Halloween Thoughts

I have an aversion to embalming, I don't believe in it and I do not want to be embalmed. I don't even want to have an autopsy if it can be helped. I recently read a short story by David Sedaris for Halloween about him visiting an undertaker and it reminded me of this feeling of mine. It's not just the embalming either, I don't want to be cremated. I don't want a fancy casket or an urn. I don't like the idea of an open casket or anything that makes it look like I'm alive when I'm not. People don't need to look at my dead body and be comforted by the appearance of me being still alive. The idea of it is ridiculous if you ask me. I used to be afraid of the idea of burial and wanted to be put in one of those above ground crypt things you see in places like New Orleans and old European cemeteries, but even that idea I don't like anymore. Why try and prolong or isolate a process that is inevitable and unavoidable, why not make the best of it? I just want to be buried. Maybe wrapped in a sheet or an old blanket, maybe a sleeping bag like Edward Abbey was. Just put me in the ground to return my nutrients to the earth, death as nature intended. Just like autumn leaves composting over the winter to feed the spring flowers. This poem by Thomas Hardy makes is sound better than my ramblings do. Other things I don't believe in: Mayonnaise, Flu Shots, body cleanses, morning people, and expiration dates
For things I do believe in see this older post.

Transformations by Thomas Hardy

Portion of this yew
Is a man my grandsire knew,
Bosomed here at its foot
This branch may be his wife,
A ruddy human life
Now turned to a green shoot.

These grasses must be made
Of her who often prayed,
Last century, for repose;
And the fair girl long ago
Whom I often tried to know
May be entering this rose.

So, they are not underground,
But as nerves and veins abound
In the growths of upper air,
And they feel the sun and rain,
And the energy again
That made them what they were!

English Muffins

I cook and bake a lot but for some reason I don't really like making things that have to rise, so basically anything with yeast in it. With my resolution to make one recipe from all my cookbooks I knew I'd have to make some bread eventually, unless I totally chickened out and just made the banana bread recipe in the back of all my bread baking books. I've been doing great making white bread, yam bread, and cinnamon rolls, and even sourdough bread. Out of everything though, I think making these sourdough english muffins was the most fun. They didn't have the best nooks and crannies like real english muffins do, but I was surprised by how much they looked like the real thing.

Farewell and Fun in Idaho

The whole family headed up to Idaho for a nice farewell weekend for Kris. (we were only missing 3 people) We picked apples, gleaned potatoes, collected eggs, found a few geocaches, played with all the animals, helped cook a big meal, ate at Big Jud's, I got to spend the day with all my siblings, went swimming, saw waterfalls, and listened to Kris's farewell talk.

There were a few family pictures we took and a rare one all my siblings together. (Bryce is missing so often) but I didn't have my camera with me then and those that did are pretty unreliable as far as sharing pictures go so I'm sure I'll never see it. Here's the stuff I got pictures of. (mostly animals and random stuff we did)

The 3 year olds in the playhouse. They were really into it. They were cooking and setting the table, vacuuming, taking naps, and Kris even knocked on the door and they let him in for some pie and ice cream.

Kris and Sugar

One of my favorite cats

An ultra creepy blue eyed horse that I'm sure will eventually show up in some nightmare of mine speaking Russian and walking backwards or something

Geocaching, Dad with one at an old abandoned ski lift

On the way there through a tunnel

A geocache that had a bunch of sunglasses inside to take your picture with

Shrunken Apple Heads

Gleaning Potatoes: After rejecting all the frozen ones and the green ones all you can really find are small ones or something you'd have to classify simply as D) other. Maybe it had something to do with the power station being so close by.

Mesa Falls (I wish I had pictures of the guys seeing who could jump up the most steps)

Big Jud's (Bryce ate a whole one, Kjirsten and I each ate half of one) As a family we polished off 8 but didn't finish the sodas or fries

We took most the fries home which led to a classic dad misunderstanding

Katie: The car stinks
Jerry: Because there's 5 boxes of fries in the back.
Katie: Not just fries though, like fries and B.O.
Dad: French Fries To Go!?!

We reconvened a couple days later at my house for Kris's last family dinner and sent him on his way to the MTC and eventually Louisiana.

Samantha - another future climber

After the post I wrote about Quinn being a future climber, I figured he might need a climbing partner eventually. So here we have my niece Samantha, another future climber. We were actually going geocaching but the cache was behind this big rock so I had her practice climbing it.Impressive huh? (just ignore the angle of the trees in the background and she's a prodigy)

Ok, for real now, but still pretty good for only 3 years old.

And here's a couple of rare Samantha smiles, she must like climbing! (...and a random Christmas Tree in the middle of the woods.) That hard work deserves a ride on my shoulders back to the car.

Autumn Leaves Up Close

It wasn't the most fantastic fall season up in the canyon, but even if the landscape as a whole doesn't put on a show, the leaves themselves still do a nice job up close. These are just a few leaves I found on the cabin deck. I think I might have even been wearing my slippers when I took these, which means I didn't have to go very far.

Except they weren't plums, they were peaches

The me from 11pm last night would like to dedicate this poem to the me at 8am this morning. The idea of them with cream was just too much for me and I couldn't resist. I hope the me of Saturday morning can find peaches at the farmers market enough for us all. Again, I'm sorry.
Love,
Me

This is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

And which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Some of the peaches at the farmers market are considerably larger than others, but all of them are so delicious. I don't want peach season to ever end.