Dearest Friends ~

I'm taking a wee Blogging Break.  I'm hoping inspiration will return soon.  Do check back!

Love, Ginger

Valentines, Lovely Lassies, Stunt Masters

This year, my kids gave me a lavish Valentine's Day present.

A designer box loaded with exotic yummies from Trader Joes.

Now they're covered for at least ten years, in my humble opinion.

I don't exactly have a 'special Valentine', but I love, love, love this February holiday.  

Always have.
Maybe it's because we need those bright pink hearts to cheer us in the dead of winter.

Here are some creations from our recent family cookie decorating party:

Day by day, the snow is melting.

This shot was taken today, February 28th

However, the temperatures still dip down to the single digits at night.

Also taken today - the hill behind the garage.





MONDAYS  have become treasured days for me.  My daughter Kelty comes over with her dear little Rella.

Actually, this little gal spent two nights at Grandma Ginger's house last week while Mom was back East.

I haven't blogged about  my lovely lassies from church for months and months.

We've had some jolly times together.

Creating Bead Bracelets:

Experiencing a Dance Discovery Workshop:

Making Pioneer Honey Taffy:

(The older girl on the left was a volunteer teenager who helped cut the taffy.)

Doing Daring Stunts, Being Nutty, Admiring a Sunset:

Speaking of daring stunts, 

Two weeks ago, I watched this college student doing a amaaaazing tight-roping feat

from one side of the canyon - my canyon - to the other side.

It's technically called 'slack-lining', because he uses webbing, not a rope.

It's not just the slack-lining students who like gutsy recreation,

certain children in my family are also spirited and relatively fearless.

Brinley on the left, Avery in the middle, and Aspen on the right.

Bright Spots

This is how snow looks after a few days of being on the ground.

Beautiful, really.

I'm trying to look on the bright side.

I haven't escaped the cold as I've done in other years . . . HERE and HERE.

I've been toughing it out.

It really helps when cheerful girls in the neighborhood knock at my door and say,

"Can we dig out your truck for you?"

"Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!"

My driveway is on a hill with mostly tall bushes on either sides.

Finding a place to dump the snow is always an issue.

The girls were valiantly carrying shovels loaded with snow to the far side of the driveway

and hefting it up and over some bushes that weren't as tall as the ones by the truck.

They worked for two long hours.  Willingly.

"Can we please come back tomorrow?"

Bless their hearts!

I'm grateful for their kindness . . . and the fact that the truck started right up.

Winter begs for bright spots.

Little Rella's 3rd birthday certainly fit the bill.

Grandma Ginger gave her a celebratory hat which she thought was magnificent.

1. 

Okay.  Magnificent may not be in her vocabulary, but the expression says it all.

I also gave her three boxes of sparklers.

Another hit!

Life is sooooo amazing when you turn three.

Truly, life can be amazing, even when you're sixty.  Just gotta watch for those golden moments.

Outside the living room window @ 5:32 p.m.

Siberian Winter in Utah

It's awfully cold here.

Maybe it's not quite Siberia, but it's unquestionably colder than my freezer in the garage.

The roofs in town are adorned icicles, including my own.

Good thing I have an electric melting wire in my gutter or else I'd have Monster Icicles stretching all the way to the ground.

(They used to do that before I got the warming wire.)

As it stands, they are simply hanging artistic touches which provide me great joy.

I do wish I had remembered to fold up the picnic table before winter took over!

I believe it's industrial grade.  Well, I hope so anyhow.

BELOW: 

Timpanogos from the top of the driveway.

Notice the clouds clinging to the mountain?  Happens a lot, here in the Rockies.

My kids learned to ski on that very same mountain at Sundance Ski Resort.

At least once a year, I'd even break away from work and go skiing with them.

ARIAN and GINGER in 1996

In fact, my daughter and her husband were skiing in Colorado just last week
while he was attending a radiology conference.

My kids also loved a winter hobby nicknamed 'bizzing'.   It requires really low temperatures and lots of snow.

I would tie a long rope around the back bumper of my car and knot the other end to a sled.

I'd gun the engine and send them whipping around the corners of the church parking lot.  

Around and around and around we'd go!

Oh how they loved it!

Now-a-days, I put on my Sorels :

and a pair of Yaktrax on the soles of the Sorels  :

Then I tromp through the snow, experiencing the winter magic at close range and in slow motion.

Can you see how much snow each delicate wild oak branch can hold?

BELOW you can see the larger effect on a gamble oak - Utah's native species.

I took this shot from my front porch. My garage is in the lower left-hand corner of the photo.  

I often wear my Sorels with Yaktrax just to walk up the driveway and pick up the mail!

However, they are a real necessity to hike the canyon during the winter months.

This shot was taken near the trail head where a bridge was installed to span the riverbed.

Here's Ms. Chica on the front side of the mountain, with a view across the valley. 

Some mornings I wake up, glance at the outside thermometer,

and crave a bit of this:

Ginger - Age 9 at a beach in California.

Patience.  My time will come.

Right now, I get to enjoy what I've got.

This, for example:

Wild rosehips peeking through the snow in the canyon.

Quite lovely.
Really.

Frolicking in the Snow

Snow IS magic

  . . . especially for children, but not excluding the adults.

My goddaughter Victoria had the brilliant idea of making a snow fort. 

Kelty pitched in, not only with the shoveling but the digging of the cavern.

Below, she is inside the cavity, scooping out snow, only her legs and feet showing.

There were seven of us making merry in the glorious white stuff:

The Adults (relative term): Ginger, Kelty, Vic

The Grandchildren: Kenneth, Grace, Rella, and, for a short time, baby Grace Ginger.

Living on a mountainside has a wintertime advantage -

a perfect sledding hill.

Well, mostly perfect.

If you don't veer to the right, you'll hit into the pyracantha bushes.  Think thorns.

Older kids are able to make to navigate it, even at high speeds . . . but not the younger ones.

In comes Kelty to the rescue!

She hung onto the sled going down on her belly, 

shifted the course of the sled midway down, 

then heaved it forward

and let go, amid squeals of pure joy mixed with terror.

After thirty minutes of being hurled down the mountain on her belly,

Kelty changed her approach.

She used her KNEES.

You can gauge her tremendous speed by seeing the snow flying above her right knee.

See arrow.

All the children screamed "Again! Again!" when they reached the bottom.

Audrey was STILL screaming it after the 12,486th time.

Once again, notice the knee work.  

Pressing down on the right knee helped her make the critical turn.

We spent most of that day out playing in the snow,

after which we felt satisfyingly tired.

By the next morning, another round of white stuff had fallen.

Then there was WORK to do.

However, even THAT was a pleasure for Mr. Kenneth.