Lava Hot Springs, 2nd visit

Doesn't this look like some European spa, perhaps somewhere in the alps?

It sure felt like it was when we were there last weekend.

It was hard to remember we were only a two hours drive from our home!

 

A few years back Bernie and I drove the two hours up to Lava Hot Springs Idaho for a Valentine's Day weekend.

This past weekend we went for another weekend.

Boy did we wonder how we could ever have stayed away for so long.

During our first visit we used an old hotel's private mineral pools; this visit we were encouraged to try the municipal pools.

Oh my goodness.

They were awesome!

There were five hot mineral pools, two with soft gravel bottoms, two with air jets, and each at a different temperature point with spring fed water flowing through them freely.

The hottest and most scenic pool was this pool.
When we arrived there was one other person soaking; he was engrossed in a book at the far end of the pool.
With the steam rising around us, for all we could see we could have been all alone.

The pool was edged with rock stairs so we could rest in water levels to suit ourselves.
Eventually we decided we needed a slightly cooler pool and shuffled off to this pool.

Of course we eventually tried all the pools.
On Saturday the snow was falling heavily with quarter sized flakes sizzling away on our water warmed skin.
We soaked for two hours in the snowfall.
I don't think I have ever been so totally relaxed and blissful in my entire life.

The next day (when I took these pictures) the skies were blue and I appreciated having the option of soaking beneath the red tarp like covers.
No worries about sunburns for me!
I commented to Bernie that as much as I had been longing for some tropical beach time, this actually was even better as I could lounge in the water without needing sunscreen and long sleeved tee shirts to fend off the sun.
Plus no messing with air travel!
We had packed and been out the door and on the road in under an hour.
The sound of the water running, the play of the water reflection on the red tarp, and the surrounding snow covered mountains just did something to me.
My brain quieted.
I relaxed.
There was no need to do anything but breath and enjoy.

A stream runs next to the pools and through the heart of little downtown Lava Hot Springs.
Downtown being about six blocks long...

We were staying in a three bedroom house that was a rental available through Graystone Manor, which is where we had our breakfast each day.
The manor proper has five luxurious bedrooms which were booked, but we got to peek inside them before the guests arrived.

With the snow falling hard, it was easy to imagine we were in some European setting.

And since the Manor was just across the street from our little house, it was a lovely little walk to breakfast each day.

This was looking down the street.
Cute little 1940's bungalows lined the street on each side.

We walked the same path under a full moon on our way to our dinner.

Our bungalow came with a state of the art kitchen.
We later learned that the owner of Graystone Manor had intended to live in the house with her family.
She loves to cook and had the kitchen remodeled to suit her cooking needs; I was more than happy to let her do all the cooking for us up at the Manor for the weekend!

The bungalow could sleep eight, but was just right for the two of us for the weekend.
When we weren't soaking, napping, or eating I was re-reading "The
Best of James Herriot", which was such a perfect books for our snowy weekend getaway.

The bed had a wool filled mattress pad.
I had heard how wonderful such a thing was and can now testify that all I had heard is true.

The little 1940's era whimsical lamps and art added to the quaint feeling of the place.

One of the upstairs bedrooms....two beds in there and across the hall was was a boy themed room.

Well, back to Greystone Manor.
Inside the entrance was a Valentines worthy welcome.

Outside the kitchen were cookies and hot drinks available all day for the guests.
At another table there were six kinds of wine, also available to the guests throughout the day.

The breakfast and dining room.

We had the table in the back corner beneath the window.

Breakfast on Saturday, with Danish Aebleskivers. 

Thought this was a great idea to use individual tea strainers for powder sugar!
That night we had a lovely four course meal and the next morning we were served
Dutch pancakes, or what I had always called Deutch Babies.
The food was delicious, and Vicky, the owner and head cook was so delightful!
What a go-getter she is, with a full time job with an hour commute each way, and also owning/managing the Manor flawlessly.
She told us the building's history:  It was an abandoned church building and when she bought it it had suffered from years of neglect.
Now it is a lovely inn and also has a non-denominational chapel for wedding and room for a good sized reception too.
To see more about Greystone Manor visit HERE.
There is a side link to Vacation rentals; we stayed at the Lyon House.

Five inches of snow fell on Saturday, by noon on Sunday most of it had already melted away.
We promised ourselves to come here more often, and definitely to come in all four seasons.
I confess, I looked at some real estate listings while we were in town.
The thought of living two blocks from the pools, in a little bungalow with a library just a block away sounded mighty appealing to me.
At the other end of town there is a water park with huge water slides, high diving boards and play features that any grandchild would enjoy.
There was also a very active senior center and workout center, several churches, campgrounds nearby and a university just thirty miles away.
Hmmmm....
It is a very relaxed place to live, according to Vicky.
People walk to the pools in their bathrobes, and according to her, no one raised an eyebrow when parishioners show up in their bathrobes for Mass.
The pools open at nine and stay open until 10 at night.
Above the pools is a mountain peak that has a lit letter "L" glowing in the dark.

The gentle sounds of passing trains in the distance added to the sweet home feeling of the town.
It was hard to pull ourselves away when it was finally time to head home Sunday afternoon.
A "Brigadoom" like feeling haunted  me; was this place for real?
Would it always be as relaxing as it has been the two times we have visited?
I plan to find out.
Two hours is not that far to drive after all.
For a weekend, or even for a day!

Lessons in the snow

Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow, or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,

  Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

Job 38: 22-23

 

So...God has a treasury of snow.

And according to God's Word, He stores snow against the day of battle and war.

How?

When?

Where is this treasury?

Will we get to see it in heaven, or will it be emptied during the Last Battle?

Yesterday this oak leaf ringed snowflake fell on our back deck.

It stood out from others that had fallen as it was clear.

While all snowflakes are born in clouds, some pass through clouds of frozen water molecules that stick to the crystal snowflakes.

The molecules may attach lightly, or may cover the snowflake so that only the flake's shape remains.

Here are a few tiny, tiny flakes that landed without breakage or rime.

Wednesday night when the snow first began to fall it was 42 degrees outside.
Way too warm for snowflake photography; the flakes melted upon contact with the earth.
I kept one eye on the thermometer and another on the flakes.
Most of the flakes were falling as graupel, that is, as fuzzy mini snowballs.
Inside each graupel ball is a crystal snowflake that has been encased in frozen water molecules.
As I watched, I noticed needle shape flakes began to populate the deck's railing where I was watching. They form at around 25-21 degrees F. 
I checked the thermometer.
The temperature was about 28 degrees.
I imagine it was much colder than that just a bit higher up in the sky.
It is so fascinating to me to realize that water molecules are organized by temperatures, and that bit of physical science mystifies scientists.
Why do the molecules make needle shapes at one temperature, and go all lacy doily like at another?

A rimed and nearly melting snowflake.

Rime makes snow beautiful in its own way.
Rime also figures into the way snow layers and according to one website, both helps and hinders avalanche issues, depending on various factors.

 

As I watched the various elements that are part of snowflakes, I had a small sermon preached to my heart.
Each snowflake is created to elegantly reflect light and be utterly transparent.
And yet...should it travel through a cloud that isn't creating snowflakes but is creating frozen water molecules instead, the beauty of the snowflake (at least to the eye) is marred, and possibly made unrecognizable.
The snowflake may arrive and shatter, or may arrive when it is too warm and will melt away instantly.
Or it may manage to journey unmarred, and arrive unseen.
Or it may be seen and noticed.
In the end, all the flakes will pass away into another form; water, or vapor.
Rimed...
Graupel...
Shattered...
Melted...
What do you think your life journey would show?

"He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth'..."

Job 37:6

I believe He sees each flake's journey, and ordains it, just as He does our own.

 

It would have been a LOVELY day....

Oh yes, we were cued up for Valentine's Day around here.
Bernie flew home from being gone a few days ready with gifts and cards.
I had our table set and the champagne cooled.
Then Luke's Valentine's gift arrived for me.
His mother got the same gift.
Stomach flu.
Ewww.Valentine's evening was spent uncomfortably with Luke's unwelcomed gift.
(He had come down with it two days before himself.)
The High Silver Tea?
It didn't stand a chance of happening.
Bernie promised he will take me out for High Tea at the Grand American Hotel soon to make up for it.
And since no good deed ever seems to go unpunished (ahem, I exaggerate) Bernie himself then got his belated gift of flu a few days later.
Today is the first day in a week where food has been consumed without caution and energy levels have returned to a sort of reasonable level.

Well, there's always next year right?

(Collage: My Rhodora Lenox china, circa 1950's,  from my grandmother with matching fuchsia goblets, an antherium plant gift from Bernie, the unworn hat and gloves and the little Valentine's Day bears who did wear their hats anyway.)

Valentine's Tea: Hats and Gloves!

Valentine events:  I've got them covered, millinery wise.
I've made a flirty little cocktail Valentine hat in case I ever get asked out for cocktails on Valentine's day.
(This has yet to happen...)

A Scottish style cap for a casual lunch Valentine date...
(This has actually happened.)

And I have made, years ago, what I would consider a Valentine Tea hat just in case someone decides to put on a Valentine's tea.
And thank goodness, at long last, someone HAS decided to put on a Valentine's tea!
A Valentine's High Silver Tea no less.
About twenty ladies from my church will be in attendance this coming weekend.
I thought about what I should wear:
 Obviously the tea hat of course.
I decided I would go low key with the outfit: a white tailored blouse under a wrap front black cardigan that is pulled together with an interesting black obi style belt, a black pencil skirt, and black heels.
A red hat delivers enough punch so a plain black and white outfit would work for balance.
I tried the pieces on and then decided white gloves really would look smart too.
After all...a high SILVER tea surely means gloves, right?
I dug out my small collection of white gloves (lace, sheer, cotton, kid, wrist, short, arm length... the decision was easy, the short gloves worked with the long sleeves.)
As so often happens, I had been looking at historical clothing on line and had seen some really awesomely decorated/trimmed1800's era gloves.
Plain white gloves seemed rather blah after seeing how gloves could look.

So why not add to the white gloves?
Doll them up; make them match the hat!
I got out my hat trimming ribbon collection and got to work.

What do you think?

Here's a closer look at the hat's trim.

Some of the trim was ready made, some I stitched from plain ribbon.
I had trimmed the hat before I had had a chance to study ribbonry; I used several ready made flowers and was glad to be able to local those same flowers again at the local fabric store.

I did have help with the project of course.
All three cats cruised by to check out the ribbons and feathers and such.
They try to help, they really do.
I will blog a photo of the outfit as I go to the tea.
What do you want to bet I will be the only woman there in a hat?
Or in gloves? 
Tsk.
I do hope some other woman will at least wear gloves.

Yes, I do love Valentine's Day.
I walked Luke over to the grocery store because I thought he might get a kick out of seeing all the Valentine's Day balloons that are for sale.
One area of the store has a ceiling full of mylar balloons.
He was mildly interested.
I told him all about Valentine's Day, and how guys are supposed to buy their sweethearts flowers and candy and balloons and cards and take them out for a special date and be really romantic.

I think Luke is going to be one of those guys who really, really hates Valentines Day.
Just a hunch.
What do you think?

Snowflakes and Smiles

While New England was being pounded by Nemo, out here in Utah we were picking up quite a bit of snow too.
I was eager to try to photograph the flakes; as it turned out the snow was not very amendable to my plans.

At first the snow blew so hard and fast that the snowflakes were splatted as they hit any surface.
When the winds died down, the flakes turned to sand like bits that had no interesting structure at all.

Then the temperature rose to above freezing.
I watched perfectly formed flakes melt as soon as they landed on any surface.

Not to be denied a photo session, I drove up the mountain to find a lower temperature.
Up there the flakes were still being blown about and were rimed, that is, the crystal structures were coated with frozen water droplets.

Most of the flakes looked like big shaggy white blobs.
This one had a bit of crystal structure still showing.

It wasn't that much above freezing even up in the mountains so I often had to watch the flakes melt just as I got a good focus.
Plus I had no good place to set up my tripod so I had to hand hold my shots.

This one was the best of the lot.
Beautiful isn't it?

Since it is Monday, I thought I post a few smiles that may put a smile on your face.
Baby smiles tend to make anyone smile!

You are welcome to enjoy a quick game of peek-a-boo...

I think the world would be a better place if we all could get in a round of peek a boo at least once a day.

Luke will be ten months old tomorrow.
Time has flown...

Tate is Luke's very best buddy; the cat stays within reach of Luke even when Luke is swinging toys about.
Tate has learned to duck when needed!

Happy Monday everyone!