Category: family

  • down memory lane

    My first blog was at www.enivri.com. When I ceased paying for my own domain name, the blog disappeared and I never bothered to save my posts anywhere.

    John recently showed me how to use the “wayback machine,” which gives a window into my world from 4 or 5 years ago through its archives of my old blog. This is cooler than cool.

    –See my post on enivri.com after my first attempt at rock climbing [Note: my butt is not really as big as it looks in this particular picture]
    –The post where I write about our move to a teeny-tiny apartment at UCI–a rather momentous event in our family’s history.
    –My farewell post at www.enivri.com.

  • swimtime



    As I mentioned earlier, much of my time this last month has been spent at the pool. The kids have two hours of swim practice daily, and then have 6 hour swim meets each Saturday morning.

    The swimming, though time consuming, has been a delightful family activity. I join the kids in their daily practices (I am quite proud of the fact that I can still outswim the kiddoes, but I suspect this has more to do with my longer body than with my inherent speed). The Saturday meets, though they can be tedious–especially this last meet where we endured 100+ degree heat and all felt quite sick afterwards–are also great fun. I’ve included a few photos for you to see our family whiling away the time between races….

  • perfection?

    This afternoon E asked me if I’ve ever had a perfectly wonderful day or a completely awful day. I suppose I’ve had my even share of each, just like everyone else living on this planet. I said in reply:

    “Just about every day is perfectly wonderful to me.” And I meant it.

    As I sit at my computer tonite feeling droswy, but not yet quite willing to call it a day, I can look back at all that this day has brought: a relaxing morning after the kids left for summer school where I got much accomplished around the house and had some QT with Ellycat, my delight at the kiddoes’ return from school at lunchtime, my appointment with the optomotrist where I chose some pretty funky new glasses, two hours of swimming laps while the kids were in swim practice and remembering the strength of my former swim-team self, a simple dinner with the whole family, a quick jaunt to the garden to water and to visit with friends, a few hours after the kids were in bed to unwind with a recently arrived netflick, a drowsy John waiting for me to retire to bed with him.

    Hmmmm….perfectly perfect, in my opinion. :)

  • Sugar Foot

    While we were eating at Bullock’s BBQ in Durham, North Carolina, our waitress (Mary Sue) called my daughter “Shugah Foot.”

    She called me “Sweetie Pie” and didn’t bat an eyelash when I requested a veggie burger instead of their world-famous vinegar-style pork barbeque. Though I eschewed the pig meat, I indulged heartily in hush puppies and buttery-rich peach cobbler. Yum :)

  • sunrise, last day at the beach


    sunrise, last day at the beach
    Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Click on the photo above to view some pics from our North Carolina trip.

    This picture is from our last morning in Corolla (on the northern tip of the Outer Banks). John and E made one last quick trip to the beach to release E’s pet shrimp back into the ocean so they wouldn’t die. The sun was just rising as they walked down the beach access path.

    It was hard to leave such a lovely place….

  • first


    Today, took my first-ever swim in the ocean. Surrounded by jellies, siblings, John, and my kids. Glorious. Spent two hours out swimming in the early morning and another two in the evening. Kudos to John and Chris for rescuing me from the riptide (aka strong-for-me current) more than once.

    Warm, relaxing, scary, exhilarating. Can’t wait to do it again :)

    But ocean water sure tastes nasty.

  • a perfect storm

    Went to the beach again after dinner tonite. Unlike yesterday, the water was warm and the waves gentle. We saw numerous dolphins playing in the surf, their backs dark and glossy in the evening light. We found an area with good shells and several chunks of jellyfishes (a first for me–I’ve only seen them in aquariums before).

    I was telling Chris that I planned to stay out at the beach until dark tonite, it was just about then that we started seeing the lightning on the horizon. Then a surfer dropped by our group–with all of our young kids–and warned us that a storm was coming in fast and we’d best head back now.

    Someone looked at me, standing knee-deep in the water on two metal crutches and suggested that sticking around wasn’t a good idea. So we headed out right then. By the time we’d walked the few short blocks to the beachouse the rain had started. Then, moments later, we gathered on the top floor of the house–with its broad windows–and turned off all the house lights so we could watch the lightning dance around us. Mom popped popcorn and the ‘movie’ was as thrilling as anything on the big screen.

  • planes, trains, and…


    We started our journey at 7:30 yesterday morning with a lift to the train station from Matt. We took a commuter train to Union Station, another train to Burbank airport, and then had a generous wait time until our flight. We then flew to Salt Lake City, had a one-hour layover, and finally landed in Durham, North Carolina just before midnight yesterday (local time).

    This morning we drove for about 5 hours to the Outer Banks, and joined the rest of my siblings’ families and my Mom at a big beachhouse for a week of R&R.

    So far, so good. We have feasted, played games, and teased the cousins. This evening we all took a quick dip in the Atlantic Ocean and affirmed that the water is just as cold here as in the Pacific (despite the Gulf Stream currents that C explained to us in such detail). :)

    Tomorrow we look forward to Roanoke Island, an aquarium, seafood, a lighthouse and more beach time. It should be great fun :) I’ll have some flickr pics posted of our adventure soon….

    The frogs, locusts, and other beasties are singing a chorus outside of our window. Their music is nearly deafening. But I suspect that I will still sleep well tonite.
    :)

  • My Glowing Cemetery

    I was all set to write a quick post to tell you about me & John’s first-ever podcast where I read a short creative nonfiction piece about the Magna Cemetery [Note: this cemetery is typically called the Pleasant Green cemetery, as this was the name of the town in the late 1800s. After the copper mine came to the area the town’s name was changed to Magna, the name of the mine’s biggest smelter. I suppose the area was no longer pleasant and green after Kennecott came to town]. As I was googling the cemetery in hopes of finding a good picture to add to the post, I found this juicy tidbit:

    “Hauntings at Magna Cemetery: Much like the town of Magna, the Pleasant Green Cemetery reflects a sad history related to the settlement and hardships endured by the pioneers and immigrants who moved there to work in and live near the mines. Most of the people buried there did not have long lives, and mining accidents sometimes claimed multiple lives at once.

    It is a fact that the Pleasant Green cemetery glows green during certain times of the year. For a long time, people believed this was due to unsettled spirits haunting the place, though now it is understood that it’s due to the mineral luminescence from the soil. This doesn’t make the cemetery any less eerie. From the toppled headstones to the overgrown bushes and weeds, it’s hard to believe this cemetery is being used and/or that the ghosts of those buried there aren’t feeling slighted by the lack of upkeep and respect.”

    The two images I found of the cemetary are evidence of its forlorn-ness. One is from a Utah ghost site and shows an aerial view:

    The other photo shows the front entrance gate:

    It’s funny to me that I want to be buried in a place that’s so barren and ugly. But I also feel a deep connection to this space. It’s where some of the family oddballs are buried, and I think I would fit in better there than if I were interred in the perfectly-green lawns of a more typical Utah cemetery. And, it seems weirdly fitting to know that I would be buried in a place of legend, of mystery, of great sorrow, and of ‘luminescence.’

  • holy flame


    IMG_6114
    Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    I’ve just uploaded a bunch of new photos to flickr (click on the pic above to view more).

    Included in this bunch are pics of C on his first backpacking trip with the Boy Scouts and his Dad, E’s class fieldtrip to the San Juan Capistrano mission (John was a parent chaperone on the trip so these lovely pictures are his handiwork), and C’s 6th grade promotion ceremony earlier this morning.

    Enjoy :)

  • quiet

    I haven’t been posting much lately. As my family-of-origin can attest, silence is pretty atypical in the Jana-verse. :)

    Some reasons for my silence:
    1) the garden. taking all of my free moments. no wireless access there…
    2) the kids’ swim season began. we had out first meet yesterday. six hours in the blazing hot sun. cheering the kids in each of their races, forking out money at the “shark shack” for popsicles, chatting with other parents. C&E practice every evening for two hours, which means a huge chunk of my day is spent at the pool sans junebug (my trusty laptop)
    3) end of the quarter fatigue. wanting to shed responsibility, nap, and lie in my hammock (which just emerged from the closet for the summer)
    4) our digital camera is sorta-broken. it’s now a battery-sucking monster (meaning, that you have to replace the batteries after using it for about 5 minutes).
    5) i’ve been doing a lot of contemplation. thinking rather than writing. it’s a good place to be for now.

    i expect that i’ll be back to my regularly scheduled daily postings soon. in the meantime…you can find me in the garden.

  • million-dollar smile


    IMG_6061
    Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Well, not quite a million. It only cost us a few thousand dollars.
    E got her braces off on Thursday. She’s been flashing her pearly whites ever since. :)