Vacation motivated me to clean out my closet. Seriously, every time I come home from a trip I want to throw things out. It’s because I manage to live with very few things on vacation. I love the lack of clutter and stuff. I manage to pack just what I need and live quite well without anything extra.
I decided to make a promise to myself this week. One shelf or drawer per day. That’s it. It’s doable. Like my husband says, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
What happened on day one was I did two shelves — one shelf led to another. On day two I did the entire dresser. Today I am doing the hanging clothes. It will be done before the week is over. I’m surprised at some of the clothes I moved. I wonder why I didn’t throw more out at that point? I think it was because I got exhausted with all the decision making of moving from a house of 28 years.
I feel better. I feel more organized, lighter. However my husband said he can’t tell any difference. Thanks a lot.
What motivates you to clean closets? How do vacations motivate you?
Here’s the first paragraph of the article. If this interests you, please click the link above to read the entire story.
There is an interesting controversy brewing in anthropology departments where professors have called for researchers to stop identifying ancient human remains by biological gender because they cannot gauge how a person identified at that the time. Other scholars are calling for researchers to stop identifying race as a practice because it fuels white supremacy. One of the academics objecting to this effort to stop gender identifications, San Jose State archaeology Professor Elizabeth Weiss, is currently suing her school. Weiss maintains that she was barred from access to the human remains collection due to her opposition to the repatriation of human remains. The school objected that she posted a picture holding a skull from the collection on social media, expressing how she was “so happy to be back with some old friends.”
Graduate students like Emma Palladino have objected that “the archaeologists who find your bones one day will assign you the same gender as you had at birth, so regardless of whether you transition, you can’t escape your assigned sex.”
What are your thoughts about no longer identifying remains as male or female? Do you think that it will impede or help scientific study? Why?
We drove eight hours on Saturday to get the bulk of driving done after our anniversary trip in Park City, Utah. Our goal was the Little America hotel in Flagstaff, AZ. I love the Little America. It was our home away from home in Salt Lake City while my daughter was at the University of Utah.
As I drove across Navajo land to Flagstaff, I noticed dark gray clouds building over Flagstaff. I pulled over and let my husband take over. After 35 years in the desert, I freak out driving through a storm — and I grew up near Seattle!
A few miles from the hotel, we witnessed huge lightning strikes, thunder and a downpour so intense we lost most of our visibility.
“Welcome to Flagstaff in July!” I told my husband. We both laughed and drove slowly to the hotel with our windshield wipers on blast.
Last July we spent our anniversary in Flagstaff. This is what I wrote:
Hail storm on the way to Flagstaff, July 2021 before we lost all visibility.
Friday we left for a two-hour drive to celebrate our anniversary in the cool mountain town of Flagstaff, Ariz. We were looking forward to getting out of the heat, exploring a new area, hiking, dining, and staying at our favorite hotel brand, Little America.
Halfway to Flagstaff, we were entranced with big dark clouds that had long threads of rain hanging from them. Then there was a thunderclap and it started to rain. The rain turned into hail within minutes. It sounded like our car was being hit by golf balls. I was scared out of my mind.
My husband asked me to turn on the hazard flashers. My hands shook so badly I couldn’t do it. I began praying the Hail Mary!
We saw cars pull over on the right shoulder of the two-lane highway. But there was a cliff on that side and the visibility was getting awful. We were in the left lane where there wasn’t room to pull over, just a ditch.
Visibility went to zero. My husband drove at one mile per hour. He said he didn’t want to stop in case someone barreled into us. He followed a foot behind a semi — the tail lights the only thing we could see.
Looking back on that drive in July 2021:
We didn’t know — until we got to the hotel — that our car was dented from the front to the back bumpers and everything in between. It looked like someone took a hammer to it. The car went into the shop for two months while we waited for the chrome trim to be delivered amidst supply chain issues. The insurance company was so inundated with claims from that storm that they flew in insurance adjusters from Texas and Oklahoma.
Our friends who live in nearby Prescott said they found four dead deer in their yard killed by hail. They also had tens of thousands of dollars of damage to their home.
What we saw on the news yesterday before we headed home:
Video of flash flooding in Flagstaff.
Good news!
In the end, we arrived home safely from our 2021 and 2022 anniversary trips. I’m up to do it again next year!
What type of storms have you experienced that seemed wilder than normal? Did everyone stay safe?
We celebrated our 37th anniversary with a mountain hike. A storm came through the night before with thunder, lightening and rain, and the heat wave broke. Plus, my husband took time off work so we could hike the Dawn Trail in the morning.
I’m so thankful we got to go on the mountain trails. It had been too hot in the afternoons to attempt it.
Discover this 5.8-km out-and-back trail near Park City, Utah. Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 1 h 54 min to complete. This is a very popular area for birding, hiking, and trail running, so you’ll likely encounter other people while exploring. The best times to visit this trail are April through October. Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.
Review from hiker: I wouldn’t rate this trail as easy simply because if you start near the map at the bottom that’s next to the ski lift, it is all uphill and it gets pretty steep at some points. It’s mostly switchbacks up to the top, but it is a pretty strenuous slope, especially for beginners. But, It was beautiful and had a gorgeous view of the valley.
I counted 14 different wildflowers on the hike. Here are some photos:
The lush landscape and a view of clouds.A view of chairlifts and Park City from the mountain trail.Parts of the trail winds through woods and are in the shade.Wildflowers at the base of the mountain.My husband of 37 years! Where did the time go?One of 14 different varieties of wildflowers I saw.On the trail!
I’m glad we waited until later in the week to do the mountain hiking. We’re more adjusted to the altitude and ready for more. But first, we’re going to hit the jacuzzi!
Views from the hike.
Happy Friday! What are your plans for this weekend in July?
A view from a morning walk of the ski slopes/hiking biking trails in Park City.Freshie’s lobster roll.
My daughter and I discovered Freshie’s while she was in college at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. We follow a blog Female Foodie that highlights the best food in nine areas of the country, from New York to Los Angelos — and even Salt Lake City. That’s where we first heard about Freshie’s.
Freshie’s won a contest for the “World’s Best Lobster Roll” which is held in Maine. Who knew you could get the best lobster roll in the mountains of Utah? They fly lobster in from Maine daily. If you’re ever in Salt Lake or Park City, Freshie’s is a must.
That’s me hanging out on Main Street, Park City. Main Street is where you’ll find an abundance of shops and restaurants. I posed with this bear and my daughter a few years ago.The airbnb condo where we’re staying. We stayed here in 2020 also, but had our daughter and a sister of our son’s girlfriend staying with us on that trip. That was a much busier week!I really liked this Audrey Hepburn art in a gallery on Main Street. If I had an extra $7,500 laying around, I might have brought it home with me.
I love Audrey Hepburn. I’ve always been a fan since I watched “My Fair Lady” as a young child with my parents. When my kids were ages five and two, I would borrow Audrey Hepburn VHS movies from the library. I laughed so hard when we were watching “Sabrina” and my son said “YOWZA!” when Audrey Hepburn returned from Paris as a beautiful, sophisticated woman.
The heatwave may be over. We’re supposed to get thunder and lightening later today. This view is from the swimming pool with the ski slopes/hiking trails in the background.
Where are your favorite vacation spots? What are some of your favorite old movies and actors?
Things are going swimmingly except for a heat wave. It’s cooler than back home in our Arizona desert, but it’s too hot to hike in the afternoon.
We visited the same week of July in the summer of 2020. In the afternoons, when my husband was done working, we would hike on trails that wind through the ski slopes.
This year, we’re doing a morning walk to Main Street along a tree-lined path with a bubbling creek. We did the same walk in the 2020 mornings, too. This year, the morning walk is the highlight of my day, because the afternoons are too hot for the mountain hikes.
Poison Creek along the walk to Main Street.
Instead of sitting inside reading or watching TV, we’re hitting the pool to cool off.
Yesterday afternoon, the pool was filled with several groups of families and kids. I found a spot along one wall where I could swim. I watched two sisters in the deep end throwing a ring and diving after it. The older sister, a teen, got out when she saw me attempting to swim laps.
“Who am I going to play with?” little sister complained.
“That woman is swimming,” the teen explained.
I thought, “I’m swimming on one edge of the pool. They have most of the deep end to continue tossing the ring and diving.”
My husband decided to sit on the steps. I plowed on determined to get my exercise.
“Little sister” would do a backward somersault right in front of me every time I reached the deep end to turn. I had to swim around her. Next, a nine-year-old boy named Oscar would cut in front of me across the pool swimming as fast as he could. It seemed to be a game for him to push off across the pool and barely miss me.
“Why won’t you join me and swim?” I asked my husband.
“I don’t have the patience you have,” he explained. “I’d end up saying something and look like an asshole to the kids.”
I finally gave up after about 20 laps of dodging little sister and Oscar. We headed to the jacuzzi. Strangely, as soon as we got out of the pool, the kids did too. I guess I was their entertainment. They weren’t having much fun without harassing the middle-aged woman who was trying to swim laps.
I think if I was “little sister’s” mom, I would have asked her to swim and play away from the lap swimmer. The mom and dad were on chaise lounges relaxing. They didn’t say a word.
What would you have done if you were the parent? If you were trying to swim laps, would you have continued like me or not try like my husband and let the kids play?
The one-mile path to Main Street in Park City from our airbnb.
One of the highlights of visiting Utah is spending time with my husband’s best friend from fifth grade through their senior year of high school. Did they ever stop being best friends? It doesn’t seem like it when we reunite.
My husband’s friend Scott and his wife Sara started CenterPoint Church in Orem, UT which we attended Sunday. Afterward, we spent hours together alternating huge laughs and ruminating about our country’s problems.
In Scott’s sermons he teaches history, the Bible — and he has a talent to bring the Word alive and make it relevant today.
I know I’m not doing the sermon justice, but here are a few things I’m thinking about days later:
The Pharisees were a sect of ancient Jews who modern Christians view as hypocrites. They were judgmental of Jesus because he spent time with sinners and tax collectors.
Jesus did not operate or think like human beings. He did not care what people thought of him.
We are all sinners and we worry about what other people think of us. Like the Pharisees, we want to present a view to the world that hides our shortcomings and sins — and we can be judgmental of others.
We need to find the Pharisee in the mirror. We get stuck where we are in life because we fear looking deep inside ourselves.
We are created with a hole inside our hearts. Many try to fill that hole with material things, alcohol, drugs, etc. This may satisfy us but it’s temporary. We need to fill the hole with love and The Spirit to be free.
Quotes from the sermon:
“Jesus loves us where we are, but he loves us too much to leave us there.”
“Pride is not thinking too much of yourself. It is thinking about yourself too much.”
If you’re interested in listening to the sermon for yourself and not relying on my bullet points here is a LINK. The sermon starts at 26:12.
During a morning walk we were accompanied by a little buddy.
What friends from your childhood can you get together with after years after not seeing each other and feel like no time has passed?
What are your thoughts about moving forward in life by not worrying about what other people think?
