The Quadrantid Meteor Shower

Brennan has been watching documentaries while he's been home about the physics of how the earth was created, and the astronomy involved - I know, we're pretty boring here! So, when I heard the first meteor shower of the year was going to be late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I offered to stay up, go out away from the lights of town, and watch it with him. So at midnight we went up towards Slickrock and set up a tripod with my camera on it so we could be prepared to catch a meteor. Problem is, the moon was so bright we could only see the biggest of them, they were infrequent and all over the sky, so I didn't capture any cool meteor pictures, but I did get some pretty cool pictures of stars!

Although it looks like it was late afternoon, this was taken at about 12:30 am. See the stars? I set my camera to B (bulb) and used my remote to expose the picture for 10 seconds. Yes, I could have done the same thing with a long shutter priority, but I was unsure how long I would have to expose in order for the picture to work. And if there HAD been meteors shooting all over the sky, I would have kept my shutter open until one streaked in front of my lens.
This is Orion's belt. Those three stars at the top right. Brennan had downloaded google stars on his phone and he could point his phone at the sky and google would tell him what constellation he was pointed at. Pretty cool!


Finally at about 1:00 am we called it quits. Although by then the sky was much darker. And even though we didn't see a lot of meteors, it was a fun and adventurous thing for two old people and their college aged smart kid to do.

A Book Review

It seems like I always manage to read the "best book of the year" at the beginning of the year, giving me nothing to look forward to - although I do live in hope all year of finding an even better one. Last year it was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, this year it just might possibly be this book. And yes, this is my picture for today :)

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks came about because Ms Brooks, a Middle East news correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, needed a break from her reporting duties in Gaza and Baghdad and took a trip to England. While backpacking she happened across an old sign that said “Plague Village” pointing the way to a small town called Eyam. This town had been infected by the Bubonic Plague back in the 1600's, and so quarantined itself off from the rest of England to keep the plague from spreading. The only recorded history of what actually happened during that quarantine came in the form of three letters from the town minister, one telling the people of England their plan to shut themselves off from the rest of the country, one letting his wife's family know she had died, and one letting the people of England know the plague was over and their town borders were again opened. So the story told in the book Year of Wonders is an historical fiction based on what little was known, filled in with the imagination of Ms. Brooks. She does a wonderful job telling an interesting, tragic, but also heroic story about a group of people coming together for survival and what happens to human nature when they are faced with the possibility of death. This book is a very good adult historical fiction, well worth anyone's reading time.

The Last Gift of Christmas

Back at the first of December I was frantically working on putting together a Christmas party for our ward. I was in charge, and I had asked two of my friends, Rachel and Joan, to help me. I also usually manage to suck Dave into whatever project I'm in charge of, so on a Friday night, the first one of December found the four of us, me, Dave, Rachel and Joan, backstage trying to put scenery and kids on and off stage as part of the program we were doing for the Christmas party. Dave was in charge of opening and shutting the curtains, Rachel and I were in charge of moving scenery, and Joan was on the other side of the stage in charge of getting people on and off stage. At one point the curtains didn't open when they were supposed to, so I looked over at Dave, and there he was sniffing Rachel's neck! I just rolled my eyes, ran over and opened the curtains, and Dave, in defense of himself, came over and said, "I thought Rachel smelled really good, so I was asking her what perfume she was wearing so I could get some for you." At that particular moment I just didn't have time to talk about it, to find out what the name of the perfume was or where he could find it or anything other perfume details, but I did, from that moment on, assume I was getting perfume for Christmas. By Christmas I had forgotten about it, so when I didn't get any perfume, I didn't think anything about it. Saturday I got a text from Rachel: "You didn't happen to get any perfume for Christmas did you?" Me: "No! I thought I would, but I guess Dave couldn't find whatever kind you told him about because I didn't get any" Rachel: "I'm going to have to talk to that man!"

Apparently Rachel told Dave she would get the perfume for him - and she did, but she was waiting for Dave to check with her. She wanted him to be responsible to at least ask her about the gift. To go out of his way a little bit for it. So when I told Dave he was in trouble with Rachel, he looked horrified for a minute, and then disappeared for a while. He came back with this little Christmas bag with a little bottle of perfume inside.
And I got a good laugh out of what the tag said. Rachel wouldn't let Dave pay her for the perfume. She said it was payment enough to know that Dave was smelling MY neck now - not hers :) I really have the best friends!

Happy New Year From A Nice Mormon Mom . . Or A Serial Killer

I had to take a new passport picture in order to renew my concealed weapon's permit and since it IS for a concealed weapon's permit that has already expired, so time is clicking away here, and since the one thing that has been holding me up in renewing it has been getting a passport quality picture taken, I just decided yesterday to have Drew take on. In my pajamas. Without any makeup or even my hair fixed. Because at the moment it just didn't matter to me. But then I looked at it. WOW, I look like I'm being booked into prison - this is what my mug shot would look like.

And I decided they probably wouldn't renew my concealed weapon's permit if I sent in a passport photo where I looked like a serial killer, I might be having a mug shot TAKEN. So I tried again this morning. After I got ready for church. A little bit better, I think.

Preparing my Young Women's lesson today, and waxing philosophical, I came up with a list of 32 things I have learned - or relearned - this year. I'm sure there are more. It's been a learning year. But here are the 32:

Thirty Two Things I learned (or relearned) this year

1. Any T.V. series that starts out good enough to actually watch will degenerate into something too raunchy to watch by the third season.

2. Books are where it's at and there are still a plethora of oh-so-good ones out there

3. Grandchildren make the world go 'round

4. Adult children are pretty fun, too

5. The second Sherlock Holmes movie is every bit as good as the first one.

6. I hope they make a third, as long as Robert Downey Jr is still playing a hot Sherlock Holmes.

7. Whether the new “Twilight” movies are mind numbingly, off the charts stupid is not debatable to me. The midnight premier is a fun night out with friends and makes up for any shortcomings the movie may have.

8. Leggins are not pants.

9. PINTREST! Where have you been all my life :)

10. Scarfs – I love them!

11. Ugg boots are aptly named. Ugg!

12. The Church is true. And so is the Book of Mormon. And Temples. And the prophet . . .

13. Beehives make me laugh.

14. Watching Sponge Bob really DOES make you “stupider” - as Dalen predicted

15. There is always, ALWAYS someone out there worse off that I am

16. People really CAN change

17. A camera is a sentimentalist's best friend.

18. Taking pictures in RAW plus JPEG solves all my photography problems – except the blurry ones

19. Introversion is genetic, and I'm O.K. with that.

20. An hours walk every morning is the best way to start your day

21. Numbers are cold and incomprehensible.

22. Words, on the other hand, are warm and comfortable

23. Added to my bucket list this year is be in a mall to witness to a flash mob. OR, to be IN a flash mob! Now that would be cool ;)

24. The “Ladder To Adventure”, just behind Grandpa's shop, will take you to a magical world of imagination

25. Christmas is best with a house bursting at the seams with people you love

26. The best days are those days in which you never get dressed – just hunker down and wear your pajamas all day.

27. Disappointment is hard, but faith and hope will always see you through

28. It's hard to let go of an old year – even a challenging year – and start a new one

29. Even so, 2011 looks better from my rear view mirror

30. I although I do look older than I did when my concealed weapon's permit was taken five years ago – I look better when I fix my hair and make up. I was never really sure about this before.

31. 9:00 church really is the best!

32. “Behold, my joy if full, yea, my heart is brim with joy” Alma 26:11

He Saw, She Saw

Because it was near 50 degrees warm today, we set on on the "last ride of 2011"on Dave's new street bike - a motorcycle he bought this year for some good reason that only he knows.

We rode to the beginning of Fins and Things and then did a quick hike up the rocks to watch the sun set. See, there is our motorcycle, way down by the bathroom there with all that pretty scenery all around it. As we came up over the crest of the big slick rock hill we hiked up, the sight was breathtaking! The sun had just set, the sky was aglow, the red rocks with white snow was so pretty, and Dave and I both said, "AHHH!" at the same time. Only my Ah! was for this - which, incidentally Dave's camera on his phone did not come close to doing justice. Me: "Look at that beautiful scenery and that pretty sunset!" Dave's Ah! was for this - bird poop! Him: "Hey, a raptor sat here!" Men.

The Queen of Missed Opportunity

This morning, because I am so far behind in everything, I went to work early to get some things done at the seminary. I am usually up this early, but normally I am walking. Without my camera. So today I took my camera so I could show the world what you all are missing by not being up this early in the morning.

This is the morning sky at 6:30 a.m. The sun is just starting to think about coming up. Everything is lit up with a pink glow. I love the world in the morning when it's all pink. It seems like the possibilities are endless, hope abounds, and you just have no idea at this point that when you come out of seminary two hours later your car battery will be dead and when you try to call someone for help, you'll discover your phone battery is dead also. And that starts a ball rolling that culminates in you being late for work. Nope, you just don't know those things first thing in the morning when the world is pink.

Things still look pretty rosy at 8:50. The sun has risen, but the clouds have rolled in. If you stopped to think about it, you could probably see the positive energy leaving and reality closing in. But you're in a hurry to get to your other job. Because it's inventory day - wretched inventory day :(

So, dead battery in everything, I'm late for work . . .and when I finally get there and I open the supply closet, this is what I find. Talk about heart stopping!! She was intended to scare Danny, who was so mean yesterday he needed a payback. The missed opportunity came when we told Danny he had to inventory the closet - just to get him in there - and he went in backwards, was bent over counting and NEVER SAW THE SCARY CHUCKY DOLL JUST ABOUT TO STAB HIM IN THE BACK WITH A PLASTIC BUTTER KNIFE!! And I took the picture just as he stepped out of it. DARN!

But that's O.K., because little Chuckyette followed him around all day. Everywhere he went. Today's message is: Don't mess with the girls at Packards. We take getting even to the extreme! Oh, and get up early enough to see the world when it's pink. That may be the only time in your day when hope abounds.

A New Year, A New Resolution

This is something I've always wanted to try, but was always afraid that in posting a picture every day for 365 days (that's a year, you know!) would just prove what I'm already afraid of, that my life has become just sssoooo bbbooorrrrinnngg! And a year of blogging is such a commitment!! But then, last year I had a goal to attend the temple 53 times - that's once a week plus one - and I did it, so today I convinced myself that maybe I could do this. If nothing else, hopefully it will MAKE me do something memorable each day and make a RECORD of it. Because I'm SO bummed that I worked so hard on our ward Christmas party and program and didn't take a single picture.
And so, here's today's picture. A clean closet. I found a blog on pintrest called 52 weeks to an organized life, and the first week's assignment was to clean out all the closets in your house. REALLY??? This took me ALL afternoon. O.K., I also cleaned out the coat closet, but the coat closet really wasn't that bad. This one was BAD!! And there are more in my house just like it. I might be doing 52 weeks to a house full of clean closets, but I thought my kids would appreciate this one.
Until tomorrow . . . .