Catch-Up Blogging #1 - Trip to Utah

Since June it seems one trip has melted into another and then into another, until it’s almost one continuous blur.  This is an attempt to get caught up on some of my life happenings in 2012. 

July 5 – July 15, 2012 (Utah)

At the beginning of July I took a wonderful, but brief visit to Utah.  Whenever I return to the West I feel a deep sense of peace, almost like a deep spiritual sigh, a relaxing of my inner self.   The day I arrived it was raining, a welcomed relief from the smoky haze of nearby fires and the shimmering heat of a Utah summer.  When I stepped out of the airport I breathed in the fresh, sweet, aromatic scent of wild sage and wet soil that at first I mistook as cinnamon and cloves, which in turn evoked a strong, impulsive desire to bake cookies.  As the Bohn women can attest we all have this same, deeply engrained impulse, caused by an upbringing of baking whenever it rained. I always associate rain with spices, homemade baked goods and a cozy kitchen. I had forgotten how fragrant and delicious the Utah desert smells in the rain and how bright the mountains glisten and grow green before one’s eyes.

I was only there a week, so we took it easy.  I went hiking with mom and Cindy nearly every morning.  Their dogged discipline sometimes out did me, but I hiked each of their favorite trails at least once.  One morning Cindy indulged me by allowing us to go all the way to Elephant Rock up Mueller Park.  It was a lush, green hike through pine trees and flourishing scrub oak.  Despite the rain a few days earlier the valley was again filling up with smoke from many nearby fires, even more than before. We could smell and taste the smoke in the air we breathed. One side note, mom and Cindy look amazing!!  Both of them have become svelte, sexy mamas.  They both have made amazing and inspiring strides.

One of the reasons I planned my trip to Utah in July was so I could attend my 20^th (gulp!) high school reunion held at a lodge in Deer Valley.  Cindy sweetly came with me as my moral support.  The day of the reunion we left Bountiful early to have time to meander through the Park City shops and settle into our room.  We also wanted to explore the old, historic grave yard we used to visit long ago, when it was over grown and mysteriously hidden in the hills.  Since then the community has painstakingly groomed and restored the cemetery, but we sadly couldn’t go in to see it.  Oddly, a child had died there the week before, crushed by a falling tomb stone, so the cemetery was closed for further investigation. 

The reunion was fine, nothing to write home about (ha ha, even though I am).  I saw a few people I was interested to see and had superficial and semi-satisfying conversations.  I had hoped to talk with Cheyenne, but after her initial warmth and happiness to see me, she kept a wide berth.  No longer being in high school myself, I wasn’t interested in the hide and seek game so didn’t pursue any further conversations or catch up time.  People were mostly nice.  We were all in the same situation; none of us quite remembered the details of each other.  We could recall faces, but not always the memories of how we knew them and what we thought of them when in high school.  We all tentatively asked names and caught up briefly.  I didn't have a massive amount of friends in high school, mostly superficial acquaintances so conversations weren't exactly deeply heart felt, which was to be expected.

After a few hours I noticed those clicks that had been together in high school sought out, found, and clustered together, catching up no doubt, but it struck me as funny.  The majority of people had stayed in Utah and a large number of them had stayed friends and knew each other well.  A few people I spoke to were the same squirrely, nervous and awkward people they’d been 20 years ago, others were outgoing, confident and self possessed, but as they were as children and teens they still were in adulthood.  Then of course there were the aloof, indifferent and seemingly self inflated (which I interpreted as severely insecure) people.  I felt myself reflect some of my high school persona.  I was friendly, observant, a little withholding, un-invested, indifferent and content to leave once it was done.  It was an interesting study in human development and introspection. I did see one really good guy friend who always was such a sweet guy to me.  He and I had a great time catching up and hearing about where life took each of us.  It was also fabulous having Cindy there. She looked amazing to boot!

Overall it was fun, but something I’ll never need to repeat. 

The next day Cindy and I stumbled upon a small farmers market on the backside on Park City Main Street.  

I had fun trying the cherries and different jams and other samples.  The woman selling the jams had a Master’s Degree in Folk Lore, along with her husband, but they started a business of making jams and cheeses.  It was really fun talking with her.  You don’t encounter many creative, vagabond types along the East Coast.  We also quickly stopped into the “Park Silly” market on the lower half of Main Street before we met up with mom.  

Cindy and mom had wanted me to experience the 5 course brunch at the “Blue Boar” in Heber, which is where we headed next.  It was so delicious and wonderful!  We had a blast!  The whole visit was wonderful.  It felt very cathartic and relaxing.  It was a beautiful overcast day.  We had a ball!

Food Porn

Michael says I have a "thing" for food porn, which I think is pretty funny.  I like to photograph my food, that's true.  I think it's important to pause and appreciate the loveliness the chef created before devouring it, especially if there is good light.

Here is a sampling of my food porn.  I dare you to tell me these photos don't make you hungry.

These photos are from brunch at "Sun in My Belly".  Apparently, this comes from a Picasso quote.  When asked why he creates his art he said because of the "sun in my belly".  Sweet!

Michael's sweet tooth order. 

My Savory tooth order

The weekend before last Michael and I went on a culinary tour of Virginia Highland neighborhood. Our first stop was Bella Cucina where we had scrumptious artichoke pesto dip with crackers and a decadent chocolate brownie with walnuts.  

I don't have photos of the other three spots, but the second was George's.  It's a pub with delicious hamburgers.  Then we had two desserts.  At Paolo's we had Italian Gelato.  Delicious!  Then we went to Cocao Atlanta and had a four dollar chocolate truffle.

What a yummy weekend!

Count Your Many Blessings

See what God hath done:

• My family.  The older I get the more I realize how fabulous they are.
• My well paying, steady job.  Even though I'm not saving the world.
• My 2.5 bedroom apartment.  I still celebrate that it's all mine. 
• My good health.  I must have my mom's gene's.  Thanks Mom!
• My new boyfriend.  Even though the jury is still out on what the future holds, it's wonderful having someone to care about, someone to share time with, someone who makes me look at the world a little differently.
• The opportunities I've had to travel to parts of the world I would never normally get to see outside of my profession:
• South Africa - Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope
• Kenya - orphaned elephants, Karen Von Blixen's house, game reserve
• Rwanda - wild gorillas (Sousa Family with two sets of twin babies)
• Zambia - Victoria Falls (swimming along the edge of the falls)
• My Brain.  I am grateful I can analyze, articulate and make conscious decisions.
• My childhood.  I'm grateful for it's wholesomeness, my long-held innocence, the majesty I was enveloped by growing up in the West.
• People in my life who inspire, touch or move me through their grace, simplicity and acts of beauty.
• Heart-break.  It taught me what it feels like to love, be loved, dream and loose dreams.  Heartbreak enables me to connect and understand heart break felt by others.  I am more three-dimensional because of it.
• Trees.  Trees are next to godliness.  They are a grounding power, a solace, healers and companions.  They protect, nurture and imbue peace. 
• Activists.  I am deeply grateful for people  brave enough to be outspoken on the ethical treatment of animals, respecting our planet and leaving women off the legislative chopping block.

Georgia Storm

I laid wide awake after an exhausting day and quickly realized the bedtime tea I drank wasn't herbal.  Feeling perky I called an old friend for a chat, only peripherally aware of the storm flailing wildly outside my cozy apartment.  There was lightening, thunder, gusts of wind billowing out my curtains.  I was describing the thrill of the lightening to my friend when the lights flickered.  "Ooohhh!"  I nearly shouted at her, "the lights almost went out!" my eyes were wide, I was smiling.  Then, as if it had heard me, there was more lightening, the lights flickered again, then darkness.  "Oohhhhh" I squealed and began scrounging for candles.  If my hands had been free I'm sure I would have clapped.  Soft light flickered behind curtains of nearby apartments.  I saw the shoosh of a flashlight sweep back and forth across windows.  My neighbors were awake too!  I felt a comforting sense of community, sitting in the dark listening to the storm, seeing those soft lights barely discernible in the night. 

After hanging up the phone I sat in my screened in porch and watched the lightening light up the white petals on the dogwood trees, bleaching out the pale green buds.  The rain poured hard and the wind splashed droplets across my arms and legs.  We were completely submerged in darkness, no street lamps, no ambient light from other homes or apartments.  Nothing but the occasional lightening.   I always feel a reverence in that kind of darkness, a deep calm, something that makes me more alert, aware, grateful.  Around 2am the tea was still going strong.  I realized I needed to take things into my own hands.  Tearing myself away from the lightening show, I crawled into bed, popped half a melatonin and eventually fell asleep.

I felt surprised when the electricity was still out in the morning.  Life outside my building was eerily quiet.  Now that spring has arrived a chorus of birds sing unabashedly each morning, but not that morning.  I could hear muted distant traffic.  The reality of the electricity truly being out struck me when I tried to take a hot shower.  No power = no water heater = no hot water.  That was one of the quickest showers I've ever taken.  

The true nature of the storm didn't hit me until I drove out of my apartment and arrived at  the light in front of my apartment.  Briarcliff Road is a main two lane thoroughfare.  It was blocked off by barricades and plastic police tape to the south, luckily I was going north.  I was confused though and still waking up from the long night and the double dose of caffeine and sedative.  I noticed through my light haze there was a massive tree laying across the road not far from the front of my building.  Then I took notice, there was almost no traffic and the traffic light was not working.  From that point on all the remaining lights were out, each one treated as a stop sign, nearly five lights in all.  The ghost town became a snake of humanity once I passed Clifton Rd.  Traffic was backed up for miles, all of us slithering along slowly, with each light being treated as a stop sign in the middle of a rush hour.

In the end I was without power for three days.  The storm snapped five power lines in front of my house alone.  I saw a tree knocked over into a house, completely destroying the side of the home.  Main roads, side roads, small neighborhood roads were all blocked with fallen trees.  Yet it was exciting.  On the second night without electricity I felt nostalgic for my Peace Corps days.  I heated my dinner on my gas stove and afterward read by candle light in my small office.  On the third day I was ready for the power to be back.  I was ready to celebrate modern technology.

This tree fell through the living room, snapped and fell across the length of the back part of the roof.  The photo I took showing the damage to the house didn't show up, sadly.  It was shocking.

This was in front of my apartment and the reason we didn't have power.  They had finished cutting and clearning the tree from the road, but the power company needed to come to get the lines back up.  See the dark piece of wood suspended in air (on the left) attached to the wires?  That is the remnants of the power line pole (what is that called?).

Another view of the lines down in front of my building.  That red brick building is my home.

Half of the Whole

I love - LOVE having my own place.  It's fabulous!  For the last three weeks I've been shopping and unpacking, trying to get my house in a livable condition.  Today I finally arranged my furniture a little better, cleaned off my tables and put out my magazines!  It looks great!  I tackled three rooms today, tomorrow I'll do the last two.  Whew!  It'll be nice to have it all done.  Here is a sneak peak of what the place looks like. My couch looks filthy, but it isn't it's just old.  It's very comfortable though. My kitchen is tiny - but it's mine!  My bedroom is sparse, but I'm in no hurry to crowd it up.  This is only half of the apartment.  I'll post other photos once I've cleaned them up and finished unpacking them.

Peach Post #1

Hi Family - Friends,

Debbie gave me the idea of creating a new fresh blog to go along with my new fresh life, so here it is.  I chose "Transcending Peaches" as the blog URL because frankly with 71 Atlanta streets named after peaches I decided transcendence needed to occur. Fitting isn't it that the background has lemons?  See the transcendence is already beginning.

Today is the birth of my blog.  Happy b-day Blog!  I don't have any photos at the moment, but I will work on that this weekend.  I will surprise you with the photos I post. . . make you revisit with anticipation. 

That is all for now.  I just wanted y'all to know I created this blog (I'm working on my southern accent).  Hopefully I will be better at keeping it updated than I was about my last one.  :)

Jewels