Sunday, December 28, 2014

Daniel's Pass

Daniel's Pass has a lodge, a little store and a few residents live there year round. It is at 8,000 feet in the high Unita Mountains of Utah so this was my drive through on my way to where my daughter lives but she is at a lower elevation of 6,000 feet in the Unita Basin.




They always get their share of snow.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Season Reflections

Linking to Weekend Reflections
InSPIREed Sunday
and Shadow Shot Sunday 2

While waiting for my massage, being a few minutes early, I saw this awesome image - It not only took a good shot of the Purple Turtle with the purple roof but also a grand view of our mountains. Once a month I get one of those massages that leaves my back polka dotted with color - using those Chinese cups not with fire like they showed on The Amazing Race but with suction cups. It really does help relax the muscles in my back and neck and reduces the severity of my migraines.


Out of all the photos that I took last Friday evening just before the performance of Santino Fontana singing with the Sesame Street Muppets and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert, this is the only one that turned out. A reflection of the nativity scene on water with the temple reflections in the water. There is a definitely a trick to photographing nice scenes of which I am clueless.

I wish I could take credit for this lovely photo but my daughter took it looking down from a high rise building in Salt Lake City one week ago.

This guard is watching over all those angels that I photographed several weeks ago.


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Hodgepodge December




Running very low on photos - need to be taking more but life is getting in the way or I forget my camera.


1. What is one new holiday tradition you'd like to establish, or one you've established recently, say in the last year or two?

I, now, pack my bag and drive east for two hours to spend Christmas eve and Christmas Day with my family. The best part is watching my grandkids open their presents and their wonderful greeting, "Grandma's Here!"  Both little ones (2 and 3 years old) can now say "grandma".



Three of us made little turkey cookies.

2. It's the second week of December. Have you sipped a cup of eggnog yet this month? Wrapped a gift? Opened a gift? Kissed someone under the mistletoe? Lit a candle? Eaten a Christmas cookie? Seen Santa in person? Watched a Christmas movie or special? Read scripture relating to the birth of Jesus?

We had eggnog at Thanksgiving. I definitely have wrapped a couple of gifts. I had three hours of recouping in the hospital after a shot in the back so I watched two very good Hallmark movies. My oldest granddaughter made the best turkey cookie.


Four of those children are my grandkiddies.

3. Do you think it's better to be an adult or a child at Christmastime? Explain.

At this age, it is best to be an adult and watch the joy as my grandchildren open their presents and play.

 4. It's often said, 'Good things come to those who wait'...agree or disagree? Why?

I had to wait quite a while for grandchildren -my daughter finished her associate degree in college, then went on a two-year mission and after she came home, she was planning on going to Vienna.  Just before that adventure, she met her husband and then she finished her BA - then I became a first time grandma.


They are both potty trained - hoorah!

5. What's the last sweet thing you baked? Did you keep it, take it to a party/event, or give it away?

Baked a first time ever pecan pie. I also found an old recipe that did not use corn syrup, the way it used to be made eons ago.  It turned out pretty good for a first time and even my granddaughter ate a couple of pieces.


6. "I heard an actor talk about how he makes a conscious choice to talk to people in elevators.  He chooses to connect, make eye contact, and converse. Do you talk to people/strangers when you're in an elevator or any other place where you might have to wait together? Why or why not?"

I must have the type of face that says, "hey it is okay to talk to me" because strangers do talk to me, ask questions, strike up conversations and I think it is great. I do not hesitate to talk or start a conversation as well.

7. Are you on the naughty or nice list this year? What put you there?

I try to use the Golden Rule as my grandpa used to say, "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you"! I don't care for rudeness that abounds these days so I try to be just the opposite and smile.




8. Insert your own random thought here.

I think we all need to remember that Christmas is all about celebrating the Birth of Christ. Some people are trying to remove Christ from Christmas and just call it a holiday.


He is risen.


Merry Christmas to my fellow bloggers around the world!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Kissing Tree


I thought that my grandfather's second wife Blanch, whom he married in Canada just before they sent him overseas to serve in World War I had died in the 1918 flu epidemic for I could not find any records of her. 

I was wrong, I finally searched all of her brothers and found one reference to her on a record of her younger brother. Walla, I found her.  She married a second husband. Now, I am not sure if she divorced because I can't find that record, just leaving a spouse in the early 1900s was considered a divorce. But the other surprise was that the whole family moved from Montreal to New York and took of US citizenship.

Connecting to Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Lava Hot Springs in the Fall


Linking to Good Fences

I found a new mystery regarding my sneaky old grandfather - He had been released from the Canadian Armed Forces of WWI in Montreal in July 1919 and been back to Chicago before January 1920 because he was in that census record but then, I find him crossing the Canadian border in June of 1920 at Port Huron, MI using his polish name and not the English version so that is why I never looked at that record before - I did not recognize Chester in Polish. He had listed Hamilton, Canada as his home but was heading for Chicago. He must have known hundreds of ways of crossing borders!
01 09 10