Let the Parties Begin!

Michael K and Rebekah arrived in SLC on July 26, 2016, after the Flindt family reunion in Yellowstone.  Jenny, Sam, and Henry arrived in SLC on July 31, 2016, after the Leatham family reunion in Yosemite.  All will stay in SLC until after Michael K's and Rebekah's wedding on August 13, 2016.  From July 31 through August 13, we will have one party after another.  Sam highlighted our picnic on August 1 at Red Butte Garden by singing "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains," with its chorus, "Glory to God! Glory to God in the Highest!  Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men!"  That was the song he spontaneously sang as sunset fell over the peaks of Yosemite last week.  The tourists watching the sunset with Sam gave him an ovation.

We spread ourselves and our food in our favorite nook off the garden pathway at Red Butte.  Michael K and Rebekah told us about how they will spend their days till their wedding--obtaining their marriage license, pressing and fitting their wedding clothes, painting an apartment for their Flindt grandparents, and getting used to being together almost full time.  Rebekah will spend her nights with us and Michael K will spend his with his Flindt grandparents, JoDee and Herb, down the street.

Gretta has become both a farmer and a hunter/gatherer this summer, assembling food from far and wide for a succession of parties.  She had lots of helpers for the Red Butte picnic--Jenny brought the fresh peaches and Camille the lemonade and cookies.  Mike Spendlove took photographs--the beautiful ones for this blog are his, and the underexposed ones and ones with unattached body limbs are mine.

 Mia was delighted to spend an hour or two with her good buddy, Sam.  The two of them look enough alike to be brother and sister.

 Emilie and Annelise get prettier and prettier..

Camille is a good sport about always making time for family parties.  She did a fast run to the grocery store for supplies, after having visitors from Boston today.

 Dave worked until 7 p.m. and then hurried to join the party.

 Heidi has a great collection of hats.

 On Sunday, July 31, Gretta cooked a dinner featuring fresh produce from her garden in Glendale.  In addition to the ham, there was Gretta's own red cabbage, stewed with bacon, onions, and apples. There was Gretta's own summer squash, baked with tomatoes, artichokes, herbs, and Parmesan cheese.  And there was Gretta's own kale, sliced into a salad with oranges, dried cherries, and pistachios.

 Michael K and Rebekah looked very cute, all dressed for Church.

 Herb and JoDee Flindt joined us for the feast.

Almost as good as the dinner are the leftovers!

Figs and Shakespeare

We made a quick trip to St. George during the weekend of July 30.  Our main motive was to see two plays at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  An unexpected delight was to find our two St. George fig trees loaded with fruit.  We pulled figs off the trees and ate them on the spot.

 This is a historic year for the Shakespeare Festival, with the opening of a new theater, and the new Southern Utah Art Museum next door.  We loved the art museum, including its permanent exhibit of paintings of Zions Park by Jim Jones.  We didn't love the new theater as much, since there was pouring rain the night we saw "The Three Musketeers" there.  We reserved seats on the second row, right where the rain was pouring down.  We viewed the play from the back balcony, where it was dry!  The musketeers did their sword fights in slow motion, to keep from slipping on the wet floor and skewering each other!

We didn't expect to enjoy "The Cocoanuts" as much as we did.  It is an Irving Berlin/George Kauffman Broadway musical first staged in 1925.  The musical was written for the Marx brothers and has slapstick humor that we found both charming and hilarious.  The story is about the building boom for hotels in South Florida, and it reminded us of our recent tour of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, with Jonny.  The Biltmore was built during that same Florida building boom, in the 1930s,

 We have many traditions surrounding the Shakespeare Festival, including eating dinner at Rusty's, up the canyon towards Brianhead and Cedar Breaks.  There are animal trophies on the walls, red rock cliffs out the window, and good steaks, ribs, and apple crisp.  Cedar City is getting newer, trendier restaurants, but we still like Rusty's.