Sego lilies et al.

My job with the Utah Historical Society periodically has field trips, which is fun. (They pay for lunches for us after these field trips, but I'd rather have them spend the money on a full-time position for me.) This week's field trip was at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum by the capitol. I last went there in November 2016, when I was still dating women. 

It is a very quirky museum, and it makes me feel less inclined to hoard things. Sometimes I think, "Oh, this thing can be a valuable antique one day!" But there are so many things that we don't need to keep them all, especially in our mass-consumption era. For example: do we really need this many chairs?

They had many interesting and weird things there, like the infamous two-headed lamb. (You can even buy a pin or magnet of the lamb.) 

They have Brigham Young's wagon from 1847. 

And I enjoyed that they had this vase of fake sego lilies and sunflowers as a decoration (not an exhibit piece). Sego lilies, of course, are the iconic state flower. But in my research, I have found that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sunflowers and sagebrush were part of the pioneer iconography. I don't know if the DUP knew that, but I kind of doubt it. I would love to see us embrace the sunflower more.

Then we went to the museum gift shop. I had to buy these kitschy action figures of handcart pioneers from 2005, because I love historical memory. I think I will take them out of the package for my Pioneer Day décor, but I feel a little bad doing so. I can't believe they were only three dollars!

I bought honey taffy with a historically dubious explanatory paper. And I bought a sego lily pin for me and sego lily earrings for my mom. I'm happy that I was able to buy them during sego lily season. . .

. . . which is also the season of Richardson's geranium, 

sticky geranium, 

cutleaf balsamroot, 

and even the beginning of fleabane. 

Here is a trashy bathroom selfie of me in my new Nancy t-shirt. It's not officially licensed, so I don't know if it's legal, but it's not my fault if they don't offer legal ones. 

I don't like wearing Snoopy t-shirts like I used to, but Nancy is just obscure enough that I'm so happy to have her and Sluggo on a t-shirt.

I really like mid-twentieth-century pop culture, and sometimes I wonder if I should spend more time with modern pop culture. But I have found that the kitschy, lighthearted silliness of the twentieth century more closely aligns with my personality. It's not my fault if modern things are too cynical for my tastes. And why would I devote time to watching movies and TV when there are trails to run, books to read, and fruits to bake with? But I am a faithful watcher of Halloween/Holiday/Spring/Summer Baking Championship. And I still buy music, and it is my goal to always own at least one song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (Right now that includes Taylor Swift, Teddy Swims, Benson Boone, and Billie Eilish.)

And yesterday I saw Bountiful's chalk art festival, and I enjoyed this entry of Over the Garden Wall, a Halloween-themed miniseries from 2014. 

I loved that they had "That's a rock fact" over to the side 😆

Last night I attended another wedding reception at This Is the Place Heritage Park, my old stomping grounds, so I had to go see the new fort they built. 

I helped fire that cannon a few times. But it wasn't blue then.

That was a fun job. But I don't miss it.

And here's a couple of Reggie pictures to end the post.

I had to wash my blanket last night after he threw up on it

June events

This week, I had Monday off for Juneteenth. When I wake up in the mornings, I turn on the news while I mentally prepare myself to get out of bed, and Monday I was wondering where I wanted to run for my day off. And on the news they announced that there was a Juneteenth 5k right here in North Salt Lake! So I decided to register and participate, because I felt like I had to do something for Juneteenth. It was put on by Black Physicians of Utah, and it was their first time. It was pretty small and low-key. It was on the Legacy Parkway Trail, which is paved and has no shade, so I'm more likely to go there in the winter. 5ks are so short that they're not usually worth my time, but I'm glad I went to this one.

This is the picture the event people took of me approaching the finish line

Juneteenth, of course, is a relatively new holiday in Utah. For my job with Utah Historical Quarterly, I verify sources, so I spend a lot of time in old newspapers. And I found an article in the Salt Lake Tribune from 1900 where the Black community in Salt Lake City celebrated September 22, which was when Lincoln promised to free the slaves, one hundred days before officially issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.

I'm in charge of service projects for my ward, and I organized a litter cleanup along the Jordan River Trail for Monday evening. There's a boat launch in North Salt Lake called Porter's Landing, which is where I had us meet. Several people said they didn't know it was there, and they seemed happy to discover it. We stood around in a circle and had an opening prayer, and when we opened our eyes, there was a chicken in the middle of the circle!

We found more trash near the freeway overpasses, where there were also a lot of bird nests. 

I was sad to see all the trash that our current society produces. We have so much plastic, even though plastic can't realistically be recycled in any meaningful way. Our concept of single-use plastic and throwaway culture began in the 1950s. (So much for "Greatest Generation"!) 

One of my ward members found a snake skin, which was flapping in the wind like one of those noodley guys outside of businesses.

It was unusually cold that evening, so the turnout was better than I expected. I was pleased with the project.

I also spent several hours this week pitting cherries, which stained my fingers. I put the cherries in the freezer, but I used some to make cherry upside-down cake and cherry salsa. 

And yesterday, I had to make sure I had time for a North Canyon run, because it is my very favorite place. This time I was so pleased with all the different shades of pink on the Nootka roses.

Try not to melt this week!

So that was surprising

Over the last month, I have been occupied with my Grandpa's final days and his funeral, but of course that wasn't the only thing I was doing. Since I talked about his funeral last week, this week will cover the other things of the last two weeks.

At the Utah Historical Society, we have different teams. I'm in the publications team (there's only two of us, so I feel immensely lucky to have my job), which is part of the Education and Engagement team. Another team in the E&E team is the Women's History Initiative, and on Wednesday, June 5, they hosted an event to send the statue of Martha Hughes Cannon to Washington, DC. Cannon was a female doctor, suffragist, and polygamist wife, but more significantly, she was the first female state senator in the entire country, and she beat her husband in the election. Each state has two statues representing them in the nation's Capitol in the nation's capital (see what I did there?). Cannon is replacing the statue of Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of the TV, and she is going to be only the fourteenth woman statue out of one hundred.

For the event, I helped set up tables and chairs. It was a warm day, and there was no shade. It was hard work. As you likely know, I'm in pretty good shape, and I spend a fair amount of time outside, so I didn't understand why it was hard for me even though others were working just as hard. But it turns out one of my colleagues did have to take a break from heat exhaustion.

The statue of Martha on the truck before the festivities, while Cherie Call practices

For a time, I assisted a colleague at the welcome table. When I got there, there was a man, probably in his fifties, who clearly had some kind of mental disability, autism or something. He just kept talking and talking about uninteresting things, calling people movie stars, and explaining his plans for when he becomes president.* While this man was talking to some passersby, my colleague said to me, "Stay here. I'm going to go get [our boss]." A mother and her daughter (late teens or early twenties) walked by, and he started talking to the daughter about the same incoherent presidential plans. He kept going on and on, and I felt bad for this poor girl. So I said to him, "I think she needs to catch up with her mom." He said to me, "Thank you for the advice," then kept talking. Our boss finally came and walked him away from the welcome table. I learned later that he went to every booth at the festival and explained his platform, which included mandatory remote work for nonessential workers, and I think he said Taylor Swift would be his vice president. And he reportedly also asked a fifteen-year-old girl if she was legal.😬

(*That reminds me of a story from my mission in 2008. My companion and I visited the not-altogether-there wife of a less-active member, and she came to church the following Sunday. When we reported in ward council that we had seen her, one of the bishopric counselors said, "It's an election year. She's going to announce her candidacy soon!" The bishop advised us to be cautious visiting her, because in 2004, a deacon was bearing his testimony, and she got up and basically pushed him out of the way and announced her presidential candidacy! So that was surprising.)

There was a period of time where people could come look at all the various booths that were set up, but then everyone gathered for the official ceremonies. Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson made some remarks, as did one of my colleagues. Then local singer/songwriter Cherie Call sang a song called "Better Days." I am her biggest fan, so that was a surprise. Then everyone waved purple, yellow, and white flags (suffrage colors) while a woman (!) drove the semi with Martha's statue off the capitol grounds.

Every Monday evening in the summer, the city of North Salt Lake has food trucks. This week they had a special event for Juneteenth with the Utah Black History Museum. Since Utah history is my job, I was happy to see that, and I was surprised at how bold the exhibits were in combatting racism and queerphobia.

That evening, I saw a robin egg shell on the sidewalk with ants attacking it.

I have been trying to downsize and get rid of things that I never use, so this week I took old video games to a used video game store to sell. Most of them belonged to my brother (I asked for his permission). They gave me twenty-six dollars, which was more than I expected, mostly because of Zelda and Metroid II. So that was surprising.

On Wednesday, I attended a wedding reception at my old stomping grounds at This Is the Place. I last worked there in December 2021, and I visited in 2022 for their new statues of Black pioneers. Since that time, they have installed electronic signs so they no longer have to use plastic A-frame signs. It was always annoying to have wedding receptions going on in the park when I was driving the "train," but it was fine when they were after hours. 

And they also had a new statue of Ellis Reynolds Shipp, a pioneer midwife.

My friend the groom sang an obscure Cherie Call song, "One More Star," to his bride. So that was surprising.

When I visited Saguaro National Park in April, I opted to embrace the cactus theme by buying prickly pear candy and prickly pear taffy. This month, Normal Ice Cream in Salt Lake has a special prickly pear soft serve, so I had to go try it. I had it as part of their "composed cone" with cereal, coconut whipped cream, and lime marmalade on top, but once I got through all the toppings, it definitely tasted like prickly pear, though not as strong as the candy.

Recently I saw some prickly pear blossoms on a nearby trail. I wonder if we harvest prickly pear fruit in Utah?

I was at Trolley Square on Thursday, and a stranger asked for my number because he thought I was cute. So that was surprising.

My parents buy big bags of seasoned pistachios from Costco, and there was a bug in one of the pistachios. Not in the shell of the pistachio, but the pistachio itself. So that was surprising. I didn't eat this one.

One of the greatest things, if not the greatest thing, about the month of June is all the wildflowers. On Friday evening, I swam twenty-six laps, ran two steep miles, and did a leg workout. Then Saturday morning, I ran seven miles. None of those activities are terribly strenuous for me, but putting them all together left me sore (in a good way). 

cutleaf balsamroot

Sego lilies have my heart forever

tapertip onion

Dyer's woad, an invasive. Blech!

Wasatch penstemon

thimbleberries

mallow-leaved ninebark

James chickweed

Utah sweetpea

Mulesears

Nootka rose

June is also the month when my sister's cherries are ripe, so last night I picked three one-gallon bags of cherries. (I hate using plastic, but I don't know how else to freeze such a large quantity.) Then I pitted the cherries while watching Camp Snoopy. Then this morning, I made a s'mores cherry crisp—I made a regular crisp topping but put in mini marshmallows, graham crackers, and red, white, and blue M&Ms, then put more grahams and chocolate on top. It might have had too much going on, but it was still good.

And to close: I am a fan of twentieth-century pop culture, and my new favorite is Nancy, so here are some 1948 strips that hold up well. I am very much amused by this naughty niece who finds a loophole if she doesn't want to do something.

I know it's bad, but I did laugh