Jordan River Ride

I am working on a new challenge where Zach will give me a smiley face sticker if I ride at least 6 miles in a day. After 20 smileys, he’ll take me out to eat! So, on Saturday I got up before the boys (at 8:30) and got on my bike to go for a ride by myself. Under normal circumstances, I would have waited for him, but his ankle is twisted and I knew he wouldn’t be up for towing the Boogedy in a trailer.

I rode good and hard on the outward 3.5 mile leg of the journey. When I reached my destination and found this gorgeous yellow tree, I decided to photograph the pretty stuff all the way home.

There was a pink tree:

And this nifty rusty bridge that made the best clunkety noise when I rode across.

Here I am stopped on the bridge:

I think this might be a beaver dam:

Here are at least three varieties of grasses, all contraindicated for inhalation up my dog’s nose:

I want you to know that I faced my fears and stepped out upon this grate-topped walkway over the river for blog’s sake.  I am showing you my dorky riding pants and socks because I have no shame.

The view from there was grand and it was LOUD.

Another pink tree:

Some Russian olive trees and thistle with some blue wildflowers. Those Russian olives are the bane of my mom’s existence.

A spot of deep shade, at least 5 degrees cooler in here.

I went home and ate sauteed tilapia and green salad and a strawberry kefir smoothie. I lovely start to the day. You can believe that I took a long nap that afternoon.

Outing with my mom and sis

In the spirit of this post at Earth and Living, I am showing you the very best from my outing with my mom and sis last week. We visited Gardner Village, a sweet little collection of shops in the southern part of the valley.

Shown: bleeding hearts by the cooking store:

Not shown: The huge, scummy koi in the pond there. I’m sure the fish are gorgeous, but haven’t yet shed their winter algae.

Shown: Forget me knows in the shade of the knick knack shop:

Not shown: Our flavorless lunch at the little bakery.

Shown: The dots and stripes M bought and shared with me. The florals mom bought to make a bag for her friend:

Not shown: The mess of construction cones on the road getting in and out of the Village.

Shown: The most glorious flowering tree I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know what it is, but the buds looked like pink marbles and the blooms like petticoats. This first photo is just begging to be made into quilting fabric!

Stirrings-Mantel Display

I have really enjoyed my Stirrings Collaboration with new friend Jen from Painted Fish Studio, in which we’ve been looking for signs of spring. We’ve both known all along that spring comes sooner to Salt Lake City than to the midwest. So just as I’m thinking of wrapping up my contributions to the project, I’m looking forward to seeing more photos from her warming  climate.

In a time of year when I might have been discouraged or gloomy about the grayness of late winter, or the dampness of very early spring, instead I was encouraged to notice, to observe a quickening, to hope for small signs, and to share the sweet burgeoning of spring.  To me it has felt like a long, delicious season, when some around me are still complaining about the crispness at mid-morning.

Salt Lake’s spring is in full force, now. In bloom, in leaf, in music. From here, summer is so close at hand, a rapid ascent into often triple-digit clay oven conditions. Life is rampant and the birdsong is worth waking up for.

I want to thank Jen for co-publishing with me, and I hope to show you more of her thoughts and photos as winter withdraws from her neighborhood. I hope she feels spring as luxuriously as I have this year!

P.S. The flowers above sit on our new mantel, now installed in the great room, atop oiled floors and freshly painted buttery yellow walls.

We turned on the gas flame to test it and immediately turned it off: the season for that has passed. Something to look forward to in 6 months!

Stirrings-Lavender blossoms

No. 2 in my collaboration with Jen at Painted Fish Studio.

I was walking home on Wednesday and was thrilled to see a small patch of lavender flowers blooming in the shade of some green grass amidst a lawn of dead-looking groundcover.

I got in close to take a macro shot and realized they were actually melted nerds or something. Woe!

I’ll be looking back at this lawn in the next few months, because I could swear this plant produces little lavender flowers!

Lovely workspace

I do NOT have green thumb. Therefore, I feel so lucky to work in an office where greenery is loved and taken care of. I get the most gorgeous specimens on my desk because mine is the first desk one sees upon entering the building. Look, I work in the rainforest! All thanks to Tom, our great Building Manager.

Here’s a little vignette hidden in the canopy. I made this frog years ago following a commercial pattern. The termite-chewed stick and the bird’s nest were given to me by biology students when they returned from fieldtrips.