ok, so my mom fixed dessert in honor of scw's departure for belgium..using black raspberries from the bushes she put in last summer....it used to be a crown family standard.......graham cracker crust, cream cheese middle, and black raspberrys in a gel on top...luscious........we don't seem to make dessert very often these days.........

ok, so mean mamma is back to work........begrudgingly....i could have just stayed home with my newspaper and coffee...........i am also dreading the departure of #2 son to belgium...he has already been gone too long, and will now be gone longer........

ok, so i am really into my hand cream......lavender beeswax-based stuff that i bought at the herb festival......it smells wonderful, and it really softens all of the hard to soften places.........it costs only about $6, which is a bargain when one considers value.............that's it....a week away, and i am down to discussing handcream...........i fell jaded about western vacations, i guess.........i have been west nearly as many times as i have been to paris....my parent's best friends from college live in boulder, co,...........so we visited many times growing up........they have entertained my children when i attended workshops in denver.......and entertained my spouse and my middle child whilst biking through colorado............they are good people...speaking of my dad.....i really missed him in grand tetons.....he was the family photographer....and there have always been so many good shots to take in that park........or watercolors to buy......one visit years ago my father disallowed my mother permission to buy a watercolor of jenny lake....and she mourns the loss of this painting to this day..............it cost only $50 at the time.......and they came back with more than $50 to spare.........i brought her a signed book of yellowstone photos (the author was in the lobby of the yellowstone inn.........) and a photo-print of jenny lake....suitable for framing.......the watercolor incident was before charge cards...if it happened today she would have given forth the plastic without hesitation.........

ok, so in the past 24 hours i have read an exceptionally long book, highly touted,,,,,and now others may read it before getting on a plane for foreign lands...........there are nuances that i may have missed in my haste,,,,,but basically i read that book even though i get no credit, no points, no ffmiles........nothing but the knowledge that i know the plot.....................

ok, so this is my last day off before going back to work.......i plan to use it wisely...weeding...and finishing the new harry potter book that i bought at the airport.........i was halfway through by the time we landed in lex.......it is so much better than the last book...less macabre.....and wittier......yes, i will have to weed, as the undesirable vegetation has gotten out of hand..........

ok, so we are home, sweet home...........my spouse kept a written journal during his 21 days away.........just like he kept on the last 5 installments of this bike journey......i didn't even consider writing things down.....i have been spoiled by computer diarying..... so here is what i have had on my mind during the 6 days that i have been away..... i will be adding to this, so keep checking back.......

high points:

1. being at the welcome to rawlins, wyoming sign when my guys finished their 6 year...cross-america ride..........taking the requisite photos..........

2. driving 75 mph legally for 6 straight days on extra wide wyoming highways in a ford expedition......i felt like quite the yupster........

3. the smells.........warm pine forest, cool,moist pine forest, extra-warm sulphur hot springs

4. the wildflowers........gentian, cinquefoile, yarrow, indian paintbrush, wild mint, saxefrage (sp) lupins, larkspur, harebells, just lovely..........

5. the thai noodle dish carryout from jackson hole.......with fried tofu

6. the geothermal features.......geysers....old faithful, anemone, the grotto.......the hot springs...... the chromatic spring, especially......the bubbly paint pots.............

7. cable tv..........the newest monk, al tv on vh1 with his pretend interviews with avril and eminem and his weird al videos/lyrics....the spoof he does of dylan is so funny...........

8. the beauty of the tetons...........just breathtaking

9. the hike to taggert lake...............

10. yellowstone canyon....especially the hike down to the lower falls overlook

11. people watching.....the couples in matching outfits, the couple's in catalog gear- straight outof orvis/llbean/eddiebauer...........the overdressed women out for hikes....in wedges, etc.........the overweight couple who were still hiking up out of yellowstone canyon as we went down, and came back up........


the low points:

1. cayle's fit at the yellowstone canyon lookout about taking guides without paying for them......

2. cayle's fit about not wanting anything on the kids meal.at the restaurant in jackson.........she announced that she no longer ate the following.......cheeseburgers, hamburgers, corndogs, grilled cheese, pasta and sauce, chicken strips, or macaroni and cheese.........just so she could order an adult meal which she proceeded to dislike as soon as it arrived.......

3. seeing 47 out of 50 state liscense plates.........never saw new hampshire, south carolina or delaware.........

4. poor radio reception except for gospel stations and country..............luckily i brought along children's books on tape, which i enjoyed more than the intended audience

5. not being able to blog daily.....we never saw an internet cafe.....like we thougth we would see one.........

6. cayle's bag being searched by armed guards at lex airport...they found scissors....why she brought scissors we will never know..........

ok, o i am blogging from denver, aboutto fly to detroit then to lex........had a good trip...ready to come home..............will blog more athome......peace......

ok, so i am off work for the next 7 days......blessedly, we fly out of lex at 6:40 am, so i have a few more minutes to sleep in the morning than expected.........life is good.....i celebrated early quitting time today by completing the porch paint job and by weeding......the garden is overrun due to rain....i do not feel like i made a dent....they will still be there next week........

ok, so i am totally exhausted.........mostly because i cannot sleep for worrying about all i have to do....if i could cook in my sleep i would have this weekend licked......though i know that lying awake at 5:30 am will do nothing toward feeding the 5000, i could not seem to get back to sleep.......alas, tomorrow morning we must get up at 4:15 am to make it to a 6:00 am plane to denver.......and we may find scw and ecw already in rawlings......they cruised into jackson yesterday, and will travel on to dubois today, and could rawlings by monday evening......this is good news, as we will reach rawlings by about 6:00 pm monday, as it is at least 2 hours closer to denver.......

ok, so we lived through band festival saturday, and the herb festival, and every sort of chaos in between......we served 150 lunches at the herb festival......and over 200 carryout boxes at the band festival, not counting people who ate in, including a tour bus that arrived 1 hour late, as the rain drove many extras in to find a dry place to hang out and get a bite to eat.........about 7:30 i was so frustrated, i called ecw on his cell phone just to hear a pleasant voice......he and scw were walking their bike up the last mile on grand teton pass....at 7000 feet.........no word yet on the long downhill that followed.......they should be in jackson hole 2 days early........we will meet up with them on monday night, see yellowstone together on tuesday, then proceed to rawlings by friday.........fly back on saturday from denver........cannot wait.......

ok, so i have to get dressed and get to work, but there is always time to blog, even if briefly..........this morning was perfect for sitting on the deck with coffee and the newspaper.......quite pleasant........especially bucolic with the mamma duck and her 8 ducklings taking an early morning cruise around the neighborhood........(that mamma is presumably mean, as well).........it is moments such as those that sustain me during the craziness that is my working life.......just 2 working days left before i fly to denver.........cannot imagine how i will get out of the bed monday morning to make a 6:00 am plane flight.....

ok, so scw tried to blog from bozeman, montana today, and found that atomic-muffins has been 'suspended/not found'.......he did read all 2 weeks of my blogs, and expressed concern that i worry.........he also explained that i have misheard most of the place names along their route.......i am just so old and addled..........ah well........my guys rented a pickup truck, and drove themsleves and the bike to bozeman to visit our friend mary riddlemoser...about 130 miles........so appropriate....ecw driving a pickup truck to montana............we will see them monday....i cannot wait.........

ok, so today is our 22 wedding anniversary, and we are not together again til monday...........so sad to be alone on an anniversary...........

ok, so this band festival/herb festival catering both at once thing is craziness...............

ok, so my guys are nearing the tetons, from the other side than we have ever seen them.........ecw says that the tetons loom ahead...great word....loom.........he is trying to figure out how we can hook up with our friend mary, who lives in bozeman, mt.......she may be able to meet up with us on our day in yellowstone.......just 3 days of non-stop work until i fly west.......today we made 12 tons of potato salad (it seemed like it), grilled and baked 120 pounds of chicken.........lots more to do tomorrow........i just hope it doesn't rain..........

ok, so i have figured out that the two different versions of blogger have to do with the kind of computor being used....at home i get a different version due to the age of this machine.........

ok, so the blogger page is different again from this morning........i did go through the help page, and still cannot figure out how to do links......i really like how l.o. does links to favorite sites.......

ok, so blogger changed overnight, and i am verry confused..........

for the record, my guys are in avis, idaho, and have traveled over 800 miles thus far......they plan to bypass yellowstone and tetons due to crazy vacationers in rv's and other distracted visitors looking for bears that clog the park roads, and meet up with me in jackson on monday night.......we can then drive back up to yellowstone in the rented van......this plan is but 4 days away......i have many things to do before then.............yesterday i made 9 gallons of gazpacho, and made dough for 24 dozen lavender shortbreads.......today i have to clean and cook 80 pounds of chicken breast (it will be marinated in lemn basil then grilled)......bake cookies, and make both seafood pasta salad and a rice salad........

ok, so today the mormon missionaries stopped to chat with my wait staff as they smoked outside the restaurant.........'do you want to learn more about the book of mormon?', they asked....'no.' replied the group...........and they kept on trying to engage these smokers in conversation, until finally they turned and said...'we have got to get back to work'......i only know this because i was resetting a table on the other side of the window, and could not help overhearing........i guess i could have gone out and 'saved' the staff from the mormons....but it was too much fun watching them squirm...........it kind of remeinds me of the foolishness of christians trying to convert muslims....the leap is too farfetched.......

ok, so i have been alone since may 30, and i am tired of this madness..........i miss my husband and my child, and cannot imagine another 4 weeks without him while he is in belgium.....at least he will blog on a reg.basis while he is away...........the good news is that i have had a fairly good stretch with the 2 children that remained at home......just the business of the sunken boat and the dock as blotches on our permanent record...........i have 4 full days til i leave for denver.......so many things to do...today i made 9 gallons of gazpacho...and will make 10 dz. lavender shortbread cookies before i leave tonight........tomorrow has a whole list of it's own...........