Young Again

 A weekend with Spencer Flindt and his friends makes David and me feel young again.  On April 22, 2016, Spencer and Naomi brought Spencer's friend, Logan, and Naomi's friends, Emily and Megan, with them to St. George.  All are BYU students, returned missionaries (East LA, Bulgaria, Paraguay, and Indiana), and full of fun.  Spencer et al. hiked in Zions during the day, joined us for dinner, and then watched movies and soaked in the hot tub at night.  I worked my way through the latest edition of "Cook's Country," cooking Brunswick stew, crockpot spareribs, Basque green beans, berry smoothies, and chocolate mousse cake--all recipes from my magazine.

Dave told the kids about his impersonating our decorator and arranging rocks from the road as a centerpiece in our St. George living room.  I loved the arrangement as long as I thought it was from the decorator, and I threw it out when I learned it was Dave's doing.  As a hostess gift, the kids bought us our own beautiful rock from one of the Springdale gem and mineral stores!

 On Friday, Dave and I hiked eight miles of the West Rim Trail.

 The views on the way to Angels Landing were glorious.

 We could see all the way down Zions Canyon.

 Instead of turning off towards Angels Landing, we kept walking up and up, past white slickrock to a white peak covered with green trees.  As I asked, over and over, "How much farther?" Dave answered, "It's just around the corner."  A 70-ish, wizened woman hiker, trudging next to her lean, equally wizened husband, leaned over to me and whispered, "How many times, in my married life, have I heard, 'It's just around the corner!'".

 The views as we walked down were breathtaking.

 On Saturday, we hiked around the neighborhood, checking out garage sales, and then attended a session in the St. George Temple.  We then drove to Kanab to visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  It is located on 3200 acres, and has the mission of ceasing the euthanasia of animals in shelters.

 Best Friends also runs a pet adoption program.  We saw this doggie leave with a new owner.

 On our way back through Springdale, we stopped at Worthington Gallery, our favorite.  We bought two small pots which looked perfect in our St. George bedroom.

Artful Hours

 Dave and I luxuriated in art during the week of April 15-21, 2016.  On Tuesday, April 19, Emilie participated in the AP Art Studio at Olympus High.  She is a talented painter, and she based most of her paintings on photographs by her mother and Uncle Mike.  Mike attended the show and was impressed with Emilie's portraits of people from North Korea, Ethiopia, and Israel, based on his photos.   Emilie gave Mike the painting of a man from Jerusalem.

 Each member of Emilie's AP Art class described the themes of their art and their technique.  Emilie said she wanted viewers of her paintings to appreciate people from other cultures.  The themes varied, from one painter who focused on clowns and another on mythical beasts, to a photographer and several artists who painted fashion.  One of the artists was a girl whose father had died of ALS in 2014.  She showed a series of paintings on "things lost but long remembered," including a haunting picture of a little girl with a teddy bear clinging to the leg of her father, dressed in military fatigues.

 Al and Marilyn Ebert, with their son, Jeff, joined us at the art show.  Annelise congratulated Emilie on her paintings and said that she wants to take AP art in a few years, just like Emilie.  Annelise is a talented photographer.  Another of the guests at the show was Emilie's and Annelise's longtime art teacher, who runs a studio in her home for children aged nine and above, and for adults.

 Heidi hurried to the show from her job at the ATK plant in Clearfield.

 I was impressed with the AP art teacher, who described how the students had put "heart and soul" into their projects.  He pointed out that the show was not about one or two artists who were better than the others, but about all the students, who each had talent and a unique style and point of view.

 After the show, we celebrated at Auntie Ray's, a homey cafe in Holladay.  Annie ordered the creamsicle float, Emilie and I tried the pineapple floats, and Mike and Heidi pronounced the brownie sundaes excellent.  We all want to return to Auntie Ray's.  Our spirits were dampened just a bit as we returned to the Ebert house and found that a frenemy of Sophia's had toilet papered the Eberts' trees!

 On Friday night, Dave and I attended the Utah Symphony performance of excerpts from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet".  Actors from the Utah Shakespeare Festival introduced the scenes with bits of Shakespeare's play.

I saw Ballet West perform "Romeo and Juliet" this season, and I loved it.  It was a special treat to hear the Utah Symphony play the music even more beautifully than the Ballet West orchestra had played it.

 On Saturday night, we sampled a lighter form of art--a multivisual concert of Beatles music by a tribute band.  The concert lasted for 2 1/2 hours and covered each era of Beatles songs, from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "Hey Jude" and "Let it Be."  Vintage videos of Beatles concerts played on a huge screen behind the performers.  My first exposure to the Beatles was as a 13-year-old, and I still love their songs.  It was a special evening for both Dave and me.

Grandpa Dave and His Pals

Steve and Camille Ebert were in Boston during the weekend of April 15-17, 2016, where Steve ran the Boston Marathon and Camille visited friends and family.  One surprise connection was a joint visit to Camille's Sudbury friend, Roz, and to Liz Calder.  Roz' husband is Liz' singles ward bishop! Dave agreed to take Ezra to his lacrosse game in Draper and his football game in East Millcreek on Saturday morning, as I did Dave's household jobs--cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming throughout our three story house, as well as my own mopping, laundry and dusting.  Dave also took Ezra to lunch and provided me with photos as blog-fodder.  As I checked my Fitbit, which said I climbed 54 floors on Saturday, I decided I did not get the better end of the deal!

 Ezra was a talented goalie.

 Grant Flindt, who is in the Missionary Training Center learning Slovakian, asked for lots of pictures with our emails.  David acknowledged Grant's need for pictures and sent him this one.

 Dave started Saturday morning with a long walk with his friend, Richard Carman.  Richard and Dave used to run together, but Dave reverted to walking when friends who walked passed him as he ran. The Salt Lake Marathon wove around SLC on Saturday morning, and Dave passed the runners on South Temple and again in Holladay, as he drove to pick up Ezra.  Dave watched the race wistfully, since one of his happiest achievements was running a marathon himself in three hours and five minutes.

Family and Friends

On the April 8-10, 2016 weekend, Dave and I visited some of our favorite people and met new friends, as well.  David's birthday present from Steve and Camille was a gift certificate to Bombay House, a favorite SLC Indian restaurant.  We cashed in the certificate on Friday night, and spent a few fun hours with Steve and Camille, enjoying chicken tikka masala, garlic naan, and mango lassi.  Emilie Ebert learned to love Indian food during her trip to Bengal last year, so Camille took her home a pint of mango lassi, as well!  Time with his children is David's very favorite gift--and the food is frosting.

Dave spent Saturday, April 9, 2016, with his brother, Alan, visiting the Hill Field airplane museum and then driving to Antelope Island, where they explored an old ranch.  Dave has made a point of getting together with his brother and sisters more often recently.  We also went to supper with Alan and Janice at the Cinegrill on April 14.  When Dave and I arrived at the Cinegrill on the dot of 7 p.m. and found Alan and Janice already there, I commented, "For sure, the three of you grew up together." Janice recounted how her dad was always, always on time.  Being late was a capital offense.

 SLC is full of exotic ethnic restaurants.  Dave and I finished the weekend with supper at the Galley Grill, a Ukrainian cafe in Sugar House.  A Ukrainian pop singer danced through music videos on the TV on the wall as we ate our borscht, pickle plate, and meat-filled dumplings.  The blond, blue-eyed Ukrainian waitress was nearly as pretty as the Ukrainian pop singer.  She said most of the Ukrainians in Utah are Mormon immigrants.  She was surprised to hear Ukrainian spoken with an American accent, as she walked down a SLC street.  The speakers were a couple of former Ukrainian missionaries catching up in their borrowed tongue.  "I was amazed they could speak so well after just two years," the waitress said. We thought of Grant and how he is already conversing easily in Slovakian after just seven weeks.  We told the waitress we would be back soon to try the blinys (cheese-stuffed crepes).

Back to Nature

When David was a boy, his father enlisted him to pick beetles off the trees in the family garden.  A few days of that cured him of gardening forever.  My father loved vegetable and fruit gardens all his life, and I have always wanted a large one.  This year I rented a 10 x 12' plot in Cannon Greens, a  garden run by Wasatch Community Gardens in Glendale, at 1300 South 800 West.  That is gang territory at night, but it is benign during the daytime.  Last Saturday, April 2, 2016, the members of the garden held a work party to dig and compost.  The group included a contingent of refugees from Burundi and a man with arms completely covered with tattoos who said he was "into tomatoes".  I planted my garden early, then learned that the drip irrigation system won't be hooked up until the end of April.  David accompanied me to water the garden with a hose.  I have spinach, chard, collard greens, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and onions--a treasure of cold weather vegetables.  I also planted two types of lettuce in our back yard, where I can easily grab them for my salads.

 The community garden provides mountains of compost and wood chips, wheel barrows, shovels, and trowels, as well as free classes on gardening.  Each gardener has to put in 6 hours of general service in the garden.  My assignment is to plant four huge metal troughs with flowers to beautify the entrance to our haven.

 There is an area of the garden reserved for fruit trees--pear, apricot, plum, and two varieties of peaches.  We can all share the fruit.

David walked up City Creek Canyon on Saturday morning with his friend, Richard Carman.  They have run and walked the canyon together for thirty years.  David never tires of its beauty.

Goodbye to Jenny and the Little Guys

 On Friday night, April 1, 2016, we gathered with Jenny, Sam, and Henry to say goodbye, before they returned to Miami.  Jonny flew back to Miami on Tuesday, March 29, after his St. George weekend, and Jenny stayed the rest of the week in SLC with her parents.  "The first time I called Jonny, I wasn't sure he missed us," Jenny said wistfully.  In his week without family, Jonny ran every day, read two books, and lost six pounds. "The most recent time I called, though, he was ready for us to come home," Jenny said.

 We met at Olympus High for Emilie's lacrosse game, as Olympus beat Skyline!  I sorted Emilie from the other players by her long, blond ponytail, and Camille kept track of her by her neon yellow shoelaces.  A more prosaic way--the #4 on her jersey!  We then ate supper at Camille's house.  Camille cooked chicken stew with Greek olives, served over foccacia bread with fig jam and sliced cheese.  David made his signature green salad, and I made the fruit salad and mint  brownies.  Sam wandered through the kitchen as we worked, savoring a single blueberry, a raspberry, and a blackberry.  He had gotten an "owie" on his forehead during his visit to SLC, but he was still in fine spirits.  Henry slept in Camille's bedroom

New Friends for Easter

Spencer and Grant choose the nicest friends!  It was a treat for Dave and me, last winter, to host groups of Spencer's and Grant's friends at our St. George home.  Spencer came to our SLC home for Easter dinner on March 27, 2016, and he brought with him a date, Naomi, as well as his roommate, Logan, and Naomi's friend, Olivia.  We ate an Easter ham, with chocolate mousse cake and strawberries for dessert.

 The next Sunday, April 3, 2016, Spencer, Naomi, Logan, and Olivia joined us again to watch LDS Conference.  We hauled out the ham again, made into ham and bean soup, and finished our meal with lemon cheesecake.  The real feast, though, was the speeches of our Church leaders.

Naomi served a mission in Bulgaria, and she met Grant while teaching missionaries in the Provo MTC who will serve missions in Slavic countries.  Grant will leave for Slovakia in May.  Dave and I packed Grant an Easter package this weekend, including his favorite candies, Mike and Ike's, a CD of hymns, some pens, and a couple of  t-shirts.  Grant's favorite t-shirt was the one that said "Spare Me the Drama" across the chest.