Thanksgiving Week 2010

This has been an eventful and fun Thanksgiving week. Just about week ago on Saturday, the weather people were predicting the storm of the decade: a full-on, two-day blizzard just like Little House on the Prairie. In preparation, we madly cleared all the leaves from the yard before it was buried in several feet of snow. Well, the storm stayed north of here and we escaped untouched. Maren and Gavin encountered a bit of it further south as they traveled through the mountain passes on I-15 the next day. They were hung up on the highway for quite some time until Gavin made a sneaky run up the middle between all the cars and semis that were stalled on the slick and snowy roads. They arrived a few hours later than expected to a joyous welcome from the cousins on Sunday evening.

Monday, Kris and I both had work, but Tuesday we went to the BYU MOA for a look at the Carl Bloch exhibit, which is quite wonderful, in spite of several families with screaming and crying babies and small children in those echo-prone spaces.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and a small gathering of the family met here for dinner. Emily and family went to Jayson's sister's, Anna and family are in VA, and Katy is with them. So it was just 10 of us for dinner.

Friday, Auntie Em very kindly volunteered to baby sit while we went to the movies with Maren and Gavin. We saw the latest edition of Harry Potter, which we enjoyed quite a lot. Last night we went to SLC for Greek food and a swing around Temple Square to see the lights. Millie, Colton, and family joined us and introduced a new wrinkle into the tradition. We parked at Gateway and rode TRAX three stops to Temple Square. It was great fun -- Salt Lake really is a wonderful place, particularly at Christmas.

This morning we awakened to snow -- not the blizzard of the decade, but serious snow. We got the driveway cleared, Gavin got their car packed, and the Youngs are now on their way to Las Vegas. They scored a very inexpensive room at the Bellagio and will stop there for the night, continuing on to Phoenix tomorrow.

Rushing to get the leaves raked before the storm
that never materialized here

Max, Lizzie, and Ollie welcome the cousins

Getting reacquainted with a larger Beck

Tuesday at the MOA with Carl Bloch

A very cold nine-degree walk along the newly refurbished
canal walk at BYU on Thanksgiving morning

Those who walked, on the steps near the Maeser Building

The walk finished in the Park with Timp in the distance

The kids' table

Pippy, Beck, Maren, and Gavin

Kris, Meagan, and Phillip (again)

Millie taking family photos on Friday

The sitter tries feeding Beck some Germade

This was a bit of fun

Supper at Greek Souvlakia in SLC

Waiting for TRAX

On the train

Family group at Temple Square

Aren't they cute?

A snowy farewell this morning

We have that melancholy empty-house syndrome today, but will be back at work tomorrow and things should be better. We missed Anna and her family and Katy, and hope they all had a nice holiday in Virginia, too.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Really-Odd Post

This is an odd post; my students would say it's totally random. The weather is becoming wintry as the snow sinks closer and closer to the valley, and I am ready for a bit of color and solidarity. You see, I love to fly the flag, not just for patriotic motives, but also because it adds a punch of color to the house.

Like many others back in 2002 we bought British and Brazilian flags to show personal connection with participating countries and displayed them on our front porch during the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. I have wanted to fly these flags again but always missed the appropriate holidays so they have languished in the drawer of the Chippendale secretary. This year I stayed ahead of the game and yesterday marked Remembrance Sunday with the Union Jack. Remembrance Sunday is the second Sunday in November and commemorates the end of WWI as well as those who fought in all the great wars.

As I sit here at the computer, the Brazilian flag is flying on the porch in commemoration of Brazil's proclamation of a Republic in 1889. Every city in Brazil has a praça (square) or street named "Quinze de Novembro" (15th of November), and today I am remembering Brazil, particularly the Rua 15 de Novembro in Curitiba.

Winter creeping down toward the valley

2002 Olympic flag display at 853 North

Remembrance-Sunday poppy

The Cenotaph in London

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
between the crosses, row on row...."

The Union Jack

Deodoro da Fonseca proclaimed
the Brazilian Republic

The Brazilian flag was officially adopted on Nov. 19th 1889,
just four days after the Republic was proclaimed

It's all a bit nuts and obsessive, but I am both of those, so there ya go. AND, the touch of color is welcome in an increasingly wintry landscape!

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

All-Hallows-Even 2010

Because we are in Mormonland, we celebrated Halloween on Saturday this year. I don't know if this is common practice in say, Salt Lake City where the gentiles live, but in Utah County it is de rigueur. It is a curious thing because there is no official announcement or the like, everyone just knows! Even the good Hispanic folk, who now make up a significant section of our population and are generally Catholic, knew to come on Saturday. It is, quite simply, a Festivus miracle.

As per tradition, the local family, such as it is, gathered here for supper. I made homemade sloppy joe filling using the Better Homes recipe. It was so bland I had to add everything I could think of to make it tasty, which seemed to work. We also provided some of our cantaloupe that is still very good. Phil made rolls/buns, Colton made coleslaw, Emily brought chips and treats and we made a meal of it. After dinner the kids all went trick or treating in the rain. Fortunately, the rain stopped quickly and was followed by an eerily beautiful All-Hallows-Even sunset.

We missed the AZ and VA cousins, not to mention the TX auntie. Hope you all had a good Halloween, too.

Jack-o-lantern 2010

All home-grown this year in a variety of
shapes, sizes, and colors

Lord Vader, Legolas, Tinkerbell,
Princess Lea, and a puppet

The Taylors are always good with
their fancy dress, this year with a
Star Wars theme

This is a fierce shark!

A spooky Halloween sunset

Yes, some things just don't change

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Birthday Post From Mom!!

What do you give a girl who has everything she could possibly want? David figured it out...flowers and a dinner that includes just about all my favorite foods: steak, French bread and pâté, shrimp cocktail, celeri remoulade (French celery root salad), asparagus.... and...AND, he drove all the way to SLC to get just the right things. Now that my dears is a perfect birthday. Add to that, I have received birthday calls from all my favorite people (YOU) and some very thoughtful birthday treats... well it has been a great day. Bill, you may make comments on all my birthday posts, Katy, I love, love, love the picture, and Anna, you know me and gift cards...look out Amazon. I know just how blessed I am (except for the age thing). I love you all.

My dream dinner

I'm the pumpkin in the orange sweater

Hugs to all of you,

Mom

P.S. We also saw Red tonight. We were very fun tonight.

D.

Two thumbs up: both of ours

Happy Birthday Kristina Dear

It's Kris's birthday today. It wouldn't be kosher to tell you how old she is, but it has been very few years since she was born in Portland in 1952 (oops). This is a favorite photo of her holding baby Emily.

I'm glad I met her in the kitchen of her parents home in Arizona (also just a few years ago) and that she liked me enough to date me and eventually marry me. From my point of view, it was a great decision.

I love you Kris, and hope you have many happy returns of the day.

Happy birthday!

OXO

D.

Late October 2010

The months race by and October will soon be a memory. The weather is cooler and the leaves in the valley have begun to turn; the trees will soon be bare. We have had several days of rain and it will be turning to snow on the benches tonight.

In anticipation of the first solid freeze, I have brought in the last of the cantaloupe. We have been eating them as fast as we can but we still have about 15 on the counter and in the fridge. Sadly, the tomatoes will be goners and there are still hundreds yet to ripen. Oh well. I also harvested most of the pumpkins in anticipation of Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Yesterday evening Jayson and Emily hosted the family dinner. Jayson made pasta with Italian sausage and asparagus. It was really good, and it is always fun to get together.

Today, Kris and I voted early. It was easy, with no lines or waiting. The only problem was that they have never recorded our new address in spite of filling out forms every ruddy time we vote. Perhaps this time will be the charm.

The leaves in the park are turning and Timp
had a dusting of snow

Even though the colors on the mountains are fading,
the rain makes the colors rich

The Ensigns hosted Sunday dinner

Delicious!

Lizzy entertained me with some serious twirls
that made the ruffles on her frock stand straight out

The pumpkins are in

In spite of the image on the stickers, we didn't have to
match our finger prints, we just showed a drivers license

After several days of valley rain, there is
serious snow on Mount Timpanogos

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

This and That

Some of you may remember that when we were rebuilding the house, the builder wanted to use exterior-grade MDF (medium-density fiberboard) for the body, bases, and capitals on the front-porch boxed columns. I was apprehensive about MDF, but was told the exterior grade would hold up very well. We took a sample piece to our Sparks apartment and soaked it in water for a couple of weeks and it did seem to be impervious to moisture, so we did it. Well, Mother Nature has her ways and the base of the northernmost column began to swell and split open. I caulked and repainted, but after 5 years it was a mess.

Rich Johnson has removed the bases, cut off a couple of inches from the bottoms of the columns so they won't wick moisture, and replaced the bases and moldings with solid vinyl, similar to the material Katy used to make frames. The project is finished and looks great. Rich did a fine job and we should be almost impervious to moisture. Water is clever, though, and can find it's way into everything over time. But for now, we are cautiously optimistic about the future of the columns.

Friday we had dinner at the Millers with our dinner group. It was delicious, as always, and the discussion only drifted into politics once for a brief period before moving on to movies. If the Christophersons and Freestones see this, we missed you.

This morning on my walk I was keenly aware of how beautiful our valley is. So later I went back out to get a few shots of the aspens on the mountains that are now in full color. Earlier on the walk I filled my pocket with acorns from various places along my walking route. On Thursday, walking home from Design Review, I picked up a beautiful horse chestnut in front of Berg Mortuary on Center Street. While gathering acorns this morning, I had a brain storm that a bowl full of nuts would be great this time of year, and so I drove down to the mortuary and gathered a bunch of conkers (horse chestnuts). Kris thought I had taken leave of my senses, but once she saw what I had in mind, seemed less concerned about my mental state.

Inner columns with old bases removed

The newly replaced bases and moldings

Stephen, Ann, Allen, Nancy, and Stan

Kris, Sharon, Stephen, and Ann

Me: sprouts, Nancy: sweet potatoes, Sharon: rolls and turkey,
Vicki: apple pie, Stephen and Ann: ice cream

I love these mountains

The aspens are glowing

These give the French their name for the color marron

That's all for now.

OXO

D.