I Want Your Necklace

Picture of the Day for 4/30/2015. I meant to write about this picture back in March. For Christmas, my friend Jenny gave all of her girlfriends a necklace where you can replace the insert in the pendant. She makes and sells the customized magnetic inserts, but she's very generous with her friends. We all met for breakfast a few days before St. Patrick's Day and she brought us a selection of St. Patrick's Day inserts for our necklaces. I just so happened to like the one she was wearing in her necklace at the time and I asked if she had any more of those. She didn't so she took the insert out of her necklace and handed it to me. It was a very generous gesture accompanied by only the smallest of eye-rolls. I guess that's what happens when you've been friends for nearly 40 years!

Naked Gnome Antics

Picture of the Day for 4/29/2015. My sister Robynne ended up purchasing the naked gnome I pointed out to her a couple of weeks ago. Gotta love amazon.com! My brother-in-law Will should win an award for being the all-time best sport. Robynne kept urging him to pose next to the naked gnome and this is what ensued.

Rethinking the Pea-Green Paint

Picture of the Day for 4/28/2015.  A house "flipper" purchased the old Gundersen home in my neighborhood. The Gundersens were the original settlers in this area and several Gundersen families still live here. The guy who purchased the house spruced it up and then painted it the most gosh-awful pea-green color. I couldn't imagine what he was thinking and apparently he must have received a lot of feedback. I was amused to see the house has been restored to its original color scheme. 

James Patterson Apology

Picture of the Day for 4/27/2015. So, remember that mystery writer's conference, Sleuthfest, I attended a couple of months ago? The big keynote speaker was James Patterson. His name was splashed across all the conference materials. People came from all over the country to hear him. About the only person who did NOT attend the conference was James Patterson. On the day he was supposed to speak at a luncheon, he was a no-show.  Not sure what happened there since he only lives less than an hour away from where the event was held, but his publisher sent everyone who attended a Sleuthfest a hard copy book as an apology. I'm looking forward to reading the book since I've never read any of his novels before. 

Chinese Stage

Picture of the Day for 4/26/2015. Went out to a Chinese restaurant with my family tonight where we were seated right next to this elaborate stage. Sadly, there were no performances on the stage while we were there. We asked the waiter and he said the building used to house a Harley Davidson dealership so this stage wasn't a holdover from a previous Chinese restaurant. Now I really want to know what kind of productions are held here!

Contact in the Desert

Picture of the Day for 4/25/2015. Readers of my blog know that my very, very, very not-so-secret guilty pleasure is watching Ancient Aliens on the History Channel on Friday evenings. I just found out that all the stars of that show will be at an event called Contact in the Desert in Joshua Tree, California at the end of May. With all my nerdy heart I want to attend.

Unhappy Niece

Picture of the Day for 4/24/2015. "Let's go to your husband Rob's concert," I said.

"No, I'm not planning on attending," Chantal said. 

"But it will be fun!" I said.

"No, I had other plans for tonight," Chantal said. 

"We'll only stay for an hour," I said.

"I'd really rather just stay home tonight," Chantal said.

"You don't want to stay home tonight and lounge on the couch," I said.

Apparently, I said enough of the right things to convince my niece Chantal that we should go hear her husband's 1980s cover band, Hot Reagan, play tonight. Only, all of the things I ended up saying were lies. The weather was hideous and it took forever in scary driving conditions to reach the bar where Rob's band was playing. We were drenched by the time we ran inside the bar.

When I looked over at Chantal bent over her phone, typing furiously, I asked "Are you maligning me on Facebook?"

"I sure am," she said. Fair enough.

In Good Company

Picture of the Day for 4/23/2015. A friend of mine mentioned he did a Google image search on the pilot Scrappy Johnson and sent me a link. Who should appear high up on the first results page among all the dashing photos of him as a young aviator? That would be me! With very windblown hair! This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I'm in very good company.

Tulip Season

Picture of the Day for 4/22/20015. I was in the office again today (which is a huge deal since I prefer to work from home) and I ended up eating lunch outside in a plaza surrounded by tulip beds. Such a pleasant little escape.

 

Kim Briggs

Picture of the Day for 4/21/2015. I happened to be in the office today when it was announced that head of the office had passed away that very morning. Kim Briggs had been on leave for a year after he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. 

At one time about 10 or so years ago, he also used to be my Mormon bishop in my single's ward. Whenever I would go in for a personal interview with him, we would talk "shop" rather than anything related to religion.  

My favorite memory of Kim is when he dropped by my house for a visit with his counselors. He saw all my books crammed into my bookcases so he asked for a suggestion. I told him my all-time favorite novel was Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. There's one sentence in the book at the end that turns the whole story upside down. It's worth reading the novel (which can be hard to get into- I won't lie) for that one sentence. I didn't tell him about it because I wanted to see if he had the same reaction. He ran up to me in church a couple of months later and exclaimed that the whole book had been worth reading for that one-sentence reveal. Made my whole year when he did that.

Seeing his empty office was especially poignant today.

Robin's Egg

Picture of the Day for 4/20/2015. I found this broken Robin's egg on one of my front steps. I hope the chick is OK. It may belong to the Robin who loves to hang out on my front yard which is dangerous territory for a bird given the stray black cat who loves hanging out at my place as well.

Vintage Merrill Family Photo

Picture of the Day for 4/19/2015. I came across this photograph from the 1970s at my sister Paula's house today. It's Christmastime and my dad is shown pictured with his:

• Arm around his mother
• Twin sisters and their husbands.

A couple of observations:

• I have seen pictures of myself where I have the exact same expression on my face that my grandmother does on her face in this photograph. My mother always said that I didn't really look like her, but I never thought that made sense since A- my dad looked like his mother and B- I look like my dad so C- I should at least resemble my grandmother somewhat. It's simple algebra: if A=B and B=C then A=C. (A tangent observation is that I really like math!)
• My aunts are younger than I am now!

Picture That Robynne Wanted

Picture of the Day for 4/18/2015. Not much happening today so I thought I would use the time to gloat, just because I can and it's fun. A week ago after my sister Robynne's husband Will helped haul away the large branch that had fallen from my English Walnut tree, we all went to their favorite antique store as a post-lumber hauling treat. I laid eyes on this picture a few milliseconds before Robynne did. We both wanted it. I got it by virtue of having seen it and claiming it first. 

I'm not normally a fan of still-live pictures, but I love the pastel colors in this one. 

I suspect it's only a matter of time before Robynne will get this. I'm fickle and tend to tire of home decor quickly.  She only needs to be patient for a little while.

I Found Dori!

Picture of the Day for 4/17/2015. I found Dori! Or I guess it would be more accurate to say she found me!

Dori Johnson was one of my all-time favorite people from when I worked in Yellowstone 25 years ago. She was in her mid-60s and recently retired from being a nurse at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She was sunny and cheerful, but with a glint in her eye that saved her from being all sweetness and light. She was universally loved by all the employees in the gift shop where I worked. I adored her. Dori was a fabulous hiking partner and routinely out-hiked me even though I was decades younger. We kept in touch after our Yellowstone years and exchanged Christmas cards until about a year ago when I didn't receive one. Given her age, I feared the worst, but it turns out she's OK. I just received this note that indicates she has moved into an assisted living facility. I can't wait to write to her!

April Snowman

Picture of the Day for 4/16/2015. I admire this snowman's perseverance. Still standing in the face of today's warm temperatures and melted snow.

Biggest Snowstorm of the Season

Picture of the Day for 4/15/2015. Salt Lake had it's biggest snowstorm of the season today. In April!

Happy Speech Therapy Students

Picture of the Day for 4/14/2015. My friend Shar is a speech therapist and she has always been such a cheerleader for the Teach Speech Now company I own with my sister. She sent me this picture of some of her students cracking up over the "Hasty Fat Frogs Flying Past Fast" tongue twister in one of our books. It's so fun seeing our materials being used and enjoyed!

Naked Gnome

Picture of the Day for 4/13/2015. After my business meeting this morning, I had some time to kill before I had to be at the airport so my colleague suggested I visit the Orange (California) Historic District which has a lot of cute shops. It was excellent advice because I found this naked gnome in the first place I visited. 

 
This had my sister's name all over it. Here's the text conversation we had about the naked gnome.

Jacaranda Trees

Picture of the Day for 4/12/2015. I flew into the Long Beach airport today. (I'm in California for a client meeting at 9:00 am tomorrow morning. Dang- I "have" to spend a day sightseeing in sunny Southern California.) The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom and it was quite a sight to see all the purple trees from the air as we were descending into the airport.

Tree Limb and Work Gloves

Picture of the Day for 4/11/2015. My brother-in-law Will, who is the most helpful man on the planet, showed up at my house today to chop up/haul away the massive tree limb that broke away from my English Walnut tree last September. And he gets some nice wood for his woodworking projects. Win-win. 

I helped haul the wood down my very steep front yard. These are my work gloves I used to protect my hands from getting scratched. Yes, MY work gloves. I actually have work gloves which I have used, on more than one occasion, to do, like, you know, actual manual work. 

Buddha Among the Tulips

Picture of the Day for 4/10/2015. I visited the little New Age store next to my salon after getting my hair dyed this afternoon. I loved the Buddha statue nestled among the tulips- a good example of East meets West.

How to Disguise Gray Hair

Picture of the Day for 4/9/2015. I discovered how to disguise (sort of) my gray hair! Take a selfie from this tortured angle. 

Happy Flower

Picture of the Day for 4/8/2015. A niece gave me this sparkly flower girl for Easter. It's now hanging from the lamp next to my work desk. It never hurts to have an enchanted flower next to you as you work. 

Easter Basket

Picture of the Day for 4/7/2015. Given the fact I'm working insane hours trying to get ready for a client meeting next week which does not provide opportunities for interesting pictures of the day, I thought I would continue my Easter-themed blog entries. Here is the Easter basket filled with goodies the Easter bunny (aka my sister Paula) brought me. One is never too old for Easter baskets! This holiday makes me miss my parents. My mother loved coloring Easter eggs into her 80s. I would come over on the Saturday afternoon before Easter to help her dye the eggs. And on Easter morning my dad and I would go on a highly competitive (there was shoving involved) Easter egg hunt. Good memories that make me smile.

Vengeance the Bunny

Picture of the Day for 4/6/2015. I'm cheating and using a picture I took yesterday because the scenario is too good to pass up. My great-niece Sadie got a stuffed bunny in her Easter basket. She's a stickler for making sure all of her dolls and stuffed animals are named so naturally I asked her the bunny's name. 

Ready for it?

Are you sure?

OK, here it is. Stuart Vengeance.

A fabulous name for an Easter bunny!

Sunrise Easter Service

Picture of the Day for 4/5/2015. I thought it would be fun to check out a sunrise Easter service- something I've never attended. I checked out the Baptist church closest to my house and their schedule said, yes indeed, there will be a sunrise service at the church. I double-checked both time and location. 

When I arrived at the appointed time and location, there was no Easter sunrise service to be found. Sigh. 

So, showing absolutely no loyalty to any type of denomination, I drove a couple of blocks down the street where I attended a Lutheran sunrise-ish Easter service. It was a lovely meeting. It was the first time I had attended a Lutheran church so I found the experience very interesting.

I think religion is an endlessly fascinating topic- what people believe and why they believe it.

Offering to Buddha

Picture of the Day for 4/4/2015. I was out to dinner with some friends tonight and we noticed this box of food on the ground in front of the business right next to our restaurant. We found out that this is a nightly offering to Buddha. I love how it is such a beautiful offering. Definitely a reminder to give your best.

Art Estate Sale

Picture of the Day for 4/3/2015. I attended an art estate sale with my sister Robynne. She pointed out this lithograph that she said looked like something I would like. Why yes, it certainly was. I talked the price down to $15 and walked away with a lovely picture. Now I just need to get it framed which is the big hurdle. I have a habit of buying lovely artwork and doing absolutely nothing with it. 

Uncooperative Bed Sheets

Picture of the Day for 4/2/2015. I've got uncooperative bed sheets. No matter how much I tuck them tightly in this corner of my bed, they still come up off the bed each night. I could actually go out and buy some better sheets (which I can afford now that I'm back at my consulting job), but why try and take proactive action to solve a problem when I can just complain? Just saying. 

42 Candles

Picture of the Day for 4/1/2015. My niece Chantal turned 42 today. 

Her mother put all 42 candles on the cake! 

Chantal was able to successfully blow them out though.