The Bird

Our condo week at Snowbird eases us into fall.  We rented a room at the Iron Blosam Lodge for an extra night, Friday, September 12, 2014, so we'd have one entire weekend, as well as five weekdays.  The flowers were still out on the patio at the Steak Pit, but the leaves on the mountains were turning red and yellow and the nights were chilly.

 Dave wore his cute bowler hat as we took the tram and checked out the shops.

Snowbird is both gorgeous and comfortingly familiar.  We love the walk from the lodge to our condo, past a tiny reflecting lake.

 Camille and her children joined us one evening to swim.

 They came back again to eat brats, sauerkraut, pretzels, and Bavarian cherry cake at Oktoberfest.

 We all love Bavarian polka music.

 One favorite sight is elderly Swiss and Germans in their dirdnls and lederhosen.

 Mia and Gretta danced.

Dave chose this masterpiece (?) from the Marco Polo shop at the Cliff Lodge.  It is a hand-carved water buffalo head from Indonesia!

Hanging Out with the Guys

On September 11, 2014, Dave celebrated the redecorating of our sitting room/bedroom by inviting Mike and the Ebert men over to watch a game.  Oriental rugs, velvet couches, chartreuse sofa pillows--it was still a manly, comfortable space and they made themselves at home.

Back from Madagascar

 Dave and I picked Mike up at the airport on Sunday, September 7, 2014.  He was back from 10 days in Madagascar.  He saw 8 to 10 varieties of lemurs, as well a baobab trees and other African wonders.  I am always relieved to have this adventurer home.

An Endangered Species--the Utah State Fair

The papers have been full of plans to sell the Fairpark, the valuable piece of North Temple land where the Utah Fair is held each year.  Dave and I grieved at the thought--visiting the fair is a beloved fall tradition.  We (and 300,000 others) made a pilgrimage to the fair this year--a large enough following for the fair to break a rare profit. 

 We wandered the midway on Friday, September 5, 2014, and also stopped at a tent operated by Al Rounds, a well-known Utah artist.  We bought a print of a young woman, all alone in a snowy vastness, pulling a handcart.  Al Rounds told us his prototype was an ancestor of President Hinckley, but I thought of my great-grandmother, Mary Bomelli, who also crossed the plains by handcart.

 Dave and I wandered through the craft exhibits, appreciating the stained glass and fine needlework, but looking askance at some strange sculptures!

 Our favorite exhibits were, of course, the animals--cows, goats, and lusciously obese pigs.

Dinner by Any Name

Dave, Camille, and I have all fallen in love with "The Red Barn," the ice cream, fresh produce, and food storage store in Payson, just off the freeway to St. George.  Camille asked if we could stop at The Red Barn on the way home from St. George on September 1 and buy her "apples and anything else that looks good."  A mini-tractor drove right into the cold storage room of The Red Barn, while I was there, and dropped off a load of just-picked apples.  I brought a bag of those to Camille, as well as The Red Barn's fresh-squeezed cider.  The Red Barn's fresh produce is one answer to "What's for dinner?"

 

On Monday, September 1, Dave and I dined on Hawaiian food at the Thanksgiving Point luau.  It was not Kauai-quality roast pig and chicken long rice, but I will eat fresh pineapple, chicken with teriyaki sauce, and coconut cupcakes with anyone, anywhere.  Members of the cast wandered among the guests, graciously posing for photos.

The next Saturday, September 6, Dave and I ate at the Greek Festival.  Attending that annual event is a hard-wired family tradition.  I would waste away without a yearly infusion of calamari, dolmathes, moussaka, and lemony Greek rice, brightened by Greek music and dancing.

Southern Specialties

Hikes among red rocks, viewing desert wildlife, savoring the art of Western landscape painters, and squeezing in Shakespeare plays, as well.  That is Southern Utah at its finest.  On Labor Day weekend 2014, we returned to St. George for three Shakespeare plays, some great hikes, and a visit to the home of Maynard Dixon, on of the great painters of Western scenes.

On Friday, August 28, we wandered through Springdale, checking out the rock shops and listening to a Zions Park ranger explain the geological history of the park.

We stopped in Hurricane at an antique shop and bought a saddle for our downstairs family room.  The décor will be Western in the basement.  Dave bought a bowler hat which he wore all weekend, on hikes and to the theater.  He received a multitude of compliments!

We spent Friday night and Saturday attending Shakespeare plays--Henry IV Part One, Measure for Measure, and Comedy of Errors.  I'm not sure which was my favorite--Henry IV or Measure for Measure.

 

 

On Sunday, we drove through Zions Park to Mt. Carmel, where we toured the summer home of Maynard Dixon, one of the greatest Western painters.  BYU bought sixty of his paintings in the early 1930s, when he was poor and just beginning his career.  That is now the largest collection anywhere of Maynard Dixon paintings. 

We loved the Art Deco touches in the home.  We could tell it was designed in the 1930s, with not much renovation since.

On our drive back through Zions Park, we spotted a band of mountain goats resting under a tree by the road.

We hiked to a stream and waterfall just below the tunnel through the park.  Camille recommended that hike to us.