Fall Has Fell...Almost

These ARE leaves from my own persimmon tree. Okay, So I take a million of them every year. But they are so stunning in their jewel-like brilliance, that how can I resist????
Don't the persimmons look like luscious apricots? Well, don't kid yourself. If you bite into one of these babies, it will pucker your smucker for sure.

We went in search of Autumn this weekend...and we found her, still alive and kicking...right here in southern Utah. We usually drive up Right-hand Canyon on Cedar Mountain to see the fall leaves, but this year, we didn't make it. So on Friday afternoon, Darwin and I took a little jaunt over to Toquerville to see the ornamental pear trees that line the road. (Delighful little town, I must say...I love Toquerville!)






Doesn't Darwin look cute surveying the town with his cane in hand? Ever since his last back surgery, he's had to rely on the cane to keep him steady. It embarrassed him at first, but now...we're both grateful for it.
















After Toquer, we motored up to Virgin, where we stopped to say hi to the burros. For those in the know, Darwin's nickname through the years has been Burro...or the Big Burro.
Aren't these guys adorable? The funny thing was that as soon as my Burro alighted from our Santa Fe, he started braying. The four-legged burros were clear over at the opposite end of the field. A couple of them started answering back as soon as they heard Darwin. They started coming over IMMEDIATELY, like flies to the honey. They knew the voice of their master!

It was hard to leave the donkeys...but we wrenched ourselves away from the friendly fellas and kept driving up the Kolob road to see if there was any colorful foliage left. The funny thing about autumn in the desert is that you have to take her where you can find her! Tucked alongside the barren hills will be rivers of gold. It ain't Vermont, but it shore is purty!

A couple of miles...well, maybe five or so then, if you want to be picky and exact...up the road towards Kolob from Virgin, there's a pond we always called Delmar's Pond. Darwin and I both have fond memories of swimming in this pond. Note: I said SWIMMING, NOT skinny-dipping...at least for the people I swam with!!! We were so lacking in canned entertainment that an old swimming hole like this one seemed like major excitement. Back in those days, it wasn't all moss-infested like it is now. I don't think Delmar Cornelius was thrilled with having kids swim there...in fact, that was part of the fun, knowing that it was forbidden. We had to watch for traffic and be sneaky.

The day I took this shot, Delmar's son Keith was there taking pictures, too. Isn't this a cool photo? You should see it on my computer monitor and not all squished up on here!


















We headed back towards Zion after Delmar's Pond...because the darn sun was getting low. Oh, my gosh! I was snapping away like a fiend, and I have so many awesome photos. But...I'm getting TIRED of posting them on here. Here are a few more just to whet your appetite.Looky, looky...the light is fading fast. Don't you LOVE the hills of home???

By the time we got in Springdale, the sun was kissing the cliffs goodnight (did I just say "kissing the cliffs goodnight?" Arghhh!). See? A picture IS worth a thousand words!

We liked our tour so much that we invited Kendall and Aaron along on Saturday for the same basic trip, except we went on up to Kolob instead of going to Zion. More photos on that jaunt later...maybe. Hop on over to Kendall's blog and check it out, because we were having camera wars on Saturday. I think he beat me for sheer volume of pics snapped. You win, Chien Po!!!

Fall/Summer Potpourri

I had the best breakfast this morning. I made blender pancakes—the kind where you put a cup of whole-wheat kernels in the blender—-well, heck, I'll just give you the recipe in case you want to try it.

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat kernels
1 cup milk
2 eggs
¼ cup canola oil (I've used olive oil before, too)
1 tsp. salt (I use less because I use “Real Salt” and it's stronger)
2 TBS. Sugar (I use honey because it makes me feel more righteous and healthy...and you don't have to use as much as sugar)
1 TBS. baking powder (Use Rumford's—no aluminum!)

Blend on high for a few minutes, till the wheat kernels are beat into submission or exploded, whichever comes first. The batter won't be completely smooth—there will be nut-like fragments of wheat—which is part of the charm and deliciousness.

This batter works in a waffle iron (spray with olive oil Pam first!) or on a griddle. It makes very hearty, stick-to-your-ribs pancakes that won't drive your blood sugar up as fast as the white flour kind.

After I take out enough batter to fry Darwin some pancakes, (he is a plain pancake kind of guy...with plain maple syrup...fake!) I doll the remaining batter up with blueberries and maybe a half a banana...and lots of cinnamon with a tad of nutmeg. If I'm making the batter ONLY for me, I will add applesauce (no sugar), banana and blueberries and NO sugar. The fruit does make the batter heavy and more goo-ey...and my kids don't all like it so much, either...so maybe you will want your fruit just lounging about on the top! Experiment around.


So, now that you know about my pancakes, I have to tell about what inspired me to make them on this cool, perfect autumn day: the apples Joyce brought by...the orchard-fresh apples from Glendale, hand-picked by Joyce and Clarence. Joyce showed up on Monday while we were both having fall break from school...with a box of apples.

I sliced some up this morning...left a little peel on some...and cooked them in my water-free cookware. Oh, deliciousness!!! The mouth-watering apple smell filled the whole kitchen. I heaped my pancakes with apple goodness, a dollop of fat-free Mountain High yoghurt (that's how they spell it...I'm not just being fancy), and some frozen blueberries...and a few shakes of cinnamon. I was in breakfast heaven.

Thanks, Joyce and Clarence. You have to know that I made an apple crisp last night, too. Anyone want THAT recipe? Oh-so-good with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. (Nope. No fat-free, sugar-free substitutes for the ice cream. Just go for gold!)

Okay. It turns out that I'm not finished blogging yet. I had a miracle Sunday...I found my camera that has been missing for awhile. I am not ME without my camera. That's why I could take a pic of my pancakes this morning...finding the camera started this whole blog today. Hooray for small miracles!

When I checked out the photos, I saw that I had a potpourri of pics from about mid July onward to September 5th...and then NOTHING. Aaron's heart attack brought my picture taking to a virtual standstill. The last picture was of Darwin's birthday cake we bought at Costco. We had a family get-together on Saturday, September 5 during Peach Days, in our back yard. Here's the photo to prove it.


As I looked at my pics from the month or so before, I had a pleasant little jaunt down memory lane. Here are a few of the twists and turns:

Janna and I have a fresh flower fetish...we found that we could buy flowers fairly cheaply at Wal Mart and occasionally Costco. The coffee table in the front room was the perfect showcase spot...except for Mr. Trouble--the Fixity.


Julianne and her roommates--the gnomes--and some of their guy friends--hiked down into Lake Havesu in the Grand Canyon this summer. Some of them stayed at our house en-route to Arizona, and they were absolutely delightful...a joy to have around. Here they are, loading the backpacks, getting ready to GO. L to right...Hayley, Julianne, and Riana (at least, the back of her head!) and some unnamed fella.


Janna, Jujie and I took a trip to SLC to find the perfect little black dress for Sara Last's (now Wheat!)wedding reception. We went to every store in that blasted valley, I swear! Little black dresses are deceptively tricky...they are either quite, quite hideous, or quite, quite OVER-PRICED, or all of the above. But we girls had fun just being together, shopping, laughing, etc....and making sure to watch the current episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" in our hotel room. I snapped a few shots at the Gateway Mall...especially at Anthropologie. I love that store! Look at the above photo (in Anthropologie) carefully. You can see me with my ubiquitous camera, just snapping away.

Then look below at the awesome chandelier that was just above our heads!





Here was one such little black dress...they only wanted around $350 for it. Cute, huh!

I wish I had some pics of the actual dress Juje wore for Sara's reception...very elegant, and not nearly so pricey.

Other summer fun: Peach Days!
I love to watch people. I wish I could just snap away like crazy...but somehow people don't like having strangers poking cameras in their faces. While I was sitting under the shade canopy, watching continuous entertainment, I would sneakily zoom in on unsuspecting folks. Here are some faces I love:

This is Ferrell Sullivan...who is a mainstay of Hurricane, and of my growing-up years. He calls himself "The King of the Cowboys." Blanch Young (white hair, bun) is sitting next to him...she is a quilter who travels all over doing classes...famous in the quilting world.


I came to hear Dan Worwood (newly home from his mission to Indonesia)play his guitar for his sister, Jenna (Hurricane royalty!) to sing. I loved it.


Darwin, Janna, and I motored up through Zion National Park one day, on our way to see Joyce and Clarence out in Glendale. On our way, we saw five cars, same make and model, driving in a line. Then we noticed the back end of the cars were all covered over with some fake plastic stuff. We wondered what was going on. It was like the cars were disguised. This picture doesn't show it up, unless you look closely at the end one. (We were right behind them, lining up to go through the tunnel.)


When we got out to Orderville, we drove around enjoying the little town ambiance...since WE come from such a BIG city...and we found a Vickie Son-Son fence. Shauna, this one is for YOU!!!!!


This stop sign is in the teeny-tiny hamlet of Alton, which is farther in the boonies than even Glendale! (Home of Rayda Roundy, folks!) Cool, huh!


On our way back to highway 89 from Alton, these cows made a very effective roadblock. It was like the Mafia of the West... "you ain't leavin' without payin' yer dues, stranger." The crazy things would NOT move.


We drove over Cedar Mountain to go home. There was a strange haze in the sky that grew thicker and thicker as we traveled west.


It turned out that Pine Valley Mountain was ablaze.


I was heart-sick. There had been a fire up on top of the mountain, smoldering away for at least two weeks...but government agencies would not do anything about it because it was wilderness area, and they weren't supposed to bring any equipment there. Well, the wind changed, as wind is wont to do, and down the mountain the blaze came, right towards the town of New Harmony. There was a lot of damage done in the ensuing days.

I'm at the end of the pics I took up to 9-05-09. The next momentous occasion was Darwin's REAL birthday, which took place on 09-09-09. I joked that very morning that some earth-shattering incident would probably happen on Darwin's birthday...besides him turning 65...and it did. That was the day Aaron had his heart attack, followed by a five-bypass surgery on 9-11. Kinda' freaky how those dates lined up, eh?

The good news is (and I want to end this LONG ramble on a positive note!) that Aaron is doing very well. I'm going to go eat some lunch...the pancakes are LONG GONE!

October is getting older...

"And when October goes, the same old dream appears..."
The days are getting shorter, the leaves are getting brittle and beat-up looking...FINALLY turning colors...cool breezes hint at colder weather yet to come, the skies seem bluer and wider, and I feel melancholy/nostalgic. I just downloaded the Barry Manilow song "When October Goes," after I wrote the first of this epistle. Wow. I had forgotten how much I liked this song. Click here for a link that tells how Manilow wrote the music to an old Johnny Mercer lyric.
You should give it a listen on iTunes.

I had this song on an old Manilow cassette tape called 2:00 AM, Paradise Cafe. I remember playing the October song over and over while I sewed dance festival dresses in the study in the old pioneer home. Isn't it funny? A few bars of a song, and I am immediately transported back in time. I can even see the fabric slipping under the presser foot of my sewing machine as I sewed ruffles while Barry wailed. Amazing.

Smells do that to me, too...instant time travel to a specific time and place, complete with emotions of that moment.

Grandkid HEAVEN!

People always rave on and on and brag about their grandkids. I used to cover my mouth with my hand and politely yawn while my eyes glazed over a bit. Roald Dahl talked about parents who were enamored of their offspring, as witness this quote from Matilda:

“It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful. Some parents go further. They become so blinded by adoration they manage to convince themselves their child has qualities of genius. Well, there is nothing very wrong with all this. It's the way of the world. It s only when the parents begin telling us about the brilliance of their own revolting offspring, that we start shouting, 'Bring us a basin! We're going to be sick!' "

You could substitute grandmothers and grandfathers for Dahl’s opening line! No one wants to hear endless paeans of praise about children they don’t even know. But now that I am a grandma, I GET IT! I get the whole bragging thing. I get the “my grandkids are the cutest little creatures on the face of the earth” thing. So this post is about MY grandkids…whom(see how grammatically correct I am?!)I hardly ever get to see because all of the little critters live in Colorado or northern Utah. Growl.

The very day I got out of school for the summer break, I had grandkids visiting. (Their parents came too—but it was the KIDS I wanted to see. Sorry, parents. You know I LOVE you!!!)

The first batch was the Gifford family—Hunter, Blythe, Gavin, Seth and Tate. Such adorable and talented children!!!!

Hunter gives Grandpa Gifford a big hug! Look how tall he's getting!


Hunter and Blythe...good pals!

While they were here, they helped their mom, Jill, (who is talented and adorable, too!!!) take down the wretched wallpaper in my front room. (Andy, my second son, and the above-named Gifford kids’ dad, had to go back to Springville to work.) Blasted work…it gets in the way of all the fun.

Gavin (Bob!) is nothing if not enthusiastic about this wallpaper removal!








Let me just say right here that WALLPAPER IS THE DEVIL! If you’re ever tempted to paper, just think again. Those who follow after you will love you more if you just say NO! NO, I tell you!!! Seth is working HARD!

Tate was the electrician for the job!

It was not all work, though—we took time out to do things like have a cookout in the back yard—tin foil dinners and chocolate cupcakes cooked inside of scooped-out oranges, wrapped in foil, and baked in coals. It was so much fun to have the kids visit.




































The next batch of grandkids was the Diaz kids from Colorado—mom Shauna with Oliver, Elliott, and baby Matilda Jane. Dad Ty stayed home to—you guessed it—W-O-R-K! (It IS a four-letter word!)
What fun to see these cute little kids!
M.J. (Matilda Jane) is at that adorable stage that everything she does is precious. The whole family (and I mean EXTENDED family, too!) is ga-ga over her.


Her older brothers, Oliver and Elliot are BUSY boys, 5 and 3, respectively. Talk about ACTIVE and on the go!

















Elliot especiallly loved our cat…but the Fix did NOT love him back!


















Mostly we just hung out and had fun while they were here. (That’s a cop-out for the fact that I really don’t remember any specific thing…just that it was fun!)












Next, Katie came from Colorado with Harrison, Jack, and Becca.
Their visit overlapped with Shauna’s—so it was a true grandkid/cousin madhouse for awhile!







The adults visited, ate, visited, checked out the new improvements since the last time they were here, and HUNG OUT!








Harrison and Jack were so patient (mostly) with the happy adults who were slackers as far as anything extreme and fun. No four-wheeling, no jet-skiing, none of that folderol. Harrison bought a Nintendo DS from Ebay with his own money. He could take pictures with it, as well as play games…AND he read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books while he was here. He was such a sweetheart.

(Don't look too closely at this porch swing. It has been wanting, yea crying out, yea screeching for a coat of paint lo these many years. If you are reading this, YOU should do it!)
Jack cuddled with his grandma, and she LOVED it.

Becca loved checking out our sock supply and eating leaves off the bushes in the back yard.



















Don't Matilda Jane and Becca look adorable in their matching outfits???? Well, Shauna and Katie are cute, too, but this is about grandkids!

We had another cookout while they were all here…



And Harry and Jack got to ride on the Bergman with Grandpa...who also took the Gifford kids for a ride, but I don't have any pics....



















This picture of Grandpa with our youngest grandchild epitomizes it all: Grandkids ROCK!

Interview with my grandson,Jack Hannon, June 22, 2009

The Hannons (Katie and kids, that is!) were staying with us for a brief time…and I caught some time alone with Jack. He is 9 years old, a great artist, and a fun, tender-hearted grandson.

Me: What is your favorite thing to do when you can do anything you want in the whole world?
Jack: If I could do anything, it would be to be the world’s greatest artist…in the ENTIRE world, because I really love art.
Me: Do you have a favorite kind of art?
Jack: Well, I just like to use crayons, colored pencils, and markers, because it creates a beautiful picture.
Me: What else do you like to do for fun?
Jack: I would go with my whole family to the fanciest restaurant in the whole world and we would eat there.
Me: What would you eat?
Jack: I would eat macaroni and cheese at the fancy restaurant…and I would have to drink…a root beer float!
Me: What do you think your dad would eat?
Jack: My dad would eat probably some steak with a drink of Pepsi!
Me: How about your mom?
Jack: My mom would probably eat steak too…actually, instead of steak, she would probably eat some ribs with a drink of orange cream soda! (I drank an orange cream soda once. It was delicious!!!!)
Me: Do you have any idea what Harrison would eat?
Jack: Harrison would probably eat some steak with some French fries and a Pepsi.
Me: And what about Becca?
Jack: I think that Becca would eat some macaroni and cheese with some milk in a bottle.
Me: New question—Let’s find out some simple things about you, Jack. What is your favorite color?
Jack: My favorite color is metallic gold.
Me: That is a little unusual. How did you decide on that color?
Jack: Well, my first favorite color was yellow. But when I saw gold, I thought it was an advanced color of yellow, all shiny and sparkly.
Me: So it was love at first sight?
Jack: Yes.
Me: Can I put that?
Jack: NO. It’s embarrassing.

But you can see that I put it in, anyway. Jack and I were interrupted at that point, and never got back to our interview. I really love the one-on-one time with my grandkids. I really do want to interview each one.