Field Trip: Yesterday's Work, Today's Pleasure

As some of you more faithful readers know, I work a short day on Thursday and have Friday-Sundays off.

To make the transition from "Employee" to "Free Spirit" on Thursday afternoons, I try to go explore something in the downtown area before heading home.

Last Thursday it was a wonderful small park about three blocks from where I work.

Long ago, in the late 1800's, the property belonged to Brigham Young and served as a kitchen garden/orchard for his large family.

Newcomers to the area frequently found employment working in his gardens until they could get settled on their own properties.

To commemorate those long ago times, the park was created as a sculpture garden, capturing daily life of those pioneer workers.

I think any mother of a boy child can relate to this sculpture: what is it about boys and sticks?

The hardworking mother knows to keep her boy close at hand, letting him play as he will as she toils.

I appreciate the strength that is portrayed in this nearly life sized sculpture. It is particularly fun to see in the summer when the water flows through the real life crops (in this case peas and onions).

Seeing her work in the typical long sleeves and full skirt of the day makes me pause and count my blessings: I routinely gather most of my produce while wheeling a cart through an air conditioned grocery story, comfortably attired according to the season...which means bare legs and arms in the summers.

How quiet and hopeful she would have been, this imaginary woman of the garden. Her work was not for trendy carbon foot step saving food production; she was gardening well aware that her family was counting on this garden for their future meals.

As I walked the shady path beyond the statue, I was entertained by a musician filling the air with sweet notes...

sounds that were sweet enough to match the sweet fragrance of the blooming peonies against the fences.

The lady of the hoe had a friend (sister wife?) who stood at the end of the row, looking at water and soil mixed in the cup of her hands.

A little further on men were hard at work, harnessing the stream for use at a water wheel.

Utah's state motto is Industry; it's symbol is the beehive. Work was an expected part of life and was celebrated as a good thing by those who settled Utah.

I often marvel at what they managed to create with simple muscle power and hand tools.

Team work...a way to build community; a way to invest in each other's future.

Was it all work for those pioneers?

Again...if boys are involved....

You know there was horse play and jumping into the mill pond on a hot summer day!

Plenty of people now days see this scene and think "oh how pretty!"

Would many of them know why such a structure was built?

Would they think it was just to make a splashy sound with water falling from the wheel?

To my delight, the park planners included a means to pass insight and knowledge along.

I think the workers in this garden area might have been particularly curious about the use of this structure.

Free concerts in the park each summer?

Actually not too surprising; Brigham Young was a great advocate of music and theater.

He led people who worked hard, but knew how to enjoy and make sweet music too.

Is it a sad commentary that my life with all the modern conveniences still has me so busy that I have yet to attend one of these concerts?

I think it is...

(I personally enjoyed a few sun warmed peas fresh from their pod as I walked about.)

Was this garden a one-of-a-kind thing in early Salt Lake City?

No...in fact the city (originally called Zion) was designed to make such farming possible for just about everyone. The city plan won awards in it's day for being so forward thinking and practical.

Just across the street from the park are large colorful houses on lots that clearly have been subdivided to suit building needs of the modern era.

The view the other way is of the state capitol.

There is not a bad view in any direction!

So this is how it was was..a city block of park...at 3 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon.

Just me, a flautist, a mother, grandmother and two children are there to enjoy the space.

I have to say it was hard not to ask the small family to pose for a picture. The small boy in the stroller could have passed for the twin of the wee lad playing with a stick in the water; the women were attired to match the garb of the women at work in the field.

I wondered if the sculptural scene struck them as depicting "modern day" or "olden times" activities?

And what did the little girl think of me as I went about in my slacks and sleeveless top?

(your chance to read more if you wish...just click on the picture to enlarge.)

The park is situated just slightly below street level, and a berm of wild flowers catch the breeze that blows freely through the open iron work fence.

Such a pretty place to visit, and so close to where I work.

There is a reason I rarely go there on a work day:

I'm afraid I would find it too hard to leave!

Wish He was on that cloud...

Just taking a break on the deck, enjoying seeing the clouds boiling up over the mountain tops.

The small black clouds are making me curious.

The huge white cloud is roiling up and up, while the small black ones seem to be undecided about what they are going to do. One moment they are there, and the next they have slipped down again behind the mountains.

Is Park City on the other side of the mountain getting rain?

Will we get an afternoon shower?

Or is all this cloud posturing just for show?

(It was just for show...)

I do like cloud watching.

No commercials, no plot, no re-runs...

Occasionally I muse about the Scripture passage:

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts 1:6-11 KJV)

Well, "like manner" doesn't exactly say "from a cloud" but still...in whatever backdrop is there upon His returns, I am totally up for Him coming again.

Psss...they cut trees at that place...

The Monday after returning from South Carolina passed in a bit of a fog. Tuesday I report to work mid-morning so I can stay later for the evening student's needs. Tuesday for me is a great day: I can sleep in late if I want to!
The Universe conspires against my preference, as my daughter Laura says. I was jolted from my slugabed slumber by both a doorbell ring AND urgent pounding on my front door.
Fearing a dire situation demanded my attention, I rocketed out of bed and down the hall, bare footed, bedhead haired and comfy pajama attired.
I peeked out, then opened the door to see a rather handsome young man in dark glasses and a hard hat leaning against my door jam.

A pink hard hat no less. And other guys stood a few feet back on the lawn.
"We are with the utility company" the guy in pink began. "We need access to your yard to trim your trees." He gave me a look that let me know that this was not a polite request; it was instead a statement of fact.

"The gate's unlocked on the side, knock yourself out," I told him, then shut the door intending to lumber back to bed. It only took the short walk back down the hallway for my mind to register that :
1. Once again I had been lured into conversations at my front door in a slatternly state of attire.
2. That photographing the guys would make for a great blog posting.

I quickly changed to a more appropriate dress, ran a brush through my hair and farded a bit.
Satisfied that while I wasn't at my most fetching, I did look good enough to grace a hard hat occasion.

By the time I was out in back, the crew was arriving with the various cutting tools of the trade.

They hung the loppers from the tree until it looked like an industrial form of Christmas tinsel was being tried out.

Then Pink Hat scaled the tree!

I stood on the other side of the lawn with his crew; one guy was directing cuts, the other two were there to tote out the trimming.

I waited until the climber had gotten pretty high up and settled before turning to the head guy on the ground and announcing quite seriously that there was a baby robin up there and I didn't want it disturbed....tell him to get out of my tree.

I waited a beat as I watched the head guy's faced harden into disbelief before adding "Just kidding!"

He promptly wrapped his hands around his mouth and called out "Hey...the lady says there is a baby robin up there and she wants you down NOW!"

I snapped the above picture just as that bit of news registered in the climber's mind.

And just before the "Just kidding!" was added.

Climber danced from branch to branch, balancing his weight against straps as he cut and lopped the 80 foot high redwood's branches clear of the wires.

The wires run behind our view of the tree so I wasn't upset at the slight gouge in the tree's profile.

The cutter would yell "headache!" then wait for a response in kind from his crew below before dropping the branches that he had cut.

Our faithful orange cat Tiggie naturally came out to snoopervise.

The work being done apparently met with his approval; after a few minutes of observation he sauntered off to take his second morning nap.

The team next moved on to our neighbor's trees. Now the above picture is the view from the south-western most corner of our deck.

This, however, is the view from the couch on the deck and our kitchen window. Oh...would he, could he please, pretty please trim a few of the pine's branches to give us a clear view of Mt. Olympus?

Nope.

No such luck.

Oh well...if we want to see the wider view, we will just have to hike a few feet to the deck rail to see it.

I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Bernie had been home at the time.

Knowing him, he probably would have gotten the guys to not only trim our neighbor's tree so we could have a clear field of vision, but they might have also mowed our lawn and washed our car to boot.

I also wonder what trimming might have been made possible if I had opened the door dressed like a "desperate" housewife, instead of a drab one.

And if I had been a few year younger, and few pounds lighter.

I just don't know, and I guess I never will.

But I will think about it each time I see those view blocking branches, and will be plotting and planning what I will be doing the next time the utility company comes by to trim our trees.

Last Day in SC

Now remember...I flew into Greenville South Carolina at almost midnight on Thursday, Friday I hung around the hotel, we went to the Reedy River Falls park and dinner, then on Saturday we went to Biltmore's Mansion, Garden, Wine tasting and then to the Huntin' Camp.

Sunday: Oh let's see...what southern favorite haven't we had yet?
That would be Low Country Boil.
Oh that Southern food is SO good!

A couple that we knew from a company that Bernie worked for in Texas moved to South Carolina awhile ago. They invited us over for lunch.

Actually I hadn't met Kim, the wife and cook/decorator/teacher and all around very fun person before.

Their oldest son joined us at the table where the five of us spent a few hours chatting and laughing like we had been best friends forever.

Darn it...why is it that people that I really like never seem to live in the same town that I do?

Or the same state, or part of the country, or even the same COUNTRY as me?

Anyway, around four o'clock Bernie dropped me off at the airport and I winged my way back to SLC.

My whole getaway time in the Carolinas clocked in at less than three full days.

I'd do it again in a heart beat.

Three day getaways are a blast!

I can see more and do more in three days than most folks crowd into a week!

PS: That traditional Southern breakfast that we shared in the room on Saturday morning?

Biscuits and gravy, of course!

South Carolina Adventure: Finding a Great Restaurant Tips

On our way back from Biltmore in North Carolina, we drove through the small town of Traveler's Rest. It was getting past dinner time, and we were on the look out for a place to grab a good southern home cooked style meal.
Just in case you ever find yourself in similar need: Here are some useful tips.

1. Restaurants with hand painted signs generally have great southern food.

2. Restaurants that drop letters from words in their name (example: huntin' instead of hunting)
generally have great southern food.

3. Places with gravel parking lots and SUVs and trucks out front generally have great southern food.

4. Places with rocking chairs on the porch generally have great southern food.

5. Places with spittoons next to the rocking chairs on a porch---prepare for awe inspiring
chow!

6. Taxidermy with friendly signs: Oh this place is going to be GREAT!!!

7. Large scale examples of taxidermy staged with folksy wreaths and kitchen utensils: Prepare for a meal of a life time.

8. Decorative cheesy theme lighting: Oh yeah...you have found a winner!

I ordered a fish plate, Bernie ordered the buffet with several barbecue styles in the mix, along with all the the traditional "sides".
The waitress took our orders, and moments later a hush puppy filled plastic basket lined with wax paper was before us.

Usually I just take a nibble of a hush puppy...and usually don't even want to finish eating it.

Not this time: We somehow had stumbled upon the Holy Grail of Hush Puppy-dom.

Serious. I could have eaten the whole basket all by myself.
These hush puppies were the best...ever..in...the.whole.wide.world.
They were so good I am considering writing them for their recipe. Or going to Travel's Rest on a Hush Puppy Pilgrimage every year.

Dang. I am drooling just thinking about the things.

I had only wolfed down about half the basket (and this after having said to Bernie when we sat down that I really wasn't very hungry...) when my dinner arrived.

The plate was served with the fork stuck upright in the coleslaw.

How fun is that?

I usually don't care for fried cat fish, but this was good stuff.

The slaw was also good, as was the pickles.

My other "side" was a new taste treat to me.

Fried sweet potato "chippers", sprinkled with brown sugar. Yes...they were great!

I think I will give this a try at home, but I'd add a bit of salt and pepper to the brown sugar sprinkling.








Bernie was busy filling his plate with meat topped with barbecue sauces from the various colored squeeze bottles that lined the top of the buffet area. He didn't find any that he didn't like...I can't recall if he had a favorite.

I snuck a bit of peach cobbler off his plate though. Oh sigh...it was delicious.
Swilling sweet tea like a local, I felt right at home in the south again.

Of course we did a bit of people watching too. The family at a long table in the center of the room had the cutest baby that they passed around as they ate. At one point an older woman, (presumably grandma) had the little one who had been given a pacifier to suck on.

Grandma pulled the paci out, and shoved a HUSH PUPPY straight into the kid's mouth!

Then she pulled the hush puppy out, dipped her finger into some butter, and stuck that in the kid's mouth for a moment, then re-inserted the hush puppy.

I about fell off my chair!

Talk about starting your kids young on the road to appreciating southern cuisine.

Huntin' Camp, as I later learned, was given FOUR STARS out of five on several restaurant review sites.

And...they have HYMN singing nights posted on the calendar!

Well, shut my mouth, as they say in the south.

If we had hit Huntin' Camp on hymn singing night I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven. In fact, I think I'd probably still be there.

Well, just remember to follow my tips and you too will be able to spot a great southern restaurant while on the road too.

And get this: When we left the restaurant it was dark outside. In the forest and grasses around the parking lot were the tiny flickering lights of the sweetest sight in the south: Fireflies.

Fireflies!

Blessings upon blessing!

I do not understand why God choose to bestow fireflies only to a few places on this earth.

I swear fireflies flickers are like seeing a hint of heaven.

If you have never seen fireflies sparking on a warm summer night...add it to your bucket list today.

Heck...add a trip to "The South" to your bucket list.

(And plan to eat southern food until you die happy!)

Biltmore Estate: Antler Hill Village

I thought it might be a good idea to put a picture of the map of the Biltmore Estate so you could get a better idea of where we meandered while we were visiting.

After the gardens, we drove up to Antler Hill Village.

Originally it was the area where the help lived and "commuted" the two plus miles to the main house when needed.

George Vanderbilt envisioned a self sustaining estate. To that purpose, he created a farm that would provide all the foods needed to feed everyone on the estate, both residents, workers, and guests.

Then he went a step farther, and established a dairy!

The Antler Hill Village, which is now basically a tourist venue, has an ice cream parlor with an entire wall covered with a photo of the Vanderbilt Dairy trucks and drivers.

His dairy provide quite a lot of employment to the area!

The quote above the ice cream parlor door was amusing.

One of the richest men of the time...and he decided he wanted to dairy farm!

George built his dairy between 1900 and 1902. It was one of the first "modern" dairy in the area and eventually the largest dairy in the South East United States.

By the 1970's....a different direction was chosen: Instead of dairy farming, they would become a winery.

Gotta wonder what took 'em so long to figure that one out!

I really need to find out if they need a wine librarian to manage their wine library....

Each visitor to Antler Hill Village is invited to free wine tasting.

A group of six is gathered around, and an employee is there to pour a sample of as many kinds of wines as you would like to try.

We worked our way through the list....

I decided the Century White with an aroma of roses and fresh mint was my favorite.

The wine bottle even comes etched with a drawing of the Biltmore mansion!

After the tasting, we peeked around a fly fishing shop, a foods shop, and a few other places.

The child's sized tea set was adorable.

In the fly fishing shop was hung many pictures of the Vanderbilts. Edith is the tall one in the fabulous veiled hat. Don't the ladies look like a fun and friendly group?

You can tell people had fun while visiting, even if it meant wearing corsets while you went riding.

Edith was apparently quite the fisherwoman. With each picture I saw I could see that she had a happy disposition. She and George had one daughter, Cornelia, who was a darling girl as well. George died suddenly following complications of an appendix operation. The couple had only been married 16 years. As she wrote in one letter, she couldn't believe he was gone; she kept expecting that he would be home any moment....

Edith later married a fellow of British Royal lineage. Together they produced two sons. I thought it was interesting that she and George only had one child, yet when she remarried in her forties she produced more children.

In a way she had a sad life: orphaned at age 10, then sent to be cared for by her grandparents who both died while she was in her teens. She and her sisters were then sent to France where they were under the care of their french nanny. It must have been shocking to lose a husband after having suffered so many losses early in her life.

She made the decision to sell most of their property to the National Forest Service, yet continued to live on the estate. She was known for her efforts to promote literacy and helping women to learn crafts by which they could support themselves if needed.

We only spent six hours on the estate.

As you can see, it would be quite possible to spend several days on holiday participating in a broad assortment of activities.

Or just sitting around the Antler Hill Village Green, when a live band played pleasant music and children frolicking about the lawn made for a perfect place to relax.

(Especially after sipping all that wine!)

Next...to dinner at the little town of Travel's Rest.

(Wouldn't it be fun to live in a place called Travel's Rest?)

To be continued....