The West Desert

John and I have been planning a three-day, two-night trip west through the desert into Nevada by pickup to do research for our respective writing projects (mine is a novel about fundamentalist Mormon werewolves with a commune in eastern Juab County, and his is a 19th Century polygamist murder mystery), but alas, we shredded a tire on the gravel road between Lookout Pass and Simpson Springs and didn't feel confident enough of our spare to continue west.

It was a beautiful night, full moon, only a little cool. We decided to go on the five miles or so to Simpson Springs to camp and then come back home the next morning.

John, competent as always, changed the tire and we went on our way. You can't tell in the pix, but the moon was like a spotlight and the desert was magical.

Here he starts supper--corn on the cob, fresh peaches and tomatoes, hot chocolate, cheesy potato soup. He cut up a can of spam into the soup, a true desert-rat touch. Yum!

We slept on our cots under the juniper tree.


John told me stories about cattle drives between Greenjacket and Riverbed from when he was a kid. They would often camp at Simpson Springs, which had a pony express station and a glass-bottomed pond for swimming (glass-bottomed with broken beer bottles, and filled in now).

Here's John and Table Mountain:

We went for a short walk back up to the foothills. Here's a higher view of Table Mountain:

Yes! I was there!

Pretty rocks for the waterfall garden:

Driving out this morning, we saw 25-30 antelope:


John at Lookout:

From Lookout you can see Mt. Nebo in the farthest distance. The three peaks are always recognizable, north, south, east, or west, even by air as you're flying home:

Near Vernon we saw a golden eagle on a power line. What a beauty.

At home again, we're bottling tomato juice and peaches, so the day is not wasted. We'll make the longer trip later.

Sea World in San Diego

Working at Jetblue, Rob can take us along for free. The best and most convenient (and only partially full) route is to San Diego. We tried a trip to Sea World with R&N and the babies and had a lot of fun.

Johnathan answers the telephone at the airport:

Colette watches the Shamu show:

Photos with Elmo were a really big deal:

We also watched the dolphin show, the sea lion show, and the pet show (below). Next time I'll take a lot more photos. I was too busy watching this time, and trying not to get wet.

We were very close to the polar bears:

Almost touching:

Horse-mad Colette did get to touch the horse:

And we saw the nesting pink flamingos:

Quail...

...speaking of which, Sergene just called up to me to look at the quail in the back, running along on top of the frozen snow:

Winter Redux

(I love the word redux).

Look who was on our back deck the other morning. I've seen the wild turkeys in Mary's yard and on the street, but never right outside the kitchen window. John sometimes puts the pail of vegetable scraps outside the door to take to the compost heap later, and maybe the turkey was looking for breakfast. The kitties were very intrigued (I wish I'd gotten a picture of them--one wonders what's going through their minds--mb "if I could only get my paws on that bird, no more Kitty Chow for me!").

Sunshine on snow on the crabapple tree (with Mary's walnut tree behind the fence):Timp from our front porch:
Our house this winter:

August 10 Sunday at Hyde Park

Gary drove us to the Wimbledon stop on the District Line, and we made it to church only one minute late. We saw a few of the people we’ve known at the Hyde Park ward over the years, but it is a very transient ward, and much has changed. It is still friendly and welcoming to the traveler, however. After church, John and I had lunch in the Science Museum café across the road, then walked up to the park and sat by the Round Pond watching the birds and the people. The North Fleet Brass Band was setting up in the bandstand, and when the band began to play, all the geese waddled out of the pond and honked back at them. It was most interesting.

We walked through the park to Queensway past the Princess Diana playground--another huge flash of nostalgia--switched to Jubilee at Bond Street, and took the train from Waterloo to Norbiton again. We ate at a nice Chinese place again in Wimbledon Village with Gary and Helen and their son Ryan, who is here from Australia studying 3D graphic design. We talked about video gaming, city planning, escapist movies, Oliver Sacks and neuroscience, etc. etc. etc. until midnight.

More Gardens

We found Cambridge with no problem, but finding things in Cambridge and then finding parking for them was more of a challenge. We decided to visit the Botanic Garden first, and made several casts into town--circles, figure eights--before snagging a parking spot right in front of the Bateman Street gate. Success! And the guidebook claims there’s no parking. Here are Fen Hen chicks, ducks, and Old Man Willow. Here is John in the garden, John at the fountain, John with giant fig leaf, Karla by the roses, Karla by the lavender, etc. Very relaxing and inspirational, although John laughed to see the English version of a dry garden.