Vamps Aren't The Only Sparkly Things Around Here

When not acquiring sleighs and elfin garden gnomes for the Farm(ville), shoveling snow off the deck before our Home Owner's Association kicks in a fine, and decking our halls with all manner of Christmas festivities, I like to go out to play with my camera and breathe in the fresh winter snow. Normally I would drive snowshoe to a scenic mountain spot for breathtaking photos, but since I'm usually out of breath just climbing up and down the stairs these days, I meandered around the property and found these, just for you.



There was a noisy gaggle of geese that honked their way across the sky on the way to somewhere (hopefully far away from people who like to stuff them for Christmas Day) but I didn't have the camera on me to capture their migration. Still, nothing says Christmas more than mother nature; not the colorful lights, the plentiful presents, or the hot apple cider and lemon bars...



Just fresh glittering snow.

Edward has NOTHING on nature's wintry sparkle.

Happy?

Yes, that's right folks, the clouds are below the snow-peaked mountains. We had a bit of weather last night. What can I say, this is Utah. Breathtakingly beautiful, but weird. A little like our new ranking as 'happiest State' in the latest American poll.

Really, pollsters? I'm still coming to terms with the fact that for years, we Utahns have "Lead the nation in anti-depressant use, mental health problems related to depression, and the highest teen suicide rate." In a five year period, we had two teens die from overdoses just in my really nice (and conservative/religious) last neighborhood, and am aware of others who struggle with serious drug addictions, such as heroin. (Read more at: http://mormonism.suite101.com/article.cfm/utahs_high_antideprresant_usage).

Your poll also cited tolerance as another criteria for winning the happy status. Uh, hello, pollsters? When I worked at a local elementary school, one of my co-workers would periodically come in upset about young men she knew in her nearby neighborhood who killed themselves because their conservative, religious parents couldn't 'tolerate' their being gay.

Does living in Happyville entail being delusional?

Someone please explain it to me. And then tell me all the reasons why your state should top the list. You could very well be right.

Meanwhile, I'll console myself with the natural beauty we Utahns get to enjoy. That always makes me happy.

Nature's Fireworks

The kids and I hiked the Alpine Loop in the American Fork Canyon
before a storm arrived this week, threatening to drop the leaves.

After crossing three forests, we found lots of aspens
surrounding a meadow, quivering their joyous welcome.

We call this aspen grove the Golden Palace,
because standing in it,
you are bathed in a shimmering golden light.

We passed mountain bikers and riders on horseback
but no deer or quail this time.

In late spring, this meadow is yellow with wildflowers

and the aspens are freshly green.

Now that the storm is here bringing an early snow
to the mountains with high winds,
the leaves are probably littering the ground,
the aspens no longer quivering their welcome,
but shivering in their nakedness.
Until next Spring.

And leaving us with...
peace.

Golden Palace

This is one of my favorite photos, taken a few years ago, in one of my favorite places on earth (the American Fork Canyon near Utah's Mt. Timpanogos), with some of my favorite people on earth (my kids) doing one of my favorite things -- hiking.

Especially hiking in the fall. Leaf peeping; that's us.

It's rare that my kids will come hiking with me anymore, but back then, I could bribe them with Subway sandwiches, fruit snacks and Powerade.

You had to make your way through three forests to get to this gorgeous meadow surrounded by aspens. These babies turned flaming gold in the fall, so we dubbed it The Golden Palace because when you stood inside the grove of yellow trees with the sunlight casting a golden glow over everything, it was surreal and majestic. And profoundly unforgettable.

These days, it's my idea of church. Nature's cathedral. Humbling and inspiring with soul-baring beauty. Accompanied by a chorus of birdsong with the musical rustling of leaves strumming in the wind.

No judgments. No list of rules to follow before I can qualify as belonging. Just a gift, freely given, just for being who I am. "Come as you are!" it welcomes us every time, fellowship extended to all who come into its fold.

For me, the quaking aspens feel like kindred spirits; they are soul-sisters deliriously happy to see me, quivering with joy at my arrival and waving trembling goodbyes when I leave, as if they are sad to see me go.

In this meadow, lightning, or possibly old age, felled a tree years ago so whenever when we returned, we sat on it like a pew to rest, to listen to the lessons around us, and to eat our bread with gratitude. The kids climbed on it and hung from it, and sometimes brought their friends to run around it.

So many blessed times, so many memories. So many gifts.