Thursday, May 31, 2012

Goal #10: Relics



I lived one and a half blocks away from the Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museum and I never once walked in the building. I looked at it a lot. I drove past it a lot. I said to myself. "I should go in there one of these days," but I never went in. The problem was their business hours were also my business hours. UNTIL! They decided to stay open late on Wednesday nights. It wasn’t until I moved away that I made it a goal.



 
My delightful friend Pete volunteered to join me when I set this goal back in December. He had never been either and he also lived on Capitol Hill for years. So. It was time. I've heard all sorts of things about this museum from my friends. I heard it was like stepping into your grandmother's attic. It was pretty close. A lot of quilts. A lot of bibles. A lot of lacey stuff. There were also a lot of portraits of people who look disappointed in you -- whether they were paintings or photographs, no one smiled back then so their eyes spoke volumes. I didn't take any pictures of the portraits. It was a little too disturbing for me. I was impressed with how many pianos people brought over in covered wagons. Pianos are big and heavy.

The first thing I did when I walked in was eat one of these taffys. The docent there said Taffy Town makes honey taffy specifically for them and you can’t get it anywhere else (with the exception of their warehouse). I took three.

The docent also told us how the façade of the museum is modeled after the original Salt Lake Theatre. And when you walk inside there are three stories and staircases just like a theatre would have balconies and staircases. I thought that was nice.


For someone who works in arts and museums I am not the most reverent visitor. This is Pete holding his ribs as he laughed (he broke a rib playing soccer, and my jokes weren’t helping). I'd say something and Pete would go silent and then fold over with his hand on his side. Pete and I laughed a lot, but really, it’s impossible not to laugh at some of this stuff. I'm not sure exactly what he's laughing at here. He can tell you in a comment. It appears they unloaded everything the pioneers brought over in their handcarts, wagons and trunks and spread it all out under plexiglass. And I think this museum has to display everything that is donated to them so there is a lot of rubbish and nonsense.



Here’s something odd:



The thing that grossed us out the most was the hair art. It was shocking at first and then we just saw it show up everywhere. It was explained to us that these people didn’t have cameras to take pictures of their loved ones and so hair was something they could take, braid or knot into a chain or rope and keep on their person as a memento. Still, I think it’s weird. Pete tried to compare it to feathers from birds and people making things out of feathers, but I still think it’s weird. People could make stuff out of dead toenails too but no one does that.

I looked up the Durhams in their binder. There they are. 


A "real replica" of the golden spike. I don't even think the real golden spike is at the Golden Spike Museum. I think it's in California somewhere.



Pete said I would like nice in this dress:



















I think they should make reproductions of these old study cards and sell them at Deseret Book or something. I’d buy them.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Goal #13: Bikes!

The title of this post is a shout out to my friend who hooked me up with my new bike last month. Ever since I met him I would tease him about how every time I ran into him he was talking to someone about bikes. All of his conversations led to bikes. All of his FB posts were bike videos or something about his bike. One time, I think to be funny he just put "Bikes!" as his FB post. I rolled my eyes and moved on to other news and updates.

Anyway, the good news is, he now works at a bike shop in Kaysville and when I told him I wanted a bike he found one he thought I'd like and I do. It's great. I live further away from work than I used to so it's too far to walk (a little less than 5 miles). But not too far to ride!

One of my coworkers lives nearish to me so we met up this morning to ride to work together. When we got to work we saw that Jim rode his bike too (Jim also doesn't live far from me). Coincidentally it was Mayor Becker's "Bike to Work Day". So I was an unwitting joiner. It was a lovely ride down. Can't wait to ride again. Not tomorrow though I need my car.

Goal #15: Old Friends

Years and years ago I went to college. I had some roommates. Some I've kept in better touch with than others. I decided to call my friend (and former roommate) Jennie. I saw her a year or two ago with our other roommate (and one of my all time BFFs Ilene) at my house on Capitol Hill. I called Jennie last Sunday. I think I called Jennie...I used the number in my phone. The voicemail was one of those where they just tell you the number you called and you leave a message. So I left a message. I haven't heard back from her.

BUT! Listen to this. Years and years ago when I went to college, I worked at the HBLL (Harold B. Lee Library) in the LRC (Learning Resource Center) at BYU (Brigham Young University). See:



That's a terrible picture. And it wasn't 1994. It was more like 1999 or maybe 2000. I was only 16 in '94. My camera must have been off. I worked with some great people there. One of them was Shawn (the girl) Bonifay (that's not her in the picture by the way, that is Michelle. At Angie's desk). The last I spoke to Shawn was eight years ago when she called me on the phone to tell me she was getting married. The last time I saw Shawn was 11 years ago the night we took this picture:


This was taken at my friend Marni's house in Salt Lake City probably around 2001. We must have had a party. We had a lot of parties there. It was so fun to see her. Look how young we are.


Anyway, Shawn added me on Facebook last year. Out of the blue on Friday she sent me a FB message saying she wanted to get together so that night I drove to her house in Cottonwood (seriously, she lives 20 minutes away) and we went to get dinner at the Porcupine Grill. She has a beautiful home and a beautiful 5 year old miracle baby boy named Lincoln. It was so fun to see her and I hope to see her again soon. I'm counting this as the supplement to my somewhat unsatisfactory result of Goal 15. Shawn it was great to see you and I'm so glad we were able to catch up!