Beneath the Wraps

            Jenna had taken an art class last week. We’ve been taking TRAX of course.   It’s funny about that form of transportation.   Streetcars could be seen in downtown Salt Lake back in the late 30s.   I don’t know when the city decided to rip all the rail lines out.   So many changes have taken place through the years. For over half a century the streetcars and rails had been done away with in downtown Salt Lake. The garage that had been used to house the trolleys has since been turned into a shopping center. Meanwhile the rails have been re-dotting the Salt Lake map for the last two decades. Some existed from when the Union Pacific was built (I think) but most have been added by Utah Transit Authority. The Union Pacific Building gradually changed from cargo trains to Amtrax.   (I remember having gone to it a few times to meet my grandma) The building   is now the...

She seemed fascinated with the toilet.  I thought she’d train early.  She didn’t. She took off after she turned one.  How cool to move herself with her feet, to go from room to room.  To explore.                                                        She collected balls and rocks. Whenever we’d go out walking she would climb on fire hydrants and pick up anything she found in her path.  She loved roly-polys.  They resembled small balls.  She did attempt to put one in her mouth.                                             She collected whatever she could carry. She started preschool when she was thr...

I’m a close-up – zoom-in-on-the-face type of gal.  But as I tackle my new project of cropping over 900 photos (It might be to a thousand) I have caught myself looking at things in the background.  Particularly in the old photographs.  Dads Bel Air Coupe, the yard we’re standing in, the couch before it was reupholstered, when there was a kitchen wall with window and no back room, etc. Sometimes the background will offer a clue as to what year it was taken.  And if there is a Christmas tree, I would say it’s safe to guess the picture was taken in December.  And if I find a date or place on one photo and I see we are wearing the exact same things in another, I think it’s safe to assume the two may have been taken at the same time. My paternal grandmother designed her house – created the way she wanted it to look.  And then one day she had to give it up and move into a condo that was closer to where I lived.  I could and did ride my bike to grand...

          Shortly after my mom had Corey, she went to a Relief Society activity where the sisters were making ceramic picture frames.   They were decorative white oval frames with gold spray touch up.   They would then house all of the 8X10 school (and pre - school) portraits which came home with us. In order to make them fit into the frame, mom would cut the corners of our school photos and tape them to the back of the frame.   By the time Kayla came along, another frame had to be added.     It wasn’t quite the same.   The mold itself seemed to match but rather than white with gold spray, it came out more like white and gold mixed producing an antique white or an ugly urinated looking almond/cream type color. The frames were arranged in a circle.   I think I was at the top.   My brothers at either side and Kayla’s yellow frame at the bottom. Over the years mom would update the ph...

          I took Highness for a walk for the first time this month.  Poor dog.  (I've been going to mom's, trying to assist at Jenna's school or the cannery and Biff has taken on two full time jobs leaving Highness somewhat neglected)           The weather has been awesomely beautiful once the sun is out.  When it’s down, it can get quite cold. But during the day – I often get hot and will turn the heat off and open a window.                                                                I don’t recall a November ever where I could get away with wearing just a sweatshirt over my clothes.  But then we had wonderful weather last Christmas.  I took a picture of Jenna in some new clothes that had been sent – she was outsid...