Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I am the Arbiter of Cool.

The weather is Officially Cool. I have so designated it.

How do I know, for sure?
I am wearing hand knitted wool socks. This is a more definite measurement than some arbitrary sign like the Equinox, the leaves changing, or a date on a calendar. Those things often happen and it is still awfully warm around the Hacienda.

But wool socks now, that's a sure sign. My feet can only be happy in the hair of a sheep (maybe a little baby alpaca when it's REALLY cold, subzero even) when the temps dip.
Cotton socks are just decorative after a certain temperature is reached, I may as well be wearing socks made of fishnet for all the good they do me, so off to dig out the woolies I go.

May your Autumn be cool, colorful, and fruitful. Because Autumn it truly is, I know because the socks, they are a-changing.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Overheard

Overheard,
Daughter to Granddaughter, while doing the dishes together:
"How can you be such a pain in the butt, yet be so cute?"

Response:
"It happens."

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Corny

The corn is ripe and at the farm stand.
I bought a bunch and we had it for dinner last week and I had the joyful experience of teaching three year old Boo to eat corn on the cob.

It really is a thing you have to be shown!
You can't just bite into it, you have to hold it just so, and scrape off the outer 1/4 inch of it without getting your teeth caught in the cob. Then work your way down the cob to get all the kernels, then turn and start a new row. Stop, chew, savor, enjoy. Do it again.

A finesse technique if I ever saw one.
Think about sharing the wonder of that buttery goodness with one who has never experienced it.

She picked the skill right up and it was a wonder to behold the expression on her face.
"That's right" I thought, "It tastes just like that!"

That's the wonderful thing about having a child or especially a grandchild. You get to experience the world anew each time you see them behold it for the first time.

What a great moment.
Being a Gramma is soooooo cool.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

To Dye For

I had Toni help me dye my hair tonight. It's such a hassle and yet I enjoy the results so much.
I don't mind the gray hairs really, it's just my own mousey brown color that I despise.

I am a redhead to the bone, just not in my hair follicles!!

I actually would love to leave the gray bits in for now, but no such luck, gotta dye it all or none.
It's caustic, it stinks and if it causes cancer I'm a goner because I've been dyeing it since I was twenty one or so. That's nearly 27 years of peroxide and ammonia.

Vanity, thy name is....
Tracy.

To Dye For

Monday, August 2, 2010

Catch ALL The Fish!!!

Yay! I went fishing yesterday. The first time since my knee surgery, and it was well worth waiting for!
We went up to Huntington Creek. The scenery was spectacular, the weather cool and rainy, just like us fisherfolk like it. And the fish were just gullible enough to let me catch 4 of 'em. All brown trout, two around 10 -11 inches and two that were at least 13 inches! Big lunkers for me!

We saw 3 different deer, up close and up wind so they weren't too skittish. They kept wandering by while we were fishing. I'd turn around or look up and there'd be a deer, suddenly looking at me and not too very concerned.
That's one thing I've noticed about fly fishing, all your gear is on your body, no coolers or chairs or boats or bait buckets, and everything (waders, chest pack, jacket, hat) over time ends up smelling faintly mildewy, like the mud and water itself.
So you don't smell human, you hold still a lot, when you do move you are trying to sneak up on fish, or you're just whipping that rod tip back and forth like a willow in the wind, so you are pretty un-threatening. (Although I do tend to whoop like a wild woman when I get one on the line, might want to work on that.)
You end up seeing so much wild life and it is like a revelation. Like what the world might be like without us blundering through it.
Butterflies, wild flowers, sandpipers, goldfinches, humming birds, thunderstorms and a sunset to end all sunsets I swear.

We left later than we planned, driving along in the dark and got stopped because the road ahead had been covered in a mudslide. We drove around (through a helluva downpour) the long way home through Nephi and got back at 11:30, starving and tired.

Mike is an amazing driver by the way, the rain, the wind, (the control freak woman the the next seat) and the CRAZY drivers through Utah County construction zones late on a Sunday night (WTFBBQ???!) and he got us home in one piece.

The day was a total WIN. Now I just want to do it every day and not ever work. Is this wrong?