Mark My Words: janvier

Sunday, January 14, 2024

janvier

Ugh. January, amirite? I spend time looking at the Valentine's aisles in grocery stores, looking for something to bring some brightness to January, but Valentine's Day is still more than a month away, and even then it's not a great holiday. This month is so boring and bleak that I considered making a post just ranking the months of the year.* Luckily, there were enough things going on to make a regular post, though I can't guarantee it's very interesting.

On Monday, I got to go to the governor's mansion for an awards ceremony for the Utah Historical Society. I helped pick some of the publication awards, and it's weird for me to wield such power. The governor's mansion is the Utah equivalent of the White House. It's weird to be in this building that is a venue but also someone's home. Governor Cox even spoke briefly. It was a lovely edifice.

"The desert shall blossom as the rose"

We've had off-and-on snowstorms this week. I don't really like shoveling snow (except at Christmas), and I don't like that snow piles up on parking spaces, and ice is my archenemy. But! I welcome as much snow as we can get. I value the Great Salt Lake, and I value wildflowers, and I remember how awesome last year's runoff was. (I mean "awesome" in both its slang meaning and its original meaning.) And even if it's not snowing, January's still dark and cold and smoggy, so it might as well be white as well. I honestly have been disappointed there hasn't been more snow.

I've still been recovering from my illness. I have a little congestion still, but other than that I'm mostly good now. I've had extra free time, since I only have one part-time job, though I have been doing some work for Faith Matters as well, and I have another opportunity coming up.

Last week I mentioned that we changed the setup of our record player, and it didn't work, but my dad did a different input and got it to work. And I was using our weight machine, and one of the cables started fraying, so my dad is ordering a new cable. We've had the machine for more than thirty years. I should be ripped since we basically have a gym in our house, but I much prefer cardio.

Every winter, I like to make a taco filling with beets. This time I made it as a loaf, which gives it a perfect name: beetloaf! It's ideal for carnivores, because if you mix meat with beef, you get beet. But it's still more crumbly than an actual loaf. Aren't beets a splendid vegetable?

And then I took a hike on the Wild Rose Trail in the snow. I'm glad I can do that, but it's still not the same as a trail run. It was fun, though, to see dried-out mulesears peeking through the snow. Four months from now, it will be absolutely stunning.