After the Vandals in the Suburbs, we put the infrared camera out at night to see who our visitors were. This time it was Patsy Sue, the Possum! I am certain that the previous marauders on the porch were raccoons because Possums are gentle little critters – the only marsupial in America. Possums eat very slowly and noisily, with their mouths open (see the video at the bottom). In my mind, they are southern folks, so Patsy’s Mama was Betsy Sue and she was a big girl! Last year we caught her on camera, walloping the baby raccoons who were too boisterous. Was Mama Raccoon a Hoochie-Mama, out on the town meeting new guys?
The squirrels are all Hispanic because they are fast and talk very quickly. We had a Mario for a while until we realized it was a Marisol with swollen teats. Possums carry their little babies on their body, clinging onto the fur. My friend came across one at night and a Mama Possum covered in babies gratefully accepted some dog treats that she had in her pocket. You can’t really see Patsy that well because of the Infrared film but this is another one that was on the rooftop opposite Teddy’s work.
Teddy’s Possum
This one is also a juvenile and look at that little face. Soooo cute, holding her stick! We sent my cousin in Canada a toy,stuffed Possum for a Christmas present and they wondered why we had sent a rat… They just have ratty tails but the funniest little feet.
Possum toes
Click on this red link to see Patsy Sue eating very slowly and noisily.
I live in a forest and if you have ever seen the movie, “Over the Hedge” you will understand who our vandals are. Every season, I decorate the porch and this year I went with an orange and green theme. Topping my pine cone basket were some fake gourds that I have kept for 12 years…
After all these years, I know exactly who the perpetrators are – RACCOONS! There is plenty of food available, trees are hanging with fruits and berries so this was just playtime. Those little hands get into everything. I started laughing when I saw the devastation and when I was at the grocery store I bought a small real pumpkin, so their tummies won’t be full of polystyrene. The checkout girl gave it to me free, as it was out of a bag, and I told her my banditos will be grateful (or skunks or possums)
At home, I carefully cut a wedge and put it back together so it would be easier to eat. Yeah, I know I am loco…
Redecorated porch
Now the porch decor is intact again and I was feeling delighted with my art and largess towards the critters. Then I went into the back yard. As you know, two of our old pussycats died this year and we buried them in the garden. On a darkly funny note, something has been trying to dig into Zhenny’s grave, perhaps they are tomb robbers? She was an Egyptian princess, after all. My wonderful gardener came around, put down fresh mulch and dug in some plants. Since it looked so perfect, I added a couple of Dia de Los Muertes candles to their graves.
Zhenny’s shrine
Not only did they desecrate the graves by knocking over the candles but carried another fake gourd around to the back and destroyed it on the deck. We heard nothing. I guess we are so used to the nighttime chirrups and squeaks that we don’t hear it anymore. Ah, the joys of living with wildlife. 😀🌲
Doesn’t this gorgeous blue conifer look furry and wintery? Blue conifers do not seem to grow in the swampy south and I just love seeing them in the northern climes. It was really very hot, mid 90s, and yet the conifer was in full bloom. This post is really just a collection of photographs but the last few weeks have made me wonder why Salt Lake City didn’t flick my switch. Every destination is a prospective new home in my head so I am picky about the pluses and minuses.
Green Hydrangea
I mentioned in previous posts about Salt Lake City that I was concerned about the number of homeless people, many of whom were mentally ill. I could see that there were two issues; Mormons are very generous to those in need and life, perhaps, must be extra difficult if you are mentally ill or alcoholic in a strictly religious environment. When I spoke to people about the problem, they said that many of them were incomers and I quite believe that. It is a safe city so those most vulnerable may feel safer and there is a homeless shelter. There were signs all over the center saying, “Don’t give the homeless money, you know where it goes” or words to that effect. I usually concur with that but on two occasions people asked me to pay for a meal for them.
Finally, I decided to do something about one young man who really concerned me. I had noticed him at 8 am on the main drag, muttering to his self and likely hearing voices. The whole day was roasting hot and I saw him again at 5 pm in the same place. He seemed agitated and I thought my accent (and general eccentricity) might frighten him. I assumed that the locals were generous with cold drinks and food but he was so ill, he should have been in a hospital. When I got back to my hotel there was a police cruiser with a perfectly blond, clean cut young officer in it. I motioned to him to lower the window and immediately his face looked concerned.
In short, I told him the whole saga; he listened carefully and told me that there was a homeless shelter quite close. I explained that community mental health had been my field of work and that this young man was really ill. To his credit and my relief, he said he would go and check on him. I know he thought I was a crazy lady but maybe I opened his eyes to a problem that goes beyond people who live on the open road.
Blossoms at the Temple Complex
There is really no criticism of the people of Utah – they are generous and friendly (if a bit odd) but if I lived there I would spend all my time helping waifs and strays. We have so many people in Houston in the same position and they usually beg under bridges. I try to keep some gift cards for fast food places – although they are not always received with gratitude! One lady was about to argue that she would prefer money until she saw my face…
I had such a sad day yesterday. Our beautiful Zhenny’s heart stopped during a routine dental procedure and she is now buried in the garden with Mrs. Stripe who died earlier in the year. She was geriatric and had some cognitive difficulties but it was an unexpected death. Teddy and I are distraught despite knowing that she didn’t have much longer. She was so funny, loving and crazy, RIP our special girl. This is my original post about her.
I know – she is utterly beautiful. Her eyes are exquisite and she looks like a cat on a pyramid. That’s the problem… I first encountered her at the cat shelter where my husband and I volunteered in Cairo, Egypt. Her owner was moving from an American military base in Cairo to another in Korea and couldn’t take her fur baby. I can only imagine how her owner felt but Zhenny was distraught. She wouldn’t eat anything, despite our endless treats and pleading. The veterinarian put an IV drip in but she thought she was being tortured. We already had Mrs. Stripe and her daughter, Toffee, our garden cats, so we certainly didn’t want another one. We thought that Stripe would attack her anyway as she is so territorial. Then one day it was obvious that Zhenny was dying and I just put her in a crate, took her home so that she could die somewhere nice.
She was so skinny that we bought her a little cat nest with a hood so that she could feel safe and comfortable in her final days. To my surprise, when I introduced Stripe and Toffee to her, I could see them saying, ‘Poor little soul’ and thus she was accepted. The fight for her life went on for about a week with me forcing baby food into her mouth. In desperation I bought some minced beef and cooked it for her. For the first time, she seemed to have an appetite and started eating properly. By that time we were all bonded or used to each other’s scents and it was too late… That was 12 years ago and she was 18 months old. She is still alive but I have saved her life on another occasion when the veterinarian hospital could not look after her. We believe she may have sent someone to ER…
Stripe and Toffee are likely half Mau but completely feral. Zhenny looks like a tabby oriental but may as well be from Planet Zed. Even the vet said that she is just loco. I have looked after many cats but this one is an enigma. Only I can lift her, and only in special circumstances. Her Dad may only kiss her but not stroke her. He is also the only one who is allowed to play with her in a precise OCD way. Mum is just for cuddles and care-giving. The other two cats were utterly silent for years, as feral cats can be, but Zhenny is astonishingly vocal. I will be on the phone with my aunt in Ireland, Zhenny will be three rooms away and she can hear her screaming. After all these years we can tell the difference between her distress and laughter. The vet suggested that we give her Xanax – I looked at him and said, “How precisely should I do that, with a blow-dart, perhaps?”
She can be hysterically funny or drive us to tears. If she is upset she creeps along the floor, sobbing. Have you ever heard a cat sob? All treats have to be thrown like live prey and yet she is not a hunter. We discovered much later that she had kittens before we took her in but still hadn’t been neutered. Shortly after I saved her life in Cairo, she went into heat. Our villa was three houses from the baker’s shop at the end of the street and I could hear her howling inside our house. No wonder our neighbors had some issues with us… One time she was halfway up the stairs, with her head peeping through the balustrade and started ‘in heat howling’. Even she looked astonished at the guttural sound that came out of her mouth and we burst out laughing.
She should not have lived this long but Mummy is just so good at saving her life. Sigh. Our vet looks at me in horror when I say very firmly DO NOT RESUSCITATE! She is so difficult to handle that we know that she would not be able to cope with a chronic illness or disability so it would be a kindness. She has the early stages of kidney dysfunction but I suspect she has at least another year in her. Oh we will miss these beautiful green blue eyes and her funny vocalizations. Zhenny at 2 years old in Cairo
This is the original house of Brigham Young and his many wives. I went on a short tour of the inside of the house which was remarkably small but quite beautifully appointed. Not all of the decoration was the original, which is to be expected. I was fascinated by the red chandeliers and eventually had to ask if they were original. They weren’t and I laughingly mentioned that a red light, where I come from, usually indicated a house of ill repute. In Salt Lake City, the red light indicated that the household had extra food for the early pioneers who struggled to grow enough food. Although Brigham Young was a polygamist, there was pressure from the United States for polygamy to be outlawed as it threatened the status of the Latter Day Saint’s as a legal church and the practice was officially ended in 1890. Researching Polygamy was quite fascinating…
Brigham Young Cottage Garden
You probably have seen a variety of documentaries and reality shows about current day polygamists. Despite the law against it, many groups of families carried on the practice. Some of it is weird but harmless but a few of the larger family groups behave more like cults or cartels. It is very much frowned upon by current LDS members. Polygamy is a reasonable practice in times of stress. It regularly occurred in historical times were men were often killed in battle and the survivor’s would marry their brother’s wife, for example, to protect them and to increase the population. It is legal in Egypt to have 4 wives but they must be treated equally. As a result, it is very rare. Who the heck would want more than one spouse? 😚 😍 😒 😟 Red and Blue flowerbed
Everywhere I went in the Temple Complex, I was mistaken for a Mormon woman. That was probably because I was dressed more respectfully than some red neck Mormons who were visiting. There was very subtle missionary work but it was water off a duck’s back (I lived in Egypt…). As you can see from the photographs, the flowers beds were just so vibrant. It was a very hot, sunny day and I was surprised that the flowers looked so good – they wilt in Houston. I guess the blossoms enjoy the respite of a cooler evening with some dew? Bee in blossom
The Latter Day Saints Temple complex is the icing on the cake, as far as architecture is concerned, with beautiful buildings and gardens but I was fascinated by other buildings I noticed. The Greek Cathedral, below, fascinated me. I had no idea that the second influx of immigrants (after the Mormons) was Greek.
Brewing companies seem relatively common all over the country these days and I liked the use of the older building.
Salt Lake Brewing CompanyThe Karrick Building
I mentioned that the City Creek runs through the mall, a feat of architecture that amazed me. When I left the mall I noticed that they had constructed a waterfall – how beautiful.
Man-made Waterfall at City Creek MallReplica Pioneer Building
This is a replica of a Pioneer house – quite an evolution in building.
Pioneer Farmer’s Wife
When you are in the temple complex of the Latter Day Saints, it is easy to envision what drew Brigham Young to settle in this area of Salt Lake City. Within the city limits there is a small canyon and a creek that runs through it, City Creek and Canyon. To my utter fascination, it runs right through the modern shopping mall – beautifully designed. This historic park is a lovely way to demonstrate how hard it was for the early settlers to tame this harsh environment. This is a lovely little oasis in the center of the city although the Salt Lake City is generally serene with a beautiful backdrop of mountains.
Pioneer planting methods Original City Creek running through the modern mall
My cousin told me a wonderful tale which I thought might be apocryphal until I researched it – The Miracle of the Gulls. In 1848, when the first Mormon pioneers were struggling to grow crops, they were almost devastated by an invasion of what is known as ‘Mormon crickets’. They are really members of the Katydid family – shudder… When all seemed lost in came a migration of gulls that regularly ate at the Salt Lake. This time they gorged on the Mormon Crickets, so much so that they regurgitated the first buffet and then started again thus saving the crops. Isn’t nature amazing? If I was a pioneer, I would have been convinced that it was a miracle instead of something naturally occurring. Maybe it was a miracle? Mountain view from Salt Lake City
When you look at the landscape you have to admire the tenaciousness of the Mormon Pioneers. They had almost nowhere else to go, having been persecuted for their beliefs in other states, and yet managed to conquer this inhospitable place. It is as hot as hell in the summer and incredibly cold with major snowfalls in the winter. A wonderful environment now that we have tourism and modern facilities, especially air conditioning. It is a rich state and their hard work has made it so.
Given the somber appearance of the outside of this Catholic cathedral, I was astonished when I walked inside and saw the wonderfully colorful interior. The Cathedral was built between 1900 and 1909 under the leadership of Bishop Scanlan. Whenever I visit Catholic Churches in the States, I expect either an Irish name, as in this case, or a Spanish name. I grew up in an Irish Catholic family and it was common in the old days for the oldest boy of a family to go into the priesthood, whether he wanted to or not. Our Parish Priest was a wonderfully arrogant example of this…😇 (When you read to the end of this post, I think you will agree that I am headed to Purgatory for bloggers…) As I looked at the engraving of Bishop Scanlan below, I wondered about his long journey to the alien landscape of Utah.
When I researched The Cathedral of the Madeleine, I noted that the interior was inspired by the Spanish Gothic style of the late middle ages. Although I visited Madrid years ago, I don’t think I have ever seen a Cathedral that looked quite like this one. It was magnificent. I could imagine a Lenten Mass with the incensor or thurible burning with that evocative smell of the Middle East.
Stages of the Cross
All Roman Catholic churches have a set of pictures called the steps of the cross which depict the day of Jesus’s crucifixion. This one was unique and slightly surreal. Before Easter we traditionally prayed at each stage. Our church, in Scotland, was very modern, created by some fancy architect but not really appealing to the majority of the parishioners. I looked at current images online and I couldn’t recognize it – all the colors had been changed to white which really emphasized the beautiful stained glass. There must be so few parishioners that there were just some chairs – no rows of kneeling benches. It was so busy when I was growing up that it was standing room only. How sad and yet reflective of our times.
Epistle Altar
I loved this epistle altar to the right of the main alter. The colors are so rich – imagine how lovely it would be on a cold Utah Christmas Day? There is always a funny story to every travelogue and this one happened as I was trying to cross the road to enter the church. There were some roadworks and it made it difficult to see where the pedestrian crossing was. I noted that all the locals religiously crossed when they should, so I followed the herd. At the Cathedral, I just couldn’t figure out where it was so just decided to cross the road – jay walking, I guess. I was obviously a tourist lady who was lost trying to get to her church but a truck slowed down, when I was in the middle, and shouted, “Use the Crosswalk!” My first thought was to shout, ‘F*****g Asshole’ but I was inhibited by being in Salt Lake City and in front of a cathedral. Instead I yelled, “Shut Up” which seemed to surprise him. I was so mad that I had to stay outside the Cathedral for a while because I couldn’t go inside with all the thoughts of what I would do to that trucker if I saw him again… 😈 I guess he didn’t like Catholics – join the club!
Anyway, once the devil hopped off my shoulder, I went in and lit some candles for all my friends, family and bloggers who are struggling just now. 😇
This is what I really came to see, the Great Salt Lake, from which the city takes its name. This is what remains of a gigantic prehistoric lake, Lake Bonneville, which I think was fresh water and is still the largest body of water between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean in the USA. The current lake became intensely salty when it evaporated, got smaller and has no outlet. Three large rivers and other streams feed it but the level of the lake goes up and down with our weather systems. It is also responsible for lake effect snow in the area, as the water is quite warm.
Brine shrimp or ‘sea monkeys
There are very few fish in the lake but it is full of brine shrimp, otherwise known as sea monkeys, brine flies and bacteria. All of which leads to a rather interesting smell….it’s a bit stinky! Do you remember when Sea Monkeys were for sale, usually on the back of comics? I begged my mum for one but she was convinced that it was a con. They can actually dehydrate and magically come back to life when put in water. They are a tremendous source of protein for the various migratory birds coming through and our tour driver told us that sometimes the birds gorge on this buffet and then can’t take flight because they are stuffed. I thought that was hilarious – just like after Thanksgiving.
Did you notice in the first photo of me in the lake that there was a dot in the water behind me? This was one of my fellow passengers on the tour bus. She was a young English girl and as soon as she stepped on the bus we laughed because we were wearing the same shorts. Mine were white with gold embroidery and hers were black. Curiously, they were from transatlantic manufacturers but I guess they are all made in Bangladesh or some such. The other two passengers were an older couple but us ‘girls’ wanted to go in the Salt Lake. I was only prepared to paddle but the English girl stripped straight down to her swimsuit and ran into the lake. The cool thing about salt lakes is that their salinity is greater than sea water so you float. I asked her what it was like out there and she said, “lots of brine flies and dead birds”. Lovely – at least we can hope that the minerals were good for us!
Floating in Salt Lake
Despite that, it is exquisitely beautiful, with endless blue skies and mountains in the distance. There are a number of islands – eleven presently. It must be serene to take a sail boat out although there aren’t fish. There are very many hunters at different times of the year – fat, waddling birds make an easy shot.
Island on Salt Lake
At various times, people have tried to make it more of a tourist destination and this is a replica of Brighton Pavilion type venture, named the Saltair Pavilion that was incredibly popular until it burned down. There is no point in building hotels close to the lake because it evaporates and then floods, all the while being stinky. Our tour driver had been a professor but needed to work in retirement so we had a marvelously informative trip. The Salt Lake has tremendous revenue because of various grades of salt which can be for the table or road quality, along with minerals, hunting and tourists.
Saltair Pavilion
It was my favorite afternoon on the trip just gazing at the beautiful water and sky. More tales to follow.
This is the last in my series of Mercer Arboretum. Although all the flowers are white, they are not really the same. Some have a greenish tinge, others pink. When I shopped for my wedding dress over 30 years ago, I realized that there were many shades of white that somebody with a yellow undertone can’t wear. In the end I wore ivory and it was so much more flattering.
Three white trumpetsWhite Hibiscus
This exquisite hibiscus is the epitome of beauty in color (or the absence of it). It’s delicate pink stamen peeps out provocatively. The little yellow centred white flowers below, look like they are laughing.
sunny centered white flowers
Wouldn’t this border would be lovely for a bride and groom to stand next to?
Virginal White Border
Are there any brides out there who are virgins when they marry? It was quite common in my Irish Catholic community, 30 years ago but my ivory dress was apropos…not quite pure! Isn’t it odd that the majority of us, these days, think there is no great advantage in being a virgin before marriage and those that extol it seem a bit weird. Each to their own, but I think I would at least like a look and a free trial. 💓 LOL!
White Lilies
On a similar note, people of my age usually hate the smell of cut lilies because we had our dead relatives lying in state (the bedroom) with lilies to overcome the faint scent of decomposition. Fortunately, we lived in Scotland and most old people die in the winter so they are more likely to freeze than decompose… 👻 I have a healthy disrespect for the basics of life – we live, we die and hopefully, in between, have some sex.
Postcards from Kerry 