Lost

My iPhone for a panic-stricken 10 minutes today.
It was gone.
Not in the car.
Not in my purse.
Not in my bathroom,
fridge,
mailbox,
or
closet.

I was running late and I knew I had just put it in my purse.
How was it gone?
I needed the address to my appointment.
I needed to be on my way.
I needed to not have to deal with searching for a lost phone.

Aggravated, beyond rational belief, I barely heard the little prompting.
Pray.

No way!, I thought.
This is ridiculous.
How will praying help?
How?
I just had it.
I just finished checking my email.
I just slipped it inside the left pocket of my purse.
Then, all of the sudden, it's gone?
Was I hallucinating?
Ridiculous.

Again, pray.

So I threw myself to the floor
mumbled a short angry prayer
and went back to the parking lot.

Within a minute I had found my phone.

No matter how hard I try to run
He keeps calling me back.
I wonder, will He be as patient with me next time?

Etched in Stone

On the exterior edifice of one of my favorite buildings this Aboriginal saying has lodged itself into my pretty little brain.

"The more you know the less you need."

I'd like to understand it better, or at least be able to live more fully in harmony with its meaning.

Prepare Thyself For...

...Merriment!

How have I not experienced this before? Lucky for me I scooped up a last minute $5 ticket (beating the regular $18 rate) and mucked around in the mud, merrily checking off item number three from my ever shrinking list.

Next time I'll remember to bring my real camera to capture snippets of sword swallowing (not for the faint of heart), leather steins (who knew they even made such a thing?), chain mail and pewter brassières (no joke!). The best part? Undoubtedly the jousting match; or more specifically, the hunk of eye candy that was working as a crowd control/bouncer lad. Huzzah!! All of which, I might add, melded into the ideal people watching prescription.
NO EXTRA CHARGE.

Wordless Wednesday

" Everyone Needs Beauty as well as Bread." JM

The shear magnitude of these trees can't be contained in a single image or a collection of verse (although Ansel Adams and John Muir have made a fine attempt). While not as tall as their towering cousin, the Redwoods, these trees exude a strength that can last over three millennia. Can you believe that? Three Millennia. And while entrepreneurial exploits plagued their serene existence the last half of the 19th century, modern conservation and preservation efforts (including this simple sign post) and brilliant documentaries have begun to restore a habitat that once flourished without human interference. It's reassuring to be reminded how magnanimous these Sequoias are to us, mere mortals.

We kept remarking how incredible it was to experience the Park in an off-season sort of way. It was busy, but not overwhelming. Upon our arrival, after checking into our little camp spot, we drove to capture some twilight images of Half Dome and the Arches. My meander across the boardwalk revealed an entire graveyard of spent coreopsis stalks lingered amongst the dried autumn grass. It made me wonder: just how lovely would you be, in the height of a Californian summer?

The dear friends that moved across the country and inspired my visit.

Productivity...

...was not my forte today.

However, 15 minutes at lunch unearthed this morsel.

"...and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands."
Alma 24:18

It seemed to be a continuation of the themes I heard this past weekend.

Love.
Serve.
Work.

And the greatest of these? Well, I'm still working on that one.

Fact

Working with the public can be, well, interesting. I suppose summer's lull has simply heightened my attention to the humor of my day-to-day.

1. Anyone that starts a conversation with the salutation Greetings is bound to be a little touched.

3. LOLing in a public space, make that a traditionally quiet public space, is frowned upon.
(I choose to take the non-enforcer approach when it comes to occasional outbursts...however that benevolence does not extend to include cell phone conversations. Yeah, that means you.)

4. If the printer doesn't have an OUT OF ORDER sign slapped to its front assume it is working. In which case, please don't bother asking me if it works.

5. If it looks like I'm just typing away and not paying attention to you it does not mean I'm writing an email. That, my friend, is called virtual reference. Which can be tricky when the phone is ringing and you see a high maintenance faculty member walk right into your peripheral.

Ps. The only thing getting me through this shift is the magic of a can-almost-make-me-forget stick on heating pad.

10 Things I L O V E October

1. Return of hipster boots.
2. Piling on layers.


3. Crunching through intoxicating color. (Quaking Aspen, Japanese Maple, or Sumac.)



4. Not the holiday per se, rather the plush dangling decoration of my childhood.


5. Semiannual General Conference of my church.


6. Pumpkin cranberry bread. (Recipe found here.)
7. A northern California vacation.


8. Herbal and hot.
9. Brilliantly colored/patterned scarves.

10. These little guys.