Amazing.

From NPR's site. Photo by Eric Vogel - AP

Around Provo

After an early long walk, we decided to take a photo trip around Provo before the sun rose over the mountains and the heat started cranking up.  Sunday morning means little or no traffic and even less as it was 6:30 am. Because of the early hour, the lighting is sometimes a bit strange.  You will also notice how bad the air looks.

We didn't have to go far to see a change that we watched happening one morning as we walked by.

We saw it being painted and love it!

Then we headed west and north to see and photograph the power station before it is gone.

West side, the front of the building

Looking northwest from the Rec Center

Straight west across Freedom Blvd.

Looking south

Still looking south and behind me is part of a neighborhood that was leveled for the hospital's latest expansion. That will take a post of its own sometime.

The Provo Power offices have moved into the old Sears building.

The view from The Smith's parking lot.

We went further south to check on the new building going up next to the the FrontRunner train station.  It is a fabulous "Jetson's" Retro looking building but I do worry about the miniscule amount of space left for landscaping.

Looking north from the FrontRunner parking lot

Outstanding balconies but a southwest corner...blisteringly hot!

The building on the west side has 3-4 feet of green space.  Not. Nearly. Enough.

Back to University Avenue and what was the KMart.  It sat empty for quite some time and gave an air of desolation to the whole strip mall which is less than 50% full.

Looking east.

These guys are coming into the space, whoever they are.

Heading north up University Ave. we can update the work on the LDS temple.  A lot of landscaping that is making it look so pretty even before the rest of the work is done.

The corner of University and Center St.

And then back to our neighborhood.

New parking lot for the LDS Chapel. A lot of asphalt. 

When the stone wall panels first went up they were not at all attractive, just grey and white.  They must just come that way and then they were washed and perhaps polished just this week.  Much better looking and I am sure there will be some lovely plantings to soften things up a bit as well.

So there you have it.  As unsettling as all this tearing down can be, as my sister said, the building and rebuilding that is going on is a sign of a strengthening economy and we can be happy about that instead of watching things falling into decay.

Bride and Groom Day Pictures

My day started out at about 12:20 and my assignment was to pick up the food for the luncheon.  The wedding was already over by that time and by then it was all about pictures at the temple on a meltingly hot day.

BYU Food-To-Go made all the food and is not too hard to find if you know to watch for the sign.  Things are always in flux up on campus.  The Element is ideal for this kind of assignment and there were two more ginormous handled bags behind the ones you see in the picture.

While, surprisingly, there were a few people already sitting in the cultural hall, it was a good time to take some pictures of the decorations.

 There was another tray of just chocolate frosted brownies in front of this pan that has a layer of mint frosting under the chocolate frosting.   A BYU classic.

After this table was all set up and Kevin was a big help with directing that, we went on separate errands.  Janie and I went up to Costco to pick up the sheet cakes, six of them, that were frosted white with alternating star-tip flowers in lavender and blue.  Then I went home for about an hour and a half before I returned to the reception.

Getting ready to head out.

A beautifully beaded dress with a perfect amount of sparkle.

The Maids

The Wedding Cake.

They cut this at the end of the evening and those of us who were still there got to share.  Delicious, moist carrot cake with fabulous cream cheese frosting!  I thought it was a charming and quite perfect cake topper too.

MOTB

The tables were lovely and this vase was decorated just by using spray adhesive to stick the doilies to the sides.  We also had small packets of lavender for tossing at the happy couple.  Some of course enjoyed not removing the lavender to toss but throwing the packets in tact.  There were also small organza bags of lavender for each of us to take home as a remembrance.  I really liked that.

The Picnic Quilt

My long time and dear friend Wendy is getting married today.  She wanted a picnic quilt to be tied at her shower and she and her sister Janie went and purchased this quilt and then asked me to piece it.  Gladly!

It's a very simple pattern but the part that drove me crazy is that almost every piece of fabric had a direction and getting that straight is something I must do.  So it took me longer because I was having to pull each piece of fabric to get it back on grain.  The original border was to be the black diagonal print but it had to be substituted as the kits were very popular.  Still it turned out well and since she and her almost husband  (in about an hour from this post) are both Coke Cola fans, it will be one they look at fondly every time they use it.

Can't ask for more than that.

Summer Reading

Reminds me of last year when we sat knitting in the shady afternoons

A couple of weeks ago our NPR program, RadioWest had a program on Summer Reading.  Doug Fabrizio invited three book store owners to give their suggestions.  It's a great opportunity to find a new author, a new topic, a new genre.

So far, I've been disappointed.  Lucky for us, one did not need a pencil and paper to quickly scribe down any titles as they were mentioned as they are published in a day or two on RadioWest's website.  These are the titles from my list that I was able to find at our library:

Between  You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen - Mary Norris*
Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - Erik Larson
Seveneves - Neal Stephenson*
Sunken Cathedral - Kate Walbert**
The Book of Aron - Jim Shepard
Dear Committee Members - Julie Schumacher

* = on hold
** = on hold then I removed it from hold when I read part of one of her other books and was so confused as to time and who was speaking because it changed so often, that I wanted to open a vein.

I got a notice today that I can pick up Dead Wake.  The other thing I did not care for in the Kate Walbert book was that it was a narrative with miniscule dialogue. I started The Book of Aron and it too was a narrative so that one went back without even getting to page 50.  Dear Committee Members was enjoyable!  I'm not sure there is any dialogue in Dead Wake but msCarol said it was riveting and she could barely put it down.  I also heard an interview with Erik Larson earlier this year and he was enthusiastic about the story and his research.

Canada by Richard Ford is another interview I heard on NPR and another book I checked out recently.  Same genre, narrative with little dialogue. Did not get into it at all.

Still, a most enjoyable book I read this summer is, In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, narrative, not much dialogue, but non-fiction. I believe everyone should have this on their shelf for the blue days of winter.  Very funny. His Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is great and especially fun to listen to him reading it.

It's a big library, though.

A cool drink, small bag of snacks, knitting, nook, iPad,
and perhaps a towel to mop my brow?

Up at University Mall

This is Orem and I am standing on the south side of University Pkwy. (1300 South) looking north. There is massive development being done at what is now being called University Place. This is will be an office building and the white building you can see behind it is Macy's department store. It's going to be a very large building.

On the north side of the mall they are tearing off the Mervin's Department Store.

It's interesting to see it up close because it is almost as if they are just separating it at a joint like a chicken leg from a thigh.

If you turn and look north from this fence, you will see many apartments being built on the southeast edge of Costco's parking lot.

 There is a similarly sized complex being built pretty much diagonally from University Place on the south west side.

The streets are congested here already and I always avoid the main intersection.  It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.

Popsicles!

A classic recipe that goes back a long time, at least forty years ago that I can remember.

8 oz. of applesauce, mine was unsweetened chunky that I made last October
8 oz. of plain yogurt, any fat content you prefer
1 teaspoon honey, optional
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, also optional

The popsicle forms I have are about 3/4-inch wide at the top.  I mixed everything in a bowl and then realized what a mess it was going to be to try to fill them.  Stood a quart sized Ziploc bag in a saucepan and scraped the mixture into it.  Squeezed out the air, sealed the bag and cut a tip off the corner.  Filled the forms in a nice tidy fasion.

Of course I had dripped in the saucepan and there was a bowl, spoon, and scraper also to wash.  Next time I will put everything directly into the Xiploc bag!

(Sadly, the tip from the bag is not to be found on the counter or in the sink.  Might be a surprise for someone.)

Change

I'm a little disappointed.  I could barely even drag this jar out of the kitchen into the living room so I could get a picture.  The empty jar weighs almost six pounds.  I made two trips to the bank, each time with 4 Ziploc quart bags, each filled with approximately five pounds of change. No wonder I could hardly drag it!

A little more than 5 years of saving coins in this jar came to five hundred, forty three dollars and ninety four cents. I really thought it would be closer to seven hundred so there's the disappointment.  Nonetheless, it is a nice total and we are getting closer to a new computer.

I thought I could put the jar in the DI box but I have become very fond of it.  It does have a nice cork topper so the change was all as clean as money ever is and there was only one button and one round flat battery that fell in on accident. With twenty pounds of change in it the only place it could be was on the floor and I am trying not to keep miscellaneous things on the floor, just furniture and feet.  I think I will move it to the storeroom temporarily.

QOTD

“You are the average of the five people 

you spend the most time with.”

 - Jim Rohn

("business philosopher and recognized legend in the

 fields of motivation and personal achievement". )

Check

Not the best picture of this baby quilt but the sun was too high for pictures in the usual spots in the backyard.  Besides, it's nice to get a snap of the color of the Tri-Color Beeches while they still are so stunning.

This quilt is the first project to check off my June Goals list.  Yes, I know that we are just a step away from the middle of the month.  I am pretty sure I have over expected myself for the month!

There is a small group of us that are setting and hopefully completing sewing goals each month.  We each post a list just before the first of the month and our moderator posts them for all of us to see.  This is mine:

JUNE 2015
One finished baby quilt
Quilt and bind Riley Bake Christmas Quilt
Finish piecing the Lori Holt Baby Chicks top
Piece a 6 1/2" Farm Girl Vintage block each week
New kitchen curtains
Jump into the My Small World QAL
Six drawstring gift bags
At least one zip pouch
Maintain Negative stash (more fabric out than in)

The fabric in the quilt is from the stash and measures approximately 45"x45".  I used a bamboo batting and I did the quilting with loops and stars.  Also, the pattern for the quilt is from the book called Fat Quarter Style by It's Sew Emma.  Great patterns in that book!