A few questions

"Have you entered into the treasury of snow?"


"Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water?"


"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"



"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you?"



"Have you entered the springs of the sea?"



"From whose womb comes the ice?"



"And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?"

"Where is the way to the dwelling of light?  And darkness, where is its place,"



"That you may take it to its territory,
That you may know the paths to its home?"



"Do you know it, because you were born then,
Or because the number of your days is great?"

"Has the rain a father?"

"Or who has begotten the drops of dew?"



"Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?'
Can you set their dominion over the earth?"



"Who has put wisdom in the mind?
Or given understanding to the heart?"

"Does the hawk fly by your wisdom
And spread its wings towards the south?

"It dwells on the rock, and resides
On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
From there it spies out the prey;
Its eyes observe from afar.
Its young ones suck up blood;
And where the slain are, there it is."

"Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?
He who rebukes God, let him answer it."

(Bernie cross country skied for an hour while I snowshoed along beside him, photographing Mill Creek after our heavy snowfall last Saturday.  That evening at church we saw an video of a man walking down a paved road and speaking the Job chapters 38-40 in one long shot.  It was so stirring to hear the passages read aloud...and when I looked at the pictures I had taken, the scriptures came back to mind.  If you are looking for some good "read aloud" material for a snowy day, those passages are marvelous.  And no...I don't know the answers to any of God's questions, but I hope to find out from Him in person one day.)

The babies get to visit and wear hats

The neighborhood babies had a gathering at our place.
The almost two and a half year old and almost one year old humans came over to visit with the eight month old kitten.
The three of them hadn't gotten together since last October.
I was afraid I would miss seeing the almost one year old crawling; as it is she is standing without support and will be transitioning into a biped any day now. 
I was also afraid my kittens would prove to be typical "old peoples" kind of cats; that is, would run and hiss at attempted childish interactions.
My fears were unfounded; I got to see the littlest girl's "four on the floor" wiggle butt phase of life and Baby Tate took to being petted and toted about with a steady purr and good kitten manners.
Frenchie chased string and came by to snoopervise the activities.
(Hart and Bitsy hid as soon as they heard unfamiliary footsteps on the living room floor.  They just don't do party very well.)


Of course I couldn't resist dressing up the girls.
Their mother is German, their father is French, and the girls have had a certain stylish air about them from birth.

The oldest girl enjoyed using a flashlight to explore cat hiding places.
Don't you love the polka dots, ermine and rhinestone bobble combination?

I've said it before and I will say it again: it is never too soon to learn the joys of wearing a hat.
A little girl in a hat: Adorable beyond words.

And I wish I had a video of clip of the oldest girl, who already speaks four languages, departing with a sweet "Good bye Frenchie!" in French.

How cute is that?
VERY cute!

Frenchie takes a walk

Frenchie!  Get OFF the table!

Oh wait a minute...

She's walking on the outside of the second story window, on the ledge, which is a scant two inches wide.

"I'd like to come inside now please."

(Now how the heck did she manage to walk from the deck across the window, then turn around on the two inch ledge and walk back?  I didn't notice that part.  It must have been pretty interesting to see, a chubby cat doing a 180 degree turn around on a small ledge. Sorry I missed seeing that!)

"Ask me no questions please.  Just accept that cats have mad skills that humans will never understand."

Four Day Weekend Fun

Feel like guessing what we did this weekend?
The picture above...that was Monday afternoon's adventure.
Oh go ahead....guess what it was all about.



We drove to Midway (about a 40 minute drive from home, past Park City) and checked in at this cute little building.
After signing a couple of pages of release forms we were free to get going on our adventure!



The temps were in the 20's....so of course that was even more motivation for us.

The bags were to hold our clothes after we got changed...

Starting to get an idea?



The white dome in the first picture is actually a crater with a hole up on top, and a natural hot spring pool  has formed inside over the eons of time.
The crater opening is a bit hard to see as hot air rises from the surface of natural spring fed pool and collides with the cold air coming down 45 feet from the cater opening above, and that creates a constant fog.
The pool? It goes goes waaaayyyy deep.  Sixty five feet deep to be exact.
So deep that the pool is explored by scuba divers.

After changing into our swim suits and donning a required floation vest, we were ready to get into the steady 90 degree water for a nice soak and paddle about.
I had my hair clipped up and figured I'd keep my head above water so my hair wouldn't freeze coming home.
Well, that plan went out the window right after I missed the lowest rung on the dock ladder and went ker-splash, glasses, hair and all.
Oh well!
Good thing I had packed a nice ski cap just in case I happened to get splashed.

Bernie and I bobbed and peeked at the limestone formations of the crater walls 

and watched scuba divers far below us use lights to check out the pool's hour glass shaped depths.

The color of the water was an amazing deep azure blue, and the few underwater spot lights let us catch some of the underwater formations from the surface.

Our skin was soon covered with a light air bubble fizz, and we relaxed and just enjoyed the time together.
It smelled nice too...not one of sulfer type mineral springs, the water had a nice blend of relaxing minerals.

A visit to the Homestead Crater has been on our "go see" list ever since we moved to Salt Lake.
We've still got plenty more adventures on our list.

And if we need a nice warm soak inside a crater after such adventures...we know just the place to go!

I did not know tea could do that

(If the video above is not functioning, go to HERE to see it on the web.)

I don't know how I stumbled upon blooming teas, but once I saw a picture of tea "blooming" inside a clear glass tea pot I was hooked.

Naturally I wanted to give flowering tea a try before investing in a clear tea pot and the various teas available in the flowering option.

I happened to see a Numi flowering tea box at our local market and decided to make a test run using their teas.

I discovered the tea comes shaped in a ball which are awfully pretty even before they are allowed to flower.
Since I didn't have a clear tea pot, I rustled up a clear vase to use for my trial run.
I heated the vase with some hot water, poured that water out, ran more hot water (just below boiling) into the vase and dropped in a tea ball.
Family was visiting after a ski outing, so we all sat around the table to see what would happen.

In about five minutes the tea ball had unfurled and the water had steeped to a pale golden tone.
But...how would the stuff taste?
Turns out it tasted AMAZING!
Usually I put a dab of honey in my tea, and Bernie uses a splash of milk in his.
This brew was delicious served straight up.
I used a tea strainer just to catch a dreg or two, but I could have skipped that and still had a cup good enough to enjoy without dodging stray tea leaves.
We drank up, and refilled the vase with more hot water, just to see if the product's claim that multiple steeps were possible from one flower.
By the time we had refilled it four times the flavor had grown a bit weak so we figured we had gotten sixteen cups of tea out of the one ball. 
Clean up was a snap: I pulled dumped the flower out in one piece.
So much nicer than rinsing and rinsing to get rid of all the tea leaves that usually stick to the inside of a tea pot.

So how do they make flowering tea?
Workers tie the tea leaves and flowers together in a design using very fine thread.
A bit of peeking around revealed to me that there were as many "flower arrangements" as there were tea companies.  Of course I immediately wanted to order each and every single kind, just for the sheer pleasure of watching them bloom.

I might just start collecting...sharing...trading with friends....

But first I need to get serious and order a proper glass tea pot to do the flowers justice.
Bernie and I will have to put our heads together to decide which tea pot style suits our fancy.
Decisions, decisions.
We've got a happy kind of decision to make.

Early Spring Madness

So I was just heading down the hallway when I happened to glance into the bathroom.
Apparently wee Tate had decided to take a bath all by himself.



He tried to look away...pretend I didn't see him.



Of course I had to check to see what really was going on.
He had that look that all of us veteran mothers recognized:

Shall I tell her or make something up?

I still haven't decided if I got a straight answer.

What he said was:

"I'm in here because my tail needs catching!"

And with that he began to chase his tail!



Round and round he raced...


First going one way...

And then the other!



Sometimes that sneaky tail would hide and it took a moment to spot it again.



At one point a bit of fuzzy fur looked a bit like his tail.
But he didn't stop there for long.
He chased and chased and chased that tail until....



Until at last that tail was caught!

"See Mom?  Look!  It's my tail.  I caught it!"



"I am such a good tail catcher!  Nobody is a better tail catcher than me!"



(Oops.  I didn't know Auntie Frenchie was watching.  Oh gee....)




Frenchie:  What do you think you are doing young catkin?
Tate:  Um...catching my tail. 
Frenchie: You are in a BATH tub.  That means you have to take a bath.  You know...wash up!



Tate: OK, fine.  There.  I washed my paw.  You satisfied now?



Frenchie: Get out of the tub and let me see.
Bitsy: What'cha all doing in the bath room?  Can I use the tub too?  I want to get in the tub with my jingle ball and make it roll round and round.

Jill: Let's find something else for you kitties to do.  Go take a nap or something.  We don't need cats playing in the bath room



(This post was made possible by a touch of spring madness...this was the thermometer on our deck on Sunday.  Crazy, huh?  It made all of us more than just a little bit frisky!)

Hatty Valentine's Day!

My Hysterectomy Hat...you may read about why it has that particular name HERE.

And bright and early at work on Valentine's morning, wearing my Electric Chocolate cocktail hat.

Have to wear my glasses to keep the Librarian look going.

You can see Electric Chocolate as a work in progress.HERE

Would you believe that the office of 34 people are exchanging Valentine's?

We each had to make a box, and wow, some people got really creative.

(thank goodness I had a kitty gift box which I could spiff up in a hurry.  I am long past my paste and glitter years.)

Seeing decorated Valentine's day boxes on desks: I feel like I am back in second grade.

Oh and there are cookies and candy everywhere.

It is going to be difficult to concentrate today with a sugar high.

My Beloved Mr. B. took me to Log Haven in Mill Creek Canyon last night.

It was lovely.

He is in the air this morning, flying off to points east and I miss him already.

Hope you are having a Happy Valentine's Day.