I'm Still Here

Tru Hotels feature murals like this showing the location
Notice the cool looking couches and little tables.
Notice that the Salt Lake mural features beer!

End of April! That's to long to stay silent. But as I think about things to write about I keep coming up empty.

I did spend nine days in May back in Salt Lake. I wanted to keep up being a volunteer at Red Butte Garden. 2017 was my tenth year. I'm aiming for 20 now just like for Sundance. So I did an intensive week+ of volunteering, and put in enough hours to qualify for another annual membership for 2019.

The Blue Lady Travels to a Blue Land: Seattle, Washington

On a clear day, you CAN see Mt. Baker

I'm starting with this photo which my friend sent to me a day ago in order to say, 'See, the sun actually DOES shine here....at least sometime." I'm sure that is true. I did see a bit of the sun and the blue sky while I was in the greater Seattle area recently. But mostly it looked like this:

View of downtown Seattle from the Bainbridge Island Ferry

Spring! It's supposed to be spring! or April IS the Cruelest Month

Courtesy of my friend Marian.

This is about all I have to say!

I Just have to Say .... February is a Terrible Month

February looks like this.

This post is going to be short. All I need to say is that now it's March, and that means I have lived through another February. Thank goodness.

Sundance Film Festival 2018 - The Story Lives in You

It's that time of year again. Or rather that time of year is finished for another year. I did go back to Salt Lake and volunteered the whole festival for the 11th year. I found out if you get to 20, you get a personal letter from Robert Redford himself. I hope he stays healthy because that's my new life goal.

Here's a little video to get you all in the mood.

You'll need a film list or guide to make sense of the titles. Here's the official one. But honestly the app  for your smart phone has a lot more information. You can download it for free from where ever you get those things.

The Blue Lady Travels in the Red Lands: Things We Do In South Dakota, Part 2, Festivals of Trees

One of the corridors at the state capital building this year.
A tree for breast cancer people on the left.

I never realized how much of a "thing"  a "Festival of Trees" is until I lived in South Dakota. I imagine lots of places have them, although I do not recall actually attending any except in SoDak. But here, they really are something. Every little place seemed to have one this December, and it's clear these things are traditions in all those towns and cities.

At home in Lead I was an usher more than once for our festival, held at the Historic Homestake Opera House (HHOH) as one of their regular fund raisers for the place. The Opera House was one of many civic buildings originally built by the Homestake Mine Company to improve the daily lives of the miners and their families.

Restored Opera House entrance plaza.
The spaces on the left used to house the pool and recreation areas.
Now they are offices and an art gallery owned by the local Arts Council.

The Blue Lady Travels in the Red Lands: Things We do in South Dakota, part 1

Sock Monkey was so impressed with Dignity

Wow! Two months since I last wrote. I've been thinking about needing to do another post soon, but you know how it goes. One thing after another after another, and next a whole season is gone.

Part of what I did in the fall was to travel, and that's what I plan to write about. I have several posts in my my mind, but let's start with this one which involves two different trips, with stop-offs in places well known in South Dakota.