#2960 good times this weekend

There has been a lot happening at my house in the past few days. Let me tell you about it.

On Friday, I worked at the office in the morning, then came home at 1:00 to finish up my workday, and to have a chance to say good-bye to MT as he set off for his through-hike on the Colorado Trail. I felt emotional when he left - like, I actually cried. I wasn't expecting that, and I was puzzled by this reaction. Hang on to that thought, because we'll circle back to it in a bit.

That night, T and I went to see the new Superman movie on an IMAX screen. I didn't really want to see it, but I did really want to hang out with my son. I didn't really particularly like or dislike the movie. T really liked it, and I think I was the only person in the theater with a meh response. There was a lot of cheering and clapping at the end of the show.

Yesterday (Saturday), I was up fairly early to play with the dogs, water the plants, and feed the birds; it's my usual morning routine. I also cleaned up the kitchen and made some nice coffee, then did the bookkeeping. T's friend Jordyn came over and they were day drinking. It sounded fun, but I had other things to do.

I'd decided earlier in the week that I was going to fulfill a wish that I'd had for years, and that was to have a picnic in a cutaway at RBG. There are two cutaways on the main trail; basically, they are little patios in the trees along the northeast part of the trail. I stopped by Delice, a French bakery/cafe for a baguette with ham, cheese, and butter. There were also cornichons, but I swiped them off quickly. Of course I also got a kouign amman for later. For a drink, I stopped at Starbucks for a green tea lemonade. I felt like it was a very nice meal.  Since it was around 2:00, I had no problem getting a table in a cutaway, and it was everything I wanted it to be. I was truly delighted by the whole event! Here are some photos:

ham & cheese baguette, chips, and green tea lemonade

nom nom nom

livin' the dream!

After the meal, I recorded blooms in the Children's Garden. It was glorious. I want to show you this pic of a blooming yucca plant. She's not in the Children's Garden, but you can see her from there. 

blooming yucca in the Water Conservation Garden

She's gotta be 15 - 20 feet tall! I love it!!

When the blooms were recorded, I stopped at bougie Harmon's for a salad and some good German pilsner. I sat out on the back deck at home. The dogs ran around while I ate my salad, drank some beer, and read a book. It was truly pleasant. I kinda feel like having a meal outside is one of the simple pleasures of life. 

With a slight buzz, I came inside the house, ate my kouign amman, and turned on Netflix to watch the movie Nonnas. It was cute. Then I put clean, fresh sheets on my bed and went to sleep. It was a good day.

This morning I slept a bit late until the dogs wouldn't let me sleep anymore. I actually appreciated them getting me up since I slept through my alarm. Just as I was about to leave the house to go back up to the Garden, my SIL Janet sent me this photo of MT:

MT's first day on the Colorado Trail

Again, I teared up and I think I know why: I should have taken him to Denver. I should have driven him to Pocatello, then rode along with them to Denver to drop him off at the trailhead. What I was feeling was guilt and selfishness. I also feel worry, and concern, and sadness that he is doing this adventure alone. Not that I would hike 500 miles in the Colorado mountains, but it's a bummer that he doesn't have a trail buddy. He is not a solitary individual like I am. I know he'll be okay and that he will get a bunch of new stories to tell from this trip. I'll miss him, though. When he was in Pocatello for the past six months, I knew that he could come home just about any time, and I could talk to him every day, which we mostly did. It's much more difficult to come home now since he'll be out in the wilderness, and we probably won't get to talk as much.  He did call me this morning as he was walking, and he said he has some butterflies about the whole thing, and he is excited and happy that he is doing it. Anyway, I'll keep you updated as I hear from him.

The docent shift was uneventful. It was pretty slow early, then picked up quite a bit after 11:00. I stopped at Raising Cane's for lunch, and now I'll be getting ready to go back up to the Garden to work at a concert. Tonight's performers are Watchhouse, a duo from North Carolina that I saw play RBG when they were known as Mandolin Orange. Their music is folky/Americana. Very on-brand for RBG and it will be a good show. I am working the recycling station.

I guess that's all I've got to say for now. Have a great week! Please keep MT in your thoughts, and send good vibes for his safety and health.

XOXO

#2959 three things: allergies/migraine, odious fictional siblings, Home Goods

 1. Allergies/migraine. Since yesterday, my allergies have been in overdrive. I've been sneezing and blowing my nose and just in general feeling kind of yucky. It has been hot here, too, with temperatures in the upper 90s, so it's been uncomfortable. (The swamper is doing a good job about keeping the house cool, FYI.) This morning when I took the dogs for a walk, the temperature was already in the mid 80s and windy. My nose was runny, my eyes were itchy, and my throat was scratchy from sinus drainage. Around 10:30, I started to feel a little wobbly and nauseous and the words and numbers on my screen were not clear. My head was aching. At my lunch break, I decided to call it a day and took the afternoon off. I immediately went to bed in my cool, dark bedroom and slept for a couple of hours. I have been sleeping really well at night, thanks to Swampy, so it wasn't that I was feeling tired. I think I was having a low-grade migraine. I'm feeling a lot better now. I took a cool shower and laid around this evening. I'll be going to bed soon, too, so I'll get plenty of rest.

2. Awful fictional siblings. I just finished two books in which the older sibling was completely shitty to the younger sibling. In The Truth About the Devlins, John tried to frame is younger brother TJ with murder to cover his own ass. In The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits, Zoe said horrible things to Cassie that caused Cassie to run away from society and feel miserable for 20 years. John and Zoe were both awful characters, and I didn't feel any real redemption from either of them at the end of the books, although Zoe was closer to being forgivable. What I took away from these stories is that I am so thankful I have a good relationship with my sister!

3. Home Goods. During my lunch break from work on Tuesday, I decided to go check out a store in Bountiful called Home Goods. I've never been there before, and I hoped that I could find some flower pots for the deck. The store is amazingly huge and probably has just about anything you could possibly want for your home, except maybe appliances. I just walked through a very small section of the store, and I found plenty of stuff that interested me. 

I ended up buying these two cute ceramic pots, made in Spain, and a small plant stand. The catmint in the back is sitting up on the stand. The pots were buy one get one half price, so I got both for a total of $30. Aren't they cute?! I put the coreopsis in one pot, but I haven't planted it there yet. In the photo you can also see the pretty lavender plant I just got from Lowes.  I'll be going back to Home Goods for sure!

Enjoy the rest of the week. Stay hydrated. Be kind.

#2958 Sunday funday and art gallery

My mom has a shirt that says "Sunday Funday" and  I think it is so cute! I might have to find one for myself. As I was driving home this afternoon, I thought, "Wow, this has been a fun Sunday. I might even call it a Sunday Funday." At least it was fun for me, so let me tell you about it.

Of course I started my day by playing with the dogs and taking care of my outside plants. I have really come to enjoy my morning routine. I hit up Starbucks and made my way to Red Butte Garden. It was quiet there today with not too many guests. The holiday weekend probably factored into that. 

After my shift, I went to Sticker Con! I just lucked into finding out about it. As I sat here on Friday night, I wondered if there would be a Sticker Con, so I GTS (Googled that shit) and learned that it was today from 1 - 4. Perfect! This is the second annual event, and it was bigger than last year. There were over 20 local artists who had booths set up to sell their art that had been made into stickers. Some of the artists also had other items like tote bags, prints, key chains, etc. There were gobs of other sticker lovers there - I am not alone ! I bought nine single stickers and a page of pumpkin item stickers. (I love fall and I love pumpkin sweets.) I could have bought more, but I had to remove myself from the scene. So cool!

My next stop was Lowes because I wanted to buy a plant. One of my outside plants did not survive. RIP Iceland poppy. Of course, I didn't get just one plant; I had to get two. I got a sweet little red coreopsis, and a lavender plant. I think I might be the only person in Utah and maybe the world who cannot grow lavender. I try every year, and every year, it shrivels up and dies. Maybe I should plant it in the ground? I always keep it in a pot. I'll keep you updated on her health. Right now she is acclimating to the deck with her new plant sisters. I do plan to go back to Lowes soon, maybe even tomorrow, because there are some beautiful guara plants and Russian sage. I have a Russian sage plant, but I feel like she needs a friend. And guara is just so pretty. I had one last summer, and I loved watching her sway in the summer breeze. 

Next, I picked up a couple of things at the grocery store. I filled some Kongs for the dogs - they love their Sunday Kongs. The menfolk are watching a movie, so I'm here at my desk painting and writing while the paint dries. 

So, yeah, maybe today hasn't been the best Sunday ever, but it was/is pretty fun for me. My next thing is to make some carne asada tacos and perhaps sit on the deck for a bit with a book and a beer. That is my idea of  a good time. 

I haven't posted art for a minute, so here are some things I've done over the past couple of months.

"Tomato Toad"

 The toad is from a Badonsky prompt. The instruction was to take two nouns that began with the first letter of your last name. 

collage bird

I really like collage. I think it's fun and cool. I made this for my mom using a little painting that I'd done for her but didn't like. Actually, I liked the painting, but I didn't like the paper it was on, so I cut it into bits and made a bird.

"Wanderlust"

This is for another Badonsky prompt, suitcase.  I've always liked old suitcases with travel stickers on them. I guess those were mostly trunks, right, but I made mine a suitcase. Those are stickers I had that I thought would be fun to use. 

"

"found poetry 1"

I am sort of obsessed with the idea of found poetry. I look at so many on Pinterest and I want to do it myself, so this is the first one I've done from a book. I tore a page out of a book (The Time Traveler's Wife, btw) and found some words that I thought went together in a sort of poetic way. I sent this one to my mom, too. I don't know if she keeps my creations, but she might.  I don't think she hangs them on her refrigerator, though. LOL

"5 Balloons"

This is from my "I saw it on Pintrest and wanted to try it" collection. Actually, I don't have a collection of art, just pins that I want to turn into art in my sketchbook. I thought this was fun. I liked layering the colors. 

Okay, that's all for now! Have a great week. Stay hydrated!

 

#2957 three things: long weekend, travel plans, and the mulberry bush

three dancing squirrels

1. A long weekend! I got off work early today so the long weekend could be stretched a little further. I was glad because the three days before today were L-O-N-G work hours and kind of hard on my brain. I stopped at bougie Harmons on my way home for a fresh salad from their groovy salad bar, some Zero Sugar Creamy Coconut Dr Pepper, and some Czech beer. (The beer is for research purposes, of course). There are no big plans for my 4th of July weekend. I'd like to write, read, paint/draw, and putter around the house. MT is in Idaho, backpacking in the Sawtooths. T has to work at night, so it's just me and the doggos. Tonight I may watch a movie on the big ass TV. At the moment, I'm working on a little art project - I write while the paint is drying. I can see a faint rainbow out my office window, and I'm feeling relaxed and happy.

2. Trip plans! In a couple of months Lizzie and I are heading to Europe for vacation. I have been yearning to see the capitals of Central Europe: Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, so our travel advisor, Candice, recommended a river cruise on the Danube. We are starting in Budapest, with stops in Slovakia, three cities in Austria (including Vienna), and ending in Germany. From Passau, Germany, we'll have a drive up to Prague. As an extra bonus, we also have a couple of days in Amsterdam. I'm looking forward to seeing all these places. Lizzie gave me a couple of travel guides, one for Prague and one for Amsterdam, and I am happily reading and looking at things on Pinterest to give ideas of things to do, see, eat, and drink. 

3. Revenge of the mulberry bush. And now, for something completely different:

We used to have a tall mulberry tree in our back yard. It was a good 15 feet tall, very leafy and full. It provided nice shade and a spot for the birdies to hang out. It was also unruly and pushing on the chain link fence and our neighbor didn't like it and MT didn't like it, so he chopped it down. I was sad about it, but I kinda understood.

This spring, though, the stump started to get leafy. It was like that knight in the Monty Python movie, saying, "I'm not dead yet!"  I have been quietly delighted to watch the stump morph into a full-on mulberry bush. It's not getting tall, but it is spreading. Check it out:

the mulberry bush

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No, it's not pretty, but nature pushes on.

Have a great weekend. Stay safe!

my zine cover

#2956 the swamp cooler

Harley and Mac relaxing on the deck

Stella doesn't relax

Note: the pics of the dogs have nothing to do with this story except that we were outside because it was so freaking hot in the house. Read on:

On Tuesday, our AC stopped giving us cold air. It was running, but not cooling. On Wednesday I called an HVAC company and got an appointment for the technician to come out on Monday, which is ironic considering the name of the company is Same Day Heating and Air. 

With temperatures forecast in the 90s over the weekend, I was concerned that my house would be oven-like. We got through those first few nights, but I knew the weekend was going to be rough and unpleasant. I tried to romanticize the situation by telling myself it would be like being in Europe in the summer, but I was dreading it.  Imagine my delight when I walked in the house Friday after work to find the air pleasantly cool. It's pretty great having a real life handyman living with you. Let me tell you why my husband is awesome. We had a swamp cooler in storage from one of our properties that didn't want the unit, so MT installed it at our house in our kitchen window.

Let's be clear: nothing about the situation is ideal. The swamp cooler - I call it The Monster - is big and loud and not beautiful. It takes up half of the kitchen window and is a big lurking thing from the outside. It sprays out little white flecks of hard water deposits. The spigot it is connected to outside has to always be on. On the other hand,  The Monster puts out a generous amount of cold air that travels all the way up the stairs. The AC has never cooled off the upstairs - where the bedrooms are - but The Monster doesn't seem to have a problem with doing it. We leave it running on medium, and I have woken up cold with Harley pressed up tight against me in the morning. It's been glorious! I haven't slept so well in a long time. I like to sleep on the cool/cold side. 

The repair guy is coming to work on the AC tomorrow. I think it just needs a Freon fix, although they will try to sell us a new unit. We think we might keep The Monster in the window to supplement the AC, though, because we have all enjoyed the cold sleeping temperature. 

More to come on this, and I will try to get back to my regular writing schedule here in July.  

Can you believe it is going to be July the day after tomorrow?!

Have a good week. Stay cool!

#2955 three things: kitchen towels, red lipstick, and slow mornings

 

3 kitchen towels

Tonight I thought I would write about three things keeping my vibes right. 

1. Kitchen towels. I know there’s nothing sexy or fun about kitchen towels, but I like them. I had some kitchen towels that were boring, but I’ve started buying some that make me feel happy. The first time I did that was the towel in the front in the photo above. It comes from Palau Guell in Barcelona. When I got it, I wondered if I would actually use it in the kitchen. Isn’t that silly? What the heck else would I do with it? So, yes, I do use it. I got the towel with the lemon on it in Whittier, CA at a funky little shop Lizzie took me to, and the white towel in the background I bought at bougie Harmons here in town. I also have some cute towels from Trader Joe’s and IKEA, but the three in the photo make me the most happy. 

2. Red lipstick. I’ve always wanted to wear lipstick, but I couldn’t really find a shade that I liked, plus it’s kind of a hassle, isn’t it? It wears off, then you have to reapply it, and it smudges, and rubs off on stuff, but I still like it. A few months ago I was in the airport and I passed a MAC cosmetic store. I walked by, then thought what the heck, and decided to go in. I ended up getting a mini Ruby Woo.  It’s funny because I don’t wear any other makeup, but I totally love the red lip! 

3. Slow mornings. This year I changed my work schedule to start work at 8:30 a.m. and I really like it. I get up around 6:00, get ready, then go outside with the dogs around 7:00 or so. We play in the yard, then I take the big dogs for a walk in the neighborhood. On days when I don’t go to the office, I sit outside to drink a cup of coffee, watching the dogs run around and the birdies at the feeders. Sometimes the hummingbirds come to feed if I’m really still. I would not have thought I would get so much pleasure from this simple and quiet time. 

Flowers for my deck (before planting)

#2954 it's been a busy week

When my alarm went off this morning, I was sure it was Monday. I mean, I was SURE of it. I laid there for a minute, thinking of all the things I didn't do and wondering how the weekend passed by so quickly. I bet it was a good minute or two before my brain finally woke all the way up to realize it was really Sunday. It was so weird, though!

In my defense, I had a busy week. On Monday I had the best pre-work morning I've probably ever had. I was up and moving around early. I played with the dogs, including going for a walk, I had time to sit on the deck and play around in my sketchbook, I had time to read and have coffee and even have a little something to eat - all of that before I logged in on my computer at 8:30 am. It just put me the the BEST mood to start the day.

On Tuesday I got a merit increase at work, which is always nice. I went to Trader Joe's for the first time in awhile. MT came home that night, and I got to talk to Lizzie.

Dutch Bros coffee had a bonus sticker drop on Wednesday, so I got coffee and a sticker before work. That night, MT and I went to see Don Felder, Kevin Cronin, and Styx in concert. The wife of one of my co-workers works at the big amphitheater where these guys were performing, and MT and I were able to get on the friends and family list. We had great seats, and we had a really good time. The albums Paradise Theater (Styx) and High Infidelity (REO Speedwagon/Kevin Cronin) came out in 1981, so my inner 15 year old was in heaven! I'd seen Styx before - in 1981 - but I hadn't seen REO. (I had tickets to the show, but Kevin Cronin broke his leg and the show was cancelled back then). On Wednesday night, Kevin was fine and put on a good show. He played all the songs from High Infidelity start to end. I loved it! I haven't listened to Styx or REO for years, yet every word from every song popped right into my head and right out my mouth. And Don Felder? Well, he was in the Eagles, so he played 35 minutes of Eagles songs, and it was great! So fun!

Thursday I was pretty tired, but I powered through the work day, then went up to Red Butte Garden and Arboretum (RBGA) to volunteer at a concert by St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Yeah, I hadn't heard of them, but I listened to their Essentials on Apple Music to get a feel for the music. I'm happy to report that they were even better live than recorded. The lead singer has a great voice, going into a falsetto that is really effective in their music. There is a horn section, too, and they were jamming. The musical style is sort of bluesy R & B with a hit of funk. It was a good show.

Friday I was straight tuckered out, so I just came home after work. T and I ordered food from Wing Stop and watched game 4 of the NBA Finals. I got to talk to my mom that night, too, which is always makes me happy. 

Yesterday I puttered around the house in the morning doing chores, then went to RBGA to record blooms in the Children's Garden. It was hot. I melted a little. When I got home, I took T to work, then took a nice cool shower before settling down on the couch to finally finish the series The Residence on Netflix. There were only eight episodes but it took me awhile to get through it. I liked it. The detective, Cordelia Cupp, played by Uzo Aduba, was fantastic. 

So now here we are on Sunday evening. I went to RBGA for my regular docent shift. It was hot. I stopped at the grocery store for a couple of things, came home and had lunch, then had to take a little snoozle. I'm doing laundry; I'm working on my new planner for the year, and fixing to do some art, too. I think I might take myself out on the deck and sip a beer while I watch the birdies at the feeders and the dogs frolic. Last weekend I planted some flowers in pots for the deck, and they are all doing well!

Let's see...what's going on next week? On Tuesday, MT and I will go see Drive-by Truckers at RBGA. That was the show I chose for my volunteer benefit. (If you give 100 hours of volunteer time in a season, you get a pair of tickets to a concert). Jill the Artist is having a workshop on Wednesday that I would like to attend. It's on Zoom. Thursday at work we will have Dip Day. On Saturday, we will go to Pocatello to attend my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary soiree, and on Sunday, I am volunteering at a concert in the evening. I gave up my docent spot on Sunday because I'll need to take care of some stuff at home that day since we'll be out on Saturday. Plus, there's work, of course. 

I can't sign off without acknowledging that it is Father's Day. I miss my dad every day. He was a good man and a good dad.

That's all for now. Have a great week! Stay cool! Stay hydrated.