Showering Thoughts

I went to a really great shower for my niece, Sarah Cannon Brown last night. The games and favors were truly excellent. The picture of the baby shoe to the left is one of the favors we left with.

Back in the day, party favors were a big deal and my mother always brought hers home, carefully preserved with candy on board, to me since I was the only daughter. (I know I was the favorite, too.) I think of that when I get cute little favors and feel a little sorry for myself since I have no daughters to bring them home to. Boys, and my handsome husband are just interested in the loot that comes in them. It's also a little embarrassing to get something tied with pink bows regardless.

I made Julia take home the little pacifiers made out of lifesavers and a jellybean we had around our necks to my granddaughters. She didn't see the significance of it I don't think. I just wish I'd been there to see them receive them.

Carl, of course, will get the shoe with the mints and pretzels inside. I'm not as thoughtful as my mother, though, because I ate the nuts.

Getting back to mother. It was always nice to have her bring home to me whatever it was she had received, but I didn't think the remembrance was so long-term. It's always nice to be remembered, but it's interesting that I remember her for remembering me so long ago. I hope she knows about it wherever she may be.

I'll Be Quick -- Just Listen to This One Cute Comment From My Granddaughter

As Brad and Sophia were leaving Wal-Mart, they noticed a gangster kinda guy with a big tattoo on his chest. As they passed, Soph observed "He didn't listen to his family."

Just Sayin' . . .

Michael Jackson was talented. I don't think anyone argues with that. I liked "Billy Jean" and "Thriller". The Jackson Five emerged from Gary, Indiana while I was living in Chicago. I even remember vaguely a performance of his with Brittney Spears, maybe at a half-time of something, that I thought was really good entertainment. I really loved his Simpson's episode. Really loved it.

It's just that he did get pretty weird in the interim and it's amazing to me that a whole swath of people has emerged that seem to have better place twenty years ago screaming for him. Where have they been waiting quietly?

I think today's excitement is fine. I also think it's something interesting to do on a long summer day. I just hope that my great-grandchildren won't still be wearing t-shirts with his likeness on the front.

Health Update

Here's a note -- Friday at Dr. Symkoviak's office I learned I have a blood pressure of 90/50. I also had a pulse first of 50 then on second check, it was 63. "I should be dead or at least still in bed," I cleverly observed. "At least dizzy", the Protime administrator responded snappily.

Who would dare ask anything of me?

Yet I'm asked to stomp through half of West Jordan to watch hours of parade, stay awake through Ice Age and then attend fireworks later on on the fourth. I'm telling you, the respect I receive isn't up to the standards I would have set.

Yet as I type, I can tell I'm not mustering up a great deal of support -- which is just as well. I'll just be sitting over here, sniffling quietly to myself, or not.

Self Indulgence

Out behind the famous Old Faithful Inn, stands the very unassuming building you see above. It hasn't changed much, at least since 1961. Except for the two girls in the lobby checking their email on laptops.

I'm a witness of that. It was my dorm during that summer when I worked as a chamber maid in the very Old Faithful Inn. Not in one of the arms of the Inn, but the very Inn itself. I'd leave this dorm, every morning to work on the second floor of the Inn. Below is the front door to my dorm. I climbed those stairs a bunch of times during that summer.

We had a blast that summer. Merlene Britsch was my roommate and she did her best to keep things together for us, but to no avail.
Above, on the far right of the lower level is our room. We got the corner. There couldn't have been a better summer though Merlene did stress out a little too much.

Below is the hallway to our room on the far end on the right. The glow comes from a memory of us I'll bet, but maybe it's because I took the picture on my cell phone. I did love that place. My first home away from home.What a summer. I didn't want to leave so I stayed into September to help close down the Inn.

Wish I had pictures of those days, but I don't. I just have them in my head. Hope they stay there.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Not Quite

Yellowstone has beasts aplenty. Here, for example, is a coyote. The only reason we believe it is a coyote is that its tail is bushy and therefore not a wolf. Yellowstone sports, however, 230 wolves. Here's your garden-variety grizzly bear. Looks cuddly, apparently isn't.
Elk. They abound in the park. Moose, however, have gravitated down to the Teton area where there is more tasty food for them to eat. The cold is not the problem in the park for them I'd guess.
A bald eagle sitting on her nest was a surprising sight. Especially since she was courteous to viewers and built the nest in the top of a burned-out tree near the West Yellowstone Entrance.
This was not all. We did see bison, mountain goats, geese and various other critters. Fortunately, Carl, my photographer, had the presence of mind to rent a fine-quality lens for the occasion so we could see things a little closer and more National Geographic-like.

Oh to be Young and Half Mountain Goat

Climbing and throwing rocks seem to be among the rites of passage. All through Yellowstone there are spots requiring that we do either or both. Below are Mark and Cindy Cannon (cousins) atop Sheepeaters Cliff. It's much taller than it appears.

There's a road in Montana, North of Yellowstone, that goes through Bear Tooth Canyon that Charles Kurault named as one of the ten most beautiful drives in the country. Below is Joseph Cannon (yet another cousin) on top of one of the highest peaks. Snow below him is not visible and neither are snowboarders who apparently still are enjoying the area.
Next is Cindy, again, up on another stack of stone along the way through Yellowstone. There's more than bears and geysers in Yellowstone.

A final note, days like these require more than flip-flops. It's not called Yellowstone for nothing.