Tag Archives: Celebration of Life

50 for 50 #23 – See the Ocean

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Rockaway Beach, Oregon

While we were in Oregon we drove another hour and a half so that I could see the ocean to celebrate by 50th year. It was a rainy day so we missed much of the beautiful view of the Oregon coast but it was surprisingly not too cold. When we got to Rockaway Beach I bundled up in a heavy sweat shirt plus rain gear. I didn’t want to get cold. I wanted to enjoy myself.

Me and Parker on Rockaway Beach

There were only a few other people on the beach. I like it that way. As we wandered along getting closer to the water’s edge we were rather surprised when the next wave came in closer than the earlier waves. We scrambled to keep of the of way but I didn’t make it. I felt that shock of cold water on my feet but then I decided to just enjoy it. I got soaked half way up my calves before we left the beach.

My feet in the Pacific Ocean

We just enjoyed ourselves strolling along on the sand and in the water. I picked up a rock, some broken shells and a couple of crab shells. Before we left the rain stopped and that made it easier to see what was going on around us. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And I think Bill and Parker did too. I’d love to go back sometime in the future.

Parker on Rockaway Beach

Do you have a favorite beach? I’m not sure if I have a favorite but if I had to pick one I think it would be La Jolla near San Diego, California. What do you like to do when you go to the beach? I love to wade and look for interesting rocks, shells etc.

50 for 50 #22 – Wood Badge

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First Wood Badge training at Gilwell Park

First Wood Badge training at Gilwell Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From start to finish Wood Badge was an amazing experience. There was lots of great information. The staff worked really hard to make it interesting and to help us understand. There is no way to explain what Wood Badge is all about. It has to be experienced to understand. The short version is Wood Badge is a leadership course taught in the context of the scouting organization. The principles are the same as many corporate leadership trainings but with the energy of the boy scouts instead of the often boring style of the business world. If you ever take Wood Badge you won’t regret it.

I want to put together something to celebrate this experience. They had a photographer there and I think that we will have access to all the photos he took. I’m pretty sure I want to do a book with all or most of the photos and maybe a video with mostly photos from my patrol, the owls. I also have lots of little trinkets they call totems that I want to save in some organized and meaningful way.

Have any of you ever been to Wood Badge?

50 for 50 #21 – My Birthday

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This week was my real 50th birthday! It was a wild and crazy week too. On Tuesday, I went to lunch with my mom and sister to Kneaders. I love their Key Lime Tart, not to sweet and light and refreshing.

Thursday through Saturday we were in Park City for Wood Badge training with the Boy Scouts of America. They sang a happy birthday to me twice and my troop (the Owls) got cup cakes from the quartermaster. I got to (or maybe had to) wear a pink stuffed birthday cake hat for the second rendering of happy birthday. The first time most of the group thought of me as Suzy. Let me try to explain. One of the traditions at Wood Badge is to circulate a Susan B. Anthony dollar among the participants by slipping it into someones pocket. Then when the Senior Patrol Leader starts singing “Where is Suzy” everyone looks in their pocket. Knowing that today was my birthday they planted the coin my pocket. I felt it go in but didn’t know what it was until they started talking about the “where is Suzy” thing. Then it all made sense and I wasn’t at all surprised to find it in my pocket. Who ever has the coin in their pocket gets to go up to the front and sing a song. They let me off the hook a bit by everyone singing happy birthday to me. It turns out that you can also lead the group in a song or you troop can join you in singing a song.

I don’t have photos from Wood Badge yet. But they have two people taking lots of photos and I’ll have access to them after the course is over. So I’ll add some photos of my birthday experience then. It was the most unusual birthday and birthday week I’ve ever had. But if you ever get the  chance to take Wood Badge you really should take advantage of the opportunity.

Have any of you been to Wood Badge?

50 for 50 #20 – Lavender Turtleneck

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my fifth grade school picture

This is my favorite school photo when I was growing up. I thought it would be fun to have another lavender turtleneck similar to the one in this photo. This week I was at Kohl’s looking for something to spend a $10 gift card on. I wanted a small watering can for my grow-light but they don’t have stuff like that so I ended up looking through the clearance rack in women’s clothing. I felt like I hit the jack-pot when I found some basic long-sleeved shirts for $2 at 90% off. One of the tops was a dark lavender turtleneck so that made everything perfect. So I ended up with three $2 tops and one $4 top that just perfectly spent the $10 card I had. Yeah for some great shopping!

me at almost 50

50 for 50 #19 – A New Puppy

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All four of us on Zodiac’s puppy day – photo by Lisa Monson

My plan was to get a new puppy in August but when the opportunity came to get a “Z” boy this past Friday I somehow couldn’t say no. So the 19th thing that I did to celebrate turning 50 years old is getting a new puppy.

Zodiac is a fun mix of stubbornness and adventurer, with a bit of unexpected caution thrown in. He is happiest when he gets some freedom to explore his surroundings. Most of his complaining has been about being kept from learning about his surroundings. I told you about his stubbornness in last Friday’s post introducing Zodiac. Then there is his fear of his food bowl. It is stainless steel and when Zodiac is about 3/4 of the way through eating he has a tendency to step on the edge of the bowl, which flips it. This scares him so he backs off from the bowl. It is funny to watch him. He wants to go back to his food but he doesn’t trust the bowl to stay put. It helps to understand that in the puppy kennels they eat from a doughnut-shaped dish that they can step into. If you we hold the bowl he comes back to finish his meal. Such a silly boy.

puppies from the Tito/Denisha litter – Guide Dogs for the Blind flickr site

The first few days with a new puppy are the hardest. The whole relieving outside is new to them and puppies don’t have a clue what you are trying to teach them. But it gets better quickly once they start to catch on. In the meantime, I am getting up several times a night and making lots of trips out during the day. And there are still more accidents to clean-up than it seems possible.

A really bright spot is how well Yakira and Zodiac are getting along. She is being a good mentor and learning to play to his level. They are so very cute together. What a fun way to celebrate turning 50!

50 for 50 #18 – Japan Festival

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Japan Festival - Salt Lake City

Today we took Trax downtown to the Japan Festival. It was sunny but cool and the festival was very crowded. In 1985 I went to got to Kobe, Japan to play volleyball in the World University Games. We just missed getting a medal by taking 4th place. That was a long time ago and it feels like another lifetime too. There wasn’t much of today’s festival that reminded me of that trip but I’m glad we went.

Yakira and the CCI dog

balloon artist with samurai warrior hat

As we got off Trax about a block from the festival we started to notice the costumes. Some people were dress in traditional Japanese dress. But more common were young people dressed in all kinds of fanciful ways, with cat ears, tails and other kinds of animals. There were a couple of booths about anime so we think that the costumes were from Japanese cartoons. Most of one side of the street were food booths. The other side of the street had booths with merchandise. The most popular items were colorful umbrellas and samurai swords. We saw several dogs including a working dog from CCI (Canine Companions for Independence). The CCI dog was a yellow lab, who showed interest in Yakira but was not distracted by her.They also had an open house at the local Buddhist temple, so we walked around it for a bit.

My favorite thing was a balloon artist. He had this amazing samurai warrior made of balloons on his head. There were also two stages with Japanese entertainment. One on each end of the street. It was too crowded for my comfort so we didn’t stay very long. Yakira didn’t love the crowds but she handled them just fine.

50 for 50 #16 – Granite Mountain Records Vault

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me with my two older sisters at Granite Mountain Records Vault

One summer, when I was growing up in Ogden, Utah, we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon and visited the Archives there. I wanted to do that again to celebrate my 50th year but for security reasons they no longer have tours. So I had to settle for a virtual tour through a couple of videos I found on-line.

Granite Mountain Records Vault, Part 1 – FamilySearch Genealogy Records

Granite Mountain Records Vault, Part 2 – FamilySearch Genealogy Records

I don’t remember much from my visit as a child, just vague images of a cool place deep inside the mountain and the photos we took. Can you believe that I wore such short dresses back then. Or even that I chose to wear a dress when I didn’t have to.

We took a drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon to see if we could get a photo of the entrance similar to the one above from my childhood but it wasn’t possible. The road to the parking lot was blocked by a security gate and the entrance is part way up the side of the canyon so you can only see a bit of one of the tunnels from the road. I wasn’t surprised but I hoped for a better outcome.

me with my family looking up Little Cottonwood Canyon

Have you ever been to the archives? My husband grew up in the Salt Lake Valley and he has never been to the vault.

50 for 50 #15 – Passover

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my attempt at seder

Last night I tried to put together a Seder meal for Passover. I did some research on the internet and checked out a book and video from the library. It was overwhelming trying to understand all the parts and pieces of the Passover. There are two reasons I decided to do this for my 50 for 50 this week. First when we lived in Seattle there were a couple of Jewish girls that I remember. Second I wanted to learn more about the passover and how the Jews commemorate this time.

The book I got from the library, “Telling the Story: a Passover Haggadah Explained” seemed very long so when I came across a simplified and modified version of the Seder meal I decided to follow it. It was much easier to make sure I had everything in place that it was much shorter. But I think that I will take the time over the next few days to go ahead and read the book. It will be interesting to compare them. From my research on the internet I used celery instead of parsley. I don’t much like eating parsley on its own. I made the matzah and Charoset from scratch with recipes I found on Allrecipes.com.

I didn’t enjoy the video I got from the library”Chanukah & Passover at Bubbe’s“. It was definitely designed for kids but I expected to like it anyway. When I looked at the reviews on Amazon most people think it is great. Only one reviewer agreed with me.

In retrospect I would recommend finding someone who knows what they are doing and join them for the Passover instead of trying to do it yourself. Still I’m glad I did it. It was interesting and educational. If I every get an opportunity to attend Passover I will certainly take it. Have you ever participated in Passover Seder? I’d love to hear about your experience.

50 for 50 #14 – Pizza

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my pizza dough

Today I made pizza from scratch for lunch. I’ve made pizza before but this particular time was to remind me of the two times I got to go to Italy when I was in my 20’s. I found a new pizza crust recipe to try using the sourdough starter I revived recently. I got the starter because I want to learn to make good whole wheat sourdough bread this year. I’m not ready to tackle that yet but I thought pizza dough would be much more forgiving. I was right and it all worked out very good and Bill really liked it.

my pizza ready to bake

finished pizza

I’m sure I’ll use this sourdough pizza crust recipe again. It seems like a good way to sue the starter. There was one big failure with this project. I tried to make cheese bread with the extra dough but forgot about it in the 450 degree oven. I burned it way past being edible and I was afraid I might have ruined the pan. Thankfully the cookie sheet survived but the cheese bread went straight into the garbage can.

brunt cheese bread

Have you ever burned anything this bad before? Do you have a favorite pizza recipe?

 

50 for 50 #13 – Jigsaw Puzzle

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our puzzle after Friday nights marathon

I always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles growing up and even as an adult but it has been at least 10 years since I took the time to put a puzzle together. So I thought it would be a good activity for my 50th year celebration. I picked up a 1,00 piece puzzle while I was out running errands this week and we started on it on Friday evening. The puzzle I picked was an image by folk artist Charles Wysocki. His painting remind me of my days working at Coni’s Art Warehouse in Lindon.

We got all the edge pieces done and then went about our other evening activities. As we were getting ready for bed, I found Bill back at the puzzle and I made the mistake of sitting down at the coffee table too just to put in a couple of pieces. Well, one piece lead to another and next thing we knew it was 3 in the morning. Thank goodness we didn’t have any commitments on Saturday until 11: 30 a.m. It was so tempting to start back on the puzzle the next morning but we still had a bit of prep before we went to teach a Dog Care Merit Badge class. So we used all our strength to resist the call of the puzzle.

Yakira watching from the other side of the x-pen

We didn’t get back to the puzzle until Saturday evening and we were able to finish it up. Yakira got into the mix Saturday morning when she picked up three pieces off the coffee table and munched on one of them pretty good. We stopped this by using the x-pen and blocking off her access to the puzzle. We sure had a lot of fun and I think we should make puzzles a part of our lives. Bill’s family is coming over for Easter. Maybe we should get out a puzzle then.

Have you done any puzzles lately? How do you keep from staying up all night once you get started?