Tracie's World

Had my first avian visitor to the balcony today, a very large bluejay.  Hopefully this means success for my bird feeding efforts.

Yesterday was...THE BIRTHDAY.  Now that I'm of a "certain age", THE BIRTHDAY may not be looked forward to with quite as much pleasure, but it's still an occasion where it's all about me for a day, and I'm definitely down with that. The celebration really went on for most of the week, with cards and gifts and packages arriving from my thoughtful family.  And some of the friends took me out Friday night for dinner and a play at the Hale Theater.  But on the actual day - it started off with a 45 minute ride on the bike, which was indoors, owing to the impending thunderstorm.  But it was invigorating nonetheless.  I followed that up with a quick walk down to the pastry shop, where I picked up a coconut danish, which made for a most delicious breakfast (thank heaven for the bike ride earlier). After breakfast, I did a bit of cleaning and laundry, and the family started checking in.  Mom and Dad and some of the nieces called. A little while la...

My sister and brother-in-law, and nephew stopped over on Thursday, while on their way down to Texas.  They are moving there in a few weeks, and were taking some time to get my brother-in-law situated there, while she looks around for housing options.  Luckily, Salt Lake is on the way, so I was fortunate to play hostess to them. While they were here, I thought it would be fun to also invite over his brothers that live here and their families, since he doesn't get to see them very often.  So I made some Hawaiian haystacks, and some panipopo, and while the adults ate and visited, the kids ran wild. Or tried to. Even though my place is large enough for me, put 6 adults, and just as many kids in it, and it all of a sudden seems to shrink.  But nonetheless, it was great to see everyone.   Unfortunately, my nieces couldn't make this trip with them, as they all need to stay and finish school.  But I look forward to seeing them all again in a few wee...

I love the view from out my balcony.  Granted, it does look right out on to the parking lot.  But it also looks out on to the Wasatch Mountains, and specifically the Cottonwood Canyons.  There's also a few trees right next to the balcony, and I've noticed that on occasion, when they think I'm not looking, a few wild birds will come around. Some have even been brave enough to come right up near the sliding door.  So I thought it would be fun to see if I could get them to come around more regularly, and I went out and bought a bird feeder, and some wild birdseed, and hung it up yesterday.  So far I've had no takers, but I'm hopeful they'll warm up to it.   (Note to the Magpies and any other garbage birds that come around: This feeder is for the pretty birds that get along well with others.  You may be pretty, but you're not nice, and you're not welcome!)

It's that time of year again, so I got up early this morning to meet my friends Charlee and Rosann at the Wasatch Community Gardens plant sale.  This is getting to be an annual event for us.  They always have a large variety of heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables, with a bit of farmer's market and street fair all thrown in.  We were lucky we arrived early, as it was a madhouse as compared to last year.   Having a little less space than I did at my last apartment, I figured I had better go easy and not get too many plants.  But I came away with some that I think I will enjoy, and will hopefully grow well on my balcony.  I got two types of cherry tomatoes - one called Snow White, that will produce yellow and white tomatoes, and one called Black Cherry. I also got a few bell peppers - a variety of yellow, red, and one called chocolate (we'll see about that one).  And I picked out a nice cucumber plant, so we'll see how it does.  Finally ...

There's a program on BYUTV, that admittedly I don't watch very often, called "History of the Saints".  Since my ancestry does not include any Mormon Pioneers, and frankly, since the host kind of rubs me the wrong way, I tend to ignore it, thinking it has no application to my life.  But anyhoo - I was watching it this afternoon, and it was talking about an episode from the life of Erastus Snow, an early pioneer who would later colonize much of Southern Utah.  Apparently at some point along the trail, he neglected his duty to round up and drive the cattle. This caused the cattle to run off, with Brother Brigham in pursuit no less.  It cost them precious time, and the loss of Brigham's telescope glass - a crucial thing for watching the way ahead.  When he returned to camp, he let poor Erastus Snow have it, calling him out publicly in front of the entire camp, placing the blame solely on him, and having the company vote on where the blame should lie.  After th...

So I went to the Temple to do some initiatory this morning, and I noticed that all of the names they gave me were Filipino.  And that got me to thinking of my awesome Filipino friends and work colleagues.  Which got me to thinking of all the many wonderful people in my life that are from other cultures. I'm fortunate enough to count people from Indonesia, South Korea, India, China, Taiwan, and Japan among my friends.  Also people from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Mexico, Latin America, and Canada. I've also been fortunate enough to have good relationships with many African-Americans.  And I'm not forgetting my dear Polynesian family and friends from Samoa.  My life (and, not to mention my waistline) has truly been blessed by the friendship and good faithful examples of people from all over the world. When you get right down to it, we're really not all that different from each other.  We may have different beliefs a...