Some Random October Shots

Saw this downtown and at the time didn't know what it was about.

A Rainbow in my Neighborhood

I'm not promoting Firestone, just loved the shot

KGriff Brings It

Months ago I got tickets for me and a friend to see Kathy Griffin.  As the date was approaching it was the only thing that kept me going.  Turns out the Kathy Griffin fan base in SLC is small but mighty.   The show was on a Friday night and I hadn’t realized until that day that the Church of Latter Day Saints was having their general conference weekend Saturday and Sunday in Salt Lake City.  What is general conference?  From what I’ve read in the newspaper and heard from folks, it’s a time for the church leaders to preach to the masses, focusing on a few topics.  The last general conference was kind of controversial because one of the “prophets” (not my word, theirs) gave what was considered a very anti-gay message.  Now people travel from all over to be HERE for general conference.  In fact the person I went with had family friends staying with her from Australia who had travelled here for the conference.  I wondered as the evening approached, would Kathy know she was in town while the Mormon crowds were gathering?  Of course she did.

As my friend M had told me, if you like her Bravo stand up specials, you’ll love her live because she really dishes and there’s no censorship.  Topics of conversation – Michelle Bachman and her husband (especially his clinic), the LDS church, Cher, Kate Winslet, Paula Abdul, Nancy Grace, her autistic dog, and much much more.   I was a little worried that my friend would be offended by something in the show, but she seemed to enjoy it too. 

See the temple in the background

As we were leaving the hall, it was a little strange to be walking down this beautiful winding staircase with that giant temple in the very close distance.  Which two things don’t belong together?  That building and the contents of the show.

Art and Ice Cream

Brigham Young University has an art museum.  I probably would have never stepped on the campus except I heard about this exhibit and wanted to see it myself.  A colleague of mine and I decided to plan to take a long lunch one Friday and go see it.  He was familiar with the campus.  He didn’t go there but grew up in the area and has a family member who works there.  Besides this book art installation, which is composed of 100,000 books and a sight to see, I was very impressed with the rest of the museum.  They had a Picasso, lots of Georgia O’Keefe, some gorgeous western landscapes and a temporary quilt exhibition from Alabama.  I fully expected to walk in and see nothing but religious-based work. 

After we finished up at the museum, we were looking for a place to eat lunch and my friend suggested the creamery on campus.  Little did I know that BYU also has its own dairy run by the students in the agriculture program so the ice cream they serve at the creamery is made from BYU cows.  We used this as an excuse to have ice cream for lunch.  Our conversation tended to focus on what it’s like to have grown up a member of the LDS faith only to now not be part of it.  There is something about being a member of the church when you’re close to headquarters that seems to change the experience, make it more a competition between the members on who can outwardly prove they are following more strictly than their neighbor. 

A Year Later...

The two most expensive shelter cats seem to have gotten comfortable at our place. 

Oh It's Been Awhile

It’s been awhile so I’ll just make a list of the highlights.

1.       A. turned 16, got her permit and so now every time we leave the house she turns to me with an energetic smile and says, “Can I drive?!”  I can’t believe the progress she’s made since that first drive around the neighborhood that didn’t hit fifteen miles an hour until the very end.

2.       A. went to her first semi-formal dance and had to sew straps on her strapless dress to match the dress code because we all know that two pieces of ribbon it the fine line between modesty and whatever the opposite of modesty is.

3.       I took the summer off from exercise and now I’m paying, big time.  Here I go starting over.

4.       I’ve completed my script outline, and have moved on to writing the first fifteen pages of the script.  The actual dialogue writing is hard!

5.       The fall colors are just amazing!  More on that later.