temple accessories

with my free time this summer i decided i better hit the temple some more. i like to go in the morning and then meet up with my brother for lunch. yum! today i got to sit next to a rather delightful older woman. she knew all kinds of cool symbolism in the paintings on the walls. apparently there's a three pronged tree that represents the father, son, and holy ghost. there are also 47 blue medallion things on a border that stand for 1847 - when the pioneers got here! then there were some numbers that had to do with joseph smith but i couldn't quite understand what she was talking about. she was talking in one of those really loud whispers older people seem to have, and i didn't want to encourage her. but the coolest part was that she had this "sock" for her cane. you think you've seen it all in home made temple accessories - the shawl, hairpiece, bag, slippers, belt - whatever - but then in comes a woman with a white crocheted cover for her cane. it was priceless!

fancy!

i picked a fancy new layout for my blog - thanks to kristen for inspiring me! but even bigger thanks to

for designing it!

Expensive pain

What's that called when you bring pain upon yourself? It was amazingly delicious going down. The pain set in right before the check came. At least I was prepared for that pain. I wish the beauty showed better - the broiled tomato was candy.

FDT

Guess what! I had a french-dip-tuesday by accident! I'm at a faculty retreat in park city and that's what they served us for lunch. When I saw it I realized it was a tuesday and whipped out the camera. It was pretty tasty! The mushrooms were a fancy touch.

Not so puffy

This morning I noticed there was a slight shape emerging from my foot that used to be an overstuffed sausage. In this photo I flexed so you could see that even tendons are showing through. Notice the big toe, though, lacks a bit of bendiness. At least the other toes are beginning to act normal. Oh, and my ankle sockline is almost the same - the foot still shows a sock imprint, but the ankle is nearly normal. Hooray for me!
Today I am off to park city for faculty bonding. I look forward to pool time. I hope I can stay awake until then. I need to get packing.

joy!

this is the niece - loving the swing - i remember those days. a swing may still be my favorite thing in the whole world.

time fillers

okay - so it's been a long month of recovering from bunion surgery. there are times when i can't imagine walking around boot free. mostly i miss being able to walk around the park and do yoga. i should get the boot off next monday! i plan to try yoga next wednesday!

so how have i filled my time? well, keeping up on everyone's blogs for one. i've done a fair amount of reading, but mostly watching "the office" and "seven up" series on netflix. i've also done a whole stinking lot of scrap booking. i know - crazy. i'm not a real scrap booker - i just put all my old stuff in sleeve protectors. the funnest part of this month has been going wedding dress shopping secretly. not for me - but for the good friend plewe! she's getting married sept 26! she spent about 2 weeks nearly engaged so we went dress shopping to get a head start. she gave me the chance to practice my secret keeping skills and i'm very pleased with my good work! too bad i had to delete all the wedding dress pictures to help preserve the secret. so there are no photos to go with this post.

well, my lazy recovery days are over. tomorrow i head to park city for a work retreat. a bunch of faculty members "bonding" and pretending they're having a good time while they return to the grind is always a bit amusing to me. i hope to make the most of it!

Improving!

Earlier this week I peeled off the scab and most of the surrounding dead skin. Yes, gross, I know s but it feels good to see normal pinkish scar vs. crusty scabby skin. Again, too much, sorry. so I just wanted to share my improvement. It's looking and feeling better. Swelling is decreased significantly - the boot's velcro is adjusting for smaller foot. I can even sort of mostly stand on it - the foot not the toe - it's still a bit stiff and tender to touch. I should be boot free come a week from monday. Yes I made a thousand bucks on this and had it done for free, but every now and then I wonder if it was worth it. I do like making money.

Live

In case you missed it, randy pausch died today. He's the author of this book i've been reading. In fact, today I read his chapter on brick walls and how he overcame the one that was his wife. His father told him if he loved her he should support her. I agree - i've found in my own life that the best way is to be supportive and then the walls disappear. His book has really moved me. I started it last week when I finished journal of the trail and decided to keep up the inspiring reading. In both books it seems the lesson about life is that you must live it, no matter how much you don't want to. Very good stuff. If I were really blog savvy i'd embed the youtube video of his last lecture, but at least i'm giving a photo of his book - much better than the video, by the way.

memories... all alone in the moonlight...

i'm a fan of the song even if i don't know the words. i'm a huge fan of memories in general - in fact i'm the in the middle of scrapbooking 1993 - i only have about 10 more years to do to get caught up. so here's a game i found on kristen's blog - fun!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Dumb foot

For fhe tonight they were hiking ensign peak and hearing history about it. I love easy hikes. I love history. I love bonding at fhe. But I have a lame foot. Instead I got to stay home and do some mending - seriously - and some tatting. I also watched the 7-up series on netflix. It's pretty cool. Back in the day some british people decided to track the lives of 7 kids to see how they'd turn out. Tonight I watched the one of them being 21. A bit sad in some ways to see the innocence lost. I guess growing happens.

Hate is contagious and you're catching it.

on saturday i attended incredibly strange movie night, being hosted by out/ex blah blah i can never remember the long name - basically odd movies/media shown monthly at nobrow coffee. my friend blair is the curator of the lost media archive and was the host this month. he showed us a movie called "creating rem lezar" - a funny children's musical movie about an imaginary super hero becoming real because the kids use their imagination and really believe. (the above picture is the three of them together when he first comes to life.) there were all kinds of good morals to the story. one of my favorite scenes was a sing along dance through central park where they pick up various musicians and become a semi-parade - it was totally copied in the latest disney hit, enchanted. luckily, disney improved on the idea. the funniest moral was near the end when rem told the kids that hate is contagious and they were catching it. they turned their hearts around and exuded love. consequently, rem stated, "love is contagious and you've caught it." really it was a beautiful line - and nearly as powerful as that scene in return of the jedi when darth vader and luke are fighting and luke is being pulled to the dark side because he's hating. well, there's your moral lesson for the day. go spread some love.

Gas

I have finally finished this book. I bought it for my father years ago because my writing teacher told our class about it. The main character suffers from a lot of gas. Father liked it. He loaned it to the brother who liked it. I borrowed it and have finally read it. I think it belongs to me now. I'm not sure what to say about it. I was offended and entertained. It caused me to think and question and laugh at my on beliefs. It is most definitely a ride - good I think. Read it and tell me what you think. Unique for sure. I couldn't help but wonder how autobiographical it may have been. Just "seeing" new orleans made the read worth it - better than any holiday you might take there - more real.

recovery

everyone keeps insisting that i need to take it easy to let this toe recover. well, i DO take it easy. i sleep in about an hour or two more than normal (during the school year i get up at 5). i usually only do one type of household chore a day - like watering the lawn or mopping the floor or doing laundry - it never really takes more than about 15 minutes of moving. i watch movies on netflix, i read, i tat, i eat (which sometimes involves going out to eat). but generally my summer has a been rather mellow. last night i went to a play - sooooo good - "the curious savage" at hale theater. i loved all the themes it brought up. i got to bed by 11 - not too late. but this morning, i woke up totally dizzy feeling. i got up at 5:30 because i couldn't go back to sleep and i wanted to eat breakfast - the winder farms people deliver on wednesday - i LOOOOOVE getting food delivered to my front door! but after breakfast, some scripture reading, and book reading, i decided i better go back to bed. because i could. and because i still felt a bit dizzy and it bothered me. i took a benadryl (i'm totally staying off lortab if i can help it) and lay back down on my bed in the dark. i slept (made myself keep sleeping whenever i sort of woke up) for a good 3 1/2 hours! wow! it seemed strange to come out to the rest of the house where it was middle of the day lighting. i sort of felt like i missed something. oh well. it felt good. and i can say i obeyed all the heavy hints people keep giving me like, "you'll be out of the boot sooner if you rest more now."

Toe news

Sorry if this grosses any of you out. I'm fascinated by this strange appendage of mine. Besides the purplish swolleness i'm confused by the direction my big toe now goes. That bunion is really gone. The rest of the toes are still used to going to the left - I wonder if they'll naturally move back. The doctor's office visit was much less traumatic today. I was prepared to sit there and stare at my foot for awhile. I didn't wait to tilt my chair back and start relaxing. Don't you think my toe looks odd? I sure do. I can't wait for the swelling to subside and instead of stitches i'll just have a faint line of a scar. I can wash my foot now - i'm sure that will improve its looks rather quickly.

obedience

sunday, our lesson in relief society was on obedience. this is one of my favorite topics of all time - i've really gained a testimony of the power of obedience - it brings me all kinds of joy and freedom. sadly, i fell asleep during the lesson. i totally missed any great new insights. i wonder if i was a bit judgmental of the teacher and thought i knew more than her. what a way to ruin a good sunday - letting pride get in the way of learning new things. that IS the challenge of loving a topic - you tend to think you know everything about it. well i have to say i also know a lot about pride - it totally keeps you from learning new things and appreciating some really great stuff. what about any of you guys? any favorite topics that have changed your life? my other favorites of late are agency and trust.

nader

i just finished watching the documentary, ralph nader: an unreasonable man. wow it was soooo goooooooood! i'm thinking about having a bday party with that as the main activity. i think he's my hero. he's up there with mother theresa. the guy has guts. he's a hard worker. i'm impressed.

ex-boyfriend

it's not always easy keeping up on the life of the ex. i generally manage to stay friends with them, but when they get married they tend to move on with their lives and i never hear from them again. one, however, is my sister's brother-in-law so i tend to hear about how life is going for him through her occasional updates. well, this past week they had a large family reunion. i couldn't resist sharing the family photo that she sent. he's the fourth from left, with a goatee. which is funny to me since i've never cared for goatee's but i can easily believe he has one. he may have even had one at one point in our relationship, but since we dated at byu that probably isn't true. he's looks about the same. he's a good man and i'm always happy to hear how well he's doing.

diet tip

this morning i read a good article in the ny times about advertising and getting people in third world countries to use soap. one paragraph jumped out as worth sharing with my peer group. (you readers are my peer group, right?)

“Habits are formed when the memory associates specific actions with specific places or moods,” said Dr. Wood, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke. “If you regularly eat chips while sitting on the couch, after a while, seeing the couch will automatically prompt you to reach for the Doritos. These associations are sometimes so strong that you have to replace the couch with a wooden chair for a diet to succeed.”

Leatherby's and citrine

Wrong order, but still it came out to be a great night. I'm just sorry I didn't have my cell on me so I could document with photos! I think plewe at least captured the beauty of ice cream, which failed to match the beauty of the music - which was amazing. In fact I cried a bit during one of the numbers - caledonia I think it was. I smiled all through yellow - it's been so long since I heard it. I wish kristin had been there but luckily plewe was. What a great song! Good times all around. I love music outdoors.

failure to serve

yesterday i felt a bit like a failure. i tried to put together a service project but no one can come because i picked a holiday weekend. i think i'll push it back a week and hope people can come then. but on top of that, i went to the humanitarian center for my monthly assignment with the ward, and although a few good friends showed up, the humanitarian center wasn't open. well, it was open but we don't think it was supposed to have been. we couldn't find anyone home and only could turn on half the lights. we debated working anyway, but opted not to since the church is particular about following protocol. so i came home and read some of my book, "a confederacy of dunces," which didn't do much to improve the failure mood. it's a book about an annoying failure of a person. funny stuff. unique voice. try it, but you might not like it.

more than my foot

yes, hard to believe, but there is more to my life than a foot in recovery. so i'm going to try to blog a little about the rest of my life..... hmm.... well, i have been doing some lesson prep. it's a paying job - i took it on as an excuse to keep busy while staying off my feet, plus my friend who needed it done seemed desperate to find a gullible soul. i got to read a book called, "shipwreck at the bottom of the world" - now i'm doing a unit of lesson plans to go along with the book. i really liked the book. it goes along with the davis reads theme, "discovering the majesty within." pretty inspiring - check it out if you want a good non-fiction scientificish historical book.

in other news... i recaulked my tub yesterday. and i have to say it wasn't the greatest job. i'm redoing one portion and wondering if i should have let it dry more before scraping out the fresh but poorly placed caulk. anyway, i'm learning lots!

Wow

this is another post that should have gone up last week (tuesday) but got lost in cyberland....
I'm not sure if it shows its full glory but my breakfast this morning was truly amazing. Let me officially advertise for kneaders. Thick cinnamon french toast with mapley buttery syrup and whip cream with strawberries - i'd have liked more strawberries. Then, not pictured is an orange smoothie reminiscent of the orange juliuses my sister and friends and I tried to create at sleep overs back in high school. Joy!

Patriotic nephew

oops - this post should have been done on the fourth - it got lost in cyber space....
my nephew and I are chilling in the recliner. We match: red shirts and brown bottoms. Earlier today we went shopping at shopko. He sat on my lap as I drove the cart around like an invalid. Sometimes when I wasn't looking the nephew did the driving. It beeps when you go in reverse. You can get whiplash if you don't ease off the gas - it takes a bit of skill.

Change of bandage

Today I saw the doc for a change of bandage. I took the polish off befor going only to discover that my sister had painted all the toes on my left foot - I didn't know the two smaller toes were painted until the nurse took off my bandages. Then the nurse left me with my bare yellowish purplish foot staring up at me for at least 10 min before the doc came in to rebandage me. I wish i'd thought to take a photo then. There was no foot support and the chair wasn't terribly comfortable. I saw a huge dark purple section of my foot where i'd felt the worse pain. I started to get sick so I figured out how to move the chair back. Then I noticed the eons worth of dust collected on the air vent. Then I felt super neglected and started to cry. I remembered a granola bar in my purse so I ate that and tried to ignore the easy listening music that was making me anxious. Finally the doctor came in and rebandaged me without the slightest wiping of the foot. It probably still has the purple inked "yes" on top. I know it has the two red nails. Then he left me and told me he'd get me a shoe to wear in bed that's much smaller. A nurse brought that in and walked away. That was it. I was left to put my boot back on by myself. Lame! I think he's a lazy careless doctor and his staff is thoughtless. At least I won't be going there for the bunion on my right foot. Unless I get to do the research thing again and get paid to do it. My standards only go so high.

Patriotic foot

My sister was kind enough to make my good foot patriotic. Cool, eh?

I'm home

Here's my foot propped at mom's place.

Last pitcher

I drink lots of water while i'm in here. The orange lidded container is waiting for it to go through me. Then i'm free to go. I can walk like the wind now - well, the wind in a walking cast anyway.

Sleep

Yep - that's my big chore for today. Oh, and maybe read some more. Actually i'm scheduled to go home today! Around 4. I walked cane free. Call me mobile. My days of lameness are over! :)

Tv

I'm learning about tv by being laid up. I've discovered there's a channel with law and order constantly playing. The nurses seem to like the price is right. There are a lot of news and sports on tv. Even with more channels there's very little to watch and commercials are always annoying. I think i'll nap some more.

New boot

All along my foot has hurt on the left side (nonsurgical site) and the pain medication hasn't helped. Everyone seemed stumped and said that was unusual. This morning a new nurse came in and I did my usual whining. She quickly insisted that my boot was too small - designed for people with size 7 shoe. I'm a 9 1/2. She brought in a new boot and I have to say it hurts a lot less. She also helped me get my pants off over the boot so I could take a shower. So besides having a new boot i'm clean! Well, not like i've gotten very dirty lying in bed 24 hours - but still, a shower is a nice thing! Here's to another exciting day in bed.

Walking

So my first attempt to walk didn't work so well. I'd just like to report that i've done it successfully 3 times now. The foot hurts and then throbs a whole lot when I get back. I can't imagine doing this without the 24 hour nurses but plenty of people do. I think they take a whole lot more lortab. Walking will be better tomorrow. Time time. Oh - I just remembered the inspiration for this post. I'm watching walk the line. They have cable - supposedly basic, but it's not as basic as mine.

FDT

Look! I'm having my own french dip tuesday. I only wish cindy and plewe were here to join me - or I was "there" to join them! I think either way it's a good omen.

I just had THE worst experience of my life. It is called walking. I couldn't get beyond my room before I nearly passed out. Something about lying in bed for 24 hours combined with the foot pain - well, it nearly did me in. I'm back in bed now.

Good morning!

My toe is throbbing but the sun is rising. I have an east facing window. I'm trying to picture myself at the park on a nice walk. I wonder when i'll get to do that again. I'm happy to say lortab works for me. I woke up at 1, though, with some gas pain - like I needed to burp - but i'm not a burper. I tried using the commode, though, and that brought on a bit of a hiccup that brought me relief. Then I slept the rest of the way. I just remember the poor nurse had to listen to my whining ramblings - it's hard to think let alone communicate through drugs.

Email love

Oh, I should mention that my nieces and nephews in sacramento took it upon themselves to send me an email every two hours to keep me entertained. The oldest took compassion on me and organized the troops (her siblings) to sign up for a time slot. Some told more stories than others. The seven year old told me about romans who ate slugs soaked in milk and played ball with a pig's bladder. What good kids they are. These are the same ones that are working on their fourth opera. They're home schooled so this is how they like to spend their summer break - besides brushing up on latin.

How I spent my day

The laptop dona loaned me didn't work so I couldn't watch any youtube or read any blogs but I did get to read a book! It was grand. What will I read tomorrow? Now i'm regretting leaving the confederacy of the dunces at home.

Henry eyring

I wish I were him. Well, except for the painful death from cancer part. I'm watching a program about his life. I am impressed with his faith, courage, patience, testimony, hard work, intelligence, etc.

My foot hurts. And i'm sick of lying in bed.

Lunch

The delivery kid said it was ham. I'm glad he was wrong. It's chicken. The bread has almonds in it - yum!!!

Ready

I'm just waiting for the results of my pregnancy test! How exciting! Plewe dropped me off this morning. I have a window facing my olympus - it's a good omen!

My foot

This is why I love my sis-in-law. She got me this book in honor of my bunionectomy i'm having tomorrow morning. Isn't she thoughtful? My good brother gave me a nice blessing of comfort so i'm all set. The other sis-in-law brought roses from mother's garden and my good friend diana brought cookies! This photo documents my pre-surgery bunion. Tomorrow night it should be gone! Notice the beautiful sheets in the background - oh so very nice. My bed is heavenly!

Letters to troops

So what do you write? We just had a ward activity and I tried to come up with something - I don't think I did a good job. I rambled about hamburgers.

New bed

Sorry for the really dark picture, but I don't want to get out of bed to turn on the lights. I got my ned bed last night and I believe it is heaven. I know I should get up - but i'm rather comfortable here in my pretty rose bud sheets on my throne of a bed. Really - it's rather high and large! I've moved on up "to the east side I finally got a piece of the pie" - at least in the bed sense. I'm happy to have visitors - I even have spare sheets (thanks for the suggestion diana) so when you visit I can put on clean sheets. I'm scheduled to sleep at a clinic all next week - I enrolled in a pain medication study to have my bunion removed - so my new bed is available from monday through friday. I'm taking reservations now. Plewe, I know you think the basement bed is heaven but wait til you try this one!

Cemetery

This morning's walk took me through usu's cemetery. I can't say i've ever seen one in the middle of a campus before - right next door to the basketball arena. I was also surprised to see that it is still taking people. At least it looked like it is - piles of dirt and one headstone was only four years old. I liked it in there.

Evening snack

One of the best things about my room - straight across from the ice machine. I just walked down to the creamery and I have to say it was delicious!

USU Campus

I took a tour of campus for my morning walk - at least of part of it. I came across this building that looked a lot like the swkt from byu days. I was amused by the pile of chairs in front. I guessed they were doing major cleaning somewhere inside.

Temptation

As some of you know, hotel coffee is a temptation for me. The instant kind especially. Luckily coffee pots are a mystery so i'm all good this trip. I think this is my first time ever to stay completely alone in a hotel. I can't even remember the last time I could sleep pajama free when it wasn't my own bed. I tell you, i'm a social creature so this little adventure is a good experience for me. My stuff is all laid out on the extra bed, despite the handy hangars and drawers i'm always tempted to use, but then am too lazy to really bother to do so. One of my favorite things about hotels is the bathroom. I like the tissue that's emanating from the side of the sink, the safety band across the toilet, the pointed tp roll, piles of white towels, and endless hot water. While packing I commented to dona that the hotel would at least have a bar of soap. Let it be noted, I was wrong. This place has liquid soap dispensers with some spiel about landfills and partially used soap. Who knew? I just wish the tv was less red and had less commercials. Luckily i'm reminded that even paying for basic cable is too much - there is nothing on my over 100 channels. Must be bed time.

Port of entry

Ever been through one before? Me neither - until today! I'm on a bus to logan with a bunch of students to attend yearbook camp. Apparently busses (a full one at least) must got through. We just drove through - we had a green arrow light - sort of like a metered on-ramp. What an exciting adventure this is shaping up to be!

keep dipping

More wisdom from the old testament. There's that guy who had to dip 7 times to be healed. Which dip cured? Probably all 7. In the repetition of small simple things we can bring about miracles. How many fhes does it take to ground a child in the gospel? Apply apply!

(i'm blogging by cell phone in fhe and the ideas are so great I had to record them! Plus lex asked me to - thanks for the good suggestion!)

grapes vs. walls

children of israel spies were sent to jericho. 10 saw large walls and impenetrable city. But they brought back grapes. 2 saw all the milk and honey. When they did go into jericho god brought those walls down like the wind. What's the symbolism you should ask. Well michael wilcox compared it to marriage. Some of us see all the walls. But we should focus on the grapes and trust god's ability to bring down walls. After all, 1 nephi 3:7 says god will provide a way to do that whch he commands us. I bet you can find your own grape/wall symbolism. Go for it! Apply apply!

love of food

this is my niece. she plays with food. she was once caught eating a banana through the peel. in this case she has smeared broccoli all through her hair.

Mark kickin' it

mark and lynn and I went to the hip town of layton to chill with the big p breinholdt. It was some good times. When we were about to exit i-15 I looked back and saw mark with his hat cocked in this imitation of some tough gangster. I laughed hard and decided it needed to be shared with the masses. Enjoy.

Alien shadow

I'm walking home from the dentist's staring at this shadow of me! It's probably normal enough, but it looks so alien i'm reminded of when you hear yourself on a recorder.
it's a great morning here in city of salt lake. At the dentist's I read an article about "yummies" - young urban mormons. I think I count - especially considering the conversation I had friday night about why I live in the 'hood. I realized, though, i'm just friends with yummies. In fact the first person featured was rebecca vernon - a fellow rooseveltite. Pretty cool stuff - hooray for urban living.

Ocean

I like the ocean. I could do with the sight of one right about now - maybe i'll dream of one as I am about to hit hay. But I had to post this thought first. I just finished reading tuesdays with morrie (thanks for the loan miss merrill!) and really enjoyed it. The very last bit took me back to father's death a little over a year ago as I read the description of morrie's frail body and coma like state. Strangely enough I found it reassuring and comforting to know that death was the same for morrie. It reminded me how there's more to life than the physical body. Morrie tells a little story about a wave who fears the upcoming crash on the shore where he'll "die." another wave reminds him that they are not waves but actually one big ocean. That was a powerful thought for me - not just in the context of father not really being gone - but also in the context of my life and my connections to people like father, and morrie, and mother theresa, and abe, and brigham young, and all those other people that seem more than people - they are ocean - and so am i!

Nothing compares

To a summer night on the porch. Why do I have to fill it with drama? Just asking. So weigh in... Why do we choose to live where we do? Are we aware of the risks or are we only focused on the advantages?

Minnesota

If you closely enough you can see a harp past the recycle bin. I'm sitting here in the middle of a MALL in the minnesota airport - complete with a harpist. I'm enjoying the peace in the middle of so many retail opportunities as I resist the temptation to buy chocolate, cashmere, sunglasses, t-shirts, lotion, and so on.

As a note of explanation.... The three posts below appear out of order because they are. Sometimes mobile blogging isn't perfect. In fact, it's possible in the next couple of days multiple copies of those posts will show up. Anyway, they worked now and i'm not the sort to care enough when I get home to put them in order. My trip to dc is drawing closed. It seemed short. I have good family and hope to spend more time with them in the future. Last night at bedtime we sang "geneaology (sp?) I am oing it" - the primary song - and I was touched by the words about being an eternal family. I am truly truly blessed!

National cathedral

This is the nephew enthralled with the organ concert we attended. Or he's just tired. The bright light in the middle is the creation rose at the west end of the cathedral. It is absolutely gorgeous. We took a tour after the organ concert. I think we spent most of our day there and could have stayed longer. I am a fan of the national cathedral. I could tell you tons - but since i'm blogging by cell phone i'll just encourage you to wiki it. And if you come out this way include a visit for yourself.

Horse

My sister and her six kid family are visiting dc so I decided it was a good time to visit the sister who lives in dc. Two for the price of one! this is a shot of the nephew sitting on the couch of the rental home. The sister found a house for rent for 8 people - apparently not a lot of options. This one is overloaded with junk. The owner lives next door and calls the house her expensive closet. Every surface is covered with books or random knicnacks. Really - the place needs cleaning out!

Green house

Mrs. Post (she had at least 3 husbands and I think post is her maiden name) had a large cutting garden to keep the house decorated with flowers and during winter she had a large green house. Apparently orchids also grow well in the green house - there were tons! It had at least three distinct and large rooms absolutely full of plants!

Pedestrians

This sign made me happy. It was a bit washed out. It's hard to believe it's really as old as it appears.

today I persuaded risa to stay home with me and the kids to read/play/swim/take care of life. Laurie and family toured the capitol and maybe something else if their kids didn't rebel against more walking. it's been nice to just relax. I even took a nap. This is what a holiday is all about.

Streets of dc

It was a long day of walking. First the zoo, then to the cathedral (and all over the cathedral), then to hillwood (post's estate), and then home. On the long walk we enjoyed seeing the variety of surroundings. My sister (from cali) is staying in a home in chevy chase, md. this fenceless gate is on their street. The kids got a kick out of it so I took a photo. I believe the bushes will someday grow up to be a natural fence.

Pet cemetery

Marjorie merriweather post had too much money on her hands. She basically bought all of catherine the great's treasures. Her house is decorated with french and russian 19th century things. She also had a number of beautiful gardens. This is from one of them. It was less "groomed." i'm curious about the number of pets she owned. There were probably 10 head stones and many had multiple names inscribed. Maybe they were just multiple names for the same animal. Lassie was even buried there.

Washington monument

Can you spot it? Right in the middle? this is a view from the observation deck at the national cathedral. It's the highest point in the city because it combines its height with that of the hill it's on. Seems like I read something somewhere that said nothing is supposed to be higher than the capitol. Now i'm confused. So many facts so little energy/time to wiki them all.

Zoo

Yesterday our first adventure was the zoo. It was a bit of a challenge to keep track of so many people - especially so many little people. Here we are milling about in front of the komodo dragon exhibit.

Trapped

Someone can't get the jetway to hook up with the plane so we've been sitting here trapped on the tarmac with bags in hand anxious to escape! As you can see they've managed to begin restocking/fueling but they can't figure out how to let us off.

Waiting

I sit at the airport and wait. It looks like someone before me enjoyed popcorn while waiting. I did that once. Today I have pb&j and a gross cinnamon roll. It'll be a long trip. I'll eat them later. Right now I need to get a seat assignment. This will also be a full flight. At least I have a night of swimming to look forward to. Hooray for visiting family!
Stay tuned for more vacation blogging.

Family reunion

Saturday was the anniversary of father's burial. it also happened to be the first ward family reunion i've attended. Jospeh edward ward had 9 kids, my grandfather burnice was #9. I like joseph edward because his mother was sarah ward and he kept her maiden name. I really need to find out the story behind that since she married some with the last name spackman and/or spanswick. I also like him because his first name is my brother's middle name and his middle name is my fathr's middle name. They both share the same first name. Anyway, #8 child, dorothy, is the only one still living. she's around 89 and she played the organ for us to get the party startd. I wish I had a sound recording - classic it was. We partied it up in the senior community center in lava hotsprings. The family farm was in clifton, idaho, near preston. The cousins all grew up near each other and helped with the farm. My grandfather burnice took it over when he was grown. He sold it, though, back in the 80's I believe and moved to orem and became the animal control officer there befor dying from pancreatic cancer in the mid 90's. anyway, it was fun to meet/see all the random people i'm related to. It's a varied bunch. I kept hearing my last name and since that's what i'm often called by friends and students it was kind of weird. This photo was taken while my brother and I were guarding the desserts. The other photo is of a completed and glued together puzzle hanging in the women's restroom. Nothing like a good cat picture.

Vista del sol revisited

Plewe and I visited kristin on friday to celebrate/see her new baby boy. He was sleeping. We dined on classic wwww tour food - vista del sols and salami/provolone sandwiches. Divine! On the way home plewe and I stopped by the ikea. We had a small moment that reaffirmed a gospel principle. When you see the goal (ikea) up ahead go in that general direction. When you lose sight of it don't lose faith - keep going forward. Your destination will reappear when necessary.

Craziness

It's 11:30 at night and i'm driving home from a party on 1300 south and I see this guy on a bicycle as tall as a van! It's bright orange and has triangular shapes making the body. He was going pretty fast. It was pretty weird.