Explore Utah. A winter walk at Utah Lake, Eagles, Herons and Cats...Oh My!

what a great surprise to see a Bald Eagle at the lake this afternoon.

I was hoping to see some new birds on our walk today

but did not expect to see this.  What a wonderful treat.

We also had a little furry visitor follow us on our walk.

He must be someones pet as he was too friendly to 

be a wild cat.

What a handsome boy.

The Gulls were in their usual spot.

The little hunter.

The Heron was a great treat to see too.

It was a great day for a walk and some nice nature therapy.

The Heron got on the boat dock.  What a huge bird.

Can you see it flying away? just hovering over the water.

Another Shadow kiss.

I can't wait for the next adventure. 

G.G.

Cat Chat With Dynamite The Rescue Cat. Dealing with pet loss. January 15,2020

Last year on January 18th we said goodbye to our sweet cat Amber. 

We had Amber in our family for almost 12 years.  She was our first family pet.

We rescued her so we really don't know how old she was. 

She loved all of us, and we loved her.   The grief of losing Amber was as strong, if not stronger

that that of losing a relative to me.  She was my constant companion at home. 

I expected to have her around for a lot more years. 

 I can't believe that a whole year has passed.  I am not brought to tears at her loss anymore.

But I do still miss her.  Each animal you have has it's own personality and while we 

ended up adopting a new cat, we still talk often about Amber.

She was such a big part of our life at home.  

I found this beautiful quote on Pinterest about the passing of a cat.

Lucky Cat.....

My eyes are getting heavy now, my time has come to leave,

but one thing I must tell you as you stay behind to grieve...

you always did your best for me, your love it knew no end,

I really was a Lucky Cat to have you as my friend.

I see how much you miss me now,

your days seem bleak and bare,

I know you well, your heart is big

you still have love to share.

So please don't sit and cry for me,

We'll meet around the bend,

til then another, Lucky Cat

is waiting for a friend. 

I wouldn't give the above poem to someone right after they have lost their loved pet.

People need time to grieve the loss of a pet before thinking of getting a new pet. 

I spent many days crying and allowing myself to be sad.  I think it's important to 

allow yourself to feel sad, to allow those feelings to be there. 

Eventually as the months move on the moments of grief lessen. 

My son made this for me. It's me being watched over by my new cat Dynamite and my 

angel cat Amber.  I showed him a drawing of something similar from Pinterest. 

I just love this drawing. 

One thing I like to do is listen to Podcasts.  I have started to listen to some pet podcasts.

Specifically cat related podcasts.  My favorite podcast is "Nine Lives with Dr. Kat."  

If you have recently lost your pet cat episode 49 might be a good place to start with 

dealing with your loss.    It's titled " You Are Not Crazy: Pet Loss Grief."  

I thought it was a great episode and wish it had been around last year when I 

lost Amber.  

Here is to my Lucky New Cat.  She is a joy in my life.  

I hope as this year progresses I can share more cat facts with you.

G.G. and Dynamite.

Cat Chat With Dynamite the Rescued Cat. A year of studying cats. January 11, 2020

This year I hope to do a lot of cat blog posts. 

I am starting to listen to different cat podcasts. 

Yes there are podcasts all about cats!

I am also going to try to read a bunch of cat books.

I love learning and thought I would focus on cats this year.

I also may do a few creative writing blogs this year.

Dynamite is such a sweet cat that I often wonder what caused her

to end up out on the streets abandoned. 

I am going to write out all my different ideas of what might have happened. 

My son doesn't like me thinking of this as he doesn't like thinking of Dyna being abandoned.

I also take tons of photo's of Dyna so these blog posts 

will be a way that I can keep a little journal about Dyna.

So here is to a new year, a year where I hope

to Chat about cats.

Well that is if Dynamite will let me use my computer.

She is such a beautiful cat. 

Do you love cats? 

Do you have a favorite cat story, book, poem, movie or podcast?

Let me know.

G.G.

Exploring Utah...Utah Lake, a winter walk to see if we can find any birds. January 2020

Here is my cat Dynamite guarding my "explorer bag". 

I use two cameras when I go off exploring Utah.  I 

use my cellphone camera and my regular camera.  They 

don't both fit in my camera bag so I take this big canvas bag.

It also carries my snacks, and binoculars.  When my kids were little we watched

a lot of "Dora the Explorer."   So often as I am getting ready to go off

and explore a new place in Utah, I will find myself singing the tune to Dora the explorer.

My husband and I now joke that I am "Kimmer the Explorer." 

We haven't been to Utah lake in awhile.  The holidays were busy with running the 

kids places and just getting ready for Christmas.  So it was nice to have

and afternoon to walk around the lake.  I really liked this photo with the lamp post.

I think it makes me think of the Narnia books. 

There was a layer of ice on the lake and as you 

looked out there was this blue haze, it looks pretty.

This photo I like just because the sun looks so cool in it. 

I don't think the ice is thick enough for you to walk on it.

In fact there was a group of kids ice fishing and I think one fell in.

It was close to the shore so they just got wet.  Brr.

There were a some birds to see which made me happy.

A group of American Coot.

The birds were far away so I used my camera with the the

zoom lens. So some of the photos are a bit blurry.

Sea gulls and some Mallard ducks.  I was surprised to see

the Mallard ducks I thought perhaps they would have 

migrated.  I guess they don't.

It looks like the Sea gull feet are in the ice doesn't it. 

I would be frozen, I wonder how they keep warm out there.

This might be a Great Blue Heron. 

We watched it fly by and land in the lake quiet a bit away from us.

I enjoyed using my binoculars to watch it.  I was able to get a few

nice photos of this bird.  

On our walk back we saw another one, but

it was to far away to photograph.

Well I hope to go exploring different places in Utah again this year.

I also will visit all my favorite places.  The next few months we might do indoor places

as I don't really do well out in the cold. 

Do you have any favorite places in Utah that you like to visit?

G.G.

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.