try the card.
It didn't work for him either, surprise surprise...
He kept swiping and felt that two reads out of eight tries wasn't too bad.
I disagreed.
Eventually they installed a new card reader to our suite.
Grrrrrrr.
But that wasn't the only low moment.
Right after lunch with Bernie I got a call letting me know I had been selected for a position with the St*te of Ut*h L*bra*ry system.
(I am putting * in the words as I do not wish to "found" if you know what I mean....)
I had been looking for a new job, and had applied for the open position which had sounded interesting.
I was shocked when six weeks later I was called for an interview.
The interview had gone well two weeks earlier...I felt that I had nailed it.
I just mentally wasn't in the place to get the news of a new position while in SC.
Especially since I was feeling funky.
And the new job would be both full time and much more challenging.
Anyway, I told the person calling me I needed to think about it before accepting.
She was OK with that...but said they would like me to start ASAP.
I asked if it could be a first of Nov. start date.
She was OK with that too.

So while I was mulling what it would mean to take this job (which believe it or not also required getting a truck driving license...I don't do well with mirrors...)
I got ANOTHER call.
Remember I had written about having a racing heart rhythm back in August/Sept?
I had seen my general practitioner who referred me to a cardiologist, who put me on a monitor for a full month.
(My upper chest area skin may never look the same, the monitor pads left circles everywhere.)
Well, this second call on a rainy unpromising looking Monday was the cardiologist's office.
They wanted to see me IMMEDIATELY.
I explained I was in South Carolina.
They asked if they could see the next day.
That got my attention fast, let me tell you....
Eventually we booked an appointment for the day after we got home, which was to be Friday, five days after this disturbing call.

It kept raining all Monday and Tuesday. For every moment of bliss I had experienced in Charleston I now was experiencing a nightmare.

What exactly was the problem with my heart?

What would the new position be like, really?
How could I start a new job if there were cardiac issues to address?

Would you be surprised to learn that it wasn't too long before I was mentally and emotionally strung out?

And that then the stress then took on my digestive system?

Being sick in a hotel is NO fun.

By Wednesday I had had enough.

I took the car and decided I would drive around and eject any troubling "what if?" from my mind for the afternoon.

I bought a map, turned on my cell phone's GPS and headed out to the countryside.

It was a bit sad to realize that fall scenes like this are common just about everywhere.
Where was a scene that was as distinct as the sights of Charleston?

Perhaps the southern red soil was distinctive?

I had decided to head to the town of Travel's Rest, thinking it was a small town.
It actually was a sprawling area, so I took another tactic:
I would take a drive to Pumpkintown.

Nice back roads, pretty scenery, and I had no idea what charms a placed called Pumpkintown might hold.

I felt my hopes rise when I saw the sign...

And then I was at the town's crossroads.
In one corner: A produce stand.

In the caddycorner...a general store.
Now aren't you glad that I went to Pumpkintown so you don't have to?
Really, there wasn't anything else to see.
This was as good as it gets.
From there I checked the map for other "interestingly" named places.
"Table Rock" sounded interesting.
So away I went.

At Table Rock State Park, beauty berries were to be seen in large plantings.
Their leaves had turned golden in the sun; the plants growing in the shade still have deep green leaves.
I thought that was kind of interesting.

A view to Table Rock.
Hmm.
Well, I was not overly impressed.

The state park offered camp sites and cabins. I could imagine camping there and hiking up to Table Rock would be a nice family activity if I lived there.

I glanced at the interpretive materials and still was not impressed.
(Do you get the sense of how glum I was during this last part of the trip?)

This was near the same area where the movie the Last of the Mohicans was filmed.
I think I might have liked it better if I could of seen Daniel Day Lewis charging through the trees with his long musket in hand.

Someone in the park commented to me that the triangle on the rock face is quite curious, and no one knows who put it there.
I really didn't care.
I still don't.
From there I turned my car towards a place called Pendleton.
Bernie's great, great, great, great, great grandfather Reason settled there in 1790 with his wife Comfort.
Their son Elijah, Bernie's great, great, great, great grandfather was raised there, and left there to enlist in Washington DC to fight in the War of 1812.
Elijah's son James Joseph (JJ) was born in Pendleton.
Elijah died of consumption there in the late 1820's.
JJ was taken as a six year old up to Illinois with his mother and her brothers.
To the best of our knowledge, he never returned, and we only know that Reason continued to live there until the late 1830's when we lost track of him in the census.

My goal in visiting Pendleton:
To photograph buildings that stood during the time that Bernie's family lived in that area.
I parked in front of an old gas station that had been converted into an antique shop.
Since it was quite warm and I was still feeling quite off, I didn't indulge in shopping.

Instead I crossed the street to go over to this building.

Farmers Hall. The dates were right for Reason to have visited this building. He was a lawyer but of course would have farmed as well.

I did admire how the town had added fall touches to the area of the town square.

The Pendleton Visitor center was inside the Farmers Hall. I was able to get a handout that would guide me through the area's historical district.
The woman manning the center said they could do some research on my husband's family if I wished. I got an email address and hopefully they will assist me in identifying which bit of area property was owned by our family way back when.

I selected to see only the building that would have been standing between 1790-1840 when Reason's family lived in the area.
Lowther Hall was one such candidate.

Lowther Hall.
Now seriously...would you have guessed this house dated back to 1793 if you didn't have a guide to tell you so?

Of course the massive oak tree in front might have tipped you off that it was a very old piece of property.

Next up...Elam Sharpe House. Built shortly after the War of 1812.

It had that double stair case to separate the men from the women thing going on.
I would have liked to see what it was like inside.
These houses are private residences and no touring hours were offered.

My favorite house...

Boxwood was my idea of a charming home.

Another view of Boxwood.
I could picture Reason riding up to this place, maybe standing in front discussing the War of 1812 with the owners...

Reason was born in 31 August 1766 in PG Co. Maryland and was baptised in an Episcopal church.
I do know his wife, Comfort Dedman was from a family with a varying political/religious take on life, and he met and married her in Rowan North Carolina.

Not sure if they were Episcopalian or not while they were in Pendleton.
I do know he and she were not buried at this church.

Kind of too bad that they weren't as it was such a charming old graveyard.

The damp air brightened then clouded over and over again, with the moments of sunlight causing the fall leaves to glow like stained glass windows.

Pecans had been hulled and shelled at one crypt.

I just wandered a bit...wondered if Reason or Elijah or even JJ had ever had to attend a solem occasion here during their lives.

Wondered if they had ever sat in the pews on a fine autumn day and enjoyed seeing the colors glowing outside?
Perhaps someday I will know.
My explorations done, I got back into the car and drove back to the hotel.
We flew home the next day with a stop over in Detroit.
Flying while one's stomach and emotions are churning is pretty crummy.
The next day we saw the cardiologist.
I have what now seems like a rather common (and mostly correctable) heart rhythm problem that will be treated on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
I accepted the new job and will begin work on Halloween (!!!)
How much time I will have to enjoy blogging once I begin work will be much more limited than before.
I hope I will still be able to enjoy reading favorite writers and friends, and post occasionally as well.
My new position will involve me overseeing librarians across the state...I will be traveling to rural areas and hopefully my camera will go with me as I travel.
My life is taking a turn, heading into a new chapter both physically and professionally.
And in other ways as well...

To be continued...

Charleston-Day Two

2011-10-21T13:44:00.000-06:00

We only had but two days in Charleston and not two full days at that.
As usual on our whirlwind trips, we made the most of it.
Leaving our bags at the check out desk at the hotel Sunday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at a very simple restaurant around the corner then we bought tickets for a mule drawn carriage tour of the city.

The carriage company was VERY communicative about how well their horses and mules were kept; a sign compared working standards and benefits for human employees verses the animals.

If one was smart, one would make sure they were hired on as a mule instead of a human.

And then the City of Charleston had very stringent rules about how many carriages could be on the city streets at any time.

The carriage driver had to pull up to a small building where the woman pictured above would record the number of carriage passengers on each tour for taxation purposes, and the route the carriage driver would be taking was determined via a ping pong ball lottery.

The whole process was as complex as the woman's hairstyle!

On the road at last...or at least this is what a similar carriage tour looked like.

We passed the round church that was built like a three leaf clover...it was named the Circular Congregational Church.

Here we are reflected in a window with me shooting a picture...

I got quite a kick out of seeing American flags flying with varying numbers of stars in the field of blue.
Whatever the date was that a house was built became the guideline for what flag style was flown.
If I had a better grasp of flag history and faster counting skills I could have known in what year many of the houses were built.
The tour guide really caught my attention when she shared about how Charleston was used for the location of the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot".
Since so many of the city's houses were built during the same era that the movie portrayed, the production company just came into town, bought filming rights to various streets, then stripped the streets of any modern details (lamp posts, parking meters, telephone wires...) then back filled the street pavements with dirt and instantly the scene became authentic in every way.
The only "modern" detail that had to remain by law was the fire hydrants.
That was an easy fix. Hoop skirted women stood over the hydrants to hide them when necessary, or they were covered with barrels or straw bales.

Isn't this a gorgeous front entryway?
In the 1800's a woman's ankles were NEVER to be seen. To prevent a man inadvertently catching a glimpse of that delicate body part, women used one stairway to the front door and the men used another.

Keep in mind that Charleston is in the very warm south...so women compensated for covering up their legs and arms by dropping their bodice levels down to what would be today considered scandalous levels.

Even back then, according to our tour guide, men would still race to the top of the stairs in order to offer their hand to the ladies assending the staircases, with quite a rewarding view provided by the lovely lady lifting her hand.

Climbing steps in a hoop skirt was something that was taught in girls finishing schools.

Mid 1800's fear of slave uprising gave birth to this kind of iron work...sort of like barbed wire only much stronger and prettier.

A beautiful front door....

Beautiful windows seen through barely dappled autumn leaved crepe myrtle.

Boxwood garden features were pretty common. I really like how they look and think they must look especially nice to look down on from balconies above.

Curved glass in an oriole window...I suspect if they were to be broken it would be quite expensive and difficult to replace.

How fun it must be for the home's owner to sit in the window drinking tea and watching what is going on down on the street below.

The guide said this double circular balcony originally belonged to a girls finishing school. The girls had to learn how to glide on to the porch and glide back inside without their hoop skirts lifting at any time.

The basement of the building housed a school for wayward boys.

Interesting combination of building usages.

Have to wonder if the girls were good influence on the boys or were the boys bad influences on the the girls?
Somewhere there must be a diary or two with some pretty interesting entries about clastine meetings...

This photo was taken around 11 am on a Sunday morning. Check out the smocking on the little boys suit.

The Gullah people that live in the area still practice basket weaving skills that are found in Africa. The slaves used the weaving techniques and passed them down to their children. The skills are used to create baskets that sell for a good price now and probably has sent more than one Gullah child to college over the years.

Nice autumn street scene...it is warm enough for shorts, but a colorful long dress works well too.

After the tour we stopped for coffee...I noted the lace and cowboy boots outfit on one customer.
Surprisingly to me, a lot of the local girls sported cowboy boots.

We meandered about windows shopping.
Don't you love the triple reflection: Me in the window glass and the entire building behind me reflected in the glass cloche?

Many of the shops were closed, it being Sunday and all, but the shop with all the hats in the window was open.
Such a cute sinamay straw hat and dupioni silk trim!

Love the use of dotted veiling.

An entire shop was devoted to honey.

The honey shop's light fixtures were made from bee keeper bonnets and bee hive frames.
Taste testing honey was fun.

I did mention how much I like bow ties didn't I?

Purple, ponchos and animal skin prints are big fashion items this fall.
This outfit kills three birds with one stone.

I always enjoy seeing vintage jewelry.
Can't quite figure out where I would wear such a piece, but it sure is pretty to look at.

Anyone know the name of this interesting flower? I like the fuzzy pom pom center combined with the simple yellow petals.

I would love to be a member...where do I sign?

Dabs of fall color mixed with a touch of Spanish moss.
So romantic....

Ignore the lady taking the photo...Check out the shape of those lamp shades!

I'm guessing this is the Episcopal church based on the English styling.

Charleston, established in 1670. A fact noted on the storm and sewer drains just in case you forget...

I would SO be willing to paint a house that coral and cream with black and grey accents...why do so few people do so?

So many houses sported their pedigrees.
I like that.
I suppose it would be presumptuous to place such a item on a house that is but 57 years old like mine though.

Can't go wrong with black shutters and lively window boxes if one wants to make one's old building look fantastic.

More is more when it comes to window boxes in my opinion.

Our tour guild explained that a long ago earthquake caused the church town to lean by 6 degrees.
Once she pointed that fact out it became really obvious to me.

Spanish moss...autumn leaves...bliss!

We knew we would only have time to tour one house so we choose one with a koi pond.

The gardens surrounding the home...

which had multiple fountains had us facinated even before we were able to enter the home.

While we waited in the gift shop the sales clerk pointed out that the magnolias were in bloom out of season. This was the first week in October and yes, we saw magnolias blooming all through the area.

Quite odd according to the clerk.

Facinating details were to be seen everywhere in the small garden.

The original owner of the house we were to tour was a very wealthy merchant and he build mansions all along his street for his children to live in after they married.

Pictured above: One such mansion.

The wife of the owner of this home with a very large balcony was unable to have children so she routinely indulged local orphans with ice cream socials and other events on her balcony.
Her husband indulged her by widening the balconies so more and more orphans could be invited.

Awww...how sweet is that?

The front porch of the mansion we were to tour. The lead glass doors were amazing.

Porch celing...note the gorgeous wood work!

Haint blue ceiling of course!

The home's original owner was fascinated with rope motifs. Ropes were a symbol of ships and merchants involved with shipping and the bigger the rope the more wealth was suggested.

The history of the building was incredible.

When the merchant's daughter was to marry, she awoke to find a check for something like $75,000 on her pillow from her daddy (back in the early 1800's) and a letter wishing her every happiness while she would go on her two year honeymoon in Europe. When she returned, her daddy had built her a mansion a few doors down from his house.

Must have been nice....

Eventually the family's fortunes were lost during the Great Depression and so was ownership of the mansion we were to tour. The house eventually became the property of the US Navy and given five coats of navy gray paint inside and out.

Eyes crossing at the thought...

The current owner is a Washington DC attorney who restored it to perfection and filled the inside to the brim with amazing antiques. When our guide opened the front door our jaws just dropped.
No pictures allowed inside sadly...
I could have spent hours peppering our guide with questions about everything.
The home is lived in by the owner.
The family resides on the top floor and their guests use the side stair cases to go in and out during the day when tours are given.
Tours occur 365 days a year...
At the end of each touring day, the velvet ropes are tucked away and the family uses all the rooms...entertaining family and friends regularly.
I have to commend the owner for allowing the public to see all the fabulous antiques and may I just say if they ever need another person to fill up the dining table at one of their parties I would be available.

The front of mansion with Bernie....

In case you ever go to Charleston....the mansion we toured is called the Calhoun Mansion.
If you are afraid you will never get to Charleston to take the tour, the next best thing is to visit it (including inside!) via the slide show on the Calhoun Mansion website.

Another wealthy father built his three daughters homes. The story goes that the girls were not quite attractive. A story is told about each daughter's appearance and how the architectural design mimics their facial features and coloring. Recently one of the houses was purchased and the new owners were contemplating paint their new residence a new color.

Charleston told them that the colors had to stay as they were in keeping with the guide's gossipy story.

A gate that looks a delicate as fine lace...

Bernie was such a good sport to pack my camera bag around as we meandered the city.

Neither of us can remember what this bench is used for...we should know this...we have seen such a bench in several historic southern locations.

Awww...a heart!

This isn't actually leaning...

Another view of the girl's finishing school balcony.

Love the tiled Mansard roof

It did start to rain a bit.

A bit more window shopping...
Wouldn't using this set of china make for a fun children's party?
Oh heck, fun for any age party.
I dibbs the yellow bird plate!

Fun fashion...like the coral reds...especially as a side feature in the dress.
Bet it would make you look thinner.

We were getting hungry for lunch and without a moment of hesitation headed back to 82 Queen where we had had dinner the night before.
These two guys were walking just ahead of us for a couple of blocks; we whispered to each other our curiousity about where they were headed so dressed and carrying construction tools of hammers, levels and tape measures.
They disappeared into a building before we got up the nerve to ask them.

Are these chairs not the best? Everyone seated in them look like they have sprouted fairy or butterfly wings.
I did try the chairs to see if they were comfortable.
They were!

The history of 82 Queen Restaurant. Be sure to visit their website! There are recipes!

I had a Charleston Breeze again.
This time they mixed it a lot stronger.
A whole lot stronger in fact.
Bernie had the Ultimate Bloody Mary.
Oh it really was!

As much as I wanted to try the Chicken and Waffles, Bernie went for the Low Country Crab Benedict; I went for the Charleston Benedict.

The lunch menu looked pretty awesome too...

Bloody Mary swizzle stick. The pickled okra was delicious when pulled off the hand tied stick.

Southern biscuits are all that they say they are.
Sorry everyone else...it isn't the recipe that makes it happen, it is the fact that southern biscuits are made with a soft wheat instead of the the northern raised hard winter wheat.

This repast we took in the garden.
Bernie really liked that Bloody Mary...

We were watched and sung to by cute little birds who knew where to find fine food.

They showed up right after the waiter took our order and seemed to know that was the sign that good food was on the way.

And was is ever!
Cheesy grits, and shrimp cake in chived Hollandaise sauce.
Oh yum!
I could lick the screen right now!

We had finished breakfast when the rain picked up and chased us inside for our dessert.
Check out the bar treat on the menu: Fresh Pork Rines served daily.
I was so sad that we wouldn't be around to get a taste of them at 4pm.

But...the peach praline cobbler quickly made up for it.
Bernie and I both kept going "Oh my gosh...oh my gosh..."
So good and the recipe is on the restaurant's website!

Leaving the restaurant we headed back to the hotel to get our car and bags, stopping to admire small bits of scenery.

The hotel's rose was still in bud and I thought its lovely blush was a perfect emblem of Charleston's charms.

We drove by the seaside walkway, and got out to check out the choppy storm driven waves. A storm was heading to the area up from Florida; if this is how a small storm affected the coast I can't imagine what it must look like during a hurricane.

Huge mansions were just across the street from the sea wall.
Lots of them were for sale.
Was it the current poor economy driving the sell off or had facing down hurricanes gotten the best of the owners?

Facing the water further on was the Battery Park (which is not how they say it in Charleston but I can't recall how to say it properly).
I know the cannon was real; I just can't imagine it being used in real life.
It must have been really something awful to see in use.

We drove away from Charleston in a steady rain, heading back to Greenville where the next day was to bring many changes to my world.

Were you wondering like I did about what was with the oddly placed moon on the South Carolina flag?

Answer: It isn't a moon but more likely a gorget, the mark symbolizing a second son on a family crest.

Here's the story of the flag design:

The palmetto tree represents the palmetto logs used to construct the fort on Sullivan's Island. These logs are soft, so the cannonballs that the British fleet fired on the fort did not shatter them.

The top left corner bears a crescent shape. The symbolism of this has long been a matter of controversy - suggestions have included a crescent moon and a gorget, a throat proctective piece of metal or leather in armor.

As for the crescent, it is known to have been worn on the caps of South Carolina's revolutionary soldiers, and it is likely according to many experts that it is a gorget, not a moon as is commonly thought.

However, its significance is based more on legend than on documented facts. One hypothesis is that it stems from the crescent as the cadence mark of a second son. It is true that many of the early colonists were second (and third, etc.) sons who had no inheritance in England and came to America to find their fortunes.

Their coats of arms would have crescents to distinguish themselves from the first sons; and thus, perhaps the crescent was adopted as a symbol for the colony.

It is fun to look HERE to see what cadence mark you would have had if your family had had a crest!

To be continued...

Charleston!

2011-10-17T12:13:00.002-06:00

"Where did Jill go?"you may have wondered upon seeing no blog updates from me for awhile.

Answer:
South Carolina!

The painting above is entails three symbols of the area:
South Carolina Flag
Carolina Warblers
Carolina Jasmine

I thought the moon on the Carolina flag was oddly placed.

That sent me researching.

It isn't actually a moon.

Did you think it was?

More about that later on...

Bernie was scheduled to be at his office in Greenville SC for a few days, so using his frequent flier miles, I joined him on his trip upon being promised a long awaited weekend in Charleston.

We flew into Atlanta, then on to Greenville on Friday Oct. 7, spent the night there then drove down to Charleston on Saturday morning.

Called a Church City, the area includes several lovely churches with grand spires that spear up to the sky.

It didn't take long for me to be clicking away as we strolled around the downtown Charleston area near our hotel.
I realize from looking at my photos that my eye is drawn to things related to history, architecture, gardens, fashion (hats especially), food, and quirkiness.
It astonished me to discover that FOUR signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried in Charleston.

The air was warm and humid as so typical in the south; a walk through an old graveyard was not to my soul nor skin the least bit chilling.

We did eventually locate all four signers...

Reading the inscriptions could have been an interesting full day's activity.

But there were other sights to explore that pulled us out of the mossy graveyards...

Narrow pre-Revolutionary War era streets lead straight down to the water front.

I thought it was rather warm to be wearing a felt hat, but if one was from the area, and fashion inclined, the mild weather just might have held just enough chill to warrant going about with such a topper.

Two large churches were situated just a block apart and both had weddings in progress.
I had done little recent reading about the history of Charleston, and the fact that it was an area populated by French Huguenots had escaped my notice in my earlier reading.
Now the word Huguenot has a new meaning to me: Our son's wife is a descendant of one of the first Huguenot Families to come to America in the 1600's, the Agees.
Did you know George Washington's was a grandson of a Huguenot?

I could see a French influenced in the choice of architectural style.
And I liked the simple palm leaves used as wedding decorations.

It is a marvel to me to know that my family was toughing it out in Massachusetts as Puritans while this church was being built.
Bernie's family was living in Maryland at the time, and Rachel's family was in the area at the same time.
That was some twelve or thirteen generations ago...

Oh the beautiful crepe myrtle bark!

We later learned that there was a total of six wedding happening within a few blocks that afternoon.
No wonder everyone on the streets were dress so nicely...

Gawking around...

Checking out the ironwork fence festooned with four-o'clock blossoms and taking peeks at the wedding party members amidst the tombstones.
We later learned that one man was responsible for most all of the wonderful Charleston iron work, and that when he died recently the entire town mourned and placed ribbons on the iron work in his honor.

How could anyone not enjoy walking down streets like this one?

Or wonder how many people have lived in these row houses, peeking out at the water from the top dormer windows?

We later learned about all the fires that Charleston has suffered over the centuries with such tightly spaced buildings.

Home and business owners would contract with privately held fire departments, placing the contracted fire department's plaques on the wall so when all the city's fire trucks responded to a fire, they would know which fire department should be putting the fire out

If one didn't contract, and a fire broke out, the owner had to pay an increased premium on the spot to have a fire extinguished.

If they didn't want to pay...the fire departments let the building just go ahead and burn to the ground.

Brick sure seems like a better choice for building materials.
Of course I might be prejudice as my ancestor in Massachusetts was a brick maker and his bricks were prized on the east coast during the late 1600 and early 1700.
I would have loved to have known if some of the bricks used in this old town had been made by my ancestor...it is is quite possible!

Mule carts and horse and carriage carts carrying tour groups clattered by us as we walked the historic streets.

We took a similar tour the next day.

The cat and butterfly bounced and swayed just slightly in the very light breeze.
I really wanted to buy this piece; Bernie made me think through where I would put it...and I really couldn't come up with a workable place just then.
If I ever do figure out a place...I might have to contact the shop and have them ship me one!

A park shaded by old Spanish moss strewn oaks was just steps away from the waterfront, or battery.
It didn't take much to be able to picture people in costumes of various eras walking the coastline, watching for ships and cringing from Revolutionary and Civil War battles.

A pineapple shaped fountain could be heard splashing over the sounds of the soft shoreline waves.
We later learned why the pineapple became the symbol of hospitality for the area:

The returning husband would bring his wife a pineapple. After the fruit was cored out, the outside of the pineapple was placed on the home's fence as a sign that friends were now welcome to come over and join the reunited couple in a repast featuring favorite foods and pineapple of course!

(Or at least that is how the story went in Charleston when we heard it).

Flowers and plants of a tropical nature bloomed all about us...some of it quite out of season too.

On one street a fire engine sirens wailed loudly.
We turned the corner wondering what we would see.
A Fire Department at a bachelor party...going at full swing!

We walked and peeked into private courtyards; I sadly realizing that this weekend could be given over to the famous annual Charleston's Home and Garden tour.
So much to see, so little time in just a tad over 24 hours long visit.
I made do with getting glimpses of gardens as I could.

The next thing we heard was a bagpipe being played, and church bells pealing like crazy.

The Huguenot church wedding had ended...

And the bridal party was on the loose!
Don't you love the bride's sassy red shoes flashing out as she dashes across the street?
Running in a hooped skirt...now that is brave.

Whew!
I don't know what the rush was all about.
Note the fire department plaque behind the girls in red.

We didn't catch sight of any of the other bridal parties around town. Wish we had.

Bernie laughed about the restaurant named Petticoats.
They were closed for renovation, but on the door was a sign saying Bootleggers, their bar to the rear was still opened.
The south has priorities.
The bar...it must remain open!

Southern sea coast towns love their pink building with black lacy iron work.
This was a hotel that Robert E. Lee saved from burning during a fire that destroyed most of the city.
He was on the balcony, spotted smoke and directed that all the hotel's blankets be wetted and placed outside the walls.
In later years, the building had to be razed due to water damage (Lee's saving water soaked blankets were not to blame....)

The original lamps and trim work was able to be saved and reused.

Two restaurants had caught our eye:
Husks, which is pictured above and winner of a Bon Appetit's best new restaurant award...serving only food locally grown, and with reservation out weeks ahead...

The traditional "haint" blue paint on the balcony's ceiling; the color is said to deter spirits or "haunts" from entering the home.

I do like Bon Appetit magazine, even though some of the recipes go completely over my head in time, effort and ingredient lists.

Given a choice, I will select Southern Living as my all time favorite "foodie" publication.

Southern Living name another restaurant just a half a block down the street as their Best in Charleston restaurant.

The restaurant's name?

82 Queen.

Same as the restaurant's address.

I. Totally.Trust. Southern. Living.

Ambiance?
Oh yeah...

Housed in an old, old house....

We were seated by choice upstairs in a garden view area.

The menu.
We wanted to taste everything but defaulted to just having appetizers to enable tasting as much as we could in one sitting.

The drink list had me wishing I could likewise sample several drinks.

I settled on the Charleston Breeze.

Bye bye Cosmo, Mojitos and Margaritas.
I have found a new love for my cocktail time.

When Southern Living says to be sure to have the She-crab soup, you listen.
Every single spoonful made me MMMmming and wanting to live here just so I could have this treat over and over again.

That first plate is holding Fried Green Tomatoes with White Cheddar Pimento Cheese.
The middle plate is an herbed biscuit, and in the back is Shrimp and Grits Bites with Red Pepper jam.
Did I ever mention how fond I am of Shrimp and Grits?
I am.
Very.
The sideways plate hold the last of the Crab Cakes.

As I told our waitress: I wanted to live the rest of my life in that restaurant. Seriously.

Since moving into 82 Queen wasn't really an option, we eventually left and went back out to the streets.

The shops were now closed and I had missed this book signing by several hours.

Darn it.

I did think of all my northern cookbook signing friends and wondered if this author and they would every explore each other's recipes.

To me, Charleston is the kind of town where men wear seer sucker suits in the summer and blue blazers in the winter, both of which look especially charming with extra brightly colored ties.

I totally love the look.

I love bow ties...I even like the look on dogs!
Dogs would do well to consider ditching their tacky old leather collars and begin to sport bow ties instead.

Charleston has a great antique row.
Anyone know what this thing is for?

I would love to join this local society...especially if male members wear bow ties.

The hats and dresses in the windows had my rapt attention.
Isn't that dress fabric wonderful?

A nod to another fashion era of cloche and flappers.

The next day I came back and discovered the hats in this shop were from the Toucan collection.
Just lovely!

It had been a long day, starting quite early due to the time being different on the east coast.
Back to hotel we found our room and snuggled in for the night...

To be continued....