NYC

Lots to see and do. Loud and fast. Amazing appointments with Lostart.com, Anne Klein, Macy's, Color USA. Great shopping and travel. Expensive food. Awesome Broadway plays - Wicked and Jersey Boys. Home and listening to the silence of snowfall.

Bus Driver

Parked on the north end of Palisades Drive, an empty school bus idles as I enjoy my morning run. We always give the "Hello Familiar Stranger" wave to each other during winter months as he sits behind the wheel reading his book. He's always there as I make the return loop. A mini-thought has often crossed my brain wondering why his schedule requires this park, idle, and wait.

The spot he occupies has been vacant lately, but I didn't realize it until today, when he was there again. After the wave a new thought occurred, "Isn't this a waste of fuel?" In the blizzard snowfall of my return loop I realized the purpose of his idle and wait.

He's warming that ol' bus up for the knocked-kneed little junior high kids, too cool to wear shoes, jackets, and long pants in an April snow storm.

Tote Goat

This is the genuine version of what the kids in Orem rode around town for kicks - a tote goat. My family had two, with two kids squeezed on one with Dad and one kid squeezed on the other one with mom. We rode them as a family up the canyons and on picnics. Around town, we could ride them in orchards, around the yard, down the diagonal road (before completion) or through open fields. At my most recent trip to Costco (where I used to ride through dirt and trees), it shocked me how much things had changed. Not only is my home dempolshed and shopping in its place, I recognize nobody in Costco, this land feeling somewhat mine because of the miles and miles of tote goat trails that were forged right in this very spot. The same location years earlier I recognized everybody I passed tote goating along. Solo riding gave us kids a responsible, grown up feeling until we rode it up a wall or through a tree. These machines were heavy suckers to upright. Probably due to the fact that the dads that made them were machinists at Geneva Steel and knew the business of creating a sturdy ride. And no, we didn't wear helmets, take lessons, or wear seat belts or protective gear. It was just you and your goat against the dirt and rocks.

Gratitude #10

- Friends and Family -
The funny ones, the serious ones, the counseling ones, the laughing ones, the energetic ones, the spiritual ones, the mellow ones, the fiesty ones, the wise ones, the wise-cracking ones, the adventurous ones, the listening ones, the talking ones, the sincere ones, the intellectual ones, the athletic ones, the pondering ones, the advising ones, the hard-working ones, the wacky ones. If you are one of these ones, I'm grateful for you, each and every one!

Gratitude #9

-My View-
What luck to have this view - right out my front window! Seasonal changes always altering the sight. Clearing the blinds to bare glass gives an unobstructed show of massive variety in rock, vegetation, snowpack, cloud formation and contrast to sky.

Gratitude #8

...whole wheat, pumpernickel, french, white, multi-grain...
bread - the one food item must-have

Gratitude #7

Would people 100 years ago have even imagined being transported in climate controlled vehicles??? Automobile heating and air conditioning is an amazing modern-day marvel.

Gratitude #6

O-kee-do-kee
I'm grateful for REALLY SMART people, people whose brains are full of stuff that I'm not even smart enough to comprehend. It takes a lot of pressure off of the rest of us.

"One way to study dark matter is to measure baryon acoustic oscillations. When the universe was still in its infancy it cooled sufficiently for baryons to separate from photons." Huh?!? That quote was from an article in the Smithsonian about the biggest mystery in the universe. It's wonderful that there are those out there pouring every particle of their being into passions so intricate that most of us have no idea how to even follow their thought processes.

Bet most of you don't know what a bodkin is...

Gratitude #5

...Perhaps because of my occupation, I'm grateful for the sound of silence...
- a mountain valley after a new snow dump -
- my car, off, no tunes -
- an empty classroom -
- lake quiet on a raft or canoe -
- camping, just before dawn -

Gratitude #4

I'm Grateful for Gut-Busting Laughter

Gratitude #3

My Bed - soft, snuggly, love it.

Gratitude #2

HOT WATER

I like to run,
I like to hike,
I like to ride my little bike.

To til the earth,
And plant a seed,
Makes joy within my heart succeed.

But when it's done,
My task complete,
I seek relief for aching feet.

To gain new birth,
I fill the tub,
And soak my bod, my nails I scrub.

With water drawn,
As hot as fire,
My skin submerged I will not tire.

Gratitude #1

I am grateful for satelite photography and the ability to zoom in and zoom out of photos (Google Earth) from space.

Less than a dot in the Universe, less than a speck on our magnificent blue orb, we exist. Zooming out with satelite photography, puts in check the insignificance of that little worrisome mole on the back of a hand, the rediculously imposed importance of shower scum, or the perceived all-powerful control the little ants of humanity hold over Mother Earth.

Zooming in diminshes differences between feet strolling toward a sweet treat in Bombay, or Bagdad, or Brigham City. The zoom-in gradually clarifies the mass that is recognized as North American, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Salt Lake, Provo Canyon, Cascade Park, my crooked-line 1120 E. / 1100 E. street, the simple rectangular lines that contain family, me, my mole.

Gratitude - Ten Days

I think it can be done. For the next ten days, I will post one thing each day for which I am grateful, in no particular order, claiming no guilt for anything left unrecognized, unrepentant for trivialities or excesses.