Shake, rattle and roll!

I was in another earthquake today.
A 4.9 quake hit here in Utah just before six pm. I was catching a quick nap before starting in on some projects, and felt three distinct wiggles. The cats weren't on the bed so I knew it had to be an earthquake.

Is it normal to be so familiar with earthquakes that now I don't even bound to my computer to see what the magnitude was?

Gee...just look at that quake map.
It seem like it was just days ago that I was riding out the biggie 7.2 in San Diego; Utah's tiny red marked 4.9 seems puny by comparison.
Hardly up to San Diego aftershock standards!

But what with the Iceland volcano and China's big quake, I am glad that Utah's "big one" didn't happen here today.

Anyone want to take a guess who gets the next major shake?
(Take a peek at THIS page to see what area seems a bit seismically blank....)
I'm going with Oregon. There have been a lot of little tremors off Oregon's coast lately.
Make sense to think it is winding up for a good one.

On the other hand, there's this quote from the LA Times article:

...researchers say there has been an uptick in earthquakes this year.
The number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 4.0 in Southern California and Baja California has increased significantly in 2010.
There have been 70 such quakes so far this year, the most of any year in the last decade.
And it's only April.
There were 30 in 2009 and 29 in 2008.

From THIS article.

Not to worry though. There are scientist all over the web spilling elaborate mathematical formulas that show the earthquake rate continues well within norm, which they state is a major earthquake (over a 5) somewhere in the world every two days.

All I can say is: If the scientist's math starts to show that more and more quakes are happening, and happening at a rate outside the norm, then they had better speak up real fast.

Meanwhile I'll keep checking the real time shake map regularly on my own.

Scientists: The same folk who once believed that all planets revolve in the same direction as their sun. They just found out that there are planets out there who are spinning in the opposite directions of their sun. According to Physics and Mathematics that is not supposed to be possible.

Call me a science skeptic if you wish.

I just think most scientist forget to figure in things that I do, like the one Whose Ways are Not Our Ways: The Creator of the whole shebang Himself.

What's the buzz...tell me what's a-happening.

Daffodils bloom in one direction.

Turn around and see this.

Look upwards; the bare branched trees have turned pink.

While at home, red summery strawberries nestle into cake.

That's what's happening around here.

I'm thinking about the lyrics from Jesus Christ Super Star:

What's the buzz?

Tell me what's a-happening?

JESUS:

Why should you want to know?

Don't you mind about the future?

Don't you try to think ahead?

Save tomorrow for tomorrow;

Think about today instead.

APOSTLES:

What's the buzz?

Tell me what's happening.

JESUS

I could give you facts and figures.

Even give you plans and forecasts.

Even tell you where I'm going.

APOSTLES

When do we ride into Jerusalem?

JESUS

Why should you want to know?

Why are you obsessed with fighting Times and fates you can't defy?

If you knew the path we're riding,

You'd understand it less than I.

APOSTLES

What's the buzz?

Tell me what's happening.

Here's what made me think of the old song:

The United States Library of Congress has announced that it will be archiving all Twitter messages.

You know, Twitter, that 140 character means of communication that people use to share news that range from the ridiculous to the sublime.

"Tweets" about eating a banana for breakfast; or Congressional votes.

I personally don't use Twitter, but like the Apostles, I always want to know what is happening.

I check the real time global earthquake reports a couple times a day.

Watch stock market reports.

Skip around webpages reporting on medical research, military efforts, decorating trends.

Facebook has replaced phone calls to inform me about upcoming surgeries, legal problems and yes, even deaths and funerals of family and friends.

My brain is addicted to news...did you read about how European flights are all grounded because of the Icelandic volcanic eruption?

(No one I know is currently flying out of Europe, I know no one who lives in Iceland, and I can't see the volcano from here. Why should I care about this? No reason at all, but yet I do.)

The long hand written letter morphed into an email; the journal article has been replaced by the blog.

The phone call is now too burdensome upon one's day; calls are not taken, a few letters flashed onto a screen is preferred.

Relational nuances could be communicated by choice of words or tone of voice; now there is no time for such subtle finesse.

Twitter and text messages go out nuance and mostly hard news free.

CUL8R?

Apparently yes, or at least the cryptic message will be seen later in the Library of Congress.

By whom, and why, I can't imagine.

But if anyone is interested reading such messages again, they will be there.

Whether the writer intended for it to seen again or not.

Candle-blowout day again....

How I spend April 14th in the past:

Newborn-1954

As a two year old in 1956

Age three in 1957-my dad's parent gave me the bunnies!

Age four in 1958

Ahhh...age 5!

It was the beginning year of the tradition of having little wooden angel candle holders on the cake.

Age six with a "Toni" perm and wearing my girl cousin Bonnie's hand me down dress.

1961

1962

1963...age 9

(Still wearing that same hand-me-down dress! Amazing isn't it?*)

1964-age 10, having a birthday party at the Rheinlandhaus German restaurant with friends.
I loved that dress with lavender and turquoise flowers and the bell sleeves made from a sheer fabric.

Age 11: Mom was taking a cake decorating class.

Notice the host of angels on the cake and my blue point Siamese cat Winnie looking on.

Age 12. These pictures are photos of my computer screen taken of the slide pictures that had been loaded onto a CD. Someday I'm hoping to buy a slide scanner and get better resolution.

Teen ager!

Age 14. Mom's cake artistry shows with the birthflower sweet peas decorating this cake.

Fifteen. I loved that knit dress and kept wearing it through college!

Sweet Sixteen...and only one candle for some reason.

My first birthday picture was a printed photo that I've posted before.

Aren't you glad I don't have FIFTY SIX pictures to blog share today?

Whew!

(*I had girl cousins who were dressed identically by my aunt. Bonnie and Chris were two years apart in age, I was the only girl cousin younger than they were so I would get TWO of each of their dressy dresses. The dresses were usually quite beautiful, but it was quite odd to be wearing a "re-run" wardrobe every two years!)

Hoping for Good Feline Garden Reviews

In our living room last Sunday afternoon: Tiggie poses on the edge of the couch.

He really is into posing and is totally aware how well his green eyes match his background, while his orangeness is brought out via color contrast.

Hart on the other hand looks better photographed with Bernie's grey sweatshirt as a backdrop.

His green eyes look pretty good in the room too.

Both cats are staying extremely close at hand since we returned from our vacation.

I think they missed us or something....

Yes...it is lovely to be a cat at our place on the weekends.

The other neighborhood cats feel the same way.

Our next door neighbor's cat "Gracie" comes by our place to spa in the sunshine on our front porch.

She does cat yoga, then give herself a massage by rolling and stroking herself with her pretty pink tongue.

Hart hadn't noticed Gracie out there yet.

Ooops...maybe I shouldn't have pointed out what was happening outside our front window.

(I didn't mention what was going on out our back window....Missy snoozing on the back porch couch. There really is no good reason to totally ruin Hart's day.)

Our house and garden is a cat oasis in a sea of doggie estates.

The neighbors on either side of us have dogs, and the three houses behind us also have dogs patrolling their yard.

Not very cat friendly, or flower friendly either for that matter.

No wonder all the neighborhood cats from other streets choose to hang out at our place on a sunny weekend afternoon.

The cats stroll through our yard like our place was on a garden tour or something.
I have to wonder if they later blog about what they see on some sort of psychic cat communication site.

There are at least three other cats that swing by regularly and view the flowers both up close and then from far away as they perch in the distance atop tree branches and fence rails.
(I decided to photograph the flowers as they see them-up close!)

Believe it or not, we got more snow last night. About three inches of the white stuff topped our garden, but it was melting rapidly by the time I got up this morning.
I think the cat garden review committee will wait until later to come by.

Another storm is scheduled to arrive later today, so the cats will need to plan their day accordingly.

This morning Tiggie and Hart took one look out the door at the wet drippy snow and retired to their favorite napping places.

They're not much on doing committee work anyway.

Can't say as I blame them....

I'd be snoozing with them if it wasn't a work day, and I avoid all committee work like the plague.

I really could use a snooze: I was up until 2 am last night painting and thinking about how to re-arrange and re-do our downstairs office area.

I came up with some great ideas!

Is it spring time inspiration or snowfall clarity that has been powering up my creative circuits? New ideas have been slow to come to me over the winter for some reason.

Whatever the cause of my creative rejuvination, I am glad.

I'll do some "Before and After" posts after the work is all done, and

after the touring cat window peek snoopervision is finished.

Gotta to get feline approval...who knows what they are saying to each other about our place on their blogs!

San Diego Vacation part 3: Easter Sunday

Do you ever visit your childhood church and remember years of Easter Celebrations?

I do...

It seems impossible that I first saw these windows when I was about five years old.

That was a half a century ago.

The years slip by so quickly!

A couple of "Easter Finest" pictures...no baskets or bunnies, no gloves or frills this time like there always were in the past.

(I borrowed a hat from Laura, as luggage space was tight this trip. The hat is really too small fit properly on my head, but it was still fun to wear. Two other women wore hats too!)

Mom and Me.

The scent of Easter lilies fill the sanctuary.

Then it was home for Easter brunch.

The milk glass dishes originally belonged to a dear friend and neighbor; when she passed away a few years ago, she left the set to my mom.

The milk glass has an opal like color, a bit reddish, on the rim of the goblets when held up to the light; that little test is how you tell real milk glass from reproductions.

I did think it was quite humorous to see my parent's neighbor's children hunting eggs in the front yard of my parent's house. Apparently the Easter bunny found it easier to leave his bounty around our property than theirs!

Our "good Christian family" drove off to church, leaving the heathens to their own pleasures.

(Mom gently tries to witness; the neighbors are content with an unredeemed state of being.)

Back in SLC our neighbors took their child to an Easter egg hunt up at the ski resort.

The pictures of kids hunting eggs in the snow was quite amusing!