Laura and Margo: Friday's Adventures pt. 1

Friday morning...the skies looked good. Off we went to downtown Salt Lake City to see Temple Square's garden.

I can't resist taking a picture of a wonderful tree bark as we walk to the Square.

We're aren't even there and the photo shoots begin!

This is a small garden outside of the Family History Library...a library that I have spent many hours in tracking our family history.

The hollyhock plantings were gorgeous in front of a historical pioneer cabin which was swarming with visitors. We were more interested in the flowers anyway...

The Garden takes up two city blocks...

It is hard to know which way to look sometimes...it is all so pretty! Distance shots like above...





Or up close of flowers.



Flower beds....





So many colors...and they all go together perfectly.



Refreshing fountains in the shadows....



Plumes of water...



Fountains photographs with friends: better!

A broad shot of one lawn....with an interesting couple strolling about.

A bride and groom!

Isn't that charming?

What a perfect place to take pictures!

Oh there is another couple!

How romantic!

Oops...there's another!

I think I see two couples here...

Yes...two couples! I love how the groom on the platform swung his bride around and around.

Behind the couple is a long shot to the Salt Lake City Temple, where they have just been married.

How many couples have posed just like this?

(answer: a LOT!)

Who could blame them?

The reflection is just perfect on the mirror like water.

The various flower gardens each seemed to have a white butterfly of a bride gracing the scene.

Each couple would come out...and their families would gather on the steps for photographs.

There were two wedding parties being photographed here.

We counted five wedding couples in the hour we were there.

At one point I asked a "Sister" (one of the LDS church badge wearing members) how many wedding were done there each day.

She replied quite a few...and that the temple could manage up to forty weddings a day.

Hmmm....maybe some day I will come there early and try to take a picture of each and every bride.

Just for fun, and for the romance of it all.

(I liked her dress the best...and liked the Hawaiian groom of another couple who wore white and long green lei.)





I learned to tell which bride was which by checking the color of their bouquets.

Wasn't her yellow bouquetlovely...







A red bouquet, and her bridal party wore turquoise.

Notice the modest sleeves on her dress?

The Mormon bride and groom receive a garment to wear continuously after they are married, a short undergarment that covers from shoulder to mid thigh.

A strapless gown would reveal this special "covering" hence the sleeves on all the dresses.

The bridal salons here advertise that any gown "can be made with sleeves" just in case you were wondering where sleeved gowns can be purchased.





We ducked into a building to use the ladies room...enjoying classical music being played on a piano by a young woman with her pre-school aged child sitting beside her.

An "Elder" offered to explain the history of the building to us...I was tempted, but that will have to wait for another day.



Then we headed over to Brigham Young's place.

Yes, the house where Brigham Young lived with his many wives is not only available for tour, but also holds a restaurant called "The Lion's House."

The food is delicious, the workers most cordial, the rolls are legendary, and it is a perfect place to eat while in the garden.

After we ate and snooped around a few downtown sights, we headed up to "The Avenues" where the original SLC residents tended to live.

At the top of the hillside of the Avenues is Utah's state capitol building.

And below the capitol building is a river called City Creek, where people run and bike and enjoy the seasonal beauty just moments from downtown.

The mountains in the distance are called the Western Bench (we live in the Eastern Bench) and the view goes out to the Great Salt Lake and all the city as well.
A storm seemed to be brewing...

(I like the view of Laura's haircut....)



My fearless show-off hospice nurse...unafraid of death!

Yikes!

That's better! Margo and Laura took turns taking pictures of themselves with the capitol building in the background.

Because, you know...the capitol building looks better with a Laura or Margo in front of it!

I'm a bit wimpier.

I'll pose with a front yard wildflower patch... with both feet firmly planted on the ground.

Flowers, fun, and the day has just begun....

More tomorrow!

(Special thanks to both Laura and Margo for letting me have access to the pictures they took too. All three of our camera work was used in creating this post...and I really don't remember for sure who took what picture!)

Laura and Margo Come To Town

Laura and Margo have been friends since high school. Margo has recently returned to live in San Diego as has Laura and the two have picked up where they left off after high school...with about a decade worth of growing up and interesting adventures between them.
(If you keep up with Laura's blog...you may remember Laura's party for Margo's 30th bday..."Paint the Town Red" and Margo at Laura's "Farewell to the Twenties Party." They KNOW how to have fun!)

We had decided to let Laura have some of our unwanted furniture to feather her new nest...which meant a flight here for her and a drive back to San Diego in a Uhaul truck. Margo was willing to tag along to help drive, and to see SLC at the same time.

They landed in a crazy storm...people were making use of the little white bags in the seat pockets in front of them...if you know what I mean. Laura and Margo both agreed that was one bumpy storm!

Once they grabbed their luggage and raced through wind and huge rain drops...and I had wrestled with wind warnings on the freeway...everything else was easy going.

We walked over to our favorite Sushi restaurant for dinner....

Laura had her favorite treat...raw quail eggs...

The sushi chef had a new menu item...something called a "bomb." It was delicious...as usual.
We are getting to be regulars at the restaurant, where the waitresses wear kimonos and greet everyone like family.

We had mochi ball ice cream (mango and green tea) for dessert after several orders of various sushi treats, but the chef then surprised us with his own special happy ending to the meal...this fanciful creation of watermelon and strawberries.

This was Thursday night...the weekend was off to a good early start.
Friday's adventures tomorrow!

Saturday Snippet

Laura took over 400 pictures today. I took...well, let's just say the camera was rarely out of my hand.

This is my "neighbor around the corner" front yard tree. I have no idea what it is called just yet, but isn't it interesting?

A close up of the fluff....

Anyone out there know what kind of tree this is???

(Maybe I'll have to knock on the neighbors door, introduce myself and find out about the tree!)

Be back tomorrow with more!

Venturing into the Stone Age

The Stone Age...now isn't that cute name for a business that sells rocks and stones?

Lots of picture worthy rocks to see...and to consider for future landscape renovation.

This trip was just to whet our appetite, and to give us fodder for dreams and plans.

It was raining, which was so much the better as the wet stones colors shone in the wet.

The copper based green stones are sometimes found here as entire house fronts!

Regular sandstone and "chocolate" sandstone behind. Decisions, decisions...so many variations to chose from.

But here's the real draw: we'd like to install fountains in the garden, and have decided that the drilled rock style would be perfect in our garden.

We just have to decide where in the garden, and what kind of rock we would want drilled.

I'm leaning towards red rock...but the Japanese part of the garden might do well with a black stone. Maybe we'll have a few fountains scattered about...

To dream, think, imagine, plan....that is half the fun!

The fountain could also be on a flat style rock, and would flow river like down the face.

We definitely will be getting a stone bench....or two. I imagine lots of pictures being taken of friends and family seated on such a garden bench!

Eggs, rocks, fish, birds, flowers and faces...speckled things charm me into smiles.

Other rocks have stripes...doesn't this look like wood grain instead of rock?

I could imagine resting on this slab, looking up at a starry summer sky...

(A cherry tree was in the corner of the property, heavy with the sweetest ripest cherries. I could have snacked on them for a long time...it is so tempting to be greedy with such tender seasonal fruit!)

The rocks and my Rock of a Husband: both colorful and interesting to observe. It actually is raining quite a bit, and his outfit is a last moment defense against the elements.

So what would you do with this rock? I've seen charming planters made with such rocks, bonsai pots, and candle holders. Maybe a frame for something?

Earth landscape...or planet topography.

We decided to visit a second rock shop down the way....I walked into the display room and immediately encountered two large white ducks inside!

The company had built a huge koi pond and water feature inside their showroom, and the ducks apparently were invited to live there too.

Their pom-pom duck feather do was a first for me. Is this a breed of ducks, or just stylish renegades?

Pop star ducks maybe?

I've mentioned that it was raining...

Later we had lightening and thunder and snow dusting on the mountains.

We left the Stone Age, and rocketed to the Modern Age....a store with modern home accents like this floor lamp...

and this one. Colorful pillows in mod designs caught our eye, and we left with two huge orange and white pillows for our patio couch.

We had a lovely time last Saturday...and so much time has passed since then.

Maybe we need a modern clock to keep up with the modern way time flies!

Lots to do this weekend too....

I'll keep you posted...eventually!

Oh that garden!

Because sometimes visits to other people's gardens are just incredible...click here and scroll through a daylily collection that will make you gasp.

I am SO looking forward to creating an iris/daylily/bulb flower bed on the west side of our house that currently has vinca and brambles sprawling beside the bricks.

It is hard to be patient...but the garden will eventually happen. And when it does, I'm planning to have a least of few of Gotta Garden's daylilies too, like her "Tremor", "Forever Redeemed", and "Peppermint Pinwheel", for sure!

Which of the flowers would YOU choose?