May Days

In the center (above) is Eric playing violin with the SUU symphony orchestra for SUU's graduation ceremonies.  May 4 and 5 was commencement/graduation.  In case you didn't see Eric's Facebook post, I attended graduation because I was being recognized as the the "Outstanding Staff" recipient, so that was very cool.  I happen to be weird and enjoy graduation ceremonies.  Plus, I got to sit by a good friend and co-worker who was recognized as the "Distinguished Service" staff award recipient, AND I had a number of friends graduating.  Student workers, ward members, etc. It was fun. The many award recipients attended a luncheon on Friday and were honored with plaques, etc.  Mike was able to attend that with me.

Our flower bed out front is FULL of large, lavender irises now.  The tulips have faded away.  I don't have a picture of them, but we have columbine and dianthus out there, too, that are blooming.  'Tis lovely.

Even the back yard is starting to bloom out.  Below are iris and peony.  We only have about three colors of iris and one color of peony, but we still enjoy them very much.

Below is a lovely plant called "orange star."  It was a gift for mothers' day from Nick.  I was holding it on my lap in the car while Mike was filling up the gas tank in the car.  While waiting there, I idly read the fine print on the little tag that came in the plant.  It stated that it was a native of South Africa, gave watering and sunlight recommendations.  It said it was not intended for human or pet consumption.  Normal things, I suppose.

But then the last little phrase kind of took my by surprise.  It said, "Unlicensed Propagation Prohibited."  Hmmm.  That was a new one to me!  I guess if I really liked it and happened to have a green thumb and was ABLE to make things grow and multiply to beautify the earth, I could possibly get into some big trouble.  I'm not to to try to do anything but keep it alive. I promise!

Here  (below) is the first harvest from our garden.  It's rhubarb.  It made some delicious rhubarb crunch for our dessert the other night.

Mike, Eric and I have been working hard at getting our backyard garden going.  We have planted nearly all of it now and I have even seen a couple of radishes sprouting through the dry, crusty earth.  It just doesn't rain enough around here.  when I was hoeing one of the rows the other day, I felt like i was in the dust bowl!   I bought a new sprinkler to keep things alive until we can get the gutters cleared out for irrigation water.  It's running, but I'm afraid it'll wash all my seeds away if I turn it loose in there right now.  It will come.  Perhaps we will be blessed with some lovely and delicious produce this fall.

Mike and I and Eric spent Mother's Day in Salt Lake City.  We went up on Saturday, attended a play (kind of like a melodrama/musical) at the Desert Star Theater in Murray with Gayela, then had a nice barbeque dinner at Becky's house with Angela and all the family attached to those two gals.  That was a lot of fun.  The four of us spent that night with Gayela, and then early Sunday morning, Mike and I went to Kaylee's house where Nick and Kaylee had fixed breakfast for their parents on Mother's Day.  Nick and Kaylee's ward didn't meet till 1, Gayela's didn't meet till 1, so we were able to stay and visit with the kids for a bit.  (Nick and Kaylee attend a YSA ward). Kaylee's parents had to rush off to their 9 a.m. ward.  It was fun to touch base with wedding plans, see her dress, etc.  Things are coming right along!

Mike, Eric, Berenice and I just attended Sacrament meeting with Gayela and then headed home to Cedar City.  I like traveling on Sunday because there are a few central Utah radio stations with "The Sounds of Sunday" programs that just make for nice listening on the Sabbath.  I LOVE uneventful trips to the big city.  Watching the news at home that night, there were three fatalities in SLC on and around Redwood Road--and we traversed that road many times during our weekend up there!  So blessed and happy to be back safe and sound.

And tonight was an annular (no, not "Annual."  Annular.  It's different.) eclipse.  We watched/viewed through a pinhole camera box in our back yard.  

 This is where the sun was in the sky for most of it.

 This was the view from the pinhole camera box I made.  We really did have a total ring of light around the moon's shadow.  I just didn't think to take a photo of it at that time.  Here you can see a crescent shadow on the white paper inside the box.

 These photos are kind of cool.  We noticed that the shadows from our tree were reflecting the crescent-shaped shadow of the sun during the last half of the eclipse.  I wish we would have thought to look over at the shadows on the wall during the peak--then the shadows would have been circles dotting the house, I'm sure!  Pretty cool, huh? Normally, the leaf shadows just look like globby leaf-shaped shadows.  We noticed larger shadows on the house across the street, too, from more distant trees. Very interesting.  Toward the end, Mike's mom dropped by, and she had some of the special viewing glasses, so we peeked at the sun through those.  It looked the same as what we saw through the box, only bigger.

We live on an amazing earth.