This year’s trip to Tuacahn involved Scott, Sue, and Brian and we saw Disney’s “Aida” which was really wonderful. They flooded the stage for the Nile scene and the costumes were really great. There was lots of great singing and dancing, as always. This was a quick trip, just down and back. Alas, I forgot to take photos!
Sue
Summer Hikes #4, 5 and 6
We vowed to do some hiking this summer and we’ve been busy. Here are some photos from our latest excursions exploring the beautiful Wasatch Front.
Hike #4-Horsetail Falls above Alpine, July 18
Hike #5-Nebo Bench Trail, July 24
Hike #6-Cecret Lake, up and over from Cecret Lake, down the mountain and through Albion Basin, July 31
(click on one photo to see them all in a gallery with descriptions underneath)
Diversity Rocks! Reading Challenge
I’m signing up and posting my completion of the 2009 Diversity Rocks! Challenge all at the same time. I chose the third option, which is:
3. The Challenge Addict
I know you’re out there. You’re just itching for another challenge, and so far this one’s too easy. Or maybe you already have a diverse list of authors that you read. There are a couple of ways you can complete the challenge at this level.
- Commit to reading 6 books, 12 books, or 24 books by authors of color in 2009.
I used books from my current challenges, and read 6. I enjoyed them all, but my favorites were Hurston and Tsukiyama.
- A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini
- Thousand Pieces of Gold, by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
- One More River to Cross, by Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray
- Night of Many Dreams, by Gail Tsukiyama
- Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
July Garden Report
After the super rainy June and cool beginning of July, it is now hot and the summer flowers are really happy. Blooming now:
Perennials:
columbine, lavender, rose, flowering strawberry, delphinium, 2 types of salvia, 2 types of coreopsis, 2 types of veronica, 3 types of sage, 3 types of gaillardia, potentilla, aubretia, hollyhock, lamium, scabiosa, 2 types of daylily, echinacia, daisy, catmint, Jupiter’s beard, scrophula, rudbeckia, rosemary, Sweet William, and tall garden phlox.
Annuals:
many types of sunflowers, alyssum, nicotiana, marigold, nasturtium, geranium, petunia, and annual salvia.
Our Independence “Staycation”
Staycations are all the rage now as people are unwilling to spend a ton of money traveling and prefer to stay local and visit places close to home. Brian’s work was closed this week so we did some fun stuff while he was home. On July 2, we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. On July 3, we hiked to Upper Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon, then went farther up the canyon to Cascade Springs because I love that place. After we hiked around, Scott thought we should drive on over the mountain because we’d never done that before, so we went to Heber and had shakes at Granny’s. After dark we did our fireworks in the driveway. On July 4, we opened presents for my birthday and Scott gave me an iPod Nano and armband to replace my old classic shuffle. We hung around the house, Scott BBQ’d shish-ka-bobs and we had our own personal cakes for my birthday. In the evening, we went to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game and watched the fireworks at Spring Mobile Ballpark. Fun!