Deer in the Yard

Picture of the Day for 10/31/2014. I walked out my door to go on my morning run when I saw this family of deer hanging out in my neighbor's yard. I could have not been more startled. This was a normal occurrence when I worked in Yellowstone. In fact, the moment you stepped outdoors you were always on the lookout for wildlife to be sure you didn't have an unpleasant encounter with a grumpy animal. I've never seen anything like this in my suburban neighborhood, however. I had fun watching them until they decided to move on to new lawns. They hopped in unison down the street which was quite a sight to see.

Space Vignette

Picture of the Day for 10/30/2014. In what is now becoming an annual tradition, I'm purchasing Chasing Star Kachina dolls at the Indian Village shop that is located on Route 66 at the Continental Divide. Naturally, I'm attracted to this particular figure since he is associated with the sky, stars, and planets. And naturally, I've arranged them around my brass space shuttle figurine. It's kind of a "when cultures collide" vignette.

Decorating for Halloween

Picture of the Day for 10/29/2014. Just because it's two days before Halloween doesn't mean it's too late to decorate. I've been busy and traveling so this is my first opportunity. Don't judge me! I was actually quite efficient. Normally it takes me a few hours, but today I had everything set up in an hour. I never fail to be amused by the skeleton waving hello to me by the front door.

Monument Valley

Picture of the Day for 10/28/2014. Our visit to Monument Valley this morning was the third big happy accident of our trip. The landscape was stunning of course. Duh!

But the real surprise was learning about and visiting Goulding's Lodge and Trading Post. The Gouldings established the trading post in 1924 when they were newly married. During the Depression, they were worried about the Navajo people so Harry Goulding took the last of their money and went to Hollywood to meet with the director John Ford and convinced him Monument Valley was the perfect setting for Westerns. This helped tremendously with the region's economic recovery. I never knew this was how Monument Valley became an iconic setting for movies. My sister Robynne and I loved exploring the museum which included artwork, photographs, Hollywood memorabilia, and the Goulding's living quarters. The lodge is a big operation now and I would love to stay there sometime.

 

Window Rock Navajo Tribal Park & Veteran's Memorial

Picture of the Day for 10/27/2014. My sister Robynne and I drove through Window Rock, Arizona on our way from Albuquerque, New Mexico up to the Monument Valley area where we are staying the night. This town turned out to be our second big happy accident of the trip. I was thinking it was merely going to be a town along the way from Point A to Point B, but we ended up spending a pleasant hour at the Window Rock Navajo Tribal Park & Veteran's Memorial. The park is nestled below the rock formation that gives the town its name and it is right next to the Navajo tribal headquarters. We particularly liked the memorial to the Code Talkers from World War ll. The bricks at the base of the memorial are inscribed with the names of the Code Talkers. 

The Magic is Gone

Picture of the Day for 10/26/2014. My sister Robynne and I spent the day in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After visiting the Georgia O'Keefe museum, we ate lunch at the Plaza Cafe in the old town square. This is something I have been dreaming about since last year when we ate there and I ordered the Cashew Chicken Mole Bowl. IT. WAS. THE. BEST. THING. I'VE. EVER. EATEN. EVER. I swear the heavens opened and angels sang. I've been sooooooo excited knowing that I would be returning there today.The BIG moment arrived and this bowl was placed in front of me. I took a bite and my reaction was, meh. It was OK. Robynne agreed that there was something missing from today's entree and it just wasn't my imagination. It was still a delicious meal, but it was rather disappointing it wasn't the magical experience I had hoped for. Dang.

Sandia Peak Tramway

Picture of the Day for 10/25/2014. After the speech therapy conference concluded this afternoon, my sister Robynne and I rode the Sandia Peak Tramway which is 2.7 miles long, making it the longest aerial tram in North America. It was a fun experience and the view of Albuquerque during the ride (up and down) and at the top of the peak was spectacular. 

There was a cute little boy who was very friendly and said "hi" to us enthusiastically while we were waiting for the tram to arrive to take us back down the mountain. I asked him if he liked the tram ride and he said no, it was too scary. Poor boy. We told him that he was brave boy for doing something that scared him.

View from the top:

 

 

Pictures of the tram coming up the hill:

Headed back down:

 

Sunset: 

The World's Longest Native American Painting

Picture of the Day for 10/24/2014. After the speech therapy conference ended for the day, my sister Robynne and I made our way to Old Town Albuquerque. The very first place we walked into was an art gallery called Studio 13. It turns out the co-owner is painting the world's longest Native American painting on a single piece of canvas. The other co-owner, a Frenchman named Jerome Dupont, was there and explained how it will be about 100 feet long when completed, it will feature women from every tribe, and how the Smithsonian sponsored a section of the painting. This is just about 0.0000000017% of the information he imparted to us. At first, his rapid-fire delivery was a little overwhelming, but we were quickly won over by his passion for Native American culture and his encyclopedic knowledge of it. We spent a very happy hour there chatting with him. 

Robynne and I both ended up buying a signed print of the section of the painting that features both a Choctaw woman (our heritage) and Navajo women (Robynne's son Rob is serving an LDS mission on the Navajo reservation). We commented afterward about what a happy accident that whole experience was. So fun and so unexpected!

Four Corners Monument

Picture of the Day for 10/23/2014. My sister Robynne and I drove to New Mexico for a speech therapy conference. On the way there today we stopped at the Four Corners Monument where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. It's kind of cool that you can stand in four states all at the same time. 

The Four Corners are literally in the middle of nowhere on the Navajo reservation. The countryside is vast and beautiful. I was sad to see the road to the monument was very noticeably littered with trash. It was kind of a jarring juxtaposition against the stunning landscape. I'm wondering if the Navajo people don't have the resources to deal with the trash left behind by all the tourists visiting the area. 

 

Lesser Wretched

Picture of the Day for 10/22/2014. I attended my niece Hayley's junior high choir concert tonight. She's the one circled in the picture below. 

Afterwards, we (Hayley's parents and grandparents) went out for ice cream. Hayley rode in my car and we discussed how junior high boys are wretched. Then we decided that scope wasn't broad enough so we discussed how ALL junior high school-aged kids are basically wretched. Hayley acknowledged by virtue of being part of this age group that she is indeed wretched, but a lesser wretched than some. Fair enough. I conceded that point. 

Over ice cream we continued this discussion and I was telling her about the WRP- the Wretched Reduction Program. Originally, it had been labeled the WEP- the Wretched Eradication Program, but all the behavioral scientists and cross-functional teams made up of experts from around the world concluded, after much analysis and diagramming, that wretched behavior eradication is impossible for this age group. The most that can be hoped for is a slight reduction. This made her laugh so hard she started snorting.

Pretty Fall Day in Utah

Picture of the Day for 10/21/2014. It's a pretty fall day in Utah. This is a view of big, puffy clouds over the mountains from my street. This picture was taken as I was taking at the trash, which isn't so pretty, but at least the view was nice.

Looking Fabulous in Outerspace

Picture of the Day for 10/20/2014. I love this picture of women in space from this article. It was illustrated by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo. If I were to go into space, this is how I would want it to look like- all fabulous and glamorous. Since I know this isn't reality, I have no desire to go into space. This always surprises people who assume, based on my obsession with space and astronauts, that I'd be first in line. Nope. And it boils down to one thing. Bathroom facilities. Enough said.

That's not to say looking like this is totally out of the picture. My artist acquaintance (from my years of attending Spacefest), Michelle Rouch, will paint you as an Astro Girl. Check it out here.

The World's Largest Hair Bun

Picture of the Day for 10/19/2014. I'm still experimenting with my hair and you are my blog victims who have to hear about it. I'm kind of in a bun phase. This is how I wore my hair today- in what is possibly the world's largest bun! The Bun That Ate New York!

Turning Off the Electronic Devices

Picture of the Day for 10/18/2014. I'm finding that I have a hard time settling down at night. I just want to watch this one program on TV before I go to bed. Oh, let me check Facebook one last time. Hmm...that quick glance at Facebook wasn't so quick and ended up being thirty minutes. Oh wait, there's one more thing I can do on my computer for work. Before I shut down I need to quickly check out a couple of blogs I follow. Hey, that blog entry had a link to an interesting article which took awhile to read. See my problem? I suspect this issue plagues most people. I'm trying to cut myself off by 9 pm and read an actual book, not the Kindle on my iPad where it's too tempting to swing by Facebook again. I'm not successful every night, but I'm making an effort.

Side Bun

Picture of the Day for 10/17/2014. What do you do when you're bored on a Friday night? You experiment with hairstyles. If you're me. Here are some attempts at a side bun.

Ethan Can Be Bribed

Picture of the Day for 10/16/2014. My great-nephew Ethan joined us at family lunch today. My sister Robynne and I informed him that he needed to run right over to us so we could kiss his cute face. Surprisingly, the 11-year-old boy declined.

Not to be deterred, Robynne pulled out the big guns. Money. She waved a few dollar bills in front of his face. Oh the agony. You can see his thought process in the pictures below. "Should I take the money and be subjected to a icky kiss? Ewww."

"Kisses are gross, but the money is great. What should I do?"

Eventually he capitulated. Duh. Everyone has their price. Robynne was irritated that I was able to bribe him for a kiss for a mere dollar, but it's all the cash I had in my purse!

Thank You Note Drafts

Picture of the Day for 10/15/2014. I had to write three hand-written thank you notes this week and get them in the mail. You would think that since I only had to write three notes, I would only require three cards. Ha, I wish! It requires about 40 note cards for me to mess up with accidental misspellings or slips of the pen before getting them right. I seem incapable of producing a thank you note perfectly the first time. Does anyone else have this problem? Or is it just me that is thank you note-challenged? Sigh. 

Clown Torment

Picture of the Day for 10/14/2014. My niece Chantal and I both hate clowns. HATE them. They are creepy and stupid. Period. End of story. BUT, they are useful for tormenting loved ones.

A couple of months ago, Chantal posted this offensive clown picture to my Facebook page.

This required retaliation so I posted this picture to her Facebook page about a week ago.

I wasn't done. A few days later, I posted a video of a news report about clowns roaming the streets of Wasco, California at night. That ain't right. 

 

My sister Robynne joined the conversation and posted this news article about how armed copycat clowns are terrorizing the residents of Kern County, California. 

Tonight Robynne and I were discussing the clown offensive mounted against Chantal. I didn't realize until I got home that I held this clown cup in my hand as we were having that very conversation. Irony at its finest. Of course, in this case, the clown cup was neither creepy or stupid as it held Diet Coke. Any receptacle used for Diet Coke should be revered. 

Flourless Treat Recipe Search

Picture of the Day for 10/13/2014. I've been on the lookout for flourless treat recipes. All the sugar in the recipes doesn't make them any healthier or less carb-free than the treats made with flour. I get it, but I have chosen to fool myself that they might be better for me. I found this 3-ingredient recipe for peanut butter cookies that looks intriguing. Of course I would add chocolate chips to the recipe. Chocolate chips pretty much enhance any recipe.

Scary Halloween Hearse

Picture of the Day for 10/12/2014. I noticed this scary Halloween coach/hearse at a neighbor's house just around twilight. When I went to go investigate, the figure reclining in the coffin rose up and scared the snot out of me. It wasn't a real person, but it was still creepy. I say "well done" to my neighbor.