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