Our Bowlby Family Christmas Card. Christmas 2019. A Season Of Joy and Sorrow.

Merry Christmas Friends,
 
       Today as I was listening to Christmas music at work and helping mail Christmas cards and packages out for people at my store ( Yes people do send out tons of cards at Christmas!  I feel a bit like Charlie Brown at my mail box this years "Hello in there....where are my Christmas cards?)  I thought "how can it be December already?"  It seems the years zip by so fast.  Our year was filled with great sadness and great joy.

We lost our beloved cat of 12 years to breast cancer this past January.   As I have been preparing for Christmas this year I have realized that last year while we did enjoy Christmas I spent a lot of my time caring for my sweet sick cat.  There are still moments where I miss her.   We also lost two very special friends to cancer as well.   These losses still weigh heavy in our hearts and so while this is a time of joy, I understand also how this is a time where you can feel great sadness too.  I feel sadness for the families of my friends who do not have them to celebrate with.  There are no words that can heal that hole in a persons heart.  I have learned a great lesson in loss this year.  Time is precious.  Spend time with those you love as often as possible because there is always that chance that your time or someone you loves time is almost done in this world.  So I make it a point to spend time as often as possible with my little family.

We also had great joy this year as our son came home in April from his two year mission.  Having him home has brought us much laughter and joy.  We have had a wonderful time learning about his mission, reconnecting and just being the little family that we have always been.  Our summer was filled with stories about Mexico, and taking adventures together in Utah.   Our son and my husband even took a trip back to New Jersey to visit with family.   
Here is a little of what everyone did this year.

Our daughter is just finishing up her first semester of her second year of college.  She had an amazing first year in college.  She is in a business scholars program at her school, her focus is math as she wants to get into the quantitative analysis side of business.  She is hoping to have a double major and also study Japanese.   She hopes to study abroad in the summer.  She will be getting her black belt in karate soon.  This is a big achievement for her and I can't wait to go see her achieve this goal that she has worked towards for 8 years. 

Our son is finishing his first semester of college.  He is the Artist of the family.  He is hoping to get into the industrial design program at the school he attends.  He has had some really interesting assignments such as making a purse out of items from home depot.  He also does a lot of drawing which he loves.  He has set up a new YouTube account for his animations.  He came home from Mexico very fluent in Spanish and he is also continuing to study Spanish in college.  He learns languages pretty easily I keep telling him to go into language studies, but what do I know, right?

My Husband continues to work as a machine mechanic for a large company.  I think he enjoys fixing machines.  On his days off he helps friends fix their old cars. He has had success finally getting his old car running at the speed that he wants it to run.  For him speed is what makes a car.  It's the engine performance that he loves.  Many of his friends who have seen the movie Ford vs. Ferrari say that he reminds them of  the man named Ken in the movie.  I guess I will have to go and see the movie. 

I still work as an account/banker for a lovely grocery store.  I really love the store I work in, its so beautiful.  Right now the Christmas decorations around the store are so beautiful to look at, I walk into work and feel like I am in a winter wonderland.  ( I have shared a few of my favorite photographs with you.)  I am lucky to have a boss that allows me to set my schedule to my husbands schedule so that we have our days off together.  I plan weekly adventures for us to take so that we can learn more about Utah.  ( I have been trying to share them on this blog site.)  This year I walked the gardens by our house every week.  (also something I blog about if you like to see flower photos)  I love to play photographer and while I am not ready to open up a shop and sell my photography for thousands of dollars, I do think I have a pretty good eye and get some amazing photos.  I love to make cards with my photos and if anyone would like a photo card from me leave me a message with your address and I will send you a card.  I have a lot of them.   Now that it is winter I am planning to embrace being cozy and enjoy the winter as much as I possibly can.  I also have a list of indoor places that I want to visit with my husband as our day date adventures continue.   I'm a bit behind on blogging, but the rush of the holidays has kept me from my computer.   I am trying right now to get myself organized so that 2020 will be a focused and productive year.  Trying to think of a "Word" for my year.  I have the goal of de-cluttering my world. 

Last but not least we adopted a teen cat.  She is probably 3 in cat years which I think makes her a teenager in human years.  If you read this blog or follow me on facebook or instagram you already know about Miss Dynamite.  She is another source of joy for our family.  She is my furry alarm clock at 5 Am.  She is my happy welcome committee when I arrive home from work.  She is what causes things to not get finished as I need to play with her, and snuggle with her.  For quiet awhile I didn't know if I would keep her name as Dynamite, I know it's not her original name, it's her shelter name.  But then recently I realized it is purrfect for our family. (which everyone else is glad about because they all liked her name, it was just me having issues with it.)  My husband in his young wild years liked dynamite, quarter sticks of dynamite, he liked to blow things up.  So it's fitting to have a cat named Dynamite.  He loves her and she loves him.   I hope to continue to blog about her adventures with us.  I think it so important that we adopt cats and give them homes.  There are so many animals in need out there.  So if you have room please adopt. 

Well friends of Facebook I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, that you are surrounded by those you love.  I hope you have a wonderful new year filled with adventures.  I am looking forward to seeing more of Utah.  I hope that I will be able to share some of it with you as the new year progresses.

G.G.

Dynamite The Rescuded Cat. Happy Six Months in Your Forever Home.

Dynamite has been with us for six months now.  

She is really becoming the center of attention in our home. 

When we adopted her, her coat was dull and greasy.

She also would pull her hair out as she groomed herself.

Part of her problem was that she had some bad teeth.  

Now that her teeth have been fixed she is much happier.

Many people don't want to adopt an older cat because they

are afraid that they won't bond with the new family.

Both cats that we have adopted have bonded with all of our family.

Maybe they have realized that we saved their lives.  Dyna has to spend time

with everyone.  When my son comes home at night she has to get her shoulder ride from him.

She loves to play and bounce around on the couch. 

She is often caught hiding under the blankets waiting to attack the string.

When she cuddles with someone she likes to be right up next to their face. 

I have been listening to many podcasts about cat care.  I'm

trying to be an even better cat mom.  I think it is a way to honor our

previous cat that we loved so much.  So hopefully in the new year I 

will share what I learn about cat care with you.

I got a new phone and it has a great camera.  So I will share

my favorite photos of Dyna too. 

I'm so glad my daughter kept dragging me to the shelters to get a new cat. 

I so enjoy my new little companion.

G.G.

Exploring Utah : A trip to Park City.

Whenever I say to people that I have never been to Park City,

they can't believe that I have lived in Utah for eight year and have not been

to Park City.  So Park City got put on the day date bucket list. 

Park City is an interesting place.  You are either walking up hill, or 

down hill.  There are lots of statues all over.  I like this bear on the bench.

I tried to get my husband to sit by it but he wouldn't. 

There are lots of little art galleries.  I'm not sure if you are 

supposed to take photos in them, but I did.   

I love going out and playing photographer.  

I'm not to the point yet that I feel the need to have an 

art gallery with the idea of selling my photography for $3000.00.

I am also not ready to pay lots of money to put someone else 

photography in my house.  I am starting to go through my own photos

to pick out favorites to have framed for my house.  It won't be amazing photography

but it will be mine and have a great memory attached to it.  Perhaps that's what

will make it seem priceless.

I loved all the different statues and the history that

was told about the city along the main street.

Another art gallery.  I liked taking this photo, kind of 

looking in at the art work.

There are lots of stairways leading up to different streets.  I don't think

I would want to have to climb these steps everyday. 

An interesting theater.  My husband went to a show here a few years ago.

I think this was another art gallery.

I loved the glass flowers in the window.

I believe that the town at first was a mining town.

This is a statue of one of the miners.

What a hard job mining is.  My great grandfather was 

a coal miner.  

I want to go back sometime and walk through this museum.

I liked this little pathway to a stone fireplace.

This is a cool sculpture of a horse.

My husband liked seeing this car driving around. 

He loves old cars.

Here is a cool bird sculpture in another art gallery.

This is definitely a place to go if you like to look at art.

I said to my husband I think this place is art galleries, expensive restaurants,

and clothing stores. 

We had a fun day exploring a different place in Utah.

I even sat with Mr. Bear.  Could this be a bear from Narnia?

Have you been to Park City?  If so what do you like to do when you go?

G.G.

P.S.  Make sure you are in good shape if you are going to walk the whole city from top to bottom and back again.  My legs hurt for days after this adventure.  I hear my treadmill calling to me.

Exploring Utah. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.... Was hoping to see thousands of Swans...

We travelled to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge,

I wanted to see the thousands of Tundra Swans.  

I should have known when the lady at the visitor center said to 

"look for ribbons of white", that I was not going to see them up close.

I got to see my favorite bird the Grebe.

When you are at the bird refuge there is a visitor center which has

a lot of interesting bird facts, and then 12 miles away is a 12 mile drive by the water where

you hope to see birds.

I have been told spring is a better time to visit.

So we will check back this spring.  We saw some birds

but not as many as I had hoped to see.

I'm not sure what kind of duck this is but it is beautiful.

It is nice to get out and be far away from the busy world and

just look at nature.

This is a Great Blue Heron.

I wanted to see the Tundra swans that were stopping

during their migration. 

They were too far way to see without binoculars.

Even with my zoom lens I can't get a good photo.

Maybe when spring comes I will finally get a good birdwatching/ Photography day.

At least now I know where to go.

Do you have a favorite place to visit and see wild life?

G.G.

I'm Addicted to Words With Strangers....AKA Words With Friends 2 the app...

I love playing this game on my phone called words with friends 2.

I think though that they have named it wrong.

It should actually be called....

Words with Strangers. 

I think other than playing with my daughter who

doesn't keep playing the game with me, I play with

lots of strangers.

You can play against these computer people every so often.

These are faster games and sometimes I think the computer is

going to always win.  I do eventually win, but some days it is hard.

I refuse to pay anything to make myself better at the game, so that may

also be another reason why I lose.

You can also challenge other people to play.

I think I am currently playing against 5 people.  The games can last days, depending

on how often you  go on and add a new word, and how fast the person you are playing replies.

I have to say that I lose often. 

I don't ever really care if I lose, I just love playing 

this almost like scrabble game.

At lunch co-workers will see me and say "you look deep in thought"

my reply is "I'm playing words with strangers."

That is the thing with this game that you have to remember is that really 

you are playing with strangers. 

So far only one person has tried to send me a message over this game.

I didn't read it, tried to play the game with him and then he disappeared.

I was "Ghosted"  for not replying to a message!

I think I learned my lesson from instagram, don't reply to men.

Is every app out there a way for people to meet up? 

While I like to play I am smart and I don't chat with the strangers, I just play the game 

and I always remember these really are not my friends, they are strangers.

If I had the ability to make an app like this I would name it
"Words With Strangers."

Do you like to play any type of phone app game?

G.G.