HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARVELOUS MELANIE!

DIFFERENT AND ALIKE

My baby sister, Melanie, is celebrating her birthday today.  To honor her, I’ve compiled one list of how she and I are different, and one list of how she and I are alike.  These lists are really quite revealing.  (It should be noted that we have the same biological parents.)

DIFFERENT:
Melanie is a little bit country; I’m a little bit rock-and-roll.
Melanie has been kissed by a chimpanzee; I have not.
Melanie is the youngest child; I am the oldest.
Melanie has pierced ears; I do not.
Melanie wears contact lenses; I wear glasses.
Melanie wears jewelry; I do not.
Melanie wears perfume; I do not.
Melanie has never had a pet; I've had several (cats, dogs, goldfish, rabbit).
Melanie is a wild driver; I am not.
Melanie took dance lessons for many years; I’ve never had a dance lesson.
Melanie’s medium of choice is paper; mine is fabric.
Melanie dresses very nicely; I do not.
Melanie is an expert scrap-booker and card-maker; I am not.
Melanie is computer-savvy; I am not.
Melanie has a paid job outside the home; I do not.
Melanie is quite outgoing; I am less so.
Melanie has little interest in reading for pleasure; reading is one of my passions.
Melanie is an expert gift-wrapper; I prefer stuffing the gift into a gift bag and calling it good.
Melanie prefers earth and muted tones; I prefer bright colors.

ALIKE:
We are both women.  (Thought I’d start with the obvious.)
We both love children (especially the well-behaved kind).
We both love to bake and cook (especially if our meals are appreciated).
We both enjoy watching shows on Food Network.
We both own a Toyota Sienna.
We both love to travel.
We both love giving gifts.
We love our husbands and families.
We both have great friends.
We both have a great sister.

Melanie is, hands down, the world’s best sister.  (I know I only have one, but it’s not possible to have a better one.)  She’s also the world’s best aunt and has doted on each and every one of my children.  I love her dearly!  Happy 40-something birthday!!!

Summer "Vacation"

I use the term "vacation" loosely.  It was more like a "trip."  And what a fun trip it was!  (I judge the busyness of a trip by how many books I'm able to read.  I read part of one.)  Here it is broken down in a nutshell:

Day 1:  Drove Mark to Tacoma for EFY.  Drove to Baker City, Oregon to spend the night.  Listened to LDS General Conference CDs en-route.  Sick with cold symptoms and felt feverish.  Very rough night.

Day 2:  Felt a bit better.  Ate best restaurant-made omelet ever at the hotel's attached restaurant.  Made it to my destination--Kaysville, Utah.

Day 3:  Met up with sister Melanie, Swedish cousins (Monica, Johan, Elias and Edvin) and double-cousin Mary Lynne and her boys at City Creek in Salt Lake City.  (Didn't think to take photos.  I must have not felt well.)  Prepared gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough for wedding luncheon. 

Day 4:  Drove to Highland.  Made 16 batches of cilantro lime rice and several batches of horchata base for wedding lunch.  Toured sister Melanie's new house in Lehi and saw Swedish relatives again before they left for hot Las Vegas.  Wished them luck with the heat.

Day 5:  Returned to Utah County.  Purchased desserts and other stuff for wedding lunch.  Helped decorate church for wedding lunch.  Back to Kaysville.  Baked cookies.  Made key lime pie.  Daughters Annica and Rachelle arrived.  Picked Lance and Mark up at the airport at midnight.

Day 6:  The BIG day.  Left Kaysville early.  Attended wedding of Preston and Elizabeth in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  Hurried to church to prepare food for wedding lunch.  Lots of helper ladies from Lane and Cindy's church congregation.  Wedding lunch was a success thanks to husband Lance and helper ladies.   (I was too busy to take photos.)  Wedding reception.  Tired!

Day 7:  Too tired to attend sacrament meeting at 9:00 am.  Attended one at 11:00 am instead.  Dorothy delivered note and money Mark sent to her late husband back to Mark.  Told funny and true dog story.  (Perhaps I'll devote an entire post to this soon.)  Traveled to Rexburg, Idaho.  So happy to see and hold granddaughter Maddy (and see her parents, too).

Day 8:  Fun baby-sitting Maddy, shopping with Rachelle and treating family to dinner at the "taco bus restaurant."  Saw Nelson at his grocery store job.  Maddy is a clever little girl and sneaks food to dog Max under the table.

Day 9:  Another fun day of baby-sitting.  Pizza for dinner.

Day 10:  Returned to Utah.  Purchased 3 suits for Lance at Mr. Mac in City Creek from favorite saleslady, Maddy.  Dinner with Lance's best childhood friend, Scott, Lei (Scott's wife) and Mark (Scott's brother).  Mark gladly accompanied us as he wanted to get "dirt" on his dad.  Cousin Mark (lots of Marks involved here) arrived very late.

Day 11:  Baking and cooking for reunion.  Made another batch of GF chocolate chip cookies.  Mark's son Steven and Steven's girlfriend arrived for "inspection."  Girlfriend seemed nice enough to me, but my vote doesn't count for much. 

Day 12:  More reunion food prep.  Potato salad this time.  Made marinated tomatoes to accompany dinner.  Swedish relatives arrived after their Las Vegas/Cedar City trip.  Fun times! 

Day 13:  Van full of people driving to family lodge in Mink Creek, Idaho.  Lance drove.  Monica rode shot-gun.  Edvin, Johan and Elias occupied the middle row of seats.  The two Marks and I got the back row.  I took barf bags as a precaution.  (They were not used.)  Fun times at the P. family reunion.  145 attendees.  Fun for me to see everyone.  These two crazies (brothers Mark and Jeff) hadn't attended a reunion together in several years. 

 

Canasta tournament partners, Scott and Mark:

 

Brother Blake in background; Monica and boys in foreground:

The picture which must be explained:  the two Marks.  Big Mark had a job interview in Seattle shortly after little Mark's birth.  The two Marks met at SeaTac airport, and I took a photo of Big Mark holding Little Baby Mark.  This is the same pose 16 years later:

Bagpipe playing in the backyard:  Mark, Lance and Johan:

Day 14:  To Lehi to attend church with Melanie and Greg and family.  Three full rows of relatives in attendance.  Entertained Maddy during church.  Twins Layton and Lloyd ordained Priests after sacrament meeting.  All of the relatives congregated at Melanie and Greg's house for a celebration lunch.  Lance and I slipped away briefly to visit LaVerl, Lance's "second mom" from San Diego.  She's 93 and looks and acts years younger.  Back to Kaysville for an easy make-your-own sandwich dinner.  Lance bid "hejda" to the Swedes.

Day 15:  Up early to take Lance to SLC airport.  Stopped in Bountiful to pick up seminary posters.  Lunch at Chuck-a-Rama (Monica's choice).  Mark sick with upset and painful stomach; ordered to stay away from little Swedish boys.  Tried to tour Air Force Museum.  Closed due to the sequester?  Big disappointment.  Went to Harmon's grocery store instead.  Melanie came for dinner bearing 5 different types of cheesecake slices from The Cheesecake Factory.  Made a key lime pie for Monica.  Many, many desserts along with sandwiches for dinner. 

Day 16:  Aebelskivers for breakfast.  Elias ate 12 but wanted more.  Drove Swedes to the airport and bid them a sad farewell.  When will we reunite?  Mark still not feeling too well.  He and I traveled again to Rexburg.  Dinner at Wingers.  Mark recovered enough to eat an entire rack of ribs.  Treated Rachelle and Nelson to dinner at a Thai restaurant later.  I ordered water.

 

Cute Edvin above.  Elias initially only allowed his back to be photographed:

Watching bugs:

Front pose now allowed:

Rexburg photos:  (Maddy, of course, and Nelson and Rachelle)

Day 17:  Traveled to and through Yellowstone National Park--one of my all-time favorite destinations.  Mark used the empty ice cream bucket my mother provided to empty the contents of his stomach shortly before arriving in West Yellowstone.  He then felt much better.  Made stops at Old Faithful (saw famous geyser erupt), Old Faithful Inn, West Thumb, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  Drove past Mammoth Hot Springs (too crowded to stop).  Saw a grizzly before Mammoth, LOTS of bison and elk, a pelican, chipmunk and crows.  Made it through the entire park (except for the northeastern section) in 5 1/2 hours.  Wanted to stay longer, but our schedule did not permit it.  Spent the night in Butte, Montana.

West Thumb:

Hayden Valley:

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

Animal friends in order of appearance:  bison, grizzly bear, elk

 

Day 18:  Drove 595 miles back home.  We made a quick stop in St. Regis, Montana to see the free trout museum and to get a huckleberry shake.  Travel music courtesy of The BeeGees, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Carly Simon, Carole King, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (selected by Mark!), and The Doobie Brothers.

 

 

Garden Update

I'll let the photo speak for itself.  Now, if I can just keep everything alive until after the harvest is complete.

Beautifying the Yard

We have lovely, warm, kind and talented next-door neighbors who bless us with their generosity and love.  They are also amazing gardeners and have a big, terraced backyard garden.  They have green thumbs.  Mrs. Neighbor saves her own seeds and isn't afraid to experiment with a variety of plants such as lovage, stevia, etc. 

Husband Lance and I have kind of grayish-black thumbs.  We grow weeds.  Really hearty, healthy weeds.  For a few years I've had a little side-yard container garden which has yielded a few good tomatoes, scraggly and twisted carrots, strange-looking cucumbers, some decent looking and tasting green beans, bizarre zucchini and some parsley that grows in abundance regardless of the care I give it.  Oh, and some mostly bitter lettuce, and spinach that always bolted a day or two after it emerged from the soil.

I've always wanted a beautiful-looking raised bed garden and have dropped many hints to my handyman husband, but there have always been other things on his "to-do" list of higher priority.  Mrs. Neighbor wanted a bigger garden to plant even more stuff--specifically tomatoes, since her previous tomato spot had some issues that weren't conducive to tomato growing.  She and I have been known to collaborate on projects; we put our heads together and hatched a plan.  I would try to convince Handsome Handyman Husband to build a garden.  He and I would pay for the supplies and the soil.  Mrs. Neighbor would plant the garden and supervise the maintenance and harvesting.  Both families would share the produce.

Although it took him more time and effort than he and I anticipated, my beloved husband (with some capable assistance of a semi-cooperative 16-year-old son) built a raised garden of beauty.  We bought 12 cubic yards of topsoil and, together with the neighbors, and other neighbors and some kind missionaries, schlepped it to the backyard.  Mrs. Neighbor planted 16 tomato plants, beans, peas and rutabagas and maybe some other stuff.  For good measure, she planted marigolds to ward off  a possible slug invasion and to discourage our canine companion from upsetting the tomatoes. 

The chicken manure fertilizer was a bit too enticing for our canine companion, so Husband had to erect a temporary fence and "gates" to keep canine out. 

After planting the garden, Mrs. Neighbor turned her attention to our unsightly front yard weed garden.  It didn't used to be a weed garden.  It only used to be a partial-weed garden.  In the 26 years we've inhabited our home, I've only liked the front yard area about 2 years.  Mrs. Neighbor asked me to describe the vision I had for that area.  She helped me create one, and then went to work on the beautification project.  She also suggested plants to purchase and even went shopping with me to buy the supplies and plants.  Mrs. Neighbor is also a magician.  After seeing the finished project, a realtor friend (perhaps in jest) told me that the value of our property has increased $50,000.

I hope to maintain the beauty and integrity of both garden areas and keep them from turning into yet another family weed garden.  Wish me luck. 

Homeward Bound

HOMEWARD BOUND

“I'm sittin' in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination . . .”

The final day of my most marvelous and great adventure had arrived, and I was very sad to see it all come to an end.  The trip exceeded my expectations in every way.  I kept thinking how grateful I was to everyone who helped make it all possible and grateful to have had this incredibly wonderful experience.  (Look to the end of the post for the acknowledgements.) 

Glenys prepared a most excellent breakfast that included a delicious omelet and salad.  Ramy was so kind and took time off from work to drive me (accompanied by Glenys) to Penn Station.  Sonia returned from taking Sofia to school, and we said “good-bye” and “adios” until the next time we’re together. 

On the drive to the station we passed by the Hudson River and other areas I hadn’t seen in the daylight.  I hope to return to New York City to experience it again.  And again.  And again.  (For the record, I’d love to repeat my Gone with the Wind experience, too.  It was all just too magical and memorable!)

Ramy stopped across the street from the station and Glenys and I dashed inside.  Once I assured Glenys that I could manage to find the correct train, we hugged and said, “Good-bye.”  I did find the right train and boarded as soon as I was able. 

The train was packed, and I didn’t get two seats like I’d had a few days earlier.  I watched the scenery and read.

Susan picked me up in front of Union Station after fighting her way through Cherry Blossom Parade traffic.  We took a circuitous route out of downtown because of parade detours.  I enjoyed seeing parts of the area I would have never otherwise seen.  She took me to one of her favorite food spots—Elevation Burger.  The lettuce-wrapped burger was quite tasty, as were the fries.  I’m sure the shake would have been yummy, too, but when I saw the calorie count listed on the menu board, I opted for water.

We went to Susan’s house in Vienna to get my boarding pass (thanks for printing it, Susan!) and GWTW souvenir-filled bag, and then drove to the airport.  I was sad to bid farewell to my dear cousin. 

It seemed that Dulles Airport was the size of Rhode Island.  Going through security took quite a while.  Then I had to make my way to the area where I took some sort of tram/shuttle/thing to get to the gate.  I wanted to stop at a book shop and get a book because I knew I’d run out of reading material about 20 minutes into the flight, but I didn’t have a lot of time.  I grabbed the first magazine (a recipe collection) I saw, bought it, and hurried to the gate.  The boarding process was well underway, so I immediately boarded, got settled in my seat and finished my book shortly after take-off.  That left the next five hours with little to do except read and reread and reread the magazine recipes.  I should have taken more time to browse the book shop.  I even watched Parental Guidance, the in-flight movie.  It was a good and funny one.

Of course, I landed safely and am alive to tell the tale of my wonderful, grand, glorious and perfect two-part adventure.  I can hardly wait for the next one.  Maybe my husband will accompany me.

Acknowledgements:

To Lance for his willingness to be Mr. Mom and indulge my fantasy and not complain.  To Sara and Mark for being without a mother for 10 days, and especially Sara for not fretting that I wasn’t around to help her celebrate her birthday and bake her a cake. 

To Susan, master road-trip planner, tour guide, amazing and perfect traveling companion.  I had so much fun with this lovely cousin of mine!  She had traveled many of those roads the previous week when she went with her family on spring break, and she did it again for me!  I’d accompany Susan on any trip!

To Joe and Daniel for sacrificing their time with Susan, their wife and mother, and for sacrificing a trip to the Final Four.

To cousins Mark and Cindy and family for opening their home to us, and entertaining and feeding us.  You're some of my favorite people, and so very talented and gracious!

To Uncle David for providing the courage and inspiration to do some of the zany things Susan and I did.

To Sonia, Glenys, and Sofia who made the second part of my journey so delightful and perfect, and for spoiling me rotten.  I felt like a queen, an honored guest.  They went out of their way and welcomed me with open arms.  They let me know by their words and actions that their home was my home.

To Ramy for the personalized taxi service to and from Penn Station, and to both Ramy and Amparo for taking us to dinner.  The evening with them was just great (and tasty)!

To Rachelle and Nelson for helping behind the scenes with my trip.

The Big Apple, Day 3

THE BIG APPLE, DAY 3

Sonia took Sofia to school so that Glenys could prepare to spend the day with me.  We knew it was raining, but had no idea how hard until Sonia phoned Glenys to say that she had to take shelter and wait for the rain to let up a bit before heading home.  She was quite wet when she finally arrived.

Armed with umbrellas and wearing the only “coat” (very light windbreaker) I packed, Glenys and I set out for the subway station.  It was rainy and windy, but that didn’t dampen our spirits nor deter us from our adventure.  Glenys was the perfect companion.  She was my personal tour guide, and I, once again, felt very spoiled. 

We made our way to the 9/11 Memorial (http://www.911memorial.org/).  We had to get tickets to enter the site and pass through a security screening process similar to the one the TSA conducts at airports.  A little video loop reminded us that “if you see something, say something.”  A small crowd accompanied us to the actual site where the World Trade Center twin towers used to stand.  The names of those who died in each building were engraved on the large granite square fountains that bordered each empty space.  (It’s hard to describe in writing.)  The experience was sobering, and the rainy, windy weather was befitting the occasion.  Tears from heaven for the many who lost their lives.

The wind gusts were so strong that it made taking photos very difficult.  I had to have two hands on my umbrella—one hand on the handle, and the other on the fabric top to prevent it from turning inside out.  Glenys held the umbrella while I snapped a couple of pictures.  It was even a struggle to walk into the wind, and the rain was still coming down hard.

The Tenement Museum (http://www.tenement.org/) on the Lower East Side was our next stop.  We browsed the museum and shop, watched a movie about immigration in the 1800s and took the Irish Outsiders Tour.  For the most part, the interior and exterior of the building at 97 Orchard (site of the tour) have remained unchanged from when it was condemned in the 1930s.  Lasting about an hour, the tour focused on the life on one Irish family and the challenges they faced as new immigrants. 

For lunch we stopped at a small, funky Mexican Café, Casa Mezcal, in Greenwich Village.  (http://www.casamezcalny.com/)   Many of the menu options were very appealing, and I wanted to try a cup of the soup-of-the-day.  The waitress said they didn’t have any, so we placed our entrée order.  A few minutes later, the waitress arrived with two steaming bowls of soup for us.  We were a bit confused, but Glenys thought that the soup came with our order.  I tasted mine, and it was delicious.  Just as Glenys was about to taste hers, the waitress appeared again and said she had delivered the soup to the wrong table.  As she tried to correct her mistake by picking up our bowls, I confessed that I had already eaten a spoonful but Glenys hadn’t.  She took Glenys’s bowl but left mine when I told her to add it to my tab.  We laughed about that for a long time.  The waitress got our entrée orders correct, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch.

After filling ourselves with delicious and warm Mexican food, we headed back outside.  We were happy to discover that the wind had abated and the rain had let up a little.  My tour guide discovered which train we needed to take to return to Harlem, so we found a station and descended the stairs to the subway.

The “underground” world is quite a place with all kinds of characters.  It was another rich cultural experience for me, and was similar to the Metro in Washington, DC and Paris.  Glenys chatted briefly with a police officer who used to frequent the check-cashing business where she worked.  When several officers worked overtime, they’d take their separate overtime checks to the business to get cash so that their wives wouldn’t know they had been paid extra money.  Hmmm . . .

We had to take 2 trains to get to our destination.  We walked a couple of blocks to the apartment and were glad to get in out of the weather.  I LOVED our excursion despite the foul weather, and would venture out every day in those conditions to have the same wonderful experience.

Waiting for us was Pauletta (?), a delightful 80-year-old lady from Sonia’s LDS Church branch, and her three adorable young grandchildren.  Pauletta had a gift for me and one to take to Rachelle.  I enjoyed meeting her and the cute kids.  Sofia enjoyed the kids as well, and the played together nicely during our visit.  After the visitors left, Sonia served us a delicious salmon dinner—one of the best I’ve ever had.  That lovely lady can cook!

 

We had a nice, relaxing evening, and I had a lot of attention and affection from Sofia.  She is such a cutie, and I loved spending time with her.  I felt a little sad knowing it would be my last night there.  The time passed all too quickly!