I'm too Old to Sit like That

The 11 year-old puppy (77 in dog) has taken to lounging in this position.

Spring Awakening?

A view from the upstairs window, bleak and cold for an almost April morning and below that the rodents have been busy under the snow carving interesting patterns in the grass.

An Easter Sunday...

ROW 1: Tamara, Preslee, Kaitie & Mckell blowing bubbles - Mike, Darren, Melanie & Grandma Saundra
ROW 2: Admiring the "red" in Grandpa Doug's new media room - Grandma getting caught throwing Snow - Preslee - McKell & Land egg hunting
ROW 3: An Easter Windfall - Land - Kaitie & Colin look for Treasures

Sometimes it Causes Me to Tremble...

Land made this quilt in a class last month. It is colorful, warm and bright. He needs comfort. A family needs comfort. Friends need comfort. Land received a call yesterday that informed him that a friend and classmate that he had just been hanging out with on Friday had died while skiing. It was so sudden. It was so final. It is so sad. He is at the church with hundreds of other acquaintances for a devotional in her memory. It will be a chance for them to talk and start to work out this incredible grief. They all miss Jocie.

The River from up Here

This is what I wanted to write (really, I'll show you the notes from my journal) while peering out of the plane window at the houses lined up along the curve of the water outside of Chicago. The structures forcing the river to conform... how does someone express your own feelings so much better than you ever could?

DISTANCE by Mary Jo Salter

From up here, the insomniac
river turning in its bed
looks like a line somebody painted
so many years ago it’s hard
to believe it was ever liquid; a motorboat
winks in the sun and leaves a wake
that seals itself in an instant, like the crack
in a hardly broken heart.

And the little straight-faced houses
that with dignity bear the twin
burdens of being unique and all alike,
and the leaf-crammed valley like the plate
of days that kept on coming and I ate
though laced with poison: I can look
over them, from this distance, with an ache
instead of a blinding pain.

Sometimes, off my guard, I half-
remember what it was to be
half-mad: whole seasons gone; the fear
a stranger in the street might ask
the time; how feigning normality
became my single, bungled task.
What made me right again? I wouldn’t dare
to guess; was I let off

for good behavior? Praise
to whatever grace or power preserves
the living for living…Yet I see the square
down there, unmarked, where I would pace
endlessly, and as the river swerves
around it, wonder what portion of
love I’d relinquish to ensure
I’d never again risk drowning.

Yes I Can... Write

Harry Connick Jr. and family, Paul Hawken, Wallace J. Nichols

Anne Morrow & Charles Lindbergh, Terry Tempest Williams, Barack my world Obama

In order to finish my thesis I need to write approximately 500 words a day. My office is without windows and lacks productivity inducing design. Ironic, I know, since it is located in the design department, but I tacked up a few photos of people that will provide much needed motivation. All visionaries in my book. There is a crooner with gorgeous family, a bioneer, a turtle guy, a pilot and author, a naturalist and activist, and a presidential canidate in a cowboy hat. 

This Book is good!

Late, by myself, in the boat of myself,

no light and no land anywhere,

cloudcover thick. I try to stay

just above the surface, yet I'm already under

and living within the ocean.

RUMI

Cheers!

Last night I went to a wedding shower for a good friend. She is a whole lot younger than me but was my first instructor when I went back to school to get my master's degree. It was her who taught me how to start a blog, use Photoshop and Illustrator. She is after all a talented graphic designer. Also, she was one of the leaders on my study abroad trip and we had a great time in Europe... she has a biting sense of humor. She is getting married next month to a gentleman from England, which she says is all part of her life plan to have children who speak with British accents. (yes, she has seen the 'Charlie bit my finger' video) She is attending university near London to get her PhD working on what I call the Lemonland project. Check it out, it could change your life. Anyway, it was a fun night and I just want to send my congratulations out to her... Hip Hip Hooray!

I like CUPCAKES!

Les Glaceurs and Cupcakes 

Montreal as I mentioned had incredible food. I slept well at night knowing there were busy bakers below the hotel building beautiful bread for my breakfast bliss. (hmm, nice alliteration) We did have a treat at a fresh little cupcake shop and I am still craving more. I need to pull out my Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World recipe book and make my own.

Bon Jour!

Notre-Dame de Montreal Basilica (via flickr gogoninja)

Moshie Safdie's Habitat 67 - architect of the SLC Library - one of my favorite buildings

And so I am in Montreal. It is a beautiful city, even with the 40cm of snow we received today. We have eaten at some incredible restaurants where each bite of delectable food seems to make my eyes roll back in my head. We have seen Habitat 67, the Olympic Stadium, Notre-Dame de Montreal Basilica (we trekked through the snow and enjoyed the light show) and many fabulously designed hotels, restaurants, and retail stores. The poster presentation is Friday - I am very excited. The workshops at the conference are great as well. I'm just wondering if I can take home a French accent for Darren as a souvenir. It just makes me melt when the men here open a door for you and after saying "merci" they reply in that deep guttural smokers voice, "My pleasure, madam"

Foreign Film

Subtitles and movies are a good combo ever since my days at BYU attending the International Cinema. I have recently watched three productions - all very different.
1- Water: about an eight year old widow in India, tragic and beautiful at the same time
2- Umbrellas of Cherbourg: a sort of French opera with luscious colors and clothing
3- L'Enfant: French again, a story about redemption, my least favorite of the three and so painful to watch