A Walk in the garden with Mr. James. August 31, 2020

We celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary last week and I really wanted to

walk the gardens and get a nice photo of Mr.James and myself. 

As we walked around today I realized how different this summer was from what I had planned.

I'm sure everyone feels that way.  For the last 3 to 4 years I have spent one

day a week walking the gardens and photographing the flowers, watching how

the flowers change with the planting season.

I enjoy seeing the changes and seeing the different flowers and animals that

live in the garden.

This year with the pandemic I haven't felt like walking in the gardens as much.

The last few weeks have been so hot that the thought of walking around with

a mask on in hot weather kept me home.  Plus I have just looked forward to mask free days.

Today was the perfect temperature.  Cool and almost like fall.   I'm not ready for fall, but I am ready for

some cool weather.

The garden was pretty empty, perhaps because it's now school time. We felt like we

had the garden to ourselves and that was lovely.

I was so happy to have sometime to play photographer.

Usually I fill up a few SD cards by the end of summer.

This year my flower photography is very small.

I love the color of this plant. I'm so amazed by all the differences we 

find in the world.  Such beauty to be seen.

This duck was not afraid of us.  It stood in it's spot even when we walked by it.

The flowers have gotten so tall you can barely see the bike.

I love the morning glories!  Such a beautiful color.

I love how the middle of the flower almost glows.

Yes I  got carried away, just capturing the color and texture of the different flowers. This one reminds me of fall coming.

A few weeks ago I took a photo from this spot and thought I want to get Mr. James and I 

in this type of photo.

So I dragged Mr. James and my daughter to the garden.  She did a good job.

we are doing the "Taylor Swift wildest dreams pose."

Here is the Covid face mask photo.  I mean shouldn't everyone have a 2020 face mask photo.

Perhaps I will walk the gardens more often the next few months.

Maybe next week I will get there and play photographer all by myself.

Hope you are all staying well and you enjoyed the photos.

G.G.

P.S... I'm thinking of doing some blog posts about what "Evil Kimberly" would do....

I work in customer service and find I bite my tongue often.  Then I turn to a co-worker and say 

"Evil Kimberly would have told that person ......"

I always have great blog ideas and no time to do them.

G.G.

 

The joy of a mask free day. August 6, 2020. Some pretty photos from a recent walk.

 

I have been wearing a face mask to work now for 5 months. I have to say that now when I have a day off I try very hard to stay home and have a face mask free day.  While I love walking at the gardens the thought of walking around with a mask on often keeps me from going. I did venture out this week and got a few fun photos. I really think this humming bird was posing for me. 

I have realized that all the things I used to like to do on my days off, I really don't want to do anymore. I just want to stay home and not have to wear a face mask. I am slowly getting my house really organized.  I have even started to figure out how to get all my errands done before my days off so I can stay home.

I have a greater appreciation for doctors and dentists and any other worker who wore masks daily before this virus came about. I would love to go back to mask free living. I think it's far away still. Today I spent the day working in my own gardens. I have been enjoying my own yard, which really needs a lot of attention. I have some good plans for next summer.

My two days off are almost over and I dread having to go back to work tomorrow. I love my job, but wearing the mask all day long is tiring. My upper lip is constantly peeling, and I feel like I am constantly yelling so people can understand what I am saying.  I also feel like I don't talk as well with a mask on. Have you had that issue? You go to say a word and it comes out all wrong. I said words wrong before the mask and now with the mask it's worse. Where I work we have to have face masks on constantly and also have to stay 8 feet away from other co-workers. I also have to wear gloves most of the day because I work with money and mail. It's very hard to work in what used to be a very social environment, trying to be socially distant. Always making sure to move a little further away from your coworkers. It's very weird.

I think I am already counting the days to when I have another day off.  It's nice to have moments where life feels almost like it's normal.  My husband and I will often go sit at the waters edge of the lake near our house on our evenings off together just to be outside and feel like life is the way it used to be.

So much has changed so quickly. Soon my children will be heading back to college. I'm not sure how college will even work. I don't think the schools or the students really know how this is all going to work. I feel bad for this young generation, this is a time when they should be out socializing and spreading their wings a bit. Instead they need to social distance and not gather in big groups.

I want to be hopeful that soon life will fall into a new normal. But I am also working on being prepared if things possibly get worse. I don't know what is in the future for us, I will just take it day by day.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I've never tried to photograph the moon before. One of the benefits of staying home and sitting on your back porch.  I do have a wonderful view. What things are you doing to make life feel a bit more normal? Do you find you want to go out less because of the need to wear face masks? Take care.G.G.

My Staycation July 2020. Finding places to be outside during the pandemic.

On my second staycation I visited the gardens again.

It was nice to see the humming bird and all the summer flowers.

We actually saw a humming bird at our house,

so I am now going to try out feeding them.

My favorite little spot by the stream with all the wildflowers in bloom.

I like the bike, but I think the wart hog here was better,

I finally did find where it is now in the garden, but the

photo I took was not great.

We went to Bicentennial park in Provo. 

I was hoping for a long shaded walk, it was shaded,

but very short. The cool thing was all the

interesting dragonflies.

I love going out and seeing things in nature.

This is what the board walk looks like. 

The nice thing was it wasn't crowded. 

I got some good bug photos.  

After walking around for awhile we set up some

beach chairs under a big pine tree, and sat in the 

shade looking at this beautiful view. 

I nice relaxing morning. We will probably come back

sometime with a picnic lunch.

Our other favorite place to go and sit is

at Utah Lake.  We go listen to music and watch the sunset.

There are lots of interesting birds to see,

and often the fish will jump out of the water.

I spent a lot of my vacation working around the house.

I am pleased with all the interesting flowers growing in my

own backyard this year.  I planted a bunch of wildflower seed packets.

This is bee bomb.

I also have been getting my house more organized.

I watched a bunch of movies that take place in England and

Ireland for my pretend vacation. I have also been 

doing family history for ancestors in these areas.

We then did this hike, the Stewart Falls Trail.

It was a longer hike, there were 

some steep parts, but the falls at the end were cool to see.

You can even go under them if you want to.

My husband did, I did not.  The water was really cold.

Lots of beautiful views on the trail.

The trail is very narrow in places, and

very rocky in places too. 

It was really dusty, when we got home we

were covered in dirt. The dirt went 

through our shoes and socks, we were a dirty mess!

I loved this hike and can't wait to find

more to do, and most likely will do this

one again.

Oh look his shadow is kissing my shadow.

Some people were brave and rode horses on the trail.

I don't think I would be that brave!

Information about the trail.  I'm going to get the all

trails app so we can have more hiking adventures.

Another thing we have started doing is playing scrabble. 

My husband thought that this board was the perfect game. 

It will be awhile before I have another vacation.  I'm glad I took

time off as this pandemic causes stress and I felt so much more

relaxed when I went back to work.   We get extra money every so

many weeks for working as essential workers, I would rather

they give paid days off instead of extra money.  I would like some days

off where I don't have to wear a mask.

As I put the photo's together for these past two blogs I realized I have a lot of

pretty photos that I have not put in blog posts.

I think I will do a blog with photos and talk a bit about the pandemic and 

life.

Well hope you are safe and well.

G.G.