Thaks, LaWanda!

We sent LaWanda and Otis a Delicate Arch postcard from Utah.  One afternoon, while LaWanda was waiting to pick Otis up from school, she used the postcard as a guide for the above sketch she sent to us.  I also have one of the postcards. Love the sketch and rich colors.  Thanks so much, LaWanda!

New stain for the deck (September 28, 2018)

We had to wait for a sunny day to re-stain the deck.  First Papa Tom power washed the deck to remove the 10-year-old stain. We then applied fresh stain and a polyurethane finish.  The rains started soon afterward.

Ooh!  Deck stain on Papa Tom's plastic glove.

Balancing acts (September 26 for Fox and September 29 for Zephyr)

Fox demonstrates how she can hang from the playscape by one arm.

Do you see Zephyr?  She is about 7 feet from the trunk on the limb leading to the garage roof. She likes to play in the elm tree.

One more eggplant (September 25, 2018)

A "big as Fox's forearm" eggplant from our garden. 

Donna's last day in Austin (September 21, 2018)

We started the day with a yoga class at LA Fitness.  Then to Mt. Bonnell for one last walk before the rains came.

Au revoir, Donna! Please don't wait 7  years to visit again!

Day 2 with Donna (September 20, 2018)

Used a guest pass at my gym so Donna and I could knock ourselves out first thing in the morning with a cardio kickboxing class.

Took an exercise break to get our toes done.  Then back to LA Fitness to swim and work out in the pool.

Rain storm kept us from taking a walk before dinner at Hula Hut.

Amon hung out with us after his gym workout. 

Donna comes to A-town! (September 19, 2018)

The last time Donna was here was to celebrate Tom's 60th birthday in August 2011.  We took advantage of the first sunny day in a couple of weeks to walk at Mt. Bonnell before picking Fox up from school.

Fajita time at our house.  One thing led to another and we ended up holding an arm wrestling match.  I didn't keep score.  What happens during fajita time stays in fajita time.

Papa Tom and Amon square off.

No night of fajitas is complete without a late night run to Voodoo Doughnut, especially when Donna's childhood nickname is "Donut."  They were out of apple fritters, so we split a Memphis Mafia: fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon, covered in glaze, drizzled with peanut butter and chocolate, and topped with chocolate chips and peanuts.

Grandparents Day at Brentwood Elementary School (September 13, 2018)

Papa Tom, Lala, and I had lunch with Fox on Grandparents Day.

After lunch, we went to the Book Fair in the school library.  Fox and Lala met Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Last hurrah in Utah (August 23, 2018)

No trip to Salt Lake City would be complete without a visit to the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS). Construction on the magnificent temple began in 1853, and was completed 40 years later.  Granite was hauled in by ox-drawn wagons from 23 miles away.  The walls are 9 feet thick at the base and 6 feet thick at the top.  The east center tower is 210 high and topped by the statue of an angel heralding the restoration to earth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days. 

Evening sunlight on one of the many temple doors

On Thursday evenings, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice is open to the public. The rehearsal of the 360-member choir and full orchestra, held in a conference center across the street from the temple, was magnificent! 

Leaving the choir rehearsal, we were delighted by a nearly full moon over the temple.

The Great Salt Lake (August 23, 2018)

The Great Salt Lake is 75 miles long and 28 miles wide.  We visited Antelope Island State Park, accessed by a causeway, for a closer look.  Twelve bison were brought to the island in 1893.  The island can support about 700 bison.  Each October, a bison round-up is held for culling the herd, vaccinating the animals, etc.  

Barn swallow fledglings at the visitor's center await Mama's return to feed them delicious flies, grasshoppers, crickets . . . .

The Mormons established a ranch on the island in 1848, the year after their arrival in Utah.  They appointed Fielding Garr, a widower with nine children, to run the ranch.  They sold the ranch in 1870.  The original adobe house was occupied by a series of owners until 1981, when Antelope Island became a state park.  Now the house and buildings are open to tourists.  I like this very practical drawer pull on a tool chest in the barn.  

Vehicles in need of an oil change or repair were driving on this early version of a lift.  A mechanic could work on the underside of the vehicle.

An intricate birdhouse outside the visitor center.  The 6-mile long causeway to the island is in the background.  Birders can view millions of migratory shorebirds along the causeway and elsewhere on the island.

Our plan to float in the Great Salt Lake changed when we checked out the beach.  Years of drought and diversion of rivers that feed the lake (for irrigation) have caused the shoreline to shrink.  The beach is covered in crusty dried minerals and buzzing with millions of gnats and brine flies.  At first, we thought the seagulls were kicking up dust at the water's edge.  Then we realized they were disturbing swarms of flies. Yech!

A bird feather on the crusty beach  By the way, if you've eaten Morton Salt, you've eaten minerals from the Great Salt Lake.

On the road to Salt Lake City (August 22, 2018)

Wildflowers in the foreground and mountaintops in the mist

We stopped at  the Sundance, Robert Redford's 5,000-acre ski resort about 13 miles northeast of Provo.

Sundance is high on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range.  The base elevation of the mountain resort is 6,100 feet.  Mount Timpanogos ascends to 11,752 feet. So green after days in the desert and canyons!

We drove through hail on our way to the Mount Timpanogos Cave National Monument.  We had planned to make the 1.5 mile hike up a steep trail on a guided tour with a Ranger.  But it was rainy and hailing when we got there.  Believe it or not, the tour went ahead.  We decided not to slip and slide on the mountain trail.

Instead of hiking in rain and hail, we opted for fresh fish tacos in the sunshine further down the mountain.  

Leaving Thompson Springs, Utah (August 22, 2018)

Our HomeAway in Thompson Springs, 37 miles north of Moab, Utah, the closest town to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

Now nearly a ghost town, Thompson Springs was founded in 1883 and served area ranchers, coal miners, and sheepherders. The abandoned buildings are now for sale: a dance hall with an old piano, a rock shop with the inventory (a pile of rocks), a boarding house.   

An RV park remains open in Thompson Springs.  "Big shade" is a relative term, as you can see from the trees in the photo below.

Papa Tom photographs what is left of Thompson Springs.

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Road trip!  We were surprised by a convoy of Corvettes headed out to the pictographs and petroglyphs about 3 miles further down a bumpy dirt road.  We barely had enough clearance in our rented Dodge Durango when we visited the 9,000-year-old art the day before.  Pretty sure the Corvettes will bottom out.

Rain in the desert (August 21, 2018)

A thunderstorm and lightning bolts rolled in over Arches National Park.

Our ranger-led hike through the Fiery Furnace was canceled due to lightning and possible flash flooding.

The Fiery Furnace is so named because it glows orange at sunset. We only saw it in a rainstorm.  Next time!

Desert rivulets and puddles

An impromptu waterfall next to the Three Gossips formation, which stands about 350 feet tall.

La Sal Mountain loop outside Moab, Utah (August 21, 2018)

Interesting formation next to the La Sal Mountain loop, which runs through the up to 12,000-foot La Sal Mountains just southeast of Moab.

Looking back at the same formation from further along the mountain loop.

Viewpoint and rest stop

Pictographs at Thompson Springs (August 20, 2018)

These painted pictographs (rather than chiseled in the rock, like petroglyphs) date back 4,000 years.  Who lived here?  Who painted these?  What did they use, that it would last 4,000 years???

I stood in front of the larger-than-life pictographs on the right.  More pictographs are to the left and above.

Papa Tom at the pictographs.