Visiting Quail

Picture of the Day for April 6, 2021. A quail flew up to the ledge of the porch, checked things out, and flew away.

Leaky Roof Fun Continues

Picture of the Day for April 5, 2021. The leaky roof fun continues. Before I had my roof replaced in 2018, I only had one leak in my bedroom. Now I have to set out two bowls to catch the water. Argh!

Easter Service 2021

Picture of the Day for April 4, 2021. Every Easter I have a tradition of attending an Easter service from a different denomination than my own. This Easter and last year, due to COVID-19, I ended up watching services on YouTube. This morning I stumbled upon a compelling service from Hope Community Church out of North Carolina. This is after I tried watching a service from a local Methodist church which was lovely but moved sooooo slowly it was painful. I was struck by how different yesterday’s Passover and today’s Easter celebrations were. I love it.I think religion and belief are so fascinating  

Passover Seder

Picture of the Day for April 3, 2021. I attended my first Passover Seder. My niece and her husband are Jewish and now living in Utah. It was a wonderful experience and meal! It was baby girl’s first Passover Seder as well and she was equal parts unimpressed and vocal. So much so that she was whisked off to bed midway through the event. I was not much better behaved as I accidentally spilled my drink all over my sister who was also in attendance. Oops.

Dolly Parton Perfume

Picture of the Day for April 2, 2021. I love ❤️ Dolly Parton. Her new perfume? I was hoping to love it too. It’s okaaaaay. 

Why am I not in Jackson Hole, Wyoming?

Picture of the Day for April 1, 2021. It’s my oldest niece Chantal’s birthday and I was about to text her to see what the plans were for celebrating the day (since I’m fully vaccinated and ready to socialize), but saw that she was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So jealous! One of my favorite places which I have not visited in 13 years. Time to go back. 

Joe Pickett Novels

Picture of the Day for March 31, 2021. I’m circling back to the Joe Pickett series by CJ Box. The titular character is a game warden in modern-day rural Wyoming - a place that I love. I met CJ Box at a mystery writers conference I attended a few years ago. He was the guest of honor and his manly cowboy-ness caused all the women’s hearts to flutter. 

Leaky Roof

Picture of the Day for March 30, 2021. I love how the rainy weather we’ve had this month has been exacerbating the leaky roof over my kitchen. The roof that was replaced just three years ago. Grrr. 

Stranger Danger

Picture of the Day for March 29, 2021. This little nugget still has me firmly placed in the “stranger danger” category, but every once in awhile she would forget I was the scary enemy and give me a wide grin. Someday I will win her over. Someday.

6.6 Miles

Picture of the Day for March 28, 2021. In the home stretch of my office March 2021 step competition. My goal is to get 325,000 steps in for the month so I had to walk as far as possible over the weekend. I don’t think I’ve walked nearly 7 miles in a single stretch since my hiking days in Yellowstone!

Full Moon

Picture of the Day for March 27, 2021. Beautiful full moon over the mountains this evening. 

Extreme Haircut

Picture of the Day for March 26, 2021. It was my first visit to a hair salon in 14 months. I’ve been more than overdue for a haircut and my hair had grown out to my waist and I’m letting my hair go gray. I had my stylist cut off 12 inches! Now my gray hair blends a little bit better into the remaining red hair. It looks the ombré effect is on purpose. 

Unique Walking Location(s) #2

Picture of the Day for March 25, 2021. Here’s what I posted to my office step competition group chat today. It was quite an ordeal getting in my 10,000 steps!

American Dirt

Picture of the Day for March 24, 2021. A friend gave me the novel American Dirt for Christmas. It’s about a woman who is forced to flee her middle-class life in Acapulco, Mexico with her young son and try to make her way 1,500 miles north across the border to the US. It’s a harrowing and visceral story. I love how fiction can make things more real than 100 non-fiction books combined. 

Girl Scout Cookies

Picture of the Day for March 23, 2021. All stocked up on Girl Scout cookies. Phew! These are going into the freezer and I will dole them out (to myself) judiciously. 

Corporate America Memes

Picture of the Day for March 22, 2021. I follow some humor sites on Instagram that poke fun at corporate America. As someone embedded in corporate America, I find them hilarious. 

Unique Walking Location

Picture of the Day for March 21, 2021. Needed to get my 10,000steps in for the day, but it’s cold and snowy so I decided to go walking inside at a massive, 2-story sporting goods store. Managed to get several thousand steps in just wandering the aisles. 

I’m 

Before, there were cookbooks

Picture of the Day for March 20, 2021. I was about to ask “what did we do before cell phones to take screenshots of recipes we wanted to try out?” but then I remembered before cell phones there was no social media where recipes were posted. Oh yeah. Pre-cell phones and pre-social media there was a thing called “cookbooks.” 😀

Friendly Deer

Picture of the Day for March 19, 2021. Went on my weekly cemetery walk with my friend Suzanne. At this particular location, in the heart of urban Salt Lake City, a small herd of deer have taken up residence. They don’t seem to be bothered by humans at all. 

Vaccinated!

Picture of the Day for March 18, 2021.  Got vaccinated today at a drive-thru clinic. Woo hoo! I hope we are close to end to the pandemic. I’m not sure life will ever go back to completely normal, but normal(ish) would be nice. 

Mint Cake

Picture of the Day for March 17, 2021. St. Patrick’s Day! I wore green in honor of the holiday which was somewhat wasted since I was the only person at the office today. Came home to some chocolate/mint cake a neighbor had left me as a treat. Yay for cake!

Birdhouse

Picture of the Day for March 16, 2021. Saw this on my walk today...a random birdhouse nailed to a random tree in the cemetery where I sometimes go walking. Would love to know the story about how that ended up here. 

Birthday Celebration

Picture of the Day for March 15, 2021. Celebrated my friend Suzanne’s 60th birthday today. 60! We have been friends for 42 years now. Wow! We met our friend Jenny for breakfast and then Suzanne and I went on a mini road trip to Ogden. We visited the Farr ice cream store and factory. It was a fun day. Bonus was having the day off work. 

Morgan, Utah

Picture of the Day for March 14, 2021. My paternal grandmother was born in Morgan, Utah, a place I have never visited before. Morgan is a small town nestled in a mountain valley 50 miles NE of Salt Lake City. I didn’t realize it was so close or I would have made the trip much sooner. I spent a very enjoyable time today exploring the town and walking in the cemetery. I was hoping to come across some family graves, but I didn’t see any. I’ll have to return another time when I have done some research about where they may be located. 

White Trash Plant Containers

Picture of the Day for March 13, 2021. Turns out in a pinch, red plastic cups make fantastic plant holders. Kind of a white trash vibe, but I’m OK with that. 

Headstone Quotes

Picture of the Day for March 12, 2021. Walked my 10,000 steps for the day in the local cemetery. I love the headstones that have sweet quotes about the deceased. 

Don’t Mess with Owen

Picture of the Day for March 11, 2021. I was walking by the elementary school in my neighborhood and noticed the chalk art lining the sidewalk. I got a kick out of this one. Owen is feeling might and strong. Don’t mess with Owen!

My Cousin, Queen Elizabeth 1

Picture of the Day for March 10, 2021. Well, well, well...it turns out Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth 1 are my first cousins, several generations back of course. Very cool! Makes me feel positively regal. 👑

Walking Grid

Picture of the Day for March 9, 2021. Trying to get quick walks in during my work days. The nearby church parking lot provides a good spot for this. I use the parking spot lines as a walking grid to get the most steps out of a relatively small area. Somewhat boring, but effective for getting 10,000 steps in during the day. 

Belly Fat Books

Picture of the Day for March 8, 2021. I’m working on decluttering my house a few items at a time. There’s a local bookstore that will take your used books for cash or discounts off your future purchases. You take a picture of the books and text it to them and then they let you know what they are willing to offer. I would donate books to a thrift store but I recently saw a thrift store worker take someone’s donated books and just dump them (rather vigorously) into a bin. It hurt my soul to think of the damage inflicted on the poor books. 

Rural(ish) Utah

Picture of the Day for March 7, 2021. It’s official. My restless mini road trips have turned into a Sunday afternoon tradition. This week I explored the streets west of Bountiful, UT. It’s amazing how you don’t have to drive too far to venture into rural-ish territory. Saw lots of horses on this drive I find this type of neighborhood appealing. There’s a part of me that would like to move to Wyoming where it’s less crowded  

Saturday Nights

Picture of the Day for March 6, 2021. This is my 2nd A Discovery of Witches post within a month so you can tell I’m obsessed. The books have been turned into a TV series and season 2 episodes are airing now on AMC+. I watch the latest episode every Saturday night with all the lights out. Delicious. 

Reluctant Companion

Picture of the Day for March 5, 2021. I spent an hour at my niece’s house tending her daughter today. This little nugget absolutely adores her parents. She’s in stranger danger mode so she was NOT thrilled to see me at first. She decided I was marginally acceptable though once she realized I was her only companion. We played with her toys and watched Frozen 2. Im not so on the fence about our relationship. I’m crazy about her. 

10,000 Steps

Picture of the Day for March 4, 2021. I’m participating in an office contest. I won’t go the intricacies of the rules, but the gist is I have to walk 10,000 steps a day for the entire month of March. This will be good for me as I was as sedentary as could be in 2020. Some days my step tracker would show just 60 steps. Eek. 

Temple Square Construction-Update

Picture of the Day for March 3, 2021. Back at the office downtown today where I have a front row seat for the Temple Square construction. I get a kick out of seeing workmen on the roof of the temple. Makes the building seem so grounded than ethereal.  

Spiderwebs

Picture of the Day for March 2, 2021. I have the hardest time seeing any spiderwebs in my house. The light has to be just right for me to see them and then wipe them away. Kind of creeps me out when I do finally notice them. 

This picture is in my bathroom and as you can see there’s more going on here than just spiderwebs:

1. Yes, I realize the windowsills need to be painted desperately.  They need to get in line behind other larger, more urgent home repairs - like my leaky roof that should not be leaking since it was replaced just a few years ago. Grr...

2. Yes, that is a gnome in the window. I keep it there as a reminder of my mother and her sense of humor. When I was living at home she placed this gnome along with his gnome relatives on a shelf in my bathroom downstairs. When I objected on the grounds that it felt creepy having gnomes looking down on me in the bathroom, she put tape over their eyes. Touché mother, touché. 

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Picture of the Day for March 1, 2021. Was out for a walk today and saw this clever sign alerting people that the sidewalk was ending. If you’re a Shel Silverstein fan, you’ll get it. 

Feeling Restless

Picture of the Day for February 28, 2021. I took an hour-long drive today. Ended up on a remote road behind the Salt Lake City airport. It was interesting to see it from this vantage point. The Sunday drives I’ve been taking have been helpful, but I’m so restless I don’t even know what to do with myself. 

Dollar Store Decisions

Picture of the Day for February 27, 2021. I needed to pick up some storage bags that I’ve only found been able to find at the dollar store. Sadly, this was the least scary of the dollar store options for me today. I had to choose between going into the store with the scary guy lurking in the parking lot or the store that was the most disreputable-looking. I chose the shifty-looking store.