When the girls proposed a night in the Swell over the Memorial weekend, I refused. It would be too hot, crowded, and buggy, I insisted. In the event, it was all three. On the other hand, the girls enjoyed walking in Eagle Canyon and using the wildflower book to do a little after-dinner botanizing.
As my reader knows, VSO is endlessly creative and very skilled at shaping things with her hands. Lately she has been teaching herself how to make traditional pottery: She finds the clay (in the wild), works it, shapes it, slips it, and decorates it. Today, at our camp in the Swell, she tried to fire five bowls. She heated a bed of coals, stacked the pieces on the coals, and then built a large fire on top of the pottery. In the end, none of it really survived. I think each piece emerged with at least one crack. It was unfortunate, but not entirely discouraging: With VSO's persistent intelligence, I suspect we will soon have many successes.
The cacti are also beginning to bloom. Today, I found the claret cup (above) and the fishhook (below).
Driving to Arizona and back earlier this week, my colleagues and I passed through fields of wildflowers: Mostly globemallow, sego lily, primrose, and yucca. Yesterday, out on the gas field near Straight Canyon, I found Navajo tea, Colton's milkvetch, and low cryptantha.
I missed the actual birthday, which occurred in March (see below), and I didn't know that the actual assembly had occurred in the communist north (Canada, also below), but the milestone seems worth celebrating: Now in its 31st year, GC1 has 260,000 miles (and a sometimes alarming habit of shutting off at low RPMs). Because EDO is driving the car and VSO is driving GC2, GC1 keeps me moving, (except when it shuts off at low RPMs). Happy (late) Birthday.
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With EDO, I went for a seven mile ride on Wood Hill. When we left the truck, she asked if it was going to rain. "Naw, maybe just a little shower." In the event, the shower was persistent and we were riding wet. It helped us keep cool anyway. And, at the end of the ride, a rainbow.
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On Monday I drove to Cedar City. After my meeting, I went out to the Little Salt Lake to check her progress. There was a dribble in 2011 and enough for sailing in 2019, but this year is likely to top them both. The culverts that facilitate the movement of water across the Parowan Valley are currently inadequate and the runoff is flowing over the road (above). The (gentle) launch point for our 2019 circumnavigation is a churning muddy torrent (below). Because we sold the canoe and moved to Carbon County, I am afraid that the second or third? (ever) nautical expedition on the LSL will need to be undertaken by someone else.
