Various thoughts, including conference

All this free time has given me lots of time for cardio. No trails this week, as I was still waiting for snow to melt (again), but I made good use of my street shoes.

On Monday, I rode my bike to the Bountiful Temple, but biking doesn't appeal to me as much as running. At this time of year, when I go uphill, I get hot and sweaty, but when I go downhill, I'm cold and uncomfortable because I'm sweaty.

On Tuesday, I ran to the top of a neighborhood in Bountiful, where there is also a paved road to a trailhead by a cellphone tower. It was about 5.5 miles round trip.

 There are restrooms there, but they had a sign saying they weren't open because of COVID-19. Um, I've been up there a few times, and I don't think they've ever been open. They can't be bothered to open the restrooms, but they can be bothered to tell you they're closed during a pandemic?

I was going to put that freshly washed jelly bean pillowcase in the closet, but I can see you need it more than I do.

 On Wednesday morning, I made carrot cake–inspired pancakes. My favorite cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, has a pancake recipe and a gingerbread variation, which I love making at Christmas. But I modified the main recipe to invent my own. I swapped out white sugar for brown, then added grated carrots, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

 I didn't know how the raw carrots would be in the batter, but they were better than I had expected! The raisins added some needed sweetness, so I was glad I put them in. I'll definitely need to make these again.

On Wednesday I ran to the temple, which is eleven miles round-trip. I try to attend the temple every month, but I didn't make it in March and it seems like it will be unlikely in April as well. So literally running there will have to do for now. (I could say "That will do," but "thank you" is more relevant now. 😉)

 What annoyed me on this long run was people on the sidewalk. It was very busy. The sidewalk along Bountiful Boulevard is very wide in parts. When possible, I stepped off the sidewalk to practice social distancing, but there were times when I couldn't. People were walking side by side, and the people in the middle of the sidewalk could easily have stepped behind their friends, but they didn't! Jerks!

Circa 2012, I had a dream that Kelly Clarkson was my roommate. This week my brain updated it for 2020 with Billie Eilish instead.

On Thursday I ran six miles to the North Canyon Trailhead (well, the beginning of the dirt road), which was about six miles. I dropped a wrapper somewhere along the way, and I feel bad when I do that. If I accidentally drop litter, then it means that on my next run, I have to pick up two pieces of litter.

My sister and I got my nephews a mini Segway for Christmas, but they had to leave it here in Utah, since they couldn't take it on the plane. But now that they're back, they've been able to use it. On Thursday, I went down to Orchard Elementary for them to use it. From the front, Orchard looks very different from when I attended, but it mostly looks the same in the back. This wall with a map of Utah is newer, however.

I am amazed that they still have the same playgrounds. The yellow one was put in in 1997, when I was in third grade, and the red one was put in in 2000, when I was in sixth grade. But I couldn't play on them this time.

On Friday, I ran to a Bountiful neighborhood north of North Canyon, where I had never been before. For some reason, a lot of snooty communities and developments don't like sidewalks. I can think of at least three in North Salt Lake and Bountiful where the sidewalk suddenly ends once you reach the fancy houses. But I can't judge this neighborhood too harshly. Many of the houses had stuffed animals in their yards, presumably to brighten the days of people on walks. One even had two playpens full of them, as well as a giant teddy bear on a bike.

 (Also, it's easy to criticize and judge people for being rich, but most or all of the rich people I have known personally have been very kind and generous. And one thing this virus has taught us is that spending money is charitable towards businesses and their employees.)

In our garden are some giant decorative mushrooms, which we cover in trash bags during the winter. I didn't throw the bags away, and then I realized a perfect use for them. In 2018 and 2019, I spent some time pulling up myrtle spurge from the Wild Rose Trail, and I thought it was a perfect activity during the pandemic. So I filled up an entire bag, which only took twenty or thirty minutes. But it barely made a dent in the hillside. I hope to spend some more time uprooting this invasive plant.

 Now, I wonder if my efforts are productive. It would be better to organize a group, but I'm not good at socializing or leading. However, by being out there, hikers pass me and see me doing it, and sometimes they ask what I'm doing. I can spread awareness of the evils of the plant and show an example. When I think about things I have done over the years or opinions that have changed through the years, often it's been from people who I'm sure have no idea that it impacted me. So maybe I'm unknowingly impacting others.

 Then I ran three miles yesterday between conference sessions, meaning I ran more than thirty-two miles this week.

I was looking through some old stuff and found this Shopko savings card. Kind of sad that I had to throw it away.

Then, of course, the capstone of the week was general conference. I don't mean to be cynical, but this conference was hyped so much that it was less unforgettable than I anticipated. The empty auditorium and prerecorded music were the most unforgettable part, and those weren't planned for. Some thoughts:

• Having youth speakers was new, but young women spoke in a general young women's fireside back in 1981, and there were probably other meetings like that.
• I'm pretty sure Enzo Petelo, the priest, is the son of my last French professor. We had dinner at her house six years ago, and Enzo sure looked like the kids I remember being there.
• I loved Elder Stevenson's talk about earthquakes! This week I had to pull out my old geology textbook (one of the few textbooks I've kept) to get a stronger grasp of what caused the Idaho earthquake.
• Since the Saturday evening sessions are all on TV now and part of general conference, I hope this is a new pattern that they are for everyone. I watch the women's sessions anyway, so it doesn't make a difference to me.
• Having the vintage choir clips gave me flashbacks. The 2008 and 2009 ensemble made me remember my mission, when I would notice particular faces in the choir, faces that are no longer part of it.
• I've often thought that we are too apathetic about Easter in Mormondom, so I was glad that we had a lot of emphasis on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. What a fitting day for a fast! When fast days were introduced in the nineteenth century, they were on Thursdays.
• Since it's Palm Sunday, the Hosanna Shout seemed fitting, as Elder Gong pointed out. But singing "The House of the Lord is completed" did not seem fitting.
• I don't understand why the new proclamation is considered a proclamation when The Living Christ from 2000 is not. Both documents affirm doctrines already established in the scriptures and elsewhere.
• Sister Jean B. Bingham reminded me of the mom on the original Lost in Space.
  
• Syracuse is getting a temple when Layton's isn't even built yet?!
• In many ways, I thought this conference was less memorable than other conferences under President Nelson.

I know I had other thoughts, but that's all I can think of for now!