About Me

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I am mundane and magical, Silly and serious. I am an underachiever who suspects that someday in the eternities I may yet blossom and even fruit. I am a collector of spirits and essences, a studier of mood and nuance.I have many many faults and yet I've always been loved. I am a good friend, but I will let you go if you so desire. I believe in Somewhen. I laugh easily and cannot often cry, which I know is a Flaw. Like You, I am a work in progess.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

WEEKLY 5
Make a list of memorable encounters you’ve had with an animal (not a pet) or insect.

Choose one of the encounters and write down all the details you can remember about it, pushing for specific details.

If you were going to write a piece based on that memory or experience, what might a possible first sentence be?

1.       There is a series of three animal encounters I associate with one person, My Favorite Person, my ex-boyfriend Miles, a Winnebago Indian. They call their own people Ho-Chunk. On one occasion we were driving in the San Bernardino Mountains, the only time we were there together and though I grew up visiting those mountains frequently, and for several weeks at a time, I had never seen a large mammal there, ever. I’d seen squirrels and stellar jays and lizards and other birds. I’d seen insects galore, primarily mosquitos. But the one time I was there with Miles we saw a large coyote by the side of the road, walking along toward us. I am completely sure this was not a dog. Miles asked me to stop and I did. We both got out of the car and the coyote continued walking toward us calmly and fearlessly as if it was an intended meeting. Another time, we went to Yellowstone National Park. It was my first time there and the first place we went was to see Old Faithful. When we got out of the car there was a small crowd of people, but there was also a lone buffalo who was allowing people (including me) to approach quite closely. It was as if this buffalo was serving as a guide to the park. I should mention that with Miles I saw more wildlife than I ever dreamed I would see in my life. Eagles and hawks, once a turkey vulture soaring majestically on thermals above Dead Horse Point. Mountain Goat in the Cottonwoods Canyon, Mountain sheep in the south. Deer, antelope, elk and moose I also learned to see in Miles company. There were many more, but the two animals above named and a third, a red dragonfly, have a sort of supernatural feel to me. The dragonfly I associate with Miles because I took him to South Dakota to prepare for a Sundance,. He wanted to do Hamblecheya, a vision quest, part of which is determining one’s Spirit Animal. We were later than he thought and the Sundance was to be held in a couple of days, so I was able to see this ceremony which moved me very deeply. Miles believed his Spirit Animal was the dragonfly. We parted when I moved to Santa Clara from Holladay. He was going to come with me, but he never did. He called once and again, I thought he was coming, but he did not. I thought he might have stayed in Salt Lake for his daughter but I later learned he disappeared and no one I know has heard from him. But periodically I see a large red dragonfly and you may think me crazy, but it seems that on each occasion it does odd things which draws my attention and it stays until I leave.
2.       I once went to a grocery store in Southern California with my brother. Uncharacteristically I was driving. We were in my green Mustang. After we finished shopping, we went back out to the car and I must have been in a hurry because I was in the car and about to start it when my brother yelled at me to stop. I did, immediately. (Was I planning on him entering a moving car?) Watching him in the rearview mirror he bent down and when he got into the car he said, “Look.” There was a hummingbird in his hand. He said it was wedged in behind a rear tire and if I had moved at all I would have killed it. Now, we were always trying to save things, birds usually unsuccessfully. There was a pet shop in that shopping center and we went in to inquire. We came out with hummingbird nectar which we made as soon as we got home. The hummingbird actually ate it, licking our palms delicately with its long transparent tubular tongue. We fed it often over the course of the day and the next day till we took it outside and it flew away!
3.       I had a thoroughbred ex polo pony. She was a black mare and I named her Ember. She was very beautiful, but detached. She was very well trained and  responsive, but I was looking for a friend in a horse and she was more-businesslike. I thought I would try breeding her to see if that would affect her personality. I chose a leopard appaloosa stallion, his name was War Don. He had a lovely, calm disposition and a nice conformation. His owner told me he was an easy breeder but rather tepid about the process. I wondered how the breeding might go. Ember brooked no advances from the geldings and they had long since ceased to trouble her, preferring Cherie, my other mare. When I took Ember to the stallion for breeding I was electrified by how quickly they noticed each other- before sighting. Both horses were extremely excited and very beautiful when they were brought together. It was one of the most erotic things I ever saw. The stallion’s owner was very surprised at the ardor of his horse. I knew walking away that Ember was pregnant but I brought her back the next day for another breeding just to see that dance again.
4.       In Jr high I took a class called Animal Care. I loved animals and this class was a boon to me. When I was younger I would tease my mother to drive me to a nearby dairy so I could look at, and smell the cows. I loved being near animals, any kind, though the city I had grown up in was so removed from nature that our school would periodically hire a large truck, filled with a variety of farm animals to visit our completely blacktopped school. In this Animal Care class, I had an echo of this experience. The presenter loosed a flock of ducklings into a room full of seated seventh graders. All the ducklings converged on me and arranged themselves around me for the remainder of their stay. I was the duckling magnet. I loved it
5.       I kept tropical fish. I loved learning about them and at various times had large tanks full of fish, both fresh water and salt. When I moved into my first apartment I took one 26 gallon tank. One day I came home and found that the bottom glass had broken and there was wet carpet, gravel , plants and desiccating fish all over the floor. I was lost. For some reason I called my brother and he came very quickly. He told me I should prepare water and put those fish, which were mostly dried and, I thought, completely dead into buckets while he went for another aquarium. I couldn't tell you now why I did it. I think it is something like clapping for Tinkerbelle to come back to life at the end of Peter Pan. It could be that I just didn't want to disappoint my brother’s faith. But I did and most of those fish revived! I really thought they were all dead. The blue acaras, I remember, were even more beautiful after the ordeal.
6.       Chauncey was my horse cat. He was a long-haired rather diminutive cat who projected a big and friendly spirit. He loved coming with me to feed the horses or to watch the hay deliveries be bucked into place. Chauncey was also a mighty hunter. He picked off my neighbor’s rooftop pigeon population with greedy regularity and he liked to bring his victims alive, through the doggie door. If I didn't catch him there and disturb the process, his kill spot was down the hall right at my game closet. Many were the times when I would hear the flutter of wings and go careening down the hall trying to prevent the death of some hapless pigeon. I lost respect for pigeons seeing how easily they died. Birds that looked completely viable to me, once rescued, often died anyway just, it seemed, to spite my efforts. It was so common an occurrence that I would look down the hall and sometimes see a freshly dispatched victim. If it was dead I learned to just leave it for a while because it was Chauncey’s delight to eat his prey. If left, he would reduce it to feet and feathers. Not a skull, beak or bone would be left, only feet and feathers and I confess I found clean-up much less gruesome this way than earlier options.


One day I heard a commotion at the end of the hall and it sounded so vigorous that I had hope of rescue. I ran to the spot, and there was nothing. No Chauncey, no pigeon. It had seemed so real, I found it difficult to believe I had imagined it, but maybe I was getting paranoid. I had tried everything I could think of to curb Chauncey’s hunting. He wore a bell on a breakaway collar. I had consulted the vet to see if declawing him would save the pigeons. She told me that alas, it probably would not. I was feeling very guilty about all these pigeon deaths and wondering how my neighbor was feeling about the reduction of his flock size. So I thought maybe I was imagining attacks that weren't happening and I went back to whatever I had been doing. After a short interval I heard the sound again and went bolting down the hall growling at Chauncey for having tricked me. But again, there was nothing! Had he changed his kill spot? I looked in the open door of a bedroom, nothing. I peered into another bedroom, again, nothing. Looking into the master bedroom there was Chauncey, right behind the door looking friendly and innocent as could be, but I saw no bird or feather. I was about to leave the room when motion caught my eye and there, spinning slowly on the ceiling fan was a HUGE black crow. It glared balefully at me as it spun in slow circles. This bird was easily three times as big as Chauncey. I have heard them called King crows and this one was in a state of royal miff, as if I was somehow responsible for it being there. I was trying to imagine Chauncey getting this beast through the doggie door. It was an immense bird. How, I wondered, was I going to get it out of the house? The first necessity was to remove Chauncey, easily accomplished, I scooped him up, put him on the other side of the door and quickly shut it. Then I hauled up the mini blinds and opened the window, removing the screen. I looked hopefully at the bird which was still regarding me with a most vicious expression. It seemed disinclined to leave the slowly spinning perch it occupied. So, I tried yelling and moving my arms. I am sure that would have appeared quite comical to any onlooker and I was grateful there was none. This tactic did not work either. I thought and thought and made the decision to leave the room, sidestepping Chauncey who was trying to re-enter to attend to his trophy bird. No, that was not an option, I scooted him aside, closed the door and proceeded to the kitchen for a large yellow broom. I took it back to the bedroom, re-entered and in Don Quixote jousting mode went at that huge angry bird with the intent to make it move. Even with me poking at it, it resisted! I was surprised to find myself afraid of a bird. Scenes from the Alfred Hitchcock movie played in my mind as I, sputtering and cussing, attempted to direct this unwelcome and unhappy being out the window. It took at least half an hour to do it. Finally it went through the window! I rearranged the room, opened the door, smirking at Chauncey in triumph now that his big game was gone. He looked at me mildly and philosophically and I thought the ordeal was over. But no! I went out to feed the horses a little while later and the back yard was full of crows, all cawing maniacally. It was extremely frightening. They stayed a good week calling out each time I ventured out the door. 

Sunday, November 9, 2014



This is Oscar, who I spent the morning with. It was time well spent. He is dematted, soft and handsome and I feel sweet spirited because he was just such a pleasant being to spend a Sunday morning with. He makes some funny faces an body language poses.








Otherwise I do not want to go to work! I have too much to do! Including MUCH schoolwork!

 I decided to advertise the drawing I printed on Facebook, where it has gathered a few likes and no orders. I guess that wasn't such a good idea. I was hoping to make enough to afford a road trip to Salt Lake in at Thanksgiving Break. Oh well.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

feeling grateful. I've sold 2 prints so far and I have an order for a third (but i want to make sure she really likes it before she pays) all three are, to my surprise, the foam core mounted prints ($50 as opposed to $30)
What is the last gift (tangible gift) you received from someone? The latest gift I've received, from Bruce, is a sumptuously large, extremely soft, lightweight purple Sherpa blanket. It is the most luxurious blanket I have ever slept under.

What is the last gift you gave someone? The latest gift I've given is a 15” signed, numbered Nambe serving tray. It is variously textured and features a spiral pattern which my boyfriend Bruce particularly likes. I caught him admiring it on ebay and knew it was unlikely he would buy it for himself, so I did.

What is the first gift you remember receiving? The first gift I remember receiving was from a neighborhood friend, Brian Belk. We were too young to be in school yet but I remember I loved to play with Brian. The curb border of my house was filled with gazania flowers which attracted butterflies which we liked to catch. Brian’s mom, Nancy would spread out a bamboo mat on their lush lawn and serve us sandwiches that tasted funny. It took me years to learn that weird taste was Miracle Whip (we were mayonnaise people) The gift was a beautiful gold mouse pin with red jeweled eyes and a jointed tail that felt a lot like a real rat’s tail. It was a high quality, quite detailed piece of jewelry, much nicer than most would think to give a preschool girl. But I loved Brian who was shy with most people and had a stutter. I was devastated when his family moved away. I had that pin in my jewelry box until it was stolen in a robbery when I was in my late thirties.

What is the first gift you remember giving? I know I would have given many gifts before this, but the one I remember giving was a gift to my brother David when I was in the second grade. I had been allowed to accompany my grandmother, my Aunt Idona and her husband Uncle Tommy to Utah to visit my Aunt Nelda where I was so happy and impressed that I vowed then and there I was going to move to Utah as soon as I was free to do so. My brother had been left at home and I was so sorry about that that I spent my own money to buy him a green Tonka trunk and a family sized bag of plain M&Ms back when they were delicious. My brother appreciated the gifts and returned one to me, his case of THE MUMPS.
What is a gift you’ve received that has totally surprised you? I once opened a letter from my boyfriend who was away for the summer at college in Bellingham Washington. We wrote to one another frequently but this time I opened a thinner than usual envelope and what I thought were metallic shavings were in the bottom of the envelope. They looked like the shavings that come in the cartoon figure Wooly Willy who you can, with a magnet, draw hair and beard styles. I was completely at a loss to figure out what he might mean by sending me this until I read the short letter telling me he was coming home and when to expect him. He had grown a goatee which he knew I hated and his homecoming present to me was the goatee. I’ve never had a better present.

 There’s a second gift that is memorable for being totally surprising. My brother’s mother-in-law once asked me to come to her house because she had a present for me. I was askance, Geri was unpredictable to put it mildly. When I got to her house she led me into the backyard and there was my present- a large grey gander who she had named Leander in my honor. I am a person who has a hard time saying “no” but on this occasion the word came out effortlessly and emphatically.

What is a gift you’ve received that has made you sad or angry? My brother and I were close when we were young adults. He knew I loved Christmas and had stashed $50 for a big, beautiful fresh Christmas tree. He asked, in a way that I discerned did not pertain to a literal Christmas tree, if he could have the money I was saving for Christmas tree. Indeed, he meant a bag of marijuana. I gave him the money. Sharing Christmas -surwith him in a beautiful way had been important to me and I saw my naïve little wishes of the simple joys of decorating a tree, listening to Christmas carols and eating homemade cookies might be a pleasure he had outgrown. If he wasn’t going to enjoy it and was sulking that I hadn’t given him my money I didn’t see much point in getting the tree I had wanted.
Late on Christmas eve, he surprised me with a huge tree, but I have always suspected he stole it.
Have you ever given a gift that was received in a way that disappointed you? One year I made a Christmas Book. It was about 200 pages and filled with stories, poems, recipes, crafts, gift ideas, carols… It was a huge job and included many illustrations, carefully chosen. I did not make many copies. I gave one copy to Bruce’s mother thinking she would love it, especially since it included some stories about Bruce but she asked in a suspicious and displeased voice, “What is this?” and set it aside. I don’t think she ever even opened it.

Choose one of the gifts and write down all the details you can remember about the occasion of giving or receiving it, pushing for specific details. I think I probably already fleshed these memories out more than was intended by the assignment

If you were going to write a piece based on that memory or experience, what might a possible first sentence be? She held the envelope in her hand in expectant pleasure, noting it was lighter than usual, but curious about a strange sur sur-ing sound as the contents moved.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Really finished.







It's 1 am. I have to be at work at 8 am and I have soooooo much to do, but this is what i did today (well, and a bath for a dog and a few chores) And while I actually like the finished piece (rare for me) the addiction of art is why I gave it up in the first place!

'

I don't even know if this is finished yet

Friday, October 31, 2014

A drawing I am working on. Posting it in stages (it will be like a mandala) because I have a tendency to ruin drawings and right now I like this one. It is a replacement for a Balance assignment. I turned in a piece that was truly hideous. Can't leave it like that, so trying again.



this is a cropped version



and a detail


Sunday, October 26, 2014

This was my response to our texture assignment in art. I really liked the ideas and images that came to my mind but rendition sucked. 


Spent a long and intense portion of last night in my personal vortex. It was so bad I almost started wring about it. But, what good would it do? Is it kind? y'know those kinds of questions. And, I couldn't see any good except maybe some personal understanding so I tried to just get through it. The interlude WAS interspersed with interesting thoughts and uncountable images of textures I wish I could draw and interesting compositions. Also very detailed images of birds. Why? I don't know! But I am so sick of that vortex!

Monday, October 20, 2014

More pics. I eventually made my way to Capitol Reef State Park (don;t think I'd ever been there before. Along the whole trip I kept seeing signs for places I had such fond memories of or places I have wanted to go or brand new places. I wish there's been more time. When my camera finally kept saying "Please reinsert memory stick" I made a quick decision to just go home (which my GPS said I could make before dark) instead of going through Bryce and Zion as I had intended. Zion is less than an hour from my house and Bryce is about 3 hours away. I can go on a day trip.  I found a restaurant going out of Capitol Reef and t was MUCH better than I had hoped. The ride home WAS scenic and relaxed and I made it home well before dark  and was greeted by my family who I was happy to see. The dogs didn't eat or drink while I was gone and Bruce had a relaxing time but I think he was glad to see me.














I LOVED my recent 2 day trip. I got a late start due to exhaustion and needing to get some supplies (like a charger cord for my GPS. could not find that cord for anything!- turns out Radio Shack was getting those cords in that afternoon, but they weren't in then. So, though I had an old atlas I bought a new GPS. I'm glad I did. I've since rehomed the old one) I needed a few other things too so instead of leaving around 6 am as I wished I actually left town at about 9 or 9:30. I decided to cut out Dead Horse Point and Moab from my trip and just head for the cabin. I had wanted to make sure the cabin I would be in had a fireplace so I asked the comper consider any. It did not (though I thought I saw that it was rtesupposed to on the information) The person I talked to offered me an upgrade (and whew what an upgrade!!) The offered cabin is between Monticello and Blanding (closer to Blanding) It is in an un-GPS-able area, out there totally by itself. He gave great directions on how to find it from Monticello or Blanding. The thing is a 3 story wood cabin, solar powered with its own well. It has a wood burning stove. Well, here's the cabin info
My Home For a Night

The 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath is just what's available to renters. It's actually much larger than that. I didn't care about the Direct TV or many of the other amenities, but the wood burning stove and the wifi were good. That cabin includes a full kitchen, a bathtub big enough to immerse in, a wrap around patio and a flippin' PIANO! I was very much looking forward to getting there.

I decided to take the shortest time route and so started up I-15. I hoped I'd be hungry by the time I got to Beaver because there is a cheese factory there. I wanted to try the squeaky cheese everyone around here raves about, but I made scrambled eggs and cinnamon doughnuts for me and the dogs at about 6am and wasn't hungry at all by the time I hit Beaver. Yes folks, I went alone. When I worked for AT&T and could afford to  trek travel I did that a lot, or with Miles or with Miles and the girls and Jane, or on daytrips with a few other people. Traveling with kindred spirit is the BEST but traveling by myself is my second choice. Bruce doesn't like to travel so he declined and I asked on Facebook but no one took me up on the trip.

My first actual stop was Cove Fort. I'd driven by before many times and had never stopped. I thought it was time to rectify that even though I wasn't looking forward to the proselyting. It's an LDS historical site. The history of the LDS and particularly how Utah was settled fascinates me, but I no longer consider myself LDS. I don't consider myself religious. I do consider myself spiritual and I try to keep an open mind wondering if changes in beliefs are part of a good experience in life. I don't know and I am not going to pretend that i do. Anyway, Cove Fort was interesting looking even before i got out of the car. I have pioneer forbears.They came from Europe, England and Norway if i am remembering right. Then they took that long trek to Utah. I am not sure if  any of them went through Nauvoo or Missouri but the pioneers that were in those first groups to settle in Salt Lake City probably thought they were settling where they would live for the rest of their lives. But not so. Brigham Young was wanting to build a self sufficient set of communities that were interdependent and not dependennt on the outside world. There was a man by the name of Hinckley (I forget his first name right now but he was the grandfather of a recent church president Gordon B Hinckley  and he and his family had settled in Coalville (which is a lovely pastoral valley now - or at least when i was last there. He was hardly settled in when Brigham Young called him to go build a fort. Cove Fort. This is fairly close to Fillmore where my own great grandfather had a farm and where my grandmother was born. He immediately said yes and he and his family trekked 10 days from Coalville and he commenced to build this fort. It's made of volcanic rock and limestone. I took a million pictures there and hoped to remember a lot of the stories but when I got back I learned that I will probably need to replace my camera. Most of the pictures did not come out well at all. But here are some. And if you ever get a chance to visit and you like local history, well, I say it's well worth the time.



Initial views of Cove Fort


The Hinckley cabin disassembled and numbered, brought to Cove Fort and reassembled. The Hinckley's had 11 children. I was TRULY impressed at what they fit into the cabin and I think these people were probably happy and healthy




a couple bad shots of the inside of the cabin. I sure wish the Cove Fort pics had turned out

entrance= the walls are 18" thick


One of the two giant front doors


the black locust trees planted by the founder. they have much exceeded their usual lifespan and they now have been diagnosed with a disease so they are being cut down in November. There are some (2 or 3) of their saplings that will replace them. I was sad to learn they are being cut down


The stable area. The stable could hold 27 horses


a garden area. the Sister who showed me around said they had just recently taken up most of the garden for the winter but she went on about the good eating this spring and summer they'd had



One side of rooms. Each room had a chimney because it had it's own fireplace an there were interconnecting doors inside so people did not have to go out in inclement weather I took so many pics of each of the rooms. Sick they didn't come out. They had rooms for women and rooms for men. The rate was 50 cents a night for half a small bed. Then there were rooms for the family, a VIP room mostly used by Brigham Young when he was down. A big kitchen a laundry room, a post office and a telegraph office


The other side


The stable again


a one horse stagecoach


The telegraph office (working)

There were also other outbuildings like a bunkhouse, a blacksmith, an ice house and a structure where they could hoise up oxen to shoe them (I'd never known they shoed oxen!) Apparently oxen will fall down if you left a leg, unlike a horse or mule so there was this rather elaborate support. Those people used EVERYTHING The was a coat and the issionary asked us to guess what it was, we thought beaver maybe, but it was a horse hide from a horse that had died. They saved their own hair and used it for utilitarian and decorative purposes (hair sculpture!) Not much was wasted and the craftmanship and care was beautiful. I really enjoyed Cove Fort

I proceeded down I-70 and a good while later saw a turn off for Dead Horse Point. I had decided not to go but I changed my mind. Wish I hadn't. I did get an annual pass to State Parks and a t-shirt at the visitors center but was shocked by signs asking visitors to turn off any faucets they saw running (in the bathrooms) because there was no natural water source for the park so water was being trucked in from Moab.. I thought WTF? this park is formed by the flippin Colorado River!!!!! But indeed when I went to see the goosenecks I remember most fondly it was bone dry! (None of my Dead Horse Point pictures turned out) I was so sad. My happy mood (I'd actually been in a lot of moods but they had been variations of happy) disappeared and a new blue black mood took over. It was awhile before i reached Moab and oh MY! has it EVER grown!!!! I was hungry and would have liked to eat there and be a tourist but I wanted to make the cabin beofe dark and to do that there was no time to stop. And no time for Hole In the Rock which I passed right by or Fisher Towers or anything. I just kept driving through places where you MIGHT get one radio station, usually country (NOT my favorite) By the time I got to Monticello I knew I wasn't going to find the cabin before dark. So I decided to stop for dinner (hadn't eaten since breakfast) I stopped at a convenience store and asked if there was a restaurant- the cashier told me there was and where and as I left she came running after me. "Ma'amm did you know your jeans are riipped?" "No" I'd had a little hole about a back pocket and she told me they were ripped all the way. I grabbed another pair of jeans and hurried inside where I had to wait forever for a bathroom to change and OMG It was ALL the way ip and down past my knee and I hadn't known it... How long had it been like that? Anyway, freshly changed I went to the restaurant which was a dive. But....the food was much better than I thought it might be, I had a homemade vegetable soup and a buffalo patty and a baked potato which I ate little of because the yellow stuff on it was unlikely to have been butter. but the meal was refreshing and thought it was dark by now I figured I wasn't too far from the cabin. There were so many deer crossing warnings I was starting to hallucinate deer and I was very tired and ready to stretch out. It took me awhile to find mile markrs (on the opposite side of the road from me and then I really cant see at night so I ws straining to read them. The place I needed to be was between mile markers 55 and 56 near a big lake (which I did not see at all. Finally I saw the place I had to tuen. I did. Followed the road 2 miles as directed and nope... nothing. I was by then on completely dark unpaved unlit roads. I got loster and loster and loster. I did not even know how to get back to where I'd been. This was a remote place and something Bruce said about me being naive enough to tell people i was traveling alone got into my head in a very bad way. I was making up EVIL stories in my head and getting more and more scared and desperate. Then, in the most surreal way, animals started crossing the road in front of me... mostly little animals. I couldn't tell what they were and some did not look like mammals. then there was a spate of rabbit and more little animals. Finally a palomino HORSEwet across the road right in front of me. I honestly felt like I was in the Twiilight Zone and wondered if I was going to die that night. Eventually, I don't know how, I found my way back to the highway and wondered desperately what to do. I was so tired and scared I thought about trying to drive home. I doubted I'd make it. I was verry drowsy. I thought about trying to find another room but it was UEA and everything was likely booked. I decided to try to find the cabin again. I drove in circles along that highway between those 2 mile markers until finally I saw the country road I was supposed to be on. But I could not find the green gate and had to go back. Finally I saw what must be it and drove and FINALLY (about 11pm) there was the cabin! it was so dark...they had 2 solar lights in the flower containers and weilding one of those like it was a light sword I attempted to key in the door code. Thankfully it worked. There was a loaf of homemade bread and some butter on the counter, I assume as a welcome. I pretty much collapsed. I did eventually bring my stuff in and eventually explored the cabin (found a note on the wood burning stove forbidding its use which ticked me off) located the bed I wanted and answered Bruce's messages. Told him I had just gotten there and I had been scared half to death. Told him about the animals (it seemed somehow Lovecraftian) He was glad I was safe and told me he loved me and to go to bed. And that's what I did. Sunrise woke me up and I wanted to get pics. 




My rather pitiful pics from the cabin. Know what I loved MOST there? Now the bed was comfy and I needed it but what I loved most was the blinds! no strings or anything you just moved the up or down and they STAYED. I too


k a shower and loaded the car and added fluids and vamoosed. Hardly any time n the cabin at all. Finally saw the lake they were referring to in the daylight. thought I would get gas and have breakfast in Blanding. I found a combination gas station, convenience store, A&W and bowling alley and this really amused me. The card readers on the pumps did not work so i went iin to pay. They kept my card! I asked about that and they said I could have it when I came back. So I filled up and expected them to run it but they instructed me  to do it. I asked about the whole loopy procedure and they said a lot of people just eft afte fillig the pumps so they hold something of theirs till they paid. Jeepers! One of the cashiers told me where I might find a restaurant but I didn't see it and decided to head towward Bryce. I was hoping something nicer would appear. I ran into...miles and miles of miles and miles. I practically felt like I had the whole area to myself. Almost no other cars, the morning was gorgeous and I was in another million happy moods, There was a radio station from Four Corners that I found I liked even though I was unfamiliar with the songs. the sky was such beautiful shades of blue and the clouds seemed playful. It was wonderful! The unoccupied by people space was so big I found myself urgently needing tto pee and no place to do that in a bathroom. Stripping in the desert was kind of hilarious. It was near the Colorado River, which in this place had water. I was just joyful and grateful and free and happy!
















Looks like I can't add any more pics!!